Geography class ended and we all filed out of the classroom. Mage Ridge didn't say anything except that she would see us all next week.

“Are you coming to lunch today?” Vanessa asked in a whisper.

“I should. I have Botany all afternoon.” I said and a lot of the students around us in the hallway laughed when they heard me.

“Did you really take botany?” Lorna asked and I nodded. “Why would you waste your time with that? You can brew potions to make money and buy the ingredients.”

“I can save money by growing them myself.”

Lorna laughed. “Yeah, keep telling yourself that. It only saves money if you grow a lot of it, like the guild does.” She met Nick in the hallway and we all left the main building and went over to the student administration building and up to the second floor cafeteria.

“You cannot approach the other tables.” The uniformed man on the door said as I passed. “It will count as...”

“I know.” I interrupted him and kept walking.

“Ooo, they have some stews and soups today.” Vanessa said a bit louder than a whisper. “Want me to get one for you?”

“As long as it has lots of meat in it.” I said and she smiled.

“I'll lick that chicken and you can add it if there's not enough for your liking.” Vanessa whispered.

“Thank you.” I said and she beamed a smile at me. I stopped walking by the Bronze tables and looked over the dishes piled there. I wasn't surprised that they were just as scraped over and empty as they usually were, despite my efforts to convince the people that worked there that they shouldn't be trying to starve me or deny me food.

“This soup tastes pretty goo-Oops!” Vanessa said in a loud whisper as her bowl slipped out of her hand and dropped into the pot of chicken soup. “Dammit.”

Her act wouldn't have fooled anyone, so I was grateful that no one except me heard her. All they saw was her bowl disappearing into the pot.

“Miss, please try to be more careful.” The cook behind the table said.

“I'll try.” Vanessa whispered and tried to use the ladle to dig the bowl out.

“No, leave it. You'll just make a...” The cook sighed as the ladle slipped and flipped up and out of Vanessa's hand to splatter onto the table over two other dishes and the chicken she was aiming for. “...mess.”

“I'm sorry.” Vanessa whispered as she hunched over slightly and blushed. She had made more of a spectacle of herself than she had intended. She grabbed a plate and added a few things to it, then she quickly walked over to her table of friends.

“Wow, that was embarrassing.” One of her friends said and the others laughed.

Vanessa nodded and her blush didn't lessen as she started to eat.

I waited for the ruined items to be brought to the Bronze tables and pretended to examine them and to scrape off the spilled soup. It didn't bother me at all if two tastes mixed together; but, I had to make it look like she hadn't done me a favor.

So, I grabbed the pot of soup and carefully tipped it on its edge, then ladled out small bits of chicken soup, making sure to rattle the bowl that was still inside, so everyone would know I was struggling with trying to eek out a meal from it. I wasn't, though they didn't know that. I eventually filled my bowl and then peeled the skin off of the chicken to get at some of the meat.

With my meal set, I nodded to the cook and he took the rest and the other dishes away to the servant's serving room for Hope. I wasn't sure if she would be there, considering I told her that she didn't have to come. I knew she wouldn't be eating yesterday because I had the afternoon off, so she had stayed home and eaten with the staff. I'd have to ask her later if she liked the chicken soup flavored steak today.

I went to an empty table, since no one seemed to look at me as I went towards the seating area. I ate my meal in silence and did as Vanessa suggested. I broke the chicken meat up and added it to the soup. I also ate a lot of bread rolls and sucked up as much broth as I could. When I was done, I left to head towards my afternoon class.

As far as I could tell, there wouldn't be many people in this class, just like the advanced potions class. It seemed to be a joke, actually. I wasn't sure why they would think growing their own ingredients was a joke. If they only knew how dangerous it was to get some of them, they would be grateful to have the ability to grow them at home and not have to risk their lives for them.

I walked to the botany workshop that was in a separate building, like the civil construction workshop, and thought about what the students actually knew about how the ingredients were gathered. It was then that I realized that they didn't know. They all thought the ingredients were grown in controlled areas and that no one had risked their lives to gather them in the first place.

