Frost 35th, Year 74, Age of Steel
She did her best to peek up onto the work counter as the alembic boiled away over a fire, droplets of steam turning into droplets of liquid as they hit the top and sliding down the arm of the alembic to fall into the area dedicated to catching those droplets. All in all, Alyssum had no clue what in the world was going on other than the fact something was boiling and it was apparently making a new liquid that was different from the old one? In what manner, well, the child for the life of her couldn't begin to tell. It was all some kind of strange mystery she had no means with which to puzzle through. She wasn't trying to be particularly stealthy as she watched her adoptive guardian work, but she didn't draw attention to herself either, worried by the fixed expression of concentration on his face that drawing attention to herself and off of the mixture would result in something blowing up.
This was far from the case however. Rúnar's ears perked slightly as Alyssum leaned a little closer towards the mixture, trying to get a good view of it. "Careful, the fire is hot," he cautioned as he continued to grind something to a fine powder, smirking ever so slightly when the younger Rathor jumped, a look of betrayal on her expression. "Come here," he said, his voice gentle enough that it sounded more like a request and less like a command.
Alyssum hesitantly went to his side, peering over the counter alongside him as the mixture continued to bubble furiously. "What's it doing?" She asked, tilting her own ears back slightly as the sound of the boiling liquid reached her. It was annoying and made her tail feeling like lashing. Rúnar just rested a hand on her head as he carefully adjusted the liquid on the burner with his other hand, making sure to get the best exposure possible.
"Well, technically I'm making a potion," his smile was met by an ill natured glare and he laughed once more while Alyssum huffed. He was taking his new position as 'dad' way too seriously when Rúnar himself was more of an uncle. "More specifically, I'm boiling the impurities out of the ingredient I'm about to use. Once it's done boiling all of the liquid that I need will be condescend inside the other end of the alembic. Of course, it's always best to work with ingredients that are as pure as possible without accidentally going too far and ruining your ingredient. This is the second boiling and refinement that I've done with this ingredient in particular, mostly because I'm working with the fangs of a really dangerous snake and it's hard to get all the poisons out. Which isn't what we're trying to make."
"Snake fangs? You can use snake fangs?" Alyssum's eyes went wide slightly as she tried to imagine how the mostly clear liquid that was currently boiling away had originally been a snake's fangs.
"Well, first you have to grind up the fangs. Or boil them whole depending on what you're trying to do. For potions I've found grinding works better. You get more material and can get rid of poison easier. For making poisons specifically boiling the whole fang tends to get the most poisons out without getting other conflicting traits. For example, the snake we're working with has a really strong poison but the actual fangs themselves can be used to physically strengthen the body for a short spurt of time, allowing the person who takes it to recover from injury faster, feel less, and even on occasion carry an amount of weight they usually wouldn't be able to handle. If you were trying to make a poison, well, wouldn't really be the most helpful thing to give your enemy. Especially if you know they aren't going down in just one hit of the stuff." Rúnar shook his head as thought trying to banish a bad member, rubbing at an old scar on his arm with a sigh. "If there's one piece of knowledge you can take from me, it's get rid of your enemies fast and hard. If someone turns on you, don't make the mistake of being merciful unless their begging from behind the walls of a steel cage. Even then, never trust someone who's thrown away your loyalty once. Don't let them do it a second time."
Alyssum blinked slightly, head tilting to the side as the tried to make sense of her guardian's words. "Did someone turn on you?" She asked, unsure of the lesson itself. Of course she wouldn't trust someone who was trying to hurt her. Alyssum, however, for her age didn't realize there were more than one way to hurt a person, and not all of them were physical.
Rúnar sighed again and simply ruffled the mess that was Alyssum's hair, silently making a note to cute and clean it up, lest she continue to look like a feral forest child. "Nothing for your to worry yourself sick over. You'll understand when you get to be older, pup. Until then, enjoy the fact you don't have to understand."
Another foreign concept, but one Alyssum didn't question as much. Enjoying the fact you didn't know something, couldn't understand something, just seemed particularly strange to her, yet somewhere in the pit of her stomach it made sense and she felt an uneasy restless churn. She didn't know if it was because of something that happened which she'd forgotten, possible tens of hundreds of lives ago, or if it was a premonition of something to come.
Who's to say there was a difference?
"Now, pup, sometimes boiling isn't going to be enough to filter a potion for its impurities. What I like to do is, you lay down a cheese cloth inside of a funnel and catch any remaining impurities," he said as he pointed out the funnel and cloth that were already prepared and sitting off to the side.
"What good is that going to do?"
"The cloth catches any shards and specs of solid matter that might still be stick. Consider it a bit like straining the pulp when you make orange juice. Additionally, you can get or even make etherforged straining cloths which can catch certain kinds of etheric impurities you don't want hanging around. Especially corrupted ether, the stuff's nasty and you don't want it in your potions," Rúnar said as he started to pull a couple more tools closer to himself. Alyssum filed away the little note about ether and corrupted ether for later since it looks like things were about to become a lecture and not the kind that Alyssum was actually interested in.
She didn't want to learn about tools, she wanted to learn about what kinds of ingredients she could mix together to see in the dark or blow up a building. Maybe erring a little bit closer to the desire to blow up a building with potions, but she had a fairly good reason. Self defense was important for a pup so young! And... she thought it might look cool.
