Light Healing Potion
POV: Alexandra
After days of trial and error in giving the potions to Ronan, I was starting to become mentally and emotionally exhausted. On the morning of the fourth day, I woke up feeling like I didn’t want to get out of bed. Derek had told me that the best thing to do would be to go for a jog. I figured that probably wasn’t a terrible thing to do since I needed something to get me motivated. We made sure not to go on a jog near the quarantine tent. It wasn’t a long job but Derek, Jess, and I had a good time. We finally got back to the camp and I changed out of my workout clothing into my work clothing. I had to wear something comfortable so often work clothing was a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants or leggings with tennis shoes. I didn’t want to wear any of my nice clothing since I had to go out in the middle of a field. I felt good after the run and I was honing in on my memory and harvesting the tears at the right time. I brought Whisperia with me out to the field with Derek in tow. We set up the blanket, and the cauldron and sat across from each other. Whisperia was very good at guiding me and with each potion, Ronan took, it was less and less painful. I was starting to feel good about this day that this would be the day that I would finally get it right. I did the breathing exercise and took the pills. The memory came to me right away and I relived it again but this time when I told Lucien that I loved him, the warmth came. I shot my eyes open and began to cry into the cauldron. This time the tears came and practically filled the cauldron. When I finally finished, I pulled out the handkerchief that Apollo gave me to keep.
Whisperia tucked the cauldron away in her special place. As we walked back, Whisperia spoke about what she missed most about home and how she couldn’t wait to get back. I had never heard her talk so much in my life but I enjoyed it since she was part of my family. She even invited me over to her place for tea with Jess when we got back which was indeed an honor. You never just visited Whisperia, you had to be invited. If you showed up unannounced, she would get annoyed with you and ban you from her home for a while. Jess had not been invited to tea at her house since she showed up to retrieve her. It seemed that she was finally over it and willing to have Jess back. We stepped into the room that Ronan was in and Doc was already there. He looked at us and smiled, “Oh good, I’m glad you are here. I would like to observe you mixing the potion.” I looked at Whisperia and she nodded at me to indicate that I should let it happen. This made me nervous but I did my best to not show it, “Sure, you can watch.” I heard Whisperia’s voice in my head, “Mordred will think of something to help us out. I didn’t give him details on why we need a distraction but he said he will be here shortly to assist us.” I nodded to indicate I understood. She pulled the cauldron out of her special place and placed it on the desk. We mixed up each herb and each time I explained how much I was putting in and what kind. He asked about the puff of smoke rising from the liquid and I explained to him exactly how Apollo explained it to me. We got to the last herb and I was just about to put the pinch in the liquid when Mordred showed up. He quickly came into the room, “Doc, there you are. I need you to assist me with something. I need you to have a look at my stomach, I’m in a lot of pain.” Doc looked up from the cauldron, “Can it wait? I would love to observe the rest of this potion being made.” I cut in, “This is pretty much it. You can go if you need Doc.” He looked down at the cauldron and nodded, “I suppose you are right, I did read the ingredient list and your notes and it does seem to be the same. I don’t mean to question you, Your Grace, but since you are being graded by me for the Queen competition, I really feel I must observe carefully. Make sure you write down the results from this one.” I nodded at him, “Of course, Doc. I hope you feel better soon, Mordred.”
The two men left the room and I sighed in relief as soon as they left. I looked at Whisperia, “That was excellent quick thinking, Whisperia. Thank you.” She nodded, “You are the soul daughter of Apollo and daughter of my house. I will protect you when you need me. This situation called for it. Besides, Apollo had us swear to keep the water secret.” She reached into her special place and pulled out the water, “Speaking of, we should probably put this in there quickly before someone else shows up.” I took the carafe from her and poured a splash into the cauldron. The liquid turned a teal color and I took a vial out of my supplies and dipped it in the cauldron. I took the vial over to Ronan and helped him drink it. He smiled up at me, “Here’s to hoping this is the one. Not so much for me but for you. You looked so dejected yesterday and you look pale and tired today. I worry for your own health, Your Grace.” I patted him on the shoulder and sat down at his bedside chair, “I appreciate your concern, Ronan. I think I will be fine as long as you are fine.” He nodded, “I’ll be fine, I was built of tough stuff, Your Grace.” I sighed, “You can call me Alexandra, Ronan. I won’t mind if you don’t use honorifics when no one is around. We had this agreement when we spoke of your name.” He nodded, “Quite right. I find it so hard to remember that when I am constantly having to address nobles by their honorifics.” Ronan was not a noble by any means. He came from Mesha and was sponsored by the Queen to enter the Citadel because he had been an excellent personal guard for her. She figured he would better serve the realm by being part of the Citadel than he would by guarding her. She was very right, he studied under my uncle for a time before he took up his mantle when we thought he had died. I smiled at him, “It’s okay. I think when you do something your entire life, it really is hard to break yourself from the habit. Just know I very much think of you as a friend and I don’t like honorifics to be honest. I went my entire life without them myself. They sometimes make me uncomfortable when I hear them from my friends. I know there are moments when I understand that honorifics are absolutely needed but these moments don’t warrant them.”
