After a few moments, Eludora's body shuddered and she took in a breath. “Well, that was a nice energy boost. I think I can...”

“I'm not done.” I said in a stern voice and she gave me wide eyes again. “Drink this.” I said and gave her one of my rare strength potions.

“I've never seen something like that before.” Eludora said.

“I doubt anyone's seen it before.” I said and told her what it was and how expensive it was.

“N-no, I... I can't accept...”

“Drink it.” I ordered in my best army command voice.

She jerked slightly and drank it without further protest. The results were immediate. Her glamour shimmered in the daylight and seemed to change and allowed her face to show shock. Her breathing became deeper and more powerful and her grip on my shoulder tightened, while her long limbs seemed to ripple and the muscles expanded slightly.

“Good god.” Eludora whispered. “No wonder they are so expensive!”

“Drink this before your body tries to reject the strength boost.” I said and gave her a healing potion.

“Why would...”

“It's not natural and you've had no prep work.” I said. “Drink it.”

Eludora drank it just in time, because we both saw her muscles tense up and start to protest being enhanced beyond their normal capacity. She let out a groan as the healing potion slowly made its way through her and her muscles started to relax.

“I see what you mean.” Eludora said and took several deep breaths. She waited for several minutes before she turned her head to look at me. “I sincerely hope this works.”

“It normally lasts for three days when I take it. You're a bit taller than I am and also never had an enhancing potion like it.” I said. “It could last for only two days because of your size or it could last for up to four days because of your very low normal strength level.”

Eludora made a fist with her hand and then she used that hand to cup the side of my face. “Please, tell me how many of these potions you have.”

“Three.” I said and she let out a sigh. “The ingredients are too rare and hard to get. Otherwise, I would have brewed a full batch the last time and not only the small pot.”

“Then... I suppose I better enjoy this while it lasts.” Eludora said and turned her body slightly to put her feet on the ground. She took another deep breath, as if preparing to perform a difficult task, then she pushed up with her arms like she normally did as she stood up. She gasped when she stood normally and not with her regular slow pace.

“I'm glad it worked.” I said and she turned to face me with a kind of manic look in her eye. I recognized it as the look Diane had in her eye when I gave her all that stock for her store.

“You are very lucky you are betrothed.” Eludora said and bent over without having to be careful of her balance and gave me a kiss on the lips.

“Don't overexert yourself. The potion will work its way out of your system quicker if you do.” I warned her. “The general health potion should keep your energy up for about six months, unless you get sick.”

“Don't worry, David.” Eludora said and held a hand down towards me. “I only plan to go for a walk.”

I took her hand and we started to do that.

“It's so nice to do this and not get exhausted so quickly.” Eludora said as we approached the civil construction workshop.

“Only I will carry the wood.” I told her and she chuckled.

“My dear, we can just ask the teacher to have the students bring what we will need.” Eludora said. “When do you think you can start making more of that waterproofing potion?”

“I can start it tonight if you can get the ingredients from Mage Marks.” I said.

“We'll do up the list when we get back to the library and I'll let you give it to her.” Eludora said. “She can't figure out what you're making with them, can she?”

“I'll alter the amounts so that she can't make an educated guess.” I said and she nodded. “Do you need to add in a purchasing slip?” I asked, then remembered the two I had. I would have to cash them in before going to detention.

“We take care of that in-house, so don't worry about it.” Eludora said.

I opened the door of the building for her and we went inside. I wasn't surprised to find that it looked similar to the maintenance department buildings that I had worked in while in the army, since that was the militarized version.

“Mage Quintos! Mage QUINTOS!” Eludora said and waved.

A very short and stubby man looked up from his workbench that was across the room and surrounded by students. His face and clothing were covered in sawdust and he had to brush some of it away from his eyes to look properly. His face split into a huge smile and he spoke to the students briefly, then he practically ran over to us.

“Mage Eludora, it's a pleasure to see you out of that huge and stuffy building.” Mage Quintos said. “I would offer to shake your hand, except I don't want to sully such a beauty with dirt and dust.”

Eludora chuckled. “Your silver tongue is as sharp as ever.”

Mage Quintos smiled. “What brought you all the way over here today?”

“I need some wood to make tanning squares.” I said and counted in my head what I remembered seeing on the shelves. I hadn't seen them all, so I ended up guessing in the end. “Enough for about two hundred and fifty of various sizes.”

Mage Quintos' mouth dropped open in surprise. “Are... are you serious?”

I nodded. “I only need the wood, though. I don't need them made. I can do that myself.”

“This isn't a commercial woodworking shop.” Mage Quintos said with slightly squinted eyes. “Tanning is not on the official syllabus of course materials.”

Eludora put a hand on my shoulder. “It's for me.”

Mage Quintos widened his eyes as he looked up at her. “What would you need that many tanning apparatuses for?”

“Maps.” Eludora said and the man's mouth dropped open in surprise again. “Mr. Drake is helping me sort through the maps as we do research. The room is a mess and he had the brilliant idea to mount the things for easy access and we came right here to you for some wood.”

“That... couldn't possibly... work...” Mage Quintos said, his voice drifting off as he clearly thought about it.

