Standing over a wood stove, Derek stirred a small pot. His mind was anxious with thoughts about the young man he had met just hours ago. Milo, the man he was thinking about, was probably one of the luckiest men he had ever met.

So he gets lost in the Darmout Forest? Why would he go out that far on his own anyways? Does he not know what kind of dangers live out there? The Gnolls should have been the least of his worries.

It was true, there were many dangers that called the deeper parts of the forest home. People had long told legends of the twisted creatures and overgrown plants that would, and have, turned even the well traveled adventurers into food.

Maybe I should be more careful sending Marcy out there on her own. She begged me for months to let her go. At least she's being responsible about it, and we really need the herbs she finds. Enaris help me with this handful of a child.

Derek finished stirring the highland chikk bone broth and went on to cutting up the few bits of cabbage they had left. His mind continued to wander. The child, Marcy, was like a daughter to him. When Derek took her in, she was little more than a few months old. Her parents had abandoned her at the temple of Lath in Jushen, but they refused to look after her, passing her off to the temple of Jenesh who then passed her off onto Kalist as a representative for the Church of Enaris. At the time, Derek had been training under Kalist and after being given permission to open the church in Dusthill, he decided to take the responsibility of watching over the young Marcy.

Maybe next time I'll ask her if she's seen any onions or carrots growing out there. Or maybe something with some more spice to it.

Derek licked his lips at the thought of fresh wild vegetables for the soup. It had been quite a long day for him already, and the twinge in his stomach was only getting worse as he dropped the sliced cabbage into the soup. The water had already started to take on a brown color from the bone and scrap chic meat he used to make the broth.

Derek had spent the majority of the day finishing up the potions for tomorrow's delivery to Jushen. They were going to people that the other clerics of the church had already given up on. Many of them were broke, unable to work or help themselves. That, or they were followers of Jenesh or Lath and weren't the church's responsibility. Still, Derek felt, more than anything, it was the duty of the Clerics in Jushen to help these people.

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Even if it meant making very little in the way of a profit for all their hard work, it was what Derek had decided was the right thing to do. Him and Marcy had spent countless hours out in the forest gathering the herbs needed to make the life saving medicines

At least it keeps her distracted. She's been getting herself into all sorts of...

Derek's thoughts were interrupted by the ecstatic voice of Marcy followed by the sound of things being dragged out of the boxes in the storeroom. He stuck his head out through the door. Marcy was indeed, digging through one of the larger boxes, scattering random articles of used clothing and bedding on the floor as she leaned over the side of the massive crate. He looked over at Milo who had a look of confusion on his face, they both looked back at the storeroom before Derek let out a laugh.

"I hope you like soup!" Derek said to the young man before he returned to the kitchen with a laugh.

Add cleaning the storeroom to the list of chores tomorrow.

Derek was wearing a broad smile across his face as he went back to stirring the pot of ever darkening liquid. As he was thinking about it all, the smile on his face faded, now more an expression of something between anxiety and worry.

He finished chopping the potatoes up and dropped them into the pot. Now there was only one more step left.

His eyes darted over to the doorway before he pulled out a small slip of paper and a bag of dried herbs he had gone out alone to collect. Taking care to not waste any, he ground them into a fine powder along with some of the herbs Marcy had gathered earlier that week. With the occasional glance at the doorway, he pulled out a small potion and poured a few drops onto the dry powder before adding just a splash of water to turn it into a paste. The oily color of the potion and the green and brown of the herbs mixed tougher and after a minute of careful mixing, it changed to a deep purple color.

He put the newly made liquid off to the side and tasted the soup.

Just about ready.

He pulled out 2 small wooden bowls and checked to make sure they were clean before pouring some of the soup into both. He checked the door one last time, he could hear the voices of the two talking about something then the sound of Marcy's uncontrolled laughter.

Derek grabbed the small amount of medicine he had just made and slowly mixed it into one of the bowls of soup he had poured. When the color of the liquid finally blended in completely, he turned his head towards the door and yelled.

"Soups Done!"