un: karma (video)

[torpour]

[the view is not of nehan as the username attached to this video would imply, but of two different plants preserved in jars on a countertop. no erune on your screens today.]

I have a request-- more specifically, an offer for fair trade. If you have an abundance of unwanted plants in your house, please bring them to me. Or I can visit your dwelling and remove them myself. Name your price. [a pause, then his gloved hand comes from the top of the camera, pointing at the plants from left to right.] In particular, I'm interested in these. Lacrimosa, which only blooms in dark areas where no sources of light reach, reeds from an island from my world for healing.

[no one asked him what the plants do, but he rambled anyway because he's a nerd.]

But any plant you don't want will do. They'll be useful, in one way or another.

Also, Flynn, Richie: this is the best opportunity I can give you when it comes to learning and making your own medicines.

Comments

[torpour]

Specific knowledge on this tree is what you're challenging me to do, so only one of my questions has anything to do with that.

[as he speaks, he pulls out a wooden spoon from his pockets, and reaches out with it and the jar towards the face on the tree to start collecting sap. it's unnerving enough tht he hopes it doesn't bite him.]

Did this tree appear at the start of the month, in the Moss King's wake?

[dohaeris]

[one corner of her mouth turns up.]

It was here when I arrived, at the start of the month.

[her eyebrows lift.]

Did you see the Moss King go by?

[torpour]

Pass here? No, I did not. I don't live here, after all. [and cant be in multiple places at once.]

If it was already here when you first arrived... Then that means you are familiar with this tree because it was present in your home world, correct?

[dohaeris]

[she nods. she thought she had made that clear, but evidently not. she mustn't assume everyone speaks the same way, here.]

I come from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, where these trees are held in high regard. The faces were carved onto weirwoods by the Children of the Forest, the first people of Westeros. Either this tree was summoned here, like me, or whoever made it wanted it to look like it was.

[or there is a child of the forest among the sleepers, who saw the weirwood and carved the face. but why would they just leave it, then?]

[torpour]

Or the Moss King grew it as he passed. [because... well. it's the most likely answer. most simple, as well.

then he shrugs, deciding that he only has one last question because he finds her way of responding inadequate. like she assumes people to know things that she knows as well.]

What significance does this tree have for your people, then? High regard isn't much of a response.

[dohaeris]

[well, you didn't ask. she doesn't say it, and smiles tightly. what would a girl from the vale, who had never been a stark of winterfell, know about the heart trees?]

They are said to be sacred to the Old Gods of Westeros. It's said the Old Gods look out the eyes of the Heart Trees. Heart Trees are what we call the carved weirwoods. Many castles in the Seven Kingdoms have a Godswood, a sort of garden with a Heart Tree in it. It's a sacred place, like a temple. It's said to be impossible to lie in front of a Heart Tree. That's why people get married in the Godswoods, to swear their marriage oaths in front of a Heart Tree.

[she furrows her brow.]

If the Moss King grew it, why would it have a face? Would he carve it with a spell? I know little of the Pthumerian Mysteries.

[could he look out of it? that's a sobering thought. but it is a heart tree, and there's no one else here to look after it. besides, her omen likes it.]

[torpour]

Because clearly that Patron can summon plants from other worlds. You're not the only one to have discovered this kind of phenomenon happening right in their homes. [his tone is droll.

nehan really has to wonder what's going on in this girl's mind, but he's starting to be done with this. then he waves the jar in his hand, sticking the little spoon in it and screwing the lid back tightly.]

I'll be back if I ever find anything.

[dohaeris]

So he did summon it here, then.

[did she say something wrong? she doesn't wish to offend a healer. she had hoped to make a useful friendship with someone who knew plants.]

Well, I wish you luck in your studies.