sunlight on mist

Lena

and sweetest in the gale is heard
and sore must be the storm

It’d taken some time, but eventually the Caretaker had her items acquired and settled. Squaring her shoulders, excited and nervous all at once, the youth moved her way through the familiar paths and walkways of the Celestine. The march was a dutiful one, a walk she’d taken many times before and would still thereafter, but this was her first quest, the result of hard work and deliberation.

To take healing measures to another step, to not be so useless and floundering, to be capable, even in the midst of chaos.

The shrine’s essence calmed her nerves, and she immediately settled into her regular routine, crouching, head bobbed, a whisper at the ready. “Frey, I have done as you asked.” She gently laid the staff and efas herb before her, and the memories of Morgen healing her palm was a ready and available one.

--

Turning in Lena’s quest to Nature Frey for a healing staff, acquired in like spring water

1. Complete a thread collecting a branch from one of the trees in the Greatwood:
sunflower souls - Grabbed a branch with Ray

2. Complete a thread having the branch crafted into a staff:
paths run to the earth - Had LuLu the NPC craft the branch into a staff.

3. Complete a thread collecting Efas Herb from the Labyrinth in the Hollowed Grounds:
the knots unravel - Collected an efas herb with Darkeye.

4. Complete a thread observing someone healing another, whether through magic or first aid:
stop looking behind you - Watched Morgen heal her wounded hand

that could abash the little bird
that kept so many warm

Frey

"So you have." Frey's voice is like a the babble of a stream or the whisper of leaves through branches, and rather than appearing outright, a flutter of blossoms blown from the trees overhead vaguely takes the shape of the deity before her. "This will do nicely, I should think."

Before her, the efas herb will appear to grow and spread, attaching itself to the staff, winding and conjoining with root and leaf and bud, until it is as if they are one and the same material. The staff itself seems to pulse with promises of growth and change, the branch as alive as it ever has been. "Use it well."

---

Lena has completed her quest and has received the following:

Healer's Staff | A wooden staff that continues to bloom and grow leaves despite having been separated from its mother tree. Capable of delivering Basic Healing to one target.

Lena

and sweetest in the gale is heard
and sore must be the storm

Leaves and blossoms, branches and baubles, forms of deities who lived amidst nature took hold, and Lena lifted her head in reverential awe, watching as the world pieced itself together. “Thank you,” she whispered before anything even occurred – grateful for the herald’s presence alone.

And then whirlwinds of herbs attached and twined, woven back into threads of resin and bark, a staff softened by roots and tenacity, a process of rejuvenation and mending, a promise of benediction that the Caretaker would strive to serve once more. “I will,” she hummed in response – her hand eventually going toward the staff, allowing the warmth of it to spread through her fingers. “Thank you again, for the opportunity.” And she bowed her head, before striding away, ready to assist and help all the more.

{FIN <3}

that could abash the little bird
that kept so many warm