"To be fair, I was ten years old," Hilana admitted wryly. "Old enough to know better, young enough not to care. Especially since she was already in my family's estate when I got there and they handed her to me. I was summoned to Tertium for my eldest sister's betrothal party, and because I was doing well according to my tutor's reports, and my father and paternal grandparents had come out to see me a season or two before, they thought that perhaps I'd settled down enough to stay and begin formal education and live there. So the kitten, who had no name, was a bribe. They thought that if I fell in love with her and I was calm enough, then I would just want to stay there so I had a kitten. According to my sisters, I ruined the party because not only did I steal the kitten, which none of them cared about... but I took our late mother's wedding veil and wore it while riding around on Hayima'el's mother, Sakima," the girl admitted. She was perhaps a bit embarrassed by her own behaviour as a child, but looking back... she understood why she had done what she had. "They refused to allow me to touch it because they were afraid that even though I'd been soaked in the baths once I got in, and well before they came home, that I would make it dirty or smelly," Hilana had a bite of her food, her eyes dancing with mischief at the memory. "So when their backs were turned, I snatched it and went for a ride on Sakima. Missed most of the party and Namah didn't wear the veil. Even though my aunt had it professionally cleaned, she didn't wear it at her wedding. Neither did Marah or Athalia. The joke is on them, because I will wear it when the time is right. It's mine now, technically, as the youngest and the unmarried."
When she went to Tertium next season for the Derby... she was planning on bringing it home to Solunarium Proper with her.
She nodded in understanding as he explained to her about the active involvement of the elemental spirits during her lessons as she had another couple forkfuls of her food. That was true; Hilana was fortunate enough indeed that the spirits liked her and wanted her to improve and do more, and more, and more... but when the time came to stop, that pressure was there, their whispers were there. As disappointed as some of them got when Hilana had had enough with giving them her aether and playing with them, as sometimes they seemed to think the girl was a playmate with the practice and exercises that she did, they stayed nearby anyway. "I'm always telling my patients that the body knows what it needs. They just have to listen," she smiled wryly as she had a drink from her glass, and would refresh Æros' as well as needed. "It's one of those times that I take my own advice. The headaches and fatigue mean stop, rest, and recover," she smiled at that.
At his offer, Hilana inclined her head. "I was actually going to get you to do that today, Dominus, but I had a surprise visitor last night who snuck out when he shouldn't have for a quick visit and checking in," her small smile indicated just who it might have been, and if it wasn't clear enough, he could certainly peek through her memories. Finn had blinked himself into her apartment for a snack, catching up, and attuning the mambas to her. "I leave them fairly spicy for others, but they'll behave for me. They'll react well for you, but don't make it permanent," she grinned at him. It was one thing for Tiaz, Fiya, and Lydia to be friendly and relaxed around multiple people; but it was quite another for the venomous snakes that Hilana had a steadily growing collection of.
"I would like to acquire more species," the girl explained. "Especially those from across the Crystal Sea. If they are not native, procuring a cure becomes more difficult, no? You see, venom from different sources attacks the body in different ways. There are four classifications of venom," Hilana was off on a roll now, Æros could likely tell. "There are proteolytic venom, hemotoxic venom, neurotoxic venom, and cytotoxic venom. Proteolytic is present in all snake bites, and what it does is act at the site where the wound was inflicted. It attacks and degrades the muscles and tissue, but it is more at the local source. But as that spreads, that impacts the blood, too. Hemotoxic primarily attacks the blood stream, and therefore the tissues and organs that way. It can cause blood clots or inhibit the body's ability to form blood clots, depending on the specific specie of snake. That is what leads to cardiovascular failure, limb loss, and internal bleeding. Which is obviously devastating, but hemotoxic venom tends to impact its victims the slowest, so with proper attention... you may well survive it. Not necessarily intact, but you could survive it." The girl sipped her drink, tearing up another piece of pita. "Neurotoxic venom impacts your nervous system. Your brain, everything that it controls. This is what causes the muscle paralysis, and can lead to unconsciousness. And due to the very nature of it, since it does less visible damage than proteolytic or hemotoxic venom, it can be harder to detect until you show symptoms or it is spotted with Semblance. And if you collapse and you're unconscious... it's a lot harder to get treatment, isn't it? The last type, cytotoxic, attacks everything. It is like proteolytic venom amplified many times over, I think you could say. Where you receive cytotoxic venom can make the difference between life or death... but because of the damage it causes when it is delivered, the way it attacks tissues, blood, everything local... if it is allowed to spread, then it makes the loss of life much more likely."
She let him digest that information for a moment while she had another bite of dinner. "So keeping this in mind, I want to have a variety of venom on hand so that different crafted poisons can have very specific effects. I want to be able to combine multiple types... like put together a combination of cytotoxic and neurotoxic, for example. Some clients came to my mentor because they wanted something extremely specific in the manner of death, and having a number of sources allows you to craft customized poisons to precisely fit those situations that they want. And because we have no Mendicants here... and there is only so much pesticyte... that leaves healers with normal methods or alchemical solutions. The more sources one has, the better my chances of either successful poison, or successful healing of a victim. Antivenin largely must be from the same species of snake to have the most success at undoing the damage. Make the wrong treatment, you may or may not be successful. You might be able to save part of them, but it's much harder to fix something when the brain is gone, isn't it? Even for necromancers."
Risdra was purring away in Æros' lap, enjoying the fact that she was able to get as many treats from him as she did. Hilana just chuckled, thoroughly amused by the way her big queen had enthralled the star-touched Fae. "I'm quite certain she's saying that you are hers now and you can stay and feed her treats all day from your fingers," the girl giggled. "Khyan may serve you, but Risdra says you can serve her."
