Book 1, Verse 31

The four of us packed up the campsite. As we did, I noticed that Elisa had decided not to take any of her disguising medicine. She still remembered to give me another dosage of the pain reducer as we walked through the plains.

Technically, it was only a ‘clearing’ since it was surrounded on all sides by the same King’s Wood, but aside from the patch of forest that we’d just stepped out of yesterday, I couldn’t see any forest for miles, so calling it plains made sense to me.

Everyone kept mostly to themselves until noon. We passed by some patches of flowers and saw some deer-like creatures in the distance, though their antlers looked a lot more like twisting thorns than regular antlers.

“That’s odd.” Niels commented. “Tares aren’t supposed to be out of the King’s Wood this time of year.”

I looked at Niels.

“Why is that?” Vivian asked.

“They usually mate in spring, before raising their young through the summer and fall, then they root themselves in warm places during the winter.” He explained. “I suppose they could be mating, though that usually only happens in the forest.”

Vivian nodded.

Elisa narrowed her eyes in concentration.

“Could we stop then? This might be a good chance for me to snag some alchemical materials that are normally out of season.”

“Like what? The only thing I can think of tares producing is their milk, and then only the females do that.”

Elisa looked at Niels like he was a moron.

It was nice to finally not have that face always pointed at me.

“Their blood is potent too.” She patted herself down. “Now where did I put my knife…”

Niels' eyes widened in shock and he stopped.

The rest of us stopped as well, though none of our eyes went wide.

Elisa found a small knife in her pack and nodded, before realizing that Niels was staring at her.

“What?” She said blandly as she fiddled with the knife.

Niels looked dangerous, the way clouds look before a downpour. I took a step back and motioned for Vivian to do the same.

“Blood alchemy?” He spat the words out and his long ears twitched. “You… When did that become acceptable? That was forbidden! It is forbidden!”

Elisa tilted her head at Niels.

“How long have you been out of touch with Kuzges? Or with Boswits? Blood alchemy has been legal for the last eight years.” She said, maintaining eye contact.

Niels took a step back.

For a moment, he looked speechless.

Then I saw that same anger he’d displayed when I first met him; only here it was more intense.

“Who is the fool that allowed this atrocity to happen?!” He shouted at Elisa.

She frowned and grew defensive, and her cat ears laid flat on her head as her eyes narrowed.

“For your information, it was a decision made in the court of King Alexander the Sixth.” Elisa snapped. “I’m not some crazed witch doing experiments against the law.”

Niels took a step back, reeling from what she’d said.

“With all due respect, the king hardly knows anything about alchemy! Why should he get to make such a landmark decision about it?”

“Because he’s the king! And he’d been listening to some very influential and powerful alchemists about the idea for a long time.”

“You mean he was listening only to alchemists who already supported the idea.” Niels chided.

Vivian looked at me and shrugged.

“I never really used alchemical mixtures except for what Niels sold in his tavern. Sorry I can’t explain anything about this to you Shinko.” Vivian said quietly.

“No, Vivian, it’s fine.” I replied calmly, doing my best to pay attention to both her and the argument.

“Nothing else to say? Good.” Elisa bent down and reached into her pack, before pulling out a flask that contained a murky black liquid that looked almost like used motor oil. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get some tare blood.”

She stepped around Niels.

“You disgusting animal.” Niels said, loud enough for all of us to hear.

Elisa stopped dead in her tracks.

The plains we were walking through had been very serene, with only an occasional breeze passing by to cool us down.

“I always knew faunids were bestial, but you seemed slightly different.” He sneered. “I guess you can only hide your bloodthirst successfully for so long.”

I watched as Elisa stood with her back turned to the three of us. She didn’t move. Her cat ears stayed down, but her tail fell.

My blood boiled.

“Go debase yourself then. See if I stop you.” Niels continued.

Elisa’s hand that held the knife began to shake.

I forced my brain to think as fast as it could, before I was completely overtaken with rage.

Niels was racist; however, up until this point, he hadn’t really acted like it. He’d even treated Elisa as a near-equal when they first met.

What had changed?

Blood.

Niels had been an alchemist for about ten years; he hadn’t kept up with alchemical news or things of that sort; he was against the use of blood in alchemy.

Elisa wasn’t.

This current side of Niels was the manifestation of two things, with one bringing out the other in full force.

Firstly, he feels very strongly about the use of blood in alchemy, and considering that he’s an elf, he probably doesn’t like the idea of Elisa killing something that hasn’t threatened us in the first place and that we don’t strictly need to kill.

Secondly, he was racist towards faunids. However, it’s a very subdued kind of racism; he only talked about it with me when I brought it up, and it doesn’t seem to affect his actual interactions with Elisa for the most part. Though he did say that she seemed different.

Why had she ‘seemed different?’

It clicked for me.

She was an alchemist, and a good one at that. She was sharp-witted. She was relatively attractive. She knew her stuff when it came to what she believed about the world.

Niels had liked her.

His racism had been subdued by his appreciation of who Elisa was; and when she behaved in a manner that he found reprehensible, anything holding him back from being racist to her face disappeared.

Now it was time for the hardest question.

What could I do to fix the situation?

I realized I was still the priest here.

But what could I say to convince them both to calm down? If I said anything sharp to either one of them, I might end up making things worse.

It hit me. One of those ‘pithy little verses’ that John used all the time.

I stepped out of my mind to see that only a few seconds had passed.

Vivian was still standing next to me, tearing up.

Niels was standing resolute with his arms crossed, staring death at Elisa.

Elisa had her back turned to all of us, and I could see, just barely, that she was shaking.

I opened my mouth to speak, and Niels saw it.

“Oh what are you going to say? ‘Calm down?!’ She’s the beast with a thirst for blood; why don’t you talk to her?”

That made me flinch.

If I said the wrong thing, who knew what might happen?

I spared a glance upward and bit my lip, then closed my eyes. I hoped this would work.

And prayed that God would let me say the right thing.