A hissing and bubbling noise had small paws racing swiftly across the floor of the Brewing Hut until the dark toes brought her to the pot that had begun to boil over onto the fire. If the ingredients burned then she would have to start all over again from scratch and the herbs she had tossed in there were very delicate. She had of course been trying something new, the normal brew she had made, or Issdal would have to call it 'traditional'... ie. BORING, was already fermenting down in some of the gourds she'd settled into the coolest part of the ground. There was nothing wrong with tradition and she'd grown up with the traditional brews of her pride on her tongue, but that had never stopped her from experimenting and believing that there were other flavors and tastes for her to experience, for her to bring to others.

Traditional things were only traditional because a large group enjoyed them and made it customary to continue making it over and over for years. If she could make something that became a tradition it would melt her heart and fill her with so much pride!

But the spices were burnt on this one... so it was back to the drawing board. Issdal tossed them to the section of her workplace that was explicitly used for composting and sighed as she set back towards shredding up more of the herbs that she'd used in that particular mix. Some of them grew right outside of the opening and the small lioness popped out for a bit, putting a paw over her eyes as she did so when the bright sunlight caught her off guard. Sometimes spending all her time in the brewery forced her to stay indoors for lengthy times and the beautiful day could pass her by.

"And what a beautiful day it is!" Issdal yelled up to the clouds, heedless of any strange looks she might get as she smiled happily.

It was then that a smell caught her nose, drew her attention and pulled her towards it as if she couldn't help herself and really, could she ever? It was cloying almost in the most fragrant of ways which was much the way flowers could light up her nose anytime they were blooming. The way that Issdal's nose worked was generally a straight shot to her tongue, if she could smell something she could all but taste it moving across her sensitive tongue and really scent was half the battle. Something that smelled terrible wouldn't taste wonderful on the tongue to others, in fact it would make them have second thoughts about drinking it at all and she couldn't blame them. If she had been making brews exclusively for herself then she wouldn't really care about the scent of strong herbs or flavors but it wasn't just herself that would be drinking them. It would be the other lions of the Sûzat, members of her own family at times even... her twin brother.

Shaking her head to clear those thoughts from her mind, Issdal followed after the scent that played tricks and games with her nose, twisting her to and fro around dens, dancing and brightening or becoming more faint as it traveled. Laughing at the dizzying scent the young lioness took off all but running, some would accuse her of nearly floating with how the tiny thing moved, after the smell that had caught her curious attention so fully.

"What are you my fragrant lovely scent!? What makes you sing so to my nose, catch so gently against my tongue?" Issdal had the heart of an artist even if she chose to make her art within the craft of Brew exclusively. Words were meant to be played with, things of beauty twisted and bent until they became even more stunning and flavors were meant to be played with all along the spectrum of spice and taste. There was more than one way to create, at least the small lioness had found in all her years and whatever the scent was that was dragging her by her nose and taste buds towards it had all but enthralled her with the chances. Opportunities sang along with it's bright and cheery bite.

Up above the farthing and out into the soft grasses and down to the flowing river she ran, her paws racing as if she were a cub once more, the wind kicking her billowing tan and deep brown fur all about her. Stronger and stronger it grew until she was simply thinking entirely of the smell and all the possible concoctions that she could brew around it, barely paying any heed to what she was doing or where she was going. WIth paws moving so quickly there was only a few outcomes that would even be possible to happen and only one of them was positive, so of course that wasn't how that worked. Slowly the rolling hill began to tilt downward until she was running with her eyes closed and her nose guiding her entirely downhill at a dizzying speed.

Without warning the grass slid beneath her and first one, then another, of her front paws gave way beneath her and sent the little lioness head over tail down the hill towards the river below. Eyes open at last she could only give a burst of laughter that came from her almost as an explosion, her body finally coming to a rest at the base of the hill after a long tumble down, nose smashed against some sort of weed that was growing all along the river's edges. Had that always been growing there? Taking a deep breath, Issdal let out another giggle and pushed herself into a sitting position rather than the boneless heap she'd landed in nose first. Wrinkling the sensitive organ she crossed and uncrossed her pale eyes at the little weed that had such a scent, head tilting in the process before reaching down to crush it beneath her toes.

Instantly she was rewarded with the cloying scent once more and hopped to her feet, bounding back and forth around it like a small cub that was play stalking something, eyes wild in her face that was lit up with such a large smile it could hardly manage to stay on her at all. "Aaaah! You're beautiful! You're green! What are you and where have you been my entire life?!" Issdal yelled at it, her voice coming loudly from her as her pupils swelled further until the pale iris of her eye was nearly gone despite the bright sun above. As if attacking it, for indeed she likely was, the small lioness snapped and bit into one of the weeds, her tongue brushing against it before her teeth crushed it and once more after, releasing her hold the instant she did so. Flavor danced over her tongue and the scent swamped over her, down her throat and up through her nose.

Intoxicating! Screaming with joy at her find, still unsure why she hadn't seen this particular plant before this, Issdal gathered as many into her muzzle as she could without crushing them, for she would need to save that for when she could get a stone onto them and preserve that burst of scent and flavor. With a muzzle full of flavorful weeds, she turned back and looked up the hill towards her Farthing once more, trying not to laugh lest she drop one the lioness took off running once more, sunlight warming her body as her heart and spirits tried to burst from it all at once.

Just wait until all her fellows tried a brew with these muddled into them! Taking note of how she'd gotten to where she was, the small brewer made plans for the expirimentation and preservation of flavor that came from such a curious little plant, intending full well to come back with just basket after basket for more.

Word Count: 1,331 words