[Epping Forest] The Tree of Knowledge (Izotz, Ollivander)

[div style="width:50%;opacity:0.5;font-size:0.85em;border-bottom:1px solid #ffffff;"]WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2000, 11:27AM[/div]

Late mornings are not known for their heavy traffic, and even less so in the middle of the week. Thus this particular Wednesday, a half hour before most employees took their lunch breaks, even the London Orbital Motorway was being sparsely travelled. No echoing motors travelled through the underground portion of M25 that travelled beneath a grassy expanse south of the market town of Epping, just north of its eponymous ancient woodland. Students were still at school; adults were still at work. So nobody was watching as Garrick Apparated into a small inset in the treeline, directly opposite the open right-of-way from the entrance of the so called "Forest Road," right above the M25 tunnel.

"Oh, for the days when people weren't so jam-packed together," he reminisced to nobody in particular as he very carefully cracked his aging neck and breathed in the midday air - an air far fresher than the smoky haze that was Downtown London. "We didn't have to be as cautious and sneaky about the rowdier things we got up to as wizards." He looked around to be sure he wouldn't have to cast a Memory Charm on anyone that he had not anticipated, and seeing nobody, he dropped his rucksack, put his wand in one of the small pouches on his belt and sighed in contentment, before clasping his hands and rubbing them together. He looked excitedly at the "road" across the narrow stretch of field in front of him, biding his time.

Most of the world - the wizarding world, that is of course - might not have recognised Garrick Ollivander at the moment. He typically was in his store in Diagon Alley, wearing high-tailed dress robes and a waistcoat over his button-up, cravat, and trousers. Gone today were his normal over-clothes and even the cravat; instead he had on a thick wool vest over his shirt and a multi-pocketed utility belt holding up his pants. Hanging on a hook on the right side of the belt was a set of dragonskin gloves; on the opposite side a molded sleeve contained his working goggles. But today he was not a salesman, nor a wand care consultant. He was a wandmaker, as he always had been first and foremost. And one of the most crucial things he needed as a wandmaker, was wand wood.

He'd gone over all his calendars and astrolabes, knowing that today was the perfect day to get hazel wood - a relatively common wand wood, but in more demand than others of the same rarity because of its unfortunate habit of wilting which did not allow recycling or recoring. At noon Mars would be almost directly above them in Virgo, but more importantly the Sun and Mercury were together in the House of Scorpio (hazel being associated with Mercury). To make the conditions even more perfect, both Neptune and Uranus were in Aquarius and each formed a square aspect with the Sun and Mercury respectively, which meant today was the ultimate teachable moment. Garrick would be showing his new apprentice Izotz all about harvesting wand wood.

Speaking of Izotz. [span style="display:none;"] #smfpackscodeIzotz Gredel [/span]Garrick took a pocketwatch out of another belt pocket and opened it up, wondering either just how early he was or how late young Gredel was. In this case it was the former; he had asked Izotz to meet him here by 11:30, and it lacked a few minutes to. He clicked the watch face shut and replaced it in his pocket, and then folded his hands in front of him and waited serenely.

Izotz had risen with the sun as it began the task of warming his naturally chilled room. Unlike many of the other patrons who maintained long term rooms at the Cauldron, Izotz did not request a magical fire to warm his room until after the end of Autumn. Reaching for his wand the Basque flicked it several times at the candles around the room to provide a little additional light for him as he dressed. While he knew that he was going out with Mr. Olivander in search of wand wood and that this trip would take them into Muggle territory, Izotz donned a pair of his typical dark work robes. It wasn't that the young man had an aversion to Muggle clothing, it was the fact that he did not own any and he had no real means by which to go buy them.

Making his way down to the tavern portion of the pub, Izotz grabbed a quite bite of eggs and a scrap of bacon before heading back up to his room to make final preparations for his day of work. Mr. Olivander had told him that they were going to be focusing on the proper collection of hazel from a small forest on the skirts of a town called Epping. When going into the forest, Izotz had made something of a habit of carrying a small sack, enlarged with an extension charm. The sack carried all the tools that he needed for harvesting wood safely as well as much of his own protective gear that he wore while working. Setting the bag on the bed, he rummaged through it, verifying the contents before stepping off for the work they would be doing. Ensuring that his goggles, gloves, wood knife and bag of wood lice were all packed, Izotz retied the bag and shouldered it before checking his watch, ten till eleven. While leaving now would put him there unnecessarily early, Izotz could get a good lay of the land before his teacher arrived.

Izotz had been to this forest once before, and he was fairly certain he knew where he and Mr. Olivander were going to be meeting, that being said, Izotz went out behind the Cauldron and turned on the spot felt the all too familiar but still incredibly uncomfortable sensation of being squeezed through a tube much too small for a person to move through. Within a few moments though, Izotz was standing with one foot in and one out of a small enclosure of trees on the edge of the town. The young man had taken precautions to ensure that he was not too close to the town, for fear of being seen. Glancing around, as if checking for Mr. Olivander, Izotz saw he was alone and began a site survey around the immediate area.

