Prismatic Education 49
I had considered making another trip back to Strixhaven, to borrow Witherbloom expertise in crafting a cure for this disease, but Crane was adamant about not risking spreading it to other places, so I decided to settle down in place for the time being.
And the frightened reception is gone with everyone focused on combating this disease. I thought to myself as I took a post-meal walk to immerse myself in the multicolored mana from this land.
Spotting a familiar yellow-clothed figure on the road, I sped up to catch up to him.
“May the light of determination grant you strength,” I greeted Crane, whose back straightened as my words revitalized his tired body, “Did you get enough rest?”
He looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes, a red oily thumbprint between them, the same mark I had on my face. “It was sufficient for my purposes. What brings you out at this time?”
“I could ask you the same,” I countered, “This isn’t the path to your greenhouse.”
“As helpful as you have been,” He drawled, “Your skills do not lie in the area of identifying and treating disease. As such, I have decided to approach someone with those skills.”
I had a strong guess as to who he was referring to, but before I could voice them, he spotted someone else up on the path ahead, and approached her. It was Tris, the weather mage girl I had met before, when she wielded her powers against the pirates who invaded Winding Circle.
The redheaded girl was carrying a basket in each hand, and she only noticed us when Crane grabbed one of them, which she surrendered with a minimal token of resistance. My nose detected the smell of food from the containers; she must have been coming from the kitchens at the Hub.
“You look tired,” She said to Crane, “And doesn’t that wash off? Rosethorn and Briar still have theirs from this morning.”
Tris’s pointed finger indicated the red mark, which was the diagnosis oil Crane had managed to create. Crane’s response was that he made it that way, especially for those who would be exposed to the disease regularly.
“And of course I would be tired. I have been working.” He finished.
Rather than respond to that, Tris turned her head to look at me, before flinching and looking away. “Aren’t you the one I met before?”
Oops, better restrain my magic a bit more. “Yes, against the pirates. But I suppose you remember this one better.” I flicked the orb out from my pouch, releasing Marill.
“Rill!” The elemental chirped, greeting the girl warmly.
“How could I forget?” She bent down slightly to pet Marill on the head, her gaze fond.
“I heard that you had such a creature,” Crane remarked, “But this is the first time I have seen it.”
“Not like I would bring it out in your greenhouse.”
The four of us continued onwards to Discipline Cottage, where a large-sized dog came bounding out to greet us. Amusingly, it reversed course and ran back in when it caught sight of Crane. I helpfully opened the waist-high gate for the other two, and recalled Marill back into its ball before we entered.
Rosethorn, the dark-haired woman I had only met once in passing, was sitting at the table with several others, and she and Crane fell almost immediately to bickering. Meanwhile, I was welcomed to join them for the meal Tris had brought with her, and I joined them at the table while we waited for the girl to unpack the food.
“Is that a new staff?” Daja, the dark-skinned smith girl, inquired.
Of course she would be fascinated by any smith-made item. “Yes it is, it was made for me as a gift. Would you like to see it?”
She got out of her seat to do so, managing only a few minutes before Tris came back and told her to do so after eating. I noticed she had a brass-colored covering on one of her hands, which stood out on her dark skin, but decided to ask about it later.
The back-and-forth sniping was put on hold while everyone dug into the food, while I only had a few nibbles to be polite as I had already eaten. While not as rich as the fare I had in Britain, there was a nice warmth to the meal.
When Crane started to speak up again, the boy, Briar, interrupted him.
“No! Let her be! Find somebody more important. She did her bit, she needs rest!” He glared at Crane, who returned the look with a dismissive one. “Find one of them great mages that’s up to your weight.”
Apparently that was an ignorant statement, because as Crane proceeded to reveal, Rosethorn and Lark were both great mages, as was Daja’s teacher Frostpine, on the same level as their other teacher Niko Goldeye in their respective fields. The kids apparently weren’t aware of the full breadth of their teachers’ reputations.
