The ‘needed things’ Aunty spoke of, was a bag that needed to be filled with a variety of herbs and salves. They all had to be both accessible and kept from spilling. After an hour of working at it he came to a conclusion, I am very bad at this.

“Stop.” Aunty said before pointing into the bag. “You made a good decision placing the bandages under the powdered Bloodstop. If you need one, you will need the other. But now your bag is too high on one side and the fire-arrow salve is likely to tip over when you are moving.”

Again? He groaned internally, before slowly emptying the bag. As each item left the bag, he identified it and what it was for. He placed the last item on the small workbench and looked up awaiting permission to start again.

Instead, she patted him on the shoulder. “You now know what they are and what they are for. That means you need a break.” She smiled at him, “Come with me. I need to get some work done… and you can help.”

Orn followed her to the raised beds on the side of the building. Handing him a pair of leather gloves that were much too big for him she gave him a list of tasks. Apparently the break was a break from packing the bag, rather than a chance to relax.

At Aunty’s instruction he trimmed plants, pulled weeds and a dozen other small chores. The current chore was the most tedious yet, scraping moss off of a tree in the back garden.

The red moss peeled free revealing a bare patch of wood underneath. The bare spot looked exactly like a dozen others small spots now covering the trunk. Orn scraped his knife clean on the jar’s rim as he had been shown, and looked for the next spot. He finally found a small patch of the moss close to the ground. Placing the jar on the ground under the moss he bent down and started scraping. He had half the moss pealed back when he caught a now familiar scent. He leaned back, and realized it was coming from the jar. Bloodstop?

He turned to see Aunty looking at him in amusement. “Do you need something?”

“Is this Bloodstop?” He asked pointing at the jar.

She nodded smiling. “It is. Everything in the garden is here for a reason. Now finish that piece. It is about time to get lunch. I will go over what you harvested and how it is turned into medicines afterwards.”

Orn scraped the last bit free and whipped it into the jar. He handed the jar to Aunty who stood waiting as he finished. Following her out of the garden, he tried to guess at what each plant was. He was still trying to mentally connect the plants to the medicines when he walked back into the dinning room.

“How is packing the bag going?” Orn’s father asked looking up from a bunch of papers with Uncle.

“He was done more than an hour ago. Unlike a certain young man, who took days to learn the difference between goblin’s bane and Bloodstop.” Aunty said looking pointedly at Orn’s father. “In fact, he was even helpful in the garden, and identified Bloodstop moss on his own. Rather fast considering her has never seen the plants before.”

Orn’s father smiled at him approvingly. “Good job. Not many realize how important those herbs are until they need them.”

Uncle looked at Orn’s father and smirked, “You are one to talk.”

Before his father could respond the hunter turned back to one of the papers. “I could take him through here.” He traced his finger on the paper, “If he can identify plants, I will take him the long way round and see if he can identify them in the wild. A bit less hunting and more choreing than I originally intended, but if he has a skill for plants might as well put him to work collecting some that do not grow in the garden.”

Orn cringed at Uncle’s words, Why is it every time I do something good, I get rewarded with more work?