• Closed • To Speak With Spirits (Tristan)

[Ashling]

To Speak With Spirits

47th of Vhalar 720

Calendar Input

There are rumors that House Magnus is researching a device or potion that would enable the user the ability to speak directly with spirits at their choosing. It is controversial, especially among the Aesir, because it circumvents the Aesir’s role to guide the Melrathi by using their natural ability to commune with the spirits. However, word has it that House Magnus has reached a stumbling block in their research, and are looking for someone who might help them with a breakthrough.

The six powerful Jarls of Melrath and their families, “The Houses”, were descendants of the first settlers. They were key players in the established power balance of Melrath. So were influential factions like the religious leaders (the Aesir), the combative forces (Ragnari and Ydalir). The Circle, the government of Melrath, was one of the main arenas for collaboration and maintenance of their positions. During recent arcs, a few new movements had gained followers, like Myrkvior’s Kin and Svariella’s Chosen. Those were still small though. So far they had caused a few incidents but they hadn’t threatened the stability of the region.

But, lately, rumours had been spreading around about a research project that might do so. These rumours spoke of a device or potion that would enable the user to speak directly with any spirits they wanted to approach. Controversial? That was only the first name of this research.

In particular, it troubled the Aesir shamans. This wasn’t only because it might circumvent their role as the religious guides of the Melrathi people and so, devalue their power. By using their natural ability to speak with the spirits the shamans had become acquainted with the risks and dangers of contact with the spiritual world. Contrary to what the average pious Melrathi citizen might believe, the spirits weren’t of unconditionally benevolent to the humanoids living in their domains. An individual insect sitting on a dead leaf could be as important to the spirits as a humanoid Jarl sitting in a great hold. The mere thought of what might happen if an ignorant amateur without proper training and insight would drink a potion and enter instant contact with an esoteric life form they weren’t prepared for meeting frightened the Aesir. That kind of potion could be incredibly destructive to Melrath. A dumb fool might become as dangerous as a power-hungry genius, infiltrators from the outlands or militant groups inside Melrath. Needless to say that the Aesir saw many reasons to work against the development of a potion (or device) that would enable anybody to speak with the spirits.

The rumours had also reached the Jarls of Melrath. House Magnus was the smallest Jarl family. But, what if they would gain a monopoly on a potion that would enable them to get direct contact with the powerful great spirits of Melrath? Then they would become more powerful than any other of the great families and might even compete with the Aesir. They might overthrow the old and well-established power balance of Melrath. It went without saying that the other great families wouldn’t just watch it happen and accept it as meek lambs. In the holds, they were already discussing a plethora of strategies. The great families had many members and so, there were many different opinions. Some believed in political activities and laws to stop the project. Others believed in infiltration, sabotage and even assassination of key scientists. But, power-players who advocated a take-over. Some of these discussions were more secret than others, but all of them involved only a small number of trusted people. The average family member didn’t know anything about it.

The Ragnari and the Ydalir were also reacting to the rumours of course. As the law enforcement and also the major combative force of Melrath they didn’t take it lightly. To begin with, the Melrathi religion was a matter of utter importance to many of them. They needed the power of the spirits to be with them to ensure their victory over outlanders trying to invade Melrath, should that happen. A fair amount of their members were also positive to Myrkvior’s Kin. That organization’s huge sacrifice to Myrkvior at the beginning of Cylus had commanded respect from their likeminded in the Ragnari and Ydalir. It had not been forgotten. Nor had the enormous tree growing in the heart of Myrkvior Forest. The blood of the faithful had fallen on fertile ground. The Great Spirit would be on their side against enemies of Melrath. But, what if outlanders managed to bypass the Aesir by using a potion to get a quick and easy direct connection to the spirits? What might happen? One option was of course the instant death of the desecrators! The Ragnari and Ydalir, being military men and women, liked that idea. Death to the intruders! But being pragmatic military people they also knew that any weapon can be turned against you if you lose control of it. The rumours about the research House Magnus was working at worried them in many ways. Just like in the great families, secret and complex discussions were going on.

All this was still brewing at a very slow pace. None of the Jarls, the leaders of the Aesir, Ragnari and Ydalir - or the Circle - were looking to seize power at the cost of seeing Melrath be torn asunder by open conflicts, maybe even war. Their primary goal was to protect Melrath and keep it stable. But, in the case of failing at this, they all felt that it was essential to craft alternative strategies. If the potion (or device) the rumours spoke of would come real they wanted to be prepared.

Among Svariella’s Chosen, a quite spiritual and dreamy lot, the rumours had created euphoria over the possibilities a spirit speaker potion could open! Those were excited for the chance to expand their minds to speak with the spirits, by simply drinking a potion. Woah! Such a quick and easy road to the ultimate understanding between people and spirits in a world of beautiful rainbows! Many of them wanted the potion already. Their discussions were about how to get access to it as soon as possible and how to get their hands on it if it wouldn’t be sold openly. A few drug dealers who had joined the crew of rainbow freedom were rubbing their hands!

Myrkvior’s Kin (and their secret sympathizers) weren’t going to sit around being paralyzed if things would go south. Their main worry was of a special kind. Immortals! What it worshippers of this or that immortal scum would attempt to use such a potion (or device) to undo Melrath and turn it into a sorry mess of bad religion? They feared the evil immortals the most, of course. But, the rest of that pantheon for idiots were also un-Melrathi. It was obvious to The Kin that the situation called for renewed efforts at eliminating all the immortal worshippers they were able to find. Why not “get” a few illegal mages and some the less faithful storm-abominations too? The good abominations who believed in the good old ways would be safe. The Kin wasn’t impossible. Besides they might need to bolster their ranks and many an “abo” had been a solider or ranger in the past. Some believed that it was time to welcome those unfortunate brothers and sisters in arms into the combative forces informal branch, sort of. Finally ... if that potion would come real despite efforts to sabotage it, The Kin would have to seize control of it. A big mission, but they wouldn’t shy away!



This day, a group of people were gathered in the basement of the hold of House Magnus, in the lower part of their alchemy laboratories. House Magnus took avid interest in the craft and it featured prominently throughout the estate, but their more clandestine experiments took place in the underground labs. The Jarl Sebastian Magnus himself was there, which spoke volumes of the importance of the occasion. He stood together with the lead alchemists of his house. A young boy stood right beside the Jarl, who held his hand on the boy’s shoulder. This was Jorg Magnus, age fifteen, a minor member of the house.

The Jarl was dressed as befitted a jarl but the scientists wore a varied and diverse attire which showed that they might be from different places in Melrath - or just totally uninterested in fashion.

The reagent specialist Eysten Syving was a tall, thin and balding man wore a black suit which seemed to have been in use for at least twenty arcs and maybe more. It had probably been proper once upon a time but not anymore. He wore glasses, small and round.

The process supervisor and equipment maintenance responsible Audun Beck was a middle-aged blond woman with a body like a block of stone and no-nonsense expression on her face. She wore a sensible collection of grey and brown garments, all stained and some of them torn. A pair of huge protection glasses hung like a bizarre necklace on her chest and she wore gloves.

The third lead alchemist was the recipe mistress Astrid Magnus, the house’s resident star alchemist. She was still a young woman, slender and handsome. Her long golden braids were put up like a crown around her head. She wore what looked like a discarded ball dress, sea-green of colour. A particularly colourful and elaborate embla covered the whole upper part of her face.

Such was the welcome committee waiting for the four visitors.

Doors creaked and clanked as guards escorted said visitors through several sections of the corridor leading to the laboratory area. Then a guard stepped in, bowed and announced that the new arrivals had passed the safety controls and were about to step in. They were, in order of importance as follows.

The winners of the plants and potions tournament in Melrath in Ashan, the elegant alchemist Tristan Venora and the shy herbalist Berry Buxwood. Those were the hope of house Magnus now when the research of the spirit speaker potion was stuck. It was a little bit embarrassing that both of them had gained their emblas as late as the trial before but they were worthy citizens now, right? The guard escorted them straight to the Jarl and the lead alchemists. All the adults looked very serious but a wide smile lit up the face of the boy Jorg at the sight of Tristan. “Tristan! I’m going to be your assistant!”

The Jarl hushed his young relative and began introducing people to each other.

Two more visitors waited in the doorway. The guards wouldn’t let them enter until after the main new project members had been properly greeted and joined the core team. The pair in the doorway were the spares ... those who had not won that tournament. They were Biarne Slatersen, an alchemist from Vorkund and Ashling Grayhawk, a hedgedoctor from Fensalir. Their emblas were not gained yesterday. They were both born and raised in Melrath. Old blood. They were not friends. But, at the moment they were not enemies either. The doorway was quite narrow. They stood close to each other as none of them interested in letting the other step in first.

“The brilliant tournament winners, Tristan Venora and Berry Buxwood - and Jorg of course, yes, yes, Jorg, yes - will work with our own Astrid Magnus and her crew to reinforce the front end, development team. It will be an all-star team!”

