C.O.T.W Chapter 19: An Unexpected Surprise

  • Hasir and Ceralyne stepped out into the crisp evening air. By the position of the moon, he know that it was around eight o'clock. He

    had an hour to pay a visit to Arcadia's and have her teach him the different plants in her shop and their abilites, train him how to

    mix a potion for both him and Ceralyne and get back in time for the nightly service. Hasir's head lowered as he focused on the task

    at hand. He and Ceralyne both went over to Arcadia's Cauldron. Hasir tapped on the door with his knuckles. no answer, he tried

    again with the same result. 

     

    Hasir swore under his breath. This made Ceralyne concerned. She looked up and saw a light come on in an upstairs window. That

    must be Arcadia's bedroom she tought.

     

    She turned to Hasir who was seeming beating himself up for no reason.

    "Hasir, that's her window up there. How are we going to get her attention from down here?"

     

    Hasir's face brightened.

    "Hey Arcadia, you have clients down here, get your ass out of bed!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

     

    Hearing this, the potions mistress got up, went downstairs and unlocked the door. The argonian smirked at the elf, who looked

    unamused by this. The lizard and the elf double-teeamed the door. The argonian and high elf both gasped as they beheld the fully

    stocked interior. There were shelves of potions next to the door and a desk near the rear wall of the shop and an alchemy table

    tucked in the corner of the shop. Behind the desk, Hasir saw the Imperial woman he guessed was the owner of the shop. He and the

    elf approached her.

    Arcadia smiled. She loved seing people taking an interest in the art of alchemy.

    "What are you looking for? we have various kinds of potions and poisons." She said, giving off an air of a professional saleswoman.

    Pick your poison, ahem, please pardon the pun. I just couldn't help myself." She said laughing, 

     

    Hasir took out a coin purse from his leather bag that was attached to his armor and placed it on the counter.

    "My friend and I were wondering if you could teach us how to craft our own potionss." He said, a trifle nervously, smiling at her.

    Arcadia was unsre if that was a genuine smile or a menacing snarl.

     

    Arcadia nodded and directed them over to the alchemy table. The Imperial plucked a few leaves from some plants laying around her

    shop. She ground them up using the alchemy station. When she was finished, she grabbed two empty vials from the shelf next to the

    alchemy table. She poured the potion into the vials and handed Hasir and Ceralyne the vials and told them to drink it. The argonian

    and elf did as Arcadia asked. Immediately, they could feel a strange warmth course through his body.

     

    Arcadia smiled at them.

    "The potion you just drank is called restore health. It can be quite handy if you are injured or tired." She grinned at their expressions

    of disusgust. "I apologize if it's not to your liking." She said, stifling a giggle, "Now that you saw how a potion is made, I now ask you

    to craft some for yourselves.

     

    Hasir set to work on the alchemy table and grabbed some blue mountain flower and butterfly wing, mixed them up and poured the

    resulting red liguid in some vials he found on a shelf next to the alchemy table. He put the vials into his leather bag. He also made

    some restore, regenerate magicka and regenerate health potions  He also put those into his leather bag. He decided he will split the

    potions once he exited the shop.

    Unseen by either the argonian, elf or imperial, a nord was standing in the shadows of the shop with her back against a pillar, arms

    crossed. Hasir went into the back room of the shop to grab more ingredients when a nord hand came out of nowhere and 

    made contact with his nose. The argonian yelped in pain, vigorously rubbing his bruised nose. The attacker stepped out the shadows

    and Hasir coulld see a look of both frustration and anger etched on Rakel's face.

     

    Rakel looked like a ripe beet.

    "Hasir, you are a fucking dumbass." She said as she picked up a basket and threw it at him.

     

    He put his hands over his head to shield himself.

    "Hey, dammit Rakel, say it don't throw it."

     

    She advanced on the argonian, forcing him into a wall, effectively cutting off his retreat.

    "When I entered Whiterun a few hours ago, I saw you with another woman."

     

    Hasir eyed her nervously and didn't know whatt Rakel was going on about.

    Rakel, it isn't what it looks like. She and I are just friends, nothing more. I only have eyes for you. You know that." He said,

    half smiling at her.

     

    Rakel crossed her arms once more, joined by a rapid tapping of her foot,

    "Oh? Does this 'she' have a name?"

