5 figures walked through a frozen valley, the plants in the area covered under a thick layer of snow at least 3 feet high, making it difficult to traverse. The usage of wooden snowshoes made it easier for them to walk and avoid sinking into the snow in some places. Ryder himself had quite a bit of trouble as his cannon’s weight caused him to sink in the snow.

“How do we go from a super sunny valley to frozen wasteland in a matter of minutes?” Remi complained as she climbed up a hill of snow.

“Dwarf’s Lavender only grows in very cold conditions, although it's not the main cause of this cold. The frostbound tree in the center of this place is what causes it. In fact you can see it from here,” Gunva reveals as she points to a large silver tree that could be seen as they come across a large clearing.

The large white tree’s roots were so large and vast that they ran for miles underground. A particular energy could be felt from the large tree, its silver trunk was probably a quarter mile long.

“Damn that is one big tree. It would make a great explosion target,” Ryder observed.

“Don’t even try it, I think my new elemental spirit buddy might get mad if you try,” Remi tells him.

“Meh, your tree friend just can’t appreciate a good explosion,” he claimed.

“So where is this herb? I hope it's not hard to find buried under all of this snow,” Nazuko interjected.

The small girl struggled to move due to the several layers of clothing she donned. It almost appeared as if she were a small penguin waddling around in the snow.

“Luckily we shouldn’t have that problem as the massive branches of the frostbound tree should prevent the snow from falling over it. What we are looking for is a glowing purple herb near the base of the tree. Hopefully we can grab it and get out of here before nightfall. It can get below zero degrees around nighttime.”

“I dunno what you guys are going on about, it doesn’t feel cold at all,” Nerva says while emitting an aura of flame around her body.

They trek over to the base of the frostbound tree, the temperature of the air slightly dropping as they get closer. Various plant life manage to sprout despite the harsh climate created by the tree. Nazuko herself started getting carried away by bringing every purple plant she could see to the alchemist.

“Hey is this one it?”

“No, that's a hydrangea.”

“How about this one?”

“That’s a sage flower.”

“Oh how about this one.”

“Lilac.”

“Thi-”

“Wisteria.”

“Damn it all, why are there so many purple plants here!” Nazuko swore.

“Like I said earlier, it's glowing. Also it's a small branching, spreading shrub that is lilac colored, purple or bluish. If I recall correctly I think elves tend to be slightly allergic to that plant due to their strong magic sensitivity and the strange magic it absorbs by growing under the frostbound tree,” Gunva lectures.

“ACHOO!” Remi sneezes as her snot covers one type of plant entirely.

“That’s it!” Nazuko yells as she runs over and plucks the glowing plant covered in mucus.

“Gross!” Remi commented, seeing Nazuko mindlessly handle the now unsanitary plant.

“Meh, I’ve touched worse,” Nerva says.

“You should probably grab a few more specimens, just in case I don’t get the mixture right on the first try. Also I don’t think we should use that one,” Gunva instructed.

They each grabbed a few handfuls, stuffing them inside their bags, or at least everyone except Remi who’s eyes watered getting even near the plant.

“Good, now let’s head back to my shop or at least what remains of it,” the alchemist said.

They headed off to a rundown shop on the edge of Urbossa’s valley. The rickety sign that creaked as it swung rampantly earlier had now fallen down on the ground. The alchemist enters her old shop immediately smelling the stench of dead bodies.

“Ugh I forgot about that. If you don’t mind, would the burning, exploding duo take out the dead bodies in the basement and dispose of them? Also you two grab a broom and some rags and clean up the place. I don’t know how long this will take,” she instructed.

Remi and Nazuko set themselves the task of tidying up what was left of the alchemist’s shop as the dwarven woman got to work. Gunva carefully extracted the oil from the lavender using a special kind of technique coveted in the alchemical trade. She diluted it with water and added a small amount of stamina restoring potion to the mix.

“Alright Nazuko I’ll need one last thing from you to make this work.”

“What is it? I’ll give anything!” She carelessly says.