Everybody seemed happy. Astrid Venora smiled at Tristan and Buxwood and told them that she was glad to have them in her team. Buxwood, formerly “Buxom”, blushed and smiled at Astrid, Tristan and Jorg alike and showed all signs of being pleased with the group. It was so different compared to how they had whined at being parted from Biarne, back in Ashan, in the tournament. Well, their smile at Tristan was maybe a little bit insecure, so maybe they feared a rejection?

“Biarne Slatersen and Ashling Grayhawk are aslo going to do what they can in the project. They will assist Audun Beck in the process supervision and deal with all the everyday production issues. They are in the crew that will carry out what the development team wants to be done. It may seem bit lacklustre...but the work “on the floor” shouldn’t be underestimated.”

Eysten Syving turned out to be the kind of solo master who would support everybody but not work under any of them. He was in charge of the keys to the reagent and herb stores. Some of the materials were incredibly rare and expensive. Anybody who would want to fetch materials would need to show him a written approval from their team leader. Eysten smiled a thin and aloof smile when the Jarl told them this. He looked like a man who would never wittingly fail to do his duty.

Jarl Sebastian Magnus would end the introductions by telling them that although he expected progress reports from the leads and he might send for more information if he had questions. Then he would leave the location.

The stout Audun Beck was already looking at her two new crew members. Biarne leaned even closer to Ashling so he could speak to her without anybody else hearing it. “Your fancy fiancée and my pretty partner are being teamed up with the Jarl’s family members, while you and I will be working on the floor as production assistants? Grayhawk, we need to speak ...”

For once, Ashling agreed with Biarne. They had been at odds in the past. She even suspected that he might have poisoned her with an overdose of a beer spice. Also, she knew that he had been terrible to his partner, Buxwood and taken advantage of them being a refugee from Rhakros with nowhere to go. Biarne was an awful person. But, as Audun approached them and told them to step in and follow her, Ashling felt that sticking with Biarne might be her best bet right now!

She leaned closer too and mumbled back. “You’re right, Slatersen. We need to speak ...”

[Tristan Venora]

Tristan had thought about House Magnus‘ research and whether he really wanted to get involved since he had first heard about it. It seemed as if there were a lot of conflicting opinions in regard to the spirit potion; and playing any part in its creation could be problematic. The Aesir seemed to be especially bothered by it because it supposedly circumvented their role to guide the Melrathi by using their natural ability to commune with the spirits.

Except that there was nothing natural about it in Tristan’s opinion. The Aesir hadn’t been born with the ability to commune with the spirits; they had only gotten it after they had joined. Pointing that out, he realized, was unlikely to have the intended effect though, and thus he refrained from doing so. He had gotten a little wiser in recent arcs; and besides, he had a great deal of respect for the priesthood, as much as any born Melrathi.

And what more, he agreed with the Aesir that not every ordinary Melrathi should have access to the potion. Tristan acted fairly optimistic and cheerful most of the time. He had seen the dark side of Idalos though. He knew that not all spirits were benevolent, and he had suffered at the hands of supernatural beings more than once. Most normal people were hardly prepared to deal with such things. He still felt completely out of his element sometimes.

People’s worries that the potion could give outlanders a connection to the spirits and enable them to commune with them amused him though. Kind of. In a slightly depressing way. Apparently, they didn’t realize that there were already a lot of outlanders that could do exactly that. All it took was a mark from an Immortal. He was wise enough to keep that – and the three Immortal marks that he had – to himself as well though.

Except, he realized, he wasn’t really an outlander anymore – he had been granted citizenship and given an embla - so maybe he was finally exempt from the xenophobia now?

Xenophobia should be made illegal in his opinion anyway!

In spite of his worries and everything that could go wrong, Tristan had eventually decided to help House Magnus. He respected them, and trusted them, more than any other Jarl family in Melrath, even though they were the smallest one; and besides, he firmly believed that such a potion would ultimately be able to do a lot of good if you only used it correctly.

That was actually his main reason for taking part; not the fame and the money and the influence he might be able to gain from it. He was also curious to see if he could do it, he had to admit. Despite the way that he acted, the young duke was not entirely without ambition. He liked to invent things and do something that nobody had ever considered possible!

+++

While Ashling, the other visitors and he followed the guards to the laboratory, Tristan, who was dressed in a deep blue tunic, among other things (he believed in always looking his best and taking care of his appearance) pondered why such things almost often seemed to take place in a basement. He hadn’t discovered anything that made a basement inherently more suitable for alchemical experiments yet. On the contrary, basements were often damp and kind of dark which could affect your alchemical creations negatively!

Maybe, he eventually concluded, House Magnus had picked the basement in order to keep their experiments a secret though. This here was a somewhat controversial project after all!

Glad that he had successfully figured out the reason for the somewhat unusual location, the young man turned to the person that was walking next to Ashling and him, smiling sincerely. Once upon a time, he hadn’t liked Buxom particularly, but he was okay with them now, although he would never understand why they had decided to stay with their partner, the mean alchemist Biarne Slatersen!

And what more, he was so happy for them because they finally had a real name!

Everybody deserved to have a name in his opinion!

Unless they had already had a name before, but kept it a secret from everybody for some reason?

When they finally entered the room, Tristan bowed respectfully to Jarl Magnus himself before he greeted the other members of his family that were in the room as well as Eysten Syving.

(He couldn't help but be impressed by the reagent specialist's suit; it had likely already been out of fashion when he, Tristan, had been a little boy, but it was still in decent condition which spoke volumes of its quality!).

The young duke was friendly, and utterly polite, and the expression on his face was very serious, as was befitting of the occasion, but when Jorg's face lit up like that, he smiled at the boy in return and remarked, "I'm really excited about that! We'll be a great team!"

"I'm glad to have you on board as well, Berry", he told Buxom who seemed to be a little insecure, almost as if they were afraid of being rejected - which didn't make any sense to him. His issues had always been with their partner, for the most part - their partner that would be working for House Magnus as well now!

He wanted to reassure Buxom and ease at least some of their fears.

More introductions were made, and then Jarl Magnus explained what the project was all about as well as the two teams. When the older man left the laboratory, Tristan bowed again before he turned to unpack his things - because he had of course not come empty-handed.

House Magnus provided all the tools that they would need, and they had access to a wealth of reagents, some of them extremely rare, but he had still considered it prudent to bring some of his own things, including some of his previous creations and his notebook.

And a little extra.

"I wish you the best of luck, Ashling", he told his fiancée and smiled at her encouragingly (and warmly because he just loved her so much!) when Audun approached Biarne and her and told them to follow. Truth to be told, he was a little worried about her going somewhere with that man alone, but they were on the same side now, right?

It would be in Biarne's best interest to work with them rather than sabotaging their efforts!

With that thought in mind, he turned to the members of his team and told them, "I've given the matter of the spirit potion and the possible reagents a considerable amount of thought."

"A few arcs ago, I made a most unexpected discovery. During an unplanned trip to a place that is called the Misty Miasma I came upon a plant whose consumption allows an intuitive understanding of languages. I used it to make my cat-speech potion”, he explained and proceeded to cast a glance at Astrid to make sure that he was indeed allowed to speak (she was the team leader, and he respected that).

"To my knowledge, the Diplomat Scroll Lily only grows there, but it should be possible to substitute it with reagents that are native to Idalos. A reagent that sharpens one's senses and makes the mind clearer would definitely be beneficial. There is also a plant that grows on the island of Scalvoris where I lived for a while before I finally arrived in Melrath - the Corpseflower. People that have ingested it, claim to have been able to speak to ghosts as well as spirits of the dead."

"It has a few rather unpleasant side effects, but those could very likely be mitigated. If we manage to acquire a few seeds, I’m positive that I could grow Corpseflowers here, in Melrath, and modify them so that we can use them for our potion. I have also brought a few things that will be of use with me", he added before he turned to look at Astrid, Buxom and Jorg, and whoever else happened to be nearby once more in order to gauge their reactions – and see if they had anything to say.

"What do you think? Would you be willing to let me take a look at the research you have conducted so far? Do you have any notes on it here?" he asked Astrid politely. From what he had gathered so far, they were not starting from scratch. House Magnus had just reached a stumbling block, which implied that they had done some prior work. It was important to take a look at that before Astrid, Buxom, Jorg and he got to work in earnest and did anything else. They might be able to make use of some of it and build on it!

It was then that he noticed that there seemed to be something going on between Biarne and his fiancée. They were just standing there. Furrowing his brow very lightly, he turned to look at them for a moment and asked, “Ashling? Biarne? Is there anything I can do to help?”

While he had definitely noticed that there seemed to be an issue, Tristan was completely oblivious to the fact that it was about not being in a team with the Magnuses, at least as far as Biarne was concerned. He didn’t care about the social status of the people that he worked with or which part of the research he was involved in. What mattered were the results!

[Ashling]

Ashling smiled back when Tristan wished her good luck. But, to be honest she wasn’t sure if there was any good luck for her to have in the team she now belonged to. She would still do her best whatever that would turn out to mean. Her smile was faint and brief and told him that she was more brave than happy with the situation.

