As I left for the potion room, Meleri followed along. “Mind if I watch, never seen alchemy, after all.” I glanced over at her as I grabbed the book and began looking up the recipe again. “Sure, just don’t touch stuff all willy-nilly. Some components can have rather… violent… reactions with one-another.” Meleri nodded as she looked around. “So these are the books that you have been using to learn, huh?” She grabbed one and opened it. “I can’t even read a single word in this.”

  I pulled my focus away from the table, where I was grinding some antlers for the repellant. “Not surprised, that one took me a good decade of study to get to, and you’re not even a novice. That aside, didn’t I ask you not to touch anything?” Meleri put the book back. “Spoilsport.” I gave an annoyed grunt in response. “Look, if you want to be useful, why don’t you grab five dried stink caps and use the mortar to make a powder out of them. Just be careful not to inhale the spores, or you will lose your last meal.”

  Meleri looked at the grass green mushrooms I was pointing at, then at the mortar and pestle I was handing her. “Sure, why not.” Meleri took the mortar and soon was busy crushing mushrooms into powder before pouring it into a neat little pile on a small plate within reach. A bit later, I grabbed the plate and added half the content to the potion, before adding the antlers I was grinding up earlier.

  Meleri looked at the cauldron. “Not going to use all of it?” Meleri seemed curious as she watched me dump a large piece of fat into the cauldron. “Not all at once, no, there is a method to the madness. The reminder of the mushrooms goes in after the bottled disgust. Now then, stir this like so, infuse with a bit of magic…” There was a ripple going through the thick-flowing brownish-green concoction.

  Everything was going fine. Now for a spoonful of midsummer dew. The concoction reacted as expected and began a slow color change towards blue. Good, good. Now then, Just a dash of Haze Blossom petals. The concoction vibrated for a moment and a small trail of purple vapor rose from it.

  Alright, time for the finale. “Meleri, you should probably step back, or maybe even leave the room. This next part will be… unpleasant.” I walked over to where I put the bottles of Bottled Disgust and grabbed one. Then I returned to the cauldron. I was not looking forward to this.

  Meleri stepped back as I uncorked the bottle and inverted its content into the cauldron. Just the sight of the damn content was enough to revolt me, as Bottled Disgust would incite that sensation through every sense imaginable. From the corner of my eye, I could see Meleri swallow, no doubt fighting to keep her last meal down.

  After almost ten seconds, which were ten seconds too long, the Bottled Disgust disappeared into the concoction and as it did, it changed color again to crash pink. I didn’t even wait for a moment before grabbing the remaining stink caps and pouring it in after while stirring like crazy. I did not want a failure now. Not when that would send this abhorrent concoction across the room.

  “Meleri I need one last ingredient. Second shelf from the bottom, third container from the right. I need eight of those.” Meleri followed my directions. “Fireflies?” I kept stirring. “Not your run-of-the-mill fireflies. Those things created actual fire. Now hurry, or the concoction will explode and cover all of us.” As on cue, the cauldron gave a violent shake. Meleri returned with the eight requested fireflies. “Just dump them in.” She did as instructed, and the shaking cauldron went still almost immediately.

  “Good, now we’re home free.” Small purple flames danced on top of the concoction as it turned rust red. I stopped my stirring and watched as it started drying. Meleri looked over my shoulder. “Is it supposed to do that?” she pointed at the concoction, as it was now taking on the same look as drying sauce.

  “Oh, yes. That’s what should happen. Give it another ten minutes and it will be solid. Then we just break it up into powder for easy storage.” I removed the ladle and watched as the repellant stuck to it dried, flaked off, and fell back into the cauldron. “Shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes, or so before it’s ready.”

  I walked over to the shelf carrying storage jars. Let’s see, storage far that could hold all of this. Ah, there it was. I grabbed an unassuming glazed clay char, the size of your average jam glass, and placed it on the table next to the cauldron. After that, I simply waited for the fires on top of the drying repellant. Once they went out, it would be time to transfer the content from the cauldron over to the jar.

  “Seems rather anticlimactic that the content just turns into powder.” I looked over at where Meleri was eyeing the drying repellant. “Alchemical brewing is usually rather tame, provided you don’t mess it up. That’s where the explosions are. There is a rather popular saying among alchemists. ‘You can measure how skilled an alchemist is, by how silent their workshop is.’ And people aren’t wrong about that, as only a bad alchemist would have a noisy workshop. I mean, sure, some brews are more… energetic than others, but you rarely want flashy effects or loud noises, as that’s what’s telling you that you screwed up.”