“THEN I SHALL TAKE YOUR SOUL!”

“WHA!”

“Just kidding, however the human soul has been highly valued in some forbidden forms of alchemy. But all I need from you is a few drops of blood,” the alchemist tells her.

“Oh okay sure, a few drops of blood is fine. I don’t think I could give you my soul even if I wanted to. I think that belongs to Will,” Nazuko remarks.

“I don’t think even he wants it,” Remi commented.

“I’m… not gonna even ask,” Gunva says with a blank look on her face.

Nazuko takes out her knife and pokes her finger, allowing a few drops of blood to fall into the alchemist’s mixture. The dwarven alchemist stirs the mixture for 30 seconds before shoving the bottle in a cold storage device. She makes a few more bottles just in case and freezes them as well. She also turns an hourglass filled with sand causing the small grains to slowly sift to the bottom.

“Soooo what’re the chances this goes well?” the small thief inquired.

“I’m not sure exactly how it will work on you, I know for sure it has worked on very specific types of people in the past. The effect of Dwarf’s lavender is said to give one their proper body, fixing genetic abnormalities and severely degraded body conditions. All I can say is the worse off someone is the better it tends to work and sometimes the change is only minimal.”

“What do you mean, severely degraded?” Remi curiously asks.

“Things like having your heart on the wrong side of your body, missing a limb, extra fingers, having both genitals, stage 10 cancer, that sort of thing. Since Nazuko seems relatively healthy, I can’t say the change would be that drastic. She doesn’t have a health condition I don’t know about, does she?”

“She has a mental health condition,” Remi slanders.

“Hey I heard that! Anyways, does being malnourished count as a health condition?” Nazuko asks.

The alchemist scratches her head as she pauses to think.

“I think so, but I initially thought you came here looking for it since you had missing internal organs like the last person who came looking for it.”

“The only missing organ I don’t have is Will’s heart,” the small girl smugly says.

“I don’t think it’ll give you someone else’s heart,” Remi said bluntly.

Eventually the sand in the hourglass ceases to fall and Gunva takes out the mixture from her freezer. She shakes the bottle before handing it off to Nazuko.

“Alright, drink up.”

She holds the bottle examining it as it emits a small purple glow.

“Before I drink this, will it have any apparent side effects? The last time I drank something someone said would be good for me, I think I had a seizure.”

Nazuko couldn’t help but think of the time Azura made everyone drink specialized health potions back in Ayana.

“I think you’ll get kind of sleepy and maybe you might get a brain freeze since it's cold. Since you told me you don’t have anything serious, then it shouldn’t be painful. Usually if it hurts it's because the body is reshaping itself into something stronger.”

“Ok then, bottoms up!” Nazuko says as she downs the entire mixture at once.

She immediately puts her hands up to her head as she feels the cold pain in her temples.

“UGH BRAINFREEZE!”

“Told ya it’d happen.”

At that moment two red haired figures walk in via the back door to the alchemist shop.

“So those ice bombs you used were sick, I think maybe I’m gonna get something new soon too- Ah shit it's happening,” Nerva says as she witnesses Nazuko in pain.

“I wonder what she’s gonna look like once the changes are finished,” Ryder notes.

Everyone in the room stares at Nazuko as she clutches her head in pain before a sudden flash of purple light blinds everyone in the room.

“AH OUR EYES!” Everyone yelled.

A few seconds pass as everyone takes the time to reorient themselves.

“So did anything change?” Nazuko asks eagerly.

Everyone simply stares with a blank face before Remi breaks the silence.

“Umm, I don’t think anything changed.”

“What no way?!”

“Hold on, I think I noticed something,” Gunva interrupted.

The dwarven woman steps forward to take a closer look.

“Hmm, hmmmmm, AH HAH!”

“What?”

“You grew 3 inches taller,” She said as she denoted the difference with her fingers.

“Does that mean she’s as tall as Nerva then?” Ryder says as he moves Nerva next to her for comparison.

Remi steps back to get an even view of the two girls as she measures them with her hands.

“No, I think she’s taller,” Remi claimed.

