Once the initial banter of Haemish trying to weasel his way out of answering was done with. It lasted over half an hour. In the end. Then it was time to get to the answers that Aarav so desperately wanted. Not just liked, he amended; needed was the appropriate word for it. If he was to make an informed decision, he would need to understand all facets of the situation. That included what Haemish was hiding.

“Well, you’ve come out the all the excuses you could think of. That one about your mother was particularly creative, but I know it isn’t true!”

“You don’t know that. My mother could need to meet her knitting circle in Karuler!” Haemish shot back, putting the lie to his words when he frowned slightly. Aarav simply raised his newly formed eyebrow at this and stared the man down.

“If that place wasn’t too far away for something like that, I might have been inclined to believe you. But I know you better. You haven’t mentioned any family up till now. How convenient that a mother suddenly appeared out of the thin air!” Aarav started. “For a guy who has been around for so many years, you still can’t lie convincingly.” I was probably one of his more endearing qualities, though. Making Aarav more inclined to trust him, and if it was an act, the Slime had to give the man credit where it was due. He was an outstanding actor.

Haemish simply sighed as his options continued to dwindle before him. “Fine, I will tell you what I can.” He paused to collect his thoughts. Was this really so hard? Was he sworn to secrecy or something? No, he would not be entertaining even this much conversation about it if he was. “We were ordered to search for a solution to a long ongoing problem the royal family is facing. It has been an issue for almost a decade. All conventional means of finding a solution have already been exhausted. I tried to tackle the problem before. In all my years as an Alchemist, I have never found a problem so resistant to being solved.” Haemish barked out a laugh and then cut it off abruptly.

Aarav had not seen the man so out of sorts. Even if he had only known Haemish a little over a week, it was so far out of character for him as to be noteworthy. Then the man continued, “I think the reason for reopening the investigation was because it was a blemish on my pride and otherwise stellar reputation. Haemish, the man who could find any solution to any problem if it lay in the realm of Alchemy! And honestly, what solution doesn’t lie with Alchemy? Apart from this, the subject of my life’s work has never, and I mean never, failed me.” Haemish blew out a breath, but the whole room was utterly silent. None of the others dared to speak for fear of scaring the man off. Now that he had started, it seemed easy for him to continue.

“Don’t ask me what the problem is. I am not at liberty to discuss it.” Aarav was met with hard grey eyes. They bore down on him, almost daring him to speak. Wisely, he remained silent, and Haemish nodded. “I can tell you this; we did not know if there was an easy solution. One of the defining laws of this world passed down from generations immemorial is that there is always a solution. For every problem, the world will provide the solution. For many, that principle has carried them through very dark days indeed. Knowing any problem can be solved no matter how big is a powerful motivator. I am sure you can understand that.” Aarav could only nod dumbly, could there be more to this ‘law’ than it sounded? Also, the way Haemish said, ‘them’, it seemed like he spoke from personal experience.

Aarav had to remind himself that he was not the only life that had been fraught with hardship, pain and sacrifice. Everyone had their own burden to bear. “So, armed with the knowledge that we could find a solution if we searched hard enough, we left the palace to go to the one place we knew the least about. I thought that if we didn’t have the solution, we must find it and what better place to look than a place we know very little about.” Haemish got up to get a pitcher of water and a tray of glasses. Setting them down on the table between them, he started pouring himself a drink before looking up at them all and filling both the other cups in the tray. He motioned to them to help themselves. Neither Boren nor Aarav moved. Both spectators to Haemish’s litany were rooted where they sat.

Shrugging, Haemish continued, talking further about the expedition and how they found out about Aarav from Marteen’s father. The first human he encountered was when he bit him on his foot in the river. Aarav only recalled that after Haemish said it, wondering what would have possessed him to bite an unknown like that. I guess I wasn’t in my right mind then? It did tie a few things together for him, though, which was a great feeling.

“Once we got that information from Karlin, we decided to go to my cabin in the woods. We could prepare and then do multiple expeditions into the forest to find the mysterious camouflaging flying fish. That is what the farmer thought you were. Obviously, now we know a little different, but you understand what I am getting at. We had no idea what we were looking for or where it could be. It was honestly a stroke of luck that we managed to find you at all.” Haemish said with a wry grin directed at the idiotic Slime that climbed onto his would be hunters’ ride.

“Yes, yes, not a great moment for me. I hadn’t seen a gryphon before, and it was interesting. I can only plead temporary madness.” Aarav said he wasn’t expecting to be teased about it. Still, he had accepted a while ago that it was indeed one of the stupidest things he had done, alongside biting Marteen’s dad’s foot. “Can we move the story along, please!” Aarav attempted to move the focus away from him and his stupidity. Boren and Haemish’s expressions and attempts at not laughing showed how successful he was.

A couple of minutes later, the tension in the room well and truly shattered, Haemish eased back into his story. “You can imagine how surprised we were when you turned out to be a talking sentient creature that was neither fish nor bird. You could clearly fly, but the camouflage and everything else was something we had never seen or experienced before. Hence, we had to understand what we were looking at. At that point, it was less about finding out if you could solve the problem and more about understanding you!” Haemish’s grin became a little more wolfish. “I have to say, my academic side was screaming for me to take samples and test what you could do and what it meant that we had found something so alien and unique.”

Aarav interjected here. It was clear that Haemish was more comfortable and would talk more freely now. “You’re making it sound like your academic side has stopped screaming at you. Also, you got your samples, didn’t you.” Aarav tried to hold a serious face, but it was too much. His laughter rang out, then was met with Haemish’s sheepish laugh a moment later, showing his agreement and embarrassment. Boren’s confused face at the exchange just redoubled their mirth. “Don’t worry about it, Boren. Haemish and I have clearly been spending too much time together.”

“I can see that you really have grown comfortable with the new form you are taking as well,” Haemish said, glancing at Aarav. The Slime simply nodded, not wanting to get off-topic.

“So tell me what else happened and what you wanted from me.” Aarav said. It was vital for him to know what he was needed for and whether he should stay or not on that basis. He also looked at Boren, prompting him with his look to speak to Haemish as well. It could be an exciting topic that Haemish would definitely jump on.

“I can’t say everything, but we did want to understand what you are capable of. Our experiments should have told you that much. Just the amount you already know about yourself has helped us understand what things we can experiment with and given us more details on what to expect moving forward. I haven’t had a chance to check, but did you touch the experiment a few days ago? Reabsorb any of it? Some of the mass was reduced on one of them when I measured it. Didn’t think it worth mentioning it was such a small amount, but since we are talking about it, it makes sense to ask.”