(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 10)

[DracoOmega]

>"I suppose the first thing is their availability. Are they the sort of potion ingredients that one can find at any alchemists', or are they more specialized, rarer materials?"

>"A curious potion shop it was, I'd think, if they were selling by those names. Or... maybe one run by ghosts, yes?" She smiles. "Certainly, they can be... made, if one so chooses - the vigor and the 'water of truth'. But... why?"

[Oldmansour]

>Woman talks funny.
>"What do you mean, run by ghosts?"

[DracoOmega]

>Woman talks funny.
>"What do you mean, run by ghosts?"

>There is an odd rhythm to her words, yes - slow and slightly uneven.
>She chuckles again. Her breath smells pungently of mint and raspberries. "They are old names," she says. "Long replaced. No one... uses them anymore. Except, perhaps, for one who had... forgotten time had passed, yes? I am curious, even, where you happened upon them?" She looks at you inquisitively.

[Hanzo K.]

>"Old book in the library. I was looking for some clues to a previously extinct blight that recently popped up again, and the medicine made from those ingredients, plus some Queensfoil, is said to remedy it."

[Oldmansour]

>"Assuming this 'blackening of the veins' is indeed the same blight."

[DracoOmega]

>"Old book in the library. I was looking for some clues to a previously extinct blight that recently popped up again, and the medicine made from those ingredients, plus some Queensfoil, is said to remedy it."

>"Assuming this 'blackening of the veins' is indeed the same blight."

>"And curious, still the more," she says, frowning. "An extinct blight and an... old cure in an old... book. What's this 'blackening of the veins', you say?"

[Oldmansour]

>"It's a symptom of the blight. It was a sign that I was on the right track, when I read it could be cured by the mixture I described before. And that's why I came here. I need to know if those ingredients can be found here in town." Crack a small grin. "Either by old names or new ones."

[DracoOmega]

>"It's a symptom of the blight. It was a sign that I was on the right track, when I read it could be cured by the mixture I described before. And that's why I came here. I need to know if those ingredients can be found here in town." Crack a small grin. "Either by old names or new ones."

>"Aqua Veritatis is easy enough," she says. "It is... water... more or less. Purified and treated in particular ways, but water still. 'The base from which truth springs.' A curious... concept. Yes, quite curious. Tritely antiquated, no? Athran's Vigor is a fortificant. Strengthens the... body, gives might and... such. A popular thing for potions, that; ever the boxes in need of lifting, no? Or 'was', perhaps. Old recipe.. quite old. Obsolete. The craft has come far since then. I could make one better - many could, many indeed. Many more than could make you Athran's Vigor, even - a sort of irony, that. Hmm... where was I going with this?"
>She pauses and glances at a broad leafy plant on the table beside her, then idly breaks off a thin branch and starts to chew on the leaves.
>"Oh yes, Queensfoil, was it? Quite curious. The name... I do not know it, I think. Quite curious indeed."

[Oldmansour]

>"What about...."
>Damn, what were those other names again? Oh yeah.
>"It was also called elil's promise in the book I read. And purple starbloom."

[Hanzo K.]

>Fistpalm. "And Aoboshi. I'm betting you would know a more modern name though."

[DracoOmega]

>"What about...."
>Damn, what were those other names again? Oh yeah.
>"It was also called elil's promise in the book I read. And purple starbloom."

>Fistpalm. "And Aoboshi. I'm betting you would know a more modern name though."

>"Oh!" Her face lights up. "Bittercress, that would be, yes. A curious number of names it has, hmm? Elil's Promise, to return again each seventh year. Strangely poetic. Also wrong - curious, that. And who exactly was this Elil, I wonder? If the promise was hers, then perhaps she might have looked closer first, yes? Well, no matter. Near Takisaki they called it... Blightsward, I think. Yes, I think they did. An odd resistance to certain crop diseases it had, I believe. One unpleasant year, they planted it all around their crops - a fence, of sorts, you see. Or so I'm told. The crops died anyway, but the Bittercress lived. It seemed, perhaps, a good idea at the time? Now they make tea from it. The taste is... acquired. Or not - perhaps it may be best not to try." She chews on another cluster of leaves.

[Oldmansour]

Sounds like our weed, all right.

>"Would you happen to know about what year that was? Or what caused the blight?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Would you happen to know about what year that was? Or what caused the blight?"

>"Simple Alternaria, I think it might have been," she says. "That is, if I were forced to guess. An unpleasant thing, that. Not uncommon, but still unpleasant - perhaps all the more unpleasant because it is... as common as it is. It was probably just unfortunate timing. Yes, yes, that is how it goes sometimes. As for year, perhaps a hundred? Or perhaps twice that? Folklore, it was, when I heard it. Perhaps an excuse someone invented for that... tea of theirs. If you want a better answer, you might try someone else  - I work with plants, not dates. Except those dates which are also plants, of course. Or were plants. A bit too sweet, I think they are, but no matter."

[Hanzo K.]

>Wonder if this bird's drank one too many of her own brews? Either that, or she's just naturally given to meandering like that.
>"Don't suppose you have any around here do you?"

[DracoOmega]

>Wonder if this bird's drank one too many of her own brews? Either that, or she's just naturally given to meandering like that.
>"Don't suppose you have any around here do you?"

