Coming Clean

Shanna stared at Norribell's door.

She once again saw the dust, dirt and grime upon the windows.
And once again hesitated. Although this time for an altogether different reason.

The same nervousness that had overwhelmed her before knocking on Lady Yvessa's door, now gripped her here too.

What am I hesitating for she thought to herself… This was Norri after all.

Promptly proceeding to the door, her hand was aloft ready to knock when for the second time in a few days a loud sound ripped through the air.

It was yet another explosion.

Shocked completely straight, it took a few seconds before her mind was able to think coherently. But when it did and when the ringing in her ears had stilled a very important thought begged for immediate attention.

That explosion came from dead ahead...
From Norri's shop!

Her body carried her instinctively same as when Rondy had been in danger, and she burst into the shop thinking only of the Alchemist's safety.

"Norri…! Are you okay?!" Shanna called out, looking around.

Wooden furniture littered the little room in a heap, while the vague smell of potion lingered in the air.
As Shanna carefully looked around she became aware of a particularly large heap, and of legs frantically kicking around underneath them.

"H-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l-p-p-p-p…!" Came Norri's cry from underneath the debris.

"Huh." Shanna thought.
She found her body losing its sense of urgency subconsciously.

Maybe it wasn't deja vu as much as it was the Alchemists need to get ever closer to the proverbial sun, only learning of their mistakes when they were literally exploded.

~ ~

"You're a real life-saver Shanna. I-I can't thank you enough… Seriously! I'm so, so, so grateful!" Norri mumbled out from below, his bow in thanks having been so low his forehead was practically dusting the floor.

As he rose to look her way, Shanna was impressed to see he looked no worse for wear despite the earlier furniture crushing.

Well, despite the dirt on his face now thanks to all that grovelling… and the spiderweb in his hair… Shanna somehow resisted the urge to run a washcloth all over his face as a mother would.
This man clearly needed confidence, not coddling.

"It's no worry." Shanna said waving a hand. "It seems like this is a common occurrence for Alchemists…" She said looking about the messy shop.

"It really seems so, huh… I'm afraid we don't have the best social reputations. It's a good thing our goods usually speak for us." He said busying about the shop and righting the upturned furniture.

After propping up two stools he gestured for Shanna to sit while he took the other.
"As you can see I'm quite hopeless when it comes to potion making…" He said with a sigh. "It's no wonder that Rondy gets all the business."

Could this be the motive, Shanna thought.
Had Norri been so jealous over his lack of skill that he sought to take out Rondy so he could benefit from being the sole Alchemist in town…?

Before her theory could get too far out of hand, she decided to begin her subtle interrogation.

"Say, did you happen to visit my boyfriend's shop on the day of the accident?" She cleverly began.

"Oh, n-no, I'd been out all day. At the start of the week I forage in the woods. I'm only back in town around evening." He said blinking a little too quickly.

"Really? Because someone saw you."
Norri's eyes widened.

"W-who…?" But he knew. After all they'd seen each other. He closed his eyes.
"Ah… Lady Yvessa ...Miss Goodwill."

She couldn't believe it.
Shanna couldn't believe he'd tried to lie straight to her face!

And now she was ruing her earlier conversation with Yvessa as well. Maybe if she'd been more subtle, more leading without offering information she would've let something slip!

Sure, she was a forager by trade.
Not an ace investigator like the main characters in Merridee's favourite novels.

But that information wasn't doing much to make her feel better right now!!!
…Maybe once all was said and done, she ought to borrow one of those detective novels from her…

Covering his face in his hands Norri peered at her through his fingers. "A-Ah, I-I'm sorry!… Please forgive me…!"

Shanna crossed her arms. "You need to be honest with me, Norri!"

He slumped even harder, rubbing at his arm as if he'd caught a chill.
After a while, he sighed. Then finally turned to face her.

"As you can see, I'm not the best… no." He shook his head. "It's more accurate to say I'm one of the worst Alchemists in the world. I'm stuck at the novice class, unable to pass the higher exams, barely good enough to become a seller, a forgettable failure…"

In the midst of all that moping, Shanna felt the need to interject. "Come on now, no one thinks you're a forgettable failure, Norri."

"But nobody ever remembers my face, ever remembers me being there." He looked up at her. "You didn't remember me either."

Well Yvessa did, Shanna mused to herself.
She tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"

"We passed each other… When you first came to town."

Shanna struggled to remember.

Had they…? She was doubtful she could remember anything substantial from that long ago, especially when her injured Rondy had taken up most of her brain space.

Had she been missing clues from that early on…?

"It's okay, Miss Shanna. As I said, I'm used to being forgotten."

He took a breath before continuing, gesturing at the destroyed shop around him. "And well… the proof of my lack of talent is here."
He shook his head.

"After seeing Rondy yesterday, I really wanted to try making an antidote. I really did. I wanted to try and do it since you said 'people can do anything they put their mind to'…" His ears and cheeks once again burned bright.
"But who am I kidding. I can't even make basic recipes let alone complicated new ones…"

Shanna recalled his hasty retreat the other day and decided to follow up on it.
"So were you and Rondy friends?"

"I hope he thought of me that way." Norri said confirming it. "He was so kind, even to someone like me who'd pollute a garbage heap."

We really need to do something about this self esteem, Shanna thought grimacing.

