Mage Marks wrote down several things as she talked to Lorna, then she started to brew a potion. She tested the two young men next and she looked pleased with their answers. They both had 2s on their coats as well, so I assumed they were the middle age of the school, or eighteen. Seventeen was first year, eighteen for the second, and nineteen for the third. I was twenty, so I really was the old man in the school.
I glanced over at Jinelle and she had taken off her academy coat and pulled off the rest of the bow that was supposed to be around her neck. She combed her fingers through her hair and it worked until she reached the shoulder on her left side. Her fingers met nothing but air and she gasped.
“My HAIR!” Jinelle screeched.
“I'll be right there!” Mage Marks finished the potion and took it over to Jinelle. “How are you feeling?”
“He cut my hair, auntie! MY HAIR!”
“SHH! Drink this.”
Jinelle glared at her aunt and then drank the potion. Her face lost the anger and she took several deep breaths.
“Now how do you feel?” Mage Marks asked.
“I'm fine. It's just hair. It'll grow back if I had the right potion.” Jinelle said. “Are you going to test me, too?”
Mage Marks nodded and quickly assessed her niece's skills. She wrote a few key things down and then walked over to me. “What do you get when you mix Aspharilla root with a distillation of Harper's Potion?”
I gave her a blank look. “What's Aspharilla root and Harper's Potion?”
Mage Marks opened her mouth and Lorna laughed. The teacher glared at her.
“What? That's funny.” Lorna said and the two men near her had huge smiles. “Who doesn't know what Harper's Potion is?”
“Someone who hasn't grown up with it, obviously.” Mage Marks said with a shake of her head and looked back at me. “Harper's Potion was invented about thirty years ago. It's mainly for children and is used for any sickness, colds, fevers, and the like.”
“That sounds like my general health potion, except mine works on everyone, not just children.” I said. “What's Aspharilla root do?”
Mage Marks sighed. “It alters the distilled Harper's Potion to be useful for adults by boosting the strength of the potion.”
“Are the roots common?” I asked and glanced over at the bins.
“They are, as are the ingredients to Harper's Potion.” Mage Marks said.
“Is there a book or a syllabus of the ingredients that exist and their properties?” I asked. “I can't really answer any of your questions if I don't know what you're talking about.”
Lorna started to laugh and her promised betrothed named Nick covered her mouth.
Mage Marks looked a little angry. “You signed up for the course and you don't know anything about advanced potions? How am I supposed to help you refine your work if you don't even know the ingredients?”
“I grew up with ingredients that do the same things, only they were different from what you use for the same thing.” I explained. “You are referring to things you know about and not what I know.”
“That's... not going to work out well.” Mage Marks said, a bit sadly. “There are thousands of ingredients and some have five or ten different variants for potency.”
I frowned. “Why would you ever use the variants? You only need one. The one with the most potency.”
“That's usually the most expensive to grow and...”
“It wouldn't be if that was all you grew, instead of all the variants.” I said. “Mass production would drop the price, increase the yield, and allow better potions to be made. If it's too strong for certain potions, you brew it separately in a small pot and then dilute it with water to the consistency desired.”
Mage Marks looked like she wasn't sure how to respond to that.
“Is there a list of ingredients and their properties?” I asked again.
“There's one in the school library.” Mage Marks said. “It's several years old, however.”
“What's a library?” I asked.
Lorna couldn't stop her laugh this time and neither could the two young men with her.
Mage Marks sighed. “Mr. Drake, it's...”
“I'm joking. I know what a library is.” I said and the others stopped laughing. “I assume it's upstairs in the student administration building and above the cafeteria?”
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Mage Marks nodded. “Just ask the librarian for what you want.”
“Can I do it after class and report back here?” I asked and she looked about to refuse. “I invited my future sister and her friends over to my dorm after class and they are expecting me. I need to tell them I have to stay here instead.”
Mage Marks sighed. “All right, you can...”
“No, you said he was to be punished.” Jinelle said and smiled at me. “How does letting him leave whenever he wants be punishment?”
“Jinelle, you need to listen to...”
“You know what my grandmother is going to do to me when you tell on me.” Jinelle said, her voice calm and collected. “He deserves worse than detention.”
Mage Marks sighed and looked at me. “She's right. My mother is not a nice woman when she thinks her family is in danger.”
“What will she do to her?” I asked, curious.
Mage Marks closed her mouth and wouldn't say anything.
“You are as bad as the people in Ester's Village.” I said and her face went red. “You'll stand by and watch a child be abused, because you don't want to get involved or be punished yourself.”
“That's... not...”
“I hoped you were going to be a good teacher and someone that I wanted to learn from.” I said and rolled up the bundle of hair I had taken from Jinelle. “I see now that I should get what I need from books instead.”
“Mr. Drake, you can only learn so much from books.” Mage Marks said.
