“What did your father say when you showed him the enhanced knife?” I asked Vanessa as we waited on the potion.

Vanessa gave me a very happy smile. “He declared a family holiday.”

“He did?” I asked and she nodded. “I assume your family all gathered together?”

“Oh, yes. Aunts and uncles, cousins, and both sets of grandparents. My grandfather on my father's side was ecstatic. He couldn't get over the change in size, either.” Vanessa whispered as her hands dealt with the uncommon ingredient and plucked the grains from it. She added them to the pot and let them stew. “He knew it was a magic blade and kept it in the family all these years. He hadn't had the ability to activate it, though. He said it was a rare talent to wake sleeping blades.”

“Sleeping blades?” I whispered and she nodded.

“Mage Marks is right. Most large families have a magic blade of some kind. It's usually owned by a high ranking mage, since they are usually the only ones that can utilize a blade like that.” Vanessa said. “There's a lot of blades out there that are rumored to be magical and are considered ceremonial.”

“Because no one can activate them?” I asked and she nodded again. “Does your family have one?”

“No, but...” Vanessa stopped talking as she cut up the stalk and then added it to the potion. Just the liquid was left and she would add it in a few minutes.

“You know who does.” I whispered.

“The royal family.” Vanessa said. “It's a short sword.”

My eyes widened at that and she saw the surprise on my face.

“I can't imagine why it hasn't been activated after all of the powerful mages that have worked for the royal family all these years.” Vanessa said and added the liquid to the potion. “I was sure that Mage Lucas could have done it. He was very strong.”

“I believe that his magic abilities were too combat oriented.” I said. “He could infuse seven potions in a row and it left him drained.”

Vanessa caught her breath and turned her head to look into my eyes. “You really did know him.”

“We spent a lot of time together while working out the colonel's insane plans to assault the Eastern Empire.” I whispered. “We weren't always planning and had to eat, too. We talked a lot about different things.”

“You talked with the strongest fighting mage in the kingdom like he was a normal person.” Vanessa whispered, reverence clear in her voice.

“How else was I supposed to talk to him?” I asked and Vanessa didn't have an answer for me. “It's almost time for the infusion.”

Vanessa nodded and stirred the pot, then she took out something that looked like a large needle. She pricked her index finger and tapped the tip three times to make three drops fall into the potion. She sucked on her finger for a second and then she held her hands out to the pot.

“I'm right here with you.” I breathed into her ear. “Let the magic come. Let it fill you. Mine is right here waiting for it.”

Vanessa shivered and I felt her magic swell up strongly.

“Now give it to that potion. Let it know you want it to be the best potion that it can be. You made it and it's going to be great.” I whispered and my lips touched her earlobe again. “Know it. Believe it. Do it!”

“UNNN!” Vanessa moaned as she used the infusion technique. The room lit up as she poured her magic into the potion and the pot glowed for nearly twenty seconds. The glow faded and Vanessa took several breaths to calm down.

“By the Son's Light.” Mage Marks said as she came over to us. “Vanessa, are you all right?”

“I'm fine.” Vanessa whispered.

“She said she's fine.” I repeated.

“Are you sure? That was a lot of magic to get a display like that.” Mage Marks said, concerned.

Vanessa pat my arms and I let her go. She stopped leaning against me and stood up straight, her back stiff and with confidence on her face. “I'm not drained, Mage Marks. At all.”

“She's not drained, Mage Marks. At all.” I repeated for her.

Mage Marks reached out to touch her forehead and nodded. “Give me a vial for testing.”

Vanessa used the ladle and filled a vial for her. “It's perfect.”

“She said it's perfect.” I said and Mage Marks smiled.

“I'll be the judge of that.” Mage Marks said and marked Vanessa's name on it and went to her desk to drop it off.

Unlike last time, nearly all of the others had their potions finish at nearly the same time and she couldn't take the time right then to mark it first. She went to each workbench and gathered vials from the others, wrote on them, then she went back to her desk and the wood panels popped up to hide her from sight.

It took her a while to finish, I assumed because the potions were that much better than the last time. When the wood panels folded away and disappeared, Mage Marks walked over to the little display and took three quarters of the ten vials out of the rack and replaced them, then moved my vial and Lorna's vial into their own slots and replaced them with Vanessa's and the other girl's that Lorna helped.

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All of the girls, except for Lorna and Vanessa, quickly left their workbenches to check out their results. There were a lot of appreciative sounds and a few gasps.

“Go ahead.” I encouraged Vanessa. “You need to see how well you did.”

“Come with me.” Vanessa whispered. “I might... well...”

“I'll hold you up in case you faint.” I guessed and she gave me a shy smile as she took my hand. We walked over to the group of girls and some of them eased aside to let us approach the rack. Vanessa saw her potion vial and took in a quick breath, then her knees started to give out. I easily caught her by putting my arms around her waist again and held her up.

“I knew it.” Vanessa whispered as she leaned back against me and turned her head to stare at me. “I knew it.”

Her potion had gotten a perfect grade.

“I told you that you had it in you.” I whispered back.

“Thank you, David.” Vanessa said and pressed her lips to my cheek and made it tingle. “If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have the first clue what to do.”

“You would have been fine.” I said as her arms hugged mine.

