But in what area should I focus? Early on in my adventures of this land i had tried my hand at mining.. Needless to say I wasn't very fond of it and dropped it quickly. It just didn't make sense to me, rummaging around through the rubble for a few lumps of shiny stone after the draining task of slamming a pickaxe at some rock. How can it appeal to anyone?
Fishing? Not for me.. Mind you I love fish but the seaside... Ugh, it's gross!
So then all that was left was Botany.. It didn't sound too bad, just harvesting from mature plants and trees. There could be no lasting damage to the landscape doing this. So I picked up some old, weathered gear including a hatchet and scythe and set off. I didn't head to Gridania where trees are plentiful, but to my home of Ul'dah that is comforting and familiar to me now.
When I came across my first mature tree, it was giving off a slight glow. I took this as a sign from The Twelve that it was acceptable to take my hatchet to this tree. Unstrapping the tool from my back, I weighed it in my hands carefully. It was quite heavy for my small frame, but I carefully notched where I would be aiming for. Swinging it back I decided to go at it with an uppercut. There was a satisfying thud as it sunk into the wood, but then it took me a minute to prize it back out. Finally I took another swing, this time aiming down at it.
Wood chips hit my face and when I opened my eyes all that were left were.. Splinters? But as I looked glumly at the mess I made, I could feel something tickling down my arms. Looking up and then around me, there were a few crow feathers falling to the ground from the branches above. With a smile on my face I gathered them all up and stuffed them into my pack, before picking up my hatchet and having another go.
I didn't always get that lucky though, from some trees I came away with nothing, or sometimes I'd damage what would have been a perfectly good fruit. By the end of the week my skill had improved by quite a bit and as I set off home once again, I was quite proud of myself. Why shouldn't I be, right?
First I stopped at the nearest shop and sold a few things to the elezen inside for a small price. Then I went to go visit my employee, Zahra. With great joy I received the 100,000 gil she had made, after paying her wages of course. My weathered hatchet wasn't quite cutting it with these trees I'd been chopping at Camp Drybone, literally. So I went off in search of a plumed bronze hatchet.
You know me, I looked for a discount! And I did find one, eventually, when I looked through the wares of a miqo'te in the battlecraft row. I'll admit that as soon as I got my upgraded hatchet I just dropped my old one in a corner and walked off.. Maybe someone else found it though, I'd like to think that.
All I wanted after that was a scarf, something to keep the chips and splinters off my face. Walking slowly through the clothiers row and running my fingers through the feathers of my new hatchet, I found a decent cotton scarf at a lalafell's stall. It should give enough protection, I only wish I had goggles too.. Oh well.
In the end I spent just about all the earnings I'd made through botany, but the way I see it, it paid for itself so it's not all bad. Now to go break in my feathered hatchet!
~Rakshi Zahrann