3.10 Back Room

The backroom was, unsurprisingly, Sabina’s laboratory and storeroom.

Most eye-catching was the quantity of ingredients. Shelves packed almost the entirety of the wallspace, see-through and labeled, of varying sizes. Most were no taller and wider than her fist, but plenty varied, some up to a full dresser drawer. Inside, powders or pouches or other miscellaneous ingredients were tucked.

There were too many to pay attention to, following Sabina into her laboratory, but Zoey’s eyes snagged on a few of the labels, and the objects within.

Aetherium Geodes, one label read. Nestled behind the see-through plastic-like material that acted as a window to each ingredient, cracked-open rocks with jutting white-blue crystals sparkled. One drawer down and to the left, ‘Solis Regulus’, a bright gold powder filling the container to the half-way point. Even more intriguingly, a few drawers away from that, objects labeled ‘Moonlight Drops’, which were knuckle-sized glass orbs with crescent-moons glowing in their depths. Zoey was briefly perplexed, because how did the shape show so clearly on each orb? Regardless of their orientation? Some of them ought to be slivers, or not showing because of the angle, but instead, the crescent-moon stood out on each, the same size and shape. Like an optical illusion.

“Mm,” Sabina said. “Here they are.”

Zoey shook off her intrigue and tore her eyes away. There were a hundred more reagents she’d be fascinated to look over, and a dozen more things in Sabina’s lab besides that, but she’d come here with a purpose: the potions Sabina had made while she’d been gone. Presumably, Zoey would learn what some—probably not all—of these reagents did during her tutelage.

Sabina was standing in front of a wide vial shelf. The wooden structure was as tall as Sabina, with slots for hundreds—maybe even a thousand or more—glass vials. To the left and right of the vial shelf, there were shelves for larger potions: flasks, beakers, and a variety of oddly-shaped glass containers. Some were full of different colored liquids, and some were empty.

Zoey took the four vials Sabina had held her way.

[Potion of Vulnerability]: Apply to increase sensitivity of target area.

[Potion of Inflammation]: Consume to inflame sexual desires.

“Two mutations,” Sabina said. “Two of each. As you can see. It seems coruscant flameroot is a versatile reagent, and better yet, it takes very little powder to catalyze … I’m quite pleased. Perhaps I can tease out more effects over the following days. Certainly, I can improve the efficacy of each.”

“Wow,” Zoey said. She hardly had a baseline to go by, but she was impressed. She didn’t think most alchemists would have gotten so much done, so fast. “Uh, awesome.” Zoey would make good uses of these potions. “Can you make more?”

“The process has been documented. So yes. Easily.”

“Perfect.” Because Zoey wanted to use these for … less than practical purposes. Obviously, if Zoey had had a limited supply, she would have had to save them for shards. Against Not-Zoey, or Mel, for example, potions that increased sensitivity or lust would have been useful. But since Sabina could apparently make as many as she needed—or at least not a stifling restrictive quantity—then Zoey could use them just to have fun, and not feel overly guilty for being wasteful.

Aphrodisiacs. And sensitivity. Zoey wondered how potent each would be … and what kinds of noises she could extract from Rosalie with them. Or Delta. She would, at a guess, be just as enthusiastic to experiment as Zoey.

Or Fe. After the events of earlier, Zoey assumed she’d be up for more. So many possibilities. Really, how did she get so lucky?

“But, how does it work?” Zoey asked. “The sensitivity potion? It says apply. How much?”

Sabina tilted her head. At a guess, Zoey had asked a question that was common knowledge. Sabina knew Zoey had ‘memory problems’, so she didn’t comment. “As with all potions, the effect will amplify, up to a maximum. In the same way a minor health potion’s dose is a single vial, and a second vial wouldn’t help further—you would need a more potent potion—a salve will absorb to a certain quantity … then provide no additional effect.”

“How much would it take? The whole vial?” Zoey had asked in the first place because that seemed absurd. If she was only applying it to, say, her nipples, then a full vial would obviously be too much to put in such a small area. “It scales with surface area?”

A quirked eyebrow. “Indeed. I couldn’t give specifics. Salves tend to go quite far. I suspect you won’t run out nearly as fast as the potions of inflammation.”

Zoey paused, briefly recognizing that Sabina was entirely aware that Zoey would be ‘making use’ of these potions, and undoubtedly knew what that entailed. She coughed, then brushed past the topic. “And do you have more of the infertility potions?”

Sabina nodded. “As the previous, it requires little of the blossom blight to catalyze, and I’ve been refining the process. With what you’ve provided,” Sabina paused, eyes flicking to the left, as if referencing her memory, “I could make perhaps four dozen more.”

