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“Why herbal medicine?” Endra asks over a cup of tea. Her eyes are large as she stares. If Jasper didn’t know any better, they’d swear Endra never blinked.
They quirk a brow in response, their own cup halfway raised to their mouth. Jasper mutters into the cup, “What?”
“Well, why stop at just herbal medicine?” The archivist continues, her head tilting far to the side, looking at Jasper like a curious bird about to perform a peculiar, hopping dance. She lifts her hands and tosses them to each side, her wrists more like hinges with the way they swing and fall into place. “Medicine advances quickly, you know. Medical breakthroughs left and right. You could’ve gone places, way higher than some hole-in-the-ground town. Could’ve had a refrigerator and a kitchen, too.”
Jasper stares, too, in a way that’s concerning for a different reason than when Endra stares.
Endra’s eyes are large, hungry things. Golden rings searching for diamonds in the rough, a look Jasper remembers well from her Daddy’s. She finds it hard to look at Endra at times when she visits the archive. She’s used to being haunted by reminders of the past, but looking into eyes that suddenly bring her father’s gaze back to her mind, the look in them as she put pressure on the trigger, as the gunpowder burst with a sharp BANG —-
Jasper’s eyes are more calculating. Cold steel, tempered by the hottest flames. They’re the piercing kind, the pin-you-to-the-wall-with-a-glare kind, the eyes that tell you the bad news before the good.
When she stares at Endra, it’s to see what her angle is.
Her soul is one like Jasper’s never seen before. Always in flux. Like a liquid forming to the shape of its container, never a constant aside from the odd patch of gray that’s been smashed into the side of it like potter’s clay. Some leech, or maybe an infection, trying to mold itself to her shape and consistently failing.
Endra’s soul is chaotic, gluttonous. Her gluttony hungers for information the way a hoarder hungers for useless, odd little trinkets. Just to keep. Just to hold.
Their tea cup clinks against the small plate resting in the palm of their hand. Jasper’s always preferred coffee, but Endra’s got some weird thing about coffee so they settle for tea. They look at Endra with that piercing gaze, a mirthless chuckle falling from their lips. They slide the cup and plate off their palm, onto the table before crossing their arms and leaning heavy against the surface.
“My family wasn’t too much of an ‘on the grid’ kinda people,” She starts. “Mama used to be an Army nurse ‘fore she got pregnant. Decided not to go back after me an’ my sisters were born. Never really told us how come, but I got a pretty good idea now.”
She can see in Endra’s eyes the desire to know that answer, but Jasper doesn’t elaborate before continuing her story.
“The three of us all got taught basic first aid. How to tie a tourniquet. How to stitch a wound. Make a splint. Even showed us how to set a broken bone the time Ruby fell off the roof helpin’ Daddy patch a hole.”
Endra watches Jasper’s lip quirk up at the corner for a brief moment. A glossy look of fondness and melancholy coming to her eyes. Jasper no longer sees Endra in front of her, instead staring straight through her like she wasn’t there at all.
She continues, “Taught us which herbs we could rely on for medicine, which ones to avoid. In case we didn’t have access to medicine. She noticed I took to it better than my sisters, an’ I started learnin’ about more than just the basic survival needs. Showed me how to identify safe herbs from dangerous ones that look the same at a glance. Ruby didn’t have the patience or discipline. Emmie couldn’t keep track of the differences, little too afraid of makin’ mistakes. I was always more book smart. Less worried ‘bout makin’ mistakes ‘cause I was confident I wouldn’t.”
Jasper pauses, then pushes off the table, leaning far back in her chair. Her eyes clear and she watches Endra closely again, a look that dares her to ask questions and discourages her at the same time.
“I’m not interested in the popularity of modern medicine,” Jasper declares. “What the Earth provides is plenty for me.”
The blank staring continues.
Jasper expects Endra to ask more questions, probe further into the explanations with a ‘but, why?’ She expects Endra to want to deconstruct her history and explore every nook, cranny and crevice she can find. No book unopened, no stone unturned. Jasper’s watched the way she gorges herself on information and always looks for more and more and more until even the crumbs are no more.
Endra continues to stare. Jasper almost expects her to start chittering with the way she looks like some kind of foraging prey animal, but instead she watches as Endra pushes herself away from the table, skittering across the room and through a doorway further into the archive.
Jasper watches blankly, dumbfounded, confused as she always is when in Endra’s presence.
She hears distant shuffling and the squeak of old wheels being forced into motion, a plethora of dull thuds and grunts of effort, and just as quickly as she had left Endra returns with a precariously balanced stack of books so tall it hides her face.
Endra practically dumps them on the table, spilling half of her own tea as they thud and slide into the middle of the table. Jasper only barely manages to grab her own tea. She looks at Endra confused, maybe a little scared, and Endra simply beams back at them as she grabs the first book from the top of the pile and opens to a random page.
She shoves the book into Jasper’s face, holding it open by the top of the spine as she says, “Herbs and flowers have so many different languages.”
Jasper wants to straighten up to her full height and give Endra the full effect of her perplexion, but the faded image on the page in front of her catches her attention. Much like the tattoo on her arm, it depicts a bunch of lavender, a description of its medicinal properties outlined beside it.
“Okay–”
“Lavender can represent calmness, just like it does medicinally, but it also represents purity, devotion, serenity and grace – Oh! And the color purple is often considered a regal color, speaks of elegance and luxury. Did you know lavender oil was used to bathe by the Romans because of its fragrance?”
Jasper blinks, and raises a questioning brow. “I, uh – knew it was used for that. Not specifically by who.”
Endra titters with glee, pulls the book back to herself and flips to another page.
“Sage,” She says simply, looking at Jasper expectantly.
“Uh,” They hesitate as they begin to lean forward again, not quite understanding Endra’s reasoning for this odd behavior yet curious to see where this goes. “Can be used as an antibacterial. Also helps with pain and inflammation.”
Endra’s smile widens, splitting her face in half like a wound. “It represents wisdom, health, and domestic virtue.”
The two of them continue the game for a little over an hour, educating one another on the languages of flowers and herbs.