The Day of Thunder

It's a chilly morning when a bleary Reo limps his way down to Enrou's garden. He heads to the garden first, waiting for Enrou to wake.

A proper host is not one to make their guests wait, which is unfortunate since Enrou seemed to take his leisurely time making his way into the garden. Reo was not left waiting so long as to be considered improper, but there did appear to be a slight lack of decorum to his sense of urgency. The somewhat surprised expression on his face at seeing Reo at least hinted that a few things might have slipped his mind regarding his schedule.

"Ah, Reo-sama, my apologies for making you wait. I'm a fair bit unused to keeping to a timeline that isn't accommodated specifically to plants or people with a certain vegetative quality about them. Are you finding yourself well this morning?"

"Exhausted. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. I even took Vakarian root and it did nothing." Reo yawns. "I'm going to pass out easily, but I'm worried about my dreams. I want something that will help shake off the exhaustion too." He gestures out to the garden.

"Sorry for waking you, but it was a long night"

Enrou nodded, tapping his lips with the tip of his pipe. "Oh, I'm quite familiar with the concept of long nights, especially out here. Luckily that also means my garden is uniquely equipped to deal with this sort of issue." He turned towards some of the rows of plants, gesturing for Reo to follow. "But the method of application can alter the qualities of the effect, so I'll need to know what sort of dosing you're looking for, be it topical, imbibed or," he took a long puff of his pipe and sent the smoke out in a small stream to the side, "other means."

'Inhalation and ingestion are generally more potent, am I right?" Reo muses. "Topical or bloodstream would have intesting applications. I would settle on ingestion for the point of ease of use. Many in the camp had a restless night, and it would be easier to potentially share in edible form."

Reo looks over the garden. "Dried mushrooms in tea with honey. Mugwort perhaps. Something like that."

"I know of a few combinations that would greatly help with restful sleep if brewed into a tea using mugwort as the base. I should have enough cuttings already prepared to accommodate you. About how much of it do you think you'll be needing?"

Reo thinks on it. "I would say 4 doses at most. I would prefer a control group if possible, to see how the others sleep." He smiles. "That's not a slight on your help, that's the method I came up with to show people how effective a treatment would be."

"Of course, no offense taken at all. It shouldn't take me much time at all to concoct four doses." Enrou took a long draw on his pipe, held his breath for a beat, then exhaled slowly. "So, while you're here at the garden, did you have any other questions to pose? I can show you a few of the other plant varieties I have growing currently, though given the time of year I can't say they'll be much to look at."

Reo pauses. "How do you keep up with it all? Treating people can be a full time job. Never mind also keeping an herb garden. Never mind" he gestures around "So elaborate"

Another pause. "Why did you choose here of all places? The land of a bunch of Isawa heterodox? How did I not hear of you before in all these years. It's almost like...you've been here for a long time"

Enrou was silent for a moment, his consideration of Reo's questions going from reasonably thoughtful and into slightly awkward. "How do I keep up with it all? Yes, it is a quite daunting series of tasks. One wonders." At this, Enrou took a long pull on his pipe, far longer than might be considered normal even under the narrowest of circumstances.

Then he held his breath, his expression even and unwavering, eyes focused on Reo with something approaching a casual air of weariness all throughout. His exhalation of smoke came in time with his response, rogue puffs wafting out from between his teeth and drifting about the air around him. "How do I manage to keep up with it all? Question for the ages."

Reo pauses. "I don't suppose that you and others in the village are far older than your age allows, and that you discovered Name Magic in a time when it was verboten, and have been camping out here to avoid interest. It would explain how no one seems to know of you, how frozen the village seems to be in time undisturbed. You mentioned that the kami don't care for you, but that would not exempt skill with name magic."

Reo leans back on his walking stick, curious about the answer. "I am sure that someone else could tease that out cleverly, or be subtle. I'm not that."

This time Enrou was silent for even longer than before. The man just said subtlety wasn't his strong suit, but this was something else entirely. "No, samurai-sama, I was hinting at drugs. I'm using drugs. I am higher than Onnotangu's balls during a midwinter chill. Is that blatant enough or do I need to redefine my understanding of the word subtlety?"

"That might do it" Reo concedes. "And I hope that means you have something special in mind for something that would make dreams memorable" Reo starts to pull out coins. "What do I owe you?"

"Oh, I have just the thing, I think." Enrou nodded softly, raising his hand to ward off Reo's offering of money. "No need to pay me, just...let me know when you and your compatriots are planning to partake of the brew I draft up. I'm sure seeing that will be payment enough for years to come."

Reo raises an eyebrow. "I'll be doing it this evening, right before bed. I will likely ask someone to record us before, after and...well for us to record our findings after the fact."

"Not a terrible idea, but you'll probably want me along anyway so you don't, you know...die or anything." Enrou let out a little puff of smoke to punctuate that point. "Spend enough time with the tools of your trade and you develop a few resistances. You don't exactly have that luxury, so...yeah, I'll be there, if that's not imposing."

"Fair enough. I'll tell you when we go"