In the Pursuit of Knowledge

It had been several days since the incident in the woods and Sera had been doing her best to replace one matter of curiosity with the another. The supernatural was a tantalizing mystery, albeit, one that would have her the laughingstock amongst all her colleagues. But there were so many unanswered questions and she was desperate for answers. She would have to wait until the evening when it seemed those who could quench her thirst for knowledge stirred.

For now, she was content with browsing the local market, for both specimens and stories. The tales the townsfolk told her now took on a different meaning. The young hunter she had met days earlier and who seemed to know the forest quite well was nowhere to be seen. Their little mushroom hunt would have to happen another day. All sorts of colors and smells assaulted her sense as she moved between the stands. There were a few items that would help her test her soils samples, but it was difficult to do with her current equipment.

“There has to be chemist or a doctor about,” she bemoaned out loud, but to nobody in particular. If they were about, they were well hidden. More people seemed interested in wise women and the snakeoil salesmen. It was a shame. To mask her defeat, Sera bought a small loaf of brown bread and a hunk of cheese that looked and smelled a great deal like Wensleydale. She took up a perch on a crowded green space. It provided a great vantage point to observe the people as they went about their day.

A few bites into the bread and large, black bird caught Sera’s attention. It flew down with determination and landed on a sign in the middle of the market. It puffed its chest out proudly and gave a shrill caw. This call was accented by the clinking of glass. Her eyes drifted just below the sign and caught sight of a large, dour man carrying a box of glass instruments and vials. He moved with ease through the crowd, careful of his charge. Intrigued by what she thought might be scientific equipment, Sera followed the gentleman, hoping to eventually catch his attention. However, the farther along they got, the more she became as intrigued with the man’s destination. Was she finally going to find her chemist or doctor?