Alchemist’s Apprentice

"I know what beetroot is Cathryn," I stated with a frown. "Why are you showing it to me?"

My big sister smiled and set the bundle of produce back on the market stall, then stepped closer again. She spoke softly, "I know you know Val. I was pointing it out because it's an inexpensive way to dye potions red or pink. And it can lend a sweetness to the taste."

"Oh," I nodded quietly.

She led me on past a few other stalls as we slowly made our way through the busy market square. Now and then we'd stop and she'd point out some cheap common vegetable or fruit, then quietly tell me how it could be used to modify the colour or improve the flavour of the potions we'd be making.

We hadn't actually bought anything yet. We'd been at it for an hour but our purse was still full while our hands remained empty. Instead it felt like I was getting another lesson. Which I probably was, the more I thought about it.

At one point I asked, "Why so much focus on colour and taste? Surely that's irrelevant, compared to the actual effects?"

Cat rolled her eyes and grimaced, "Colour because many people can't read, and many more are idiots whether they can read or not. Plus, labels can be lost, or they fade or smear with moisture. So the safest option is to identify your potions by colour. At least, the most common ones anyways."

"As for the taste," she continued quietly, "If we want people to pay premium rates then our potions need to taste better than anyone else's. That's above and beyond their effectiveness. The only time a customer doesn't care what it tastes like is if it's rare and he's desperate, or if he's cheap and isn't the one who'll be drinking the stuff."

She lowered her voice even more as she added, "Think of a lord buying healing potions by the dozen for his soldiers? He wants it cheap and effective, and doesn't care whether they like the taste or not."

All that made sense to me, and fit in with my business sensibilities.

"So when do we start buying actual ingredients?" I asked. "Like when do we start making potions?"

"Patience cutie," my sister grinned. "We've barely covered half the market yet, and sadly the sort of things we're shopping for aren't likely to be found in the cheap stalls."

That was the sort of thing I was afraid of. With our budget so limited I was almost afraid of spending too much, even though I know logically we needed to spend some in order to start making more.

She had fifty silver steeds in her purse, which was the equivalent of two gold crowns. It was also more than ten percent of our entire budget. And it was more than a fifth of the money we set aside for her alchemy needs.

I hated that I'd become so uptight about money, but that was enough coins to feed the two of us for over a month. If she spent it all in a single trip to the market I'd probably have a little fit or something.

Then for the fourth time so far this morning I was distracted from my thoughts by some leering man who just happened to be in my path, or accidentally bumped into me so he could get a feel of my boobs or my behind.

So far that sort of thing was merely annoying, and fortunately I had Cathryn with me to defend my honour. She had experience dealing with annoying men, plus her added height and slightly more mature age meant people were more likely to take her seriously.

Her outfit likely helped as well, she'd dressed in her leather travelling clothes and boots. She even had a knife hanging from her belt. Meanwhile I was short, cute, young, and my only outfit showed off quite a bit of skin. And for that matter, even what was covered was still pretty obvious under the tight thin fabric.

Once again my big sister took my hand in hers and led me away from the annoyance, and we continued our slow tour around the busy square.

Eventually I commented, "Cathryn it's mid-morning, we've seen every single stall here and you haven't bought anything. As happy as I am that we're saving money, I thought you meant to do some shopping?"

She just grinned, "Be patient Valeria. And be thankful. As my assistant, you'll be the one carrying our purchases once I do start spending money."

That made me grimace, but it kept me quiet. For a while.

And we ended up making the first purchases not long after, though it wasn't even alchemy supplies. My sister led me back into the market square, and we visited a couple stalls we'd passed by earlier. She did all the talking and haggling, and she was actually rather good at it. Meanwhile I just stood quietly and blushed as Cat bought an inexpensive wool blanket from one stall, a good length of linen fabric from another stall, and finally a couple bone needles and a spool of thread from yet another vendor.

She carefully tucked the needles and thread into her jacket pocket, while I carried the bundled-up fabric and blanket in my arms. She'd done well on the prices but it still cost us more than eight silver coins. That left us with forty-one silver and thirty-two copper coins in her purse.