I also knew that none of them would ever be convinced of the difference, because almost none of them would be taking the Botany course to learn the truth. I sincerely doubted it would be brought up in History class or either potions classes. Mage Marks hadn't told us about how she had gotten the ingredients or how they had been procured originally, assuming she knew.

I opened the front door of the botany workshop and a thick watery mist hit me in the face. It made the places it touched tingle and I had to blink my eyes for several moments to see.

“Oops! I'm sorry about that!” A woman's excited voice said and a distinctly female figure waved to me. “This darned squirter was stuck on far spray. When I banged it to try and fix it, there you were!”

She was not wearing the traditional mage robes and only the underclothes of light beige pants and a white shirt. Both were completely soaked through with water. It wasn't until I walked over to her that I could see that she wasn't wearing any undergarments and her breasts were completely bared through the thin wet cloth. They were about a handful and a half in size each and her bright pink nipples were also sticking out.

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“I hope you aren't too upset with me at such a wet introduction.” The woman said with a bright smile. “I'm Mage Julia King and you'll be getting this mixture all over yourself soon enough anyways.”

“That's okay. Everything I have on me is waterproof.” I said and she started to laugh, then her eyes roamed over me. Her laugh died away as she stared at my academy coat lapels and where there should have been droplets of water mixture. There were none.

She reached out and touched it, to see that it was dry, then she squirted my chest with the spray. It splashed in a gush, since it was still stuck on far spray, so we were both doused with a deluge of water. She wiped off her face and then she gasped, because my academy suit was still perfectly dry.

“How? How is this possible?”

“A waterproofing potion.” I said with a shrug. My face and hair were soaked and tingled all over because of whatever was inside the water mixture. “Mage King, can I ask what's in that?” I asked and pointed at the squirter.

“Just my own little experiment.” Mage King said. “Oh, and please call me Victoria. It's just us and I won't be trapping either of us into a horribly formal social dynamic for the next three years.”

“This isn't the advanced course?” I asked.

Victoria laughed. “It is and it's also a three year course. Or for as long as you want to stay at the academy.” She said. “I sincerely hope you can tough it out better than my last two students.”

“What happened to them?” I asked.

“The made it through two years, then they balked when I tried to get them to help me harvest a very rare flower from the Barkilan Forrest during our last field trip.”

“Barkilan... Barkilan...” I mumbled, then I remembered where I heard the name. “That's beside Gravelite Mountain Valley in the eastern part of the kingdom, isn't it? Mage Ridge mentioned it in geography class today.”

Victoria smiled. “I'm glad you were paying attention, David. Yes, that's where it was. My students didn't enjoy the constant bug bites or the stories about a group of large venomous snakes that guard the flower's supposed sanctuary.”

“They didn't even try to go in to help you?” I asked.

“No, and they refused to let me go alone.” Victoria sighed. “The whole trip was a bust.”

“Did you know how you were going to keep it alive or to cultivate it to grow more?” I asked.

“Yes, I've studied it extensively. Its medicinal properties are uncharted and it could revolutionize our outdated healing potion practices.”

“I might already be doing that.” I said and she gave me a skeptical look, so I took out the partially used one I had used on Emily's fingers.

“Oh, my.” She said. “May I?”

I handed it over to her and she took a sip.

“Mmm. Nice. Very good flavor. I assume you used either raspilla grain or an equivalent?”

“An equivalent called jungle leaf extract.” I said. “I don't know what the real name is, only what it was called as I was growing up.”

“Ah, I see.” She said and took another sip, then she corked it and handed it back. “It has quite a powerful effect. How much are you charging for it?”

“You know it's for sale?” I asked and tucked it away.

“I talked to your course assignment worker.” Victoria said. “I must say that general health potion is going to make you a fortune, especially once all the testimonials from the army personnel arrive to give it legitimacy.”

“What testimonials?” I asked and she laughed.

