The city walls were a statement of monumentality. Aloe always felt small, yet at such an imposing sight where everyone was small she found comfort. Equality where there had been none. Even after a few minutes, the shining blue ramparts were still visible.
The talkative soldier had carried her to the sled-palanquin in a rather embarrassing carrying posture before they left the city. The terrain near the city was rocky, courtesy of the Heaven's Starway, but soon it shifted to sandstone and sand. It was awkward for everyone carrying the palanquin as there were only four soldiers but three camels, meaning that three of them had to carry the reigns and lead the camels in their off-hand.
More manpower would have made this journey easier, but at the same time, Aloe doubted it was easy to recruit people for a week-long journey overnight.
Once the main road – or rather, its surroundings – got covered by sand and there was a deep enough layer, the soldiers carefully put the palanquin down and shifted it into its sled state as if the very item had a stance of its own. Nurturing sleds, ha. She almost chuckled.
Even with her toughness, Aloe couldn't help but hold her breath. That was also the problem of the journey, she would not be able to don the regeneration stance. I guess I'll leave it overnight then. A while ago, or what felt like an eternity for her, Aloe had feared using internal infusions for a prolonged period of time. Now, though, she felt weak if she didn't have one up at any given time.
Stances were her strength.
No matter how pitiful they were compared to the imperials.
I need to increase my vitality. Aloe mussed once the convoy got going again. The ride was far from smooth, and more than one bump shot a needle of pain into her waist, but toughness alleviated most of the pain. The scribe led her hand to the pouch on her crotch. She slid a finger inside and shyly retrieved a cumin. You can do it, Aloe. You've done it once, you can do it again.
The cumin seed felt impossibly heavy on the scribe's fingers. It had been long since the last time she evolved something. Too long… Nervousness got the better of her and in tandem with a particularly nasty bump, the cumin seed slipped from her fingers and fell into the sand, quickly abandoned by the marching sled. Aloe lingered on the cumin seed for a second with her hand extended towards it, but she knew better than to reach for it when it was already that far. Besides, she had tens – if not hundreds – more.
The next one she grabbed, she locked it between her hands, not letting it escape for anything in the world. She protected it better than she had protected herself in the palace.
Think about evolving it. Give the vitality an evolution intent. Much like she channeled her vitality into other plants to infuse them, or shifted her own flow to activate stances, intent was imperative. Remember the Blossomflame. Evolve it.
Nervousness had taken over her body, a kernel of her feared she had forgotten how to evolve, but the instant vitality began to rapidly drain from her body, those haunts disappeared. And rapidly the vitality did drain.
"Uhk." Aloe groaned in a mixture of surprise and pain, thankfully none of the soldiers noticed the sound.
A third down already? The cultivator chuckled to herself, otherwise she would have cried. As her vitality dwindled, she carefully reached for her Cure Grass pellets. The pills had the effect of recovering her vitality, but she had to be conscious of her usage. There aren't many remaining. She fondled her satchel. Aloe had used a handful of pellets during her first days in the palace to… soothe the damage. The pills had no effect if her deposit was full, but the sensation of recovering vitality was still there, no matter how diminished it was, giving her enough reason to trick herself into feeling better.
Not yet. Not yet… Evolving vitality-hungry plants required of a lot of timing, if not, she would faint and lose the evolution. That last part was a theory, for Aloe hadn't allowed herself to fail once, even if that had repercussions for her body. Almost there. Her deposit's contents diminished past a fifth of its total volume. Almost there… Only now a tenth remained. Now! As her vitality reached a critical point of around five percent, Aloe took the pellet and downed it without hesitation.
The effects were felt nearly instantly as her stomach was empty, granting it full focus on the Cure Grass and absorbing the latent vitality of the prepared herb.
Aloe gritted her teeth as she noticed the amount of vitality she had recovered. A third… The scowl in her visage would have been menacing if the pain hadn't eclipsed it. Not only the violent decantation of her vitality was taking a toll on her body, but now that her vitality was low, her toughness internal infusion was less potent, therefore her body felt the effects of the rough desert terrain hitting her constantly.
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Even then, she ignored the pain, a more pressing thought occupied her mind. Before it was a fourth, if not a fifth… She knew why the pill had regenerated this much vitality, and it wasn't a positive factor, but a curse in disguise. I… you… She has taken more vitality than I had thought. The reason why the Cure Grass pellet had recovered more vitality than it should have been because of that night. Many things had happened that night, many things Aloe didn't want to think about, but it was impossible to not think about one of them in particular right now. How Aaliyah had reaped her.
She took the second pill.
The sultanah of Ydaz had taken her vitality forcefully through some application of Nurture, what the imperials called reaping. Her maximum vitality had been diminished since then, but Aloe couldn't pinpoint how much until now. Now because she had less maximum vitality, the pill recovered more relative to her weakened deposit.
