First Day for Miyuki

It had felt like the walk had stretched into an eternity for Miyuki as she had ascended the stairs to the tower that day. It was her first day and while she was confident in what she was doing and how to do it, the surroundings were new to her, and that always for anyone came with a degree of nervousness. She had been shown to a table she could use, supplied with what she needed, and had gone to grinding up the various components that would go into a batch of pain relief pills.

Combining the willow bark powder into the bowl with binding agents and a few secret additives she had brought herself, she also added a portion of honey to sweeten the brief taste it would leave in patients mouths. From this, a dough resulted, which she dumped out onto the clean table surface, and began to knead with her hands after washing them in the basin beside her.

She thought back to her mother making these same pills, the smells of herbs in the air of her old home, the sun beaming outside ready to help dry the cut and rolled finished pills. Snapping out of her daydream, she checked the consistency of the dough and nodded to herself. The dough was ready for rolling out.

Taking out a wide wooden dowel she had been given earlier, she went about vigorously rolling out the dark colored dough into a wide, thin sheet. Once this was completed, she took a scalpel, and began the cutting process, first scoring a highly precise grid into the dough with the aide of a straight piece of wire she tied across a wooden frame to hold it tight, and then cutting the whole way through, making tiny squares which she then proceeded to roll into pill form with her hands. Setting these on a tray to dry, she looked outside. Rain, rain and more rain dripped from the sky....they'd have to sit near a fireplace this time to finish the drying process.

"Still, not a bad start" she said to herself, getting ready to make a second large batch, hoping she had enough trays. "Not a bad start at all...."