“Before you get any thoughts in your head about claiming the idea for yourself, I've already written up a missive for submission to both the Mages Guild and to the capital's archives.” Eludora said.

Mage Quintos let out a sigh and looked sad.

“Mr. Drake has already lost several of his inventions and ideas to other mages claiming them to try and further their own careers.” Eludora said and gripped my shoulder. “Please provide the wood necessary for our request.”

Mage Quintos nodded and went back over to the table full of students. It took them ten minutes to provide the 2 inch wide wood for use on the outer frames and the thin wooden panels for the maps to sit on. They loaded it all onto a hand cart that looked identical to the ones I had made back at the garrison for sale, except this one had tool marks and the attachments could clearly be seen.

“Thank you, Mage Quintos.” Eludora said and we left the building.

I pulled the hand cart behind me and Eludora walked tall and confidently beside me. “Are you really going to send those missives?” I asked and she nodded.

“I did write them... in my head.” Eludora said with a chuckle. “I hope you understand what just happened.”

“Yes.” I said. “Speaking out my ideas gets them stolen and I'm left without compensation.”

“Exactly.” Eludora said. “You need to be more careful of who you speak to so casually. If I hadn't been there...”

“...I wouldn't be allowed to claim the credit anyway.” I said. “You know why.”

Eludora sighed. “If only my patron hadn't passed away and left only daughters.”

“Why?” I asked.

“She would have helped you reestablish yourself. It was her goal in life to help former slaves.”

“What of her husband?”

“He was killed in the battle where I was rescued.” Eludora said. “Her daughters were all married off as well and joined more prominent families. When she died, it ended both her original family name and her crusade for people like us.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence and stopped in front of the student administration building.

“We will have to leave the cart here and carry...” Eludora started to say.

“Open the doors.” I said and she gave me an odd look. “It will fit.”

Eludora shook her head and opened the large main doors for me. I walked up the steps and the wooden wheels of the hand cart made loud thumping sounds as they hit each step, which gained me a lot of attention. She watched me keep walking up the stairs, as if I didn't have a large cart of wood behind me, then she followed me up all three floors to the library. The large doors were already open and I rolled the cart inside.

Unfortunately, that's where it had to stop, because the aisles were much too small to get the large cart to the map room. I grabbed several of the wood frame pieces and one thin wooden panel and Eludora followed me to the map room.

With her directing me to the most important ones first, I started making tanning mounts for them using my knife and number ten potion. Eludora watched me create them in moments, mount the maps to them, then apply the fortifying waterproof potion. It amazed her that they became both solid and protected.

We worked for most of the afternoon, stopping occasionally as we found a map I could use and set it aside, then we spent the last of the afternoon pouring over the maps and tracing down the best spots for the ingredients I currently didn't have access to in Mage Marks' classroom.

“We can leave the cart by the door. I'll cover it with a tarp and we can finish this later.” I said.

“David, you've done so much already.” Eludora said.

“I won't leave a job half finished.” I said and she nodded as she pet my head. “I need to get to detention.”

“Try to not irritate her before you give her the ingredients list.” Eludora said and gave it to me with her own note attached. “How long do you think it will take to work out the revised recipe for the potion?”

“It's actually two potions, so perhaps a few days.” I said. “I'll do the waterproofing one first, since that one is a bit simpler and can be used on its own if the other potion doesn't work.”

Eludora nodded and walked me over to the front of the library. “I appreciate what you've done for me today.” She turned me towards her and took me into a hug.

“You aren't bending down.” I commented and she chuckled, because she knew what the only thing was that I could reach with her standing up. I reached around to hug her back and gripped her backside. She stopped laughing and held me tenderly.

“Thank you so much, David.” Eludora said. “You've even allowed me to hug you with normal strength and not the weak arm strength that I usually have.”

“Just remember to not exert yourself and it should last longer.” I cautioned her and she nodded as she let me go.

“Goodbye.” Eludora said and I left the library to go to detention. I also stopped at the main administration building and cashed in the two payment slips that Mage Marks had given me for the potions she bought.

I arrived at the potions classroom and Mage Marks smiled at me. I handed her the note and the ingredients list and went to my regular workbench. I took out my potion book and the papers I had written out, as well as the ingredients list and proper preparation directions for them. I needed to quickly do out the reverse substitution for the ingredients from the normal ones I used in the marsh and had to adjust the potion directions accordingly.

It took me nearly the entire time until supper to work out the simple waterproofing recipe. I read it over several times and nodded. It was as good as I was going to get it, without actually brewing it, which would let me refine it and fix any mistakes. I packed everything back up and sat there for several minutes as I waited for suppertime.

Mage Marks had several small canvas bags ready for me with each one marked with the ingredients they contained. “I'm not sure how you convinced the librarian to sign off on giving you potion ingredients on her behalf.”

“I'm using them to create potions for the library.” I said truthfully as I approached her desk. “I've already made a bunch of wooden mounts for the maps she has.”

Mage Marks looked like she was going to argue, then shrugged. “The bags have cords that are long enough to tie to your belt.”

“Thank you.” I said and put my small pack on my back and then tied each of the ingredients to my belt at an equal distance around me for balance. “See you tomorrow afternoon.”

Mage Marks nodded and I left her classroom to go home. I had a lot of work to do.