A Hint of Mint

Featuring:
Parisa fav.me/d7fgh69
Moki fav.me/d61zfih
Huisha (Mentioned) fav.me/d6x7aaw
Season, Year 759 of the New Age
Glenmore, Glenwood

Parisa

In the midst of summer, the forest was teaming with life, not the almost intense energy of spring as every creature hurriedly replenished itself after the long winter, but more of a steady march. The fawns were being born, and so were many of the young of so many other animals of the forest. Flowers weren’t as plentiful now, but there were still far more than plenty, and there was green everywhere. The canopy was thick overhead, blanketing the forest floor with a mottled pattern of sunlight and shadows. And when the wind stirred, the forest floor seemed to almost come alive as the pattern shifted and jumped. This made searching for a low lying plant a bit difficult though, especially one you weren’t entirely sure of.

With her head low to the ground, Parisa searched with her large brown eyes slightly narrowed, trying to focus. “I could have sworn I remembered seeing some of that mint around here…” she muttered to herself, long tail swishing about behind her in agitation. When her mother had described it to her, the young doe had been so sure that she knew exactly what she was looking for, and she had even been sure that she had seen it a few times in this area. Now, though, it was proving elusive, and Parisa was growing impatient, as was her way. Muttering to herself every so often, she searched on, poking her nose about the under brush in search of some spearmint for her mother’s tea. She always got a little head cold this time of year, she said the heat disagreed with her.

Moki
Moki was out dropping off some herbs to a friend when he heard someone mumbling in frustration, being the ever friendly and curious young stag that he was he went to investigate. He smiled as he passed a family of mice gathering food and teaching their young, he smiled at  the sight and continued on  his way grabbing a few herbs as he went. Some of the more rare ones he left but blew on gently and had them produce a seed or two then he added it to a pouch he had on his tail.
It wasn’t long before he saw the source of the frustrated grumbling, “Do you need any help?” he asked the shorter bay dun roan fawnling it looked to be a doe but in his travels he had met a few that proved looks could be deceiving.    

Parisa

The doe startled a bit at the sound of a voice behind her, her head jerking up to toss her black mane and whipping about to blink large eyes in surprise. She spotted a dark chestnut stag with a flaxen mane and tail, which made her long ears flick back a bit in a hint of suspicion. “No, thanks,” she replied irritably without even thinking about it. Parisa was somewhat distrustful of strange stags on principle and disliked admitting that she needed help as well, but she’d no more responded than she let out a quick sigh, realizing that the flowers in his hair and the pouches around his neck and tail marked him as a herbalist. So he probably could help her.

“Actually yes, sorry,” she corrected herself, “I’m just looking for some spearmint. I could have sworn I remembered seeing some around here but now I can’t seem to find it… my mother was wanting some for her tea.” Parisa didn’t sound particularly happy about admitting she needed help but she felt a fool looking around so long for something as simple as spearmint. Her long tail flicked about behind her in irritation.

Moki
He tilted his head watching her and saw her distrust, he sighed softly he knew a lot took him as just a nosey young stag and not the healer and herbalist he was. Just as he was about to nod and turn  to head off he heard her sigh. He flicked his ear and twitched his tail then tilted his head again in curiosity.

When she spoke he still heard the irritation and frustration. He smiled though and nodded “ah yes Spearmint a yummy herb for tea” he smiled  “and i believe you are right there is some here..somewhere, i can smell it” he chuckled. ” As well as remember seeing it not to long ago, i would be happy to help you find it” he smiled.  Then watched her a little still very curious, she was a very interesting doe, and pretty,but not as pretty as his Ryia. He smiled again and with another twitch of his tail moved closer to start the hunt.

