Chapter 223: Alchemical Pursuits

Rosalyn Losenska

“So what actually goes into alchemy? I’ve been really interested for a long time, and know some of the herbs and stuff, but not how to do all the mixing and making of potions cause that’s way more complicated and precise than just chucking things in a pot and bringing them to a boil.”

Rosalyn knew Alruna was being very patient with her while they made their way to her workshop. Still, she had a million and one questions to ask the lady made of worms. Probably not the most appropriate ones, but she and Xirali really wanted to know how her body worked.

What if she’s got a second brain somewhere in there that controls all of it? Or maybe dozens? Maybe they all have their own brains, and it’s distributed, but that’d make things really complicated when preserving a central consciousness, Xirali mused in her head while they walked. The satyr hadn’t stopped asking questions since they’d met Alruna. Rosalyn was doing her best to filter out most of them and asking only the ones that she was interested in, but there were a ton she shared with the spirit.

Eyes emerged on all fours from an alleyway, and Rosalyn had to resist the urge to run over and hug the massive woman. Stupid instincts making the friendliest of the group still want to kill her. It wasn’t fair. She wanted to know what those scales felt like!

“Oh, hey, Alruna and Rosalyn! Was just headed over to help Wool with some cleaning chores. Patrol go alright?”

“We had a run-in with some Warped, and a large one at that, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Oh wow. Tell me about it later, yeah? Was it taller than me?”

“Nah, but it was definitely wider, and half person half octopus, and a bunch of other stuff,” Rosalyn blurted. “I’ll tell you all about its insides later.”

Eyes was hard to read, considering her cornucopia of eyes only had a few eyelids and fewer eyebrows, but Rosalyn could tell when she’d unnerved someone. A little twitch and hesitation in her movements was all she needed.

“Sorry! Don’t mean to, uh, to make you nervous.” She felt her shoulders slouching as the anxiety wrapped around her like a static blanket.

“It’s… fine, I just didn’t know you did something like that?” Eyes was definitely not fine. She was just saying that to be nice.

“Yeah… well… uh… I can tell you about other stuff if you want?” Her heart was pounding again. She’d messed up, and Eyes thought she was creepy. This wasn’t good. She wanted to be friends, and her stupid mouth was causing its usual problems.

“No, sorry, I just hadn’t known you were interested in that?” Eyes said with an unconvincing effort to sound normal.

“It’s fine.”

Rosalyn felt like she was the worst. She’d scared Eyes.

“Eyes, Rosalyn dissects Warped to figure out what makes them special. It’s quite involved, but apparently she takes the study very seriously. She only works on dead things, too, right?”

“Oh, definitely!” Rosalyn agreed, hopping on the lifeline Alruna had thrown her. “What was the word Zidane used? Autopsy? Yeah! Figuring out what a person or creature was like by looking at their body. We usually get to know what they’re like since we’re fighting them, but there are other things inside that would surprise you. This other Warped had a condensed ball of flesh inside it, which it used to feed its regeneration. Let me tell you, that was nasty. I… I’m being gross again.”

“Hey, I’ve done my fighting, and keep doing it. I just don’t have a stomach for more blood than there needs to be, alright?” Eyes’ voice was gentle. “Just because you do, doesn’t mean that’s wrong. Heck, you could be a doctor pretty easily if with all you’ve learned about bodies, huh?”

It’s ok, Rosalyn. They still like you. Don’t be afraid, Xirali murmured in her ear.

“I mean, I can dress a wound in a jiff, but I dunno about surgery. Things that are alive are wiggly.”

Eyes laughed at that. The sound lifted Rosalyn’s spirits just a little. “Yeah, that seems to be the case. Love to move around, us living things. So, you’re helping Alruna out?”

“Yup! Gonna see what all this Alchemy stuff is about. Figure between us, we can make some crazy stuff even if my contribution’s mostly ingredients.”

“That’s harder than you give it credit, Rosalyn,” Alruna chided. “Especially the type of ingredients you provide.”

