Ranthe 29, 5679

We now have an abundance of blue puble petals. Pleased by the assistance of the Red Exemplars in the collection of the petals, Niahla’Sen now has them searching for dulareng plants, and gathering some of the roots. She said she’ll need to extract the juices from these when we reach Kaluna, and bring several jars of the substance with us to Razhinoch. I asked her what other items she still needs to collect. She needs to purchase powdered iceberry, but it’s apparently very common at most towns, which makes me wonder who does the distribution. She already has a large stock of dried gorogutorma stems that she collected over the past few months. The hard part will be the fresh elada leaves, since the plants don’t grow naturally in the jungle. We’ll need to bring the plants with us in pots, so it’s a good thing the Red Exemplars are walking, allowing the horses to carry any cargos we need. She wouldn’t say what the final ingredient in this new recipe was, but said she would have it when it was needed.

We came across a caravan of traders today. They were ahead of us, traveling from Sehol to Kaluna, and did not expect anyone to come up behind them, let alone a large group of armed soldiers. When they saw the cloud of dust from all the horses we have, they thought we were chasing them, and began traveling as fast as they could. They are very relieved to learn we have Red Exemplars with us, not brigands, since there was no way they could defend themselves against even a small group of determined outlaws. Entar, the leader of the caravan, said they’ll travel with us the rest of the way since it’s safer for them.

I think the number of people we now have traveling with us is overwhelming to Dawn. She is stays close to Niahla’Sen and me, and completely avoids the traders. She doesn’t mind talking to the Red Exemplars, but they’re often busy doing things for Pelmarco so she doesn’t get many chances. I think I might see if she can accompany any Red Exemplars on the tasks Pelmarco gives them. She might enjoy the challenge.