The Witches Heart

Foraging With The Witch

It had been a little over a week since Claudia had joined Rosalyn, and she had learned a lot. She still missed her family sometimes, but she'd been so much happier here.

Claudia had grown closer to Rosalyn in the time she'd spent here. She wasn't nearly as shy around her anymore. Speaking of Rosalyn, she was approaching Claudia, who was reading some of the books Rosalyn gave her.

"We're starting to run out of certain flowers and herbs, would you like to go get some more with me?" Rosalyn asked.

"Sure, where will we go?" Claudia replied.

"The forest of course!" Rosalyn said.

Claudia blushed in embarrassment. Obviously they were going to the forest, where else would they go? Claudia got up from her spot in the window nook, which was actually where she'd been sleeping the past week. She hadn't wanted to make Rosalyn feel like she had to sleep with her, so she offered to just sleep in the window nook. And maybe Claudia was also worried she wouldn't be able to fall asleep with a pretty woman next to her.

Setting her thoughts aside, she set her book down before going to join Rosalyn who was now by the door.

Rosalyn grabbed a basket lying around and the two set off into the forest. It was a nice day, the sky was blue and it wasn't too cold nor was it too hot.

"This is a great time to teach you how to forage" Rosalyn said.

"How do you teach someone to forage?" Claudia asked.

"Well there's certain plants I can teach you to find, and others I can teach you to stay away from" Rosalyn replied.

"Like mushrooms for example. The little wrinkly brown ones are called morels, we can cook those and eat them. But there's red mushrooms called death caps that are poisonous" Rosalyn explained.

"Good to know.." Claudia said.

Rosalyn laughed. "Indeed, it's good to be aware of the plants that grow in this forest. Many of them are dangerous just to touch" she said.

"But this time I'm not looking for poisons, I'm looking for rhododendron and bluebells."

"..what are those?" Claudia asked.

"They're both flowers, rhododendron is pink and they grow in bushes. Bluebells are well, blue. They're herbs that grow from a bulb, look for a plant with blue, bell shaped flowers leaning to one side" Rosalyn replied.

"Ah okay. Sorry I'm dumb" Claudia said.

"You are not dumb, you're uneducated. There's a difference" Rosalyn replied.

After that there was little conversation. The two walked through the trees, stepping over roots and branches. Claudia was a little nervous to be in the forest, since the last time she'd been out here she was chased by a bunch of men who demanded she get married. But Rosalyn's presence calmed and reassured her some.

She kept her eyes open for those pink and blue flowers Rosalyn told her about, but she didn't see anything. She did however see tall, purple flowers between a few bushes.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing to the flowers.

"You have a good eye, my dear." Rosalyn said.

She walked over and eyed the plant, analyzing it.

"That is foxglove, it's actually from Europe but it was introduced here by colonizers and it's become an invasive plant in this area. We might as well take some, I'm sure I'll find a use for it" Rosalyn said.

Claudia was going to touch it but Rosalyn gently took her hand and pulled it away.

"Careful, this is one of those poisonous plants I was talking about. Usually it only affects you if you ingest it, but some people are particularly sensitive to it and have a reaction just from touching it." Rosalyn explained.

She carefully used her sleeve to pick the foxglove and set it into the basket. Claudia was happy with herself for finding something, even it wasn't really what Rosalyn was looking for.

Claudia and Rosalyn continued their journey through the forest. At some point, Rowan had come to join them. Being a bird, he enjoyed the outdoors and spent most of his time in them. Claudia saw him around the house occasionally, but more often than not he was outside perched on a tree or searching for bugs.

He followed the two around for a while, simply watching them from the trees. Rosalyn didn't pay him any mind, but Claudia was still very interested in him. She still didn't know what exactly a familiar did. She also wondered when she would get her own.

"Ah! That's what I was looking for" Rosalyn suddenly exclaimed.

Claudia looked over and saw blue, bell shaped flowers. Presumably the bluebells Rosalyn told her about. Rosalyn picked the herb and put it in the basket with the foxglove.

"Well that's one down" she said.

The two continued searching for the rhododendron. As they walked, both Claudia and Rosalyn found a few more things. Claudia had found some of those morels Rosalyn had told her about. Rosalyn had gotten very excited at this, apparently they were pretty rare. And Rosalyn had found some small white flowers called daisies.

After about fifteen minutes, Claudia spotted something pink from the corner of her eye. She looked over and saw some pink flowers in a bush.

"Is that rhododendron?" She asked Rosalyn.

"Oh it is! Look at you, already doing so well" Rosalyn replied.

Rosalyn patted Claudia's head a few times, this surprised Claudia but she didn't hate it. Rosalyn picked the flowers and set them in the now full basket.

Then the two had gone home. Surprisingly, Rowan had not only followed them into the house, but he had also made a perch out of Claudia's shoulder. Rosalyn smiled at this.

"He must really like you. I'm glad, but also surprised. He hates pretty much everyone" Rosalyn said.

That made Claudia very proud of herself. She was never all that good with animals, so it was quite the accomplishment to get a crow who hated everyone to like her.

A few minutes passed, and now Rosalyn was picking the flowers from their stems and preparing them to be dried.

"You were very helpful today, dear" she said.

"..was I really?" Claudia said.

"Of course, you found two flowers and some mushrooms!" Rosalyn replied.

Claudia still doubted her, she didn't feel like she did much at all.

"You still doubt my words don't you? I don't lie darling, if I say you were helpful I mean it. And even if you hadn't found anything, your mere presence pleases me. Just having you by my side is enough" Rosalyn said.

Claudia suddenly felt her face get hot. For some reason, knowing Rosalyn enjoyed her company made Claudia feel all tingly inside.