Diligence 6 - Filigree

Per Primrose's instructions, Filigree was wearing a very simple pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt as she headed to the Embassy. Her shoulders and back ached from the work they had done the day before - not only harvesting the ambrosia flowers, but separating them into their differing parts. It had taken all day and part of the night - and here she was, bright and early in the morning, heading right back to the Embassy to keep working.

She wanted to go back to bed so badly.

Despite that, she trudged on, determined to see things through to the end.

Today, they would actually make ambrosia.

She wasn't sure if it would be one type or many types, but she would bet on many types. Primrose had harped on enough about how every part of the plant must be used, how no parts should be wasted. Which most definitely meant another very long day for the both of them.

Hopefully someone would bring them lunch again...

The elevator ride was shorter than she wanted it to be - or maybe that was just because she dozed against the side of it until she felt it stop moving.

"Time for work..." she muttered to herself, and began to walk.

At the Embassy, she didn't stop at her office, just heading for the greenhouse instead. There was no reason to stop - she didn't need to be in her gardening clothes today, just... 'simple' clothes. In the greenhouse, she went to the storeroom door, and knocked on it.

For a moment, there was no response.

Then, it creaked open. Stepping through the door, she found Primrose seated at a table with two chairs, with a very large mortar and pestle in the center.

"Grab the first bowl of leaves and your new gloves from the shelves," he told her, seeming perfectly awake and alert. "You'll put leaves in this, I'll use the mortar and pestle. When we finish that one, we'll trade jobs."

"Got it," she said, going to the shelves. She pulled her gloves on first, surprised by how thin the material felt - but then, it was just to avoid contaminating any of their material with anything that might be on their skin. Gloves on, she took the bowl and carried it to the table.

"Just a handful of leaves to start," he said. "These are dried leaves from my last harvest, the ones from our harvest will be drying for months yet to be ready..."

Filigree added the leaves to the bowl, and watched as Primrose began to grind them. Part of her wondered if she would help with the batch of leaves she had picked, or if he would be having her work alone in the greenhouses by then and be working with someone else to teach them...

He had more muscle than she had thought, she realized, as she watched him. In his frilly suit and vest, it was all hidden - but he did not seem remotely tired by their work, and even as he ground each handful of leaves she put into the mortar, he seemed to never tire, not even switching arms.

She had a sneaking suspicion she would not be able to do the same...

It seemed like they finished the first bowl in the blink of an eye.

Primrose eyed the powder critically, then went to one of the other shelves, grabbing a bowl and a sieve. He set the bowl on the table, the sieve in it, and then handed her the pestle before lifting the mortar up and pouring its contents into the sieve, careful to not spill even the slightest bit of powder. Once it was all poured into the sieve, he began to shake it gently. He was always careful not to do too much, lest any fly out of the sieve, so it was a slow process. Slowly, so slowly, the powder went through it and into the bowl, until only a few fragments that had not been crushed enough were left in the sieve. He lifted the sieve, and deposited those bits back into the mortar, and carried the bowl and sieve back to the shelf that they had been on to get them back out of the way.

Then he went to fetch another bowl, and gestured to Filigree to switch chairs.

She had been right - she only got through one handful of leaves before she had to switch which arm she was using to grind with the pestle. It made her grinding go far slower than Primrose's, but he was patient with it.

It was still a relief when she had finished grinding, and finished using the sieve, and could go back to just putting handfuls of leaves into the mortar for him to grind up...

They had a total of six bowls of leaves, which led to three bowls of powders.

"Next is the stems," Primrose said, placing a large bucket of stems on the floor between them. He handed her a small bowl and a tool she was unfamiliar with. "Roll them up, place them into this, and squeeze it to get the sap out of the stems. Once it is out, discard the stems into this bowl the leaves were just in. They will be used as compost for the garden."

"Alright..." Filigree took her first stem up, and did her best to imitate Primrose in rolling it and squeezing it over the bowl.

It was almost sad how little sap came out of each stem - she could kind of see why they had such small bowls to collect it, though.

It felt like it took hours to get through all the stems - while actually extracting the sap was a quicker process than grinding up the leaves had been, the fact each stem had to be handled individually made it feel significantly longer in comparison.

Still, at last, each stem had been pressed and discarded, and the bowls were filled with sap.

"Now we'll boil it," Primrose declared, carrying it over to the counter.

Filigree followed, but for this, she mostly just had to watch as he poured it and began to boil it.

At least until he looked up and said, "Bring the small jars from the shelf over."

She hurried to do so, and soon, he began to pour the sap into the jars. He was careful and meticulous, not spilling a single drop somehow.

It was sad to see how few jars he filled, even so...

Seeing her face, he sighed. "We don't give this out as medicine in jars," he explained. "We give out very small vials, and patients only use a few drops each day - it may be a small quantity, but it is very potent and used sparingly."

Still... It did underscore the importance of ambrosia to her. If this was their stronger medicine, and they could produce only this small amount from one greenhouse... No wonder Primrose saw the greenhouses as one of his most important duties and sought help with them.

"The fun one is next," he said, breaking her thoughts. "Get the flowers for me."

She did as asked, bringing down several bowls of one of the varieties.

Primrose smiled as he placed them into the mortar - not just a handful, but several. "These, we just want to turn to pulp," he explained. "Not fine like the leaves - just pulp."

Filigree nodded, but she didn't quite get it until she saw him doing it - he basically just mashed the petals. It was messy, and more... juicy, compared to the leaves, as they hadn't been dried.

"This looks done, grab me three of the large jars," he instructed.

Filigree did so quickly, and watched as he spooned a portion of the pulp into each. "Leave these on the table and get me the next set of bowls."

She did so, and then it was her turn to turn the flowers into pulp. She went slowly, trying to be careful not to grind them overly much, glancing at Primrose frequently to confirm she was doing it right - and stopped immediately when he gestured to do so.

"Spoon this only into these two," he told her, indicating two of the jars.

She did so.

They continued like this for what definitely was hours, slowly filling jars up with differing levels and combinations of pulp, until all the flowers had been used.

Then, Primrose fetched jars filled with different things - water, sugar, and more, and began spooning in careful amounts of them into each jar, until they were full and he closed the lid. "Now, these wait," he said. "In a few months I can strain the pulp out and they'll make for nice drinks." He sighed, sounding almost wistful. "It's a shame I have to be sparing with the flowers that make for transformative ambrosias... Maybe next time I'll get to show you how to work with those." He dusted his hands off after removing his gloves and led the way out of the storeroom. "For now, we should go eat."

Filigree's stomach growled as he said it, and she hurried to follow him, more than ready for food. When she checked her watch, she grimaced, realizing it was nighttime already. They had worked through the day, it hadn't been her imagination...

At least she would have tomorrow to recover.

"I truly appreciate your diligence in helping me with these tasks," Primrose told her. "I'll let you know when I'm ready to plant in another one of the greenhouses - it should only be a few days more of the compost."

And then the growing cycle would begin again...

Filigree didn't know if she'd ever truly be ready to do all this work again - but it was important, so whether or not she was ready for it, she would do it.