  A while later, I gave the repellant an experimental tap and found that indeed it was now a solid block. I opened the jar and gently tapped the Moon and Chaos runes on the cauldron. The solid block of repellant crumbled to dust instantly as the runic magic went to work on it. “Could you imagine spending hours hitting that block to pulverize it?” I asked Meleri as I gestured to the powdered repellant and sent it flowing into the jar with a simple gesture.

  Meleri looked at the glowing runes with open interest. “I can imagine that would take a while, as it was as solid as a brick just moments ago. By-the-by, how do these runes work?” I took a deep breath. “Runic magic is… beyond me, unfortunately. I know how to operate some of it, like the cauldron, as the potion room contained detailed instructions on it. But making runic ciphers to create big effects is beyond me. It is about as far removed from witchcraft as you can get and still be magic. Rune Magic is one of the most structured forms of magic out there. The rules are simple, but the execution is… convoluted.”

  I leaned up against the wall. “Take the rune combination I just used, Chaos and Moon. Depending on activation order, those two runes can create different effects. What’s worse, depending on what the runes are attached to, the effect can differ. Take this cauldron. Moon and Chaos will disintegrate the content, turning it into a powder version of its former self. Swap the order and the effect is reversed, and the content is made solid.” I kicked off from the wall and paced back and forth as I watched the repellant enter the enchanted jar.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Add the runes to a sword and activate them, and you either get a sword that uses hyper-vibration to slice through practically anything, while the reverse order, Moon and Chaos causes it to become a massive heat-sink, that draws in surrounding heat so fast that anything it touches are liable to freeze. The latter one is so dangerous you’d need to add more runes to direct the effect, or the wielder would be frozen instantly. And don’t get me started on teleportation ciphers. Those damn runic passcodes are their own headache.”

  That seemed to get Meleri thinking. “Hey sis, if I recall correctly from the enchanted dream, you said that this entire area has an enormous bubble around it that prevents teleportation, so how does that teleportation circle help?” I stopped my pacing and looked at her for a moment. “Oh, simple, teleportation circles can bypass that stuff. I am not privy to the details, but Runic Magic can create exemptions from restricting wards, and that’s standard fare for teleportation circles. I honestly have no clue how it functions, but I know it does.”

  Meleri seemed to get the point. “So that’s why the circles have ciphers, so people can’t teleport into them willy-nilly.” I gave her a single nod, as I picked up the jar and closed the lid. “Indeed, a fat load of good having an anti-teleportation array around a city will do if the local mages’ guild has an unprotected circle that people can just home in on as they see fit.”

  Meleri’s brows furrowed, and her tail twitched a bit as it rose on its own. “Wait, does that mean anyone can teleport in here if they guess the correct cipher?” I shook my head. "No, having the correct cipher is only half the effect. For the teleportation to start, the mages on the other side have to respond by inputting the cipher of the other circle, connecting them. Think of it like making a phone call. The first ‘caller’ dials the cipher of the circle want to go to by placing rune stones with the correct rune cipher into the ‘calling’ part of the circle. On the other side, the owner of that circle is magically alerted to the attempt and will see the cipher of the ‘caller’. They then input that cipher into the ‘receiving’ area of their circle to ‘answer’ the call and allow the teleportation. This is standardized stuff, really. Expensive as hell, though, so you won’t see anyone but royalty or powerful magic users travel per circle."

  Meleri’s tail was now touching her chin in a very familiar gesture. It was what I always did when I was thinking about something. “Expensive? How so? Isn’t it just magic?” I let out a sigh. “Teleportation magic comes in two variants, non-circle and circle. Both have their downsides. Non-circle teleportation is prone to mishaps, which are as horrific as you can imagine. While circle teleportation uses runes and thus requires a magical component, a gate stone, to be exact. Gate stones are… expensive to make, but is what allows circles to bypass wards and prevents mishaps. It’s also why using circles is for the rich and not something everyone and their grandma can do. And to explain why, one of the cheaper ingredients to make a gate stone is a high carat diamond. So don’t expect to be teleporting across the world or anything.”

