"Well...letting the cat out of the bag is a lot easier than putting it in."

-Charles Martin, Chasing Fireflies

“Ahem.” Silence. Alyssa looked at Mireille, who tried to look innocent while still hugging Alea. The latter was still looking confused but the expression slowly changed to one of curiosity.

“So. You two better talk to me, and I must say you two are about the worst at deceiving people I know about.” The spider shook her little head.

“Ah, it's no big deal, tell her.” Mireille let go of Alea while rubbing the back of her own head with an apologetic and embarrassed grin.

“For you perhaps! Ok. It may sound a bit crazy but Asandria is a ghost.”

“You see dead people?”

“A dead elf, yes.”

“And this dead elf talks to you and Mireille does not see or hear her?”

“That about sums it up.”

“That is hard to believe. And as I said you are very bad liars, both of you. So I will believe you for now. Nice to meet you Asandria.” The spider turned around and nodded in greeting.

The ghost raised her head, one arm sweeping through a vase. ‘It should not matter much, but keep my existence a secret, if your enemies know about me you have one less tool to surprise them with. And the Heartstealer will do worse.’

“She greets you back and bids you not to talk about her to someone else.” The last was not only meant for Alea.

“Good. I think that reasonable, I don’t want to be called mad more than usual.”

“You are seen as mad?” Mireille asked with a curious expression.

“Yes, does that surprise you?” The spider turned and faced Mireille while the girl herself stood still, hardly breathing.

“Mh, when you put me on the spot like this. No.”

“You could have put that more diplomatically!” Alyssa scolded.

“That would have been apparent,” Alea seemed to smile as she said that. “At least you have distracted me from my former morbid musings. And that is just as well. We have the ingredients that could be bought on such short notice, there were some the merchant assured us could be found with the expenditure of time and money, but I think that it would probably take too long. Not that I would not take a year if that saved grandma, but I guess it is not that certain or powerful a mixture?”

“You guess right. I will do my best, and if it works, it will by no means be exclusive to my person, other apothecaries or even alchemists could brew it for her without the need for our continued presence.”

“Then no time like the present. Let us try and finish at least one potion as a test run. You are certain that it will do no harm?”

“I will test it myself naturally.”

“Then there is nothing left to discuss. Mireille do you want to come with us?”

“Yes, I think that would be good.”

They walked the now familiar walkway as they met the blonde servant of the unwelcome guest. He nodded a friendly greeting standing aside to let them pass. The monocle shimmered in the light of the afternoon sun.

The spider on Aleas shoulder tracked him while they walked by, otherwise, she did not acknowledge him. Mireille and Alyssa returned the greeting with a nod of their own.

At the door to the workshop sat a small chest.

“That should be the ingredients. If someone could please carry the chest inside?” Alea looked at Mireille.

“Ah well, it's the least I can do for you letting me hug you.” Mireille grinned while Alea puffed her cheeks. It was the most emotion they had seen from her since coming to the mansion.

Alyssa looked fascinated ‘how cute, but she will likely kill me if I squeeze her cheeks.’

The chest proved to be very light and it was no problem maneuvering it downwards to the laboratory. The afternoon was spent poring over the ingredients and the great works of alchemy which were all present on shelves in the basement. Today they did not manage to formulate a recipe but it seemed to be going well. Asandria had some very valuable suggestions she knew a lot about the intricacies of the soul.

Dinner was a dismal affair with both Adelaide and Mathilde in attendance. Maximilian had managed to return only to be monopolized by his great-cousin. Everyone else tried to stay out of the battlefield.

“I always knew why I did not visit this part of my family often.” Maximilian was drinking a glass of wine with the three girls in the study on the second floor. “It is worse than my memories would have suggested.”

“It is objectively worse. The thin veneer of civility is slowly coming off. But for those years of memories I lost in the accident I have a very good memory you know?” Alea righted her blindfold.

“Poetically spoken, sister dearest.”

Mireille laughed at that. “We will spend tomorrow concocting that potion of Alyssa's, then we would be ready to depart. What about you?”

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“We can be ready by the day after tomorrow. We tarried enough as it is. I have rented a carriage for the journey, that should save us some time, the carriage is big enough that the girls can sleep inside, which further simplifies the need to set up additional tents.” Maximilian replied.

“Much appreciated.” Alyssa thought back to the miles traveled about the mountains.

After that, they talked a bit about the academy, the, for Alyssa, near-mythical goal of her travels. And the two siblings had a lot of stories, passed down from their parents and grandparent to tell.

As they went to bed, still in Alyssa's room to her amused irritation, Vanessa greeted them.

“Mae g’ovannen. I have read the proposed recipe and it is satisfactory. It will not do much more than keep the problem at bay but that will still be a massive improvement to the status now. Mireille. I will talk you through the exercises you absolutely should do tomorrow. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“Yes, teacher!”

“I find myself modifying the plans…”

Sleep was deep and pleasant. Alyssa dreamed disjointed dreams of elvish feasts, griffins flying in the sky, carrying knights in gleaming mithril.

“Good morning!” Someone pounced on Alyssa who woke with a start.

“Ngh.” She tried to articulate her protests but could not find the breath for it. “Mireille!” She struggled free whacking her friend with a pillow, this turned out to be the start of an energetic pillow fight. As the combat wound down Alyssa asked her assailant. “How did you wake up before me?”

“Cyrus did. He needed to go outside and seemed not to want to wake you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. And after that, I could no longer sleep.”

