Cylus 18th, 719
Nightshade adored Etzos. The city was very important to her, and even if she hadn’t always lived in Etzos proper she’d always lived in at least one portion of Etzos. As a young child it was Westguard and the surrounding areas. When she got older it was jumping between different forested areas. She loved Etzos. That being said. At some point, she would need to prioritize.
Lakewatch was perhaps the most important part of Etzos to her as the situation stood. She was allowed free housing due to her position as liaison as long as she carried her weight while she was in Lakewatch. Most of the mutants were friendly and she got along with them better than average people. Go figure. Social outcasts getting along? What an idea!
Given the current madness going on in Etzos with The Still, she had to prioritize. She wished to stand up for all who were weak, but the thing was, illnesses weren’t something she could effectively combat. She wasn’t good enough at it, didn’t know much about the body. She’d once learned a couple tidbits from Vlu but that was nearly 3 whole arcs ago at this point!
As much as she wanted to stay in Etzos and defend as many people as she could from injustice, there was only so much someone like her could do without experience. So generally, she tried to avoid Etzos proper. She didn’t want to do something be accident and bring The Still to Lakewatch. As the situation stood, Lakewatch wasn’t even aware of The Still. A part of her wanted to tell them, but that would just result in panic, wouldn’t it? So instead she’d come up with something of an idea.
Maybe she didn’t know much about medicine now, but she could learn. Lakewatch had a very large variety of people from all walks of life. Doctors to soldiers, anyone who had gotten caught up in the mess that was the mutation itself. Another important thing about the mutant of Lakewatch was the fact that she was known by all of them and slowly coming to know all of them as well. Lakewatch appreciated her in a way that Etzos didn’t because she was their liaison, their defender. She spent breaks, trials, seasons even driving off potential dangers and keeping the town hidden to the best of her mortal capabilities.
For that, they appreciated her in a way that Etzos didn’t, and she was fairly well known for the fact. Much like with obliging her a small lodging in town if she did things to help out, many of the citizens of Lakewatch her willing to grant her special attention. An extra lesson here or there, just a couple trade secrets that would be hard to learn otherwise. Details that could eventually be turned around and used to help Lakewatch should anything happen. Should anything go wrong. It was the price they’d all silently agreed to pay in exchange for a protector who would always be able to protect them.
It was her hope that she’d always be able to hold up her end of the bargain. That was why she wanted to learn as much as she could from all of the people living in town. It was also the reason she didn’t often bring any items to town with her. She couldn’t risk some of the still coming in on something like her clothing or her weapons. She never brought her important weapons into Etzos and she kept clothes in her cave that would never come into contact with Etzos until the disease itself had passed. The utmost caution was necessary!
Currently the woman was in Lakewatch, trying to decide what exactly to do with herself. The other day she’d been learning shield work form an elderly soldier. Cathica was the name by which she’d introduced herself. No telling if that was her actual name or not though.
A lot of mutants had taken the chance to change their names and start over fresh once they got to Lakewatch, entirely leaving their old lives behind in favor of a new journey. They were the optimistic types, the ones who easily recovered after finding out they had to leave their old lives. They were often also the young members of the community, though some of the older members with tougher lives embraced it just as quickly.
Some were bitter or yearned for what they once were. What they’d once been, but slowly over time everyone had gotten used to their new lives as Lakewatch grew and was made into a town proper. New houses were being built currently for some of the younger children who would eventually desire to move out of their parent’s shared homes and marry. Night wondered what the marriage between mutants would be like, how many would embrace it fully and what kind of children would be born. There was already proof circulating around that the mutants hadn’t become sterile in their transition.
Some of those who went on with their lives easily had already resettled with their family and worked through the process of growing it. Especially those mothers and fathers who had to leave behind uninfected children or lost mutant children to the original culling.