“Damn, that means I’m the shortest one now. Shit. At least we all know I’m still the strongest,” Nerva bragged.

“Well it seems it worked perfectly, are you happy Nazuko?” the now accomplished alchemist questioned.

The black haired thief brings her hands up to her chest feeling if anything has changed.

“This, this isn’t what I expected. No this can’t be it, the potion was supposed to- THE POTION!” Nazuko shouted as she dashed over to the extra bottles and immediately consumed them.

“What are you doing?! It doesn’t work that way, you’ll only get diminishing returns at best. You’ll only cause yourself a massive headache,” Gunva sternly announced.

However those words fell on deaf ears as Nazuko had already drunk all the potions made by the alchemist. She immediately transitioned from fine to rolling on the floor in pain as the brainfreeze overtook her. After that she began to give off a bright pulsing purple light.

“Umm, is that normal?” Remi asks in a somewhat concerned manner.

“No, usually it's just a large flash of purple light. I’ve never seen this before.”

“Guys I think she might explode,” Ryder alerted.

“She’ll shrug it off, she’s been through worse,” Nerva reminded them.

Another burst of purple is given off, but much more violently this time. When everyone opens their eyes, Nazuko is nowhere to be found.

“Did she actually explode?” Remi queried.

They all look around the shop looking for any traces of Nazuko.

“I knew certain potions could kill you, but I’ve never seen it cause someone to straight up explode,” Ryder commented.

“No… It can’t have killed her, that’s impossible,” Gunva said.

“Nah, she’s definitely around here somewhere. Did you check under your desk?” Nerva suggests.

“Why would she be there?”

“I live under a desk.”

“...”

“What?”

“Nothing, I’ll check.”

She takes a moment to actually check under her desk to find nothing.

“I don’t know why I just did that, but to answer your question, no she’s not under my desk.”

“Then she’s got to be somewhere, anyone have any ideas?” Remi lays out.

The noise of a bell ringing interrupts their conversation as a mysterious figure opens the door.

“I believe I can help you with that.”

Everyone turns to see a woman who is about 5’6 with long black hair and a sizable bust walk in through the door. Her voice was sultry and deep. She was wearing a black dress that made her appear like a noble.

“Who are you?” Remi says, taken aback.

“Try and guess,” the woman says as she strutted forward.

It was now clear that this woman was wearing heels, but was struggling to walk in them.

“An attractive woman with long black hair… are you perhaps related to Akane?” Ryder questions.

“Does Akane have siblings? If she does then I can see some resemblance,” Remi agreed.

“Perhaps I have taken a step closer to her hotness,” the woman replied as she looked down at herself.

“No, this person is… She must be...” Gunva began.

“It’s Nazuko!” Nerva finished as she made the connection.

“That’s riiiiiight,” Nazuko said as she now spoke in a deeper tone of voice.

“WHAT! THERE’S NO WAY!” Remi yelled.

“Oh my,” Ryder gasped.

Everyone now crowded around Nazuko inspecting her from every angle.

“Like what you see, huh,” Nazuko said as she tugged at the black dress’s top emphasizing her now apparent cleavage.

“I don’t understand how this is happening, usually having multiple doses after the first never does anything,” Gunva stated.

“Yeah she only grew 3 inches after the first dose,” Remi layed out.

“The only thing different from those doses was that one of them used that contaminated flower. Usually, the DNA of the person who’s supposed to have the change is the one that gets mixed in, but if someone else’s were to, then I couldn’t predict what could happen,” Gunva revealed.

“Wait, so you’re saying this profound change in Nazuko was because some of Remi’s snot got mixed in by accident?” Ryder said as he stared at Nazuko who was spinning around in the corner of the room.

“I think so, usually I never see this kind of change after the first dose has taken effect.”

“Wait so why did it look like you exploded and disappeared after you drank that stuff?” Nerva asked.

Nazuko stopped spinning in glee before sitting down and crossing her legs. She did an immaculate pose that exuded elegance.

