The night was long and Tercius stayed up for most of it. His uncle came back near dawn, and only then did Tercius take a nap on a bench near the window. They all had a small breakfast and then his uncle decided to come up with a plan of how to proceed. Because Penelope prepared the previous meal alone, he offered to make the next one. So now Tercius sat at the table his hands carefully peeling more benrio for an early lunch. At all times he kept his ear on the conversation going on behind his back.
For two hours Lux, and surprisingly Penelope, kept persuading Seliana to agree to the plan, and they finally seemed to be making progress.
"And you think that you can manage to do it?" Lux asked.
"If someone... can stop... the pain... for a few hours, then yes," said Seliana from the bed. "I have not... had a proper rest... for close to... two months now."
"And what of your brews? Don’t you have something for pain?" his uncle asked.
"Mother had been using brews for pain management for months now, and they don't work as they used to," Penelope answered instead of her mother. "She has reached her limit, and soon they will stop working on her altogether."
"I see," Lux said. "Nothing to it then, I will find someone with a skill level high enough to keep the pain away as you rest a bit and then you will brew the potion. Tell me the ingredients you need, and I will have them by the end of the day. The healer will be over to numb the pain, and then you must rest."
"Thank you... Lux... for doing this..." Seliana said weakly, her breathing labored, her voice quivering from occasional pain. "But... I am not sure... this is... a good idea..."
"Mother, please. If this has even a small chance of working, you must take it. Please!" Penelope said, her eyes on Seliana’s. "You still have so much to teach me. Please."
"Lux. I will... do it... on one condition." Seliana said finally.
"Seliana, you do know that I am the one who is already doing you a favor?"
Tercius could hear the woman trying to smile at Lux's words. "A second one... then. If I... don't make it... you... will take... Penelope... with you."
"Mother what are you saying?" the little girl snapped at her mother. "You will make it, and then..."
"Penelope... it is a... possibility. A large... one." the woman interrupted her daughter and explained slowly to the distraught girl. "Lux... most of my... money... is gone. Healers... brews... ingredients..."
His uncle snorted. "You think some pocket change means much to me?"
"I suppose... it would... not. But still... there is some... left. Penelope... in the closet... under the... false bottom... there is another... one. Take it... if worst... comes to pass."
"Enough with this doom and gloom talk Seliana. I am sick of it. Where is that young woman who threw a bucket of horse shit my way when I left a snake under her desk? Who drugged me and cut off half my hair after I hid her book and refused to let her know where it was?" his uncle said sounding annoyed, his face. "I am taking that one," Lux probably pointed at him. "to the pyramid. If you want, your daughter can go with him."
He heard the woman try to laugh. "Your father... allowed this... the world... is going... upside down."
"He is no longer in play. And no one in the family knows about it, so..."
"Now where... is that brazen... young idiot... who only... though of himself." the ill woman said. "It seems we... have changed."
"The pyramid..." she said slowly, considering the proposal. "All right... we have... a deal. Pen... bring some paper."
The woman slowly dictated the list of over twenty ingredients, and even though Tercius felt bad about spying, he still memorized the whole thing. His uncle was headed for the staircase the next moment, only taking a small pouch from his backpack, and leaving the bag behind.
Penelope came to the kitchen area in a few minutes, Seliana slipping back into one of her short bouts of sleep. The little girl had puffy red eyes, and he saw that she kept avoiding direct eye contact, so he firmly pasted his eyes on the benrio.
They ended up making something that looked like mashed potatoes only red in color, and along with a watery broth, all three present humans had their meal. At the same time, while no one was observing, little Amber assaulted a large plant in the corner. Its wide green leaves proved a too juicy a treat to just let pass by.
***
A woman came to the house some three hours after Lux left, introducing herself as a healer hired by Lux, upon which she took her place near Selianas' head, and with her skill she allowed the pain-ridden woman to have a peaceful rest.
The woman spent all her time with her eyes closed and besides the words exchanged when she came initially, kept silent some five more hours until Lux arrived with two helpers on his trail.
The man on the left of Lux carried two pots with live plants inside them, one of whom Tercius recognized as Pink Fjaren, the other was what Seliana called a Sun Gazing Orchid, its open golden flower petals tilted at 45 degrees upwards.
The other man, on Lux’s right, carried two cages with small live animals inside. Tercius saw a small bright red lizard in one cage, its long tongue darting every moment in every direction. A salamander. he remembered from the list. In another cage a bird the size of a sparrow, only its feathers were completely green, with a small yellowish crest on its head. A vrasta. he thought. And a male one at that.
His uncle had a cloth bag in each hand.
"Place those around here." his uncle commanded pointing with his head at an empty spot nearby. "Carefully."
