Seperate Lessons

((This is for Adonia and Iva, but if you would like to join in don't be a stranger))

Iva arrived rather early to the field. Today would be her first time teaching, the old ways of healing and not how to quickly heal with magic, in an incredibly long time. She looked to her lesson plan sheet and to the various herbs that were needed. Iva used her fingers to count off the herbs, the big one was aloe, echinacea, and black cohosh. She smiled happy that she had everything she needed to teach Adonia. Smiling to herself once more, Iva was happy someone wasn't afraid of her and let alone take private lessons from her. Cheerfully she sat waiting for the siren to arrive.

Adonia glided along through the long grass, her bag of books and other supplies from her other classes still over her shoulder. Today was her first lesson in traditional healing with Iva, the resident healer of the Athenaeum.

She finally spotted her new teacher sitting in the grass a short distance away and waved happily, hurrying over to plop down next to her. "Hey Iva!" she said happily.

Iva smiled happily at Adonia, she was incredibly cheerful for someone who just came from other lessons. "Hello Adonia! And how are you, were your other lessons good?" She asked politely.

"Oh they were fine" Adonia shrugged. "I'm doing fine with scythes and water magic, and I'm fairly decent with battle strategy and with my whips... but fire magic is still a pain for me." she said with a grimace. "But that's OK, I'm still learning. What are we doing today?" she asked looking at the assorted herbs ans such eagerly.

((sorry for the late reply... had a long conversation with my brother))

Iva nodded and smiled encouragingly. "Don't worry about fire magic! With the more classes you are bound to become much more accustomed to it and you'll be a master at it in no time!" She cheerfully told the younger girl. "Well I figured that for the first few lessons, I will teach about three or so different herbs with different reasons for healing."

"Thanks," Adonia said with a smile. "I do hope o. Fire can be so handy at times."

"Sound great!" she said looking down at the assorted herbs and supplies curiously. "Such strange shapes some of them have." she giggled.

Iva laughed at Adonia's observation. "Yes indeed some of them do!" She looked at the herbs and then back to Adonia. "Shall we get started then?" Iva asked and carefully picked up an aloe leaf.

"Yes, please!" Adonia said eagerly, looking at the leaf with interest. "oooh what's that?" she asked looking at the strange spiked leaf.

((sorry for the really late reply. I have midterms next week....so I'm studying and doing homework while also doing this XD))

"This is an aloe leaf. Aloe leaves when broken, a gel oozes out of it. The gel is used topically on wounds and burns to help them heal more rapidly. There is no harm in applying fresh gel from a broken leaf to a minor cut or burn, and many people find it soothing." Iva said, as she demonstrated breaking the leaf she held and let the gel ooze out. "But one must be careful when applying aloe gel to wounds. It has a latex in it, which is also a huge laxative that irritates the intestine." She paused for moment to let Adonia take that all in or to write it down.

((There's no problem X3 I'm workin on stuff too, so just take your time X3))

Adonia had pulled out a notebook and was scribbling notes down with quiet precision. "Laxative?" she said looking up with a grin. "Good to know." She reached out to touch the gel curiously. "Its got a really strange texture to it." she mused.

Iva nodded in agreement to what Adonia said. "Have you finished writing down what I said? If not then we can wait, if you have lets move on to the herb." She paused waiting for Adonia's response.

"Oh yes, I've got it all down" she said happily. "I'm finally getting better at this 'taking notes' thing. Before I was too slow at writing." She grinned sheepishly. "So what's next?" she said peering at the other plant.

"Well thats good!" Iva smiled encouragingly. Iva picked up the echinacea flower. "Now this is the Echinecea, it contains herbal preparations are capable of modifying or regulating one or more immune functions." She told Adonia, and then paused allowing her to take notes. "You use the roots for the immunity and the flower part is mainly for decoration."

((I'm gonna apologize for taking so long on replying, as soon as midterms are over I should be more consistent.))

