Hello, Otsi'i!
So, I've finally made it to the Demon Realm - seem like lovely people, a bit confused as to my being here, but what's new about that? Ha! Of course, I headed straight for the most important place in the Realm - the Great Western Plains! Oh, I didn't even have to ask where to find the nearest wealth of plant diversity - I could see it in the distance the moment I stepped through the Realm Gate. My guide could hardly keep me from running off into the fields to frolic like a newborn deer, ah! Otsi'i, it is such a beauty to behold, I wish you could see it - but you insisted we use communication bracers without image capabilities, so I will simply do my best to describe it to you.
It reminds me so much of the savanna of the Western Sun Kingdom - those vast fields of grass with hardly a tree or bush to be seen. But while the savanna has yellow, purple, and pink grasses, the demon grasslands have mostly green and reds - just very dark colors in general, you know. Oh, and it's so humid here - I feel as though I could pull out a spoon and eat the air like a soup! It's no wonder demons run around in barely anything half the time, in temperatures like these! I went to a clothier and exchanged most my travel clothes for those short-style tunics they're fond of - though the proprietor advised me that this is the warm 'dry' season, and most of the Demon Realm will be cooler - but I'll navigate that canyon when I jump over it, ha! Oh, and the fabric is just lovely - something like linen, but not quite - as much as linen from the Human Realm is like hanh from our realm, you know? I suppose I compared it to linen first since it's also not hanh, but hanh-like?
What was I saying? Ah, yes! Vast grasslands - about the only kind of ocean you'll see in this realm, and positively lush with wildflowers! Alas the dangerous nature of demonic flora, or I would already be among the darlings! My guide, Porre, joked about getting a harness for me and Loge fully endorsed the idea, ha! That husband of mine is a funny man, isn't he? He even bought the harness - it's actually quite comfortable. Made of fish leather - I didn't even know one could make leather from a fish! Porre seemed very confused by this, but Loge assured them that I am that prone to running off without regard for my own safety, especially when plants are involved - ah! The plants!
Even just looking over the Plains, I've already identified at least twenty-seven family groups, and who knows how many sub-families each of those may have? Hundreds? Thousands? I can't imagine the insect and animal life they must be supporting - there are flowering grasses, wild grains, something like esod but rather than green bolls like back home or white bolls like human cotton demon laesmez has red bolls - red! Oh, I already mentioned the red, but Otsi'i, imagine - red esod the size of your head! Just one bunch of it! And the stems of the plants are this lovely deep maroon, truly, just a beautiful shade. And the soil!
Most demon soil is red, because, I'm told, it has such a high iron content - why Loge and I had to bring so many rations, you know? Eating too much without a demonic constitution is really, very much not healthy. But the plants are so hardy! They must be wonder water retainers in general, to combat the high metallic content of the soil - or perhaps it aids their mobility in some way? The mobile plants, in any case. I'm told the grasses are largely immobile, which is a shame, really - but it will make them much easier to study, certainly! And safer, or so I'm told. But we'll still need to be careful - did you know they have a species of rodent that's fur is poisonous to the touch? And they are rainbow-colored - isn't that just marvelous? They actually subside on a toxic kind of low-growing creeper vines that give them that toxicity in themselves! Oh, I dearly hope to find a sample of that in the Plains!
What was I saying? Oh, yes, the soil! The Plains don't have the red soil, they have brown soil - very dark brown soil, as it happens. It even makes the river and lake on the Plains look black - though I've been assured it's safe for consumption, even by non-demons! There is a lake in the mountainous region of the Wood Quadrant that also appears black - Black Mirror Lake, we went there as children, do you remember? It turned out it was a compound in the local flora that caused the lake to appear that color - perhaps this is a similar phenomenon! Oh, I'll have to take so many samples to be sure - and, of course, gets controls from other regions to be sure there is some form of unique compound in this region compared to others! Never let it be said I am anything but thorough, ha! And that is exactly what you asked of me, so rest assured, I will leave no leaf unturned in my investigation!
Oh, yes, though of course I don't call it that around others - yes, no, we would not want them to grow suspicious of my motives! Well, I do call it an investigation, but just the part about investigating the plant life here - nothing suspicious about a botanist studying plants, is there? Ha! Of course not!
Ah, Loge is telling me it's time to sleep - the light from the communication bracer is keeping him awake. I'll write to you as soon as I've gotten a good look at these gorgeous plants - mark my words, brother, I will spare you no detail! Good night!
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