"We'd met when he came round for some spare ingredients. I told him he could take what he wanted, since I'm basically no good… T-To be totally honest, I think I was a bit in awe that someone that talented and special would even knock on my door, let alone look at me..."

"But that's when the most surprising thing happened." Norri said pushing his glasses up.

"What?"

"He offered to give me lessons." Even recounting it, Norri's voice seemed to carry that same awe as when he'd first been offered.

That's not surprising, Shanna thought.
She didn't just fall in love with him for his unbelievably good looks (although it didn't hurt.)

It was also the goodness that openly poured from his heart.

"Rondy was such a good teacher, I-I found myself getting the hang of things for once. He even called me his apprentice, and offered to make it official." He said scratching his cheek while he looked down at his shoes.

"It was a nice change after my first teacher… S-she was a terrible woman… and I learned nothing." He let loose an immense sigh. "Maybe that's why I never really got better at potion making."

"So wait…" Shanna mused. "Does that mean the footprint in our storeroom was yours?"

He nodded.
At least that was one mystery solved.

"So you were doing lessons on that day as well, I take it…" She pondered aloud.
It should've been an easy thing to acknowledge, but Norri's mood instantly nosedived.

He'd begun shivering like a wet animal, and at her questioning gaze he finally shook his head.

"No… We weren't…"

Shanna waited patiently for him as she unintentionally leaned in closer for the rest of the tale.

"…When my old teacher passed, I inherited her possessions since she had no one else in her life. I didn't have much use for them, but I kept them all the same… Selling or tossing out someone's treasured items just didn't really feel right." He said looking out the dusty window.

"But when Rondy came round he was quite interested in one of her things. A book. It was written in Old Tongue… Apparently an old recipe book for potions."

"Where is that book now?" Shanna asked, trying to recall every book she'd seen on his shelves.

"Oh, I have it with me." Norri said with a bob of his head. He raised from his seat in order to grab it from inside one of the desk shelves, and presented it before her.

The book's rich blue cover was peeling while the golden writing that embellished it was faded and weather-worn. As Norri had said, the writing had been in the Old Tongue.

"This looks really valuable…" Shanna said aloud.

"I thought so too." Norri nodded. "That's why Rondy always told me to take it back to my place when we weren't using it. Because of those rumours lately about thieves."

Shanna slowly clocked on to what he'd been trying to say this whole time. "Hold on. Are you saying you and Rondy were trying to create potions from this book?"

He steadied his glasses as he bobbed his head. "E-Exactly! But…"
He looked at Shanna. "We weren't supposed to be making anything on the day of the accident. We'd agreed not to until we got the one ingredient we were missing. A strange and rarely seen plant."

Shanna stood up in her excitement. "The Atristus flower!"
"Right."

Norri clutched at both his arms as he continued. "So why… why was Rondy trying to make something? I don't get it. I thought we'd agreed to wait until you'd returned with the Atristus flower."

"Huh." Shanna said putting a hand on her chin. "But then why were you at the shop if you'd both decided to wait for my return?"

Norri shrunk at her words. She gave him a dubious look, and he cowered further.

"There was no attack." He said trembling from her gaze. "There was no assailant. I-It's all my fault… That's why I went."

This was one bridge Shanna wasn't going to be able to cross without additional assistance. "…I'm sorry, I don't exactly get what you mean."

Realizing he had to explain himself further he took in a great big shuddering breath.

"One of the ingredients we were using for the potion was the Mandragoros herb… And it combusts if sealed incorrectly."

Shanna was starting to get where this was going…

"I'd been in a panic a-all night. Had I stored them correctly? I rushed over first thing in the morning, but…" He shook his head, turning pale from the memory.

"I knew something was wrong right away… When I entered the storeroom and saw Rondy unconscious… Saw the explosion aftermath… I-I'd wanted to know if he was okay… But I heard someone outside talking to that lady elf…! I was in such a panic… I must've left the footprint then."
He shook his head biting his lip.

So Noelle had been there too?
And she'd been talking to Lady Yvessa before the explosion…?

"So you see all of this was my fault." His hands clenched his knees hard as he doubled over.

"And then on top of it all, I ran. I ran when the only friend I've ever known needed me, because I was too much of a coward, too afraid that people wouldn't see it as an accident, but as motive for trying to remove the better Alchemist."

With his sorry tale finally at its conclusion, Norri's head fell, a defeated man.

He looked like a prey animal who'd been completely surrounded by predators.
One that had entirely surrendered to any form of fight.

Shanna had gone through so many emotional states throughout the entire discussion.
Disappointment.
Anger.
Sadness.
And sympathy.

She couldn't deny his fears about a potential motive, since that's exactly where her mind had initially gone as well.

Before her was someone who'd never had anyone in their corner before.
Never had a friend. And someone who'd been deathly afraid.

She gave herself a little shake before standing.
"Come on. Let's go and see Rondy." She said with a smile. He looked up with an agonized and confused expression upon his face.

"You said it yourself right? Rondy is your friend." She picked up her basket. "That being the case, there's only one thing left for you to do! You've got to make amends. You've got to be there for your friend."

Norri's eyes had widened. And then he'd covered his face with his hands, glasses pressed upwards as he rubbed at his eyes.
……… (Norri couldn't have known that he was smearing the dirt more comically across his face……)

With a big sniff he nodded at her.
"R-Right… Thank you." He said with eyes that sparkled. "Thank you both… Thank you so much…!" He bowed his head again.

"I won't rest until I've made amends!"