Looking at some of the trees and plants around, Izotz identified several of them as having the potential for wand wood. Naturally he would do nothing without his wand making master, but Izotz took note of the trees hoping they would later choose wood from some of them and validate his assertions. Working his way a little deeper into the clutch of trees, Izotz found several bowtruckles protecting a few of the larger trees in the area. Noting this to mention to Mr. Olivander, Izotz looked down at his watch once more and noted the time, seeing it was nearly the time for his meeting with the other wizard, Izotz made his way back towards the road he had seen on his initial entry to the forest. While still a few hundred meters from the edge of the wood, Izotz heard the typical pop signaling the arrival of a witch or wizard, followed shortly by the voice of one talking to no one in particular. As Izotz made it to the edge of the wood, he called out to his master alerting him to his presence. "Mr. Olivander, good morning, I hope I did not make you wait long, I was just surveying the area a little before we began." Izotz closed the remainder of the distance between himself and Mr. Olivander and stood, waiting for instructions before the pair began.

"Not at all, Mr. Gredel, not at all," Garrick waved off his apprentice's concern as the young man emerged from the forest. In truth Garrick was beyond pleased that not only had Izotz been early, but that he had already scoped out the area they were going to be working in. Getting himself familiar with territory that grew good stock wand wood was essential to being a wandmaker, and it would also reduce the amount of time they had to waste as Garrick pointed things out to Izotz or had to give him other directions. "Since we're both here already and you've looked at the area, I say we simply, uh, get started." He picked up his rucksack, hoisted it over his shoulder, and moved to meet Izotz at the treeline and entered the forest.

"Wood for wands doesn't necessarily have to come from ancient woodland," Garrick began without any preamble as they made their way down the dirt road, "but I certainly prefer it myself. There are a few reasons for this. The trees of ancient woodland, if truly from the original planting pre-1600, have had time to grow to large sizes and are imbued with what you might call 'natural magic' - they are in tune with how magic and nature work. That's the first reason. The second is that it's easier to harvest from ancient woodland without being noticed. England has," Garrick paused in both his speech and his step to think, "one hundred eighty-two remaining ancient woodlands that are at least ten hectares in size. The trick, of course, is that we are not cutting down the entire tree nor ever taking enough that is noticeable."

As they walked, Garrick pointed out examples of ancient woodland indicator species in little clusters around bases of trees and in divots in the uneven ground around them - here some bluebells, there some celandine, some wood anemone hidden beneath the already falling leaves, and bright patches of primrose. "All the ancient woods are marked on maps," Garrick intoned, "but if you memorise these indicators, you'll never really need to consult the map at all."

Shortly they turned off the beaten path and started walking down deer trails, Garrick continuing to point out things that, even if young Izotz already knew them, it wouldn't hurt to go over again. "Epping will be one of your best sources for Pedunculate Oak, European Beech, European Hornbeam, Silver Birch, and European Holly. These are the extremely common species throughout the entire forest. That's another reason that ancient woodlands such as these are beneficial, because of the bounty of branches on the trees - especially here in Epping where the trees were almost all pollarded before the Epping Forest Act, 1878. Of course, as you already know, today we are after a very specific type of wood that is only found in a very localised part of Epping Forest.

"Impress me with your background knowledge, Mr. Gredel," Garrick said as they tramped along, deciding it was time to see what Izotz already knew rather than flooding him with information. "What is the history and usage of hazel wood?"

Smiling as his master waved off his concern for being late, Izotz was glad that his master seemed pleased with his preparation. His smile didn't last long though as moments after the older man waved off his apology, he began teaching. Immediately, Izotz shuffled through the bag he had packed for a quill and his small black book. He never left without it and chronicled every client he had ever helped in in. Izotz had also partitioned a section of the book for wandlore and his instruction on woods, cores and flexibility. Taking note as his master continued speaking on the ancient woodlands of England. While much of the information was review for the young man, he had never learned it formally from his master and as such it had never been written in his book. The information on natural magic, being entirely theoretical, was something that Izotz had already done some research on, but had not yet been able to prove one way or another. Making note in the margin to continue his work on that particular area of study, Izotz closed the book and placed it in the pocket of his robes.

Following behind Mr. Olivander, Izotz noted as the wand maker pointed out some of the trees he had noted on his initial survey of the forest. This made the young man feel much more comfortable in his abilities. Knowing that he could correctly identify wand wood trees of acceptable quality gave the young man a confidence that he could handle much of the rest of their work today on his own should he need to. The old man had taught him much and taught him well. Izotz had learned as much as he could, and now he was able to put it into practice. As they continued walking, Izotz began noticing more and more specimen that would work as wand wood, trees of all species and genus. Many of the trees that the man had mentioned grew in close proximity to one another. Noting the location in his book, Izotz made sure to set a return trip at some point once he was able to do his own work alone.

Moments after his notations were complete, the young man heard his master pose the question to him. Hazel, hazel, Izotz racked his brain for the properties and usage of hazel. After a moments pause, the young wand maker answered his master. "Hazel wood, also known as Corylus avellana, is a wood that has been used for wands for thousands of years. Even dating back to the ancient Chinese. While ancient properties of the wood are difficult to deduce due to the limited writings recorded by the Chinese, wizards and witches from the Roman time period noted the wood for its sensitive properties. The wood itself, when used in wands, takes the emotional state of its owner and can often be seen as temperamental to wizards and witches who are not in control of their emotions. The wood is naturally predisposed towards white magic and healing spells and is highly in tune with the element of water, often being able to identify hidden springs and nearby reservoirs." Izotz hoped that he hadn't left anything out in his explanation of the wand and the history. Turning to look towards his master, Izotz nodded, showing that he believed that he was done with his sharing of information.