A Drop of Moonlight

Chapter 7: Passage

Fedikano has proven himself to be a very resourceful person. With little things with them, he was able to create what they needed the most. Never did Denise think that a precious thing called salt could be created in such a carefree manner.

Denise truly enjoyed the time she spent with Fedikano. She likes to spend time with him as she learns so many things at one. Best part, the elf made sure that she knew how to apply what she was taught.

Perhaps the only thing that made things a little uncomfortable to Denise was the presence of Fedikano's charge Rufus.

He looked around the same age as she was. Possessing typical elven characteristics, he is by far the most handsome male Denise has seen. Though he does look odd and feel unnatural to her with reddish hair on his head for some reason. She figured out that perhaps he shares some blood with another race.

His name was Rufus. According to Fedikano, the guy hates his name and had wanted to change it. But due to some elven rules, the guy has to be stuck with the name until he fulfill a certain thing.

Denise was curious, but the gloom that she sense was too broading despite the amusement of Fedikano.

Elves might be almost xenophobic, there was a period of time wherein they were able to freely mix with other races. There were tales of them marrying their mates outside of their own. The elf before her might be one of those elves' descendants.

Reaching that conclusion, she figured out it might be that his ancestry was of conflicting nature. Because how else can she explain the eeriness of his presence? There has to be an explanation for them.

Still even if Rufus was a little standoffish, he proved himself to be a great company. While Denise is not a talkative person in nature, there times her mouth simply runs off like a free spirit horse. Talking about anything and everything that comes to mind, they bonded in such a way wherein one listens the other do the talking.

The three lived as they pleased in the forest. Though their area of activities are limited due to the season, Fedikano did a great job in distraction and keeping them active still. In just days, Denise came to learn a few crafts that she was sure to boast upon returning home. She is just so sure that her brother will sulk for days after she shows off. Now that is something she looks forward to.

One of the things Fedikano taught her was potions making. While it sounds like alchemy to some, the elf taught her that it's more of cooking than actual alchemy. Just making sure they got the right ingredients, temperature, and magic a potion is born. They need no special equipment that real alchemy needs like a cauldron and others. As long as there is a pot that could hold the ingredients together, they can make a potion whenever and wherever.

Denise was more than happy to learn about potion-making. With the convenience it has, she was sure that as long as she had the ingredients required there was no need for her to purchase those high-priced potions outside made by alchemists. She can even make a fortune making these herself if she puts her mind to it.

With that in mind, Denise ignorantly learned an Orthodox way of potion making. Something that most potion makers and alchemists do not due to great demands it has on the maker. And if people came to learn that Denise only learned about the art due to convenience, there is no doubt that she made herself an enemy out of them.

But regardless of what others may think, Denise was happy with how productive she was. Other than potion making, she also learned how to make weapons out of natural woods. A craft that is often only known by elves due to the needed affinity needed to make these weapons.

As her mother's daughter, she is loved by nature. Though not to the same extent as those elves, she was favored by nature more than most. She is protected by most harm as long as she is surrounded by Nature. And more often than not, she and her brother learnt to take advantage of this love to avoid unnecessary drama growing up.

Happy was her childhood, it can't be denied that they are too different from most people in the fief. They are not ignorant and seeing and feeling the difference made them quite isolated. Nature was her refuge and she loved it as much as she loved her.

It is one of the reasons why she cared a lot about elves. Children of nature are naturally precious and cherished by her.

That said, Denise absorbed all she could in the period of time she was held up in that portion of the forest. Once she was close enough to Rufus, the guy taught him how to preserve some food. His methods are quite ingenious and unheard of to her, but she learned them all the way as these are precious techniques that she can’t wait to share with her mother.

As a child who lived in a barren land, food is a precious resource. To save and to cover their food needs, they had a couple of food preserving techniques. At 6 years old, Denise could already dry their herbs and plants for future use. At 8 she can already make a simple jerky. And at 10 she was taught how to make smoked meats that would last for a long time. All these methods required a lot of drying which was suitable in their climate.

While the method that Rufus taught her was more complicated than simple drying. He taught her how to can her food, how to make it last long and not affect the taste as much. The method was great as this allows her to enjoy her favorite dishes for a long time.

And with that, time passed by leisurely and it was time for her to go.