Ash spent the next three days almost entirely asleep and then a further four with someone constantly watching over her and making certain she didn't overexert herself. She was allowed to read and Gardenia and Yarrow were more than happy to bring over any books she requested that the temple library had access to.
At first their presence had confused her, but she'd found out from Luri that permissions for visiting her home defaulted to the priestess if Ash was unavailable. She'd also found out that the gods could see her status screens but only when status effects rendered her unable to interact with them. It explained how Sidus had sent Luri a message calling her to Fantastoria and also why he didn't know she wasn't planning on leaving after the dungeon morph.
Ash finished her water and heaved a light sigh, wondering how long it would be before she'd be allowed to do anything again. Luri smiled slightly and set their breakfast down on the table, taking the seat across from Ash and enjoying her portion of the meal. At Sidus' command, she had remained in Fantastoria for the majority of each day, leaving the planning for the festival in the hands of those she'd been working with.
From what she could gather during her time with her family, the god had surmised that her absence would lead to an increase in his oracles contacting him. He'd used the opportunity to educate them about what kind of god he was, rather than what he allowed them to view him as. The idea that Ashterra was nothing like him was dead in the water and all those that had dared speak ill of her seemed grateful that the only repercussion visited upon them was a stern conversation.
"So," she said at length, "I have news. Some of it I know you'll enjoy, some not so much."
Ash finished her breakfast and sighed, "Is the bad news that you plan on keeping me from doing anything useful with my time for another week?"
Luna hardly thought that any of the things Ash had been plotting during her week of rest could be categorized as useless. If her plans went off without a hitch and her research was as flawless as Luna was used to, she'd immortalize her name in Fantastoria. The good news actually pertained to the research she'd had Yarrow and Gardenia ferrying books for as well as the pile of notebooks in the storage chest. She glanced at the chest in question, aware that the bad news was also somewhat tied to its contents and Ash was just as likely to be thrilled as annoyed by it.
"So, for the next couple of days you'll be allowed up and about mostly here in the grove. You'll be pleased to hear that I turned in that potion making quest on your behalf and collected your reward. I then turned around and put that reward exactly where you were planning to put it and purchased the seeds you needed as well as worked with Yarrow and the others to see if we could get hold of the wild seeds you were after," she glanced at a map covered with marks in various colors of inks that had served to pinpoint likely locations for the seeds, a map that was wholly accurate due to Ashterra's attention to detail.
Ash's eyes practically sparkled at that. She loved her gardens, loved designing them and caring for them and finding where each plant would be most at home. Her grove on Terra was a treasure trove of alchemical ingredients, some of which were thought to be near impossible to cultivate and essentially had to be gathered only in the wild. Luna wondered if Fantastoria would take better to Ash's quick learning when it came to such things as her research had been largely ignored on Terra.
"How many of the seeds do we have?" Ash asked curiously, standing and walking towards the chest to investigate.
Luna smiled slightly, "Well, all of the others are coming to help somewhat so you don't kill yourself planting your entire garden in one day as I well know you would try. You'll find all but the most expensive and rare seeds in there, the ones you didn't even bother to puzzle out finding in the wild because you know their locations will be well-guarded if not outright owned by someone. I did pick up a lead on at least three of those plants, though. The botanists I spoke with all assured me that if you could cultivate even one of the varieties you had us tracking down, they would part with some seeds from their rare collection in exchange for the knowledge."
Ash nodded absently, generally writing those seeds off as unattainable, and began rifling through the contents of the chest while checking the notebook with the main garden layout detailed in it. She noted, though, that she had a fair amount of potion ingredients on hand which was odd considering she'd used everything in her possession already.
"Luri, why does my storage chest look like an alchemist's stockpile?"
Luna chuckled at the way Ash said it and broke the news she wasn't so certain Ash wanted to hear, "Well, as I said, I turned in those potions and collected your reward," she hesitated a bit in answering, hoping Ash wouldn't be too annoyed, "And they commissioned you for a special quest due to the quality of your potions."
Ash turned to look at the priestess, frowning at her lack of explanation, "This is a lot of ingredients, Luri. Shouldn't they commission a proper workshop for something of this scale?"
Luna absently scratched at her chin, doing her best to look as if she hadn't thrown Ashterra into a massive amount of work at least somewhat on purpose, "The workshops are busy with other big jobs, actually." It failed, of course, since Ash could see right through her.
"You volunteered me," her accusing voice wasn't particularly wounded, at the least, "Explain."
Luna sighed, "The workshops are busy on high quality stuff the temples have requested in order to defend the city from the flame boar. It turns out that making potions of the quality you do is extremely rare. Most people at your skill level in crafting just don't have the fine mana control necessary for infusions. They've not received potions of the quality you turned in from any of the Godsborn and they need them in large quantities for the fight against the flame boar as well."
"To sell to the Godsborn at a cheap rate in order to help keep them alive to act as a shield for the city," Ash guessed. Most video game junkies would be more than happy to spend whatever amount of their money and time was necessary to be part of one of the first 'world events' in Fantastoria, she heaved a sigh, "How many of each and what's my deadline?"
"Three-hundred of each. Deadline is three weeks," she had the good grace to look at least a little apologetic, "I'll help process everything, of course. You mostly just need to work on the infusion part."
Ash understood immediately why Luna had been so eager to throw her to the proverbial wolves on the request. Ash needed to focus on her mana usage and there were few better ways than mastering manipulation and infusion. It would also serve to keep her out of trouble until the priestess and lord Sidus both were assured she wouldn't break herself in the fight against the flame boar.
She sighed, unable to be particularly angry about it. After all, she'd completed three batches of twenty potions each in just a few hours while learning the process. She'd only get faster with experience and Prudentia had made it clear that her magic control foundations had to be impeccable in order to truly start casting the second tier of magic without backlash.