Kersath said nothing for a short bit, but his smile was enough for Kre to feel a sense of pride in his answer. Finally, the dark-skinned Ylveryan spoke, “As Talimar said, the things that we will teach you are essential survival skills. But make no mistake that we do so out of a selfish desire that you do not bring pain and death to any of our membership.”
Another moment of silent riding and Kre turned to ask his companion if he would get to learn how to use a bow, as that was something they never had growing up. Kersath was no where to be seen which, Kre supposed, was nothing that surprised him at this point. He kicked his horse into a faster pace and eventually caught up to Dain.
“Ah,” Dain said, not looking up from the basket of assorted plants he balanced on the saddle in front of him. “Do you know what this is?” he asked, holding up a small sprig of a purplish herbs.
Kre admitted that he did not know that particular herb, nor any of the other four that Dain presented one after each other. The other man never explained himself or his little quiz. He didn’t even bother to tell Kre about the herbs once Kre admitted ignorance. The herbs simply went back into the basket and nothing more was said about them.
“What about this?” The basket was gone, though Kre had no idea where he would have stashed it, and now Dain was holding a dried-out flower. Even in its shriveled and shrunken state, Kre recognized the evil plant immediately.
“You shouldn’t touch that!” he cried, trying to recall what Kitalia used to remove the awful burning pain that the flower’s sap caused. “That’s a rash flower and it can cause horrific pain!”
Dain chuckled and considered the flower carefully, “I grow ever more curious about you and your past for you to know the pain that the blue rasher can bring.”
He tucked the flower back into a pouch and made an exaggerated show of examining his fingers as if to demonstrate that he suffered no ill effects from the plant. “When plucked fresh, the rasher’s sap is, as you say, quite the powerful irritant. However, when collected properly and carefully allowed to dry out, the rasher plant can be used to concoct quite an excellent pain reliever.
“Tea?” Dain asked, holding out a small metal flask.
Kre took the flask and was immediately surprised by how warm the metal was. Despite his thirst, he made no move to drink from it, remembering all too fondly the first time Dain served him tea.
“Are you one of those folks that makes herbal brews and remedies?” Kre asked. His mind was frustratingly blanking on the actual name of that profession. This was doubly embarrassing given that it was the work of his best friend’s mother, Mrs. Adranis.
“Do you know what magic is?” Dain asked, not seeming to care that Kre wasn’t drinking the tea and not bothering to answer Kre’s question directly. What was it about the folks in this company that made them refuse to answer anything in a straight way.