“David, this place is magnificent!” Vanessa exclaimed as her eyes took in everything. “I can't believe that it's the same building!”

“Most of it isn't.” I said and nodded to the stairs. We both went up and walked down the hallway to my work room next to the potions room. I explained all the work we did and Vanessa opened the door for me. She caught her breath at the tools and things I had inside. Just like my potions room, it was a slightly smaller version of the one I had back at the Henrietta Longshore mansion.

I put the crate of potions down and grabbed several nice pieces of cheap leather. I kept talking and told her the extensive repairs and modifications we did to the building and Vanessa listened and watched as I cut up the leather and used some potion to merge the pieces together into a nice sized bag. I made pouches that were similar to the ones in my bandoleer, then padded them with cotton and covered the cotton with soft cloth.

“You've done this before.” Vanessa whispered.

“A few times.” I said and she covered her mouth when I applied the fortifying waterproof potion to it to harden and strengthen it. She didn't ask me what it was, though. I plucked her vials out of the crate and easily slipped them into the pouches inside the bag. Vanessa handed me the other three she had in her pockets and I added them, then I went into my potion room to grab ten empty vials from the large rack of them.

“Oh, wow.” Vanessa said, barely above a breath. “You have twelve potion setups!”

“Why make one potion when you can make multiple batches at the same time?” I asked and she gave me a concerned look.

“Most mages can't infuse this many potions at once.” Vanessa said.

“I don't do them all at the same time.” I said and she seemed to relax. “I only have two hands. I do them one after the other.”

Vanessa looked shocked and didn't respond, so I put an arm around her and led her back into my work room. I let her go and put the ten vials down, then took out two full health potions and the one with three quarters left in it. I divided them up into quarter doses and added them to the ten vials. I added them to the bag and Vanessa stared at them.

“I'll need a few days to try to get another health potion made with the ingredients available to me.” I said and picked up a thicker piece of leather. I used my charged knife to cut it into an appropriate shape and used number ten potion to assemble it and added a length of cord to it. “I ran out of all the prime ingredients I brought with me.”

“But...”

“The potion today was an eye opener, as Gary would say.” I said and used the fortifying waterproof potion on it to harden and strengthen it. “I'm not as concerned about making appropriate substitutions.”

Vanessa stood still as I tried the sheath in different places on her body. At her waist on the sides, in the front, in the back, on her forearms, on her thighs, and on her calves. That left two spots, one on each side of her breasts under her armpits. It was the same draw as mine, actually.

I opened my academy coat and held it open to show where my knife sheath was. “This is the best place for me to keep it concealed and within easy reach.”

Vanessa reached out and touched the sheath, then ran her hands up and under my arm and over my shoulder where it was tied. “It's not tied on the bottom?”

“I only need the sheath concealed when wearing suit coats and they hold it in place.” I said. “I can add a cord for the waist as well.”

Vanessa nodded and I did so. She opened up her academy coat and slipped it off of her shoulders. Her shirt was a little damp for some reason and I saw some sweat had built up, probably because of all the walking we did. Her white bra was clearly visible through the white shirt.

“Do you want to take a quick bath?” I asked.

Vanessa's face flushed red and she glanced down at herself. “I'd like to; but, we need to get to class.”

I nodded and tied the improvised sheath around her waist and then over her left shoulder for a right-hand draw. “Let me know if it's too tight.” I said and she didn't say anything. “Try turning side to side.”

Vanessa did so and the sheath stayed in place without restricting her movement. “That's great.”

I opened my own jacket and moved it to give her access to her knife. She smiled at me as she reached over and took it by the handle. She pulled it out and looked at the slightly altered knife, then she slid it into the sheath without cutting herself or the sheath. She put on her academy coat and I handed her the bag of her potions and she put it over the same shoulder.

“Thank you, David.” Vanessa whispered and her hand took mine. “I mean it. Thank you.”

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“Do you want to see my knife?” I asked and she nodded. I took it out and she stared at it. I used my magic and charged it up and her face lit up with something like joy.

“That's a full mage's blade.” Vanessa breathed. “You can extend it past the edge, can't you?”

“To almost twice the length.” I said and she gasped. “It can also cut through pretty much anything when charged up fully.” I stopped giving it magic and the glow faded. “I was told that stone and rock dulls it, so I haven't tried cutting those.”

Vanessa stared for another few seconds and then looked at her knife. “Will mine do that?”

“It depends on your intent, the magic you give it, and what you're cutting.” I said and she reached for it. “Don't do it now. If you exhaust yourself, you won't get through the rest of your classes today.”

“Yes, you're right.” Vanessa whispered. “We better go.”

We left my dorm mansion and walked back to the school's main building. She left to go to whatever classes she had and I went back to the same classroom where I had basic potions. It was about ten minutes before class was supposed to start, so I was early. Mage Marks was already there and she had my potion vial open and had poured a drop out onto a yellow piece of paper that wasn't sucking it up.

