Chapter 51: [Error]s, Tonic, Pity Party

…uuudge!

It was happening, here and now. And I was alone, without Tess to help me through it. There was Tak, but she wouldn’t know.

*[Ink; poor](Flex){Error} 1. (Without conscious direction…read ‘Ignorance’…you used a base recipe to manufacture basic magical ink with [error] *unstable/flexible* from proper ingredients [error; no proper ingredient found], [mana] infused)*

That was a lot of effing errors. So many, how could it even work?

//Magic?//

‘Did you do this?’

//Maybe I pushed a little. Now, prepare yourself//

Prepare? Pain!

I screamed, the sound tearing at my throat so violently I could taste blood. I slammed my head down on the desktop, the minuscule pain not even registering through the volcanic eruption. I did it again, and again. Why? I was going to beat the pain into submission, even if I cracked my skull doing it! Don’t talk to me about ‘rational’!

“Book?!”

An echo on the wind, barely heard.

“Book!!”

Closer, this time, but still unimportant.

“Mother’s Bark, Book! Stop it!”

Just a few more bangs…a few more…more…aahhh… “Raaawhggg!”

Two things saved me; Tak grabbing my ears from behind—youch! At least I felt it, now—and me coming down square on my nose.

The paired pains—outside my gray matter—pulled me back. Technically, all pain came from the brain, and the thought that I could think that (//nice phrasing//)—and hear Sia—meant I was going to live. Probably.

Next, the sweet oblivion of darkness enveloped me.

I passed out.

----------------------------------------

I woke up to the murmur of voices, heartwarming concern in their tones.

“I didn’t know what else to do, so I sent runners to everyone I could think of.” That was Tak, a concerning amount of worry in her voice.

She'd used [Courier]s to fetch my friends.? That must have cost a pretty penny. Or copper.

“Quick thinking, good,” I heard Tess say. She was the only one who could guess what had happened, surely recognizing the symptoms.

"He’ll be OK, though. This isn’t the first…attack…like this Book’s had.”

“Really?” So, Magali was here, too.

“What do you mean? Does he have an underlying disease?” It took a moment to place the voice, as we’d hadn’t had a ton of interactions before. Just the occasional night out at the “Inkspot”, and the couple of trips to the Alchemy Guild. It was Gaelia, surprisingly.

Or maybe not; she was the closest thing to [Healer] any of us knew. There was Master Alric’s friend, Philly, but Gaelia was an apprentice like the rest of us. Gotta stick together.

“I mean,” Tess started. I could hear her fishing for a reasonable explanation. “Sort of? It’s hard to explain.”

“Migraines,” I mumbled, working hard to get enough volume in the word to be heard. As I became more aware, I realized I was lying on Tak’s nest of a bed roll and a plethora of blankets. I felt vaguely scandalized.

“Yes,” Tess took the explanation and ran with it. “He’s had them since he was a kid; no one has found a way to stop them. I get the occasional one, too.”

“I’ve never heard of…what did you call it? Migraines?”

Crap. I’d hoped they were a thing here, but Gaelia’s confusion said otherwise.

“Massive headaches,” I hastened to explain. “Debilitating: extreme pain, nausea, dizziness, ringing in the ears, light sensitivity.”

“Oh,” Gaelia sounded on firmer ground now. “A brain-storm, that’s what you are describing. I’d never heard the other term before. I guess.”

Whew.

“Backwater bumpkins, right Tess?” I fell back on our standard.

“Yup. Boulder is just a tiny, nothing village, a cultural wasteland.”

I struggled not to laugh.

“And you both get them?” Gaelia was like a dog with a bone. Let it go already, would ‘ya?

“Yep.”

“Must be something in the water,” I expanded on Tess’s one word. I’d meant it as a joke but forgot the present company. ‘Oh, there must be something in the water…’

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I hear Tess humming it, too.

“Don’t ask,” came the chorus; Magali, Tak, and Paytin—I hadn’t realized she was here, too—declared in unison.

“OK? Here, drink this.” Gaelia held out a small vial of pinkish liquid. “It’s a minor [heal]ing tonic. It’ll help with any lingering pain, and perk you up.”

I took the offered potion, tossing it back like a shot. Not tequila—urrrg. It tasted like…peppermint? I smacked my lips in appreciation. I immediately felt better, any residual pain disappearing. In fact, I felt good enough to get out of Tak’s bed. As I started to rise, Tess reached out a strong arm, effortlessly pulling me up.

“Don’t you have any [Alchemist]s in your hometown?” The apprentice [Alchemist] asked us, still on the track.

“I can honestly say no, there weren’t any.” The absolute truth—he-he.

//It takes so little to amuse you//

‘Hey! You are still there, good.’

//These upgrades are not easy on me, either, you know//

‘Actually, no. I didn’t know that.’ That was a bit concerning to find out. Could Sia short-circuit, or something? What would happen to me, then? Not a pleasant thought.

//No, not pleasant at all//

“And, thanks for coming,” I told Gaelia. “That was nice of you. And thank you too, Tak. You didn’t have to go through all this trouble. Magali, Paytin; you guys as well. It’s nice to know I have friends.”

