Cedar marveled silently at the small man.
Henri had no true discernible odor-- Only the scents his clothing had picked up-- (Old water, a dusty smell, like from a store room, leaves of old parchment, hints of some fancy perfume...) A kaleidoscope of scents, but none that identified him personally. This unnerved Cedar, but maybe he was just really good at getting clean? No.. that couldn't be, just moving about and doing things would set his skin working, and there would be a scent.. What WAS Henri?...
Suddenly, while he was in the process of handing Cedar a small pouch, the small man's motions suddenly lurched, and bits of the back of his hand became visible, revealing a very artificial surface covered in small needles. Henri seemed to realize what he was reacting to, and muttered a curse, as Solomon sauntered into view.
Now, there was ANOTHER strange smelling person.
Solomon smelled like a well preserved corpse. The unmistakable dry hints of leathery flesh, dusty hair, and bits of grave soil, blended smoothly with the pressed linen, treated leather, and wool of his clothes. Another person who intrinsically smelled inherently wrong.
He knew it was 'rude', but he couldn't help himself as he very carefully (and as discretely as he could muster) cast a weak version of detect magic, and allowed it to gently fall over the two "Gentlemen", while he collected the small pouch from Henri. He would try to play it off as if he were examining the seeds, and not the two of them instead.
The seeds were intrinsically 'nonmagical'; in as much as they did not react in any unexpected ways that plant seeds don't normally. Henri however, was a blur of more magical auras than Cedar knew how to interpret, tightly wound into a humanoid shape. Solomon likewise, was just one enormous magical aura, with a very powerful knot of it centered around an inconspicuous tome at his hip. Reaching the limits of what could be earnestly passed off as just a 'wash' from examining the seeds, he dispelled it just as discretely as he had deployed it, and the awareness of magical potentials faded from his mind as suddenly as it had bloomed there, leaving him figuratively and metaphorically holding the bag.
"Aight-- Thankya Mr' Henri" said Cedar in his thick brassy hick accent. "An' ya gots me a barrel tuh! Thank ya!"
Cedar left the two gentlemen to their awkward appraisals of each other, as he collected the barrel and harness out from under where Henri had been sitting, then wandered a short distance to the far side of the stable's outer wall, to see what all he had to work with. He sniffed the pouch-- It had a blend of scents, some familiar, some not. ... An aging gentleman that smelled like compost and flowers... dried grapes.. Something subtle and vegetal... something sweet and perfumy he couldnt place.. .. That dusty cellar room Henri had been in...
He sniffed the barrel. It positively reeked of old stagnant water, and the now all too familiar scent of dusty room. The leather harness straps smelled like the stable itself. Cedar surmised that Henri had gotten the seeds from an old man in the same place he had gotten the barrel, and that the harness had come from the stable's tack room.
His attentions returned to the seed pouch. Carefully dipping two fingers inside (which was difficult, given the small size of the bag, and the hugeness of his fingers), he extracted a pinch of seeds, placed them on his open palm, and examined them more closely. One kind he recognized immediately, though not the cultivar-- Grape seeds. Those would be very useful indeed, as they served a wide array of uses, not the least of which, was getting potable water where there was none else to get to. The vines themselves produced a copious, steady flow of thin watery sap that was perfectly fit for drinking, if you cut them the right way, and put a vessel where it could catch the dripping. The other two types of seeds though?
He collected the lighter colored, and sweeter smelling one of the two options, and gingerly pressed it into the closest patch of appropriately moist and sunlit soil, then gently coaxed it into germinating-- getting a feel for how it behaved and wanted to do what all seeds did, to try and establish not only 'what' it was, but also a nice baseline for its growth habits.
A tiny seedling poked its little green leaves and stem from the soil and welcomed the sun's light, as it drank in Cedar's magic, and grew at a rate far faster than it would have, if left to its own accord. The central stem became lanky, produced branches as it lengthened and sprouted trifoil leaf clusters at regular intervals, and sought out structure to support itself against, revealing itself to be a stately vine of some kind. Guiding it to the sunlit side of the stable house, he continued his ministrations to it, feeling its roots spread and work themselves into the warm, moist soil-- Feeling the spreading vine as it engulfed the side of the stable... Lovely and exotic purple and yellow flowers erupted from fine little buds all over the vine, and filled the air with a rich perfume. It was a very lovely vine indeed-- He would need to take this home to papa-- so he thought to himself. The vine continued to grow under his influence, filling out with a thick carpet of green leaves as the flowers matured, then started to set fruits-- LOTS of fruits... It was hard for Cedar to restrain his excitement, as the powerful floral scent gave way to something tangier and more fruity as they ripened. He was starving from his stay in the dungeon, and these things smelled HEAVENLY!
Without realizing it, and only acknowledging how foolish it was to try eating something he had never encountered before only after the fact-- he soon found himself face-first inside the now very well grown and stately fine canopy of leaves, chomping down on one of the small yellow fruits.
It was squishy, with a soft but bitter tasting skin--The inside was pure joy. It tasted like nothing he had eaten before. The texture leaved something to be desired-- a watery, gelatinous flesh surrounding more of the tiny light colored seeds-- but the juice? Sweet and floral, with a tangy hit. He found himself practically inhaling the contents, seeds and all, before moving to another one. He had bitten and slurpled 3 of them before he really realized just what he was doing, and embarrassedly pulled himself away, only to look longingly at the still very plentiful fruit hanging from the side of the stable. He very strongly wanted to just keep greedily inhailing the fruit like an excited cub, but knew he needed to stop.
He licked the juice off his muzzle, then leaned on his staff in bewilderment. He was far hungrier than he realized, and his stomach rumbled angrily at him. The instinct to just go back to eating like an ordinary bear was profound, poignant and feral in the back of mind, and it took a great deal of effort to suppress. His mom would LOVE these-- he remarked to himself. He was sure that something this delightful would surely give him the shits though, if he over-indulged, especially on an otherwise empty stomach.
He pried himself away from the intoxicating scent of the ripe fruit, and back to the seeds in the palm of his hand. He would try the other mystery seed. It was dark, flat, and oblong, with a pointed end. It did not smell as amazing as the first one, but you never knew with such things. He decided to grow this one near the fence.
Much as before, a tiny seedling emerged from the moist, sunlit soil and began its journey towards the light and through the soil under his care and ministrations. This one was faster growing than the prior one, and more 'clingy'-- sending tiny anchor coils of green vine around the fence as it enveloped it. Yellow blossoms with a vegetable smell bloomed among the green, and soon, long green fruits about as wide as two of his fingers began to hang long and heavy from the greenery. He sniffed at them-- Vegetable scented.. Not nearly as appetizing as the small yellow spheres adorning the stable wall though, but probably healthier to eat in quantity. He plucked one off and took a bite.
It was watery, crisp, and cool. Very mild flavor, with only the most subtle hint of sweetness. Something you could enjoy on a summer afternoon when you needed something refreshing and simple. He crunched down the remainder of the long, green fruit, then contemplated growing one of the grape seeds, before realizing he had eyes on him. Apparently, his little exploration had drawn the attention of his companions.
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