“In that brief moment when I felt my body change, my clothes ripped as my body grew. So I went out and stole the first outfit I could find. It just so happens that everything sold in this town was meant for drunk nobles,” She revealed.

“I feel bad for the person who saw a naked woman rush into their store and steal their stuff,” Remi groaned.

“Although this body still feels weird. It felt harder to steal things when you have a different center of gravity,” the now endowed thief said with a perverted smile on her face.

Remi had a look on her face that simply emanated the phrase “get over yourself.”

“Man it still feels weird hearing that voice come out of Nazuko, it’s really disorienting,” Ryder noted.

Nerva looked on at the remaining ingredients they harvested from the frozen climate and came to one conclusion.

“Hey, Dwarf lady, let's use the rest of this stuff, I wanna see if I would have a change too,” Nerva suggested.

“I mean I suppose I could try, but like I said there’s no guarantee,” the alchemist replied.

She went to work once more and made the requisite mix, now with each of their DNA included. Ryder, Remi and Nerva look downwards at the potion in their hands before drinking the whole potion. Nazuko simply stared on with a smug look on her face.

“AHH BRAINFREEZE!” they all yelled.

The same purple flash of light went off as the potion worked its magic.

Gunva simply brought out a full body mirror allowing them to examine themselves. Ryder stared into the mirror, first assuming that nothing had changed. He hadn’t felt any significant changes in his body, but after taking a closer look in the mirror he noticed something profound.

“Holy Vienna, my eyebrows have fully grown back! I remember a long time ago they got singed off in an explosion and never entirely grew back. Wait there’s something else I need to check,” Ryder said as he immediately stripped off his shirt to look at his chest.

“Oh my, you could grind meat on those,” Gunva said as she gazed at Ryder’s abs.

“Wow, all my scars from when I got caught in my own explosions are gone,” Ryder announced.

“Oh right I forgot, people who were covered in scars often sought me out for this purpose,” the alchemist noted.

“Azura never managed to make a potion that could fully heal all my scars. In fact I think some of them may have even been caused by her,” Ryder said.

“Scars...” Nazuko mumbled.

She went up to the mirror, parted the hair above her right eye and just as she thought the scar above her right eye was gone. It might have vanished as a result of the first potion, but she wasn’t completely sure.

“What about you two?” Nazuko asked as she turned to look at the two girls.

“Damn, I don’t think anything changed!” Nerva grunted.

“Maybe that means you were always meant to be that short,” Remi smirked.

“Shut up, nothing changed with you either,” she retorted.

“That just meant I was already perfect from the beginning. I-”

Remi’s was interrupted by the sound of fake crying coming from Nazuko.

“What?!”

“The fact that Remi had no change means that she was always destined to be this ugly. I can’t help but feel pity for you,” Nazuko said savagely.

“Why you!” Remi began as she immediately turned to attack Nazuko.

Nazuko kicked a bottle on the floor causing Remi to slip and fall face first into Nazuko’s chest.

“Mmf! Soft?!” Remi murmured.

“Remi I knew you committed crimes of sexual harassment in the past, but this is going too far. The privilege of touching those belongs to a certain someone,” Nazuko claimed.

Remi simply backed away, sat down in a chair and appeared as if she were questioning the universe.

“I don’t understand, I don’t understand, I don’t understand,” Remi repeated over and over again.

“I think you just broke Remi,” Ryder assessed.

“She’ll be fine once we waive some alcohol in front of her nose.”

“Alcohol usually brings people away from reality, not towards it. Since you got what you came here for, does that mean you’ll be leaving soon?” Gunva asked.

“Yes we will, I need to get back to Colonus as soon as possible. Gunva I promise you I will remember this. You can even be my bridesmaid if you want to, when my eventual wedding with Will occurs,” Nazuko says as she goes up to the alchemist and clasps her hands together.

“Hey I thought I was supposed to be the bridesmaid!” Nerva interjected.

“Oh yeah, well um you can be the flower girl, oh wait no, Quincy said he wanted to be the flower girl. You still have a spot on the bridal party.”