Tristan (awwwww... ). He was also so impressive when he spoke about his theories. Her beloved Tristan was so elegant yet looking so professional in his deep blue tunic! This raised a question. Should she have dressed up more for this job for a great family of Melrath? Ashling wore only an everyday set of practical working clothes. It hadn’t occurred to her that working in the laboratories in the hold of house Magnus might require more stylish attire. Now she looked around and realized that Tristan wasn’t the only of them who was better dressed than her.

The beautiful young Astrid Magnus looked like the noblewoman and scholar she was, elegant in a proper black dress of exquisite quality. Jorg Magnus, only fifteen, wore a dark green outfit of fine wool and despite his tender age, he didn’t look like the mischievous boy she recalled from the spring. (But when their gazes met he smiled and looked just like he had been last time she had seen him. He was still the same.) The old reagents and herbs master, Eysten, wore a suit...it was out of fashion but actually...not too bad. Ashling appreciated that the old man wasn’t wasteful! Was he from Fensalir? He might ask him if she would get a reason to speak to him!

Her gaze moved on. Uh-oh. Even Buxom and Biarne were looking like they had dressed for a more than average important occasion. Buxom’s somewhat flamboyant outfit made a big difference for their appearance and so did their long blond hair. For a moment she felt intrigued. Was Buxwood a man or a woman? Hard to know, fruitless to mull over right now. Her gaze moved on again. A glance at Biarne Slatersen made her want to groan. Biarne was looking like the epitome of a handsome Melrathi man in his prime. He was dressed in the proper old Melrathi style. The garments were black and grey with accents of fine golden nubuck, chains of bronze, a few pearls of amber, a carved spirit amulet that screamed expensive art ... and his brown hair and beard were well-groomed and became him. In short, Biarne Slatersen looked like he belonged in what the Jarl had called “the all-star team” and not in the somewhat shabby production team he was in.

Shabby? Yes, Audun Beck was the only person, barring Ashling, who wore dull and worn working clothes. In Audun's case, the attire was even stained and a bit damaged. She wore a big leather apron too, an apron that looked like a survivor of a plethora of dangerous experiments. A pair of leather gloves peeked up from a pocket on the front of the apron and the laboratory eye-glasses that completed the outfit spoke of a need of security way above what Ashling had seen in the tournament tent in the spring. Ashling felt that they were at least two unfashionable people In this project. Anyway, Ashling was only there to help out with what she cold, just like Jarl Magnus had said. She wasn’t even an alchemist, but a healer and a herbalist. Her appearance wasn’t important!

Biarne, noticing the thorough once-over she had given him granted her a self-assured smile. It made her all of a sudden understand what Buxom might see in the mean sod. Not that Biarne was able to smile the absolutely dazzling way her Tristan smiled. No way! Tristan’s smiles were the best! Nonetheless, the nefarious Biarne annoyed her by winking at her with one eye. Oh, spirits! How dared he? What did he imagine? It meant nothing but the irritation still made her lose focus and she took a trill to compose.

Meanwhile, Biarne answered Tristan’s question. “Your theories are very interesting, Venora. I’m excited about this project. Well. I must admit that I had expected them to want me to work with the development team ... but I guess they have their reasons for this organization. We are only beginning to gather our team so I don’t know yet what we might need help with. I guess it’s for our team leader to say. “ He nodded at the sturdy woman. “Long time, Audun. I’m surprised to see you here.”

Audun Beck gave a brief smile and nodded in response. “Good to see you Biarne. I’m surprised to see you too ... here in my little production team, I mean.”

Biarne laughed. ”I hope we will be able to deal with the work, Audun.“

“Yeah. Surprises happen! But, as you say, let’s gather the team and have a look at what needs to be done. This basement laboratory isn’t the best part of our laboratories exactly. The Jarl moved the project downstairs though. This morning, without any previous notice. So, here we are.”

Now, Audun turned to Tristan. She extended a hand to him for a handshake.“I’ve heard about your achievements as an alchemist. As Slatersen said, your ideas are very interesting. I’d love to hear more about them soon. I suppose you will come back with more information when it’s time to involve us, yes?”

She changed to a practical down to earth tone.”For now, I think my team needs to investigate the equipment and make sure that everything is as it should be. Once in a while, there has been unnecessary accidents in this lab in the past due to eager novices doing rash things ... (she glanced briefly at Jorg) ... so we need to conduct a thorough inspection before we use anything here.” This said, she greeted Ashling and said she was glad to have her in the team. A healer, right? That was always good to have.

“Accidents?” Biarne inquired as he followed Audun into the production area after having said a polite “see you later Venora” to Tristan.

Ashling walked behind them. Every step she took was cautious. She had never been in a place like the basement laboratory before. The basic alchemy workbenches in the tournament tent in the spring hadn’t prepared her for this. There’s was a row of workbenches, each carrying items she didn’t recognize. She hoped she wouldn’t have to do anything with any of it! The others were alchemists, and ought to know what everything was and how to handle it. Surely they wouldn’t expect her (an absolute novice) to deal with all this unknown equipment!

“Accidents.” Audun’s tone didn’t reveal any particular feelings as far as Ashling was able to hear. It was as neutral as it comes. “Well, I guess we all caused an accident or two when we were novices. Let’s not dwell on it. The important thing is to make sure that it doesn’t happen in this project.”

Biarne agreed. Ashling didn’t know what to think of it. During the tournament, he had behaved in a winning-crazed and ruthless manner that had made Ashling loathe him and even brawl with him. She had felt sure that he was an unpleasant evil sod who could only be callous and rude to other people. Well. Barring that last evening in Fensalir when he had been cheery and even bought them a beer. But, she had ever since suspected him for having poisoned her smartly by adding more of a spice that beer already contained, turning it toxic. Impossible to prove of course.

Now, when Biarne behaved like a professional working with other professionals her suspicions seemed a bit far-fetched. Had it only been a conspiracy theory born out of her anger? Had she just wanted to blame her illness on him because he had crossed her? Did young Jorg’s similar symptoms after drinking too much beer even have anything to do with her leftover beer or had he just drunk too much? And that tearful tale of abuse Buxwood had told her didn’t seem particularly believable anymore. They were still the partner of Biarne and seemed happy with it.

“Grayhawk, the Hel are you... watch out! ” Audun’s warning came too late. Ashling had thought that she had walked so cautiously but her thoughts had been wandering and she hadn’t paid attention. Now, she bumped into a chair next to a desk. She moved her arm to regain balance and before she even understood what was happening a big glassware device toppled over. It fell on the paved floor with a clinking sound and exploded into a thousand little glass shards. She had broken it! Ashling stared at the mess. The broken glass was everywhere.

“Are you hurt?” asked Audun.

“Eh ... no ...”. Ashling felt her face go hot.

“Good. We don’t want anybody to cut themselves on the glass shards though. I’ll tidy up before we continue ... and no, Biarne, I’ll deal with this myself. I want you and Grayhawk to find a replacement for the broken alembic. There should be one in the upper laboratories. Make sure that it’s of the same kind as the one she destroyed. Oh, and try to not disturb the jarl if he is there. He hates being disturbed when he is working.“

“What kind was it?” asked Biarne. "And yeah ... we don't want to disturb the Jarl and come off as fools."

Ashling listened to the description Audun told him. She didn’t understand a word! With a sinking feeling in her chest, she asked about the way to the “upper laboratories” as Audun called it. This too was answered by a long and complicated description. Stairs. Corridors. Doors. Rooms. Had she not been quite good at finding her way even in places she didn’t know so well, Ashling would have felt tempted to “throw in the towel” and resign from the project. She was so not looking forward to going on a trip to the upper labs alone with Biarne. Not to mention that she shared Biarne’s hope to not run into Jarl Magnus, irritate the jarl and come off as a fool.

“Off with you now, what are you two waiting for?” Audun sounded a bit gruff now. She had picked up a brush and a small dustpan and was about to begin cleaning.

Biarne glared at Ashling, back to his old unpleasant self now. “You make us come off as a team of clumsy amateurs! Let’s hope that this isn’t going to draw negative attention from Jarl Magnus!”

[Tristan Venora]

Unlike Ashling, Tristan had decided to be optimistic when it came to Biarne and his fiancée working together. Biarne was not only mean and utterly ruthless; he was also quite intelligent and ambitious. If he sabotaged Ashling's work on the spirit potion, he would sabotage his own work at the same time which could affect his reputation negatively. Only an idiot would do something like that!

Unlike Ashling, the young duke wasn't particularly concerned with her choice of clothing either, and that didn't change when he looked the other people that were going to work on the project over while he waited for someone to react to his suggestion.

If anything, he wondered if he should have worn something less fancy and more practical as well. Alchemy was a somewhat messy science, after all, and some of those reagents were almost impossible to get out of your clothes. He just loved wearing nice clothes so much though!

Fortunately, he was unaware of the way that Biarne winked at his lovely fiancée, otherwise he might have been just a bit irritated (and subsequently have become just as pessimistic as Ashling). As it was, he answered the other alchemist’s question in a very friendly and polite tone of voice though in order to show him that he was willing to leave the past behind for the sake of the future of Melrath and even smiled slightly at him.

