Joel appeared about ready to throw a fit at this development. “You are supposed to be here for me!” He declared to her. The attendant rushed to his side and began whispering in his hear. I caught a few things like. “. . . She needs . . . . learn how to heal . . . She won’t . . . military. . .” And “. . . give her time . . . much more useful. . .”
The annoying upstart seemed to think about it for a little while before he begrudgingly conceded and turned to her. “Fine, I expect you to train hard to become more useful, or else I’ll cast you aside and solo this world alone, while you do more chores at home. For today though, you are mine and I demand your aid in exploring outside of the city.”
Looking at me he commandingly added. “Come on let’s go.”
A gritted smile formed on my face as I imagined strangling this thankless little brat. His mental age appeared to suit the current 14-year-old persona too well. No matter how stunted he must be socially, I found it nearly unbelievable that he was supposed to be a 37-year-old man in real life.
Before we departed the registration desk, Lynette was slipped a basic water and light mage stone by the attendant.
I will admit in return to slipping the attendant three silvers as gratitude. I was certain it wouldn’t cover the cost of the wand, but it would cover the water and light stone as well as show my appreciation for what he did for her.
Stepping out of the way for others who were in our line, I then led them along the marketplace to my master’s apothecary shop. Pointedly ignoring the antics of Joel as we walked, I was more concerned about Lynnette’s wellbeing. Trying to not be obvious with too many visible glances her way, I positioned myself to not be more than two meters away. That distance allowed me to keep her within my sphere of general awareness without, I hope, being too uncomfortably close.
Finally arriving at the entrance to the shop, I felt the need to do some forewarning of my master before entering. As such, I addressed both of them. “I need you both to wait here for a short while.” Thinking up a quick justification, I suddenly hit upon an idea to sell.
Putting on a more severe expression, I explained. “My master is more than happy to have paying customers in her shop; however, she is not very receptive to time wasters or those who do not have the money to afford any of her products.”
Giving them a pointed glare mostly aimed at Joel, I emphasized. “That means neither of you are to touch any of the merchandise. As a one-time favor, I will concoct your mage stones into potions you can assimilate. If you feel you are not ready for them, I would suggest you tell me now.”
Both of them remained silent for a moment. It was surprisingly Lynette who softly spoke up. “What will it be like after we take them?”
I felt it was wise of her to ask, however, I felt ill equipped to answer as my personal experience was far from the norm. As such, I explained what I had been informed by others how each person’s experience was different. I did add in that there was a possibility of a far worse reaction than expected. Glossing over my personal assimilations I left it at that.
Leaving them outside the door by the entrance, I headed in to forewarn my master.
“Victoria”, I called out to her as I saw a passing of her figure moving about in the dining room past the shop.
She had paused in whatever work she was doing to greet me. “Andrew. Welcome back. Are you done with today’s mental tempering?”
She was fully aware of my purpose for going out to expose my mind to the chaos and distractions of bleeding emotions. One of her book club friends, Flourana, had shared with her a similar trouble with her personal development of becoming an empath. She didn’t or rather couldn’t go into details of how that happened, only to say that it touched on taboo subjects. From prior instances, I knew to not press for more details.
I informed her of my two temporary charges or Travelers I had taken under my wing to aid. She showed a humored smile at hearing my less than stellar opinion of Joel, but then her expression became more concerned when I went on to share my thoughts regarding Lynette’s situation.
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“Well.” She commented at the end of my explanation. “I welcome them into my shop, and additionally I am fine if they want to assimilate their potions here as well.”
“Thank you master.” After that I invited them both in.
Joel instantly started casting his eyes about, almost like a little boy in a candy or china store that wanted to touch everything. Unfortunate, or rather fortunately for him, he had my master and me as strong deterrents for giving into such desire. Even without a magic demonstration, my master can be quite daunting in with her presence.
Gathering the fire, water, and two light stones from the cousins to begin concocting the assimilation potion, I kept a general eye on them both as I processed four different vials.
It didn’t take long before Joel stopped looking at the store and more pointedly began giving lecherous glances at Victoria as she busied herself about the shop, with occasional trips to the back area. She had obviously noticed his less than tactful viewings, but being used to such from other clients, she paid him no mind.
Lynette, despite her shy demeanor had actually made the effort to step closer to me in observation of my processing and potion creation. I tried to angle my body in such a way that she could better see the work I was doing. Together I worked and she watched in comfortable silence.
At some point, Joel began trying to hit up my master with conversation. She nonchalantly shut him down at every attempt, leaving him with little to do but twiddle his thumbs and return to looking about the store. He still threw in more than a few glances at my teacher, but that was it.
