Contraband: Dragon Age: Fanfic: Special delivery

[phdfan]

Title: Special Delivery
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: G
Length: 200 words
Content notes: No warnings apply
Author notes: Written for the 'contraband' prompt in fan_flashworks, and the 'trade winds' prompt in genprompt_bingo.
Summary: Anders has an alternative method for supplying his clinic.
 

Anders waited. The ship was in sight and would soon pull in against the side of the channel, where a rocky outcrop shielded Anders' makeshift dock from the Gallows. He always collected the packet himself; payment was in advance and he couldn't risk another taking a cut of the supply.

"Delivery!" The man on the deck called, and expertly tossed an oilskin package to the shore.

Anders picked it up and tucked it into his robes, quickly walking the steep pathway back to his clinic. In the privacy of his room, he unwrapped the oilskin and emptied each paper packet into its own earthenware pot. With these herbs he could fight infections, dull pain, and supplement the nutrition of Darktown's residents. In Ferelden such healing aids grew abundantly, but in Kirkwall they were limited to apothecaries' greenhouses. Even the Wounded Coast, when they ventured out, was largely barren. Few herbs could survive erosion and salt spray, and Anders could not afford the exorbitant taxes placed on goods landing at the docks.

The herbs served another purpose too. His patients were happy to close their eyes to magic, if given an excuse. Miracle herbs were a convenient rationalisation for swift recoveries.