“I think you need to talk to your wife... ah, future wife... a bit more.”

“I've sent messages through servants, because we don't want everyone to openly know that we actually care about each other.” I said to her surprise. “We're both quite busy with everything as well. I'm seeing her next month when the school goes on break for the king's birthday.”

Victoria gave me an odd look and then she smiled. “Grab the squirter over there and give me a hand. The plants are marked for their water needs. Some need a light spray every day, others need a drench once a week. You'll get a handle on it soon and you won't even need to read the signs before you can do what I do and stand at the end of the row to do them all in a line.”

I nodded and we both got to work. After half an hour, each of the plants and growths in the entire building's main area was freshly watered.

“Excellent work, David.” Victoria said. “We'll handle feeding them after we spend an hour or so in the classroom. I need to see what you know and what I need to teach you before we get into the actual coursework.”

We left the main area and went into a small classroom at the back of the building. There were only six desks and chairs in front of her small teaching desk. She handed me a towel and dried herself off as much as she could and I did as well. I was administered a quick test and she read over my answers.

“So, nearly completely ignorant on how to grow things.” Victoria said and I nodded. “Excellent.”

I raised my eyebrows at her and she laughed.

“It's easier to fill an empty cup than it is to try to force out the old liquid by pouring in new.” Victoria said. “I assume they gave you a book?”

I took it out to show her that it was brand new and she laughed again.

“I think we are a dying breed, David. We're rare people that actually care about growing things to make things easier for everyone.”

“I want to learn to grow my own potent potion ingredients.” I said and she gave me a huge smile.

“Now that is a very good goal to have. Very good.”

“You want to go back to Barkilan Forrest to get that flower.” I said.

“As soon as possible.” Victoria said. “How does next weekend sound? I'll need a week to get the permits renewed and to get a travel pass for us. Oh, and you'll need to sign a danger waiver. If you die, the school can't be held responsible and all that nonsense.”

“Nonsense?” I asked.

“You'll be dead and won't care who is responsible. You also won't be around to spend any of the settlement you might get.” Victoria said with a laugh.

I had to smile slightly at her logic. “I don't have any plans.”

“Excellent!” Victoria said happily and stood up. Her breasts could still clearly be seen through her dried white shirt and they jiggled enticingly as her nipples decided to make another appearance. She saw me looking and she stepped close to look into my eyes. “Tell me what you are thinking.”

“I think you don't wear undergarments because they will get wet and would be ruined for no reason.” I said, honestly. It was the only explanation I could come up with.

“What if I told you that I like having young men stare at me while wearing see-through clothes?”

“That would be another reason. Do you want that?” I asked and wondered what she was thinking.

“No, I do not.” She said. Yes, I like it a lot. She thought at the same time.

“Are you married?” I asked.

“I was. He died in the last battle at the mountain front.” Victoria said, her voice sad; but, her thoughts were full of anger. The idiot accepted the young prince's order to charge into a prepared enemy and they both were lost, along with their entire brigade! She sighed as her shoulders slumped. “I regret that the kracken tubes weren't produced in enough numbers to be brought over to the mountain front until after that battle.”

“Would it have made a difference?” I asked.

“Even at a disadvantage, they could have...” Victoria shook her head. “They arrived when they could. If the Mages Guild wasn't so damn slow in making them...” She shook her head again. “It's over now and the kingdom is in a cease fire. They should have lots of time to make more of them and get them dispersed to all the other places that need them.”

The enemy also has time to build up their own forces. I thought with a nod.

“Come on. Let's get back out there and I'll show you what we do to feed all the little darlings that are now under your care as well as mine.” Victoria said and I followed her out into the main growing area and she started showing me all of the various things needed for the proper care of the plants there.

I made sure to glance at her chest at random times to look at her bouncing breasts and protruding nipples, because she liked it when she caught me. I picked up a few random thoughts about her feeling both desired by a handsome young man and also feeling safe, because she knew that I would never cross that line with her.