As they reach the hut at the top, a sudden bitter smell overwhelmed their senses as it almost made them faint, "What is that?" Elijah ask while pinching his nose.
"Oh that? It's the Healer's hut, so there's a strong smell of medicine, you'll get used to it," Gale explain.
Gale then brought them inside and they could see an old woman with a cane supervising a young man sorting herbs.
"Such a strong stench," Elijah commented.
This tiny comment seemed to have perked up the old woman's ears as she said angrily, "Well if you can't take such a weak smell then get out of my hut and never return."
The group were a little taken aback from the snapping grandma in front of them, good thing Gale is with them, "Now now grandma Crane, these fellas are new comers, I found them near the river and they seemed to be lost," Gale explained.
"Hmmp, if you found them near the river they must be from the Tribe of Rushing Water, send them back there immediately, they might be sent to spy on us or use as an excuse to wage a war on us or take a part of our territory, " Grandma Crane said grumpily.
Gale just sighed and introduced her, "Let me introduce to you grandma Crane that heals the Wounded, and the one sorting the herbs is Calen."
Finally a somewhat normal name for Alex's group, but Alex seemed to miss something as he asked, "Just Calen? No rides like the wind or, or that grazes the plains?"
After Alex's little comment, Crane reacted again, "I knew it, you ARE from another tribe, maybe not the Tribe of Rushing Water but you're from the Tribe of Quaking Earth!" Crane said and turn to look at Gale, "Send them back to the tribe of earth now, they might cause trouble for us." She said and retreated to another room.
The young man Calen sighed and walked towards Alex's group, "Sorry for that, I am Calen, short for Calendula, I don't have a full name yet because I'm still in training, and training as a healer is a much more devious task than training as a Warrior because I need to remember which herbs do which."
Calen introduce himself and he is apparently a healer in training, Alex also introduced himself and his friends and exchange some pleasantries and after that they went right into business.
"So, what brings you here Gale?" Calen asked.
"Yea about that," Gale said with a serious face, "Do you know any magic that can restore memories?" Gale asked.
This took Alex's group by surprised and it is evident in their face, there are memory restoring, this tells Alex's group that this world isn't limited to elemental magic, there's also practical magic and utility magic based on how Algaia used it.
Calen was quiet for a while, clearly thinking about the subject, "No, nothing comes to mind, maybe you can ask grandma Crane," He said shrugging. "Although she is grumpy all the time, she's not that bad, all tribe healers has a policy of treating the wounded whatever tribe they may be from." He added before going back to sorting herbs.
Gale signaled for them to follow her to the room where grandma Crane went to but befor entering, Alex looked back at Calen and asked, "What these herbs for if you can use magic to treat others?"
"Oh these? Well you see using magic is kind of a tiring task, especially since healing magic take a lot of energy to use," Calen answered while sorting herbs.
"Oh ok, thanks for the info," Alex said before entering the room where grandma Crane is.
Calen looked at Alex's back wondering what 'info' means but thought nothing of it as he returned to sorting herbs.