“You won't find out what the catalyst is that way.” I said.

“EEP!” Mage Marks yelped and hopped in her chair, almost knocking it over. “Mister Drake!”

“No one knows what it is and it fully diffuses into the potion.” I said and went to the workbench I had shared with Vanessa that morning. “Not even distilling it will get you what you want.”

Mage Marks sighed. “That's what I was trying to do.” She said and rolled the yellow sheet slightly and poured the drop of potion back into the vial. “This enchanted sheet absorbs anything abnormal in a potion.”

“Like blood?” I asked and she nodded.

“Even used as a catalyst for the potion, since it's not part of the original recipe ingredients, it should show up on this paper.”

“Do you harvest mage's blood for spells or something?” I asked.

“What makes you say that?” Mage Marks asked, curious.

“Why else would you need something exclusively used to extract blood from potions?”

Mage Marks opened her mouth to respond, then she closed her mouth.

“You don't know the real reason?” I asked and she didn't respond. She's probably afraid of answering with something stupid. I thought and took out my Advanced Potions book from my small bag, along with another writing pad and pencils. Mage Marks put the potion back onto the display rack and sat down behind her desk again.

A few minutes later, Lorna came in with two young men with a 2 on their academy coats, one of which was her promised betrothed. A young woman with long black hair came into the classroom with a 3 on her academy coat and she made it halfway across the room before she stopped and glared at me.

“That's my workbench!” She spat.

“Jinelle!” Mage Marks gasped, then her face flushed red because she used her first name automatically.

“This is my third year coming here, Mage Marks.” Jinelle said as she turned to the teacher. “Please tell me that you won't be as big of a disappointment as my last teacher was.”

Mage Marks let out a sigh. “Miss Marks, please refrain from flinging accusations before properly assessing the situation.”

Jinelle huffed at her and looked at me. “I always use that workbench. Now move.”

“Academy rules state first come first seat.” I said.

“I could care less about what the school rules say about where I can sit.” Jinelle said and started to gather her magic up as she mumbled.

“NOOO!” Mage Marks yelled as I slipped around the workbench, did a twisting turn as I travelled, and drew my knife in one smooth motion. I charged it and a split second later, I had swiped it across the front of the young woman's academy coat. The lapels flopped forward and the bottom half of the bow she wore fell to the floor as the last syllable of Mage Mark's yell ended.

Jinelle was grabbed by her arms and yanked away from me and then whirled around for Mage Marks to examine her thoroughly.

“Thank god that the knife missed your throat.” Mage Marks said in relief.

“I wasn't aiming for her throat.” I said and bent down to pick up the long lock of hair that had been behind the lapel. “I hit exactly what I was aiming for.”

Lorna gasped and covered her mouth and the two young men looked shocked.

“What... what is it?” Jinelle asked and tried to turn around to face me. Her face was drained of color.

“Don't... don't look.” Mage Marks said and held onto her. “I'll whip up something that will calm you down.”

“I'm... fine.” Jinelle said.

“No, you are not.” Mage Marks said as her own composure failed. “You almost died!”

“No, I... I was just...”

“You were going to cast a spell at a man that was in the army, you stupid girl!” Mage Marks said loudly and Jinelle winced at the anger in her voice. “You ignored what I warned you about already.”

“I'm sorry.” Jinelle said and seemed to be coming out of her shock.

“Not as sorry as you're going to be when I tell your mother and grandmother.” Mage Marks said.

Jinelle jerked in a similar hop to what Mage Marks did when I had startled her earlier. “No! Please don't, auntie!”

Mage Marks shook her head. “No, you just put the entire Marks family in jeopardy and didn't even think twice about it.” She said. “It makes me wonder what else we've talked about and that you've been disregarding.”

Jinelle caught her breath at that, then realized her mistake of giving herself away.

Mage Marks sighed. “Take the workbench right there.” She pointed to the one in front on the left side. “I'm going to have to start keeping a closer eye on you from now on.”

“But...”

“Go. Now.” Mage Marks said, sternly.

Jinelle ducked her head and went to the first workbench and unpacked her things.

“Mister Drake, for assaulting a student and the only daughter of my brother and his wife, you will be required to stay after classes for the rest of the week.”

“Here with you?” I asked and she nodded. “Can I brew potions?” I asked and my eyes darted to the bins of ingredient behind her.

“No, it's punishment. You have to sit here and not do anything.” Mage Marks said. “You need to remain still and be quiet.”

I opened my mouth to say how unfair that was and she held a hand up to stop me.

“One word of complaint and I'll suspend you for the rest of the week instead.” Mage Marks said.

I closed my mouth and she nodded.

“Now that the class has begun in the worst possible way, I'll need to test you each individually to gauge your knowledge and progress.” Mage Marks said and walked right over to Lorna, who still looked shocked at what happened. “Put it out of your mind for now.” She said and then began testing Lorna's knowledge with questions that were vague in some respects and specific in others.