The next morning, I woke up with Velatha soundly asleep on my chest. She had a serene expression, only marred by the small trail of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. She looked positively adorable. I tried to gently extract myself from her grip but she was holding on for dear life.
"Nooooooo," she mumbled, "don't goooooooo."
"It's morning Vel," I ran my hand through her hair.
"Uhhhhh, fine."
I slipped out from under the covers and went to get dressed. The dress I had worn yesterday sat in a crumpled pile, hastily discarded to make way for more interesting activities. I hung it back up in its proper place and picked up something more practical. A short sleeved white tunic and brown colored pants. The clothes were surprisingly comfortable, made out of a cotton-like material that felt smooth like silk. The whole ensemble was slightly loose to help it breathe in the warm and humid climate. Next I put on a pair of leather boots and finally, I fastened my belt with its collection of pouches and my dagger.
I left my bow harness where it was as I wasn't on the rotation for a hunt that day.
"Let's hurry," Vel dragged me out of the house and I caught knowing glances from my parents and grandmother, "I bet there are some leftovers from last night we can snatch."
The news of me and Vel being an item would likely be known to the entire village within the day. It wasn't really a problem, besides the relentless teasing our combined parents would unleash. The village didn't really make a difference, partners were partners, whatever their genders.
Vel had been right, the breakfast table was covered in leftovers. Though it wasn't called breakfast, the word meant 'meal before the hunt' since it was the hunter's first meal of the day before leaving to, well, hunt. I snatched a few cuts of meat, some vegetables, boiled grains, and an egg before slowly meandering towards the clinic. We dodged several gaggles of small children running around the village on the way there, expending their energy before their morning school session.
I was glad that Breknir had allowed me back, I didn't know how long I would have lasted before going crazy. I was still limited to light duty for a few days, tending the gardens, making potions, and desk duty. After that I would be able to get back on the training hunts and get the last few levels I needed to unlock my class.
Once someone reached level 20, they participated in a ceremony to get their first class. Then, once they were used to their new abilities, they had to undergo the trial. A week-long survival exercise where a group of two or three were sent on a mission outside the village. It took place outside of the barrier where the actually dangerous fauna and flora dwelled. From what I had heard, the tasks ranged from finding a specific monster to retrieving an object from a small dungeon. It was well known that you were shadowed by someone during the trial and that they'd jump in if you were about to die but it also meant you had failed and could only try again the next season.
Why was I thinking about this? If the next hunt went well, we would be able to unlock our classes soon. Then, Vel and I had planned to pair up for our trial. For a group of two healer apprentices, it would likely involve gathering ingredients for a specific potion, probably rare and hard to get ones.
We finally reached the clinic and retreated behind it to the gardens.
"What's on your mind?" Vel asked me.
"We'll probably be able to do our trial soon," I said.
She enthusiastically munched on a large piece of meat.
"What do you think we'll get?"
"Probably an ingredient hunt," I answered. "It would play to our strengths."
"Think it'll be for that potion?"
I knew exactly which one she was referring to. The potion that solved the problem of having children for same-sex couples, aside from adoption which was the usual path.
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"Hopefully not," I said, "it would be embarrassing as hell."
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I carefully pried the outer leaves off the Fire Blossom bud with my dagger and cut off the inner bulb. The blacksmiths had requested another batch of burn cream, the latest batch of apprentices were apparently quite clumsy, and Breknir had tasked me with preparing it. The Herbology skill helped a lot with the harder harvesting techniques. The more potent the alchemical recipe, the harder the ingredients were to get.
> Skill Herbalism has reached rank 2, level 23 (+1)
I smiled at the notification. The bulb was dropped in a small wooden container next to its two friends and placed in my pouch. I had all the fresh ingredients I needed.
Burn cream required several dry ingredients, of which the healers maintained a large stock of, to create the basic form. The fresh Fire Blossom Bulbs and Swamp Lichen increased the potency and allowed the treatment of small second degree burns.
I gathered the rest of the ingredients from storage and sat down at my work table. It was possible to eyeball the quantities if you didn't have a scale but the more accurate you were, the higher quality the result, and the better the skill gains. I carefully stacked small stone cubes on the brass scale and added the Briar Needles, two and a tenth pebbles, dried Red Swamp Berries, one and four tenth pebbles, Broadleaf Belle Seeds, six pebbles. They went in the mortar and were crushed into a fine powder, I added the bulbs and lichen and mixed everything into a thick green-red paste.
Alchemy, much like chemistry, was sometimes hazardous. If the wrong ingredients were mixed together, or in the wrong proportions, the results could range from slightly toxic to highly exothermic. I had experienced a few such incidents myself, an expired ingredient in the wrong place and I was suddenly breathing poisonous fumes. It was how I had gained poison resistance.
The next step to create the cream was to emulsify the active ingredient in an oil and mix it with the neutral base cream. I carefully measured the quantity of oil and added it to the paste. The two mixed together without issue thanks to the properties of the oil. Then I took a standard size four clay pot filled with base and slowly added a small spoonful of the infused oil before mixing with a wooden ladle. Repeat until everything was mixed in.
> Skill Alchemy has reached rank 3, level 18 (+1)
I presented the finished product to Breknir who examined it, likely with his high level Identify skill. With his approval, I sealed the container with wax and painted the name on the side.
A great reward for a job well done. I put the pot in a padded cloth bag and went to deliver it. It would hopefully save a clumsy blacksmith apprentice some pain.
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Lunch was a quiet affair, the cooks had made all the leftovers into a thick soup. Vel was on a house call with her mentor and missed lunch, she was helping deliver a baby and I wished her all the luck with it. I ate while watching the young ones play around the village plaza.
During the afternoon, I was tasked with preparing potions in bulk. I suspected Breknir assigned me alchemy duty more than the others because of my detail oriented mindset. I had seen other apprentices work and it was obvious they were less meticulous. Tools were only washed but not cleaned between preparations, weights were approximated, and a dozen other little details were glossed over. The results were still good but not as good as one made to precise standards.
Potion preparation was fairly straightforward. Heat up water or oil in a large glazed clay pot over some fire stones, crush up all the ingredients and add them in the right order while stirring. Ladle the finished product into crystal phials with a funnel, don't spill anything. It was a bit monotonous but seeing rows and rows of colored potions in their wooden racks made me smile.
Vel came back in the middle of the afternoon looking a little pale. She rested for half an hour and spent the rest attending the front desk. The healers in Niu operated like a doctor's office, emergency room, and pharmacy in one. People came in to get examined, request a visit, pick up potions. Very rarely, someone would be dragged in with a monster inflicted wound.
At the end of the day, once the evening shift had taken over, I dragged Vel to the bath house for some well deserved relaxation time. After a bucket of water and a scrub, I lowered myself in the hot water and felt all the small aches from a day of work melt away. To my side, Vel leaned against me, even more tired than I was.
"I got to hold a baby today," she murmured. "It was covered in blood and crying. Aelrie had to cut something."
"Don't want one of your own?" I chuckled.
"In a hundred seasons maybe," she said with a grimace.
I laughed and Vel tried to prod me in the side but I struck first and her squeal of surprise attracted the attention of all the other bath goers. From their looks, the rumor had made their way around. I didn't think Dark Elves, with the ash colored skin, could blush but evidently Gaia was not a merciful goddess but a troll.