Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Calm (Markets) Before the Potential Storm

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Calm (Markets) Before the Potential Storm

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Calm (Markets) Before the Potential Storm
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Sharah nodded with a indulgent smile. “Tabris is El-Aurian. He has lived many centuries, but the only thing he always wanted was a family. But after watching his spouses and lived ones die he decided to give up. Then he found out there was an El-Aurian boy, Neltus, in an orphanage. So he decided to look into adopting him. At the same orphanage there was a set of 3 siblings. 2 boys and a girl. 2 Cardassians and a Bajoran.”

Sharah paused and looked at Eela, “Oh yes, as impossible as it sounds. Vedi, the oldest boy refused to let them be separated. Even though he and Mecona looked different from Julin they were family. And they claimed Neltus as well. Tabris couldn’t bear to separate them, so he petitioned the courts to adopt all four. They are all amazing. I was there when they arrived. It was right around the Human holiday of Christmas. Their shuttle pilot was dressed up as Santa.”

Sharah

Dasca beamed. “I love that so much. But oof, that’s a lot of work. Four children!” she said with a laugh. “I know many who had large families, but my brain struggles to work through how to manage all that. I’m glad he has you to support him though. That’s where that chosen family is vital, if not for the day to day parenting, then just the emotional support for the parents and children.”

“It is, but Tabris…he has a huge beautiful heart. He loves each of them deeply, for themselves. They are wonderful children. Tabris recently found his parents. He had thought they died centuries ago, and they him.” Wasn’t that wild? Sharah could say, at least in that one thing she had actually made a beautiful difference to the people who mattered to her. There was a intense swirl of bittersweet joy, crushing relief, and soul weary sadness that leaked out from her before she managed to control it. “Tabris took them back to Earth. His parents have an estate in Ireland, and they are all there together now.

They came across another stall and Eela eyed some of the produce that was all grown on Oed, even though the vegetables and fruit originated from all over the quadrants. She picked up a large, round, dark purple root vegetable, that looked like a cross between a beet and carrot. “Good day,” she said warmly to an Andorian man and Barzan female. “Does this have juice or pigmentation in the interior, or is it all in the peel?”

“Oh! Well, there is some juice but not a lot and the flesh turns white when you cook it. Most of the colour is in the peel,” the man said.

Eela smiled at Sharah, a gleam appearing in her eyes. “You know, I’ve been pondering over an idea, and I think you might be able to help me. I’m wanting to take up watercolours again, but I don’t have the mental patience for the kinds of paintings I used to do. So I’m going to try something else, and I was thinking it would be interesting to make my own pigments from things from Oed. Seen anything else today that would make for a rich enough colour I can use?”

~Eela

“Hmmm…I have never made pigments, though I know the basics.” She scanned the stalls. “Beets make a wonderful color. Oh! The man Jal’na buys her yarn from. He dyes his own wool. He would know.” She pointed across the market. “That’s his stall over there.”

Sharah

Eela nodded. Even if he didn’t have the natural pigments she was looking for, he could point her in the right direction. It had been a long time since she had made anything like that, but much like the decoctions she used to purify her home, Eela found the processes rushing back to her mind as if simply forgotten and revived in her memory. Powders were easiest and so she would need to dry out and grind the items that weren’t dry to begin with.

She paid for several different vegetables that intrigued her for either tasting or using for paint dye concentrate or grinding up. “Alright, let’s go see about some dye. At least I know that fabric dye utilizes powders for ease too, so at least I’m working with something similar.” Eela was brimming with excitement. Like her garden, this was a small thing for herself that had nothing to do with her work or any one person. It was all her own and abut expressing herself, something that was of vital importance now and going forward.

~Eela

The man was…well humanoid, it was hard to tell exactly what his heritage was. He seemed to have distinguishing features of 5 or 6 different peoples. His name was Argont. Seeing Fayth he stood up with a friendly smile and waved her over. “Good morning, Dr! How are you? Are you finally going to try your hand at yarn work?”

Sharah grinned, “No, I think I will leave that for Alice and Jal’na. Argentina, I would like you to meet my friend, Eela. She wants to make her own pigments for painting, ND I thought you might be able to provide some insight, since I know you dye your wool.”

Sharah

His eyes lit up as she gazed at Eela and she gave him a nod. “Ahh, yes! What are you looking to use them for exactly?”

Eela smiled. “Watercolours. I’m looking for mineral, clay and oxide pigments and I’m going to make my own plant pigments, but I’d like to avoid synthetics. And I want everything to be from Oed, if possible. Just a project I’m working on.”

He held up a finger. “Hold on just a moment and I’ll show you a few of what I’ve used.” Argont moved into the back of his stall and crouched, digging through a few bags. He returned and set a few jars on the table. “Now, the lovely bit about all the mining we have, and the crater itself, is that we have a great source for those kinds of pigments and we can get crushed waste rock in some cases and make use of the remnants of the mining process.”

“Thus, leading to less waste,” Eela said with a nod. She liked that. She picked up a jar labelled dark yellow ochre. “Do you have a particular source you prefer?”

“There are a couple. One does pigments for arts and crafts but they only have a few that are Oed-sourced. But if you want a predominantly local provider, I have a contact with one of the mining companies that buys waste rock and helps me source small amounts. I can’t imagine you’d need more than what he can get.”

“That sounds ideal.”
Argont grinned. “I’ll get him to contact you and you two can take it from there.”
She beamed at him. “Thank you. Do you have a source for indigo and other colour-fast plant dyes?” She was excited to experiment with found dye sources but having a few solid colours at her disposal would be good.
“Actually, I can do you one better.” Argont moved back into his stash of supplies and brought out a tiny jar of a dark blue powder and slid it towards her. “Try that and see if it works for you. It’s not an actual indigo, but I stumbled upon a plant that had a similar colour in one of the gardens here and I worked out a deal with the head landscaper.”

She picked up the jar and studied it. There was a very slight purple hue to it, but it was hard to tell the exact colour until it was bound and mixed with water. “How much?”

Argont shook his head and waved his hand. “It’s a free sample. It might not work the way you expect, so try it out and if you like it, I’ll put touch with the landscaper and you’re on you own after that.”

Eela chuckled. “Okay! Thank you. I’m looking forward to trying it. And it was great meeting you, Argont.” She tapped the jar before she set it into her bag gently. “I feel like a kid who just got told they could go out to play after their chores were all done.”

~Eela

Sharah laughed, “Well that’s good. We should all let our child selves out to play sometimes.”

Argont stopped her. “Dr Fayth, do you think you could take something to Jal’na,” he paused and his eyes darted around. He cleared his throat and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Ahem, have to watch out for those House Duroc folks. Get in a real tizzy when I don’t call her Lady, though she seems to find it tedious.”

Sharah nodded and sighed. Her words carried a heavy weight of personal understanding, “They greatly respect her, but it is hard, when your friends treat you differently when they think things have changed.”

Argint stood up, “Yes well, she is still my friend. But I made this new yarn, and I thought she might like it. I made several mini skiens as samples. Would you take it to her? I thought I would see her today, but alas, I have not.”

Sharah took the small bundle and put it in her bag. “I’m happy to. I am sure she will love it.” Sharah waved as they moved on.

Sharah