“Thank you”, he replied when Biarne called his theories interesting. “I honestly think that the Corpseflower might be our best bet. Do you have any theories, by the way?” he proceeded to ask. “If you do, I’d be very interested in hearing them”, he admitted. He would never be friends with Biarne, but like it or not, the man was an incredibly skilled alchemist, and he had probably given the matter of the spirit potion some thought as well.

“As for your working on the production team instead of the development team”, he continued and cast a glance at their team leaders before he turned to face Biarne once more. “Crafting a potion is a major challenge, as you know without a doubt. It requires you to work precisely as a drop too much of a reagent or a little too much heat might have disastrous results. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they wanted you to be on the production team rather than a less skilled alchemist?” he asked and shrugged his shoulders.

Tristan didn’t only say that in order to humor his (hopefully) former rival. He really thought so. Both the development and the actual crafting of the potion were equally important in his opinion (And fun! He had a lot of fond memories of his early alchemical experiments that he had conducted in his kitchen, back when he had still been living in Rynmere.).

“If our team leaders are okay with it, I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t occasionally consult each other”, he added. They had been split into two teams, but that didn’t mean that they had to be completely separate. It would be a shame to ignore someone’s expertise just because they happened to be a member the production team rather than the development team! In the end, they were two halves of a big whole in his opinion!

The beautiful and young Astrid furrowed her brow for a moment as she considered Tristan’s words before she inclined her head. A moment later, she blushed because she had realized that she had forgotten something and abruptly walked over to a cabinet only in order to remove a stack of notebooks and several loose papers from it – and thrust it into Tristan’s arms. The young man looked at it in confusion before he read what had been written on the cover of the first notebook:

“Spirit Potion Research Notes – Part One.”

He deposited the notebooks on an empty table, deciding to definitely take a look at them later on (research was not his forte – he was more focused on the practical side of alchemy - so maybe the notes would help), before he turned to face Audun.

When the leader of the production team extended her hand, Tristan shook it before he remarked, a small smile on his face, “I hope that you’ve only heard good things! I will immediately let you know when it’s time for you to get involved”, he added before he turned to listen to her address the production team. When she mentioned unnecessary accidents, he blushed a little for a moment as he remembered the mistakes that he had made when he had just been a novice alchemist. A little explosion every now and then was fun, but he’d actually ruined his kitchen once!

While Audun, Ashling and Biarne turned to inspect the equipment, Tristan addressed his team once more because he had just had even more ideas. “So, I was thinking that we should add something to strengthen the alchemical effect, no matter which reagent we ultimately pick in order to enable the drinker to speak with spirits. And an accelerator, of course, so that we don’t have to wait for the potion to take effect”, he added and glanced at Astrid to see what she, as the team leader, thought of this.

“That sounds like a good idea. Increasing the potency of the potion might subsequently increase our chance to actually be able to communicate with spirits”, she remarked.

“I considered using Swiftweb. It is rather expensive due to only being available in the Hotlands though”, Tristan remarked, aware that some people had a problem with using more expensive and outlandish substances. To his relief, Astrid inclined her head though.

“If that’s the best”, she remarked before she proceeded to make several more comments.

“Berry, you are an incredibly skilled herbalist”, Tristan told Buxom (whose gender he still wasn’t sure of) once he had finished speaking with Astrid. “What’s your opinion on the plant that I suggested? And do you have any ideas as far as the other reagents that should go into the potion are concerned?” he continued. He did, again, not just ask this question in order to humor a former rival. He valued Buxom’s expertise. He had a few ideas that would very likely work, but if they exchanged ideas and worked as a team, they might be able to come up with something even better!

It would be great!

The person from Rhakros glanced at Biarne for a moment as if they were asking for permission to speak (Tristan would never understand how anybody could be so dependent on another person and so need) before they rattled of a list of different plants, some of which sounded as if they were actually poisons to be honest, before they finished,

“… and ground Barkskin for the binder.”

A binder ensured that the different reagents didn’t negate each other and was an important aspect of any more complicated alchemical creation. Tristan hadn’t given the matter any thought yet which he realized might have been a mistake. Figuring out which reagent they would be able to achieve the spirit-speaking effect with was most important; the binder came a close second though. Potent reagents required potent binders!

Tristan was just wondering which liquid they should use as the base for the potion (alcohol in order to extend its shelf-life, juice or maybe simply water) as that was another important matter to consider when he heard Audun’s exclamation. He spun around abruptly, his eyes wide, just in time to watch the alembic topple over and break into a thousand pieces. He immediately stopped doing what he had been doing and rushed over to Ashling, his heart beating faster. “Are you okay?” he asked her worriedly. The rest of the people seemed to be more concerned with the alembic, but he was only thinking about Ashling. The equipment could be replaced, but there was only one Ashling!

“Ashling didn’t do it on purpose”, he hissed when Biarne accused his fiancée of making them come off as a team of amateurs, unable to contain his irritation entirely. “Sometimes, accidents just happen, no matter how careful you are. Besides, broken equipment may not be an issue much longer”, he continued in order to hopefully make Biarne and Audun who seemed to be a bit upset calm down. “I have an idea for alchemically modified glass that is very hard to break and keeps things nice and fresh”, he revealed before he stepped away and returned to his own team again.

Having done that, he reached into his bag and removed a wooden box from it. When he opened it, Astrid, Jorg and Buxom could see that the inside was padded. Three small glass vials were lying in the box. "By the way, this is the cat-speech potion that I mentioned”, he told them. “We obviously don't have access to Diplomat Scroll Lilies or Brummafern - which was the other reagent from the Misty Miasma that I used - here, but maybe parts of it could serve as inspiration for the spirit potion, nevertheless."

"Both potions are about enabling you to talk to someone or something that you wouldn't be able to talk to otherwise", he explained and looked at Buxom and Astrid before he gestured for Jorg to come closer so that he could listen and say what he thought as well. Jorg was only an assistant and a teenager, but that didn't mean that he didn't have something interesting to say. Besides, he could learn something from this!

[Ashling]

Audun Beck stopped fussing over the broken glass and turned her gaze to Tristan. She straightened up a bit and adjusted her glasses.

“Alchemically modified glass that is very hard to break and keeps things nice and fresh? It’s a very interesting concept! It looks like we will have many things to speak of, both in our current collaboration and in the future. Now ... let me see... if I have understood everything right, you have developed a potion that enables people to speak with cats. The cat speech potion. It was based on a Misty Miasma plant named Diplomat Scroll Lily. Your idea is to attempt to create something similar now, but for speaking to spirits.”

“We don’t have any Diplomat Scroll Lily.” Eysten Syving the reagent specialist commented. "It's possible that we don't have any of he other reagents Venora suggests either. "

Audun nodded and continued. “Good Eysten. This makes it important to not just experiment away ...we need to plan well.”

“Why would anybody want to speak with cats?” Buxwood sounded puzzled.

“Me, me, can I test it, I want to speak with a cat! “ Jorg’s answer made it clear who would want it.

Ashling felt tempted to say that she wanted it too but having crushed the valuable alembic just bits ago she decided to keep a low profile. She listened to the discussion and understood that Tristan was brilliant and so were several others. She didn't understand so much of what they said though.

Biarne seemed to be in a better mood after the conversation with Tristan. He sounded polite enough when he turned to Ashling. “Let’s go upstairs then, Grayhawk ...”

But, Audun intervened. ”Wait … I was a bit rash there … I need you here Biarne. You can go alone and fetch the alembic Ashling. If you think you can do it?”

Ashling nodded. She was happy to let the alchemists work without disturbing them. She didn’t want to be in the way in the laboratory and found it good to get a valid reason to disappear for a while. “Be right back.” Immediately obeying Audun, she went to the door her team manager pointed at, opened it, stepped into a stairwell, closed the door behind her and disappeared out of sight.

Audun Beck picked up where she had left off. “You are welcome to read and discuss our research notes. I’m afraid we came to a blind alley though.”

“Eh ... it’s your notes Audun. The best can be if you help out with this. Please.” Astrid Magnus sounded a bit nervous.

All watched the box with the cat speech potions. Then Biarne said: “I’d like to see a test of that cat speech potion before we move on. I mean, we need to ensure that it works...now...here...in Melrath. Are there any cats in the hold?”



Meanwhile, Ashling was on her way upstairs. She expected to be right back of course. The others were probably also expecting her to be right back. Nobody had reason to think that anything might happen to Ashling during the short trip to the upper part of the laboratories and back.

The spiral staircase was made of the blue-ish stone used in so many buildings in Raelia. Ashling began the walk upward to the next floor. All she could see in front of her were the next few steps. It was the same thing when she glances downward. She could only see a few steps. So, it was impossible to know in advance how long the staircase was.

After a while, it felt like it was very long. Ashling began realizing that the basement laboratory might be located very deep down in the ground beneath the hold. Or, the upper laboratory might be located several floors above the ground. Nobody had said anything about it. Audun had only told her to take the stairway up and that was it. Now, Ashling wished that she had counted the steps but it hadn’t occurred to her that she might want to keep track of them, not until now. She was neither old nor in bad physical shape but she was beginning to feel dizzy due to walking like in a never-ending circle.

