Re: Episode 7-2: Night Terrors
Sky Dog was out of his depth with relative values of dollars and non-ferrous metals. The suspicion of deliberately-induced famine by Americans on Americans caused him to frown and skirt the thought. "Sorry, Uncle - what is Californy? I think I have heard of her, but I do forget." He went and fetched the battered tin mug from his ritual kit.
Catching Daniel's slightly bemused manner of holding the salt, Sky Dog gestured at it with the mug. "If a dead thing has broken the skin, it is well to drive off the bad spirits that come for its rotted onnir and make disease. Such things will not stand salt or silver." He opened the square tin and measured four generous spoonfuls of the contents into his medicine mug, adding a little for luck.
"That the water is all boiling, this is most important for chai," the shaman told Mansfield, since he seemed the most ignorant in these matters. "Any raw water, it offends the leaves; it makes a bad taste."
Giving the fire the first pinch of the tea leaves, Sky Dog supervised the big tin until the water was indeed roiling hot and set his medicine mug on the wires across the interior of the central can to heat. Once satisfied the steam had 'awakened' the leaves, the shaman used the empty can-mug to pour boiling water over them, topping the main tin up from the full one. "Now, waiting," he announced, but spoke seriously to Daniel:
"This, you do not drink." Clearly Korpi had told him about Daniel one-shotting undiluted vision-brew the day before. "When it is ready and the leaves sit, little bits with boiling water. If you drink the zavarka-" he indicated the brewing hyper-concentrate, "-yes, it gives you to see through time and space, but it is very dangerous to go into the shadows of the world unguided, and also there is risk of exploding."