“I wasn't chosen as the worst in the class for no reason.” Vanessa countered my words and grinned. “I nearly blew up father's arboretum once.”

That made me chuckle and the girls around us looked at me. When they saw what looked like an intimate moment between Vanessa and myself, their faces flushed red and most of them turned away. The girl that had been interested in me wasn't one of them. She bit her bottom lip and looked like she was imagining that it was her I held like that.

“All right, back to your workbenches.” Mage Marks said and shooed us away from the display rack. “As you all saw, most of you have done very well. Only a couple of you have achieved an acceptable version.”

“I'm sorry, Mage Marks. I was... distracted.” The girl interested in me said as her eyes went right to me as I helped Vanessa sit down behind our workbench.

Mage Marks let out a soft laugh. “Yes, I'm sure we all were. A little, anyways. You just need to make sure that last ingredient is added on time and you'll be on par with most of the class.”

“We're doing this again next week?” Lorna asked.

“Yes. I had planned for you all to do it for all five classes this month, actually.” Mage Marks said and a couple of the girls sighed. “Now, now. Don't jump to conclusions. You've all done exceptionally well since last week and I'm going to skip over making you repeat it for the last two classes.”

“What a relief.” Lorna said and a few of the other girls laughed because they were relieved, too.

“Go ahead and crate up your potions if you're going to keep them. If not, leave them there and I'll dispose of them.” Mage Marks said and most of the girls decided that it wasn't worth keeping.

“Mage Marks.” I said and nodded at the girls at the next work bench that were packing up to leave.

“What?” Mage Marks asked and I pointed to the large pot of potion. “No, surely you can't mean...”

I gave her a smile and a nod. She waited until the girls left before she walked over to the next bench and took out the vial I had given her. She used a single drop and as soon as it hit the potion, the entire thing glowed for three seconds. When the glow faded, all that was left inside the pot was clear water.

“Good lord.” Mage Marks whispered and stared into the pot. “Good lord.”

“What is it, David?” Vanessa asked as she crated up her vials.

“It's just something I came up with yesterday to clean water.” I said and helped her with her task. “I'll help next week and you won't have to be so careful with your remaining mental enhancement potions.”

Vanessa hopped a little and let out a happy sound. “Thank you, David!” She breathed and gave me a brief hug before I carried her crate out of the classroom. I brought it over to her dorm building and a very stern woman sat at a desk just inside the doorway.

“What's going on here?” The woman asked, clearly angry.

“Please forgive my intrusion.” I said and gave her a bow. “I am Vanessa's class partner and I offered to carry this heavy crate for her from the student classrooms, as is my duty.” I said and the woman's face lost some of its anger. “With your permission and escort, may I bring this up to her doorway? She can slide this heavy thing into her room after that.”

The woman gave me an appraising look. “You're not asking to enter her room?”

“No, my lady.” I said and ducked my head a little. “I would never presume to enter the room of a woman I'm not betrothed to or isn't already betrothed to someone else.”

The woman's face lost all of its anger and she stood. “I will accompany you.”

“Thank you.” I said with as much gratitude as I could and she smiled a little as she came over to us.

“What's your name and social status, young man?” The woman asked.

“My name is David Drake and I am betrothed to Helena Henrietta.” I responded without hesitation.

The woman gave me a very stern look at those words. “So, it's you that's causing all the ruckus.”

“It's more like others are causing a ruckus and I am trying to deal with it as best as I can, my lady.”

She stared at me for several moments as if she was trying to decide if I was lying, then she nodded slightly and waved us forward.

Vanessa walked up the stairs in front of me and she practically hopped up each of them. The smile on her face was as bright as the mage lights in the corners of the stairwells. She led us up to her floor and held the door for me and for the dorm manager, then she walked ahead of us to go to her room near the end of the hallway. She unlocked it with a chant and pushed the door open to show me the inside.

I put the crate down exactly in front of the open doorway for her and peered into the room, then turned to the dorm manager. “Thank you again for allowing me to help my fellow student.” I said as I took her hand and then brushed my lips over the knuckles. I let a bit of my magic out and the woman gasped as her knuckles tingled. “Please allow me to escort you back downstairs.”

The woman's shocked face was priceless. She looked at Vanessa and then at me, then looked down at the potions. “Will you be making any more of these deliveries?”

“Next week.” I said right away. “I'm brewing potions to help her with her voice and they will be ready then.”

“That was you?” The woman asked and looked at Vanessa, who nodded. “Well... I suppose... I can't object if you are being so helpful.”

“Thank you.” I said and assumed my role and she put her arm through my elbow automatically. “Vanessa, I'll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Bye!” Vanessa whispered loudly.

I nodded to her and then led the dorm manager down the hallway. I kept pace with her and matched her strides perfectly, opened the door to the stairs, then led her down them to the ground floor. I deposited her back beside her desk and took her hand once more.

“My lady.” I said and brushed her knuckles with my lips, made them tingle again, and let her hand go. The look on her face was once again filled with shock and I left the dorm to head back to my dorm mansion to eat lunch. I had Advanced Potions after that and I was sure that Mage Marks would have cleaned up everyone's potions by now. A single drop to each seemed to negate any contaminant that was added to the water, which was much more powerful than I had thought it could be.

I had inadvertently made an anti-potion potion.