Finally, she came to a landing Audun had mentioned. It felt like her head was spinning. She opened the door at the landing and entered the upper laboratory of House Magnus. She walked through big light rooms full of mysterious equipment that looked expensive. The memory accident downstairs was fresh in her mind so she took care to not repeat it.

A weird smell filled the air. She sniffed at it and tried to find out what it reminded her about. It was reminded her a bit about fragrant wood, moss and herbs but there was also something else, which she wasn’t able to even guess at. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was...strange. Sniffing again as she walked around, she noticed that the smell seemed to come from a certain direction. When she came closer she found the source. A small glass flask sat on a workbench, open, the stopper resting beside it. It was a beautiful flask of the kind that often was used for perfumes. Ashling lifted it up and sniffed at it. Yes. This was for sure the source of the unknown fragrance. The glass was clear and she could see that almost nothing remained of the golden liquid inside. Even as she looked at it, the content seemed to shrink a bit, like it was turning into vapour despite that the flask wasn’t warm. Ashling put it back down on the workbench. But, first, she nudged the bottleneck, took a small drop of the perfume on her fingertip and applied it to the inside of her wrist. Then she moved on.

She had expected to find somebody who could help her out, but the location was empty. After checking all the rooms several times, she decided that the best was to wait. Sooner or later, somebody who worked there must arrive, mustn’t they? In one of the rooms, Ashling had seen a sofa that seemed quite comfortable. She decided to wait there.

The sofa was even more comfortable than it looked and after waiting a while she felt tempted to lay down on it. As she didn’t want to ruin its beautiful black velvet cloth and the fluffy fur throw, she took off her boots first. Then she made herself comfortable and closed her eyes. It was much easier to wait this way. After waiting a bit more, she began feeling drowsy. She felt drowsier and drowsier and so, she fell asleep in the upper laboratory of House Magnus and a vivid hallucination began.

THE HALLUCINATION

She was back in the small space right inside the door and she wasn’t alone. Biarne Slatersen was there as well and the two of them were about to climb a spiral staircase. They looked at each other and then they began the walk upwards. After a while both of them were dizzy. At the time they arrived at a landing and a door they supposed would lead to the upper tier of the alchemy laboratory they experienced a brief moment of happiness. But, it wouldn't last. The door didn’t open no matter how they pushed at it.

Biarne had the idea to attempt pick the lock and in the process, he cut himself. His hand began bleeding. It was a lot of blood despite that the wound was small. Ashling saw no other thing to do than giving him emergency treatment. First, she just wanted to stop the blood from running. The only cloth she could grab at once was her shirt. She made Biarne close his hand around the front of the garment and then she began taking off the backpack where she kept the first aid it. It was an awkward situation and an awkward process. But, after some close up and personal acrobatics, she was able to open the healing kit. She was about to begin treating Biarne when the awkwardness rose to brand new levels.

The door opened and hit her patient with considerable force. It hadn’t been locked. They had been pushing instead of pulling. Groggy, Biarne held on to Ashling as his knees buckled. They went down in a puddle of blood. At this point the person who had opened the door took action. It was Jarl Sebastian Magnus. Misinterpreting the situation he knocked Biarne out with a good old Melrathi punch on the jaw. Then he lifted Ashling and carried her into the laboratory. He laid her down on a very comfortable sofa covered by black velvet and fluffy fur. Next, he proceeded to check what seemed like a major chest wound, judging from how the front of her shirt was soaked in blood. He lifted her shirt ... but would soon regret this because two things happened. Ashling punched him on the nose and he began bleeding even more than Biarne had. As if that wasn’t enough, the Stormlight Amulet Ashling always wore under her shirt reacted by striking the Jarl with the sensation of being hit by lightning. He bounced back, holding his hand over his face.

Ashling sat up just in time to see Biarne stumble in, on his feet again. After the two patients making some dumb trouble, hedgedoctor Ashling patched them up. She felt fed up with this! A bottle of liquor sat on a shelf. Ha! It was Forest Star, the best, made in Fensalir. She poured herself a stiff drink. Sprits knew that she both needed and deserved it. The Jarl ordered her and Biarne to not say a word about what had transpired. He gave them the alembic and they returned downstairs. Both of them were bloodstained and Biarne had a big bruise on the jaw. Finally, they entered the basement laboratory and put the glass device in place. Mission Complete!


“Wake up! Wake up ...” somebody was shaking her. Asling came out of the hallucination much like waking up from a dream. She was on the sofa in the upper laboratories but the only other person there was a servant.

“What ...” she whispered.

“You got drugged. We had evacuated the location due to a potion gone ... well, not a big success. You can’t have inhaled so much of it though. As you are alive I mean. You will be just fine ... you may get a few hallucinations, that’s all.”

Ashling's first reaction was not to worry about herself. She would resist this ... somehow ... she was Melrathi! But, the others ... Tristan ... Jorg ... she felt worried about them! "Will this drug spread in the air and affect more people?" she asked.

The servant shook their head. "No risk. We had opened the windows before you came here and by now the air is clean. I'm not one bit affected myself. There's not a chance that it may spread. Everybody are totally safe. Absolutely nothing can happen. Nothing!"

It had only been a hallucination! Nothing had happened! There were no mysterious experiences to mull over, no conflicts to deal with, no dubious secrets, nothing! What a relief, not only to Ashling but also to the mercifully ignorant project members downstairs. Not that they knew. They would never know about the hallucination. Biarne wasn’t injured. Ashling’s shirt wasn’t bloodied and torn. And, most important, Ashling had NOT involved Jarl Magnus in anything outrageous or suspect.

She put on her boots, explained her errand and got the support she asked for. A bit later, Ashling returned downstairs with the alembic. She put it on the workbench and turned to Audun for new orders. Her next task was to take care of the dishes as a lot of equipment need to be cleaned. Ashling rolled up her sleeves. Then she withdrew to the washing basins where a big heap of bowls and flasks and whatnot awaited her.

[Tristan Venora]

“Exactly“, Tristan replied in a very polite tone of voice when Audun Beck summarized what he had said so far and inclined his head in agreement. A moment later, when Eysten Syving, interjected that they didn’t have any of the reagents that he had mentioned, he remarked, “Of course. Some of the reagents are not or not easily available in Melrath, but they could be acquired from Scalvoris or from someone with contacts to Scalvoris – or the Hotlands - if you have time to spare, that is. Berry also suggested Barkskin for the binder; it is likely that we can just use honey or a type of resin instead of that though. Barkskin is a very potent binder, but in the case of something that needs to be ingested, honey or resin might be the safer option.”

To be honest, he hadn’t considered that some reagents might not be available in Melrath or that access to them might be greatly restricted at the very least or thought of conducting research into that beforehand; he had gotten carried away a bit due to his excitement about being allowed to take part in this project. It was not a problem that was impossible to solve though. There were always alternatives - a lot of them. That made him suddenly think of a previous invention of his that had been inspired by his guard Hannah making a sandwich for him that had been seasoned with entirely too much pepper. It was just then that Buxwood interrupted his train of thought though, and he momentarily forgot all about the epiphany that he had been about to have.

For a moment, the young man looked at the person from Rhakros, an obviously confused expression on his face, as if he wasn’t sure what they were saying, as if they were in fact speaking in tongues, before he pointed out, “Cats have a lot of interesting things to say, Berry! Of course, the cat people in the Misty Miasma are considerably more intelligent than their Idalosian counterparts – they live in jungle huts and have festival and such – but … but …” He broke off for a moment because he just couldn’t understand Buxwood’s attitude in that regard. “Does the thought of being able to talk to cats not excite you at all, Berry? Imagine the potential! And besides, you’d finally be able to tell what your cat wants for sure rather than trying to guess it!” he finished, his excitement obvious. He loved cats. If he were a Mortalborn, he’d probably be the Mortalborn of Cats. There was no doubt about it!

Buxwood did not seem to be particularly excited though, no matter how much Tristan tried to persuade them to see his point of view. They were just not a cat person, and they looked rather sullen as a consequence. They were quite fond of all kinds of at least slightly venomous critters though – and spirits, of course!

When Jorg replied that he wanted to speak with a cat, Tristan smiled at him. “I can give you a vial. Do you have a cat? Otherwise, you can visit me, and I’ll let you talk to mine. Mistral – that’s my cat’s name – can seem a bit grumpy at first, but he generally means well. He is one of my best friends”, he said. It didn’t occur to him that that statement might sound odd. He had known Mistral longer than most other people, and he had always been with him, no matter what. Mistral had never run away or betrayed him, and he didn’t care that he walked on two legs and might not even have a soul (he wasn’t entirely sure if animals or the cat people form the Misty Miasma had souls).

While Ashling went to fetch a new alembic, Tristan turned to the others. He was rather happy about the fact that Biarne seemed to indeed have decided to cooperate with this time. His wanting to check if the cat-speech potion worked was a reasonable request. “I’d have no problem parting with a vial. All you need to do is find a cat because we won’t be able to prove that the potion works otherwise. And actually”, he continued because he had just had another most brilliant idea. “The cat-speech potion contains all the reagents that are necessary for a potion that enables you to speak with various entities. We could just put a few additional reagents into it rather than making something from scratch this time and go from there. Of course, it only works on cats, but maybe, if we added something to strengthen the alchemical effect …”, he mused.