I was somewhat aware of the weight the title of ‘great mage’ carried in this plane, but Crane’s motivation in asking was that Rosethorn was one of the best when it came to plants and medicines, and it was her ability with the latter that he desperately needed.
In the end, Rosethorn agreed, but with the caveat of having Briar along as an assistant. As a former thief, the boy had the steady hands that were necessary for working in the research lab. Crane resisted at first, but eventually relented, because as she put it, he was in no position to refuse.
“In any case, you ought to rest. Even I can see you’re tired, and that’s with whatever stamina-boosting spell you have on you.” She told the man.
“She’s right,” I spoke up in agreement, “I only just enhanced what you had. It can’t replace proper rest.”
“See, even he says it.”
Crane shook his head. “Roy, do you have copies of my notes with you?”
“Yes. You want me to share it with them?” I guessed.
He nodded. “I have other responsibilities to see to for today, so you do not need to return to the workroom. However, I expect to see you there at dawn tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
He took his leave after receiving another stock of enchanted protective clothing from Lark. That left me alone with the rest of Discipline’s inhabitants, including the dog, who came to me eager for pets now that Crane was gone.
“Well?” Rosethorn said impatiently, “I would like to get back to my bed instead of having to wait.”
After facing the intimidation from Zeus and Hera Familias, her prickly attitude is almost cute. “Yes, yes.”
I pulled out the stack of papers and laid them on the table, two copies for Rosethorn and Briar. I noticed Tris lean in to read as well, but the other two didn’t appear to be as interested. Instead, they were paying attention to me.
Lark laid a hand on Sandry’s shoulder. “I know you want to ask him questions, but we have work to do. Will you be staying in Winding Circle longer this time?” She directed that question at me.
“Mmhmm.”
“There you have it. Come, Sandry, we need to make sure Crane doesn’t run out of protective equipment.”
The girl had a slightly disappointed expression, but followed her teacher into the woman’s workroom, closing the door behind them. That still left one more.
“Can I look at your staff again?” Daja asked me, almost too eagerly.
I’m sure there’s some innuendo here. I chuckled, but obliged. Wonder what her smith magic tells her about it?
While everyone else was preoccupied, I helped out in clearing the dishes, washing them in the kitchen sink with a quick application of a water spell. When I returned to the common room, I answered a few other questions Rosethorn had regarding what Crane had done so far, before the plant mage went back to her room with her stack of notes.
Without his teacher present, Briar put the papers down and eyed me with suspicion. “You’re some kind of Bag, aren’t you?”
“Bag?”
“It stands for moneybag,” Daja helpfully explained, “He uses it to refer to anyone who’s rich, like Sandry.”
“Or snooty, like Crane.” Tris added without looking up, having taken the papers now that Briar wasn’t reading them.
“I suppose I have money, but I earned it the hard way.” By dungeon diving and selling magical creations. “What made you ask that?”
“It’s the stuff you have,” The boy explained, partially for the girls’ benefit, “Your clothes, that book, all of them look really high quality. Definitely would cost a lot of coin.”
“The staff too,” Daja added, “I can’t tell what sort of metal it was made with, but I’ve never seen anything stronger, not even the enchanted shield Frostpine showed me one time. And that’s not counting the magic inside it.”
“The crystal ball you hold Marill in too,” Tris raised her head this time, “Something like that would cost maybe four gold astrels.”
I looked back at the three of them bemusedly, noting their curiosity about who I was. It reminded me of a pair of even younger children in an underwater temple on another plane.
I really should pay those siblings a visit sometime, I thought, But for now, I’ll just get along with these kids.
Since they didn’t have anything else to do, I spent the rest of the day talking to them, learning what had changed since I last saw them.
Daja told me how they had gone north with Duke Vedris to provide aid to some of his territories, and during that time, they had mapped out and readjusted their magics, a necessary procedure since their magics were leaking into each other after whatever Sandry did to bind them together. It did explain why they felt slightly different from how I last saw them.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard or read about anyone who can manipulate magic like that… Sandry might have a unique gift.