Four dozen? That was a lot—certainly enough to sort Zoey out in the short term. But not an infinite supply. Would Zoey find more of the ingredient, eventually? She hoped so. The potions were critical, assuming she didn’t want to be knocking girls up left and right.

And, while the idea did excite her, in reality, it would be highly inconvenient to deal with. Delta, or Rosalie, wouldn’t be pleased if that happened … to say the least.

There were other ways to handle such an event—Callie, that dressing room attendant, had mentioned a ‘plan-B’ potion of sorts—but Zoey would rather have the assurance of her own solution.

“Assuming you only want the infertility,” Sabina amended. “Less, if you want the opposite.”

Right. Because the ingredient could be catalyzed either way: both a lack of fertility, and a boost in it. “Uh, just the first,” Zoey said.

“I assumed so. I have more, if you want to store them. Some weaker, some stronger. I made several batches.”

As she went about refining it, Sabina meant. It made sense some would be better and worse, depending on how well the experiments went. “Yes, please.” Might as well carry them around. Eventually Zoey would run out of inventory space, but that day wasn’t today.

Sabina rummaged around in the storage shelf, withdrawing vial after vial, which Zoey tucked away into that convenient pocket dimension.

“I really don’t have to pay?” Zoey asked.

“You paid through the opportunity to work with rare ingredients,” Sabina said dismissively.

Zoey knew that, but she still felt like she was making off too well. She felt like she should pay Sabina … especially considering Zoey would be receiving lessons from her. The deal felt too one-sided. Even if Sabina didn’t think so, Zoey felt a bit guilty. Was she taking advantage of Sabina’s lack of interest—or lack of business acumen?

Then again, Zoey was hoping for a long-term arrangement with Sabina … one where they both made a hefty profit from the lewd ingredients Zoey was collecting. Zoey wouldn’t broach that topic for a bit, but if Sabina agreed, then with luck, they’d both make a pretty penny. That would be how Zoey paid her back.

“That’s it, for now,” Sabina said. “I will, of course, continue to brew. But my focus will be with the new reagents. That was enough?”

Sabina had handed off more than enough to keep Zoey supplied for the short term. “Yeah.”

“Then, lessons?”

“If you’re free.”

“I’ll work as we talk. At your skill level, a lecture is what will serve you best. You know too little to perform even basic experiments.”

That was fair. Again, Zoey didn’t take offense at the directness. In a way, Sabina was like Delta … though in a completely different way of ‘overly honest’. Sabina was clinical and, rudely though accurately, insensitive. Delta, on the other hand, was simply blunt and opinionated. At least from the appraisals Zoey had made. It was a bit crazy to think about how she’d only known Delta for two days. It felt like much longer.

Zoey followed Sabina out of her laboratory. It seemed she wouldn’t be closing shop for the lesson, as Zoey had first assumed. Zoey supposed that since she was going to only be lectured at, that was fair. She had a lot to learn before she could dive into the nitty-gritty. Before she could dive into the ‘practical’ experiments, even.

Zoey’d never liked sitting and listening to lectures, but in this instance, she thought she’d handle it fine. She was excited to learn.

“The basics, first,” Sabina said. “The general process. Realize I’m skipping over nuance, here. Generalizing.”

“An overview,” Zoey said with a nod. She pulled out a notebook and pen—one of the many items she’d bought during her and Rosalie’s first ‘preparation’ shopping trip—and cracked it open to the first page. Zoey had a fine enough memory, she guessed, but she didn’t want to be pestering Sabina all the time, if she forgot something she’d told her; notes would help with that.

Plus, it would endear Sabina to her, hopefully. Make her seem like an attentive student. Sabina had already stated directly that she was no teacher, so Zoey would need to put in effort to get as much as she could from her. It would be a two-person effort, to get Zoey caught up.

“First,” Sabina said, “of course, is the pre-preparation step. Gathering ingredients. Perhaps an obvious statement, but in our profession, nothing should be taken for granted. Thoroughness is key. Meticulousness, attention to detail. In your education, we will start from the beginning, and end at the end.”

As she talked, she adjusted dials on the front of the cauldron, eying the surface of the liquid as it boiled in a steady rhythm. Fat red bubbles popped lazily, here and there, and specks of black floated around. The cauldron wasn’t just a big iron pot; it was visibly an advanced piece of technology, for what passed as ‘technology’ in this world. If Zoey had to guess, eventually they would go over what the cauldron was capable of. Temperature adjustment, to name the obvious. Clearly, it was the cornerstone utility for potion brewing. For bulk batches, at least. There had been smaller apparatuses inside Sabina’s laboratory, some with what appeared to be active brews inside.

“But,” Sabina conceded, “the part where our profession defines itself begins on step two. Base preparation.” She nodded at Zoey’s notebook. “You’ll want to detail each. There’s a lot to go over, even summarizing.”