The Medicinal Flower [Job]

It had been a while since Dimaria has felt sick. It was not because of the weather, or a sudden change of temperature in her surroundings, but because of her period. She was sick in the stomach, and she could barely stand up straight or walk properly. It was a great struggle for her to even move from the comforts of her bed to the bathroom, But this was not new to her. It had happened before, a lot of times, once a month. But thankfully, she only felt pain on her first and last days, unlike some other women she knew to feel this pain all days of the duration of their period. She would cringe at the thought, then gather her bath oils, entering the bathroom and filling her tub. She needed ice cold water to sooth herself. In fact, she wished she could buy a package of ice cubes to fill in her tub. That would have been much more soothing. The Stark girl, after filling her tub and readying her bath with great effort, was able to finally sink herself into the tub, where the water immediately went red with her blood, which was when she realised this was a horrible idea. She moved out of the tub, then emptied the tub, heading for the shower which seemed like a better way to clean herself for now. It had not been long since she started living on her own, so it was difficult to handle all of this on her own.

Sighing in clear frustration, she collected her shower gel and bath foams, setting them on the shelf attached to the wall below the showerhead, a trail of blood down her thigh mixing with the water on the rough tiles. Rough, so that she would not slip and fall on her bottom and break some bones. Unlike most people, she picks things very carefully. One could say that she is ‘picky’, but it was not for nothing. She was sort of a perfectionist. She was not going to have smooth tiles in her bathroom which would cause her to slip to her demise. Everything needed to be what they were supposed to be, and everything needed to be perfect. Once she was ready, she turned the valve, a cascade of ice cold water flowing out of the holes in the shower head onto her bare, snow white skin. A satisfied sigh escaped her lips, and she began to enjoy the much needed soothing shower. Afterwards, she would dry and clothe herself, preparing to go out. She was going to need to buy some sort of medicine to cure the pain in her stomach. She was not going to let it affect her any more than it already had. So she put on her usual outfit, combed her hair and slid her feet into a pair of dark boots, shifting her feet so it fit perfectly. Now she was ready, and so she stepped outside, grabbing an umbrella as it was he rainy season. Her dress touched the ground, though, so if it rained, it was going to be another big mess.

At the entrance gate of the apartment she was staying at, a cloaked man stood, seemingly waiting for someone. As a foreigner, Dimaria decided it was best not to talk to strangers since she is barely fitting into the Fiorian society. But as soon as she passed through the gate and closed it from outside, the man turned to face her, asking if she was looking for something. She nodded reluctantly, and turned to the other side to go to the clinic, but the man asked again, what she was looking for. This time she spoke, looking him in his gray eyes. “A medicine to cure my period pains,” she told him, then turned once again to be on her way, but the man would not stop talking. He said that he knew a place that had such a medicine, made of herbs, and then asked her if she would mind him taking her to that place. The Stark girl pondered for a moment what the man might be able to do to her, in the sense of harming her. But then she was capable of protecting herself and handling a man such as him. He obviously did not use magic, since she would have felt something if he did. Now that she was sure he could be of help to her, she nodded, agreeing to his offer and following him.

The place that she was taken to was a small herbal medicine center that had quite a reasonable amount of people entering and leaving to have it considered a trustworthy place. Each person who left had a pouch or a small box in their hands, probably the medicine they came for. Each person also had some sort of slip of paper in another hand, like a voucher but instead it looked more like a permit for something. Narrowing her eyes, she walked into the shop, suddenly amused by the interior of it. It did not look like a normal medicine center, but more like a tiny temple. There were men with yellow robes walking around and tending to everyone’s needs. There were not counters or the like, but a row of tables with a woman in a red, traditional outfit sitting behind them. Of course she was confused at first, but then the cloaked man removed his cloak, revealing himself to be one of the men in yellow robes, then took her to one of the tables that was in the far end of the unexpectedly long room. Dimaria followed warily, observing all that was taking place within the establishment, and studying the interior as well. It was too much for her eyes, actually. She was used to monochromatic shades and the like. All these bright, blaring colors were hurting her poor eyes. As soon as they reached the table, Dimaria was asked to take a seat, which she did, pulling the chair and placing herself on the cushioned chair.

“What is it that you need my dear?” was the question that the lady behind the table asked. And so she explained her needs, and her trouble - the period pains that came monthly. She even asked the lady if she could have a cure for it forever. But with a small chuckle, the lady shook her head. She said that it was impossible to get rid of it forever, but whenever she felt the pain, she could use a certain powder that was to be mixed with boiling water and taken every night before the period begins, so that there would be no pain the following day. Dimaria decided to take that, it was better than nothing. But of course, all things come with a price, and her price was to find the flower that was to be made into powder for this medicine. The lady told her to travel to the Spooky Forest and retrieve this flower if she would like her to make the powder. It would cost her nothing else. In fact, if you were nice enough to bring more for the others, you would even be rewarded with a jewel price. The white haired wizard liked the sound of getting money, so she agreed to this, accepting the little box that would help her to remove any obstacles in the way. The lady told her to open it only if it was needed, to which Dimaria nodded and stood up, accepting something else, a little piece of paper that said was like a guarantee that she was the one to carry out this task so that no one could fake it, or so Dimaria thought.

The man exchanged a farewell greeting with her and then she was on her way to the Spooky Forest. Almost every half an hour, she was tempted to open the box, but refrained herself from doing so. She wondered what it was that was going to help her remove any obstacles. She wondered what the ‘obstacles’ were. Logs? But why would she need to remove logs? She could just skip over them. What if there were creatures in the forest? Oh god, not so soon. She did not want to use her magic, not yet, anyways. So if there were creatures in the forest she needed to fight, she sure hoped what was inside the box was good enough to do the job, otherwise she would have to use the combat skills she was taught back in the North. So in a few hours, she reached the Spooky Forest, by train, ship and walking miles. The forest wasn’t spooky at all, in fact. It was dark and gloomy, true, but it didn’t give the ‘spooky’ vibe that she expected. Moving on, she searched far and wide in the forest, trying to distinguish the flower from all the others. And a while later, she stumbled upon one large flower that had a very soothing scent, almost healing the pain in her stomach. It had to be it. So Dimaria walked up to it and plucked it quickly so she could leave without having to fight anything. Unfortunately, there was a whole group of wolves waiting for her at the end of the forest trail, growling and giving her the look that said they were going to kill her. With a shrug, she opened the box that was given to her and a bright light filled the air around her, purifying anyone of dark intentions, which included the wolves. It only took about a second for the light to do its work and disappear, leaving nothing in the box, so Dimaria shrugged again and disposed of the box, returning to the shop to give the flower and take her medicine, and leave with the jewel reward plus a smile on her face.