Watching my sister tuck the copper coins away I couldn't help think back to the mantra my dad taught me when I was a child. 'The sovereign holds five crowns, each crown commands twenty-five steeds, every steed carries fifty shields.'

Or in other words, fifty copper shields to a silver steed, twenty-five silver steeds to a gold crown, five gold crowns to a platinum sovereign. The coins were named for the images stamped on them, like all the silver coins had horses on them.

Up till a couple months ago I probably hadn't even seen a copper shield. My father dealt in crowns and sovereigns. At twelve hundred and fifty shields to a crown, a copper coin wasn't even worth picking up off the floor. Now a few shields would fetch a loaf of bread, and that was something we couldn't afford to waste.

After making those purchases, Cat led me back home rather than have me lug the fabric and blanket around all day. It was both a bit of a relief but also a bit embarrassing. Not that I was too weak to carry it around, but it was bulky and inconvenient, and odds were my arms would get tired before the day was out.

We left everything on the upstairs table, then headed right back out again. Our next stop wasn't at the market though. Instead we walked out of the market area and into the trades and artisans' part of town. I finally realized where we were going as my sister led me into a glassblower's workshop.

Lucas was a master craftsman, at any given time he had a half dozen junior glassblowers and over a dozen apprentices working for him. He knew our family well, both as a friend and as a businessman.

Our father would do bulk imports of fancy wine or liquor or even oils or perfumes, where the stuff would come in casks or big clay pots or even barrels. Then dad would hire Lucas to provide fancy glass bottles, and the bulk goods would be transferred to small pretty glass vessels that dad could sell at a huge mark-up.

The building was big, and even though the furnaces were further back in the structure it was still noticeably warmer in the showroom where my sister and I stood. Even my lightweight clothes felt too much in the oppressive heat, and I found myself wishing to be back home so I could strip down and cool off.

Lucas noticed the two of us after a couple minutes, and he walked over with a big smile on his face.

"If it isn't Cathryn Mercier!" he greeted my sister with a friendly shout. "I haven't seen you since you went off to learn alchemy."

My sister smiled as she responded "Hello Lucas! It's been a few years, I wasn't sure if you'd remember me."

He laughed as he moved to stand before the two of us, "How could I forget!"

A moment later his expression softened, "I'm sorry for your loss Cathryn, your parents will be missed."

"Thank you Lucas," she replied quietly. "I appreciate it."

There were a few quiet seconds, before the big man's expression shifted to curiosity. "What brings you to my humble workshop? And who is your young friend?"

Looking up at him I felt a huge mix of emotions churning through me. The glassblower was a big man, he stood around two meters tall, and next to him I almost felt like a little child.

On the other hand, as a friend of my father's I'd known the man for eight or ten years. The last time I saw him was about two months ago, he offered me his condolences after hearing the news of my parents. Now I was a stranger to him, and I wondered if Cat would tell him who I was.

My sister smiled, "Lucas this is Valeria. I've just taken her on as my apprentice and assistant. Val, this is Lucas. Master glassblower, and he was friends with my father."

Cat's words left me feeling strange again. She was acting like I wasn't even her sister, I was just some poor young girl she'd taken on as her trainee. I knew better than to question her about it in public, but I'd be asking her later on why she was keeping that secret.

For the present I forced a smile, "Hello sir. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he grinned as his eyes traced up and down over my curves. Then his attention returned to my sister, "What brings you here today Cathryn?"

She fished a small glass vial out of her jacket pocket and handed it over, "I'm planning to open up shop Lucas, I'm an alchemist now. And I'm going to need a steady supply of these vials, to sell my wares. I was hoping I could count on you to take care of all my glassware requirements."

Just like that the big craftsman was all business. He took a couple seconds to carefully inspect the small glass vessel, he measured it with his fingers, tapped it to estimate the thickness of the sides, passed it from one hand to the other to get a sense of its weight.

Finally he handed it back to Cathryn and stated, "I can produce those for you at four steeds apiece."

My stomach flip-flopped at that figure. That was nearly two crowns for a dozen, and I knew we couldn't afford anything like that.

