Skullcap and St. John's Wort. Kahlua halted and eyed the fallen angel suspiciously before remembering that this was her herd sister. She just found it difficult to believe plants named as such could really be useful to her. They sounded more like poisons than remedies. Still, as the mare went on to explain their uses and descriptions, Kahlua couldn't help but be drawn into her knowledge. For her own part, Kahlua was hopelessly lost as the mare finished her descriptions. With all the information being disseminated so rapidly and the throbbing of her thigh a constant distraction, Kahlua couldn't keep straight the centimeters and inches or the blues, purples, greens and yellows. Left to her own devices, she certainly would have picked the wrong plant. Therefore, she was more than grateful when the fallen angel rooted one up to show her.

Eat those, Resplendence demanded after some more gardening, and though she was cautious Kahlua was acutely aware that she needed something to dull the rhythmic pain that was limiting her movement. Zarina's quick movements caught Kahlua by guard, however, and as the marmoset scampered across her back Kahlua scuttled to the side and whinnied sharply as she again stepped on her leg the wrong way. The pain relief of the plant could not come soon enough. Taking a moment to breath, Kahlua turned to face the small thing and took the plants from her gingerly, prepared now as the monkey again went racing across her back. “Thank you,” she said after finishing her chewing. Resplendence had said it would take minutes, those minutes would certainly seem like hours.

I have no reason to live, she said, among other things, and Kahlua's heart sank for the pitiful display. There were very few whom she connected with so intimately, but the weight of the world on the fallen angel's words struck a chord with Kahlua. She knew that weight, in her own way, as perhaps so many did. For now she remained silent, letting Resplendence carry on speaking and giving out directions. Kahlua nodded as she was given a job and moved to where Resplendence had so easily found the Skullcap. Left to her own devices, she nosed around uselessly in the brush for several minutes before finally coming across a patch and pulling at them eagerly, laying them in a pile at her side as they came loose.

“We, your family, are glad it was not your time,” she said finally, looking up to see where the fallen angel had gotten to, the contented chirping of the marmoset an easy clue. Personalities, a study for only the brightest scholars, were a marvel of the world that Kahlua would never understand. She had lost mother, father and brother to the fire but had gone on so quickly without them while Resplendence had lost so many but their deaths hung so heavy over her. “What makes you happy?” Her words were spoke aloud but were meant for herself as much as for the fallen angel- a necessary distraction from the suffocating curtain of depression and fear that clouded their meeting.