[SRP] Autumn Harvest

[Strifeling]

Self-RP of Aquatic event freebie/custom, Hokulani na Kai

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WIP removed in 2023 - slot is valid but I am not comfortable with freely putting my OCs on the internet at the moment

 

[Strifeling]

She could taste it on the air, feel it in her bones. Soon the veil between worlds would thin.

The Kawani lands were already well into autumn and the chill of October was beginning to settle into the earth. Nights steadily grew longer as the sun moved toward winter's path. In her walks through the woods there was a frenzy of activity as the forest creatures prepared for the oncoming frost. She, too, needed to prepare, but her focus was on something closer than winter. Before the next full moon, the Hallowed Night would arrive and her inventory of ingredients would need to be renewed once again.

She relished in this season, enjoyed it more than any else. While the world was slumbering and dying, she was invigorated with new life, thriving on the chill of the air, the rustle of the forest, and the crispness of the leaves under her delicate feet. When these signs arrived, she knew the time of harvest was upon her.

Hokulani fancied herself an alchemist. There was not much magic involved if most of her creations, if even any at all, she supposed, but she had learned since her youth to brew various mixtures. She made concoctions that could heal, potions that could soothe a troubled mind and brews to repair a damaged body. Her stock included teas and tisanes, syrups and tinctures, essential oils and raw ingredients and bones and mystical relics intended to bring comfort or allay various ailments. Some called her the sea witch, others the seer, alchemist, apothecary. At the moment, which term they used for her did not matter so much to her. Her skills and abilities, both learned and innate, spoke for themselves.

And now was the perfect time of year to harvest king boletes. Normally, Hokulani did not do well too far from the ocean, so she would frequently send one of her clan-mates to retrieve them or trade with Yolotl, a healer friend of hers, but both her clan-mates and Yolotl were currently traveling. No matter; these mushrooms were sometimes difficult to distinguish from their similar cousins, so perhaps it was better for her to harvest them herself.

They were delicious in a soup -- or even eaten raw, if you did not mind the risk of worms inside; she slightly wrinkled her nose at the thought -- but also very therapeutic and so very rare. Hokulani had dried and preserved them to last the year, but her stock was running very low at this point. She couldn't count the bolete brews she had made since the last autumn, treating the tumors of the elderly, the back pains and numbness of the injured, and even her own aching legs and tendons that protested against so much travel under the weight of her armor and mystical inventory. Certainly, they were invaluable. And tasty. The problem was that these mushrooms were also not cultivable. She had never met anyone who could grow them at will, and boletes liked to grow around the roots of conifers and hardwoods, hard to see on the forest floor, and she had no efficient way of sniffing them out. Maybe she should find herself a pig.

Hokulani na Kai "sea witch" Word Count: 533

 

[Strifeling]

Hokulani na Kai lifted herself up from her bed of leaves and stretched her legs, distinctly cat-like in her grace and movements while she shook the twigs and leaves out of her hair mane. She arched her back -- well, as well as a soquili could arch one's back -- and relished in the feeling of near-weightless freedom. She had left most of her items and bags behind at her temporary camp, together with the familiars who had accompanied her from the settlement of her collaborating group of herbalists and healers on land, and now carried just a single large knapsack for her new harvest; taking into account the difficulty of finding these fungi, if should could fill her knapsack, she would count herself lucky. Meanwhile, the small group of familiars would help guard her heavy wares while she was away. As a show of thanks and ongoing gratitude, Hokulani always brought offerings from the ocean and seashore whenever she visited her colleagues on land.

Hokulani shook herself off, sighing slightly when the breeze touched her smooth, partly scaled skin. It was silvery, like the scales of a platinum angelfish or a moonbeam gourami, yet far more iridescent; in the autumn sunlight, shimmering rainbow sparkles bounced off the margin of each scale, seeming to give her body a surreal glow. Although the beauty of her scales was not diminished, Hokulani was uncomfortable; her flesh was dry to the touch and she felt like she could feel each and every crease in her skin.

The world beneath the waves, or even the humid and salty ocean climate by the shore, was much more agreeable to her. With her tail and fins she could maneuver much more quickly and efficiently in the water than she could on land, and the ocean was always milder than the climate on land, and at most times the sea was also warmer even though her seafaring group currently resided in a temperate region instead of a tropical one. Hokulani took a moment to ponder returning to the tropics. She would have a much more difficult time gathering certain materials -- such as these King boletes, and Atropa belladonna -- but the tropical ocean region held treasures that were similarly scarce. Perhaps it would be a nice change of pace to swim to the tropics and stay there for a few moons, until summer once again fell on the Kawani soil. The bigger question was if the newest member of their group -- family, friends, lovers and colleagues all in one -- would be able to tolerate warmer climes; unlike Hokulani na Kai and Kaimana, who hailed from warmer regions, the soquili newest to their cabal had grown up an ice dweller, with a body accustomed to freezing waters dotted with glaciers and inhabited by fat seals, whales, and polar bears.

Hokulani na Kai Word Count: 468

(December 2019)