Then Daja was caught up in a forest fire, one that she fought with to save another tribe of her people, which left her with the brass-covered hand I noticed earlier. As for what she could do with it… well, that remained to be seen.
The topic of conversation shifted after that.
For Briar, I gave a description of what he would be expected to do for Crane. Just like me, since he didn’t know enough about mixing up cures to be helpful like Rosethorn, he would be helping in the mixing up the formulas that the two adults thought of, which could change day by day. Meticulousness was a necessity.
“So I just have to follow instructions, and write down what I done? That’s easy work.”
“Try doing that consistently for dozens, maybe hundreds over the course of a day.”
“Oh.” He replied, humbled.
Tris was apparently bored with nothing to do at Discipline while the other three were hard at work, so she was deeply curious about everything involved in the disease research. She asked several more questions, which I readily answered, until Briar started teasing her for ‘fancying’ me. Then they started to argue, though it was more like snapping between siblings than an actual argument.
It was a joking comment that did the trick, about burning off the fat to lose some weight.
The breakdown of compounds into components, the fever… The pieces came together in my mind, leading to a conclusion. There’s a magical component in the disease.
,,,
“You better have a good reason for bringing her along.”
Those were Rosethorn’s first words when she saw me, upon arriving outside Crane’s greenhouse with Briar and Tris accompanying her.
“Well, top of the morning to you too,” I replied dryly. “Let’s wait till Crane’s here, I don’t want to explain twice.”
The Air dedicate arrived soon after, followed by a company of temple dedicates and novices. Like Rosethorn, he wanted to know why there was an extra person he hadn’t asked for. While the pair of young people were shown the scrubbing process and the layout of the facility, I explained my conclusion to the two senior mages in the privacy of Crane’s office.
“We have substances that tell us if magic is in use, and we employed that first,” Crane pointed out.
“What’s the minimum sensitivity of those substances?” I asked back. “To be honest, I think the magic is just a simple catalyst, one that starts a cascade reaction leading to the blue pox.”
I shared the theories I had with them, the ones my inner light was confirming as likely. The fever wasn’t the body’s immune response, to try and burn out the cause of the disease, but an intended result to try and eliminate the remains of whatever was decomposed. Some of the ones I proposed were refuted by the two experts, but others made them stop and consider, meaning that they were possible.
As for why I had Tris come along, it was her magical sensitivity that I was hoping to make use of. Perhaps it was linked to her deep magical connection to the forces of nature, but she could easily develop affinities to some of the spells she was exposed to. In this case, the most important one was her ability to see magic. Although it initially began as a spell Niko placed on her glasses, I detected no such spell on her eyewear; she had adapted its effect to herself, maintaining its effect even after the spell had worn off.
“I was thinking we could have her take a look at the distilled essence, to see if she can see any magic.”
Rosethorn looked at Crane. “Do you think it’s possible? That it could be missed?”
“Or it could have been lost among all our other magics,” He admitted, “But why the girl? Why not Niklaren Goldeye?”
I blinked. “Because I have no idea where he is, whereas Tris was right here.”
Crane stood up and went to the door. “Osprey!” He shouted sharply.
The woman came at a run, followed at a slow pace by the other two. “Sir?”
“We require Niklaren Goldeye. Wherever he is, here or in Summersea, find him at once.” He instructed.
While she ran off to do as he ordered, the rest of us entered the facility. There, Crane opened a jar of the blue pox essence for Tris to examine. The redhead peered at it through her glasses, before decisively announcing that she could see magic in it. Briar said the same as well, though it was only a glimpse of a flicker for him.
The final confirmation lay with Niko, but it was a much needed step towards a cure.
In the meantime, there was still work to be done. Working with the assumption that there was magic in the blue pox, the workers brewed up new additives to be used in such cases, while Crane and Rosethorn inspected the trays that were previously worked on, in hopes of a lucky breakthrough.
