"Do you want me to start with the younger batch or would it be better to start with the older stuff?" Gabriel looked at the root that came from the one that Subaru pulled out."That is a good question. The more efficient is to work our way in but then again if we go to the middle it will give the newer herbs a chance to grow. Hmmmmmm." Subaru placed the pulled out plant down on a cloth on the ground. "Let"s go to the middle. With the two of us here we should be able to pull out the bigger roots and give the smaller plants a chance to mature further."
"Okay, the leaves are also usable but for another medicine so whatever we harvest I will make sure that I use the whole thing. I do not want to waste it." Gabriel walks to the middle and sees that the ground was bulging. He pulled out a small shovel and dug around the root.
Subaru helped and was mindful of the other plants. He sat up admiring their work. "Alright, let"s pull this out. One, two, three!" The two worked on pulling it up and it took about thirty minutes to work it out of the soil. The two moved it to the side and as they pulled it out some of the ones next to it got pulled out from the ground.
Gabriel gently moved the beast of a root over and as he walked away with it more was pulled out. The roots had connected underground. They got a long string of roots interconnected. Gabriel lifted them gently and placed them next to the large one. "Well, I guess we need to fix the holes but on the plus side there are a lot of plants that will be able to grow better now that we removed that beast of a herb."
"Thank you for your help. I never thought that I would be able to remove that one alone and I was right." Subaru walks over and starts to move dirt back in the holes from them digging up the herb.
Gabriel finishes setting the rest down and promptly starts to help in filling the holes up. The two work on that for two hours and it finally looks normal once again. "Phew, that was hard work but we did it. Next, if you do not mind the tea leaves. I will not take all of them but some of them if you do not mind?"
"I do not mind. I think that we shall work on getting these back. If you hold the corners on that side and I hold the corners on this side we should be able to carry it all back at once" Subaru wipes his forehead and leans against the tree.
"Okay, I will do that but let"s take a breather so that we do not wear ourselves out." Gabriel looked up at the sky and saw that it was still going to be a nice day. He wipes the sweat from his forehead with his arm and leans against the tree.
"Yes, I think that is a good idea. So what will you do with the root?" Subaru sat on the ground and leaned against the tree behind him taking a break.
Gabriel takes a seat and does the same. "You grate the root down so that it is in small pieces and then you dry it out. After it is dried you can crush it up and grind it into a fine dust. It will be a lot of work but it will be well worth it. I want to get it all done but the drying process will take a little bit. I will be able to dry out a batch right away but I will need to speed dry other herbs as I make her medicine."
"If you do not mind, when I come to the city, could I bring Itsuki? It might be nice for him to come and see what the city is like. I feel bad for the town but if I make some medicines before I leave I should be able to go for a few days." Subaru looks to the sky and then down at Gabriel.
"It will not be easy work but I welcome you to join me and Itsuki is more than welcome to come along. We will be able to accommodate you and your son. You will be guests at my house but Itsuki might get bored at the hospital so he is welcome to stay at the house while we work." Gabriel smiles when Subaru looked at him.
"Sometimes Itsuki likes to watch what I am doing in the house, other times he likes to do his own thing. He will be interested in what I am doing and he has never seen a hospital so if you do not mind me bringing him on the first day…" Subaru looks away embarra.s.sed to ask.
"Sure, I really do not mind. We can ask Kosuke to come with us and if he gets tired he can go back to the house. That way he will not get bored while we work long and hard." Gabriel gets up and dusts off his clothing. He picked up that book and placed it on the herbs. "Let"s get moving this so that we can get the tea leaves next."
Subaru gets up and picks up his corners. "Oh G.o.d, this is heavy. Thank G.o.ddess that there are two of us.
Gabriel lifted his side up and followed Subaru back to town at a slower pace then they used to get here. "I hope that Amelia is doing well."
Amelia looked at Miyuki and smiled. She pulled out the handkerchief and showed Miyuki the progress that she had made on it so far. "Do you think that he will like it, Miyuki?"
"It is very lovely. I am willing to bet that it will forever be his treasure." Miyuki says this and smiles at Amelia.