"Considerate of him." Alyssa smiled and whacked Mireille one last time.

"Hey!"

"You started it I finish it."

They washed and had breakfast. It turned out to be another tedious and formal affair whith Mathilde subtly criticizing them for their upbringing, intelligence, or both while keeping a front of praising them.

‘Drained was the word’ Alyssa mused as they dispiritedly walked towards the laboratory.

They spent the day working.

In the afternoon Alyssa took the distillate out of the alembic. White heavy smoke hung over a bluish-green, slimy liquid.

“So, to get this right, you have to breathe in the smoke, which should be a lot like drinking whipped egg whites and take care not to touch the slimy stuff.” Mireille summarized.

“Yes, that sounds about correct.”

Asandria tilted her head. ‘She is more intelligent than she tries to portray herself as.’

Alea looked at her reproachfully, “you could take it all a bit more seriously.”

“She never does.” Sighed Alyssa, “but that is not always a bad thing.”

Alyssa tested the concoction on herself as promised, taking the merest breath of the smoky liquid, the strange sensation was indescribable but not unpleasant and, she thought, she had no illness to cure.

"I think it is ready, lets go!" The rest concurred.

The group found Adelaide's chambers on the upper floor near the siblings’.

They knocked on the ornately carved wooden door. From inside the room, a weak voice called. “Who is it? Please talk to Gerald I am not feeling well.”

“It's me, grandma. It's important.”

After a short moment of silence, they heard halting steps nearing the door, which then opened halfway. Adelaide was wearing a house robe and looked much worse than remembered as she had removed the makeup and the full extent of her illness became apparent.

“Alea! You could have warned me, pardon my attire I was not expecting company. And what in Jaros name is that?” She looked at the beaker with the turbid smoke which behaved much as a liquid would.

“It is important, can we come in for a moment? I know this is highly irregular but this liquid could really help you.”

Adelaide sighed deeply then opened the door fully. “Come on in then.”

They entered a richly appointed chamber with a double bed, dresser, and some wardrobes all painted and carved with depictions of fantastic beasts and legendary stories. The ceiling bore a painting showing the gods in council a soft and large carpet cushioned their steps. The windows were tightly closed and the curtains drawn.

“So, what is that liquid?” The old lady asked.

“It is a soul strengthening philter with inspirations taken from old elven to newer works of Ananse Berkop the younger.” Alea began to expound. As always she was near expressionless with the spider supplying the right gestures and animation.

“If I may?” Alyssa interjected as Alea drew breath.

She deflated a bit and said, “please grandma. I can't lose you too.”

Adelaide seemed to further age with that and sat down heavily in a cushioned seat.

“This should help shore up your strength and help with what ails your soul.”

“How do you know of that?” Adelaide's eyes took on a sharp glint.

“I have some training in the magical arts and my familiars are not at all usual, but that is beside the point, this liquid can help you if drunk in the next ten to fifteen minutes. Later it will have dissolved back into the slime, and I would not recommend drinking that.”

“I was there and helped make it, trust us.” Alea pleaded.

“The only thing I've got to lose is time with you and your brother, dear child.” She stroked Aleas head. “Give me the potion. But don’t think I did not hear you use the plural for familiar. We might as well talk later.”

After receiving it she breathed in deeply, the vapors coiling into her nose and mouth flooding into her as if they were alive.

Asandria answered the unspoken thought. ‘This vapor is in a sense, alive. It carries a bit of the life and soul of the earthdrake whose heart we used and the sap of the treant. One could say it is life and soul without agenda or intelligence. But before you think about it, it will never gell with a foreign soul completely and is thus ineffective for spellcasting.’

It was in the truest sense of the word, magical. The life and color returned to her skin and eyes, the back straightened and the posture became more assured.

“My, that is something indeed!” Adelaide breathed deeply, “I have not felt that good in years. But something tells me this will not last?”

“Yes that is true, but life itself is fleeting, and it has no ill effects that I know of. It will simply be as if you had not taken it, but depending on how strenuous you plan to live it could last up to a year.” Alyssa mused.

“You are sixteen years of age? Truly?”

“We had some very concise notes.” Alyssa blushed.

‘Good that you know.’ Asandria smiled.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Even if it lasts only a few months it would be more than I thought I had. It's gotten worse the last year, much worse.” She shuddered.

“Perhaps the academy has something that will help you?” Alea tried hard to appear optimistic, which sadly failed.

Adelaide smiled, “I am so glad to see you be more outgoing, this as much as the potion helps to set my old heart at ease.”

“We will have to leave tomorrow, will you be alright?” Mireille asked without caring for etiquette.

The old lady genuinely laughed at this. “Who cares. The weaver spins the weave and the crone snaps the thread, we are only along for the ride. My only wish is for your safety and happiness my dear children. Though I must declare myself partial to my blood I like you both and hope that you will become good friends.”

They parted at the door with Alea turning towards her room, the spider looked at them as they went down the corridor.

Reaching her room Alyssa joked, "I hope they have rooms with two beds."

"I hope the bed is big enough, otherwise that defeats the purpose!" Grumbled Mireille.

Vanessa talked with them about the happenings of the day.

"Well done. You will be a proper alchemist in time. And tomorrow you will leave this place?"

"Yes, that is the plan," Alyssa answered.

"Then we will see each other in the evening. Try to introduce me as an eccentric botanist or something, the story could be that I spend my days in the woods and am fast enough to catch you in the evening?"

"Sounds a bit crazy but why not. It's not as if someone will guess the truth." Mireille replied.