Perhaps today she could speak with Valencica. Valencica was the most experienced doctor to end up in Lakewatch. Some whispered that she’d become a mutant willingly after pinpointing the cause, if only to sate her own curiosity. She was quite the creature, very much like an Ithecal now in appearance. She’d original been a Sev’ryn so it was quite the interesting shock to her. She had wondered just how it was possible for her to be so utterly changed. She wasn’t quite like an Ithecal at this point though. Her form was smaller, sleeker and more serpentine in nature. Any actual Ithecal would be shocked and confused if they stumbled upon her. The half-breed almost laughed, imaging the response Ethelynda herself would have to Valencica.
Valencica in spite of her odd form still did her job remarkably well. She trained a great many of the younger doctors around town, teaching classes of a sort and making medicines with whatever was available. Often enough what she didn’t have she could send out some of the other mutants to find, it was usually in the area. For some of her rarer medicinal concoctions Nightshade herself was oft the errand girl. She hopped hat Valencica wouldn’t call for anything while The Still was still looming. At worst she could go to Fosters Landing instead of Etzos and hope that it hadn’t spread there. At least not as badly anyways.
Valencica was usually fairly willing to allow the half-breed to sit in during work as long as the halfbreed was helpful and didn’t get in the way of anything important. Wandering her way through the streets of Lakewatch, the woman made her way to Valencica’s pseudo doctors office. The serpentine woman looked up from what she was working on with a hiss. “What do you want,” she growled in a gravelly voice. “If you’re here for entertainment, I don’t care who you are, get out,” she huffed as she picked at the plant on her desk. Right. Another important thing about Valencica was the fact she was actually blind.
“Not looking for entertainment, just wanna help, the half-breed assured. Valencica seemed to relax when she heard the voice of the half-breed.
“Good. I’m trying to extract oils from these stupid feking plants and I can’t see shit,” the serpentine woman hissed as she threw what seemed to be a lemon rind at the half-breed. The woman caught it easily enough with small laugh bubbling in her throat.
“Why?” The half-breed asked as she set the lemon rind down on the work desk the woman was sat in front of.
“For Aromatherapy. Some of the older people in town have been experiencing pain due to the cold. Furthermore, our new conditions always have the potential to become painful for us. Developing effective forms of aromatherapy can help to decrease that pain as well as keep us healthier in the long room. In addition, aromatherapy can be used for sauna rooms and the like, which is something we might want to set up due to the cold season. I’ve heard the a couple of the townspeople have been getting frostbite,” the serpentine woman said as she continued to mess with the flowers.
The word frostbite made the half-breed a little uncomfortable. There was a great amount of confusion between those with The Still and those with frostbite and it had caused… quite a mess over in Etzos. She doubted the ability for The Still to have gotten to Lakewatch. It was absolutely just idiots being idiots and freezing themselves to death. But it still made her heart catch in throat to hear the word frostbite and remember that amputation of limbs was a thing in some cases. She’d have to ask around for some thicker clothes. Ashbel always had an excess of pelts and Miramere was a good seamstress.
“What exactly do these plants do to help?” The half-breed asked as she looked at the odd assortment of plants.
Valencica picked up the various plants as she started to explain. “Lavender is an old staple in aromatherapy. It’s a good sleep aid and also helps with the skin and the hair. In addition it’s supposed to keep old people from going crazy as a cuckoo clock. The essential oils of sage is useful as an antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and various other uses depending. It’s good for the digestive tract and between us if you’re looking to make an herbal tea for health purposes, always toss in a little sage,” Valencica put both the sage and the lavender in front of the half-breed to inspect before she picked up some of the other things sitting on her desk. These she didn’t use as whole plants, they were pieces of plants that the half-breed could recognize.
“Lemon rinds are actually fairly useful for you when eaten. If turned into oils and used for aromatherapy then they can have similar health benefits as though they were eaten. Things like acting as an antioxidant and they can even improve bone health and weight. Cinnamon bark boosts the immune system and acts in good regards with the health of the lungs. The thing is, a lot of plants are good for a lot of things. You have to know how to use them properly and use them in conjunction to get good effects,” the doctor explained as she placed the plants and started to run her hand across her desk, looking for something.
“If you help me with the extraction, then I’ll teach you how to extra essential oils,” the woman said with a smirk.
Night smile back, even though the doctor would never see. “Alright. Deal.”
