Kamilis entered his little room at the Magi’s Guild. Most members have their own room, but Kamilis was one of the few who hardly used it. He was in the city as often as he was at his home village. It was austere, just a small bed, bookshelf, a desk with a chair, a trunk for personal effects and a single light orb on the celling.
He looked at his bed, it was late, but he wasn’t tired. He had so much to do before they headed home tomorrow. He walked over to his bookcase. There seemed to be no order to the mess of books and papers, but it all made sense to Kamilis. Most of them were his own notes on various arcane topics; spell theory, alchemy, enchanting, just to list a few.
He reached for a green folder of loose papers sitting on a stack of rolled scrolls. A title was scribbled on the front, Potions Addendum: Collection 4. He dropped it onto his desk. He continued standing as he opened it and started flipping through pages. He separated them into three piles. The first pile contained recipes for potions he was certain he was going to make tonight, the second was for recipes he thought would be useful if there was time and the third were recipes, he was sure they didn’t need. In no time he had them all sorted. He grabbed the smallest pile and quickly walked out of his room, down the hall and into the alchemy labs.
Luckily the lab room was empty. While it was late, he wasn’t the only person who gets inspired and ends up working throughout the night. With all five lab tables free he thought he might be able to get done with time for some sleep. The prep time for the different potions varied and by using all five tables it would go much faster.
He wasn’t making anything complicated, just some basic things a person might want to take if they were going into the forest, which, no one has. He was treading in new territory. The list was fairly short, some healing salve for cuts, bruises and twisted muscles and a few potions for more serious injuries such as broken bones. A few potions to help fortify their bodies against the elements, in case there was a storm, or they fell into icy mountain water and a pouch of ward powder to put around their camp each night. While he’d never seen a bear, it never hurt to make sure they could ward their camp from predators while they were sleeping. He also thought it prudent to make a potion of understanding, in case they encountered someone who didn’t speak their language. And lastly a potion of finding. They didn’t plan on going far but he wanted to make sure that if they got lost that they could easily find their way home.
It wasn’t long before Kamilis was deep into brewing mode. He’d decided on a plan of attack and had the timing down so he could brew each potion on a table without worrying about having to divide his attention between different stages of brewing times. Which is why when he heard someone clear their throat, he nearly dropped the bottle in his hands.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. He put a smile on his face and turned around, hoping it wasn’t one of the Magi Masters. He didn’t expect to see Arlana standing in the doorway. “Oh Arlana! It’s you!” Kamilis breathed out, not realizing he had even been holding his breath.
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She raised an eyebrow “Yes, it’s me…were you expecting someone else?”
Kamilis put the bottle on a table. “No, no of course not, I just didn’t think you were still up.”
She took a few steps into the room and opened her eyes in surprise as she saw what he was doing. “Are you brewing five different things at once?”
He just looked at her blankly “Huh?” then glanced back over his shoulder at all the tables. “Oh, oh, yes. I couldn’t sleep and when I noticed no one was using the room I took the chance to try a few experiments.”
She walked over to the table he was standing next to and inspected the set up. “A healing salve?”
Kamilis nodded. “It is, good eye. Not everyone would have been able to tell at this stage.”
She laughed and pointed at the table. “I read the title on the piece of paper.”
Kamilis smiled “Oh…well yes, that makes sense. I forgot it was there.”
She picked up the paper and took a good look. “Huh, that’s odd. I’ve never seen this recipe.”
“I’m not surprised. I haven’t shown it to anyone before. Truth be told I forgot I wrote this one. It’s just what I’ve been using for years. It’s a lot easier to make and more potent.”
She stopped reading and stared at Kamilis “…the Masters rarely improve upon our knowledge of magic. And you improved one of the most basic of recipes? I was told…that’s not supposed to be… and you’ve never told anyone?”
Kamilis quickly snatched the paper from Arlana. “Oh. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s pretty basic stuff.”
She glared at Kamilis “That’s my point, it’s basic. It’s one of the most basic alchemical recipes. It shouldn’t be able to be broken into something even easier let alone with increased potency too!”
Kamilis folded the paper, stuffed it in his pocket and tried to change the conversation. “I was surprised to see you tending the bar tonight. What made you decide to do that?”
She folded her arms and continued to stare. “You’re very bad at trying to change the subject.”
Kamilis unconsciously shuffled his feet, letting the silence linger, he couldn’t seem to find a way to dig himself out of his hole.
Arlana let out a sigh and softened her glare. “Fine. My friend asked if I could cover one of her shifts. Her brother was getting married, and she didn’t want to put the tavern in the position of being short staffed on one of their busier nights.”
He smiled “That was very thoughtful of you.”
“Oh, I know, I’m the best friend anyone could have, I’m also very tired.” She smiled and stepped up to Kamilis. He could smell the slightest hint of fire smoke and cooked meats, mixed with the floral cent of lavender as she leaned in and lightly kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t think this conversation is over. I’ll see you in the morning. You need to tell someone about that healing salve.” And then she was gone.
He stood there looking at the door, not sure exactly what had just happened, the smell of lavender lingering on his mind, but he was quickly brought back to the present as he heard glass shattering. “Crap”. He quickly turned realizing he didn’t remove one of the glass beakers at the appropriate time.
He moved the fire and shoved the glass to the side of the table and moved the fire back into place. Luckily, he hadn’t been too far into the recipe, so he hadn’t lost much time. By the time he had the base formula mixed and the liquid boiling again, the Guild’s bound elemental servants had quietly cleaned up the mess.
With him back to brewing, Kamilis quickly forgot the encounter with Arlana and spent the rest of the night engrossed in his work.