I had little regret to recreating a laughter potion which my master had dosed me with once upon a time. That was quite a memorable occasion for multiple reasons. I hadn’t learned until after arrival, that my delivery had not been requested or in any way expected by the recipients at the funeral home. My embarrassing display of bursting out laughing uncontrollably at the slightest stimulus certainly left quite the negative impact on those actively visiting.
A fight nearly broke out with me as the victim, due to a particularly angry group of porcine grievers taking offense at my plight as I unintentionally interrupted the mournful ambiance. The director of the mortuary and funeral home had to intervene and settle things down between us. Between hiccups and bouts of embarrassed laughter I explained what I was here to deliver. With widened eyes and gratitude quickly hidden, the director made a show of berating me to smooth it over with those observing.
He then quickly invited me to a secluded chamber where he happily pulled out his money bag to pay for the ointment of tear stimulation. He was oddly grateful for the ointment and commiserated about my current plight regarding my capricious master. Soon after, he sent me on my way with a couple of gold coins and a promise to explain things to the porcine family.
Although similar in effect to the uncontrollable laughter potion, I couldn’t find it within my heart to re-create any potion that could replicate the psychedelic experience I had with the magic mushrooms. Victoria had dosed me with such during a routine meal, even going so far as to engage my aid in chopping up the offending fungi. I honestly should have known better.
Following that incident, I delved into research of mushrooms to differentiate which were safe and which had adverse effects. I had a hard boundary to not create something that had such strong negative effects for other travelers. However, I did make a few concoctions for myself, if only to dose a wolf or other predatory creature and see their reaction. My lips twitched in dark humor at the imagined scenario of a wild animal or monster stumbling about with heavily dilated pupils as they experienced vivid and colorful hallucinations.
I learned that a few Travelers utilized my prank concoctions in their rare encounters with wildlife with mixed results and without any prompting on my part. Admittedly such liberal use of these substances in real life despite their tameness would have likely gotten me jailed for selling them, but here it was quite different and too often entertaining to hear the stories of their use.
Apparently, I shared much of my master’s sense of schadenfreude.
* * * * *
It was at the end of my latest sparring session with Monroe, that things finally changed. He pulled me aside to speak regarding his preparations. . .
“Andrew. I feel like I’ve done all that I can to prepare for the likely fallout that my change in political stance will incite within the council.” His eyes lit up with determination as if being willing to face any adversity. His expression made me wonder at what kind of turmoil was going to be stirred up once he stepped out from the shadows of cordiality and being low-key.
My wonderings were interrupted by his next comment. “I heard from Victoria that you had come up with a fun date activity for her and me. I would like to hear more about it if you are open to sharing.”
I happily obliged and went over the details with of my personal memorable date for him to draw inspiration and ideas from. He asked me to tell Victoria that he would be available three days from now in the late evening if that was amenable to her. With that promise made I departed from his home.
* * * * *
Time flew by between now and those three days for me. For Victoria, not so much. Obviously, she made herself available for that time as she could close or open her shop at any time she pleased. When you are that self-sufficient with skills in dire need by many, you can frequently make your own hours for work.
Multiple times during those three days she would come to me with differently designed paddleboards made from her ice. I had to keep referencing my own recollections and adding to my own memory with online pictures and diagrams of the boards to aid her in her creations. I hadn’t thought to try my hand at drawing it for her since my drawing skills were quite lacking. However, after trying it just for kicks, I realized that there was now another perk to attribute the many elements which I had assimilated. Apparently, my dominant hand had become far steadier and more capable of transcribing my mental imagery to paper. I was certainly no expert still, but I felt after this, I should have little to no problem drawing new plants I find to my personal apothecary book during future travels.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Soon, I was able to create many illustrations for her to draw inspiration from. Off she then went to try forming them on her own.
* * * * *
Finally, it was the evening of the planned date. I had just finished up a very satisfying sparring session with one of Monroe’s housekeepers who actually had to exert quite a bit of effort to keep me from fully subduing them. Although I had yet to defeat any of them in a no-holds-barred sparring session, I felt that they were skilled well above the average tough or assailant that might consider targeting me. I would take this as a continued goal to defeat a housekeeper as well, but in regard to my personal progress, I count this as a win.
Monroe had left partway through my sparring with his house employee to get changed. Once he returned, he came out wearing something that I had never thought I’d see on him. He had actual casual looking clothing. I snickered inwardly at the thought that he might have had to specially purchase a set if only for this date. I can only imagine how hard and impractical it would have to be to wear something crisp and professional when paddleboarding on lake water.
After a quick goodbye, he departed just after promising to have Dalton arrange a ride for me.
