by Pirateaba
She looked tired. But she was staying with Erin as she worked, and Erin was glad to have her here. It had been so surprising to see Ryoka just fall out of the air. Was it magic? She hadn’t really told Erin anything, but Erin was fine with that. Ryoka had found her!
Carefully, Erin added some dried thyme to the soup. That wasn’t part of her magical formula; it was just for taste.
Octavia was off sobbing somewhere, or so Erin assumed. She got really mad because Erin wasn’t being cautious enough, but that was what [Dangersense] was for, right? Besides, Erin hadn’t destroyed anything after those first two attempts. She’d just used up a lot of Octavia’s stuff; that was all.
And it looked like it was all worth it. Erin breathed deeply and inhaled the scent of her new soup. Ryoka’s suggestions had done the trick.
“Let’s see. Cold carrots with a gelatin, lots of wheat flour, and less Corusdeer horn. And I washed the horn this time!”
Erin wasn’t sure about edibility of any of Octavia’s ingredients, but the powdered horn had been washed, and now it was being boiled. That was okay, right?
Ryoka cracked open one eyelid and stared at the bubbling soup.
“Why did you add the herbs? Won’t that mess up the entire mixture?”
“No…I don’t think so. See, if this were potions, you’d have to add all the stuff while it was hot and I couldn’t add stuff like seasoning. But this is just one ingredient, so Octavia said it would probably be okay.”
“Ah. There’s no catalyst, huh?”
“Um. Yeah? It’s just food, so I’m really not doing proper alchemy.”
“Looks good to me. Is it supposed to bubble like that?”
Erin looked back at the pot and yelped. The Corusdeer horns had made the soup extremely hot. But the flour and thicker mixture was diluting the heat; it was only bubbling over rather than meltingly hot. She stirred and blew and added more flour and water as Ryoka watched.
“It’s sort of surreal to see you here, Erin.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe all that happened already. Weird, isn’t it? I never thought I’d get to visit a Human city so easily.”
“Neither did I. You know it’s over a hundred miles from here to Liscor?”
“What?”
“You made the trip in one day. Even if you were asleep, Toren had to have been booking it to run that far so quickly. And you say you slept through the entire thing?”
Erin scratched at her cheek awkwardly.
“I, uh, well, I didn’t get much sleep the night before, okay? I might have slept for a long time.”
Ryoka sighed. Erin felt moved to turn and look at her now her soup was back under control.
“You okay, Ryoka? You seem down.”
She saw two shoulders twitch on the Asian girl’s comatose form.
“I’m sort of tired. Been a long day.”
“It really was.”
Erin reached for a stick and lifted it into the air. She eyed the pink smeared layer at the end, and then shuddered and dipped it into the soup, praying it wouldn’t interfere with the taste.
Octavia had an interesting way of testing potions. She had this…thing. It looked like a layer of flesh on a stick, really. It was gross, but it came out of this jar with magic runes on it. According to Octavia, it mimicked Human flesh and other body functions. And it was reactive, so you could see what happened to skin or your stomach if you dipped it in the potion. If anything burned, turned black, or started dying, you had a problem.
It was also expensive, and Erin had burned the last four tests she’d used in the soup. Something about the mixture was making it literally too hot for consumption even when Erin had taken the pot off the stove. But now she thought she’d done it.
“Oh, hey, look Ryoka! This time it’s not burning!”
Ryoka grudgingly raised her head and eyed the dripping flesh-tester as Erin lifted it out of the soup.
“That’s disgusting. Remind me why you wanted to even use Octavia’s shop, Erin?”
Erin hesitated. She stirred the soup a bit more and then took it off the fire. She spoke as she filled a bowl with the bright orange-yellow mixture. It had floating bits of thyme in it, and Erin’s [Advanced Cooking] sense told her it was probably not too bad in terms of taste. But the real test would be seeing how it affected someone.
“I wanted to make something magical. Something…useful. Something other people can’t steal that only I can do, you know? Maybe even something that can help people – not just feed them. Like the faerie flower drink.”
