Fuuuuu Fuuuuu
A cool breeze struck a piece of glistening roasted meat still stuck to the bone. At the end of the bone was a hand stained with black and brown dirt, which belonged to a teenage boy, Zefir Cestre. After blowing on the meat, he leisurely hummed a little tune as he looked at the steaming meat with his deep green eyes, shining like jade.
He was sitting down on a piece of log next to a small river, surrounded by lush green trees. In front of him was a small campfire with dwindling flame which could extinguish any moment. His raven black hair was a tangled mess with leaves sticking on it, and even his oversized plain brown shirt and his loosely fitting black pants were smudged with specks of black and brown dirt.
He had sharp facial features, and combined with his deep green eyes, messy hair and the confident air he exuded, he would definitely stand out amongst people his age.
Finally deciding that the meat was cool enough for consumption, he smiled and took a large bite out of the chicken leg, leaving the bone underneath visible. "Ooohh! Hot, hot!", he complained, but his satisfied smile didn't waver. Although the chicken was hot, he took another bite and let out a wave of hot steam from his mouth like a dragon as he chewed while moving the meat all over his mouth before gulping it down.
As he was used to the heat, he proceeded to scarf down the meat until there was nothing but a shiny white leg bone left in his hand. "Hehe.." he chuckled and patted his stomach in satisfaction. "That really hit the spot! Phew!" He got up and walked towards the right of the campfire, where there was a pile of chicken bones. If a person joined the bones like puzzle pieces, it would make a whole chicken.
"I'd better take care of this." He sighed and squatted down next to the bones. He took out a trowel which was hanging from his belt and began digging the dirt next to the bones and made a small pit. After throwing in all the bones inside the pit, he covered the pit with dirt and stomped down on it, making it look natural. With the bones taken care of, he began cleaning up the campfire and the area around him. When he was done, it looked natural, like nothing had ever disturbed the area.
Washing his hands in the river, he walked back to the boulder he had sat on and picked up his brown bag. Opening the bag, he checked inside for the herbs he had collected so far. "That's mint leaves and morning-dew flowers accounted for.. The remaining is Moonlight grass and Rabbit-ear flowers…" He turned his head up to look at the sun, but he could only see parts of the sun as it was blocked by the trees. "Afternoon… If I go to the other side of the forest, I should be back by evening after collecting the herbs.." He nodded.
With his decision already made, he slung the bag to his back and walked towards the river. Crossing the river through a crudely made bridge, he moved deeper into the forest while humming a catchy tune.
As he moved through the forest, he didn't forget to scour it for the moonlight grass, which looked like normal grass, but the ends were split in two, or sometimes three, and also for the Rabbit-ear flowers, which had long pink petals with white borders, making it look just like a rabbit's ears. Although he had gone quite deep, these two herbs were rare.
"That should be enough for now!" He said in satisfaction as he cleared a patch of rabbit-ear flowers. He carefully put the flowers in his bag and closed it. Just as he was about to return, he saw a patch of red on the dirt wall he was just picking the flowers from.
"Redmud!" He exclaimed in surprise with widened eyes. His surprise then turned into joy as he smiled. "My luck's pretty good today! We'll finally be able to make that skin cream again!" He took out a smaller sack from inside his bag and placed it on the ground. Then he readied his trowel and began digging the red mud and putting it in the sack.
Clink
As he was digging, he hit something metallic with his trowel. "Huh?" With a confused look, he tapped the area again.
Clink Clink
"There's something here!" He dug around the metallic object, and inserting his hand in the mud, he took out a round object. He removed the mud from the object, but the red mud was stubborn and it was hard to clean off without any water, so Zefir couldn't discern what the object was.
Caw Caw
Just as he was focusing on wiping the red mud with his palm again, he was startled by the cries of crows circling above the trees. "Damn birds!" Cursing at the birds, he finally broke free from his focus and took a look around his surroundings. Although the sun had yet to set, the deep forest was quite dark due to the lush vegetation. Looking at the huge trees surrounding him and noticing the silence, Zefir felt the hairs of his arms rise.
Calming himself down, he looked back at the object on his hand. "This must be something valuable, I'll check it when I reach home!" He took out a piece of cloth from his bag and wrapped the object around the cloth. Then he put the object inside a pocket in his pants.
"Hehe.. my luck is pretty good today." With a smug grin, he brushed his nose with his finger. The grin froze instantly as he felt the cold, sticky wetness of the red mud coat his nose. "…."
Filling the small sack with red mud, he made a mental map of the location, took all his things and left the area in a hurry. With Zefir gone, the deep forest turned eerily silent, like it was frozen. After some time, the leaves in the trees and the bushes shook, as if something was lurking in the dark forest.
Quickening his steps, Zefir reached the exit of the forest by the time the sun was on the horizon. "Hoooh, barely made it…" he let out a sigh of relief. Despite already exiting the forest, Zefir didn't dare relax. He pat the pockets of his pants to make sure that the valuable object he found was still there while he made his way into the town barred by sharp wooden fence at a small distance to the forest.
He made his way through the stone paths with great familiarity until he stopped in front of a small two-storey wooden house with smoke rising from its chimney. Above the door hung a board with "Root, Remedy & Beyond" written on it. On the way, he checked his pocket for the item for a total of four times.
Standing in front of the house, he checked his pocket one final time. Relieved that the item was still in his pocket, he opened the door engraved with simple patterns with a sigh of relief. When he opened the door, a small bell on top of the door rang, announcing his arrival.
Just as he entered, he heard a sweet female voice enter his ears too. "Good Evening! Welcome to Root, Remed-" but the voice stopped mid-sentence. "Ohh, Fir, it's just you." The beautiful woman with long unkempt raven black hair, and a pair of deep green eyes just like Zefir's, sighed from behind the counter at the middle of the room. Under her white lab coat, she was wearing a dark green shirt which matched her eyes, and a pleated brown skirt. In front of the counter was a table and a sofa, with decorative pots of flowers. Behind the counter was the beautiful woman in her 30s, and some shelves with herbs, salves, and medicine on them.
The medicine and herbs looked like it was put haphazardly in the shelves with no thought behind them, but perhaps only the lady and her son, Zefir, knew how they were categorized.
"Yeah.." Zefir answered casually as he let the door close behind him and moved to the counter. With a thud, he let the brown bag, and the sack filled with red mud land on the counter. "Guess what I found." He looked at Evelyn Cestre, his mother, smugly.
"No way!" Evelyn exclaimed with excitement in her voice. "Red mud!" She nearly jumped in joy. "We're gonna make some good money Fir! You're the best!" She was about to hug Zefir through the counter, but she noticed the dirt on his clothes, and face. She changed her hug into a thumbs up. With a smile, she moved a little and opened a small door on the counter. "…You'd better wash up first."
With a nod, Zefir entered the small opening, and kept moving until he was at the end of the room. Opening another door, he entered a passage with some doors on the side and a stair that led to the floor above. Climbing the stairs, he moved the the second floor and entered a room to the left.
The room was simple, with a bed, small table, chair and books on the table. There was even a simple wardrobe in the room. Opening the wardrobe, Zefir picked out some simple clothes before heading out the room and entering another door which led to the washroom.
He hurriedly took a bucket and filled it with water in the sink. He then took out the item wrapped in cloth from his pocket and unwrapped it. Dipping the item in the bucket, he began cleaning the red mud stuck to it until a circular item with a silver shine was visible on his hands.