It didn’t really occur to him that the potion would still only work on cats, no matter how much other stuff he put into it.

And besides, Tristan frequently didn’t think about how hard something would be. He didn’t care if others considered something to be challenging or impossible, he just went ahead in order to see what would happen; and if it didn’t work or he couldn’t get the things that he needed in order to make his plans reality, he would just give it another try. Every failure was an opportunity to learn and thus progress even if most people didn’t see it that way!

“So, anyway, Astrid, Jorg, do you know if there are any cats nearby?” he asked the two Magnuses politely, figuring that they probably knew best what kind of animals were in the hold since they more or less lived there. He was just awaiting their answer – he was rather excited about meeting a Magnus cat, he had to admit – when Ashling finally returned. Truth to be told, he had already started to worry about her. She had just been asked to get a new alembic which didn’t seem like a particularly time-consuming endeavor to him. Maybe she had gotten lost though? This was a rather big place!

His fiancée looked fine, he decided, as he watched her set the alembic down on the workbench and waited for Audun’s next orders, but he came closer to her, a soft and concerned expression on his face, and asked her nevertheless, “Are you alright, Ashling?”

A few moments later, Astrid who had been a bit distracted by Ashling’s return as well (neither of them knew what had happened yet) remarked, “Sigrid.” Upon noticing the confused look on Tristan’s face (the young alchemist couldn’t help but wonder how a woman named Sigrid would be able to help them with their cat problem), she explained, “That’s the name of my cat. I can see if I can find her. She usually roams the hold around this time of the trial”, she remarked. Unlike Buxwood, Astrid found the idea of a cat-speech potion quite fascinating (although the well-mannered young woman didn’t show her excitement as clearly as Jorg), and she realized that it would require a certain amount of skill. She was quite looking forward to seeing it in action. Maybe it would even give them the inspiration they needed.

It was just then that Tristan finally remembered what he had thinking about before again. “Pepper”, he said in much the same way that Astrid had said the name “Sigrid” before, without immediately providing the necessary context. “Pepper speeds up certain processes. It can be a stimulant. We could see if that works as an alternative to the Swiftweb that we don’t have right now. Can anybody get me a jar of pepper – and some resin and honey? Oh, and I’d like a bit of catnip as well”, he added. He had just had another great idea on how to modify the cat-speech potion and bring them a step closer to reaching the goal.

His aim was to add a few additional reagents to his old potion first and see if he could strengthen the alchemical effect – and go from there. Adding something that cats liked definitely had something to do with strengthening the alchemical effect as far as he was concerned.

He just needed the things that he had asked for now … and the cat, of course …

While he waited for that, he took the opportunity to leaf through the research notes a bit to see if there was anything that he’d be able to use, in spite of the Magnuses having reached a dead end. Eventually, he turned to Ashling again though and asked, glancing at all the bowls and flasks that she was supposed to wash next, “Shall I help you with that? Two people will get it done faster, and I don’t have anything to do until someone brings me the things I need. Actually, Ashling”, he decided a moment later, frowning. “I don’t know why they make you wash dirty equipment! I mean, it’s kind of important as contamination can render the potion ineffective or lead to it backfiring horribly – but it’s something that a servant is perfectly capable of doing, nevertheless.”

“You are an extremely skilled healer. You are on the production team. You should make potions – and advise Berry’s and my team and work together with us and not do that!” he pointed out, forcing himself to speak in a lower tone of voice even though he was just a little upset. “Do you want us to go and talk to Audun?” he asked and grabbed a bowl and a sponge anyway. He would not make the decision for Ashling and complain on her behalf, but he would support her if she decided to complain and be there for her. And if she decided that she would be perfectly happy washing bowls and flasks, then he would help her with it so that she would be able to go back to dealing with potions sooner.

Ashling might not have as much of a problem when it came to cleaning bowls and flasks, even if he found it hard to imagine that right now.

Besides, didn’t these people know that she was amazing?

[Ashling]

Ashling had appreciated Tristan’s kind question if she was all right. After the bizarre experiences of the poison she had run into upstairs she had needed it. She had told him she was fine of course. It was almost true. A vague feeling of unreality had remained though, a feeling that a rift might open in her reality without previous warning. The down to earth kind of work with the dishes had given her a well-needed chance to compose.

It had worked for a little while. She had washed bowls and listened to the ideas Tristan had broached. But, as she had stood there and worked and watched the foam of soap bubbles floating on the surface of the water it had become clear that the mysterious drug still affected her. She had begun to feel drowsy, incredibly drowsy...she wished that she had listened to her mother’s recommendations to build up more resistance to posions but it was too late for regrets now. Far too late.

THE SECOND HALLUCINATION

She was in the weird storm of Ymiden 719. Everything was chaotic. A ranger entered the healing house where she was working night and day. His face was tired and his eyes were weary but his voice didn’t tremble when he asked her to give him the key to her cottage. They could use it to shelter people who had lost their homes. The gazes of the healer and the ranger on rescue duty met as Ashling gave him the key.

It was terrible outdoors. Despite this, people left the crowded healing house in favour of leaving room for more children and injured.

Later, the ranger came back. They carried him in. He was unconscious, bleeding from a wound on the side of his head. Ashling cleaned the wound and dressed it. Helpers carried the man to one of the many extra mattresses on the floor. She ought to keep an eye on the man but there was little time for it. New patients kept coming, new emergencies demanded her attention and so, she forgot him. Then he turned up again. She wasn’t able to stop him from going back to work.

Next time she looked at the ranger he had changed into a weird being, a mix of a red-eyed Eagle-owl and a human, no longer a man but not a bird either. An armchair materialized out of nowhere. The owl-being sat in it pondering its troublesome situation.

Such was the fate of some of the people who had tried to help out during the disaster. Whatever had stirred up the storm didn’t care about the innocent victims. Ashling had to wonder what those forces were. Had the transformations of people into stormtouched been intended? Or had it only been a random effect of something? The damage done was in either case immense.

Now, Ashling felt herself take on the shape of a hawk. In her case, the transformation didn’t leave her half human and half hawk. She turned into a bird and flew in the air. She hadn’t felt any physical sensations during the process and when she looked down she saw her body lay there, immovable. Her soul had joined her spiritual familiar, leaving her humanoid body asleep.

She wore Kyrie’s shape but behind the strange new senses of a hawk, she was still Ashling.

“Let’s fly”, she suggested.

But, the red eyed ranger shook his head. He had no wings. He was a grounded half-bird out of a nightmare and could neither live as a human nor fly like a bird.

“Let’s die,” the owl-man said.

This too had passed. It had felt shorter than the first hallucination and she had not fallen asleep this time. It was probable that nobody had noticed anything. Shaken, she had continued with the work, held on to it. It felt like an anchor keeping her from drifting away. The short duration of the new hallucination had made her think that the effects of that potion upstairs were abating. A good sign. But, being a healer she had known better than ignoring the condition.

Ashling had looked at Buxwood, caught their attention, locked eyes with them across the room. After a brief hesitation, Buxwood had come to speak with her. Without revealing too much, Ashling had asked the other healer about treatment for drowsiness. Dud they have something uplifting they could give her? Buxwood had been happy to help out. They had offered Ashling a small green pill they called “rusher”. Ordinarily, Ashling wouldn’t have taken Buxwood’s words at face value and eaten the pill without further questions. But due to being a bit groggy, she had just swallowed it with a glass of water. And by the spirits! She had felt energized! Her work pace had doubled and she had carried on in an ecstatic mood.

By the time Tristan joined her at the washing basins she was more than halfway through the pile of dishes and counting. If not for being in the laboratories of House Magnus she might have been singing an upbeat Melrathi job song.

She smiled at him, feeling overwhelmed by cheer. “Biarne might know something about my skills as a healer! But, it’s the first time I meet Audun Beck.” She sounded as cheery as she felt and she spoke at high speed, chattering in a manner that was unusual for her.

“I’m knowledgeable about herbs and medicine and healing, but so far we haven’t needed to heal anybody. ” She gave a sudden bubbling laugh. “Except me. I got a whiff of a failed drug upstairs. Not much. No worries! Buxwood medicated me and I’m just fine. Oooooh, look at those fluffy little soap bubbles, aren’t they fun? On another note, I hope they find that cat!”

She could tell from Tristan’s facial expression that he might not find the washing as fun as she found it. Confusing! Ashling was about to begin rambling again when Audun Beck joined them and she sure seemed amazed!

“Oh ... but that’s more than enough, Ashling! I just wanted a fewl clean bowls. But, well, we have all the clean glassware we need. Thank you! ” She picked a few clean glasses.

The she continued. “Astrid has found the cat Sigrid and we are gathering everybody for the potion test. We will soon see what Sigrid will have to say. If she will speak that is. I don’t know if cats would want to speak with us humans just because I would be possible for them. Sigrid is a very cute little kitten but we might need more than one cat for this test. I sent Jorg to get ... Musablot. Just in case!”

