11th Light beneath the twelfth Moon

3761 Cycles beyond the Dark

722 Years after the Repentance

Entry: 1/062

Dear self,

I talked with Vamera. I don’t know why but going over the issue of the Quislings encamped a small distance from the house made me feel better. Instead of focusing on the Quislings themselves she was interested in whatever entity they were fleeing from. From the sounds of it she thought it might be any number of warlike asura.

To hunt something as relatively inconsequential as a trio of imps is not something a asura would do if they were not inclined to hold grudges. Thinking on the effort they had gone to in order to conceal themselves from divination it is no surprise that whatever they are hiding from is unusually dedicated. That or they are carrying some incredibly valuable secrets or objects. Anora wasn’t stupid, she would have realised this. And she’s not one to be blind to how others would react to her actions.

They must have been really convincing negotiating with her. It’s surprising that they would have met her in the first case since she was the reason they fled from town originally. There is likely some secret they’re not sharing that is motivating the current state of affairs.

The blizzard continues to storm across the surrounding region. Mother is preparing reinforcement enchantments for any damaged houses. In high likelihood there will be a few townsfolk that come asking for the service after the storm blows over.

Despite this the traders caravan was till leaving today. They were mostly Winterfolk so the snow bothered them less than most. Anora said farewell and departed with them. The farewell was mostly Tori clinging to her and telling her about all the thoughts he had throughout the day and some eager plans he has, as well as making some childish demands for presents when she next visits.

Tori, out of boredom, demanded I show him my alchemy. He has a talent for learning and often jumps between interests as rapidly as clothes. He focuses best when learning new things as well, so he always does relatively well, but he also loses focus quickly and his dedication wanes with his interest.

I showed him my process for making ambrosia, a crucial base component for many kinds of potions, especially ones which require any kind of volume. Despite he name the stuff is completely inedible, unless you’re an ethereal being in some cases. There are several facets of alchemy which require at least some affinity in order for you to perform them yourself. Ambrosia for me involved taking some refined essences and a drop of absinthe and then enchanting the mixture within a cauldron until the volume increased to at least triple the original mass.

Tori is of course completely incapable of creating ambrosia, and we can’t know if he ever gains the talent, so I let him work with the batch I had made. I first asked him what kind of potion he would think he should make and talked him through how those might be achieved, then I showed him some Blitterleaf dusk and some Jolly Darlings extract and asked him to imagine what effects he could get from their attributes alone.

What he came up with was a potion that transformed you into a prettier version of yourself, and I worked him through how he would make the potion himself. We spent a few hours on it and I kept looking for how the potion should ideally be made and what mistakes should be avoided. Strangely he almost needed no help from me after my initial explanation before we started with the brewing process. He even through in the correct amount of ambrosia without me explaining it at all. Frankly he ended up with he potion he envisioned made in the exact way I would have made it.

It worked too. To an extent at least. It glamoured us and made our appearances improve, subjectively at least. The changes were mostly subtle, and I suspect it being based on our own perception of ourselves limited to what extent it could alter our appearance, as too great a difference between our appearance and our real perception of ourselves and it would create a dissonance that would disrupt the entire working, more aesthetically pleasing or not.

What was interesting was that it apparently gave Tori longer red hair and wide clearer eyes. It made all my clothes lose any level of colour other than black and white, which makes sense. The biggest drawback is that the effect barely more than a minute. The potion was not strong enough to support the complexity of the working. The Jolly Darlings also seems to have interacted strangely with the ambrosia in this particular potion, which ended up with us being a little too giddy about the whole thing. I think a lot of the effect of “vanity” might have had something to do with our minds being addled slightly as a side effect. The mental influence lasted much longer than the actual potion effect as well. In conclusion it was a magnificent failure overall and immensely satisfying to have made it.

Hope we fare well.

Regards,

Me.

~*M*~