I performed a few routine katas to cool down after the sparring session and like magic, Dalton the lion-demi appeared ready for departure. Instead of taking me to the entrance, he brought me back to an area of the house I had never seen before. It was a type of enclosed patio with glass windows showing the outside view. I believe that this was part of the side of Monroe’s home obscurely connected to the driveway.
Nestled comfortably within this patio was a sleek black and red carriage. Walking me past the carriage we entered his backyard. Within the yard there was what appeared to be an oversized animal shelter. Scattered about, amidst the plentiful flora and many water features, there were several animals living together in seeming harmony. Of particular note, there were three large and well-tended tusked beasts lounging about on a pile of hay. Each was about the half the size of a rhinoceros on Earth, but they lost none of the sheer bulk and look of resiliency.
With a whistle and a pointed finger from Dalton, one of the beasts excitedly rose up from the ground and plodded over to the open patio door. The other two seemed to look on with jealousy as their companion was chosen while they remained behind. Fidgeting somewhat, yet carefully waiting to be hitched to it, the beast allowed Dalton to harness it up and hitch it to draw the carriage.
Soon enough, we were on our way with Dalton in the driver’s seat and myself in the carriage behind. I had offered to join him up front, but he insisted that such was improper. Shaking my head in bemusement at his continued determination and personal obligation to retain proper decorum, I simply relaxed back in the luxurious padded and closed carriage. As we arrived at the market district, and headed off towards the apothecary shop, instead of slowing down, Dalton retained a steady pace past the shop and onward.
“Um Dalton. . .” I called out hesitantly. I felt a minor concern as this kind of mistake didn’t seem to be in character with how he presented himself. As such I spoke up. “We just passed the apothecary shop.”
I didn’t have to wait long before he replied. “Aye we did. Master Monroe and Mistress Victoria actually bid me to bring you to the viewing platform at the falls first. I know not all the details, as I am simply doing as they bid, but I believe you are in for a surprise.” Being in a separate partition from him, I could not see his face, but his tone of voice bespoke of some humor.
Curiosity coursed through me as we made rapid progress past the far smaller and less ornate carriages. My lips twitched in wry humor as I watched all the others leaving from the direction of the platform. This was usually the time when everyone was kicked out due to the presence of the nocturnal kraken awakening for the night. I’m unsure of what happens to those that seek to access the platform after hours, but I guess I was about to find out.
With wary excitement, I watched as the shadows grew longer and the light of day turned into a kind of light grey dusk. My improved eyesight had no problem cutting through the gloom as it took in the changes of time.
As we approached the manned archway separating us from the pathway to the falls, we slowed to a stop at the soldiers barring the way.
“Hold! This pathway is closed for the night!”
Daltons deep baritone voice tinged with lion like ferocity roared out. “We request passage at the permission of Councilman Monroe for his and Victoria the Apothecaries apprentice.” Then in a softer tone he added, “Here is the councilman’s crest.”
I peered out of the carriage to observe the goings on and saw from his back profile, flash a large hand sized emblem of sorts. At this display, the two gateway guards stepped out of the way and allowed us passage.
As we made our way down the cobblestone path with the carriage, I was getting a slightly awkward feeling of treading upon the front door stop of the home of an unhospitable host. Despite it appearing to be early summer, an icy mist began to close in behind us as we pressed forward into hostile territory. Forcefully pushing the creepy sensation away as it seemed we were going to crash it’s home anyways; I waited in nail-biting anticipation to see what this kraken looked like.
Stopping the carriage at the far end away from the viewing rails, Dalton invited me out. I made to walk to the edge of the rails, but a furry hand stopped me from progressing forward. A rumbling chuckle came out of him as he spoke. “I understand your anticipation, but we should wait here further from the falls, at least until our masters make their appearance.” Casting his gaze out over the water towards the distant falls he added with a smirk. “We certainly wouldn’t want to make a snack of ourselves before seeing what Master Monroe and Mistress Victoria wanted to show us.”
Even as he spoke, from our distant vantage point, I watched as the icy mists seen before continued to press inward from the outskirts. Gazing about, I was given the impression of being suspended within a cloud bank with only the viewing platform, massive falls, and a short distance down the river as all that remained of the world around me. All else was hidden from view with a dense blanket of whiteness that even my newly vaulted vision couldn’t begin to pierce. It appeared to have a kind of muting effect of the falls as despite the massiveness and close proximity, the originally reverberating roars of the crashing water no longer echoed back from various surfaces.
A shiver ran over me as I felt the unique ambiance of it all. It was breathtakingly beautiful in a haunting way. I simply stood there, taking it all in and phasing out the silent presence of the Lion-man behind me.
“Wooohooooo!!” “Yeeaaahhh!!!” My inward appreciation instantly fractured as I heard the loud cries of two different people in the distance. Turning my gaze in the direction of the origin, I caught sight of two figures whooshing about across the dark and turbulent water.