Parisa
“Thank you,” the doe nodded, her tail swishing softly behind her, “I know I remember seeing some around here but now I can’t find it…” She blinked a bit then, her long ears pricking forward, “Oh, sorry, I’m Parisa,” she told him, realizing that she hadn’t really introduced herself, something her mother would hate. Her mother would be appalled at her behavior with this entire encounter really, she was always lamenting that her daughter wasn’t more proper and polite. She told Parisa on a regular basis that bucks liked quiet, well-behaved does, not rude, suspicious ones like her. His arrival had startled her though.


Moki
Moki looked up at her and flicked his ears a little “Well we will find it.. That I’m sure of Parisa and my name is Moki its very nice to meet you” he smiled and gave a small nod. “So do you know a lot about herbs?” He asked her, always on the lookout for a teacher, or student, if they wanted to learn he wanted to teach them. He lowered his head back down and started to poke around in the brush some more.

Parisa
She actually gave a small smile when Moki assured her that they would find the mint, nodding a bit when he introduced himself. “Nice to meet you too,” she agreed, starting look around again as well, head low and nose poking a low branch aside. “Not really,” Parisa answered his question as she let the branch move back in place, “I’ve been a bit curious about them for a while but my mother doesn’t exactly approve of does learning such things.” She was a royal, she was expected to be still and beautiful, looking around for plants got one’s pelt dirty, as her mother liked to say.

“I rushed off to look for this before she could stop me,” Parisa admitted with a soft laugh, “I just don’t want to go back without it. She’ll tell me that I don’t have any business with such things. Well, she’ll say that even if I come back with it, but at least if I come back with the mint she needs I won’t feel like she might have a point.” She paused and frowned, lifting her head to look at him, “I’m sorry, it’s rude of me to talk about my problems like that, I don’t know you.” So she quickly changed the subject as she went back to searching, “You seem like you’re very knowledgeable though, where did you learn?”

Moki
"It's fine I don't mind" he said with a chuckle  and looked over at her and smiled, then moved his head back to look for the herb "Where did I learn? Well my mother got me started when I was only three months but when I lost her Huisha took over in my teaching" he said with a smile, had it not been for that stag finding him he never would have made it. There were others that helped care for him but Husha raised him, teaching him kindness and encouraging him to look at the brighter side of things. “You know if you would like to learn more i would be happy to teach you” he said with a smile and looked up at her and swished his tail a little “Even a royal should know the basics” he added and chuckled.  

Parisa
She was sorry to hear about his mother, but it didn’t seem like it had stopped him from living his life, so that was good. The doe thought about her own mother, the two of them didn’t always see eye to eye, but she would hate to lose her. When Moki offered to help teach her about herbs though she lifted her head, large ears pricked forward, “Really? That’d be great. I’ve wanted to learn, but haven’t really had the chance…” That wasn’t entirely true, but close enough. Parisa went back to looking, and paused as she peaked around a tree trunk, blinking about, “Hey I think I found it!” She told Moki, looking over at him then back to the small plant growing between the roots of the tree, “Isn’t this it?” It smelled like mint, and looked how she recalled, but she wanted to be sure. She’d never hear the end of it if she was wrong.

Moki
Moki walked over to her and looked at the little plant, then smelled it and smiled “Yes that would be Mint, and yes really.. I would be happy to teach you, and if for some reason i wind up not able to… Then Husha can take over, he's getting older and has a bit of a hard time getting around but hes a great teacher… But i don’t see any reason I wont be able to” he said with a chuckle and swished his tail. “Would you like to meet him? My teacher, and mentor… And the stag i call my uncle?” He asked her.

Parisa
Parisa was glad to finally locate the mint, and that it was the right kind. She’d take this back for her mother’s tea and now it seemed she had someone to help her learn more about herbs and plants. Maybe even two somebodies as she listened to Moki talk about his own mentor, and offered to introduce her to him. The doe nodded her head enthusiastically, her large ears bobbing a little. “Yes, I’d like that very much,” she assured him, “Right now though I should get going, this took longer than I had thought it would. My mother will be worrying.” Parisa gathered up the mint in her mouth, not having a bag or pouch of her own, and inclined her head to Moki a little before she turned and trotted off.