Welcome to Cove

Kate found herself with some free time on her hands before sun set. She was already bathed and out of her uniform, and wearing a clean plain dress as she cast about for some thing to do. Some how sitting in a tavern wasn't imedially appealing.

Perhaps a bit of a walk...

She set out not entirely sure where she wished to go, and though wary of the new restrictions with Vespers didn't let that dictate her wandering overly much. Half way to mount Covetous she came upon an open glade.. and caught her breath. For where there was typically just an open place in the trees with a few gooseberries tangling the edges it now looked as if some god had covered the glade with a white lace table cloth. Hemlock grew from one end of the clearing to the other... almost un challenged by any of the other plants.

The flame haired young woman waded tentatively through the sea of white laced beauty and marveled that, despite the sweltering heat of resent days, the hemlock flowers still bloomed in abundance; so much so that they covered the grass. Only the spindly chickoree managed to grow above the hemlock.  The innocent pale blue blooms a stark contrast to the more extravagant and deadly plant it shared the high glade with.

She idly recalled a lesson mentioning that hemlock only bloomed a few days out of the year and that the very best time to cut it for an assassins brew was long before that, when the first fuzzy green stems showed themselves in early spring. The flowers were nearly thigh high, and so thick that it made walking difficult. The fuzzy, curling leaves and stems of the plant catching on her dress, and slowing her step as if she were walking through water.

Pausing mid-way though the glade Kate looked up then raised her sword calloused hands up as well, staring into the red glare of the setting sun as she streached the days tirdness from her limbs. Relishing, for a few moments, the feel of nothing but the painted sky above her, the lingering heat making it seem every near to the frothy white flowers that clung to her legs.

With a faint smile the tall young woman sighed, then lounged back into the plants, tucking her skirts about her feet, drowsly letting her eyes drift shut. Back home she'd spent a good amount of time pacing through carefully manicured gardens and enjoying fine kept roses. Nothing she'd ever seen in the gardens of nobles houses could compare to the wild beauty of a tangled rose thickets blooming. The hardier, paler, sweeter blooms made the heavy red roses of tame plants seem sedate and less lovely.

Opening her eyes, to stare up at the underside of the poisonous blooms over her head. The involuntary shiver she'd felt when first laying eyes on the plants swept over her once more. It was silly, but some part of her still felt that she might take ill just breathing in the dry, throat-pinching perfume of the plant.

Who would have thought that hemlock, a common weed could be so beautiful when allowed its own way in an open place in the forests? I wonder why they live together? Chickoree and hemlock...