Amaranth walked through the streets of Vilpamolan with a certain swagger, despite being a relatively small woman. She looked at the varying stalls, selling food, clothing, and straight up contraband. She was approached by more than one drunken sailor asking if she wanted company for the night, or was willing to provide company for a fee. While Amaranth was typically not hard to offend, she found herself more perplexed than anything - her leather top was in the shape of a corset, sure, but by no means did she look like a whore. For one, her clothing, hair, and basically everything else was kept in better condition than those belonging to the local working girls, and better even than most of the local mercenaries.

That was why she was in this cesspit of a city to begin with. Mercenaries. Amaranth had recently mastered a number of new spells, and wanted to try them out while earning some coin. Despicable as the city in general was, at least there was a thriving market for contraband and mercenaries there. Amaranth had looked at a number of companies, but neither captain had seemed to possess anything but cotton between their ears. She approached a relatively small band, and approached the man she assumed was the captain.

“Afternoon,” she said, grabbing the man’s attention. “I’m looking for work. Scout and survivalist. Name’s Amaranth,” she said, brusquely. The man eyed her up and down for a brief moment. “‘Ello, Amaranth. Scout and survivalist, eh? Any good with a bow?” The man’s voice was gruff but not unpleasant, Amaranth decided. And he seemed ready to listen to her, which was more than could be said for others. “Not bow, but I can cast.” Amaranth demonstratively flexed her hand, casing vines of poison ivy to grow up along her legs (she remained unaffected). The captain looked at her curiously. “Magic can be plenty useful,” he said, stroking his beard curiously. “But anyone can pull off a parlour trick. Can you show off something a bit more compelling?” Amaranth thought on that for a moment. “It’ll be uncomfortable for you.” “I can handle discomfort,” the man replied with a stoic grin. Amaranth waved her hand in a wide arc, her eyes glowing deep purple. “Curse of the Dry Twig.” The mercenary captain immediately felt stiff and nauseous, and had in fact been turned rather brittle to boot. Amaranth lifted the curse in a few seconds, however.

“I can shift, too. I will not tell you into what before I can trust you.” The captain took a few deep breaths. “Fair’s fair, lass. Marcus here is scoutmaster, he’ll give you your assignment.” The captain gestured at a man seated next to him, who greeted Amaranth with a lazy half-salute. “Got an Egjoran fellow by the name of, ah, Eren von Freilund. Check in with him, you’ll be foraging together.” Amaranth cocked an eyebrow, curious. “Von Freilund. That’s a nobleman’s surname,” she said, her attention piqued. The lieutenant called Marcus just shrugged. “He’s educated, that’s for sure,” he just replied, and gave no indication that he wanted to discuss it further. Amaranth looked to the captain. “I assume standard mercenary guild’s mage rates apply?” The captain looked at her with a shrug. “Sure, if you pull your weight. Most of your pay will be loot and salvage, anyway,” he said, indicating he was done with her.

Amaranth, being satisfied with the down-to-earth nature of her new employers, looked around the party for Eren von Freilund. Finally, she spotted a man who seemed to fit the description - well-groomed, carrying a bow, proud stature. He was reading a book, it seemed, and as she got closer, Amaranth could make out the title: Flora and Fauna in Vilpamolan and Virans Forest, it read, a straightforward title for a straightforward book. Amaranth approached, lowering the book with her index finger, to get the man’s attention. “No need. I know all the wildlife in the area, and I’m to be your foraging partner,” she stated, before holding out a hand for him to shake. She noted he was a rather handsome man, and hoped he had a wit to match his appearance. “Amaranth Rose. Yes, my name means what you think it means,” she said, holding a finger over her lips, indicating she didn’t want the rest of the company to know about her family.

Eren flipped the page of the book he read with an exasperated sigh.  Although he was rather educated, having been noble-born, he was not very well versed on plants and other things in the wilds - especially in such a heathen-ridden area such as Vilpamolan and Virens.  He was not necessarily jubilant at the prospect of foraging for days on end - even if they were going to give him a partner to do it with.  The last partner the scoutmaster had assigned to him for a similar duty had been rather dull and boring, which in turn had made the mission itself dull and boring.  He held words with marcus following that, and the scoutmaster had given him a rather unreliable promise that the next person he’d pair him up with would be a bit more interesting.  

