Mission-Herb restocking (invite only)

Mayumi moved out through the mass of people and into the calm just beyond. She opened her little handbag and removed the checklist; reading over the herbs required. She recognized the Aloe, but was surprisingly unfamiliar with the second herb. She smiled at the chance to extend her knowledge in herbs and vegetation and so she set off with a skip to her step.

She moved off and into a large grass field a few miles from the town square. Mayumi’s eyes opened and a smile broke out as the fresh air and sense of freedom hit her in that open field; Mayumi fled forward in an excited run. As she ran she kept her eyes open for plantation other than the tall blades of yellow and green grass that surrounded; for 200 meters she was unsuccessful. Mayumi finally slowed to a slow walk, catching her breath as she scanned the field a few leagues ahead of her. It was nothing but grassland. Mayumi stood still, closed her eyes, spun then stopped; pointing forward. She opened her eyes and shrugged as she was pointing to the west of the village she had just left. She stepped forward in that direction.

Mayumi encountered little wildlife out in the fields, rabbits were the most dominant. She smiled as they darted in and out of her vision, and once she took up the chase; failing as she slipped on a bare patch of soil. As she sat in the grass groaning and rubbing her lower back, Mayumi studied the bare patch closely. It was an unnatural patch, and it looked as it something had been removed somewhat recently. She ran her fingers delicately over the crevice and noticed that a few dead roots were sticking out of the brown turf. Mayumi smiled as she realized that a plant had been removed from this patch by human hands; there was a different type of fauna about this area.

Mayumi stood up and dusted off, scanning the area. Her eyes ran across a lonesome tree in the clearing, surrounded by strange brown shrubbery. Mayumi stepped forward to investigate. She reached the light shade of the dehydrated tree and studied the plants about it; disappointed as she realized them to be mere thorn bushes.

She was about to turn and try another spot, when her eyes ran over a softer patch of vegetation, though still brown in colour. Mayumi moved over to it and ran a thread of its leaves through her fingers. It wasn’t a thorn bush. Mayumi read over the description of the herb ‘Arnuminas’, checking off each feature; brown in colour, simple quality leaves and thick rooted base. Mayumi smiled as she realized this to be none other than the herb Arnuminas. Mayumi turned to her handbag and pulled out one of the 2 jars the clerk had handed to her previously, and placing it by the miniature plant. She then observed the ground around, grabbing at a discarded stick from the dying tree’s limbs. She turned back to the plant and traced a tiny square border about the roots of the plant and dug in. Soon, she took a-hold of the base of the plant and gently pried it form the earth; its little square of dirt following. Once free of the ground, Mayumi placed it in the bottle and began on the next tuff of vegetation. Soon she had bottled 3 of these herbs, and the bottle could hold no more; Mayumi decided to find the last remaining herb.

She stood up, bagged the bottle and moved past the tree and into the grass-dominated field. She scanned the area once again, closed her eyes and pointed in a wild direction, opened her eyes and set off. She opened her umbrella once again and held it above her head, the handle resting on her shoulder. She twirled it as she moved past the waist high grass in search of the lime green plantation. As she moved she began to sing, a song of another language; gentle, strong in note and soprano. Time meant nothing to her.

She walked a fair distance in her randomly chosen direction, and she began to see more and more evidence of the uprooted mystery plants around. Her song came to a crescendo ending and her eyes ran over a wild green fern. She skipped over to the plant, and sighed as it was not the Aloe she was seeking. She moved off again, deeper and deeper into the open meadow. As she marveled at the scenery, a bright green flash caught her sight once again, and she made her way over to the lime green plantation. This time she jumped for joy as she recognized the spiky fern of the Aloe. The plantation was small, but it would do. Mayumi scratched a square at the base of the fem, uprooted and placed it into the second bottle. She looked at the fern within the glass; she needed at least one or two more. She looked about the area, not seeing another of the herb, and so set off to find another.

Mayumi looked to the sky, as the sun bend just past the halfway mark; she must have been out here for an hour or two. She shrugged and ploughed into the waist high grass once again, wary of the little rabbits that darted from her feet. She walked 400 meters or so before she encountered a thick patch of lime green foliage- her smile broke out and she ran the last 100 meters between her and the area. She reached the thick patch and squealed in delight as she found quite a handful of the Aloe plantation within this area; and she began to uproot and bottle them. The ferns were quite large, Mayumi had a guess they had had quite some time alone to grow. She bottled 2, and left the remaining to spread their seeds to produce more.

Bottles full, Mayumi took a scan of the area, spotted the village –a mere speck in the distance- and pushed off in that direction. Again as she walked she began to sing, but this time she added a little dance. She skipped, twirled and glided through the thick grass towards the village to the song of her own voice, smiling up to the skies as she approached the village.

The sun had bent half and hour further before she reached the village, and Mayumi entered with her vermillion umbrella held above her head and her soft soprano song keeping within a 30cm radius.