Sharna let the warm water run down her body for longer than was necessary. She needed to take some time to process what had just happened, and to calm herself down.
Sharna had never had such a bodily reaction to someone before. She blushed again just imagining what he must have thought as she literally fled from him. She brought her hands back to her cheeks - she didn’t even have a clue who the stranger was, or why he was in their house so early in the morning.
But he was very handsome..
Sharna shook her head and tried to refocus. She had things to do today, and lots to learn, many, many, many more important priorities. It was likely the stranger would be gone when she came out so she could just move on with her day.
And maybe ask Marjorie about him later.
With fresh resolution, Sharna turned off the shower and wrapped herself in her towel.
Quinn was waiting for her outside the door. “Feeling better?” she asked mischievously.
“Yes, thank you for your patience,” Sharna said stiffly, with exaggerated dignity. “Would you like to join me in the sauna so we can discuss yesterday’s discoveries?”
“This is a much busier district than we were expecting,” Quinn explained, as Sharna threw some water onto the sauna rocks and then settled herself comfortably onto the lower bench of the sauna.
Quinn had obviously decided to let Sharna off the hook about her earlier encounter for now, though Sharna doubted it would last.
“What do you mean?” Sharna asked, enjoying the cosy proportions of the wooden room and the lightly citrus based scent coming from the steam.
“The land around here is really densely settled, but the ambient mana is relatively low and there is no abundance of natural resources either. I don't understand why it would attract so many residents.”
They were both quiet for a minute as they pondered.
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“It's not particularly close to a city either,” mused Sharna slowly.
“I also looked for interesting gardens like you asked,” Quinn reported, flowing into her focused, information sharing mode. “There are heaps of gardens around here that contain an assortment of magical and medicinal herbs. And the people that I spotted seem to be mostly friendly; there's a really affectionate, peaceful atmosphere among them.”
Quinn flitted closer to the warm stones and back towards Sharna, “it seems like a really collaborative community. The gardens are all growing different plants from each other, there's a wide variety of animals..”
Sharna tilted her head and stared at Quinn. “Maybe the fertility of the land or the type of soil is attractive to herbalists.” Sharna was still thinking aloud, “I can definitely see how a large group of herbalists would attract people from many other fields too.”
“The more interesting gardens seem to be located close to the river that flows through this area,” advised Quinn. “Maybe there’s something about the water? This area is downstream from Shadow Mountains, maybe it’s the continuation of the Tusy River?”
Sharna had spent a lot of time in and around the Tusy River, as it ran through part of her grandmother’s land. The river flowed through the Shadow Mountains, originating somewhere further north.
The thought of that link to her home made Sharna feel suddenly nostalgic. At times like these, she was especially grateful for Quinn’s similarity to herself. Coming from the same soul origin, with the same initial memories and feelings, they both found it easy to follow the other's train of thought. Although Sharna frequently found herself wondering how their personalities would diverge now that they were separated from each other. She hoped that the uneven power dynamic and differing experiences wouldn’t complicate their relationship.
“We can ask the others about it later, maybe they have more insight.” Sharna leaned back on the bench behind her, looking up at the wooden ceiling. “Herbalists living close by might work very well with what I have in mind. Potentially I can purchase all my ingredients so I'll have more time to focus on my magic. I’ve never particularly enjoyed gardening.”
“They may already have buyers, or may use all their stock for their own practices,” Quinn warned.
“We can't really move forward with any of our plans until we get more information,” said Sharna, wriggling on the bench in frustration.
Patience was not one of Sharna's strengths. From a young age, Sharna was allowed and encouraged to choose her own areas of study to suit her own interests. Her grandmother’s only demand of her was that she work hard at her studies. Now, at 17, her drastic change in circumstances led her to the realisation that she had been thoroughly spoiled by her grandmother.
Her life was hurtling along a new and unknown path, without her input or consent, since her grandmother had died. She felt discouraged as her attempts to gain control were met with constant impediments. While she felt that her place here was fortunate, her family had chosen it as they chose everything, with no consideration to her preferences. Her hope, now that she was free of her overbearing family, was that she could blaze her own path once again.
Quinn buzzed around Sharna’s head “so do you need anything from me today? If not, I might explore a bit more, get more of an idea of how things work, while you can find out more from the ladies.”
Sharna was amused at Quinn’s use of language, making it appear that Quinn doing whatever she wanted to do was out of consideration for their joint plans. “Sure, sounds good.”
“Well, it’s not like I can do anything here until you’ve told everyone about me anyway!” said Quinn grumpily, obviously aware of Sharna’s mirth.
“You’re completely right, the sooner we can get settled in and work out what we’re doing the better.” said Sharna placatingly, “I should hop in the shower and get dressed for the day, breakfast will be ready soon anyway.” She wondered if she could get away with a light scan of the house with her mana while she was in the shower, to work out if the stranger had left.