Chap. 56 Identifying the plants

Chap. 56  Identifying the plants

"I've never seen anything like these plants in my life," the Billek, the Master Healer said. "But I'm not an herbalist. For that, probably Jenmay is your best source." He grimaced, embarrassed to be advising one of the dragonriders to seek out the Oldtimer.

After Jenmay had confiscated the plants he and Lindea had harvested, K'ndar had wasted not a second to immediately return to the site and get more. That was the advantage of being a dragon rider, he thought. This time, though, he was very careful to not let Jenmay see him leave or return with them.

"Sir, if you don't mind, I don't want her to know I have these plants. She was beside herself when she saw them in my weyr. Now I don't want her knowing ANYTHING about my activities in finding them. I'm already on her bad list, she ordered me and everyone else in the beach weyrs to move back into the cliff weyrs.  She's got it out for me, but I'm not the only one. I'm a 'modern." I'm a subversive and I'm just waiting to be banished from the weyr," K'ndar said.

Billek shook his head. He and his healers had had too many run-ins with Jenmay. His subordinates loathed her. She was an excellent herbalist but treated her knowledge as something to be kept from any 'modern'. "I hear you, K'ndar. She's banished two of my healers for them daring to question her."

"Aye. Look what she did to our junior gold riders. Sending them away because she's afraid they 'might get hurt' in a mating rise?" he felt his anger growing. "How does she get away with it?" K'ndar growled.

"Unfortunately, K'ndar, we might be 'moderns' in her eyes, but we still live in a society where a Weyrwoman, or a Lord Holder…or even a Crafthall Master..is obeyed, no  matter how harsh the orders may be. Until that changes, even with Aivas's Charter laws, we are held to antiquated laws.

I have a hope that all it will change when Thread stops falling, but even so, knowing human behavior, I can tell you it's not going to be pretty, or easy. You dragonriders will be at the forefront of change. You always were."

The Master Healer sorted the plants into two piles. One was a grass, the other was a pretty yellow flower. Its bulb was large in comparison to the flower itself. 

"Tell me, K'ndar, where and under what circumstances did you find these plants?"

K'ndar told him. He'd attempted to identify them using the natural history book he'd been given by Elene, Landing's librarian, but the plants weren't in it.

He didn't mention that Lindea had gone with him. He didn't want Lindea implicated in anything. Not now, not with the harridan Jenmay searching out anything that even hinted of sedition. What has happened that I can't even trust the healer? 

"What I found odd, sir was that one, it appeared as if whers had dug up the bulbs, and two, fire lizards were eating the flowers. My fire lizard saw Jenmay feed the flowers to her gold, and the dragon ate them. My dragon says that they don't purposefully eat plants, but they do eat the prey animals stomachs, so they get plants that way," he said.

"Hmmm. That's interesting. But, again, not being an herbalist, I can only guess that the plants were either brought in by the Ancients, or hadn't been discovered when the book was published. Either way, I'd love to know why Jenmay was harvesting them. If they're the herb she advised we used on the kids with the creepycrud skin condition, I'd pay money for them. That stuff worked wonders. She refused to tell us where she got them. How nice, what?

"Nice, my boot." A thought hit K'ndar. "I know what I'll do. I'll take them to the Landing library. They have 'computers' there that, if I remember, can look at something, like this plant, and the computer tells you what it is. Ah. I have all day, I'll go now!"

"One of the advantages of being a dragon rider. Is it worth fighting Thread for?" Billek asked. 

"Every moment. Want to come along? Elene wants me to bring 'my friends," " K'ndar asked.

"I'd love to. I've been to Landing but never to the library. Let me tell my second that I'm going to be gone for a while, and I'm your passenger."

"Tell her to not say a word to Jenmay," K'ndar advised.

"What a shame that it's come to this," Billek said.

Of course, it took a while to show Billek the many marvels of the library. Elene was always willing to show it off. But eventually, she showed them to a scanner and how to use it. She picked up the plants, one by one, and scanned them into the computer.

It took very little time. The results were posted almost immediately.

The flower came up first.

Volumen fertilis. No common name. Uncommon throughout its range. Small, 8 petaled yellow or gold flower. Twisted spiral stem arises from a single rhizome (bulb). Found only in the high latitudes of the far northwestern Northern continent. Habitat: cold, arid, relatively sterile soil. Wind pollinated. In native whers and fire lizards, consumption of the bulbs and/or flowers stimulates and enhances estrogen production, inducing mating behavior and increasing ovulation. It had no similar effect on mammals or avians.

The other was classified as a grass.

Strigilis fortunatus. "Happy grass". Common throughout its range. Found only in the high latitudes of the far northwestern Northern continent.  One meter tall grass, with multiple channeled blades ending in heavily seeded tassles. Habitat: cold, arid, relatively sterile soil.  Wind pollinated. Alkaloidal. Consumed in minute quantities, the dried seeds induce a sense of well-being and happiness. In the first fifty years of colonization it was sometimes used as an anti-depressant. However, usage was banned after finding that multiple doses (<20) or long term usage accumulated in the mammalian liver, causing irreversible hallucinations, vertigo, blindness, pain, delirium, and ultimately, death.

Harmless to native creatures but TOXIC IN MAMMALS.

They looked at each other. It all made sense.

"The flower in Jianath," K'ndar said.

"The happy grass in Danelle," Billek said.

"That was murder," Elene said.