“I'd rather not learn about any more mistreatment of children by their parents and family members, thank you.” I said and tucked the hair into my bandoleer.
Mage Marks sighed again. “I'm not sure how I can proceed with planning your classes if we have such a fundamental difference of knowledge.”
“Then plan the classes for the others and ignore me for now.” I said and stood up. “I need the bathroom.” I said before she could ask me where I was going.
“You can hold it until the class break.” Jinelle said with a smug smile.
Mage Marks looked like she was going to say the same thing, so I opened my pants just enough to bring the tip out and started to pee on the floor. “AHH!” She yelled and jumped back and out of the splash zone. “STOP THAT!” She yelled and pointed at the door. “Go! GO TO THE BATHROOM!”
“Ugh!” Lorna groaned and covered her nose and mouth. “It stinks!”
I stopped peeing and fixed my pants, then I walked towards Jinelle's table to leave the classroom. She gave me a harsh look and I gave her the look Colonel Rivers gave me as she discharged me dishonorably and robbed me. Jinelle's face drained of color and she stared at me, which meant she knew that look.
“This is what your grandmother looks like when she's punishing you, isn't it?” I whispered to her as I passed her. She nodded slightly and I left the room to go to the bathroom. I didn't go to the one in that hallway or even one located in the same building. I left and went to the student administration building and went to the second floor, used the bathroom there and washed up, then went up the stairs to the library.
The place was completely devoid of other people, except for the librarian. She was a very tall woman, even taller than Lady Bassinger, which was saying something. She was sitting down and was taller than I was. Her hair had a green tint to it for some reason and she had it done up in a simple bun on the back of her head. She wore a uniform that was similar to the teachers, which meant she was a mage; except, the academy emblem was slightly different.
“I was told that if I needed anything, I should ask you.” I said and stood in front of the counter.
The woman lifted her head from the book she was reading and her bright green eyes glimmered in the light. “Hmm. I haven't seen you before.”
She put her book down, then she slowly stood up... and up... and up. Her full height was nearly nine feet and her legs and arms seemed impossibly long. She braced her hands on the counter and bent over to lean in close, which also gave me a very good look down her shirt. Her breasts were quite small in comparison to the rest of her; and yet, they were quite appealing in their own right.
“What does a handsome man like you want with a vulnerable and lonely older woman like myself?” She asked in a very low and sexy voice.
“I'm betrothed to Helena Henrietta.” I said as I looked into her eyes again. “Thank you for showing me your breasts. They are quite appealing.”
The librarian let a smile grow on her face and then she leaned down farther and braced her elbows on the counter. She propped her head onto her hands and stared into my eyes for nearly thirty seconds.
“You truly believe that.” She said, surprise clear in her voice and it didn't show on her face. “I'm trying to dig through your thoughts and all I'm getting is what you're letting me have.”
“I've grown up learning to hide my thoughts from the most evil and sadistic woman anyone has ever met, because a wrong thought could get me maimed or killed.” I said. “Even the Grand Mage can't read my thoughts now.”
The librarian's smile grew wider. “I do love a challenge.” She said and sat down on her chair, only her upper body didn't really change position, it was just a slight angle difference. “What can I help you with today?”
“I need the list of ingredients commonly used, uncommonly used, a rare list if it's available, and possibly any obscure plants and ingredients if you have them.”
Her head tilted to the side slightly. “Is that all?”
“No, I would like to have their properties as well. If possible, I don't want all of the variants and only the most potent ones.”
Her smile faded. “You'll miss out on a lot of recipes if you only want to buy the potent variants.”
“Not if they are prepared properly.” I said. “I don't want to waste time with five or ten slightly different plants when one can do the job of all of them.”
“You really believe that as well.” She said, her voice once again filled with surprise and nothing showed on her face.
I had only known one other person that could do that and she had enchantments to change her appearance. “Is this your real form?” I asked and the woman's face stayed the same as she took in a hissing breath.
“You... you know.” She said and sat back in her chair to look at me with a blank face.
“I've had some experience with someone hiding who they really are.”
She sighed. “I suppose I should drop the glamour for a while and save some energy for later.”
I stood there and waited as I felt her magic flow over herself and then it retreated inside of her.
“So, what do you think?” She asked and smiled with a very large mouth as she bared her teeth at me. Her skin was completely white and glistened in the lights and her hair was completely white as well. Her eyes were the same bright green and it seemed that her glamour was only for the face change and the skin color.
“Why do you cover yourself up so much?” I asked, genuinely curious. I had no idea what getting the answer was going to mean to me until she spoke.
The woman laughed. “You really don't know?” She asked and I shook my head. “I'm a freed slave from the Kingdom of Fata.”
It was then that I realized how important her answer was, because that was the moment my whole world changed.
I wasn't the only previous slave at the academy.