Just as he moved to flip the page again, a slender finger pushed the book down from his line of sight, revealing a woman standing in front of him.  He narrowed his eyes, rather annoyed with the fact that she had drawn him away from his text.  When she spoke, he cocked an eyebrow at her - surely a woman could not know anywhere nearly as much as he did.  “I see Marcus was full of pisspreik, as usual,” he muttered, as the woman introduced herself as his foraging partner.  He scanned her up and down with his eyes, of course letting his gaze linger in a few general areas.  When she continued speaking, he hardly let her finish before he spoke up once more.  “Leave it to that idiot of a scoutmaster to assign a woman to be my par- You’re a rosenite?” he said, cutting himself off.  He looked her up and down once more - it explained why her physique was so pleasing to the eye.  I hear Rosenite’s are quite easy to bed, he thought to himself, and he couldn’t help but smirk.  

“Secret’s safe with me, Miss Amaranth,” he said quietly, giving her a sarcastically flourished bow.  “Name’s Eren von Freilund, out of Egjora,” he continued, introducing himself.  He cocked his head to one side, staring at her a moment.  “You’re really going to be my foraging partner?” he said, and he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.  He brought a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing it slightly.  He straightened himself up, and stretched his arms up to the sky, letting out a satisfied sound at the result of his stretching.  
“We’ve probably got about six or seven hours left of day’s light,” he added, looking to the sky.  “What do you think?  Shall we head out tonight?” he asked.  “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know one another while we on the scavenge,” he said.  “Unless you’d rather head over to that tavern and get to know each other a bit better tonight,” he said, with a suggestive smirk.  It was obvious his suggestion was in jest, though he wouldn’t oppose if she took it seriously and accepted.  Truth be told, he would rather get out of Vilpamolan sooner than later, so he was hoping that the woman - Amaranth - would suggest they head out now.  The people around the city drove him crazy with their uneducated banter, and she seemed intelligent enough - and she didn’t hurt to look at, either.

Amaranth narrowed her eyes at the man. He seemed to be something of a sexist - implying that he didn’t want a woman as foraging partner. Not a good start, she thought. Being a rosenite and having grown up in the Sundering Gardens - not to mention being a woman herself - misogynists were not a type of people she was fond of. When he realised she was a rosenite, however, his tone changed quickly. He’d looked at her more thoroughly with a smile on his lips, and Amaranth concluded that the man probably thought she’d be an easy catch. Not this rosenite, she thought to herself. “Yes, I am a rosenite,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “One of Angela’s daughters.”

Amaranth had always thought about herself that she wasn’t quite so easy as most of her sisters and cousins. The problem was, this was only half-true - she was certainly more discerning about who she let into her bed, but she wasn’t difficult to convince at all if only the prospective partner showed above-average intelligence. Despite her misgivings about the man’s demeanour - he was too suave by half for her taste - she couldn’t help but feel a little flutter as the man’s choice of words and eagerness to not sit idle became evident. She nodded at him. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather get a head start and move immediately,” she said, patting her hand-axe. “Provided you know where and when the rendezvous with the main party is,” she added. She silently decided to herself to let this Eren character get a second chance to impress her - who knew, maybe she could convince him to leave his sexist views behind.

Eren quirked an eyebrow at Amaranth as she revealed that her mother was Angela Rose.  Being of Canelux, he had been raised to believe in the Gods and their power.  He bowed his head respectfully at her momentarily.  “It’s an honor, then,” he added, though in his respectful bow he cast his gaze back up to her once more.  She may have been the daughter of a goddess (which, from what he recalled reading about Rosenites, a large number of them were descendants of Angela, if not somehow all), but he would be damned if he did not admit she was attractive.  

He was glad that Amaranth wanted to get moving as soon as possible - though for posterity’s sake, he pouted his lip out a bit in feigned disappointment.  After a second, his pout turned to a charming smile.  “I like the way you think,” he said, giving her a wink.  Leaning down, he grabbed the quiver that had been on the ground beside him and slung it back over his shoulder.  “Let’s get going then,” he said.  “The rendezvous will be no issue,” he added, motioning for her to follow him as he began to walk towards one of the city gates, in the direction of Virens Forest.  “I helped Marcus plot it out,” he said, looking back to her with a sly grin.

Once they were out of the city and on the path to the forest, away from prying ears, Eren spoke in a friendly manner to Amaranth as they walked, falling into step beside her rather than in front of her.  “So how did a Rosenite come to be taking a job with a bunch of mercenaries?” he asked, running a hand through his dark hair before securing the length in a leather strap.  “I’d imagine you could do much more proper things if you wished,” he added.  He’d heard about the Rosenite courts before, and wondered why she was not a part of one.  Perhaps she was, and had decided the life was not for her?  It was eerily similar to how Eren felt about the life of a nobleman.  “Don’t get me wrong - provided you’re as well versed as you claim to be in the flora and fauna, and if you can hold your own, I’d much rather you be my partner out here than one of those dolts back in Vilpamolan,” he said.  “They’re the most uneducated lot of swine I’ve been around in quite some time,” he said, mild disgust audible in his voice.  His point was not incorrect, however.  Eren was very well groomed, especially when comparing him to the other men in the company.