That whore… Aloe seethed in rage and pain as yet another nasty bump got her. Her eyes teared up, she hoped it was only in pain.
The third went down.
The recovery effects held as normal, but the time needed to absorb the vitality into her system significantly increased as her stomach slowly filled. The pellets weren't exactly small. From an instant to a couple of seconds. Trivial at the moment, but the next pill wouldn't be so hasty.
I… The scribe gritted her teeth again, it was hard to withstand the ups and downs of the sled, even if the camel pulling it was moving slowly. Riding it would have been downright torment. I still have more vitality than when I first evolved the Blossomflame. She didn't have concrete numbers, only instinct guiding her, but she trusted it. Sometimes logic could get you so far. Sometimes trusting your accumulated knowledge was sufficient. Sometimes imperative.
Fourth pill.
The absorption rate was getting abysmally slow, at least for the time-sensitive evolution. She had to down this one at fifteen percent vitality. It's nearly done, I can feel it. The cumin seed in her hands kept drinking like a dehydrated traveler yet it was full now and it slowed its consumption speed. It's getting warmer.
She didn't allow pain or the awful ride to distract her, there was only one thought in her mind: Evolution.
Fifth pellet.
I can't evolve many seeds if I keep needing this many pills. Aloe groaned as the seed became satisfied, its evolution finished. Her hands were trembling, she didn't know if it was because of the obscene vitality cost or the ride, but the seed was warm in her hands. She didn't need an Aloe Veritas leaf to know that the seed in her hands was no longer cumin, but a Blossomflame.
I feel… She focused on her tired arms and depleted deposit. I feel…
"Stop!" Aloe shouted out of nowhere, scaring the soldiers and making the entourage stop.
"Is there something wrong, vene…" The scribe didn't allow the soldier to finish his sentence as she grabbed the side of the sled and poked her head out.
Then the vomit ensued.
"Blergh!" The sound coming out of the petite woman's throat was visceral, something out of a colossal monster of the night, and not a frail and small body. Aloe almost fell from the sled and into the puddle of vomit composed of mashed grass blades as her body collapsed on the sled's armrest.
Oh… right… She blinked slowly. I forgot what consuming a lot of vitality in a short span did. Ugh… Why did I have to pick cumin?
"Are… are you fine?" The soldier dropped the honorifics, probably out of shock, but also of concern.
"Y-yes." Aloe wiped her lips with her sleeve and then wiped the sleeve on the sand. "The bumps have made me a bit nauseous, but that's all. We can continue."
"Are you sure, venerable scribe?" He insisted. "We can take a rest."
"We've been only marching for an hour…" She added but then looked at the worried expression of the other soldiers and even the camels. "But I guess your men will appreciate a breather."
"But of course, my lady."
"Enough honorifics, I do not have that high of a rank." Aloe frowned, her expression a monument to disgust. Partially out of the vomit's taste lingering in her mouth. "You all may call me Aloe if the need arises."
"Understood, Lady Aloe."
Aloe almost protested, but she couldn't deny that 'Lady Aloe' had a ring to it.
Soon enough, the entourage returned to their march. Aloe was mindful enough to not repeat her hijinks, at least until she had some rest. Considering she was bound to puke and she could only evolve the cumin seeds with an empty stomach, she evolved another one before lunch stop, and then another time well into the afternoon when she was beginning to feel hungry again. She was already weak as she was and emptying her stomach – depriving it of much-needed food – was a fool's errand.
Once the sun commenced to fade on the horizon, the soldiers dictated it a good moment to stop for the night. Their discipline was to be admired as without a single exchange of words two mounted the tents, another readied the fire and started cooking, and the latter assisted Aloe by accommodating her. He even assisted her out of the sled. The rattletrap was comfortable as it was cushioned, but laying in a single place for a whole day wasn't good for the body. The soldier who assisted was the talkative one, who also seemed to be the head of the squadron.
"I know it is a bit late considering how long we have met for," Aloe started, "but what are your names?"
"It is never too late, the sultanzade never ask for hour names, well, not many have." He smiled at her. "I am Jamal, the cook is Hassan, and those two setting up the tents are Hakim and Halim."
"Who is who of those both? They look… similar." The scribe said in the most diplomatic tone possible.
"I would be weirded if that was not the case. They are twins." Jamal chuckled. "Hakim is the one with the saber at the left, and Halim has it at the right, that is how we distinguish them."
"I see, clever mnemotechnic rule." In Ydazi, left was 'kimali' whilst right was 'limen'. "And wordplay."
"I cannot take credit for it, that right belongs to the nince-damned parents who decided to give two identical twins similar names." Aloe appreciated Jamal's comedy, however light it may be. Her life had been too heavy as of late. But then the man tensed. "May I ask a rather inappropriate question, venerable scribe?"
Aloe was about to correct him with the honorific as she had done this morning, but the tone and posture of the man implied seriousness.
"You may." The scribe answered in kind.
"Venerable scribe, are you pregnant?"