I was sadly to be disappointed as I would have loved to watch him get dosed with her special itch powder, specially saved for lechers who crossed professional physical boundaries in her store.
Finally, all four potions were crafted and I handed them each a light potion, inviting them to drink.
Lynette politely took hers while her cousin decided to question me. “Why are you giving us the light potions first? I want to learn fire!” His whining tone grated on me, but I answered as his cousin was also giving me a curious glance. Her emotions appeared to be opening up more around me, as if she was becoming more accepting of my presence.
Not wanting to disappoint her, I answered. “Light potions are one of the tamest to assimilate according to magic research. Additionally, it is highly useful in function for producing light in the dark as well as creating a natural resistance to possession from shadow creatures. There are other reasons as well, but too many to go into at this time.”
I left off that it was also used as a screening process of sorts to weed out certain dark aligned existences which sought to slip into and integrate with a society in order to wreak havoc. I’d never seen it in person, but I’d heard of vampires, werewolves and other creatures whose antithesis was light, and did not take well to the assimilation. Any attempt to fool the system would usually reveal their true colors at that moment.
A grunt was all I got from Joel for my explanation. Lynette gave a quiet, “Thank you” before she tilted the liquid back and drank. Her cousin actually paused in drinking his as he decided to watch what happened to her first.
This was actually my first time as an observer rather than subject of an elemental assimilation. So, I too watched on in great interest.
A full body shimmer of light cascaded over her. Her clothing fluttered faintly to an unseen and unfelt breeze. In the light’s wake, reddened and lightly blistered skin broke out all across the surface. I winced as I knew it was the kind of sunburn which would leave a normal person in perpetual agony, unless they could somehow be suspended within a cold-water or aloe solution.
Victoria, the ever-considerate woman to anyone other than her apprentice in need, had a clear glass of chilled water prepared for Lynette to drink. The color of the glass was a deep red which hid what I suspected to be trace amounts of healing potion within. If I wasn’t purposely watching for the effects, I likely would have missed out on watching as the blisters became slightly less pronounced across her skin. It did nothing for the overall redness, but I knew it helped.
“How was it?” I asked her as I carefully took the glass from her hand.
“It was hot and bright, . . . yet . . .” She appeared to struggle with explaining it, but I believe I knew what she wanted to say.
“Cleansing?” I ventured to say for her.
Pondering a moment, she then quietly nodded her head. Were it not for the brief flash of satisfaction I felt through her emotions, I would have feared she was just agreeing for her distaste of conflict.
Joel, casting one more glance over at his cousin, apparently made up his mind as he then chugged down his own light potion. Together we watched as he suffered and experienced the assimilation trial of light.
His reaction was quite a bit different than Lynette’s. While she was still and composed, he twitched like mad as the swath of light passed over him. It was like he was trying to evade the touch of brightness but couldn’t, and so he then shivered in pain at the exposure.
As much as I was hoping that he somehow failed the assimilation, I was doomed to disappointment. It wasn’t called the tamest basic stone for nothing. *Sigh. . .*
Although some might feel that my background in medicine and senior care would render me more sympathetic to all others feeling pain, I fully deny such. I’ve sat there and kindly held a patients hand as they waited for the painkillers for their heart surgery to take effect, and I’ve also snickered at watching a particularly nasty individual as they stubbed their toe on a desk or doorway. There is a time and place as well as level of deserving for my sympathy.
He had none of mine.
Funny enough, it appears my master felt the same. Although she also brought him a glass of water in a show of courtesy, it was neither chilled nor tinted in any way so as to allude to the use of watered-down potion.
Dancing about o his feet and hissing in discomfort he glared at his cousin who continued to remain quiet and still.
My lips twitched as I finally made a suggestion. “Joel, why don’t you go to the Travelers pillar to take advantage of the once-a-day healing for your skin burns?”
He appeared to be struggling with admitting that he was not tolerating the results of his assimilation better than his supposedly inferior cousin. So, I had to intervene by giving some BS about the situation to sooth his ego.
Giving a look of mock concern, I looked toward her. “She is likely in a catatonic shock and not handling the pain as well as you. Likely she is screaming in pain on the inside, unable to truly move as you appear to be resisting it like a man!”
I felt sick at saying such and I cringed inside at the falseness of my pandering. Surprisingly, it appeared to do the trick.
With a sneer on his lips, Joel departed after a quick departing jab. “Hah! Enjoy the torture little cousin as I go get healed. Let’s see how long it takes for you to pass out and get booted from the game?”
And off her went, wincing frequently on tender feet and skin as he made his way alone back to where he first arrived.