Fortunately Cat was already in bargaining mode. She smiled, "I'm sure they'd be the highest-quality in the realm at that price Lucas, and perhaps in a few years when my shop is famous throughout the lands I'll be in the market for that level of quality. For now though, what I'm looking for is something inexpensive but usable. I'll be looking to buy them by the dozen, and in many cases they'll be treated as disposable."

The craftsman wasn't the least bit offended, instead he smiled back "If you're not so picky about the aesthetics, I suppose I could use this sort of project to train the young apprentices. They wouldn't be quite so perfect, and the glass might not be crystal clear, but if the goal is inexpensive..."

He thought a moment, then offered "Apprentice quality, I can do a dozen for four steeds."

"Perfect!" my sister grinned. "I'll order a dozen right now, and while we're here I'd like to take those two bottles as well."

She indicated a pair of simple glass bottles on one of his shelves. They were probably made by another apprentice, they weren't perfect or symmetrical but they looked ok.

Lucas got the two bottles and after a quick look he stated, "They're normally half a crown each but out of respect for your dad I'll let you have the pair for twenty steeds."

Cat grinned but haggled some more and ended up talking him down to sixteen steeds. With that settled, she counted out twenty silver coins and handed them over, to pay for both bottles and the dozen vials.

I was handed the two bottles to carry, fortunately they weren't too big or heavy. I figured they'd hold about a litre apiece, and I assumed they'd be put to use in our own workshop, holding some ingredients or perhaps bulk storage of finished potions.

Meanwhile Lucas promised the dozen vials would be ready by noon tomorrow, and that was the end of our business with him.

I almost let out a happy sigh of relief as the two of us emerged from the hot workshop and out into the fresh air.

As the two of us started walking back home I looked up at Cat and asked quietly, "Am I no longer your sister? You introduced me to Lucas as your apprentice, but you didn't say anything about me being family."

"I'm sorry Val," she replied. "I should have discussed that with you ahead of time."

With a sigh she explained, "I realized that if we tell people you're my sister, especially friends of the family like Lucas, we'll also have to tell them you used to be my brother. And that is a conversation I don't imagine you'd enjoy? I know I wouldn't. Plus if people knew we were sisters they'd be a lot less understanding about the two of us being as close as we've become."

I sighed as well, "I suppose. I hadn't really thought about it until now, and when you offered me those potions I didn't think I'd be losing my family name or heritage. Though on the other hand you're right, I'm not sure I'd want to know how someone like Lucas would react if he found out who I used to be."

The two of us continued walking quietly, while I thought some more about this new development. Her reasoning was sound, but I still wasn't happy. And it led me to another question.

"What will you tell people," I asked her quietly, "When they ask what became of me? You know that will happen sooner or later."

Cathryn thought a few moments, then suggested "I could say now that I've returned home from the academy he's gone to attend in my place?"

That led me to sigh again. If we had money to afford my schooling we likely wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. I pointed that out, "People who know us well enough to ask after me will probably know we don't have enough money to afford my schooling."

My sister frowned as she considered that, then offered "All right, we can say he's gone to take an apprenticeship and likely won't be back for many years. At least the apprentice part of that is the truth, right cutie?"

She grinned at me, but what she said left me feeling sort of hollow. Her choice of words made it clear she wasn't talking about me. She was talking about her sibling as if they were someone else, rather than the girl walking alongside her.

I shrugged slightly, and in a dull voice replied "I suppose. And I guess you can tell people whatever you think will work best. You were his sister, and you're the master alchemist. I'm just some girl you've taken on as your apprentice."

"Hey," she frowned, then gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders and brought me to a halt.

We were almost home, but right there in the street she pulled me into a hug and gave me a kiss on the lips. Then she stated softly, "You're not just an assistant, Valeria. You're my sister and I love you. Stories we tell people like Lucas are just that, stories. It doesn't change who you really are to me, and I want you to know that. Ok?"

I looked up into her eyes, then slowly shook my head. "No Cathryn. Being sisters in secret isn't good enough."

She still had her arms around me as we stood together in the street. After a few moments she replied quietly, "All right Valeria. Let's continue this conversation inside though? This is something we need to discuss in private."

I nodded, and the two of us walked the last of the way in silence.