"It is," he agreed, his smile turning wry. "But worth the effort, I hope." Her blush was, he hoped, a good sign. One that meant she was focusing on the world around her again, and taking an interest in their conversation rather than drifting through the woods in a state of dangerous distraction. There were wolves here, and other creatures even more deadly, and whatever had brought this sense of melancholy upon her he didn't wish to see her come to harm through it.
"Valerian," he murmured, flipping a few pages back in the book and then nodding as he matched the carefully drawn picture to the roots she held. He studied the words written by several of the plant's characteristics, comparing them to what he could see of the real thing, and then nodded, grinning up at the midwife. "If I've got this right... useful for insomnia, anxiety, and coughs, yes?" He glanced back the way he had come, noting a rustling beneath a colony of young mayapples whose large leaves hide all but a flash of white beneath them as something scurried by. "I think I passed some ginger a little ways back if you'd like some of that--" He was interrupted by a muffled squeak of pride as a small gryphon, pale feathered and furred, with the face, wings, and talons of a snowy owl and the body and tail of snow leopard cub, tumbled out from the mayapples and promptly dropped a brilliantly shining green beetle on his boot. The beetle - nearly the size of his thumb - lay stunned for just long enough for him to bend down and reach for it before it buzzed back to life and scuttled behind his heel and burrowed into the leaf mold, causing the gryphlet to reep! reproachfully at Jigano before pouncing after it in hot pursuit.
"Valerian," he murmured, flipping a few pages back in the book and then nodding as he matched the carefully drawn picture to the roots she held. He studied the words written by several of the plant's characteristics, comparing them to what he could see of the real thing, and then nodded, grinning up at the midwife. "If I've got this right... useful for insomnia, anxiety, and coughs, yes?" He glanced back the way he had come, noting a rustling beneath a colony of young mayapples whose large leaves hide all but a flash of white beneath them as something scurried by. "I think I passed some ginger a little ways back if you'd like some of that--" He was interrupted by a muffled squeak of pride as a small gryphon, pale feathered and furred, with the face, wings, and talons of a snowy owl and the body and tail of snow leopard cub, tumbled out from the mayapples and promptly dropped a brilliantly shining green beetle on his boot. The beetle - nearly the size of his thumb - lay stunned for just long enough for him to bend down and reach for it before it buzzed back to life and scuttled behind his heel and burrowed into the leaf mold, causing the gryphlet to reep! reproachfully at Jigano before pouncing after it in hot pursuit.