“She’s right. Be proud of your work,” Eyes nodded. “Sometimes that’s all we’ve got, and it can keep us going when things get hard.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, want to talk later? Maybe not about dead things?” Rosalyn asked, adjusting her glasses as she craned her neck to look Eyes in the eyes.

“Duh. I’ll be down at the waterfall later. We can swim if you want!”

“Yeah! Super interested to see how you breathe underwater!”

“Alright, see you later!”

“Oh, Eyes, head down to the field. Katlyn wants to have a mock fight with Tarnu, and I said you’d officiate. Keep them from hurting eachother overmuch?”

“Yes, boss,” Eyes said, snapping a salute. “See ya later, Rosalyn!”

Rosalyn waved at the retreating giant.

“Thanks for the save.”

“You didn’t know Eyes wasn’t fond of such things. Blame is not upon you,” Alruna said, continuing their walk. “She is a gentle one when she doesn’t need to fight. It’s a wonder she’s such a ferocious combatant at all.”

“No kidding,” Rosalyn mumbled, watching Eyes’ hulking form move above the tent city.

It didn’t take long before they got to Alruna’s place. Unlike the rest of the town, it was made of stone. All of it was rough and more like slabs leaning against each other in the rough shape of a house, but it looked mostly stable. Alruna must have caught Rosalyn staring, because she laughed. It was so hard to tell what she was thinking with the blindfold and all the stuff covering her. None of her fallbacks were useful here.

Inside was as basic as the outside. In the corner of the single room was a bed with a straw mattress, then a dresser and a closet. Simple, but it looked comfy enough. It wasn’t much different from many farmers’ homes. Alruna removed her blindfold and hood, hanging them on hooks by the door. Rosalyn was unprepared as she shed more of her garments, taking off a long coat that revealed a tight black cloth that wrapped around her chest and ended just before her pelvis. It didn’t look like it was compressing anything, but it was tight enough to see the woman’s flat stomach and nearly flat chest in full detail. Rosalyn was a little jealous. She’d lost a good amount of weight walking, but still had a little belly on her. Alruna shook out her worm hair, the strands writhing in a wild halo, and shucked the skirts she wore over her black pants. Even the baggy fabric couldn’t hide her figure. Ann was right, the woman had incredible hips.

The difference was night and day. Alruna’s mysterious appearance was stripped away and hung neatly on the wall for later use.

“Ah, that’s better. Oh, apologies, I should have asked if you were comfortable with this. Loose fabric is a problem when mixing and working with brews. I prefer to wear as little as I can, but I understand if this is off-putting.”

“No, I said you’re pretty, and I’m sticking to it,” Rosalyn said stubbornly, looking into those strangely turned eyes. Honestly, it was pretty easy to ignore how they were made up of worms. They were still enough, and moved naturally enough, that the illusion was nearly perfect. Light was the only thing that revealed the uneven surface, and that they weren’t as glossy as they should be.

Wow, Rosalyn hadn’t gotten to see how defined the woman’s arms were. They were still skinny compared to Kat, but the muscles were crazy! Ann’s kinda rippled under her skin and didn’t get in the way of her soft curves, and Lucia looked like her skin was wrapped around the slender muscles and nothing else, then Kat was a statue. Alruna kept her musculature small, only betrayed when she moved, and you saw her bicep double in size. Sadly, she kept the gloves on, hiding the fluff Rosalyn knew was under them.

“Are you well?” Alruna asked. How long had Rosalyn been staring?

“Yeah, sorry, just a little caught up in your arms, uh, looks, uh, you’re very nice looking.”

Alruna’s cheeks turned that weird black colour. Her blood had to be black, so that’d be her blushing. She’d gotten a blush? With that fumble?

“Well, this is my workspace. Here is my cauldron and other tools.”

Alruna took Rosalyn through a tour of the area. It wasn’t much, being perfectly honest. The metal cauldron was bubbling merrily, heated by flame crystals set into the floor. It made sense, since the house didn’t have a good way to vent smoke. Various glass vials and other containers were neatly arranged along the wall-length table.

