I ate lunch at the dorm mansion and went back to class. Mage Marks stood there at the sink and all the empty pots were around her. She had dumped their contents down the drain, rather than doing whatever it was that she usually did with them.

I was pretty sure she was more stunned than anything else. “Did you try drinking any of the cleaned water?”

Mage Marks jumped a little and turned to look at me. “David, I... well, I had to try it.”

I smiled a little at that and started carrying the empty pots back over to their respective work benches. I knew which one was mine because there were no water droplets inside and put it back first.

“I'm down half a vial already.” Mage Marks said and I handed over a full one. “How many of these do you have?”

“I have two more.” I said and she sighed. “You want more?”

“Yes, of course I do!” Mage Marks said. “My sister is a healer and I'm sure that she can...”

“I can make a wound cleaning potion.” I said and cut her off. She stared at me with her mouth slightly open. “I don't know if that one will be good enough, since it's tooled for cleaning water.”

Mage Marks took a deep breath and let it out. “David, please. I want you to make me a batch of wound cleaning potion. It would greatly speed up the healing process if any wounds are completely cleaned of debris. It will also ease the casting of spells that can be used.”

“It won't be today.” I said and set up my potion station. “We've got the deliveries after school.”

Mage Marks nodded and we put the pots back and set up the stations on the other workbenches for use. The other four students for the advanced potions class came into the room and saw us working.

“I'm not even going to ask.” Jinelle said with a shake of her head.

“I cleaned out the pots from the last class and David is helping me put the classroom back into working order.” Mage Marks said.

“I didn't really want to know that.” Jinelle said with a huff and put her bag down on her assigned workbench. She eyed mine greedily and then she sighed and sat down.

“Are we doing the cleaning potion again?” Lorna asked.

“We should.” Mage Marks said and looked at the two boys from the second year. “You two need a bit more practice with your ingredient prep and your timing.”

“We were distracted last week.” Nick said as he sidled up next to Lorna, who gave him an exasperated look for a second and then she leaned against him. He smiled and carefully put an arm around her waist.

Mage Marks glanced at me, because that was the same excuse as a girl from the basic potions class had used. “I can't argue that.” She said and looked at her niece and saw her slightly excited face. “I know you're just dying to suggest something for us to move on to.”

Jinelle gave her a wicked grin. “Plant annihilation!”

Lorna laughed and her betrothed hugged her a bit tighter.

Mage Marks had to laugh, too. “It's actually a specific plant, weed, or fungal growth removal potion. It'll wither and die when the potion is applied, as well as dissolve the roots.”

“That's what I said. It annihilates the plant completely.” Jinelle said. “I can't wait to try it on that nasty looking bush next to the dorm.”

“Depending on the amount you use, it might only remove the leaves and perhaps put it into dormancy as if it's in winter.” Mage Marks cautioned her. “If it's a large bush, it could take several vials, if not half a crate before you notice a difference.”

“What? Really?” Jinelle asked, clearly not happy with the news.

“Yes, which is why you need to be very careful with it. You can't just dump it on, either. If it splashes on anything else, especially something smaller or something you intended to keep, you'll remove more than just the weeds you wanted to get rid of.”

Jinelle huffed a little and reluctantly nodded.

“Now that you're properly cautioned, let's have some fun talking about the recipe and what it entails.” Mage Marks said, clearly in her element and enjoying it. “It has several uncommon ingredients and only a few common ones, so you won't be making too much of it.” She saw their slightly unhappy faces and chuckled. “It's just an exercise to keep your skills to an acceptable level while using different ingredients and not to produce potions professionally. There are lots of mages in the guild that can do that.”

“I thought that was what the advanced course was for? To prep us for working in the guild.” Lorna said.

“It is, and by the end of your time at the academy and you've stuck with this, any business or family would be happy to have you working for them, not just the guild.” Mage Marks said. “Plus, do you want to spend endless weeks on making something that just kills plants?”

Lorna thought about that for a minute. “Okay, I'll bite. What are you planning for us to make next?”

Mage Marks gave her a teasing smile. “I won't tell you what it is... only that all of your friends will be hounding you to make it for them when they discover that you can make it.”

Jinelle took in a sharp breath. “Auntie, you can't mean... are you really going to teach us...”

“Shh!” Mage Marks said and put a finger to her own lips in a 'keep quiet' gesture. “Don't ruin the surprise.”

“Ruin it! Ruin it!” Lorna said excitedly and Nick, the other guy, and Jinelle laughed.

“Turn to page 96 in the book and take a few minutes to look over the recipe and the ingredients.” Mage Marks said and walked over to me, then she whispered. “David, I know you've been studying hard, so don't hesitate and tell me if you have troubles with any of it, especially the wording. I'll clear it up for you right away.”

“Thank you, Greta.” I whispered back and began to read. I had some of my papers out and started copying it out, skipped over the parts I didn't understand, and made notes about what to change to make it more efficient. Once again, they used some inferior ingredients and also added two redundant steps that were unnecessary, because they could be combined with the stronger ingredient.

