6. Cleaning (Patreon)

Before going back to the greenhouse, Aloe made a new mask with more dried jasmine flowers. She ended up emptying the jar as there weren’t many left. Instead of slightly pouring water, she dived the whole cloth into the oasis this time.

“Hopefully this mask will hold for a longer time.” She said before placing it on her nose.

The jasmine-scent mask was damp, and while it was uncomfortable to the touch, this way the stench wouldn’t affect her as much as before.

Maybe it was the cleaned windows that allowed the sun to wash away the putrefaction or the opened door circling some fresh air, but nevertheless, Aloe was delighted to find that the odor wasn’t as lethal as before.

The vague smell she picked up was of stagnant water and rot. Whilst the white and blue tree in the middle of the greenhouse seemed unaffected by the lack of moisture, other plants had wilted away.

The greenhouse was organized into five distinct parterres. Four at each corner and the middle one that was solely taken by the coiled tree. The glass house was littered with dead plant matter, not only in the soil but also in the glass. Aloe wasn’t an expert on botany, not by a long shot, but she could recognize the simple vines or the jasmine flowers. Or at least what used to be those.

As she inspected the damages to the greenhouse, Aloe got more interested in the tree. Whilst every plant had withered or was vaguely alive, the blue-leafed tree was healthy. There were a lot of things wrong with the tree, its leaf color, and the strange canopy, but she had failed to notice its size.

The alien tree was short, incredibly so. It wasn’t even three meters tall, and she had a gut feeling telling her that it should be taller.

“Is it the environment?” Aloe approached the tree once more with a hint of reticence. She wouldn’t want to be enchanted by it once more.

The leaves were blue, but they seemed muted. She didn’t know how the tree should look, but she felt it was wrong.

“Is it the lack of water, or something off with the soil?” Aloe wondered, alas, she had no answers.

Other plants had survived, but she wasn’t surprised by those. One of the four parterres of the corners was populated by more desert-suitable flora. Namely, cactuses and aloe vera.

“Wait, isn’t aloe vera a type of cactus?” In a way, she couldn’t help herself to feel ashamed to know the answer as the plant in question was her namesake. “I feel like I should at least have some fun trivia at hand...”

She also found one lone plant far different from the green-colored cactuses. It was the plant her grandfather was proudest of.

A single Aloe Veritas bloomed in the parterre, partially wilted by the environment but alive, nonetheless. The parchment texture on the plant was more defined than the dried ones in the storage.

Whilst the aloe vera’s leaves pointed to the ceiling with strength, the parchment-like leaves of the Aloe Veritas hung with difficulty, most scratching the dirt with their tips. It seemed the magical plant required more water than its unevolved counterpart.

“Hmm...” Aloe peeked at the only tree in the greenhouse over her shoulder and approached the Aloe Veritas. “I’ll be taking one if you don’t mind.”

Aloe grabbed her knife from one of the many satchels in her belt. She had brought as many bags as possible as she intended to loot the greenhouse from seeds since the beginning. Now she had second thoughts after seeing what her grandfather had managed here. She swayed her head slightly, pushing back those thoughts, and cleanly cut one of the Aloe Veritas leaves.

Carefully, she grabbed it so as to not let the sap touch her. Unlike the dried leaves on the pot, the recently cut one didn’t stop pouring sap.

“Why doesn’t it stop?” Aloe stood up, her voice showing a hint of anguish. She tip-toed her way into the central parterre, trying hard to not get touched by the sap.

She let a sigh of relief once the Aloe Veritas sap dyed the ashen trunk of the tree with a weathered dark blue color reminiscent of squid ink. Instantly, letters began to write themselves onto the parchment.

“Alright, let’s see what you are called.” Aloe brought the leaf before her.

Species: Na’mul Ter’nar

Sobriquet: Blue Tree

Description: Member of the Ter’nar species, a species known for their ability to survive with mana alone. Their leaves are high on mana and are considered a delicacy.

Alignment: Arcane, Information

“Mana?” Aloe frowned. “What’s mana?”

For a brief instant, Aloe hoped the Aloe Veritas would answer her. The description of the plant hinted it could give knowledge, and considering it knew her name maybe it could understand and answer her questions. Quite a jump to conclusions, but at this point it wouldn’t surprise her. Unfortunately, her wishes didn’t come true.

“And that’s quite also a sobriquet. Blue tree, really? At least Aloe Veritas had a real one, I know it’s a blue tree! The coiled spring is more eye-catching than the leaves you know?” And the plant did, indeed, not know.

It was just a plant.

“It also doesn’t say it’s an evolved species like the Aloe Veritas did with aloe vera. How did Karaim get this plant? Do these really exist out in the world somewhere?”

Aloe highly doubted so. If there were coiled trees with colorful canopies around, she would have definitely at least heard rumors. And she still pondered about the mana term. But beyond that, she fixated on the alignment of the Na’mul Ter’nar.

“Arcane and Information... Didn’t the Aloe Veritas also have that alignment?”

Whilst she was highly interested in the properties of the clearly magical plants, she had the feeling that the cultivation journal contained most of the answers to her questions. Her current questions that is.

“I guess I should remove some of the dead plants. This will only get worse with the heat.” Aloe turned her head from side to side. “Did Karaim have any gloves?”

One of the walls of the greenhouse had a rack with tools. Scissors, knives, hoes, water cans... in general, a lot of everything. Once again, Aloe was taken aback by the riches of her grandfather. Metal tools were expensive, and he had a lot of them. She could understand having a spare set, but this many seemed overkill.

And in fact, Karaim did have a pair of gloves. They were a set of hard dark brown leather gloves, rather dry and coarse as they were old.

“Why in the dunes did he have a trillion tools but only a single set of gloves?” Aloe groaned but wore the gloves despite her protests.

Most withered plants were flowers, making it easy to remove them, roots included. The weeds were the real problem. They had grown over the dead plants and were deeply rooted in place. Sweat trickled down her face as she used every pinch of her strength to clean the parterre.

Before her mask ran out of scent, she had only cleaned two of the two parterres, her hands numb by the applied force and her arms flopping as wet noodles in exhaustion. Luckily for Aloe, one of the remaining parterres was the cactus one, meaning not a lot of work had to be done in that one. She then stood up in confusion as she dusted the knee section of her garbs.

“Why am I even doing this again?” Aloe said as her body slumped on the warm sand just outside the greenhouse.

Aloe removed her mask and slightly opened her garb to let the air refresh her. Beside her lay a pile of dead plant matter, which she could only be thankful for its lack of odor. Her body trembled in pain and exhaustion, yet she couldn’t deny that she felt a ping of satisfaction for a job well done.

“Oh right, if I sell the greenhouse I guess I’ll need to tidy the place.” Though as she said that, she couldn’t help but feel conflicted.

With yet another groan, Aloe stood up and walked inside the greenhouse. Now it was vaguely breathable, but she held her breath nonetheless as she only wanted to leave the gloves in place.

She went out as soon as she came in and then stood looking at the decomposing pile.

“Eh, can’t be bothered.” So, she left it there on the sand, underneath the sundering sun. “I guess I could make it into fertilizer or something, but I can’t be bothered right now.”

Aloe made her way to the oasis to clean her hands. Even though the gloves had completely protected her, that didn’t mean the gloves themselves were clean.

Then she noticed the boiling water, mostly evaporated by now as she had taken a few hours to clean the parterres.

“Fffffff-“ Aloe groaned.