Ashling quenched a silly laugh. She would stay serious! But, everything was great fun and she was happy about it all. Peace, love and happiness! Love, love, love! She couldn’t wait to test that potion! She did of course assume that she would help out testing it! She did of course assume that Tristan would want her to do it!
The group gathered around the feline test participants. A beautiful fluffy white young cat sat on a red velvet pillow beside Astrid. This was obviously Sigrid. A gray mouser sat on the floor, whipping its tail up and down and looking skeptical. Ashling assumed that one must be Musablot.

“Me, me ...” Jorg volunteered again.

But Biarne was of another opinion. “I suppose we all will take the cat speech potion and join the conversation. We can’t know exactly whom the cats will want to speak to. It’s best to give them options. I suppose all of us will at least be able to listen to them. If this works.”

On a whim, Ashling felt like contributing. “I’m not an alchemist Tristan. But your new ideas seem good to me Catnip is known to attract cats. So, why not also cat spirits? It seems logical! I must admit that a plant named corpseflower felt a bit unpleasant. As for the binder, have you considered using some lovely fat dairy cream? Cottage cheese might also work! “

At this, Musablot looked at her like they finally heard a human say something of interest. It might be the knowledge about dealing with animals she had gained from her dog and horse paying off.

[Tristan Venora]

Ashling didn't seem to mind being asked to do what was essentially a servant's work, Tristan observed as he looked at his fiancée. For that reason, he decided to help her, put a generous amount of soap on his sponge, grabbed a dirty bowl and started to scrub it like crazy, with all of the strength that he could muster up, in order to get rid of even the smallest grain of dirt. He didn't think that a miniscule amount of dirt would render the potion ineffective, or lead to backlash, but in his opinion, it was better to always err on the side of caution when it came to alchemy!

Ashling, didn't only seem to not mind washing dirty equipment, he corrected himself once he had grabbed the next bowl, she did in fact almost seem to be excited about essentially doing the dishes which was a bit unusual, to be honest. She had never been so excited about cleaning stuff before. Maybe he had just discovered a side of her that he had been unaware of so far though?

A few moments later, she started to chatter away, at high speed and in an extraordinary cheerful tone of voice, and he momentarily set the dirty bowl and the sponge down in order to look at her, a puzzled expression on his face. "Maybe you could tell Audun Beck that you are a skilled healer?" he asked tentatively, his confusion about her behaviour obvious. It seemed strange to him that Audun Beck had not gathered extensive information on the people that would be involved the project beforehand.

Maybe she had just forgotten though?

He forgot something every once in a while!

"And hopefully, nobody here will need healing", he continued. "But medicine plays a part as well when it comes to making sure that the potions are safe for consumption and that there are no adverse side effects", he pointed out. He didn't think that his potions had any adverse side effects - apart from a little heartburn every now and then, because he was quite fond of pepper and similar ingredients - but he considered it important to point that out, nevertheless.

He wanted Ashling to know that medicine definitely had a place in potion-making! She should never feel as if she was being ignored or considered to be less important than he was!

When his fiancée suddenly let out a bubbling laughter - only to admit to having gotten a whiff of a failed drug - his eyes widened, and then he asked, in a tone of voice that was part serious, part incredibly concerned and part incredulous because he had never expected something like that to happen, "Ashling, I hope you don't mind the question, but are you ... high?"

"Why were you sniffing failed drugs in the first place?" he asked. There was nothing accusatory about his question; he just sounded very, very obviously worried. Ashling was a very reasonable woman, and as an experienced healer she probably knew that you should leave unfamiliar substances alone which made him wonder if there was more at play. Biarne had behaved, he had in fact been remarkably cooperative so far ... but maybe some of House Magnus' scientists had handled their creations carelessly?

If that was the case, he might have to give them a stern talking-to!

It was just then that Audun Beck approached them and informed them that Sigrid had been found though. Tristan cast another questioning glance at Ashling - he could not just simply leave that matter be - before he gathered around the feline test participants with the rest of the scientists.

Musablot (He liked the name!) seemed skeptical which was totally understandable. He smiled at the grey mouser reassuringly, just in case there was something that he understood without the use of a cat-speech potion - before he turned to address the various comments and questions.

"I agree that it's best to give the cats options", he told Biarne. He was surprised that there was something that they agreed on, but it seemed as if Biarne had really changed. He was really about that. "My own cat doesn't talk to everybody either. Sometimes, he does in fact just walk off", he added, with a fond smile, because he loved Mistral, with all of his absolutely adorable character flaws.

"Cat spirits?" he asked. He had not been sure if cat spirits existed until now. He had always though that spirits were more obscure, or powerful, or both. "I think that it's worth giving it a try", he decided because it made sense. Besides, cottage cheese and milk and such probably tastes a lot better than the Corpseflower that they didn't have, anyway!

Not that he actually knew what Corpseflowers tasted like ...

"I think Musablot approves", he decided after casting another glance at the grey mouser. Of course, you could never be completely sure what animals thought without alchemy or magic, but he did not seem unhappy.

"I think that we should dilute the potion before drinking it though", he decided. "A full dose lasts six breaks, and I only have a limited number of potions and won't be able to produce more until I have found an alternative to the Diplomat Scroll Lily. Unless anybody absolutely wants to be able to talk to cats for six breaks?" he asked.

As he posed that question, he was looking at Jorg for a bit. The boy looked as if he might find the idea exciting!

"Ashling, are you absolutely sure that you want to drink the potion as well?" he asked his fiancée, in a softer tone of voice. He hoped that she realized why he was asking that. She had inhaled some sort of drug and was, obviously, high. The cat-speech potion was harmless on its own (although it obviously tasted stale since he'd had it for a while), but there was no guessing what would happen if a drug came into play!

Normally, he trusted her judgement, but he was not completely sure whether she should be making decisions like that now, since she still seemed to be …

… high!

Either way, eventually Tristan diluted the potion by filling a few glasses with water and adding a carefully measured, tiny amount of potion to each of them (unless people really, really wanted a full dose, even though the potion lasted long and was hard to replace), and handed them out.

[Ashling]

For natural (drugged) reasons, Ashling didn’t pay so much attention to what people said and did. She was indeed high due to the pill named “rusher” which Buxwood had given her. But, she was also low, due to the unknown potion upstairs.

None of these two drugs was strong or lethal, none of them was of the kind that could cause permanent damage to a person. But, temporary effects are also effects. She was now under the influence of one down-putting drug, one up-lifting drug and the combination of them. Due to different physiological factors, the combination varied between super high, mostly high, fifty-fifty, mostly low and super low. It was complicated.

She had been super high for a while, but the effect of the rusher was waning now and she passed through the mostly high state into the fifty-fifty state. For a moment the two drugs neutralized each other. She experienced a moment of puzzled normality.

“Of course I want to take part in the test.”

Why did Tristan even ask? Well. She wasn’t going to mull over that! She watched while he prepared the doses of the potion and handed each participant their sample. Then, at the same time, they all took it and it was time to find out if the two cats would say something and what they would speak about.

“Sigrid?” asked Astrid in her sweetest voice.

“Mom!” the young cat replied. “Mama!”

Everybody looked at Sigrid. Ashling supposed they all had heard the white kitten speak. Astrid looked at the small animal with a benevolent smile. “I’m so happy that we can speak Sigrid! How are you today?”

“Purr!”

“Oh? And more?”

“Can I have shrimps?”

“Shrimps? Oh dear ... I have no shrimps here in the lab my little darling. Maybe later.”

“Why you bring me here if you don’t have shrimps?”

“I wanted to speak to you.”

“Purr! Mom! This is boring! I want to play!”

Astrid pulled out a cat plaything from a pocket in her skirt. It was only a piece of lace with a scrap of paper fastened at one end of it. Astrid moved in the air and the kitten jumped after it, happy to get what it wanted and not saying a single word more.

“So much for cat speech.” Biarne sounded sarcastic. “But, what did I expect? I really wonder about you now, Venora ... just saying. You went to the legendary Misty Miasma, defied all kinds of dangers there and harvested extremely rare and valuable herbs ... for this shrimp show. I’m beginning to wonder what kind of project this is. What we all are doing here. .”

“Yeah man, you’re speaking my mind. Glad to see that at least one human has a brain.” It was Musablot.

Biarne took a step back, looking perplexed that the cat was joining him. “I have a quite good brain, yes,” he agreed.

“In that case. You can assist me. When I hunt lab rats.”

Biarne seemed speechless.

In lack of response from Biarne, the grey mouser turned to Ashling. “You there! Where’s that cream you spoke of?”

“I keep it at home. Chilled. So it doesn’t get destroyed.”

“So? Where do you live baby? I’ll walk you home.”

“Oh? Sure, eh, but right now we’re here, working. We’re speaking to cats.”

“I noticed. When does your shift end?”

“Eh ... later.”

“I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

They got interrupted there. Astrid came dancing past with little Sigrid in tow. Sigrid sang a cute little song about catching butterflies. Ashling watched them, feeling in an odd mood. Drowsy, sort of. A bit drowsy. But unlike the previous times, the hallucinations had hit her, she stayed perfectly conscious when ...