>Her peculiar sense of vocal rhythm isn't making it any easier to follow, either....
>She gives you a surprised look, almost as if she had forgotten you were there for a moment. "Any Bittercress? No, I cannot say that I do. No, no. It is... not especially useful to the kinds of research I do. Nor particularly appetizing. Oh!" She extends the branch in her hand and smiles politely. "Would you like a leaf? It's Western Cliria - very fresh. The soil solution is of my own making and extremely suited to its eating, yes."

[Oldmansour]

>Restrain from wincing. "Thank you, but, I'm good."
>"So, is Bittercress particularly common here in Val Razua?"

[DracoOmega]

>Restrain from wincing. "Thank you, but, I'm good."
>"So, is Bittercress particularly common here in Val Razua?"

>"As you wish," she says, then takes another bite.
>She gives you a curious look. "Particular common? No, not particularly common. It does not grow well here. It does not grow well in many places, if I were to tell the truth of it. Nor is the growing of it particularly important to most pursuits - a good thing perhaps, given the other fact. I suspect we have some dried here somewhere. We have a great many things here somewhere. Somewhere, even, I believe there is a Scarlet Hespasia that once belonged to me. Very rare, those - I should collect it one day. You may be able to even find a live one, perhaps - a Bittercress, I mean, not a Hespasia, though I suppose that may be true as well. You Seekers are always finding things, aren't you? It is possible, yes. But common? No, that it is not."

[Oldmansour]

>Offer her a grin. "Comes with the job description."
>Maybe we should be more specific. Well.... try, to.
>"So it wouldn't be available to purchase here in the city? The bittercress flower, I mean."

[DracoOmega]

>Offer her a grin. "Comes with the job description."
>Maybe we should be more specific. Well.... try, to.
>"So it wouldn't be available to purchase here in the city? The bittercress flower, I mean."

>She nods absently. "Yes, yes, I suppose it might indeed. Though I suppose that seeking without finding would be just as much covered by that name, yes? Curious when you think of it, that - not very good advertising, either."

>"A flower?" she asks, eyes widening slightly. "That is rather different. Quite different, yes. Flowers are rare - the plants are uncommon, too, but the flowers are even rarer, yes. The blooming is unlike most plants. Most bloom each year, yes? Well, if conditions are suitable and the plant is healthy and the plant is one that blooms at all, of course. There are exceptions, yes, but that is what one thinks of when one thinks of flowering plants. But not these, no. They bloom in cycles, all at the same time. Or mostly - nothing is ever quite so simple. No, not quite so simple."
>"Common wisdom says once every seven years. Common wisdom is... often wrong. Also not so common, perhaps. And perhaps it is also not so wrong here, either - most of the world does not pass its time charting plant growth, yes? The cycle is not an even seven, but the principle remains - many years, no flowers. Most years, even. Not this year either, I am fairly sure. I could consult the tables." She glances towards her desk. "I have them here somewhere, I believe. Many things are here somewhere."

[Oldmansour]

>"The cure I read called for a.... I think it was a 'preparation of the flowers' mixed with the other two components. I assume that means I would need the flowers themselves."

[DracoOmega]

>"The cure I read called for a.... I think it was a 'preparation of the flowers' mixed with the other two components. I assume that means I would need the flowers themselves."

>She nods. "Yes, yes, it would sound that way. Quite a rare article, that. And a curious recipe that requires them. Might need to wait a few years. Patience is a part of the craft, yes. I wonder where this came from..." A distant look passes across her face, then she turns and inspects another plant on the table beside her.

[Oldmansour]

>Patience. REAL helpful there, jack.
>"And what if I needed to find these flowers in a few DAYS?"

[DracoOmega]

>Patience. REAL helpful there, jack.
>"And what if I needed to find these flowers in a few DAYS?"

>You try to keep your frustration in check.
>"Oh, I don't imagine that's possible," she says. "But I can try to dig out those charts and look, yes. If you'll just give me a minute."
>She ambles over towards the desk in the corner.

[Oldmansour]

>Well, she is the expert, so, we can give her a minute. Or two.

[DracoOmega]

>Well, she is the expert, so, we can give her a minute. Or two.

>You decide to give the woman a couple minutes to dig out whatever it is she's gone to dig out. She starts to hum softly to herself as she putters about her desk, opening and closing drawers and pushing papers to one side and then back again. It strikes you as about the least efficient way to go about this; you've already seen her reexamine the same spot three times. Still, it's her desk and you're not even sure what she's looking for, so hopefully she'll eventually blunder across whatever it is. A couple minutes pass.
>"Oh!" she exclaims at last. "Here you are!"

[Oldmansour]

>Have a look. What'd she find?

[DracoOmega]

>Have a look. What'd she find?

>You take another glance in the professor's direction. She seems to be holding a thin wooden case in her hands, about eight inches long and no more than a couple wide. There is a gentle smile on her face.

[Oldmansour]

>No way she just has the flowers we need lying around. No way...
>"What's in there?"

[DracoOmega]

>No way she just has the flowers we need lying around. No way...
>"What's in there?"

>"It's my commemorative pen from the First Trans-island Symposium on Ragweed Extracts," she says. "And also the last. It seemed a good idea at the time. Pity there were so few fresh faces there, yes." She lets out a little sigh.

[Oldmansour]

>Keep it together, Nazrin...
>"Yes. Pity." Clear throat. "The charts?"