[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

skill: [none]

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Tiberii asked what goldenrod was used for. Of course she did, for Tiberii was so nicely feigning interest in her savant-like special interest: botany and plant identification. It was the natural, normal next question to wonder what a plant would be used for. It was the very reason one would want to harvest plants at all: to use them to their medicinal qualities. So, that still begged the very question:

What was goldenrod even used for?

Honestly, I don’t know, Euphemia admitted quickly, as if she had been waiting for Tiberii to ask that question so that she could spit out that very response. I never got to learn that much from Mother. If mother was still alive, Euphemia supposed she would still be working to index and catalogue her wealth of experience, and translate it into her own.

Oh, what a boon that would have been! By the time I realized I'm into plants… she was already gone. Mother was a great healer, told all the stories. Euphemia was not. She was not metaphysical or transcendent, she was not empathic or a conduit. She was just a little girl, who often felt frustrated and unseen. Her worth, she questioned almost daily, almost in every other moment.

Everything I know, I've learned on my own. she gushed to her sister, who she felt so different from, but was unable to not be vulnerable with. Perhaps both things (self-education and unconditional vulnerability) were something to be proud of, but Euphemia regarded them both poorly. You taught yourself how to guard and how to lead… she spoke the words through tight lips, as if she was reluctant to let them go.

and i’ve taught myself how to identify plants, but not use them. Euphemia couldn’t bring herself to look at Tiberii, knowing full and well that she was wallowing in self-loathing. Just another one of her many negative qualities. Fucking useless.

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