Leon was able to mount the Baku a little easier this time, but as he was still unable to ride by himself, he once again took position behind Tor and placed his hands upon his waist to help stabilise himself. Maimai beside them, had mounted her Piku, who looked back with large, pitiful eyes and a downcast trunk. Maimai's heart instantly weeped for her 'poor' Baku.
"Can we go slowly for a bit," Maimai asked Tor, "my Piku isn't feeling too good."
"No good will come of spoiling the beast," Tor chided, almost coldly.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" Maimai grumbled and turned her face away from the other with a pout.
"Is it n-not okay?" Leon asked, trying to keep the peace between them. "N-n-not in a hurry n-now, are we?" It was late afternoon, but the Food Hall would not be serving their evening meal for at least another hour and would continue to serve for a short while after that.
"Fine," Tor replied and patted the mane of their mount, who he felt was not happy that he was due to be slowed down again, because of the overweight, pink creature plodding along beside him. Leon watched the gesture and felt the Baku settle somewhat beneath them.
"You are r-really g-g-good with the B-Baku," Leon pointed out as they began to lead the beasts out of the compound. Tor glanced back, slightly startled by Leon's comment, but a slight curve of his lips showed he was not displeased by it.
"I would have liked to have been a beast tamer," Tor admitted, with a slight sigh. Why had he put up with Caprian's unruly behaviour for so long? While it was true that he was a retainer in the other's care, he was also meant to have guided Caprian upon the correct path. That was the expectation placed upon him. But he did not.
"C-could you n-not enrol?" Leon asked. Leo's skills or therefore lack of meant that he was only suitable for the alchemist school, which was not very popular with students, so tended to gather those who were still with some talent, but bottom of the pool regardless. Was Tor's situation the same? Seeing him interact with the Baku, Leon had doubts.
Tor said nothing for a moment, more due to his own thoughts, but ultimately deciding that he owed Caprian nothing at this time. "My family is in the care of Caprian's family, which is an alchemist family," Tor explained. Leon visibly flinched when the name was mentioned, but kept quiet and let Tor continue. "I was expected to serve as an advisor to him in the school. My family are normally martial artists and beast tamers, but Caprian needed more... guidance, so I was forced to learn beside him. Only I did not do well." Leon knew he was speaking of the issue surrounding the bullying, with Caprian throwing his weight around the outer school. "Caprian promised to help me transfer to the beast taming school once he moved to the inner school. He thought being in the inner school would be to gain more comfort and less work. He did not keep his promise."
Maimai could only listen quietly to what they spoke of, she had not enrolled in the same year as these seniors, could not relate. But she felt some sympathy for Tor. She was not suited for alchemy like her sister had proved to be, but as a daughter born of a concubine, even a favoured one, she was expected to stand a step behind her sister and ensure her sister's fortunes.
"I am sorry," Tor blurted out the words he had meant to part with sometime ago. Leo glanced up and glanced into sparkling eyes. "I should have stopped Caprian from near beating you to death, I should have not allowed him to steal yours or any others pills. I should have put my duties before my desires, then maybe..."
"C-c-cooshee."
"What?" Tor spluttered out the questioning word.
Maimai also turned to look and was surprised to see the small pup wagging its cute indigo and white tail and panting happily as it sat in the hood of Tor's cloak. Leon reached out a finger and it nuzzled it and barked. "Aw!" Maimai cooed. "So cute! Can I hold it?" The pup looked at her with piercing eyes, before disdaining her. Leon tried not to snigger over the little one's proud stance.
"Could it be that the pup wants Leo as it's Master?" Tor wondered aloud, unable to see what was occurring behind him, but pulling his mount to a halt. Leon reached up into the hood and carefully scooped the pup from it's nest. The pup instantly turned in Leon's hold and yapped, it's full attention upon Tor.
"N-n-not m-me," Leon replied, cheerfully and Tor finally was able to see the pup with his own two eyes. The pup instantly began wagging its tail hopefully. "Seems it w-wants you."
"Can you take Leo back to the alchemist school," Tor turned and asked Maimai after he found his hands full of enthusiastic cooshee. He felt that he would need to return to the beast tamer school with the pup and explain. Who knew if they had noticed whether or not one of the pups had escaped!
Maimai nodded, her eyes not having left the pup, but receiving no regard from the stubborn creature at all. In the end, she decided that no matter how cute the puppy was, her Piku was the best! Her Piku was not sharing the same amount of affection for its owner as it suddenly became burdened with not one but two riders! It mourned for its private stables upon the sects mountains and its long and lazy days.
While Piku dramatically huffed and puffed its way back to the school, Tor took the pup back to the beast tamers school.
It took a long while for Maimai's Baku to arrive back at the school stables and Leon felt it would have been quicker to walk. Maimai saw him off with an enthusiastic wave then turned to brush down her mount, all the while cooing about how good and wonderful her Piku was.
Leon headed for the Food Hall to see if there was anything left to eat. There was a roll of bread and some cold meats, not much, but Leon took this to his hut satisfied. He ate his cold meal under the light of the glowing orb, thinking that the days were becoming shorter, though the weather remained mild without much fluctuation.
A year was considered five hundred days, cut into four seasons and like upon Earth, these seasons could vary in temperament across the two continents. The institute was in an area of mild temperament, despite being scattered across mountains, but would still receive snow in the winter and occasionally heat waves in the summer. The outer alchemist school was upon a slope, but also sheltered by taller mountains to the west. This somewhat protected the school and the herbs it abundantly grew, so their personal microclimate could be considered most stable.
Leon, however, was not aware of this and decided to make plans to ensure the protection of his garden in colder months. But he was not sure of how to do this and decided to seek advice in town when he descended in a week to meet with Mr Clawse once more. It would also be a good chance to see if others had any knowledge about herbs that might not necessarily be written down.
Poorer families would not generally have their children learn to read, finding teachers, paying their fees, this was often beyond their abilities and purse strings. But that did not mean that they lacked knowledge that they wished to pass down to their children. This was therefore done by word of mouth. Leon felt that there could be much to learn in the wisdom of these elders and was willing to seek them out and learn.
In the meantime, Leon planted the three bulbs that he had received from the Cloudy Spiritual Pill request in three pots and placed them on a shelf within his hut. He then began to remove the weeds, basically any seedling that he did not recognise as being one of his herbs, from the herb and flower beds. He did not toss these aside, as he knew how lacking his knowledge was, just planted them in pots and would wait for them to grow and see if they could be identified.
Some that had definitely turned out to be weeds and not herbs, nor edible plants, still attracted butterflies and bees, so he had a small field growing a bit of a distance from his hut with these weeds. They were usually watered by the rain or the waste water from his bath and chamberpot and did not seem displeased with this, so he continued to rely on them.
One 'weed' turned out to be silver nettle tea-tree, from which silver nettle tealeaves could be plucked for potions. The sapling was still young, so of no use right now, but it was an ever-green and would be able to provide him with the staple ingredient for healing pills throughout winter in the future.
Watering his garden took half a barrel of rainwater, so there was just enough left for a bath. He didn't fancy having to refill the barrel as he usually did with bucket after bucket from the lake or holding out for rainy weather, perhaps a wheelbarrow should be added to his shopping list. Yawning, he filled the bath with heated water and threw in some bath salts as he liked the scent of them anyway and proceeded to soak. Dreamily sitting in the cramped bath of warm water, he didn't wonder about why his soulsea felt so calm and refreshed after a time and simply cultivated without thought.
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