THE THIRD HALLUCINATION

Everybody turned into cats. Tristan-Cat was a very beautiful cat indeed, black as polished dark wood, a face white as snow and a nose pink as a wild-rose petal. He wore the same attire he had worn all the time but he had a fluffy tail. The others were also wearing the same clothes as before but all were cats, walking on two legs.

Astrid-Cat was an elegant white cat, not unlike the kitten she was playing with. Buxwood-Cat was an incredibly fluffy long-haired cat. Audun Beck was a big orange cat and Jorg was a gangly striped cat. So far so good. Biarne Slatersen was a forest cat. Very Melrathi. Ashling couldn’t see herself, so it was hard to know how she looked. When she glanced over her shoulder she could see that she had a brownish blue tail though.

Nobody seemed to react to the transformation and Ashling didn’t want to be the first to speak of it. She would abstain from comments. Everything continued for some time. Cat’s spoke with People-Cats and all seemed to have a good time. She supposed.

“Right.” It was Audun-Cat. “Now we know that the cat-speech potion works. If everybody has had their cat-conversations, let’s proceed to the next step in the project.”

“But they haven’t spoken to me yet,” Jorg-Cat objected.

Musablot looked at him. “Do you have any herring?”

“Herring! You used to have herring, didn’t you? When will you go fishing again?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll go for the fat cream then.” Musablot looked at Ashling-Cat. “Hey, your tail, I like that thing!”

“I have a dog.” Ashling-Cat thought of little Silver.

Whatever Musablot said next it sounded like “meow”. The effect of the cat-speech potion had expired and so did the hallucination. All of a sudden nobody was a cat anymore. Ashling glanced over her shoulder. No tail there.
Oh, well.
She would be all right, wouldn’t she?

“What now Tristan?” she asked.

[Tristan Venora]

When Ashling told him that she did of course want to take part in the test, Tristan looked at her doubtfully for a moment before he nodded and handed her a glass with diluted cat-speech potion. She didn’t seem to be quite as high anymore, at least for the time being, besides, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk about Ashling inhaling dangerous drugs and being high as a consequence at length in front of the members of House Magnus and their (hopefully) former rivals. Maybe the effect of the drug had mostly worn off anyway?

He still felt a little bad regardless and decided to keep an especially close eye on her. He didn’t want her to be hurt!

He hesitated for a moment before downed his glass in one go so that he would hopefully not notice the taste as much. He noticed that it was stale regardless though which cemented his decision to find a replacement for the Diplomat Scroll Lily (and the Brummafern) in the near future so that he would be able to brew a new batch. On the other hand, maybe he could invent a way to make potions last longer without going bad instead? He probably could, but he would still only have a limited number of vials!

Sigrid suddenly speaking in what his mind translated to Common abruptly distracted him from his potion troubles. When Sigrid called Astrid ‘mom’, a happy and amazed smile spread across the young duke’s entire face. For a moment, he was quite tempted to exchange a few words with Sigrid as well because talking to cats was such a wondrous thing, but he held back, even though it was hard. This moment belonged to Sigrid and Astrid though, and only to them. Unless he managed to find replacement reagents, their opportunities to talk to each other were limited!

There was only one thing that he said when Sigrid insisted that she wanted to play because it absolutely needed to be said in his opinion. “She’s adorable”, he remarked while he watched Astrid making her jump. A moment later, he turned his head towards Biarne who seemed to be much less amazed, judging by his words. He simply looked at him for a moment before he pointed out, in a very friendly tone of voice, because he did not want to irritate him,

“Has anybody in all of Idalos ever given people a shrimp show before, Biarne? Have you ever heard a cat speak Common – or what seems to be Common – before?”

He wanted to say more when Musablot suddenly inserted himself into the conversation. “It seems as if you have just been given a task, Biarne”, he could not help but remark. “And you have a new admirer”, he said to Ashling, grinning. If a human had called Ashling baby and offered to walk her home, he would have been a lot less amused, but this was just too funny … and amazing. He kind of wanted to see where this would lead!

“I’m sorry for my fellow human’s behaviour, by the way”, he remarked to Sigrid which just made Biarne who was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Musablot apparently wanted him to be his servants harumph. He didn’t see why it was necessary to apologize to a cat, let alone a cat that didn’t have anything interesting to say and only seemed to possess half a brain, at best!

Sigrid was too busy to play to pay a lot of attention to Tristan’s words though!

Musablot on the other hand did, but it just sounded like “meow” which was a bit disappointing, to be honest. For a moment, Tristan wondered if he should hand out more cat-speech potions after all because listening to Sigrid and Musablot had been such an amazing experience, but then he forced himself to focus on their task. It was hard, but it needed to be done!

“Now”, he proclaimed when he heard Ashling’s question. “I’ll modify the cat-speech potion and see if a modified version will enable us to speak to spirits. Does anybody want to watch – or help me?” he asked the people that were gathered around him.

Jorg immediately piped up, “Me!”

Biarne muttered something under his breath, as if he had his doubts about just putting a few reagents that barely deserved their name into an old potion rather than inventing a new one, but he kept his mouth shut, especially since Astrid and Audun seemed to be supportive of the idea, for the time being at least. So, instead he decided to just keep an eye on Tristan instead.

“We have a bit of dried catnip here, curtesy of Astrid”, Tristan remarked and smiled at the young woman who had graciously provided some of the catnip that Sigrid usually got. Astrid had stopped playing with Sigrid again and was watching, as a lead alchemist should. Which meant that Eysten Syving was keeping an eye on Musablot and Sigrid who had not left the laboratory yet because they might be needed once more. The reagent specialist did not mind that at all – he had several cats at home that he loved dearly.

Of course, he was not only watching the cats. He also pondered the various reagents that the other alchemists had proposed!

“It needs to be crushed, as finely as possible. The potion needs to be drunk, and large chunks of something won’t help, and cause people to choke in the worst case”, he pointed out which made Biarne roll his eyes slightly as that ought to be obvious.

Jorg was just as excited about being Tristan’s assistant as he had been in the beginning though, got a mortar and pestle and eagerly started to crush the catnip while Tristan uncorked a vial of cat-speech potion and poured it into a beaker, in order to make it easier to mix. Once he had done that, he retrieved a bowl, and then he started to wonder.

Following Ashling’s suggestion, someone had provided a bit of cottage cheese. So, he had honey and cottage cheese now. Honey made more sense as a binder to him, and it would probably make the potion taste better. On the other hand, the cats might like cottage cheese better. Maybe he could just add both to the potion though? He wasn’t sure what two binders would do though. Maybe two binders would bind even better. On the other hand, the potion might just …

… fail.

“Thank you, Jorg”, he said, momentarily distracted from his thoughts when the boy handed him the crushed catnip. He put a tiny amount into his bowl, mixed it with the cottage cheese and added that to the potion.

A few moments later, he mixed another, small amount of cottage cheese with pepper that would strengthen the alchemical reaction and mixed that with the potion as well, working slowly and diligently because that was more important than finishing the potion quickly.

He wanted to know if the modified potion did anything, but alchemy needed to be approached with caution and care!

To be honest, he was not sure if pepper really required the use of a binder as well because it was just pepper, but it would be better to be on the safe side, he decided. Adding a binder even though you didn’t absolutely have to, tended not to have any negative effects. If you didn’t add a binder on the other hand, and it turned out to be necessary, the potion just didn’t work!

Of course, the addition of cottage cheese and catnip made the potion noticeably more viscous, but as far as Tristan could tell, it would still be possible to drink it with relative ease!

He couldn’t help but wonder what catnip tasted like now though. He knew that Mistral loved it – and so did Sigrid, apparently – but he had never tried to eat or drink catnip before!

It was just as he held the finished potion up so that the other people could take a look (Jorg who had assisted him seemed fascinated, while Biarne seemed a bit doubtful) that something occurred to him. They wanted to make a potion that enabled you to speak with spirits. For that, they needed spirits though. The only spirit that he was sure was nearby was the autumn spirit that accompanied him due to his being a blessed of Vhalar though!

“Now, we just need to test it. How would you go about finding a spirit and asking it to appear?” he asked in a very polite and friendly tone of voice. His question was not only directed at Ashling who was one of the most spiritual people he knew, but also at the rest of the people around them. He’d defer to their judgement, not only because some of them were actually leading this project, but because they knew more about spirits than he did at this point. Spirit worship was an important part of Melrathi culture.

He had been living in Melrath for an arc now, but an arc was nothing compared to an entire lifetime in Melrath!

He had come to the decision that a spirit-speech potion could do a lot of good – that’s why he was participating in the project, despite the somewhat controversial nature of it – but he decided that it would be better to ask the others for advice when it came to actually dealing with the spirits. He didn’t want to do anything wrong or problematic. And besides, he wasn’t sure how exactly one went about attracting the attention of a spirit in the first place.

Ashling had mentioned cat spirits, for example. Was the presence of two cats and a potion with cottage and catnip sufficient in that regard?