Suddenly, Ronan went from smiling at me to passing out. I hopped up from my seat to have a closer look at him. I pulled up his shirt to check his stitches and slowly the incision was disappearing. I closed my eyes and smiled at the fact that I had finally found the sweet spot to make this light healing potion. I slowly sat down in my seat and leaned against the back, “Wispy, I’m relieved to see that we have succeeded.” She smiled down at me, “You did well, Xan. I’m sure Apollo would be pleased to see your results.” Doc came into the room just then and looked at Whisperia, “Your brother is fine now. He probably had indigestion or something. He’s probably not used to the food here.” He looked over at Ronan, “How is our patient, Your Grace?” I looked over at Ronan, “I think we got it this time but I need you to validate.” He nodded and walked over to Ronan and started to check in on him, “What was the reaction this time? Did you write it down?” I hopped up from my chair again, “I forgot! I will write it down now. He essentially went from having a conversation with me to passing out right away.” He looked at the surgical site and his eyes widened, “This is incredible. His vitals are normal and his site is healed completely.” He looked up at me, “I think you may have done it, Your Grace.” I sighed, “I’m relieved to know that I was able to help the General.”
He smiled, “I think you may have helped countless others in Vellum, Your Grace. I wonder if this will help those in the disease tent. I know that it is difficult to produce this medicine so I won’t ask you to make more but could I take what you have.” I looked at him, “You can take what I have if I can take a vial for a friend. They need healing from something deeply terrible that happened to them and I want to help.” He nodded, “You made it, Your Grace. You should be able to take as much as you need with no questions asked. If you can make more before you leave for Blackwood, I would appreciate it. How soon do you think it can be done?” I looked through my notes, “Apollo said it can only be done once a day or I will risk my own health. He also said I cannot do it more than five times a week. I won’t be able to make more for a week since today was the last of the five.” He looked disappointed and nodded, “I understand. I was hoping you can make more before you leave but I was ordered to send you home as soon as you created an effective potion.” Whisperia spoke to me in a hushed tone, “I can portal back and forth to help deliver more.” I nodded at her, “Doc, Whisperia has volunteered to deliver more between Blackwood and here. Would that be okay?” He smiled at her and nodded, “Oh, yes. That would be okay. I think we should only need one more batch.” He walked over to the cauldron and looked down, “This is quite a lot so if you can make more to this volume, that would be enough. I plan on keeping some in stock so we can help out those who really need them. I wonder if this would work for the Countess.” I nodded at him, “It would be worth a shot if she can get healed up to help her people.”
He looked up at me, “Why don’t we try it now? Do you want to come and observe? You can write down your observations since her case is a little more severe.” I nodded at him, “Sure, I will follow your lead.” I finished taking my notes from observations from Ronan and followed him out of the room after he took a vial full from the cauldron. We walked into the room the Countess was staying in and she was once again asleep. He walked over to her and took her vitals and told me to record them as a sort of before and after type of reading. I did as he instructed while I drew closer, she woke up. He smiled down at her, “Countess, we are here to check on you and give you a new medicine, Her Grace has developed that might help get you out of this bed.” She smiled over at me, “There seems to be nothing you can’t do, Your Grace.” I shook my head, “You should see me trying to do water magic.” She answered, “Oh, are you efficient at it?” I shook my head, “Atrocious more like.” She let out a small giggle, “Oh well, she isn’t infallible after all.” Doc gave her the potion and she immediately fell asleep. I recorded her reaction and how it seemed to be faster than Ronan’s. I wondered out loud, “I wonder if it is due to the severity of her wounds or that she is a woman.” Doc shrugged, “It’s hard to say with such a small sample size. I really wish you could stay and keep recording more patients but the Elder Council and His Majesty insist that you be sent back to the safety of Blackwood.”
