Seira followed her into the kitchen to seek her own breakfast. Seri joined her, and between the two of them, they found some bread and cheese. It didn't take them long to prepare their meal and carry their plates over to the table.
"Do you still want to go to the market totrial, Seira?"
Seira nodded.
"I want to get some books." she confirmed.
"What kind of books?" Seri asked curiously.
"Some books about herbs and herbal remedies, some books about illnesses and how to treat them, some about alchemy, and possibly even a book about languages to supplement my text books for my linguistics class. Maybe even one about brewing teas if I can find one."
Seira wanted the books about herbs, illnesses, and alchemy to help her learn about medicine so she would be more useful to the Order. To some degree, the book about brewing teas was for that purpose as well. But she also hoped that it would be a start towards making her a better cook. And a book about languages would be a start in her learning more languages so that she could better help patients that did not speak Common.
"Do you want to come with me?" Seira asked her sister.
Seri nodded.
"I could use some new cookbooks." she explained.
It was Seira's turn to nod.
"I might have to borrow those if I have the time. Or maybe we could make something together?" she asked Seri hopefully.
Seri grinned at her.
"Of course we can." she told Seira.
The two of them finished up their breakfast quickly, and cleaned up after themselves. Then Seira got the money that she planned to spend.
"Do you want to walk Taerin when we go to the market?" Seri asked,
Seira thought about that for a few trills. She wasn't sure that she wanted to keep Taerin out as long as she would likely need at the market. But Taerin did need a walk, so she said yes after a few trills. If need be, they could come home and drop Taerin off, and go back to the market if they needed more time.
"Which market did you want to go to?" Seri asked while Seira was getting the leash and fastening it to Taerin's collar.
Once again Seira gave the question some thought.
"The Azurewind market." she replied after a few bits.
"I think we may have better luck finding the books that we want there." she added a few trills later.
Seira and Seri headed out. They walked slowly because Taerin wanted to stop and sniff each and every bush that they passed. When Taeirn stopped to investigate a particularly large bush, Seira saw a heavily bundled up young girl who looked to be about twelve arcs old come out of the house nearest to them. The girl looked at them as she made her way to a tree in her yard, but she didn't approach them. Instead, she wrote something on the bark of the tree with
a piece of chalk.
Seira couldn't read what the young girl had written from where she was standing, but from the care she was taking with it, Seira knew that it must be important to her. After a while, Taerin lost interest in the bush she was sniffing at, and they moved on.
When they arrived at the Azurewind market, Seira knew exactly what she was hoping to buy, so she steered them in the direction where the stalls that sold books were located. At that point, she and Seri split up so they could search for the books that they were interested in. Seira didn't find anything that might be useful to her at the first stall. From what she could tell, it sold only fiction books. And most of them were clearly meant for children.
The second stall was more promising, but she didn't know enough about either medicine or alchemy to know if the journals that she found were reliable or not. Seira did find
a book about brewing teas though, so she scooped it up and paid the stall owner before moving on. At the third stall, she found books that were far more useful.
One was a book about common ailments. When Seira flipped through the book, she found entries for things like colds, flues, fevers, allergies, upset stomachs, and the like. There were even some injuries such as muscle strains, sprains, and aches. Each entry listed the symptoms of the ailment as well as telling the reader how to treat them. It was exactly what Seira was looking for, so she picked up the book and continued browsing.
After a while, she found
a series of books about herbs and herbal remedies. There were pictures that showed what the various herbs looked like, and each entry included a wealth of information. The uses of each herb were listed of course, but so was information about where to find it in the wild, and how to grow it. Some of the entries also included information about how the herb was used in cooking. Finally, she found
a book about working with wood. While not what Seira had been interested in initially, the beautiful picture of a wooden eagle carving on the cover caught her interest. The book was filled with pictures of beautiful carvings made from wood. There was a lot of information as well. As Seira skimmed through it, she found a chapter that described the tools that were used in carving wood and what they were used for. Another discussed which woods were best used for what projects. The book even explained how to carve wooden beads, and a number of other things. Seira was interested enough in the book to add it to the pile she was already planning to buy. When she was finished browsing through the stall, she made her purchases and moved on.
Several stalls later, Seira got lucky and found a few books about alchemy. Most of them were old, faded journals that were difficult to read, and what could be read was more about what could be done with alchemy rather than how to do anything. It was as if the author assumed that the reader was already a skilled alchemist who already knew what to do. That, or they were flat out fiction about an alchemist and their adventures. Seira couldn't really tell which they were. But there was
one book that looked as though it might be an introductory text for an alchemy class at the Institute. When Seira skimmed through it, she found that it didn't teach the reader how to make anything using alchemy, but it did mention things like reagents, and bases, and explain what those terms meant. It was a start at least, and Seira happily bought that book as well.
She browsed the stalls for a little while longer, but she didn't find anything else of interest. After a few breaks, she met up with her sister once more. Seri didn't have any books with her, and the look on her face was one of disappointment.
"You didn't find anything?" Seira asked quietly.
Seri shook her head.
"I found many different cook books. But nothing that looked interesting enough for me to buy." she told Seira.
"Do you want to keep looking?" Seira asked.
"I can help you if you want?" she added a few trills later.
Seri shook her head again.
"I can just come back in a few seventrials and see if anything else turns up." she decided.
Seri sounded certain so Seira suggested that they head home. They had been at the market for a few breaks, and that was a very long walk for Taerin, even if they had not been walking the entire time. Seri agreed, so the two girls left the market and made their way home.
ooc
The books that Seira is purchasing are almost certainly well beyond tier 4, which is what Seira is currently at. She is buying 9 books in total; a series of 5 books about herbs/herbal remedies, a book about brewing teas, one about treating minor illnesses and injuries, one about woodworking, and one about alchemy (it doesn't teach you how to make anything, but it does teach the absolute basics such as what reagents are, etc.). Please deduct the right amount of WP from my UCP.
