[Lilith Michaelis]

[[Tarana, human form. This is a private rp.]]

Rain pelted down around him as the boy quietly ascended the steps of the temple, sighing softly. "....Finally here," he muttered to himself.

When he had left Florekar's abode near the cathedral, he'd known it'd be difficult to gather everything asked of him. That was the nature of deals like the one he had made with the shadow witch. But goodness, the amount of spell components he was being asked to recover.....it was certainly more than he'd been expecting.

But that wasn't about to deter him from the task ahead, now was it?

[Lilith Michaelis]

It wasn't too much longer before Tarana reached the temple proper and greeted the nearby monks with a bow and a quick "Hello." He did not, however, explain why he was here. While not a bustling center of civilization, it was generally assumed that people came here to quietly relax and regard the world with quiet contemplation. People came here to discover themselves and get in touch with their more spiritual sides.

If the monks were willing to assume that for the majority of people, there was no harm in using that into his advantage.

[Lilith Michaelis]

He had to admit though, this place was beautiful. Between the rainforest surrounding it, the calmness of the temple itself, and the quiet patter of the rain, Tarana could see why it was such a popular place to come to for self-discovery and spiritual endeavors.

"...Man, Shoto, Kakashi, and Obito'd get a kick out of this place. Probably."

The young ninja headed towards the more natural areas of the temple, those parts of it that had a little more flora than the rest of the temple. Most places like this kept at least one little area that the monks could grow their own food and safely spend time among nature, didn't they? And luckily for Tarana, the guests staying at the temple probably had access to it.

"Ah, excuse me!" Tarana cried out to a passing monk, waving his hand as he briskly walked closer in an attempt to get his attention.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"I'm looking for the gardens. I wanted to grab something to eat before I meditated, if you don't mind."

"No, no, of course not. Keep going down this pathway, turn left, continue down that path, turn left again and follow it and you should find your way there."

"Thank you!"

[Lilith Michaelis]

He hummed quietly to himself as he walked down the pathway, his hand trailing along the wall beside him. Another monk and a guest passed by but otherwise all was quiet as he turned the corner.

What Tarana needed specifically was a mushroom. But not just any mushroom. This one only grew on holy ground. What was it's name again...the Sublime Chanterelle, that was it.

While there were many places back on Lambastia that the young ninja probably could have gone to for it, Tarana had always wanted the chance to visit Evelon's other continent. There weren't a lot of chances to leave home, especially at his age -- and hey, he'd managed to get permission from both his guardians and his sensei to come here alone. So why not enjoy it?

[Lilith Michaelis]

With the brisk pace he'd set,  it didn't take Tarana long to traverse the path the monk had pointed out to him, and soon enough, he had arrived at the gardens.

They were quite splendid to look at. Not in the way that everything had been carefully planned, like the prized garden of a decorative landscaper. They were splendid in a more natural way; everything had its place, yes, but it was allowed to flourish the way it would naturally, altering only as necessary.

Lessee....it's symbiotic with trees, so if it's here that's where it'll be...," Tarana said to himself as he began his search. This was a large garden after all.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Tarana walked to the nearest tree and began inspecting around the trunk and roots for the fungus, branching out at least ten feet from the trunk just to be thorough. These kinds of mushrooms grew in conjunction with the roots of the tree after all and a tree's roots could stretch out quite a bit away from its trunk. He kept his eyes on the ground and walked slowly. It'd take him a long time to find the mushrooms this way, but it also meant less of a risk of stepping on them and destroying them.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Finding none around this tree, Tarana moved on to the next. When he found none there either, he flitted to the next and so on. Elusive little fungi, weren't they?

As he searched, Tarana wondered what Florekar needed this particular mushroom for. He assumed it was a spell component for whatever the shadow witch planned to do to separate Abyss and his twin, but to be quite honest, it surprised him. Not necessarily that it might be used for such a task, but that someone like Florekar would use a method that required something so....contradictory to him.

"...Eugh, that's prejudicial, isn't it? I mean I guess for good reason, but still," he rambled on to the air around him, wincing at his previous thought. Still though....

Guess it was just another reason to be both wary and fascinated by the shadow witch.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Several minutes passed with no sign of a sublime chanterelle. But Tarana was a patient young man, this wouldn't be a problem. You had to be patient with the life he lived; if you weren't, if you didn't wait for just the right moment to strike, it could be the difference between life and death. Your's or someone else's.

Not to mention Abyss required a lot of patience too.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Rain continued to drizzle down around Tarana. At this point, his clothes were quite damp. But that didn't bother him too much; they dried easily and he was used to moist forest air. The Whisper Forest was constantly covered with a layer of fog after all.

He continued to skitter from tree to tree in search of the elusive mushroom, bending down every once in awhile to take a closer look. Much like he was doing right now. Ice blue eyes flitted from root to root, back to the trunk, and to the roots again. It seemed like there was no such luck here either--Wait, what was that?

It was a false alarm, that's what it was. A tight bundle of black truffles had tucked themselves in a space under one of the roots. He blinked a few times at the truffles, head canted off to one side. Well, they were mushrooms, but they weren't the ones he was looking for.

A moment passed as Tarana made a decision, reaching out for the truffles and popping a smaller one into his mouth. They may not be what he was looking for but there was no reason he couldn't enjoy them nonetheless.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Munching on the truffle, Tarana continued on. Minutes turned into an hour. It occurred to him that perhaps he should take a break. Maybe. Possibly. It was an option.

....Naaaaaah.

Tarana had wandered quite a ways in the garden. He hadn't really been paying attention to his surroundings (which now that he thought about it, could get him killed if someone less than amicable was around), he'd been too busy scanning the ground. But now that he looked, he'd wandered into what was essentially a small grove of trees within the garden. Bright fruits dangled from them, tempting him into trying one.

No, no, he wanted to get this done. He wanted to try to find it first, then he could enjoy what else the temple had to offer. So Tarana's gaze returned to the ground, scanning the roots ever so diligently.

It seemed there would be no luck here as well when something caught his attention. Something that stood out against the damp, dark earth and the greens surrounding it. Another mushroom. He approached it, crouching down next to it and carefully studying it. The mushroom was a soft ivory in color, all except for the edge of the cap. That was a golden color that slowly faded into the white it surrounded, much like a ring or a halo.

Tarana thought for a moment, trying to remember if this mushroom resembled what he had read about. Florekar had told him nothing about the components he was meant to get, that task was up to Tarana himself. It'd taken some time to find something that talked about the mushroom, but he had eventually found it. And from there it had been a fight to find out enough about the fungus to actually mount an attempt to find it.

Somehow he got the feeling most of the others would be even harder.

But it certainly matched the description. And when Tarana reached for the mushroom, something about it just felt....right.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Tarana grinned to himself as he gently plucked the fungus from the ground and tucked it into the bag he was wearing. Sublime Chanterelle down, so many more spell components left to go.

As he glanced up and looked around the grove, he spotted another, similar looking mushroom growing nearby another tree. Then another and another. They still weren't too abundant, but there were enough that he'd be able to gather a reasonable amount.

No harm in making sure there was enough for Florekar to use, right?

"You're hard to find but when you're found, you just pop on up, huh?" he said to the next mushroom he picked, beaming at it. Talking to mushrooms was silly, but he didn't really care.

Once Tarana was satisfied, he stood up and latched his bag closed, slowly making his way out of the gardens. He'd stow his bag away in the room he was using during his stay here and then it was on to enjoy what else the temple had to offer.