Adonia observed the flower with interest writing down the necessary information and made a quick ketch of both the flower and the Aloe plant in her new notebook which was to become her medical journal. "Immunity... Like what keeps you from being sick right?" she said glancing up at her teacher.

Iva nodded, "Thats exactly what it does. It keeps you from getting sick plus it improves symptoms and shorten the duration of colds and upper respiratory infections." She paused again remembering an important tidbit of information. "One thing to remember is echinacea should be taken on an as-needed basis or at the change of a season."

"Amazing" Adonia breathed looking at the flower more closely. "It really is amazing what one can do with such simple things." she mused.

"That's one of the main reasons why I love treating people with herbal medicine and not healing magic. Herbs, leaves, roots; they all have a specific thing to heal and itd quite amazing how much one can do for someone. Although I do have healing magic capabilities, I save those for the more serious and more fatal circumstances." Iva told Adonia and she looked to the tiny little flower in her hands that held so much power. Gently setting the echinacea on the little mat with the other herbs.

"Are you ready to continue?" Iva asked Adonia. "Or do you have any other questions about the echinecea.

"Ready to go on!" Adonia responded happily adding a final pencil stroke to the sketches of the plants in her journal with a flourish.

((I had to chose a different herb for the third one....the black cohosh yeah its used for menopause XD ))

Iva nodded, "Alrighty then, here we go the next herb." She bent down to pick it up. "Comfrey is used to promote more rapid repair of broken bones. Fresh, peeled root (approximately 100 grams) or dried root is simmered in 1 pint (250 ml) water for ten to fifteen minutes to prepare comfrey for topical use. Cloth or gauze is soaked in this liquid, then applied to the skin for at least fifteen minutes. Fresh leaves can be ground up lightly and applied directly to the skin. Creams or ointments made from root or leaf can be applied. All topical preparations should be applied several times per day. To aid the healing of a broken bone, a window would need to be left in the cast near the fracture site, and comfrey applied." She finished her lecture about comfrey and paused. "I'm if I'm going too fast...I'm not used to having someone write down everything I say."

((pfffffffff nice XDDD That would be a wonderful touchy subject wouldn't it? >3>))

Adonia scribbled down the notes quickly, looking up with a smile "Oh no, your fine!.. but I did have a question. How does one measure out these things?" she asked with an embarrassed grin. "I haven't learned measurement systems yet." she said.

((Oh yes...I could just picture the awkwardness brimming off of it XDD))

"Well there different measuring systems. There is the metric and the Enlglish or standard way I believe it is called. I only studied both systems in the modern world once." Iva explained and then continued, "I usually use the metric system as compared to the standard. The metric system is much easier to understand, like water boils at 100 degreed Celsius. But I really can't do justice of explaining it...I will try though ((a.k.a I'm too lazy to explain it....so just pretend she explained perfectly XD))" Iva paused to make sure she understood and had any questions.

((pfffff particularly since Adonia is fairly clueless XDDD I can see it now... >3>))

Adonie nodded and jotted down a few extra notes in the back of her book where she could find them easily. "Ok... I think I've got it" she said looking over the notes once more before looking up to Iva again. "I'll go look it up in the library later for some extra research." she said. ((Pfff that's completely fine XD I cheat like that all the time in RPs XDDD))

Iva smiled at Adonia. "Now I'm gonna show you how to use aloe. Is that alright with you?" She needed to ask the siren before she showed her.

"Sure!" Adonia said leaning forward for better look.

"Now don't be alarmed Adonia." Iva took from her around her neck the bone dagger that was held in a pouch. She carefully and swiftly cut her arm. It was a tiny cut, not huge or deep. Iva then picked up the aloe leaf, she broke it and rubbed the gel the oozed out of the leaves onto the cut. "See, now this will sooth the cut and help heal it more rapidly." Iva picked up some bandages and wrapped her arm up. "And there you go, thats how to use aloe. I'd love to show you how to use the other two...but I can't magically make myself sick." She said with a smile.