“Calla lily negates the effects of the everlass, sure, but only when too much is used or it’s with other base-type ingredients. Everlass runs a bit acidic, so too much base will deaden it. But given how acidic this elixir tastes, one petal for a pot this size will cut down on the acid without affecting the elixir too much. It’ll still do the job…though I don’t recognize this concoction. What are you trying to do?”
“You can’t tell from—”
“Severe joint ache caused by age,” Ami cut in. “A patient in the infirmary suffers from habitual joint ache when he flies too much. He doesn’t want to deal with the side effects of our healing elixir, though.”
“Raging diarrhea, yeah. I don’t blame him.” I nodded, resting my hands on my hips. “Well, the calla lily will certainly help, but I have a great remedy for arthritis that has no side effects. It’ll help the joint pain, no problem. The symptoms are basically the same, right? I ran into the diarrhea problem as well, but it wasn’t an option for me to ignore it. People barely had enough food—they couldn’t afford to lose it that way.”
“Show me,” Ami said, coming over.
I got to work, finding most of the things I needed in her well-stocked and -maintained garden and the rest in the wood. It was an arduous concoction; one needed to pound certain things, grind others, and mix them in a way that the ingredients all harmonized together. Thankfully, Ami and Claudile were great help, needing very little instruction. Gunduin and Hannon helped when needed or asked, both of them working peacefully with us until a large pot was set above the fire to simmer slowly.
“I don’t see how this will work,” Claudile said, looking down into the murky liquid. “No one is going to want to drink that.”
I held up a finger as a shape caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Micah stepped in close to the side fence, having just left the road. I was late for my sword training with Tamara, and he’d clearly wanted to make sure I was okay.
I ignored him for a moment. “The trick is to simmer it very lightly. If it boils, it’s ruined. In fact, if it even brushes up against a boil, it won’t work nearly as well. You need to keep it on very low heat for three hours, give or take. The murkiness will clear, and the water will turn a lovely lavender color and smell really nice. Take it off the heat then, let it cool, and then serve it. Don’t serve it hot, though, or else it’ll have a punch of sourness and people will bitch. I mean, it’ll still work, but people who ache all the time are already cranky as all hell. It’s easy to push them over the edge. Then they yell at Hannon.”
“It’s not pleasant,” Hannon murmured.
Ami quirked a brow.
I smiled. “I’m not good with people. Hannon administers the elixirs. I couldn’t be arsed. He helped a guy down the way from our house and…well, I could hear the yelling from my backyard.”
“Old man Fortety is miserable at the best of times,” Hannon grumbled. “I still hold a grudge that you sent me down with that elixir, knowing it was too hot.”
I laughed; I couldn’t help it. It had been a dick move, but sometimes I liked seeing Hannon get all riled up.
“Finley, it’s time to head back to the others,” Micah said, checking me over. “You have a gash on your arm.” His eyes flashed menace as he glanced at Ami. An annoying little flutter tickled my belly, something that had happened a couple of times in his presence at the demons’ castle, and more often these last few days. “You’re pushing her too hard. From now on, she’ll practice with the other newly shifted. It’s a better place for her to learn.”
“All due respect, alpha,” Ami replied, “but she is pushing herself. She nearly has the hang of that updraft. We showed her once. She chooses to go back, over and over, trying to best it. What would you have us do, fight her to keep her away?”
I’ll take that fight, my dragon thought. She would, too, and we’d get stomped on by these women. They weren’t as powerful as us, but they were wily and experienced and sometimes downright vicious. They’d smack us down and call it a lesson.
That lesson would likely hurt something fierce.
Gunduin grinned, always seemingly happy-go-lucky. You couldn’t help but like the guy. “She’s a fire starter. Training her like the other newly shifted would waste her time.”
Micah’s hard gaze settled on Gunduin for a moment, and I could practically see the power curling from Micah, heavy and thick. Gunduin picked up the vibe, an obvious challenge, and held the stare for a long moment. Then something flickered in his eyes, and he dropped them.