The men went their way once Lux paid them. Through all the commotion Seliana did not wake, her face graced with a small smile, so they decided to wait for her to wake up. Tercius was standing on his feet, his right shoulder leaned on a wall across the room from everyone, the distance giving him a clear view. His uncle spoke in a low tone with the woman who kept the pain away, as Penelope and Amber kept observing the two small creatures.
Penelope watched the small bird, and Amber seemed more interested in her reptile counterpart. Where Penelope fed the little bird a few breadcrumbs, the salamander and Amber looked at each other with wariness, each probably seeing the other species for the first time. One hissed, the other cried a gentle meow, and where one was a creature accustomed to hot and dry environments, the other was a being of water and moisture. Tercius guessed that both of them knew how different they were.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
It took Seliana, from when the healer first arrived around noon, over 11 hours to wake up by herself.
A group of healers and cleaners arrived sometime after 8 pm, lead by the old man, and one of them replaced the tired woman who had been using the skill nonstop in that time-frame.
The skill enhanced cleaners would give the whole place a thorough do over and the healers would prepare a place for the procedure.
It was around midnight when she stood up and went to the area Tercius and Penelope cleaned up on the ground floor. At her fervent desire, with a shaky step, Seliana climbed down the stairs and walked to her once more pristine looking equipment, the new healer, who kept the pain away, following after her.
"I may be a bit rusty," she said and gave a smile to her small audience, but then she turned serious, her eyes turning steel-like. "Pen, you will assist."
The little girl jumped at the invitation, appearing by Seliana’s side in an instant. But a frown soon graced the older woman’s face. "Wait, where is my apron? And the mask? Gloves? Anything? Come on Pen, I thought you better than this..."
***
Once Seliana, Penelope, and the second healer of the day were safely inside a protective black leather gear, Seliana finally proclaimed them ready. A protective headpiece that had an exit for hair in the back and a T shaped opening on the front, for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Over the eyes, Seliana had something looking like goggles, yet where he expected something like glass to be, there was nothing.
"Why are you using that? It offers no protection." Tercius felt compelled to state the obvious.
The woman gave a slight curve with her thick lips, that only recently started regaining color. Then she put on the goggles which perfectly covered her eyes. In a moment the empty insides of the goggles flickered with a bluish tint and from the frame of the goggles, something started leaking. Tercius watched with wide eyes as that something went from the edges to meet in the middle in a perfectly smooth surface, through which he saw Seliana's dark eyes observing his reaction.
Clearing his throat he felt his cheeks blush as he saw the woman’s grin stretch.
Penelope put on the same pair of goggles, yet on her smaller head, they looked ready to fall off. The healer who held Seliana's neck to stop the pain, merely turned his head the other way. But all three put a mask on, that covered both the nose and the mouth.
The leather armor, was what Tercius would call the work equipment that Seliana used, was then further covered with a thick leather apron. And for the footwear, she had these massive things that barely resembled shoes, but he mused that they were probably good at what they were intended for. Only on her hands was her skin actually exposed, but he observed that Penelope had gloves that went up to her elbows, looking a bit comically big for her.
Not like the woman is going to run in them anyway, the work is mostly in one place. he thought with a snicker.
Seliana's and Penelope's current appearance reminded him of those deep-sea divers, but these black leather bodysuits had a much larger thickness to them.
The three women stood on one side of the metal table he and Penelope unearthed from the mountain of stuff piled on it. In the center of the table, the glass apparatus found its place, with many small dishes around. His uncle went over to the healer, extending a palm with two earplugs on it.
"Put that in and I am going to say something, then you say "I didn’t hear anything.", understood? I will ask you when we finish this if you heard anything, and if the answer is positive, then... There is a reason I pay you that much." his uncle said to the healer.
"Yes of course." said the healer, then she took a deep breath and with one hand put one plug in her left then right ear. Then she nodded.
"If you hear this, then you might as well do me a favor and get out now." his uncle said in his usual flat tone. He nodded at the woman.
"I didn’t hear anything." the woman said.
"Good." nodded Lux and headed towards Tercius.
"Lux, I am going to need some more help. Come here." Seliana said. His uncle went where Seliana pointed, right at the corner of the table, directly to a decoration that stood at the top of the leg of the table. Each corner had one.
"Take that out," Seliana said.
His uncle looked at her and saw her being competently serious, so he reached for the corner. When he retracted his hand, a cube stood in it.
"Greedy little thing." his uncle said. "What does it do?"
"You will see. Just place it back when it’s done," she said. "then do the others in the same way."
His uncle did as she instructed and Tercius could see that by the third cube, his uncle was slowly sweating. As he finished the fourth and positioned it, he looked like he ran a marathon in one go.
Seliana then instructed Penelope to move the cubes first this way, then that way, and the girl did it with practiced ease.