“I’m flattered, I’ll be sure to remember that if it happens,” the alchemist responded.

“Oh it’ll happen for sure! There’s like a 101% chance of it happening now. Before it was 100%, but now it’s even more guaranteed. Come on Ryder, it's time to go home,” Nazuko said as she lifted Remi over her shoulder and walked out the door.

“Adios,” Ryder said as he bid farewell.

“Bye dwarven lady, we gotta go out burning again soon,” Nerva grinned as she gave her a thumbs up.

And with that the ragtag group of adventurers left the town, feeling accomplished and witnessing the fruits of their labor. They all hitched a ride in the back of a wine merchants cart that was heading for Colonus. They were already a few days into the trip and about a day’s distance away from the capital city of the Westphalian Empire. The unstable road and presence of alcohol in the back eventually brought Remi back to her senses. Nazuko simply reveled in joy as the rumbling cart caused a certain part of her to bounce up and down. Remi herself deliberately attempted to keep her eyes away from Nazuko’s new body by distracting herself with the wine in the back of the merchant’s cart.

“Would you stop bouncing already!” Remi demanded.

“Heh, you’re just angry that I’m more endowed than you are,” Nazuko revealed.

“Is she really though? Wait, hold on, is it just me or is she glowing?” Ryder noticed.

Nazuko was giving off a small purple gleam that only appeared to be getting stronger.

“This feeling, I think she’s about to explode again,” Nerva said as she was reminded of earlier.

“Wait! I’m not feeling anything change like before, I feel, wait… Urk- I feel sick,” Nazuko said before immediately puking over the side of the cart.

Her vomit was colored purple and was disgustingly vibrant. With that toxic substance now out of her body she felt much better.

“Ugh, that sucked,” She groaned in a now more familiar tone of voice.

“Nazuko your voice, actually no, your body, it's like before,” Nerva noted.

Nazuko looked down and indeed her body was in the same state it had been right after taking the first dose of the potion. What followed next was a few moments of panic and everyone restraining Nazuko as she attempted to leave and go back to the valley.

“We have to go back! The alchemist can fix this!”

“We can’t go back, we’re almost home at this point. She said what happened to you wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place so just leave it already!” Remi insisted.

“NEVER!”

Aftermath

“Thus ended the tale of four ecstatic adventurers and their journey of dealing with many varieties of strange substances. They moved forward using the power of destruction and larceny, only fueled by the intoxication of their desires. Neither the city of Urbossa’s Valley nor the greater empire at large would ever know of their exploits. If you were to ask whether the whole journey was worth it in the end. Probably not.”

Nazuko sat cross-legged atop Will’s bed as she finished reciting the tale of her greatness. Will had a somewhat deadpan look on his face as he listened to her endlessly ramble. Although it was a face that still had life in it compared to one of Quincy’s history rants.

“That was some story, so you basically prevented the mass transformation of people into demons and you grew 3 inches taller,” Will summed up.

He laid back in his chair as it pressed against the back of a desk. Bottles of wine, courtesy of Remi, were assorted across the desk. One bottle in particular had been opened and was used to fill the glass Will carried in his hand.

“Yeah, I was basically the hero this time, are you proud of me?” Nazuko asked.

“No.”

“But I accomplished so much, I literally ‘grew’ as a character. Me and Remi aren’t at odds as much now.”

“Ok maybe a little bit.”

“You should have seen me, I was almost Akane level hot.”

That comment nearly caused Will to choke as he snorted up wine in response.

“Flying a bit too close to the sun there aren’t you?” Will told her.

“Alright, maybe I wasn’t that hot, but I was at least half as hot. You should have seen it. Sometimes if I try hard enough I can feel like I’m changing again.”

“Yeah I’m sure you do. At least Azura’s tip about that plant actually turned out to be true. I didn’t even recognize you when I first saw you.”

“I will no longer be called short from now on! I am of almost average height now!” She boasted.

“Hooray almost average height, all thanks to that plant, what was it called again?” Will questioned.

“It was called Dwarf’s Lavender.”