On one wall, and anchored into the ceiling, were racks of dried herbs. Rosalyn recognised a few, but most were completely foreign. She recognised dandelions, bloodblossoms, some winter’s root and pine nuts. There were even some lichens and mosses that were dried out and put in nearby jars. The other wall was for finished products, with a set of potions clearly labelled and set in an orderly display.

“Where’d you get all this stuff? It seems specialised.”

“I can go into town. I make orders for this type of thing, and the townspeople know I’m an alchemist. They don’t ask questions, and I’ve even provided my services now and then. Potion making is a valuable skill, and having someone able to do so nearby is good for the entire community.”

“I can bet. My town didn’t have anyone like that. We just had a doctor who could set bones and do some minor healing. He never got very high in his levels, but he was good at what he did without magic.”

“A small blessing of our altered bodies is that we rarely grow sick, and injuries regenerate on their own, but a healing potion will still make the process faster, and save some pain. We have nettles and other numbing plants I’ve mixed into a few potions to help those with more painful transformations.”

“More painful? I know being a Warped doesn’t really make sense in general, and hurts during the process, but it can keep hurting?”

Alruna stepped over to a small alcove and washed her hands in a pail. “Imagine a transformation that means some portion of your body is constantly digging into your flesh. No matter what you do, you cannot get rid of it, as it will grow back. Not only that, but the wound would heal if you dealt with the problem, and the pain would begin all over later. We have seen some with teeth going directly into their brain, ribs that curled out of their chest and back into their organs. One was particularly unfortunate, as their transformation caused metal spikes to rise from their sides where their arms would rest. Mulder put together a brace to keep their arms elevated.”

“They’re the one who made the neck brace for Eyes to sleep?” Rosalyn asked, pulling up her sleeves to stand next to Alruna.

“Correct. If you see carpentry work here, that will be by their hands. I wish we could have better, but the volatility of our natures makes some things impractical. Even a mason would be working constantly.”

As Alruna spoke, her shoulders split open, and worms poured forth, weaving into long tendrils. With the cloaks out of the way, Rosalyn saw them moving under Alruna’s back, her skin shrinking noticeably around her waist as they pushed outward. A couple reached over to the herbs, picking up jars and branches with easy dexterity. A thicker set out of Alruna’s right arm reached over to the stick in the cauldron, stirring it. Alruna herself took to grinding a few things together with her own hands.

“Whoa, you’re a one-woman shop!” Rosalyn gasped.

Alruna blushed as she kept up grinding with a steady rhythm. “I suppose I am. Help has been few and far between. The worms do help quite a bit. Be a dear and fetch the water over to the right and hand me the yellow glowing dust?”

Rosalyn found it incredibly easy to find the ingredients with how organised everything was. Holding them up, two tendrils of worms took them gently, adding each in precise amounts to the cauldron.

“Does any of this hurt you?” Rosalyn asked.

“It’s uncomfortable, but I’ve become accustomed to the sensation. The worms have replaced so much of my body it feels strange having them outside it.” She finished grinding and added the powdered herb mixture to a jar, setting it aside. “Now, let’s see what you have to offer, Rosalyn.”

“Huh?”

“Pieces of the Warped you’ve collected,” Alruna explained. Gods, she sounded so patient all the time. It was very relaxing. “I… I’ve got some.”

It was a lie. She had more than some. She’d started collecting bits and pieces she found interesting lately. Some teeth here, maybe a strip of flesh that had a strange colouration to it. She wasn’t quite sure why she was ashamed of what she was, but it just felt like something to keep to herself. The conversation with Eyes had reinforced that notion.

Hey, I told you to stop worrying about that. Curiosity’s nothing bad, Xirali grumbled. Not gonna figure out anything if we don’t get digging.

She was right. Rosalyn would have to take a chance and trust Alruna a little. She pulled the beak she’d carved out of the Warped they’d fought earlier. It was a bulky thing, and she’d had to rearrange a couple of items in her pack to make it fit.