Rúnar could apparently see right through his charge as Alyssum's thoughts came to a grinding halt the moment she felt something absolutely frigid on the back of her neck. She shot into the air with perhaps one of the loudest yelps she'd ever physically made, looking at Rúnar like she was about to burst into tears as he held up something that looked like a clear rock, but was giving off a strange steam. "This stuff is cool. Ice that almost under no conditions will ever melt. It's hard to make and requires a lot of materials, not to mention it's use is limited, but I used to love it as a kid because it was good for pranks," he said with a trace sparkle of mischief in his eyes. "Now, if you ever want to live long enough to become a skilled alchemist, which you won't if you don't pay attention, you're going to have to understand the tools that are available to you as an alchemist and which ones are absolutely necessary."
"Yes, sir," Alyssum muttered, rubbing at the back of her neck to try and warm it up. She flattened her ears against her head and tried to pull off some semblance of submissive body language while still full on and outright glaring at Rúnar, who just laughed all the while.
"Now first and most importantly is the alembic. These are going to be your bread and butter for a long time. Alembics come in a large array of shapes and sizes. You can potentially order custom alembics, but if you learn how to get skilled at glassblowing you can also make them for yourself. I'll see if any of the local glass crafters would be willing to take you under their wing for a couple seasons in exchange for cheaper potions. Moving on, we also have the retort which is similar to the alembic except it only has one chamber, meaning it doesn't have an attached chamber to catch the condensation and by extension the liquid potion. While you won't use them as often, sometimes if you've got a specific kind of potion or affect you're trying to go for you might find you want a direct feed, or if you're making a simple potion for testing purposes they can also be helpful. The last tool I'll introduce you to for now is the mortal and pestle which is what's used to grind up ingredients for use when necessary. Sometimes ingredients are simply easier to use when ground. Other time it might even be necessary. With enough force you can make any ingredient into a fine paste or powder..."
It was obvious that Alyssum was trying very hard to pay attention. It also became obvious the longer the lecture went on that the girl was starting to lose her focus and he wasn't going to be able to keep her listening for much longer. Well, those were the three most important tools so Rúnar quickly shifted gears, pulling a book closer towards the pair which immediately caused Alyssum to perk up.
"This is the Crow Family Recipe Book. For generations, ever Crow has recorded their knowledge of alchemical ingredients, potions, and the steps they used to most easily create specific potions. This includes myself, and as you'll notice, the book is quite thick. What I have right here is actually the 5th edition, detailing the potion I'm currently working on. In total there are 8 which can be found on the first floor in my study," Rúnar opened up the book so that Alyssum could get a proper look at it.
"The reason there are 8 editions is because each alchemist in our family after inheriting the collection would start their own book. When they realized they were getting closer to the end of their life, they would take their first draft of the book, reorganize it, and if they couldn't do it themselves they'd higher illustrators to help show what ingredients and potions might look like. You'll be the next person to inherit all of these, and it would make your edition number 9." He continued to flip through the pages and Alyssum's attention immediately zeroed in.
The illustrations in question were frankly beautiful, carefully drawn pictures of plants, animals, and their various body parts in vivid detail. Step by step guides to create potions with exact measurements and where to find the ingredients if they weren't readily and easily accessible. "Alyssum. No matter what happens, even if you have to get rid of everything you'll eventually own once I pass, do not lose these. If you must travel, hide them somewhere, or leave them with someone you absolutely without question and completely trust. Understand?"
Alyssum nodded furiously, glancing between her guardian and the book. "I can use these?" She asked hesitantly, wanting to start flipping through the pages and memorizing the entries.
Rúnar laughed, a warm kind of sound that rumbled out from the belly. "You're free to come into my study and borrow one at any time as long as you take care of it. I'd recommend starting with the first edition since the family started a bit of a tradition of trying to one up each other. The first addition has a lot of basic ingredients and starter information, and it's what each generation since has build off of and tried to expand on. I imagine your edition will be complete madness," he said it in a fond tone despite the admonishing expression like he knew something Alyssum didn't. Like he'd gotten the chance to peer into her future if only for a scant few seconds and had come to understand just what kind of madness her path would become. "We'll see about getting you a nice journal to start with tomorrow and you can start studying the first edition tonight if you'd like that?"
Again, Alyssum nodded her head enthusiastically, ears perked straight up as her tail swayed. Rúnar took his potion off the fire for a moment and close the 5th edition, likely to return with the 1st. 8... 8 different additions compounded and created by one family. A Rathor family, no less. How many years did their kind usually live? 8 generations, but so many years, were they even known as the Crows back when the first generation started their alchemical endeavors? Did Tyrclaid even exist yet? Alyssum didn't know. She had no concept of time or history yet, she was still only just fourteen and for the vast majority of those years she'd spent them in the woods with Isra who honestly couldn't care less about things like history or legacy. Alyssum could though, and to a degree even if not fully she could understand and appreciate what those books could mean. How far back they reached and how each one was a brush with someone who'd dedicated, presumably, 300 years almost to the study and understanding of alchemy.
A treasure trove didn't even begin to explain it!
Just as the thought was running through her head, the next started to push at the back of her skull. She wanted hers to be the best. To have even rarer ingredients and more refined potions. To have perfected the past and discovered the future. That's what Alyssum wanted. In that moment, she thought that maybe she could understand what Rúnar was talking about when he said each edition got a little bit crazier, and hers would perhaps be the craziest of all. Yeah. She'd take that as a compliment.
Alyssum smiled to herself quietly as she watched the potion on the table start to cool now that it was off the fire. She wanted to learn everything! She knew, though, that she had to start taking those first steps before anything else. Swallowing whatever agitation she'd had about learning the tools, she silently reviewed what Rúnar taught her in her head before inspecting each and every instrument on the table to see if there were any other secrets to it that she could unlock before he got back.
