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"Are you ready to learn?" Saphina asked the little boys and girl at her hip, as she put on her gloves and unwrapped the herbs from their twine. Her voice was smooth and posh, crisp with the usual flow of her Church Voice. "This is hemlock. It's a poison, but also a sedative. Do you know what that means? It means, 'to make calm.' Examine the leaves, so you know them." She slowly turned them in her hands. The children watched, as "Remember, Jerald, you may look, but not touch."
"Aye, mum."
"Its flowers're lil' an' pretty, aye? Like tiny clouds," the little girl breathed. Saphina smiled.
"Aye, like tiny clouds. Now, what is this one?" Saphina put down the plant, and wrapped it up again, before removing the next one.
"It's... it's... Oe... Oeeea...." Gill, the other little boy drew out the old word. "O...Oe-nann-thay!"
"Oenanthe phellandrium," Saphina acknowledged. "But we're going to call it the Water Dropwart."
"Warts are gross," the little girl wrinkled her nose.
"Aye, warts are gross," Saphina agreed. "But this doesn't have any warts. Like our friend hemlock, Water Dropwart is poisonous in parts. But other parts, like this wee little fruit here," Saphina reached over and picked up a little jar stuffed with the things, "can help people who cannae breathe."
"But carefully!" Gill added. Saphina nodded.
"Always carefully. Plants are our friends, but we mustn't treat them lightly." She put the plant away, and finally picked up a little green jar. "Now, do we remember this one?"
"No," Jerald said, with a slight frown.
"I do!" Gill bounced on the balls of his feet, "I do, Sister Saphina! I do!"
"Alright, Gill, what is it?"
"A plant!" Saphina stared at the boy, and tried not to laugh. The corners of her lips turned upwards, just so.
"Aye, it is a plant. But do we remember which one?"
Gill looked down, and scuffed his shoe on the wood floor. "Nay, ma'am."
"What if I give you a smell, will you remember then? Why don't you all shift for this? Go on, I'll watch over you." The children looked between themselves, and screwed up their faces. Shifting came easier to the young, they liked being something else when they could. Before long, three small worgen stood before the priestess. "Very good, you did that much faster than I expected!" She uncapped the airtight jar, and peeled the stopper back, "Now. Do we remember this smell?"
The children snuffled at the jar and the little girl, Marion, spoke up first. "Angelica! It's angelica!"
"That's right! And what does Angelica do?"
"Everything!" the little girl growled. "Mama makes it into bread."
"And you make it into medicine, don't you, mum?" Jerald asked quietly.
"That's right. For Danny's colic." Saphina smiled. "So that's what we're going to make today. Medicine for the village and syrups for Marion's mum. She promised to make sweets with it." Marion howled with delight.
"Alright, children. Back into your skins. Furs aren't for the home." Saphina said. "Anyway, it's difficult to measure with claws, even little ones."