"Now press that knob at the side," Seliana said.
"Yes, mother," Penelope said in such a tone that Tercius could almost hear the eye-roll that undoubtedly followed after.
As soon as Penelope pushed the button on the cube, a buzzing sound started, but only for a moment. From the cubes upper side erupted a blue laser-like beam, stopping just half a meter below the ceiling. The beams separated into two smaller ones, each going their way to meet a similar half beam that sprang from the neighboring cube. Where the beams met they released a thin vapor that soon solidified and in less than five seconds, an enclosure of flickering blue, see-through, completely flat glass-like panels was created. Seliana’s hands passed right through the transparent panels.
Tercius kept going from Mana Sight to his regular vision, from the cubes to the Mana panels, as he slowly approached with his mouth open.
"A friend did the enchantment, but the idea was mine. At a command it can fully contain the whole equipment," said Seliana her voice full of pride.
"Get on with it," Lux said from beside Tercius, clearly unimpressed by what he saw and Seliana snorted, probably from annoyance. "Seliana, those healers upstairs won't wait forever."
"It’s… I have no words. Just… breathtaking. Do you know how this is made?" Tercius felt obligated to say a word.
Seliana glowed when she heard that, then looked at Lux through the goggles, her eyes narrowed as if saying: See? This is what you are supposed to say. Even the kid knows it.
His uncle just snorted.
"No, but if you are going to the Pyramid, then you will come into contact with it, at some point," Seliana answered to Tercius.
"First let’s prepare the rest of the ingredients."
Some were already prepared, bought that way by Lux, and then placed in small metal or stone dishes around the table.
The Sun Gazing Orchid was only needed for leaves from the stem of the plant, while from Pink Fjaren Flower Seliana took the pink petals. From the little green vrasta, Seliana took all the feathers, leaving the little bird in all its pink-skinned glory. From the salamander she snapped off the tail, almost getting bitten in the process, and Tercius saw the tail grow back in mere minutes that followed. From one of the bags his uncle brought she took out seeds, powders, and some dried shriveled fruits.
And finally a metal bottle with an audibly sloshing liquid inside.
"I have enough for two, maybe three potions here," she said and then went on to hold a lesson to Penelope in how to properly prepare the potion, and Tercius felt as he intruded on a very personal moment. For those two women, at this moment, existed only each other. A mother passing her craft to her daughter, in what was quite possibly the final lesson she ever gave to anyone.
Seliana’s right hand glowed a scorching red, and using her left she poured some of the liquid from the metal bottle into a deep pitcher-shaped glass container, her scorching hand holding the glass pitcher from below. In a moment the liquid was boiling, and Tercius had to ask himself how hot did her hand get to be able to do that.
Penelope took a mortar and pestle from the table and ground a few seeds, which Seliana then added to the liquid. Ingredient after ingredient went in the liquid inside the pitcher shrinking and changing color. Seliana instructed Penelope when to use what, each piece of the equipment got a mention and an explanation. From the alembic to some apparatuses Tercius never even heard of, Penelope followed instructions to the letter.
After an hour of Tercius hearing the sound of a boiling liquid, that slowly turned into a bubbling sound, when finally Seliana said that it was done.
"Hand me that bowl," she said and pointed to a glass one nearby. Penelope did as instructed. "Let me see."
Seliana went on to take a small lick with her tongue, and she nodded her head, seemingly satisfied with her work. "Not one of my better ones, but still, definitely a top tier one. And I even have materials for two more."
"Do you have it in yourself to make more?" his uncle asked. "Having a few more can only help."
Seliana seemed to think it over. "One more is possible, but two… no."
So she made just one more.
***
Laying down on a table in the middle of the second floor was a dark-haired woman. Seated near her were two women. One held a hand on the side of the laying woman's neck and the other was a girl. This girl and the woman on the table had a few similarities between them. Eyes, nose, a set of dimples, lips. And both of them had tears in their closed eyes, as the younger one rested her forehead on the forehead of the older one.
"Everything will be fine mother." the younger one said.
"I hope so." the prone woman said. "Come over here."
Both of them went in for a long hug.
Around the room, numerous pairs of eyes watched their exchange, and when they looked ready to part, an old man clapped his hands. "Let us start. Children, you go downstairs."
At the elder's words, three others started moving about the room, each with a task of his or her own.
Penelope started crying as she let her mother’s hand go and Lux took her by the shoulders, forcefully escorting her to next to Tercius.
Tercius sent his uncle a meaningful look, handing him over one small metal vial to the older man, and both of them shared a nod of agreement. Putting one arm around the sobbing girl he led her down the stairs, into the now pristine-looking workshop.
Those people really know their job. he thought as he looked at the results.
As he heard the screeching door behind them slowly close, he hoped that what he did would turn out to be enough.