“Of course you do, Book,” Magali said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Absolutely,” Paytin said in her quiet voice.

“Heh,” Tak snorted, now that I was OK. “You owe me. For the [Courier]s, and for the cleaning bill to come. I need to lauder my bed stuff, now.”

I gave her a big smile and she looked away, embarrassed. I really hoped she wasn’t serious about the money.

//Obsess much?//

‘Over money? Hell yes.’ Only those who had money could afford not to. ‘See what I did there?’

//Ah. Ha…ha//

I thought it was funny, but whatever

“Business expense.” I told Tak, hearkening back to our ‘business dinner’ of the night before. She laughed, giving me a nod.

What time was it, anyway? I checked my HUD and…well, crap on a cracker. It was past mid-morning, and all of us should be working on our apprenticeships. They’d actually left during the day, for?

//Knock it off, OK? You are deserving, no matter what you think//

‘Sorry, Habit.’

//A bad one//

I felt chagrined, especially since Sia was rarely on my side in anything.

//I resemble that remark//

‘Dad jokes? Really, Sia, that is low-brow, even for you.’

//Consider my source of information; you//

I hoped the others took my shit-eating grin for me feeling better.

“Shoot! Master Alric is going to skin me. And your Masters, too!”

“S’all good, Book,” Tess told me. I was one of the [Courier]s, so after Tak’s message I swung by your shop and let him know. Magali and Paytin’s Masters, too. One of my running buddies fetched Gaelia.”

I saw having most of us on the same street had paid dividends. There was something to ‘proximity’ when it came to making friends.

‘Yay, high school again.’

//Only if you mean the chess club…dorks flocking together//

‘Don’t knock it; safety in numbers.’

//With Tess being the bully?//

“Ha!” I laughed aloud, startling my friends. “Sorry, must be the pep potion.”

Gaelia frowned. “[Heal]ing tonic.”

“Da…Father didn’t have any contract work for me today, if you care.” Tak’s frown eclipsed Gaelia’s.

“Of course, we care,” I said, murmurs of agreement filling the awkward silence. “If it wasn’t for you, who knows what would have happened?”

//You. Tess. Me//

‘You’re just jealous. I’m your only friend.’

//Am not! Sai and I chat all the time, I’ll have you know//

‘Seriously?’

//Well, we have chatted//

I was hesitant to ask, but, “What did you tell Master Alric?”

“Hmm? Oh, I told him you’d had it with him and quit.”

“Very funny, Tess.” I looked at her staid face. “Right?”

“No, Book, you dolt. I said you woke up sick and had to send for a [Healer].”

“Who? Oh, me. I’m an [Alchemist; apprentice].”

“Sure, but you had the health potion.”

"[Heal]ing tonic,” the chubby apprentice said, a little testy this time. She wasn’t used to us, yet. “Boy, you really didn’t have any [Alchemist]s where you are from, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Nada.”

Paytin put a sympathetic hand on Gaelia’s shoulder.

It was nice, seeing Tess joke around and relieving some of the weight from her shoulders at Kolin’s absence.

“I’m good, guys,” I said, ready to move the pity party along. “Though, maybe we should ask Gaelia to join our little consortium. You know, for future, uh, mishaps.” I said it lightly.

“I-I thought I was?” Gaelia’s voice was forlorn enough to make me wince.

“Of course you are, sweetie,” Paytin shot me a glare. “Book thinks he’s funny, for some reason.”

Ouch. I’d half-forgotten about that, when we were gathered at the “Inkspot” and I’d first put forth the idea. She wanted to join us; she had been eager, in fact.

“Yup,” I assure her. “I never know when to leave a joke alone.”

//Unlike your dates//

My smile became a touch more forced at Sia’s comment. I could feel her satisfaction radiating through my brain.

‘Do I need to set you up on a play-date with Sai?’

Aha! The satisfaction was now colored with…could a brain implant be embarrassed? Wow. That would take some unpacking.

“Speaking of,” said Tess. Since all of us are off for the day, now…”

“Dad expects me back.”

“Yeah, my mom needs me.”

“I’m free.”

“I have to get back to the Guild.”

“Ahem, we are all off for the day, and the weather is reasonable, let’s go grab the keys from that Maldyn toad and check out our new ‘offices.’”

We exchanged looks. It was past time to check the building out, what would be our new home and workspace.

“I mean, Alric already thinks I’m sick. I should check in with him, but I bet I could be free after.”

Magali shrugged. “Dad will be OK with it, I’m sure.”

“I don’t know,” Paytin was more hesitant. Her mom certainly did rely on her a lot.

Pwoof. Tak blew out her breath. “Like I said, I’m free.”

“I’ll ask,” Gaelia stated. “We have to go by the Guild anyway and see Maldyn. You know he will insist on going with us, right?”

Welp. That let the air out of our sails. The look we shared this time was full of reluctance, with no little regret. A vast amount of it.

Such is life.

"Book?"

"Hmm, yes, Tess?"

"You might want to wash the dried blood off your face."