Stormleaf

Stormleaf grows as a low, many-branched shrub that rarely rises higher than the waist of an adult. Its bark is smooth and grey-brown, with a slight sheen when wet, and the roots grip tightly into rocky soil that would defeat most garden plants. The leaves are narrow and slightly serrated, dull green on top with a faint silvery cast on the underside, and are arranged in clusters that respond quickly to wind and weather. Fine, darker veins run through each leaf in branching patterns that many compare to forked lightning. In the hours before rain the leaves tend to lift and curl slightly, and their scent grows stronger, giving the monastery gardeners an early sign of an approaching storm. In spring the shrubs produce small, pale blossoms with a clean, rainlike fragrance, followed by a few dark, unobtrusive berries that birds favor more than people.

Stormleaves are harvested by hand from the monastery gardens, sorted, and dried in shaded, airy lofts before being brewed into Stormleaf Tea. Monks of Tawāzun drink it in strong, simple infusions before dawn meditation, during long study, and before walking the high paths, valuing its clear, sharp taste and the way it seems to steady breathing and sharpen attention without leaving a heavy feeling in the body. Villagers on Shavah prefer milder brews as an everyday morning tea, sometimes sweetened with a little honey or citrus peel. A small portion of each harvest is set aside for more specialized work. Careful gardeners and scribes use the stronger stormleaves to make rinses or inks used in divination, wind working, and other air-touched rites, while hedge alchemists on Shavah and Gavorah quietly add a pinch of Stormleaf to draughts meant to keep a watcher awake, a messenger alert, or a scribe focused. The monastery is careful about how much of the dried herb leaves the island. Modest quantities are sent to Gavorah, Skywatch, and the Fourfold hall as gifts or for council use, but large-scale trade is discouraged. Now and then a bundle finds its way into foreign hands through friendly monks or quiet smugglers, which has begun to tempt outside merchants to view Stormleaf as a rare commodity. So far, Tawāzun treats such pressures as one more test of balance, choosing to protect the plant as a discipline of Shavah rather than allow it to become simply another export.