He looked at Amaranth in silence for a moment, but cleared his throat after deciding that the silence was rather awkward.  “Did Marcus give you a copy of the specifics we’re to find along with the basic forage items?” he asked, changing the subject with no condescension in his voice. He fought the urge to speak to her as he normally spoke to women - they were going to be out in the forest alone for nearly five days, and having a woman - especially a Rosenite - angry with him for that long did not sound overly pleasing.

Amaranth followed Eren on his way out of the city. She couldn’t say she was particularly surprised that he helped plotting their movement plan; Out of the group, Eren and Amaranth were probably the only ones raised with knowledge of such things. When Eren asked about how she came to work with mercenaries, she answered quickly and candidly. “I’m a witch,” she said, rather flatly. “And I prefer actually doing things to sitting in a room looking pretty,” she continued. It was true - she had been in company of other nobility her entire life, and while rosenite ladies were indeed magnitudes more emancipated and fierce than many of their peers in other cultures, there was still a certain hailing of the feminine ideal - but Amaranth had always been inclined to more practical thinking.

“I was raised by the Earth Mother,” she said, looking at Eren with an expression that plainly stated that she found his lack of faith disturbing. “Trust me, I have the knowledge and the prowess,” she stated, her eyes glowing green for a second. “I just hope you’ll be able to keep up,” she added, with something of a playful smirk. She noted his comment on ‘uneducated swine’, and while she didn’t really agree that they were such lesser people, she did see his point. “I’ll agree that the dull-witted make for poor companionship,” she conceded. “And no, Marcus didn’t give me any details. I suppose he didn’t figure it necessary, what with you helping with his plotting and all,” she said, looking to Eren for answers. What indeed were they supposed to forage for, specifically? It would be best to know straight away, so they could take an ideal route away from the city.

Eren gave Amaranth a rather approving glance as she bluntly told him that she was a witch.  “Well, if I may be so bold, you still look rather pretty even when you are doing things,” he said, his voice taking on a perfect amount of suaveness.  He found her bluntness and tenacity rather admirable. It was refreshing, to say the least, to have an intelligent woman of noble means to speak with - but one whose head didn’t seem quite so far up her own ass.  He stopped walking, and turned to look at her for a moment.  He said nothing, but his narrowed eyes gave way to the fact that he was certainly thinking about something - however, what it was that he was thinking about was rather unclear.  His lips parted as though he were about to speak, but they snapped shut again, making it clear that he had changed his mind about it

“I’ll take your word for it,” he said to her, his face expressionless for the first time as she gave a brief explanation. Eren cocked an eyebrow at Amaranth as she made a comment in jest about his ability to keep up.  “Oh, you’ve got nothing to worry about with me, my lady,” he said, giving her quite the sarcastic bow.  While still bent over, he glanced up at her with a playful grin, then straightened up.  “I’m actually pleased that Marcus didn’t fill you in too much,” he said, the honesty apparent in his voice.  “Personally, when I am a part of planning something, I prefer to also be the one who explains it to those involved,” he added, as a testament to his self-centered nature.

“Most of the items are just general - herbs, roots, plants… things we can eat, make medicine out of,” he said, with a shrug.  “It’s a fairly vague list, to be perfectly honest.  “There are a few specifics,” he continued.  “We’re to find several leaves of Athelas, which has some very heavy healing properties and wouldn’t hurt to have on hand.  I grew up knowing it as Kingsfoil,” he added.  “We’re also to find some wolfsbane… guess that clan head had a run in with a pack of weres a while back and always keeps some on hand, but seems to be running low.”  He paused for a moment, fishing a small scroll of parchment out of his pouch.  “Last thing we need to find is raskovnik,” he said.  “It’s not native to this region, but some travellers planted a grove a long time ago.  Word is it’s still out there somewhere, but no one knows its exact location.  Supposedly, it’s got magical properties that can open locks,” he added.  He glanced back at Amaranth, handing the list over to her.  “I suppose you’ll know all about those, though,” he said, realizing that his explanations were more than likely unnecessary.

“My thought is that we’ll look for the miscellaneous as well as the Kingsfoil first,” he suggested.  “Those will be easy enough to find, and then we have the gathered provisions on hand should we run into issues while searching for the wolfsbane and the raskovnik,” he concluded.  “How are you at constructing shelters?” he asked.  He had a fair bit of experience in the matter, but was curious as to how Amaranth’s survival skills would fair.  He assumed well, but it could not hurt to ask.