I got the teacher's attention and she came right over to me. Her eyes widened as she saw my new notations and her eyes quickly absorbed the new procedure and the ingredient substitutions I had deemed necessary.

“I've pared it down here and here.” I whispered and showed her the alterations. “I don't understand these references.” I slid my finger over the things I didn't understand. Mage Marks explained what they said and what they meant. I noted the meanings, even though it seemed the references were going to be different for each potion.

My suspicion that it was a safety feature to stop a non-mage from using the book was confirmed when Mage Marks referred to growing up with the knowledge being instilled into her and that she wasn't surprised I missed all of the references.

After she helped me, she politely asked for a copy of the changes with a promise to put my name on it when she submitted it for review. I gave her a surprised look and she laughed softly, which surprised the other students.

“Just a private joke.” Mage Marks said and waved off their inquisitive looks and then leaned back in close to whisper. “David, I told you. We're going into business together. If this works as well as I think it will, not only will they have to update the spell book... assuming we sell them the recipe... we'll have a lock on the improved version and will get the recognition for it.”

“You'll need to brew it yourself.” I whispered back. “My catalyst and magic won't give the same results.”

Mage Marks agreed. “I'll do it at the same time as the class and I'll submit it to the committee at the end of class.” She walked over to the front of the class and turned to face us. “Now, who can tell me the effects of Handel's Root and why it is essential in potions like this that affects plants?”

Jinelle and Lorna's hands went up in the air and Mage Marks smiled.

The writing part of the class ended with the bell and then there was a short five minute break. The practical lesson began and we all started brewing our potions. Needless to say, I received a couple of odd looks as I took a couple of different ingredients than the others and also gave some of those ingredients to Mage Marks.

We brewed the new version of the same potion while the others made the normal one. When we were done a full half hour before the others, they knew something was going on. When I handed in a vial of dark green liquid that looked much thicker than the one Mage Marks had made, I saw a bit of jealously on Jinelle's face.

I knew what was wrong, so I went back to my workbench, filled another vial, and went over to her. I leaned in close to whisper and she didn't try to lean away or looked angry. In fact, her breathing sped up a little and her eyes widened slightly.

“It should only take this vial to get rid of the whole bush.” I breathed into her ear and she shivered. I gently took her hand and placed the vial into it, closed her fingers over it, and then stepped back. She stared into my eyes to see if I was going to do anything else, so I gave her a slightly bow and went over to the stacks of empty crates and vials.

I grabbed a crate and treated the vials, then I filled them. I was two vials shy of a full crate when the pot was empty, which was exactly what had been taken from it, and I sat and waited for the class to be over.

Mage Marks checked her own potion first and was quite happy with the results. When she checked mine, she actually gasped and her head whipped up to stare at me. In her haste to check them, she had completely forgotten to deploy the wood panels to hide her from view.

“I... I need to stop being surprised by you.” Mage Marks said and marked my potion with an EP, or Exceeds Perfect, and marked the estimated strength of the potion when used. When she handed me a copy, I almost laughed at the rating. According to this, I could use three vials and it would remove a one foot wide tree stump. A whole tree stump!

“If this gets out, land developers from all over will be beating down your door looking for this.” Mage Marks whispered as she pat my hand and her eyes landed on the crate.

“Go ahead.” I whispered back and she took four of them to stash in her belt. “I assume you're going to do the same thing with that as you are with the purifying potion?”

“Of course.” Mage Marks said and gave me a pleased smile before she went back to the front of the class to watch the other students finish up their potions. She gathered a vial of each and didn't bother hiding herself as she marked them.

Not surprisingly, Jinelle and Lorna had great marks and the two guys had okay marks. The teacher was more than happy with the results and added them to the display rack. Lorna didn't want her plant killing potion and neither did the guys, so they left the class as soon as the bell rang. Jinelle took her time and ladled out hers into a crate and then she realized what was wrong.

“David.” Mage Marks said. “Would you be so kind as to escort my niece to her dorm and carry that crate for her?”

“Of course, Greta.” I said and Jinelle caught her breath.

Mage Marks let out a soft laugh. “It's all right, Jinelle. I gave him permission to call me by name when in private.”

Jinelle gave me an appraising look. “I'm glad he's not disrespecting you.”

“I don't think he will, even if he didn't like me.” Mage Marks said her look was appraising as well.

“You look alike.” I commented and both women smiled nearly identical smiles.

“I can't hate being compared to my highly capable aunt.” Jinelle said and Mage Marks laughed.

“Get going, you two. I've got to stop at the administration building for an errand.” Mage Marks said and winked at me.

I picked up my crate and walked over to Jinelle's desk and put it on top of hers, then picked both up.

“What are you doing? I thought you'd be coming back for that!” Jinelle exclaimed.

“Why? It's not that heavy.” I said with a shrug.

Jinelle looked at her aunt and she shrugged, too. “Never mind.” She said and opened the door for me. We left the classroom and walked out of the main student classroom building to head over to her dorm.