I walk over to the essential oils shop I had encountered in my first days of traveling within Halych. I find myself at the front door of the store again, with a sign that read ‘Belford Alternative Remedies’ in a highly stylized, near-cursive font. I walk into the store again, and stop to actually take in the atmosphere. It’s more popular than I’d ever have thought, but still warm and somewhat casual, with hand-written labels being the norm and a wall behind the counter full of substances in glass jars-the contents usually had the appearances of dried herbs and spices.

Though reluctant to put my faith in anything that could come out of an ‘alternative remedies’ store, I step forward to the counter, greeted by an employee wearing a custom apron and wearing some sort of handmade bracelet. “Do you have any…meditation aids?” I didn’t know what I was really looking for, but I wanted to try what I had done before in my dreams. I could at least hope it’d find me some sort of peace, however fleeting and temporary it may be.

“The most obvious traditional choice for that purpose would be incense.” I’d heard of incense before, though I don’t actually know a lot about it. Most of my impressions of it weren’t very good.

“I’ve heard some bad things about incense in particular.” I tilt my head slightly, putting my left hand in my pocket.

“Oh, yeah, of course there’s gonna be naysayers. Thing is, though, there’s not actually a whole lotta research actually done on incense’s health effects, and it’s not declared a major public health risk like tobacco products are.” As she speaks, the girl seems chipper and confident.

“Alright, so what would I need to get started?”

“You’d need the burner itself, some incense, and a lighter. You can get a pack of 50 sticks and a burner for about $40.”

“Alright. I guess I’ll give it a try. Where are your burners?”

“There.” She points to a shelf near the front of the store, and I walk over, sizing it up. Upon a weathered wooden shelf were a variety of different trinkets, some looking like they’d fit in at a Buddhist temple or a church, others looking like pots hanging on chains, and a few others looking like hand-molded sculptures with glossy finishes.

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All of these incense burners seemed far too fancy and eye-catching for me, and as I turn to the last section I exhale in relative relief. This section seemed to house more novelty-like incense burners, some looking like a gumball machine, others made as small statues to varying characters, one in particular having an uncanny resemblance to Mickey Mouse while almost more suspiciously not quite looking exactly like Mickey Mouse. This section was definitely far more my style, as I sweep my eyes along it more thoroughly until I discover a burner in particular that seemed just right for me. It’s a miniature log cabin with a hand-carved appearance and a chimney visible. I pick up the box and look closer, only to discover that said chimney apparently is where the incense smoke travels out of, giving it an impression of ‘authenticity’ when in use. I turn the box, looking for a price tag, and I find that it’s about $20.

I move back to the counter, and end up waiting only a little bit before the attendant comes back to me. “So, what sticks do I get for this?”

“Oh, that model. That one’s a bit of an oddball, let me get a pack of sticks for you.” She walked around from behind the counter and over to one of the other shelves, pulling out a box with red and white striping at the edges, and bringing it back over. “That burner prefers a special size of stick compared to the others.”

As I look closer at the packaging, I discover that the burner actually comes with 10 sticks. “On second thought, this comes with 10 sticks already. I’ll just buy the burner and see if it works out for me.”

She frowns for but a second before immediately backpedaling to her more cheery demeanor. “Oh, okay.” She sets the other box aside as we move to a surprisingly modern-looking register, clashing with the much older look of the shelving. I hand her a $20 and end up with mere cents in change. “Wait.” She goes to the back, then coming back out with a white booklet titled ‘Incense Burning Basics and Safety’, handing it over to me. “Almost forgot you were a beginner. Have a look through that for the basic safety procedures.”

I nod in turn, turning to walk out… and pausing in place. I know it was probably one of the worst ideas I’ve had, but it was something worth investigating as an alternative. I walk back towards the counter to be greeted by the same girl as before. “Hey, do you have anything for stress relief?”

“Well, we do have smokable herbs. We have a variety of mixes, though most are more focused towards promoting lung or nervous system health.”

“And what’s the risk to using them?”

“I mean, we don’t use tobacco in the majority of our mixes, but smoke is smoke and most blends will likely gunk up your lungs to a moderate degree if not used in moderation. Though, it’s not like a lot of studying has actually been done on the effects of non-tobacco herb smoking, so it’s partially up in the air.”

On second thought, developing a possible addiction to two vices at once didn’t sound like such a good idea, though I’d be sure to come back and give it a try if things got worse. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that for today. Thanks, though.” With that said, I turn around and walk out, heading for the dormitory.