  As I pocketed the jar, Meleri watched with a fascinated expression as I voided the remains in the cauldron. “You would think traders would work to make creating gate stones cheaper, considering the cost reduction of logistics.” I looked at her for a few moments before I pushed open the door to the living room. “Oh, I can assure you, they have spent a lot of money on that. Unfortunately for most of the traders involved, you can’t cut costs on gate stone production. Gate stones are an alchemical item, and in difference from my brews, which can shortcut a lot of their ingredients through Intent, gate stones cannot.”

  Meleri followed me out of the room. “Why not?” Just then, another voice cut in. “Because, hon, gate stones are magical artifice, not witchcraft. And artifice is one of the strictest forms of magic out there. While witchcraft relies heavily on emotion, intent or just personality to aid with the spell crafting and brewing and what have you. Artifice is one of, the strictest forms of magic out there, I think only rune and law magic are stricter. Short-cutting artifice creations will either give you an expensive brick or create something else entirely. And when you get something else, that something else is likely extremely unstable. Long story short, people have tried to improve the gate stone design for millennia. None have succeeded. Or should I say, no one has created a stable and safe gate stone from cheaper materials. And since an unstable gate stone is prone to exploding, or just scattering you across the world in small pieces, people want a safe version rather than a cheap knock-off that could get you killed.”

  Jaira was sitting next to the fireplace now, with Midnight on her lap. Miva was sitting next to her as both were playing some kind of card game. “I see you found some way to entertain yourselves.” As I watched, Miva reached out and pulled a card from Jaira’s hand, only to grumble in annoyance. It would seem she didn’t pull what she needed. “Oh, just passing the time while the food settles. Nothing special.” I walked over and pulled out the jar. “Here, a bit of an early birthday present for ya.”

  She put down her cards and took the jar, then opened it. “I can’t really tell what this is, Darling. Alchemy was never my forte.” I ruffled her hair. “I know, it’s monster repellant, high-grade stuff. Unless the monster is sapient or under magical compulsion, that will ward it off, guaranteed. Just toss a pinch into your campfire, and you have a full ward against monsters for the next twelve hours.” Jaira looked at the jar. “Thanks, mom, I appreciate it. Say, how much is in here, anyway?”

  Meleri sat down beside Jaira. “She filled an entire cauldron’s worth of the stuff, so if you only need a pinch, I’d say… a year or two’s worth?” Jaira whistled. I stepped back. “That’s just for warding a camp. Since that’s high-grade stuff, there are other uses. Dissolve it into water and drink it, and you will have a personal ward for a while. It won’t last as long though as it’s an incense first, potion second. Also, it won’t taste good going down. But hey, if it’s an emergency, and all that.”

  Jaira put the jar down and spread her arms, so I knelt down and let her hug me. “Again, mom, thanks.” She gave me a soft peck on the cheek. “Say, should I bring you anything from the north when I get back?” Now there was a thought. “How about some of the local herbs? Even if I can’t grow it here, we both know a family of fauns who’d be ecstatic at the idea of expanding their fields with yet another produce.”

  Jaira chuckled as she imagined the fauns’ reactions. “Yeah, I can see them being happy about it. If I find anything that you might find helpful in that regard, I’ll bring it along.” Just then, there was a knock on the door. “I’m guessing that’s your ride.” Jaira looked towards the door with an unreadable expression. “That it is. I wish I could stay longer, but I can’t pause the caravan forever.” She got to her feet, and I pulled her into another hug.

  “You stop by on the way back, you hear?” After trying to extricate herself from the hug unsuccessfully, she caved and returned it. “Fine, I will, mom. You look after yourself now, same with you, auntie.” She bent down and gave Miva a quick pat. “See you around, kiddo. Have fun now and don’t do anything stupid.” That last one got me to cough. “Asking Miva to not do anything stupid would be like asking the sun not to rise in the morning.” “HEY!” That got a laugh out of most of us, even Miva herself. Jaira continued to chuckle, as she turned and left for the door.

  “I’ll see you in a few months. Take care now!” I followed her to the door and as she stepped outside and boarded her wagon, I waved her goodbye. “Have a safe trip, and don’t be stingy with that present of yours.” I waved to her as the driver got the wagon rolling again, and soon it disappeared into the mist. “Must be a strange feeling, watching her drive off like that.” Meleri was standing next to me. “Eh, I’m used to it by now. I don’t like the idea that someone’s been siccing a cockatrice on her, though. I’ll have to do that scrying and contact her with what I find later.” With that in mind, the two of us went back inside just as the sun set behind the mountains.