“Oh? A core piece of the creature, and it should be fairly powerful considering how fresh it is.” Alruna took it without flinching, even as some of the flesh Rosalyn hadn’t managed to scrape free flopped around. She returned to her workbench and grabbed a knife. Slowly, she shaved a flake off the surface, then another. After a minute or so, she had a collection of shavings.

“Alright, now we get to discover what uses this might have.”

Alruna and her worms took a few things, mainly a metal bowl, a heat crystal, and a liquid Rosalyn didn’t recognise. She set up a small apparatus with the bowl being heated from below.

“Why do you not speak about this with your mates?” Alruna asked suddenly.

“Sorry, what?”

“Rosalyn, I am adept at finding deceit. Hidden emotions are potentially deadly to us. So, again, why hide this from your mates?”

“I… I dunno. I just don’t think they’d really get it. They already don’t quite get me digging around in the bodies, and let me just do it on my own. I know it’s gross, so I don’t push it. Figure I can save them the nasty parts and give them the interesting parts, you know?”

“Hm, I’m not one who should be judging. I have plenty of secrets. Now, add these to the bowl,” Alruna instructed.

Grateful for the distraction, Rosalyn took the pile of shavings and let them fall into the bowl. She expected something to happen, but they just sank into the mixture. It was kinda disappointing.

“Now that this is done, they will dissolve and extract whatever properties it might hold. Let’s mix it with healing herbs and see what we get.”

Worms lashed out and grabbed jars of crushed herbs, mixing them deftly into the bowl. After a moment, Alruna was swirling a green potion with visible flakes of herb in it. Thankfully, it didn’t look like any of the beak had survived.

“As Bones said before, this will taste terrible. I have not been able to procure a mint plant, and its tendency to grow like a weed can be a problem. Do you want to test it?”

Rosalyn eyed the vial nervously. She had helped make the potion. Shouldn’t she be the one to drink it?

“I promise it’ll be safe. If not, I will carry you to Bren immediately.”

Well, that was an offer Rosalyn couldn’t refuse.

She took the glass and tipped it back. It was still nearly scalding, but that just helped her deal with the incredibly bitter drink. Bones hadn’t been exaggerating; it was awful. A warmth spread through her chest, but that was normal for a hot drink. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.

“I… it might be a dud?”

“Give it a second,” Alruna said, watching her closely. Even her worms had stilled, settling into what looked like normal hair; she was so focused.

Something twinged in Rosalyn’s chest, then a strange soothing feeling spread from her stomach. That could be the healing potion, but something felt a little weird, like her arm wasn’t quite solid. She poked at herself and felt her skin stretch a bit more than it should have. Once the feeling passed, she pinched some skin and pulled. It wasn’t a crazy change, but her skin was a little more elastic than it had been before. Not a very useful… no, wait, that was very useful in one way.

“So, a softening potion. Interesting,” Alruna mumbled to herself, watching Rosalyn tug at her ears. “The reaction seems to be good with the healing herbs, but I think a different mixture might give better results.”

Rosalyn grabbed her horns and stared with shock as she could squish them a little. That was so weird!

“I don’t even know how you could use this,” Rosalyn giggled, messing with her mushy horns. The core was still solid, and they only squished in a centimetre or so, but the sensation was bizarre.

“Well, take Bones, for instance. If we needed to bend some of his bones out of the way to treat something, this would be useful. Other applications could include getting into tighter spots or out of tight spots. With a stronger mixture, I could make your horns almost rubbery. Hm, maybe I could get it to target them specifically?”

“No!” Rosalyn blurted. “I mean, why just the horns? Why not just the skin?”

“But your horns are the hardest part of your body. Why would you want them to remain that way when taking this potion?”

“Uh… don’t worry about it?”

Alruna gave her a prying look.

“Ok, so it’s a sex thing.”

Alruna looked even more confused.

“Just… don’t worry about it. Could you do it?”

“I can. I may run into that mixture as I test. I will let you know,” Alruna nodded slowly, never glancing away.

“Cool, so what else can we make?”

“What else do you have?”

Rosalyn dug excitedly in her bag.