Chapter 77

Sabina held the potion vial up to the air, inspecting the swirling red liquid with a critical eye. She frowned, and Zoey’s heart skipped a beat. Had she messed up?

“It’s poor,” Sabina said, shaking the vial. “Clearly the work of an amateur.”

Zoey stared at Sabina, distraught. That had been ... more direct than Zoey had expected. Sabina tilted her head, pausing, as if confused at Zoey’s reaction.

“You are an amateur,” Sabina pointed out. “Perhaps not even that. A stark beginner. And in that regard, you’ve done quite well. Much better than expected.” She paused. “Ah. I should have led with that. I apologize.”

Zoey stared at Sabina a second longer, then laughed and relaxed. Well, she had known the tall, antlered woman for a bit now, so it wasn’t like she was surprised. Sabina’s lack of grace in social situations was well established. Her pride stung, still, but as Sabina had said, she was a ‘stark beginner’. There wasn’t anything to take offense at.

Alchemy was the sort of skill that took ages to improve at. And she’d said Zoey had done ‘well’ and even ‘better than expected’. The flip side to Sabina’s brutal and sometimes clueless honesty was that she could trust the praise. So, she’d done horribly, but all beginners were expected to be bad. And for a beginner, she’d done quite well.

“That’s good,” Zoey said. “Honestly, I’m just glad I got through it. I was getting worried near the middle. And then bottling, that it’d actually catalyze.”

It felt like she had been tackling catastrophe after catastrophe during the brewing stage. Her rune afforded her plenty of instincts in identifying what was wrong, but much less so how to solve those problems. But even so, with minimal guidance, she’d managed a small pot of healing potions—about six vials’ worth. And sure, health potions were one of the easiest recipes in existence, but progress came in small steps.

Sabina hummed in understanding. “The chaos of the brew is one of the most engaging aspects. One of the reasons I love it.” At Zoey’s dubious look, having found the situation quite stressful, Sabina said, “Once you get to upper-level brews, you’ll understand.”

“If you say so.”

She’d grown an easy familiarity with Sabina over yesterday’s, and now today’s, lessons. Though Sabina remained as cool and clinical as ever, the two of them were starting to build a repertoire, a comfort around each other.

“Now,” Sabina said. “Let’s get cleaned up and try something more complex. Go ahead and throw that out.”

The health potions Zoey had made were effectively worthless, and so Zoey had known it would be thrown out rather than saved and sold as merchandise, but she winced anyway. Sabina’s frankness was endearing most of the time, but not all the time. She couldn’t have put it slightly more delicately? That was Zoey’s first brew ever ... and straight into the sink, disposed of? It made sense, but still. Oh well.

She and Sabina started cleaning the many utensils and equipment they’d dirtied while brewing. While scrubbing down the equipment and scrubbing out the vials, Zoey brought up a topic she’d been chewing over.

“How much do alchemy runes vary, anyways?” Sink-water poured down as a backdrop noise. Zoey scraped and scrubbed while Sabina dried and laid the tools out on racks.

“You’ll need to be more specific.”

“You say that a lot.”

“Because you’re vague a lot,” Sabina said pointedly.

Zoey laughed, and while Sabina didn’t do so—or even smile—Zoey was learning to read the granite-expressioned woman. The quick retort was playful, by Sabina standards, even if it lacked the usual indicators.

“Can a person’s overall class affect their alchemy rune?” Zoey tried again. “Their ‘path’, or whatever.”

Zoey had been more specific, like Sabina had asked, but Zoey also winced at doing so. Because Sabina was a brilliant woman, and so, when Zoey asked questions like these, she always read the intent behind them.

Zoey had asked whether her class affected her alchemy rune. And Sabina had surely deduced what Zoey’s class was, at least in roundabout terms. The lewd nature of it. She had dragged home several bizarrely sexual alchemy regents. And Zoey’s bulge—the fourteen inch monster—meant her other not-so-typical circumstances were on display, too.

So, Sabina knew where Zoey was going with the question. Indeed, by the sideways glance Sabina shot her, she definitely had. Not much got past her, where deduction was required.

Sabina sighed. She set the utensil she’d been cleaning aside, then dried her hands. “That’s it. Follow me.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been asking similar questions constantly. Both today and this morning. So, let’s sate your curiosity. Follow me.”

“Huh?” she repeated, cheeks coloring. Like she’d figured, she’d been seen through in an instant. How embarrassing. “I was just—”

Sabina waved her hand, cutting Zoey off. “Follow me,” she said for the third time.

Perplexed, Zoey dried off her hands and followed Sabina. The rest of the uncleaned equipment went forgotten, a distinctly not Sabina action. While her store was nearly in disrepair, her equipment she kept meticulous care of—as expected of a dedicated scientist.

She followed Sabina out of her laboratory, into the storefront, and through a different door, which led to a staircase. Sabina guided her up into her living quarters, which sat on top of the alchemy shop. Zoey hadn’t ever been here. Obviously. She’d only known Sabina a few days, and been apprenticed to her for two, so of course she’d never been to Sabina’s bedroom.

But still. What was going on? What did this have to do with Zoey’s question?

Her bedroom wasn’t in much better condition than her store. She didn’t have a bedframe, even. A mattress laid on the floor, blanket tossed to the side. She had a single pillow. Piled next to the mattress was heaps of books, notebooks, and papers. A sloppy academic, the image of Sabina was reinforced for the hundredth time. Chalkboards were tucked to the side of the room, with hasty diagrams and cramped script she couldn’t read, both because of how sloppy it was and by how quickly she was led through the room. Sabina guided her through in a few short seconds, ushering Zoey through a second doorway.