     

    Hasir told Rakel of how he met a beautiful Altmer female that hailed from the Summerset Isles and how they instantly hit it off as

    friends. He said her name was Ceralyne. He also said he would never replace Rakel as she is the most beautiful nord in all of

    Tamriel.

     

    Rakel seemed to have lost some of her edge, which had softened somewhat as she heard Hasir clarify that he and Ceralyne were just

    friends. Rakel said she still had her doubts but she helped him up and went over to a table that sat in the corner. She helped Hasir in

    the seat after putting his crutches against the wall.

     

    In return, Rakel told the argonian about how she and the members of the circle traveled to Windhelm to greet the tsaesci and the

    blue khajiit, commisreate about Moonman's death and about their retrieval of the last two totems of Hircine. Hasir's forehead creased

    as he tried to ponder on why Moonman had died along with how he died. The nord told him that he died because of Quinchal's

    foolhardy desire to regain the vampire blood and regain favor with his ancestors.

     

    Hasir told her about Adrian, Ceralyne's brother, his pact with Molag Bal and the daedric lord's plan to wipe out all lycanthropes from

    Tamriel. He could see a look of growing concern on her face. 

     

    She turned to face him, totally unaware of Ceralyne's brother's connection to Molag Bal.

    "Hounds of Hircine, that's terrible news. The Frostmoon pack and the companions will be in really grave danger if what you say is

    true."

     

    Hasir laughed at her. Still not happy with her suckerpunching him in the nose; especially when he lleast expected it.

    "It is true, you dim-witted nord." He pushed her ever so slightly, enough that she had to flail her arms to try and keep her balance.

     

     

    Rakel looked at the clock Arcadia had hung on the wall.

    "By Hircine, it is almost nine o'clock. Hasir, we should get a move on."

     

    She and Hasir vacated their stools. Hasir grabbed his crutches, positioning each under his arm and they started to walk out of the

    store when Arcadia called out to them. She plucked two plants for the wall behind her and tossed one to each of them. When they

    asked what it was, Arcadia told them it was blue moutain flower. She said it is supposed to heal broken bones.

     

    Hasir walked up to Arcadia and raised an eyebrow while gesturing to the flower.

    "Erm, Aracadia, how do I use this?" He asked as he held the flower by its stem, "I am only a novice in alchemy."

     

    Arcadia sighed, suddenly realizing Argonians are not as smart as they let on.

    "Hasir, do I have to show you everything?" She handed him a sheet of paper. The argonian's forehead creased as he worked out

    what was on the sheet of paper and why she would give it to him.

     

    She tented her fingers on the countertop as she eyed the argonian.

    This," she said, pointing to the parchment, "is alchemical instructions on what to do with the blue mountain flower. What you need to

    do," She jabbed Hasir in the chest with her finger, "Is take the flower and the instructions over to that alchemy table and follow the

    instruction to make a potion that will suit your needs."

    Hasir walked over to the alchemy table, closely followed by Rakel and Ceralyne. Once he got to the table loade with mortors, pestals

    and other instruments, he lifted his leather bag from his shoulder, dropped his bag on the floor and unfurled the sheet that

    Arcadia had given him. The list read as follows:

    Potion of Mending

     

    1 blue mountain flower, finely ground

    2 bonemeal, finely ground

    1 mora tapinella mushroom, finely ground

    1 blisterwort, finely ground

    1 bunch juniper berries, for masking horrible taste

     

    Hasir had to double take, because he had no idea that a simple potion could contain so many ingredients. He looked around the

    shop, pulling ingredients off of shelves. Those he didn't find, he bought from Arcadia because he knew she would carry the hard to

    find ingredients. With all ingredients in hand, Hasir went back over to the alchemy table and set to work. He reached into his bag and

    extracted every ingredient but the junpier berries and placed them in the mortar. He picked up the pestle and began mashing the

    ingredients. He used both stirring motions and mashing motions to work the ingredients and a sculptor would work stone or clay, to

    get the desires result.

    Once he mashed the ingredients into the prefered graneolar thickness, he added water that he had in his pack and the ingredients

    mixed with the water so that a red liquid fill the mortar. He then grabbed two vials from the shelf above the allchemy station and

    ppoured the solution into each. He topped them off with one juniper berry each, which dissolved into the mixture. Satisfied, he

    smiled to himself as he placed corks atop each bottle. He placed the bottles into his leather bag. He, Rakel and Ceralyne left the shop

    and headed for the underforge for the upcoming service.

     

                                      

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