[color=D6CC88]The girl grumbled something at Geoffrey, not bothering to unloop her arms from around Ethan's neck.  Why should she be looking out for Zander?  She didn't like him.  He could look out for himself, she thought, slipping one hand into Ethan's when he stood up and settling the other on Wyth's side.  Nor did she particularly wish to discuss her business with the bothersome healer.  But his comment about her mother's hangover remedy met with irritation and confusion.  "Don't you listen?  I said Mommy makes it, not me.  I don't know the recipe.  I just said that not even two minutes ago!"

Adults were supposed to be wise but sometimes the ones around her seemed rather thick, Amuné mused as she /again/ corrected Ethan's choice of route.  How did he get anything done on his own when he could barely find his way out of a burlap sack with one end left open, that was beyond her.  Eventually they made it to the right shop, and Ethan talked with the old lady that ran it.  She was a tiny woman, not much taller than the young girl, and moved so very slow.  But she knew what she was doing, and Amuné knew her mother was very particular about where things were kept in her workshop, so it made sense that Mae wouldn't want strangers rummaging through her neatly organized supplies.

The shop smelled a lot like the room her mother used for making medicine, with all sorts of herbs mingling their scents in the air.  Homesickness dragged at her, and the child buried her face in Wyth's fur for a minute until it passed.  A sudden fuss made her look up just in time to see Ethan catch the herbalist when the old lady apparently fell off her ladder.  And then a box tumbled after and hit him on the head!  Amuné gasped, hands flying to her mouth, but the old lady was a healer and an herbalist, so she could help Ethan better than the girl could.  She ought to give the professional space to work, like she'd been taught.

And Zander started /laughing/.  "It's not funny when someone gets hurt!" she told him, upset and angry.  "You're /mean/."  Her hands curled into fists.  It wasn't even nice laughter.  She turned her back on him.

Mae's impromptu lesson met with a solemn nod.  She knew aloe, it was one of the plants she'd memorized because it was one of the best for burns, which were a common injury.  "A succulent with long thick leaves, aloe treats burns with ease.  It helps with things that irritate, and digestion, though that's not great."  The little poem was one of a dozen or so her father had helped her make to learn her very first herbs, and she recalled it proudly.

Of course Zander interrupted the moment.  "If you want something from Mae, you should ask her yourself.  She's right here!" Amuné sniped, folding her arms and looking cross.  It was only with obvious reluctance that she accepted the jar he gave her and went to set in on the counter.  Then she went to poke around the shop herself, careful not to put anything out of place.[/color]