#stanzie

Stanzie. Hmm, this might be trouble saying this. Roh’to’s my friend but then again he isn’t M’sato, he’s not the jealous type I guess.

Stanzie…she’s fiesty. I don’t remember a lot about her except her yelling at me about something. I guess the details aren’t that important, she’s the tiny coal to rebuild memories for. I think I like her? I haven’t spoken with her much if at all since I came back. She was there after the house fire but where ever they put us that night, I left right after.

Maybe in six months I could answer this better.

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Lani sorted her herbs into neat little piles in front of her like little ducks in a row. She had her mortar and a variety of bowls, oils, distilled water and wine. Her knife was sharp and her scoops polished.

She looked down at the book from the Blades library and following the steps on the page, she began to try and assemble the simple concoction.

Several minutes into and she had already mucked something up. Her mix kept separating instead of the emulsion it was supposed to be and she was only 2 steps in. She leaned closer to check the instructions and groans when she realized she forgot the lemon juice, she didn’t have lemons at all.

She shoved the book and ruined potion away, it would curdle before she could go up to the kitchen to hunt a lemon and tried not to cry. Back home this sort of misstep would have earned her tool scrubbing duty, here at least no one would judge…not yet anyway.

Fingers tucked something in her hair by her ear and she smelled the scent of desert flowers, making her think of home.

"What’s wrong?"

"Trying to make something new, but I ruined it."

"Mistakes happen, don’t dwell on it." Stanzie collected the bowl with the ruined and curdled mess and carried it away. Lani reached up to stroke the petals on the flower in her hair, turning her head and spying the vase of flowers Stanzie had brought down and placed on a nearby desk.

"What are these for?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, the petals are ground up and added to unguents for colour and scent. They help minor wounds heal." Stanzie returned with the rinsed out and cleaned bowl, setting it in front of Lani.