Once they had reached Skywatch Keep, Seira and Seri made their way to the place where they were supposed to meet their teacher for the trial, a woman by the name of Vena. The work room was empty, but soon after they arrived, a middle aged woman with red hair hurried in.
"You must be Seira and Seri, then?" she asked briskly.
Seira nodded.
"I'm Vena, which you might have guessed. I apologize for being late for your lesson. There was a bit of an emergency earlier when a young boy was brought in needing stitches. He was hysterical with fear because his older brother had been teasing him about needing surgery. We had to calm the poor thing down before we could tend to his injury."
Seri scowled at the idea of an older sibling teasing a young child so cruelly.
"Why would they lie to a little kid like that?" she asked angrily.
"Well...his sister definitely could have been nicer about the whole thing. Not teasing an injured child at all would have been the best thing. But it isn't as though she was lying."
"What do you mean?" Seira asked in confusion.
"Getting stitches isn't the same thing as having surgery."
"Well...yes, and no. Having surgery is certainly a lot more complicated than getting a wound stitched up. There are a lot more risks involved, and there is a lot more recovery time required. But any method of healing that involves going beneath the skin of a patient is considered to be surgery. And by that definition, getting stitches is considered to be surgery because the needle used to make the stitches goes into the patient's skin."
"I didn't know that." Seira said softly.
"I thought surgery was...well...like cutting off someone's arm or leg, or something."
Vena laughed.
"Most people who don't know anything about surgery do think that way. But don't worry. You'll learn." she said with a smile.
Seira nodded after a moment.
"So. Why don't we begin by you two telling me what you already know so that I'll have a better idea of where to start?"
"We really don't know much yet." Seira admitted ruefully.
Seri nodded in agreement.
"That's why we decided that we needed to learn more before we try to join one of the branches."
"So you've decided which branch you want to join, then? And since you're coming to us for lessons, I think that I can guess which branch the two of you are interested in joining." Vena said with a smile.
The twins grinned and nodded.
"Before coming to join the Lightning Knights, we spent a few breaks volunteering with the Order of Adunih. While we were there, we learned what herbal salves and infused oils are." Seira began.
"We also learned how to make them." Seri added.
"And we also learned what willow bark can be used for. But that's really all we know so far."
Vena eyed them calculatingly.
"I can work with that." she said at last.
"And you do have one thing going in your favor."
"What's that?" Seri asked curiously.
"You may not know much of anything about medicine, but you don't have any false information that you need to set aside in order to learn something useful. And you're clearly willing to learn, so that's two things in your favor."
Vena thought for a few bits.
"You already know how to make two of the herbal remedies that are commonly used, so I think that I will teach you a couple more totrial. Are you ready to start?"
Seira and Seri nodded eagerly, and Vena grinned.
"Good. We'll start with herbal lotions. An herbal lotion is a mixture of water, plant oils and an emulsifying agent to hold them together. Like salves, they are used topically rather than internally. Lotions are easily absorbed into the skin. They are used to soothe, moisturize and nourish the skin. The properties an herbal lotion has will vary depending on what you add to it."
"So if you put willow bark into a lotion, it can help to ease pain?" Seira asked.
Vena nodded.
"That's exactly right. Using different herbs when making herbal lotions will give you lotions that can be used for different ailments. Now there are many different recipes that can be used in order to make herbal lotions. Most healers who specialize in herbs pick up at least a few. But I have a simple one that would be good for you to start with."
Vena walked over to a bookshelf in the far corner of the room, and returned with a thick, leather bound book. She opened the cover, and flipped through the pages slowly until she found what she was looking for. Then she set the book on the table for the girls to see.
"This is the recipe that I plan to teach you. I've made it so many times that I don't need the recipe any more, and I am comfortable making any substitutions that I need to. But since this is your first time, we will use the recipe and follow it exactly. Until you know exactly what you're doing, you should never make any kind of remedy without a recipe, and you shouldn't make any substitutions from the recipe you are using. Why don't the two of you start by taking a look at what you'll need, and gathering the ingredients? You'll find what you need in the pantry over there."
Seira and Seri were quick to obey. Seira read the recipe out loud so they could both learn what they would need at the same time. While Seira gathered the coco butter and the beeswax, Seri got the shea butter, and the olive oil that had been infused with comfrey and calendula. By the time they were done with that, Vena had gotten the measuring equipment they would need ready for them.
"Vena...when you told us what an herbal lotion was, you said that it was a mixture of water, plant oils, and an emulsifying agent to hold them together. But this recipe doesn't include water."
Vena nodded.
"Some lotions do, and some don't. Lotions that do have water in them don't last as long as ones that don't, so I try to make lotions that don't use water. That isn't always possible, though."
"The definition of an herbal lotion also mentions an emulsifying agent. What is that?" Seri asked.
"An emulsifying agent is a compound or substance that acts as a stabilizer for emulsions, preventing liquids that ordinarily don't mix from separating. These substances can be dissolved in both fat and water, and in doing so they can bind two liquids that can't usually be combined together. When it comes to making herbal lotions, it allows the water and oils being used to combine properly rather than separating. If water is required in the recipe you are using, that is."
"Does this recipe have an emulsifying agent since it doesn't require water?" Seira asked.
"It does. Beeswax is a good emulsifying agent."
"The recipe calls for coco butter or shea butter, so we got both of them. Is one better than the other, and if so, why?"
"No, either can be used without affecting the quality of the herbal lotion. But some people prefer the scent of one over the scent of the other. And since this recipe can also be used to make lotions that are good for moisturizing the skin rather than ones we use to treat ailments, both are listed."
Seira nodded. That made sense to her, and she made a mental note about the fact that not all lotions were herbal remedies, and that this recipe could be used for both kinds. All of the questions Seira had at the trill had been answered, and when Seri didn't ask anything further, Seira knew that she didn't have any more questions either. That meant that it was time to get to work.
Seira checked the recipe. It said to put the infused olive oil into a double boiler along with the beeswax and whichever type of butter they were going to use and mix them under low heat until they melted. While Seira was hesitating over which type of butter to use, Seri grabbed the shea butter, checked the recipe to see how much was needed and quickly measured out a quarter of a cup of the stuff before putting it into the double boiler Vena had gotten for them to use. Startled, Seira stared at her twin. Seri gave her a blank stare, and after a few trills, both of them chuckled. Then Seira carefully measured out the quarter of a cup of infused olive oil they needed while Seri measured the tablespoon of beeswax. These were added to the double boiler as well. They took turns mixing their ingredients until they were completely melted together.
"What's next?" Seira asked.
Seri consulted the recipe.
"We need to place the mixture into a glass jar and let it cool down."
Seira did that while Seri washed the dished that they had used to melt the ingredients they had used. When Seira finished, she put the coco butter away since they weren't going to use it.
"When you're using this recipe, you can beat the mixture with a hand mixer once it's cooled down enough if you want to. That will give you a remedy that is more of a body butter than a lotion. It's a matter of consistence more than anything else. But the lotion form is more commonly used in herbal remedies while body butters are used as moisturizers usually."
Seira made a mental note about the extra step needed to make an herbal body butter as opposed to a lotion, and which one was most commonly used as an herbal remedy. Since they were so similar, she thought it might be easy to make a batch of each while making herbal lotions, and using the body butters themselves, or giving them away as gifts.