She offered the bowl to Ryoka.
“Here. I think it’s done. Want to try some?”
The other girl stared at the bowl of steaming liquid and looked back at Erin.
“Why don’t you try it? Shouldn’t you do it if you’re the creator?”
Erin hesitated.
“Because…I don’t want to.”
“Well then, why should I try this stuff?”
“Aw, come on. It’s probably harmless. The flesh-test didn’t do anything.”
“That doesn’t reassure me. I could still get food poisoning or have a horrible reaction.”
“My [Dangersense] isn’t going off. That means it’s okay, I think. And Octavia said the Corusdeer horns aren’t poisonous or anything. Just…hot.”
Ryoka eyed the soup like someone watching a ticking time bomb slowly counting down.
“No.”
“Aw come on Ryoka, I dare you to eat it.”
Erin pushed the bowl onto the table. Ryoka pushed it away.
“I said no.”
“I double dare you.”
“No.”
“I triple dare you.”
“Erin…”
“I triple double dog dare you.”
“Stop.”
“I quadruple dog d—”
“Alright, fine. Shut up. I’ll try it.”
Ryoka grabbed the bowl and hesitated as she eyed the soup. Cautiously, she dipped a finger in and looked back at Erin.
“If I die—”
“You’re not going to die. Just try it!”
The other girl looked around and pointed to a wall.
“The healing potions are over there.”
“I know.”
“And Octavia’s neutralizing potion is there. It’ll take down most potions.”
“Ryoka, it’ll be fine! Just try it.”
The tall girl eyed the potion, sniffed it, sighed, and then reluctantly sipped a bit of the bowl. She instantly made a face.
“Hot!”
She licked her lips, paused to consider, and then swallowed some more.
“It tastes…good, actually.”
“Really?”
Erin smiled widely. Ryoka nodded as she drank the rest of the bowl.
“Whew. It’s hot. And it’s…staying…hot. Erin? What’s happening?”
Gingerly, Ryoka prodded at her stomach as Erin tried to explain.
“Corusdeer horns burn for a long time. I thought—you know, since this stuff is magical I could use it in a food to warm people up. Because…it’s so cold.”
Ryoka considered this. She prodded at her stomach and then shrugged.
“It doesn’t hurt. And the warmth seems like it’s spread out. I feel like I could walk outside naked without a problem. But it doesn’t feel bad…”
“Pleases don’t go nude.”
Both girls laughed. Then Ryoka grew silent. She stared at the pot of soup and then looked at her friend.
“Erin. Do you know what happened? Why did you suddenly vanish? Where did Toren run off to?”
She had an idea, but Erin didn’t want to say it out loud. Slowly, she nodded as her smile faded.
“I think he did something. I think he was the one who abandoned me in the middle of nowhere.”
Ryoka nodded. She let Erin stare into the fire for a few seconds before she asked her next question.
“…What are you going to do?”
Erin shrugged. She felt
odd when she thought of what Toren had done. It was betrayal. She didn’t know why, or how—she hadn’t even thought he could do that. But when she thought of her skeleton deliberately leaving her to get lost or die, her heart hurt. She kept her voice low as she replied.
“I might have to kill him. Or—if he’s just disobeying orders, maybe Pisces can fix him? I need to ask Pisces. But if he’s dangerous, I’ll have to take care of him somehow.”
“Is that even possible? He seems immortal and he’s dangerous.”
“He’s not that strong. I mean, he’s a bit stronger than before, but if you break him into pieces you can keep him from coming back together.”
Ryoka nodded slowly. Erin smiled, bitterness mixed with ruefulness.
“I might need help, though.”
“That’s why I’m here, right? I’ll give you a hand.”
Gingerly, as though her face were unsure of how it all worked, Ryoka smiled. Erin smiled back.
“Wanna show Octavia the soup?”
“I suppose. I’ll get her. She’s sulking upstairs.”