I have to admit, I might have been a bit hasty to dismiss potion-making in Witherbloom, I thought to myself as I watched the pair of mages discuss what changes to make in their course of action, Even if I don’t make much use of them, the concepts involved can be useful.
Since Tris was here, she helped me in taking notes, making use of a light stylus on a fractal writing board once I taught her how to use my computational magic program. She expressed an interest in learning it for herself, but agreed to wait until after this whole epidemic was dealt with. As for Briar, he was taught to work up trays, adding this or that mixture to the wells containing the blue pox, which he did perfectly enough to pass Crane’s standards.
The next incident of note was when Niko finally arrived.
“Crane, Rosethorn, I’m- Gods!” The man, masked and covered like the rest of us, threw up an arm to cover his face.
“What’s wrong, Niko?” Rosethorn asked him with unexpected concern.
“It’s Roy, isn’t it?” The man said, crossly. “What in the name of all that is good and holy have you done to yourself?”
“I overcame my limits and got stronger.” I replied, noticing the others giving me curious looks. Just how much can he perceive about the falna?
“Warn me next time when he’s here.” He lowered his arm, squinting as he looked anywhere else but me. “Now, where is- Tris, what is that?”
The girl glanced at the glowing writing tools she was using. “It’s Roy’s spell.”
Niko didn’t reply for a few seconds, and when he did, it was to speak to the other man present. “Crane, where is the disease?”
Briar exchanged looks with Tris, both clearly thinking about how the man had chosen to ignore the issue. For my part, I just watched with amusement, especially when Niko quickly departed to share the new discovery with others, and most certainly not to avoid having to look at me.
After that, things continued to proceed along. There were minor mistakes that had Crane expelling the person responsible and replacing him or her with a new face, but fortunately nothing serious.
For some reason, I felt like something had been averted, but it quickly passed.
Niko took Tris away for one day to go and investigate the cause of the blue pox, returning with a journal of a dead witch who had been trying to make a weight-loss potion. My theory on the blue pox’s magic had been right; it was intended to break down body fat, as well as reduce the drinker’s appetite with a fever, all to help in weight loss. Unfortunately, she wasn’t too successful, and some of her mixtures had a side effect of dark skin rash.
Low on funds, she had disposed of her still magically-active failures in an improper manner, which mixed with the muck in the sewers to give rise to the blue pox. Her journal contained her failed recipes, which the research team immediately began making use of.
So they formulate the recipes, then mix them together to see what comes out of it. I took personal notes for myself as I continued to document their research. After that, they try to find similarities between the resulting mix and the blue pox, and try to figure out what works against both.
With enough observation of how Crane and Rosethorn worked, along with the properties of the ingredients they tested with their mixtures, I grew confident enough to offer a few suggestions of my own. Especially with mathematical quantifications of the magical affinities involved to back them up. It was heartening to see the two senior mages agree with my contributions, even if they weren’t immediately successful.
“No need for jealousy, boy,” I overheard Rosethorn say to Briar, as we left the place for the night to let the cleaning process do its work, “What Roy did was the result of long studying and learning. As long as you keep putting in effort, you’ll be able to do the same.”
I glanced back to see the young preteen nod to his teacher, determination in his eyes.
And on the second day after Tris’s excursion, there was a breakthrough. A deep emerald light shimmered out from a tray that Rosethorn was personally working on.
She looked up to see a lot of people staring at her. “Oh, for Mila’s sake, calm down. It’s just the first key. We’re still a long way from a cure.”
“But it’s a visible step towards it,” I countered.
Rosethorn didn’t snap back, just quirked her lips, her features painted green by the magical light.
Afterword: The Circleverse’s fourth book is actually more interesting than I thought, after rereading it for this. Roy might not fancy the whole potion-brewing thing, but the intricacies of adjusting ingredient ratios and all that pose an interesting challenge. It certainly helped fuel my muse for this chapter.
I was going to write more, but I decided it would be better to have this chapter stop here. Comparisons between this and brewing the Behemoth antidote will have to wait till next time.
Do leave your comments on what you thought of it!