Pausing to peek her head timidly through the slightly open doorway, a thin young woman clad in a dark green robe stepped into the shop. Pulling back her hood revealed flowing, platinum blonde hair, large, glistening blue eyes, a pair of ears coming to a point at the top.
Lendriss Qua’nal of Talondale Forest was only 30 years of age, more than old enough to be a woman by human standards, but barely more than a child among elves. Since she was a little girl, she possessed a deep fascination with all manners of magic. While this was far from uncommon among her people, her family were merchants, and had been for thousands of years. Despite her parents’ urging to focus more on the family’s line of work, she continued to delve deeper in her studies, and in so doing, discovered there was much to learn outside the isolated communities she had grown up in. Out here in the human lands, they had much more cavalier attitudes toward learning new ways to connect themselves to the elements and the arcane. This often was a source of ridicule by the more tradition-based elven magical practitioners, but it was difficult to deny the unique and amazing results they often attained.
One such frontier of learning was that of alchemy. From the elves’ point of view, this was a known science. The recipes for healing, invisibility, and fertility potions had been perfected by their ancestors ages ago after all, so what more did one need? Alchemists in elven communities were little more than merchants themselves; study and experimentation were a thing of the past. However, Lendriss had heard stories from passing travelers about new and exciting things still happening in this field. She wasn’t about to be left in the dust like the rest of her people.
Seeing a small bell labeled “RING FOR SERVICE” hanging near the front counter, the sorceress pulled the cord and let a soft jingle fill the room. A few seconds later, the door in back opened as Rizzik stepped through with an expectant smile. “Ah, my lady, good to see—” his voice trailed off as he saw someone different standing on the other side of my counter. “Ahem, apologies,” he finished, showing a polite smile but still carrying a hint of disappointment in his tone. “How may I help you?”
Lendriss returned the smile. “Greetings, potion master. I was hoping you could show me some of your latest projects. I am a sorceress of Talondale currently touring the human lands and I would very much like to see what new conjurations the wizards of the valley realms have been working to perfect.”
“Talondale?” Rizzik repeated with brief surprise, before continuing to wipe down the counter idly with a nearby rag. “You’ve come a long way, then. I admit I haven’t heard of many elves engaging in exploratory alchemy.”
“It is...uncommon among my people,” Lendriss agreed, somewhat sadly. “But I have always been eager to gain more knowledge in all magical applicatons.”
“Well...” Rizzik began, beginning to become impatient and noting the potion he had recently created in his peripheral, still emanating its own soft glow among the candlelight. “I’m afraid I will disappoint you in that regard, Miss. I am just a simple vendor with no new prospective projects on the horizon. Now I’d be happy to provide you with a healing potion to help aid your continuing journey...”
Lendriss’ face fell at the news as she shook her head and slowly turned to leave, but then she noticed an unusual sight. Moving toward it, her expression changed to that of wonder as she regarded the potion on the workbench across the room. “What is this?” she asked, still transfixed by its luminescent aura.
“Oh that’s nothing,” Rizzik said dismissively, hurrying over to grab it and store it away. “Just a healing potion that’s happening to reflect the candlelight in an odd way.”
The elf moved closer, trying to catch every angle of the glass-encased liquid before her. “This is vendiroot-based, like healing potions?” she inquired. “How did you find such a unique strain? Or does it normally produce this amount of brightness where it grows here?”
“Ah...yes, it is indeed vendiroot-based,” Rizzik confirmed, both taken aback and impressed by her knowledge, “but the glow is achieved through a combination of dourvine and weeping cragfern extract. The vendiroot is actually added last, once the other ingredients have coalesced. It also results in other...unique properties beyond that of a standard health potion.”
Lendriss finally pulled her gaze away from the potion and turned to face Rizzik, her face lit up with excitement. “I would very much like to study this further! What is your price?”
The wizard shook his head. “Unfortunately it’s not for sale. I have it reserved on special order and it’s my only stock at the moment.”
“Please sir,” Lendriss pleaded, “I will gladly pay top price, plus extra to compensate for any inconvenience to your other patrons.”
“That’s very generous of you Miss, but...”
Rizzik was interrupted by a large coin purse, filled to the brim, landing heavily on the counter in front of them. A few coins if various sizes and engravings had spilled out and a portion of them immediately caught the wizard’s eye. “Are those...Kurosian doubloons?”
Lendriss shrugged. “I think so. Why do you ask?”
Lendriss’ parents were not only merchants, they were very successful merchants, maintaining ties with many realms and nations across the world. Neither the Isles of Kuros nor their inhabitants were very often visited by humans of the mainland; many considered them a myth, in fact. However, elves in general were much more successful in establishing political and commercial relations. They dealt in gold currency like most of the world, but one coin was as good as the other. Humans on the other hand, placed a much greater value on those which were exceptionally rare.
From what Rizzik saw, the coins that fell onto the table alone were worth at least five times more than what Estrel had paid him.
A few minutes later, a beaming Lendriss exited the shop, storing the potion securely in her satchel. Feeling newly invigorated by her success, she confidently turned and headed south to leave town. Little was she aware of the challenges, or more specifically, the creatures she would meet on the rest of her journey...
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