Erin poured more soup into a bowl as Ryoka went to get Octavia. The [Alchemist] didn’t have a very welcoming expression on her face when Ryoka finally got her to come back and look at Erin’s creation, but her natural curiosity got the better of her and in minutes she was trying the soup herself.
“It is hot, even when it’s not on the fire. Look—I added some snow and the temperature didn’t even change. Tastes waterier, though.”
Octavia patted her body and then took one of her arms off and studied the cloth. She reattached it as Erin gaped and shrugged.
“Seems like the effect spreads from the stomach. It didn’t affect my arm as cloth, but the effect works when I reattached it. I feel warm all over.”
“You—but wh—”
“I feel warm. Hot, even. If I was outside I’d be fine. And…hold on, I wonder if the effect actually protects you from the cold or just makes you feel warm?”
Ryoka commented as she fetched some more snow from outside. She melted the snow she was holding in seconds, and soon she was smiling.
“I bet I could run barefoot as long as this lasts.”
“I can sell this.”
Octavia’s eyes glittered. She looked at Erin.
“Mind you, it still felt really hot going in. You might want to adjust your recipe.”
Ryoka nodded. Then she had a thought and scowled.
“Damn it, Erin. It is going to be this hot coming out as it felt going in?”
“Ew. I hope not. But doesn’t it warm you up?”
Erin put aside Octavia’s magical arm trick for a second to bask in her own success. She sipped her soup and felt the warmth spread. Yes, she’d done it!
“How did you know this would work?”
Octavia stared at Erin curiously. Erin shrugged.
“I just have this…skill. It’s called [Wondrous Fare] and it sort of works like [Advanced Cooking]. I get a sense of how to make food magical. I think.”
Ryoka scratched her head.
“What I don’t understand is why the soup works like that. What’s in the horns that does all that?”
“Dunno. It’s magical.”
Octavia cleared her throat.
“Corusdeer horns are used as alternative fuel sources by [Blacksmiths], [Chefs]—anyone who needs a really hot fire. They burn for a long time and they burn so hot you have to divide up a horn into sections to really use them. One horn can go for as much as twelve silver pieces or double that if there’s a shortage—want to know how many you used?”
She glared, but Erin only stared back.
“Wanna know how much I paid you?”
“That barely covers—”
Octavia hesitated. Even she had a problem telling barefaced lies, apparently.
“The soup will be a good addition to my stock. Just write down the recipe and I’ll improve the mixture. I can probably sell—”
“Hold on, that’s Erin’s soup. Not yours.”
“Oh, she can have it. I don’t need any right now; I know how to make some. But I’m not sharing the recipe.”
“What?”
Octavia moved with the speed of greed. She stopped in front of Erin, glaring. Ryoka reached for her shoulder but this time Octavia pushed her hand away.
“That wasn’t part of the deal! I let you experiment here—I deserve to know the recipe!”
Erin blinked at the alchemist girl.
“Yeah, it wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Exac—huh?”
“It wasn’t part of the deal. I just wanted to experiment; I didn’t say I’d give you the recipes.”
“Yes—but—let’s not be hasty now, Erin. We can make a trade—”
“Tomorrow, maybe. Ryoka says we’ve got to do other things right now. So I’ll be back tomorrow, Octavia! I want to try making a lot more stuff next time.”
“Wait, t—”
Ryoka shut the door in Octavia’s face, grinning. Erin grinned too as they walked out the street. Ryoka had already taken off her shoes and put them in her Runner’s pack, and she was cautiously walking along the frosted cobblestones with her bare feet. She grinned.
“This stuff works well. I’m surprised, though, Erin. I didn’t expect you’d be that rude to Octavia. She’s pushy, but that was surprising.”
As a matter of fact, Erin felt guilty. She made an unhappy face.
“Yeah, I figured out she was trying to cheat me pretty early. I didn’t want to be mean, but she just doesn’t let me do anything unless I just do my thing, you know?”
“That’s fine by me. It works well on her.”
Ryoka stepped into a snow drift and out of it, shaking off the melted snow. This time her smile stretched across her face, like the Cheshire Cat. Erin had seldom seen the other girl so happy.
“This is fucking amazing. I can run with this soup, Erin!”
“Can’t you run anyways? I’ve seen you running in the snow—”
“Not like this.”
Ryoka waved her hand and shook her head.
“Running in those shoes? I’m slow in those. I’m at my fastest barefoot; this stuff is helpful. I’ll buy all of your soup even if no one else does.”
“I think a lot of people will eat my soup! Isn’t it amazing how no one made it until now?”
“Yeah. Amazing. Or…impossible.”
“What do you mean?”
Ryoka led Erin down the street, attracting plenty of stares as she walked outside in what was essentially a t-shirt and shorts without shoes on a wintery day.
“I’d like to know whether Octavia could reproduce that soup even with a recipe. It might be that she can’t, or at least, not so easily. You have a skill, right? It could be that [Wondrous Fare] allows you to make magical food without needing some other kind of reaction or spell.”
“Really? That would be so cool!”
Erin hurried after Ryoka, struggling to keep up with the taller girl’s stride. Ryoka noticed and slowed her walk down, leading Erin deeper into the city.
“Where are we going, by the way?”
Eying one of the signs where two streets crossed, Ryoka took them right. She slowed again to walk next to Erin, speaking over the rumble of an approaching wagon.
“First things first. We should get word to Liscor and let everyone else know you’re safe. Olesm, Selys, Klbkch—even Halrac was worried about you, you know. Mrsha kept trying to follow me when I left.”
Both girls walked to the edge of the street to avoid the wagon as it moved past them. Ryoka especially kept her feet clear. The driver of the wagon stared at Ryoka as he passed, nearly running down another pedestrian who started cursing at him.
“Haven’t you ever wondered how cities kept in touch besides Runners and caravans?”
“No?”
Erin had assumed Runners were the only form of communication. Ryoka shook her head and explained.
“There’s a spell—[Message]. You can
send, well, the equivalent of magical emails to people. Not a long message and I think there’s a mana cost with the distance involved and perhaps even the atmosphere, but—”
“Oh! You mean, like Twitter? Magical Twitter?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Ryoka sighed.
“It’s really expensive, though. So we’re only going to send a single message for you. Think of what you want to say; make it concise. It’ll cost a couple of gold coins either way.”
“That’s a lot of money for just one spell!”
Erin was indignant, Ryoka resigned.
“It’s one spell, but there aren’t that many people willing to play telephone all day long. Besides, not all [Mages] learn the spell. Ceria told me it’s not easy to cast, either. You have to be at least Level 15 or so. Here. It’s down the same street as the Runner’s Guild.”
She was staring so much at all the sights that Erin nearly missed the building Ryoka pointed to. The other girl acted as if this was nothing special, but this was the first city Erin had been to besides Liscor, and even then, she’d never really explored every alley and building there either.
The people were so normal-looking it almost hurt. True, they wore rougher garments with a lot less color and logos than Erin was used to, but they were all Human. Sure, some wagon drivers cursed at the pedestrians and some people had swords, but wasn’t that the same as angry people in cars and people carrying guns from her home?
People were people. And though Erin was happy to call Drakes, Gnolls, and Antinium her friends, she always felt a bit alone in Liscor. But here everyone was Human.
It made her smile. And because she smiled, Erin had a different experience of walking through Celum than Ryoka.
The Runner strode through the crowds, impatient, often waiting for Erin, a semi-scowl plastered on her face. But Erin smiled and said ‘hello’ or ‘excuse me’ to people as she walked past. And for every person who gave her an affronted look or just ignored her, two more gave her a smile or a surprised word in response.
Erin stood out from the crowd. Ryoka noticed it as she waited for Erin next to a large building with the symbol of a wand with wings painted on a sign. What the other girl saw was that Erin had no problems waving to an adventurer or a guardsman striding down the street. Other citizens walked wide of people with arms unless they knew them, but Erin was fearless. And these surprised warriors usually waved or smiled awkwardly back.
