Anna prayed that Finn wasn't in the common room. He was. Fortunately he'd joined a game of cards so she was spared from having to speak with him. He looked up surprised when she entered but turned back to his hand with a sour face. Anna hurried breathlessly up the stairs and knocked on a room door, hoping the occupant was in. A slightly plump merchant answered the knock.

"You the one Madame Delia sent? Last girl was prettier. You're a few hours early, too, but what the hells. Come on in."

She stared at the man with her mouth open and his mistake dawned on him.

"Ah, right. Sorry 'bout that, ma'am," he said nonchalantly.

Anna turned on her heel and departed without a word, leaving the merchant standing in the doorway. She knocked on the room next door. Branwen answered.

"Branwen! A…good afternoon. I was actually looking for Xan…" she said.

"And ye expected to find the elf here?" the cleric replied frostily.

"No, no…I must have the wrong room," she smiled sheepishly.

"Indeed you do! The wizard is there," she said, pointing to the room behind Anna.

"Oh. Thank—" the door closed in her face. "—you."

She turned again and rapped on the other door, and the elf appeared.

"Xan! Finally. There you are," she said, a little short of breath.

"Here I am," he said slowly, looking a bit puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. No. I mean, not wrong. But I—oh, dear."

Xan sighed and folded his arms.

"Anna, unless we are under imminent threat I suggest you calm down and say whatever it is you came to say."

"Yes, of course. I was actually hoping that you might give me a little help."

"What sort of help, exactly?" he said, somewhat suspicious of her breathless manner.

"Well, I needed to supply some potions, and with all the travelling and everything recently it slipped my mind—and it's just a bit more than I could manage on my own, so I hoped you might…" she looked at him hopefully.

"Is that all?" Xan said, relaxing somewhat. "By your tone one would think a lich took up residence in your cellar and you wanted me to vanquish it with a broom. I suppose I could assist, as we are likely to be in this dull place for some days. A chance to practice some applied alchemy might even be beneficial. What quantity did you need?"

Quietly she told him.

"How many?" he exclaimed. "I said I would help, not become slave labour."

"Xan, please, I know it's a lot to ask but Tom Wentway will have my head if I don't get at least something close to what he wants. Please."

The elf's eyes narrowed and he let out a sigh.

"Thank you!" Anna said. "I need to order up some supplies from town. I'll see you later!"

She promptly turned and fled before Xan could say anything else on the matter.

...

Gently Anna stirred the thick bluish liquid bubbling in the heavy kettle, dipping up spoonfuls and letting them flow slowly back into the pot. The elixir would burn easily and she watched it carefully. She transferred the large wooden spoon from one hand to another and wiped her sweating brow. She checked the liquid again, then quickly grabbed a bowlful of powder and sifted it into the kettle. The contents foamed and the colour changed to a darker hue. She counted to sixty then swung the hook pulling the cauldron away from the fire. The bubbles faded away and she took up a small muslin bag secured to a string, swirling it around in the liquid and speaking under her breath. Before her eyes the contents turned from blue to emerald green. Anna pulled out the bag and gave the kettle another stir, nodding in a satisfied manner.

She heard a knock on the door and called out. Xan stepped in, looking around at the rustic workroom with a barely perceptible sniff. Anna ignored it and gave him a smile.

"Hello, Xan. I didn't hear the doorbell."

"I rang. That dragon of yours directed me upstairs," he sighed. "What have you there?"

"Antidote," Anna replied. "For common and most magical venomous bites and stings, basic poisons, etcetera, etcetera."

"Yes, I know what antidote is for," Xan said dryly. "What would you have me do?"

Anna thought of a colourful answer to his query but asked him to blend a mixture of bark and bone for elixirs of strength. He laid his spellbook open on the work table and began searching through the pages.

"Oh, there's an alchemy book there," Anna said, nodding to a well-worn book near his hand.

"I see it," he replied, not looking up.

"It's very good, I always refer to it."

"I'm sure," he said, still flipping through his book. "But I would rather use what I am familiar with. I have some formulations here from alchemy masters in Evereska."

"Ah. I suppose mine from the academy in Silverymoon could not hope to compare," Anna said, somewhat bitterly.

"What—you didn't attend there, did you?" he said, looking up.

"Would it surprise you terribly if I said I had?"

"Terribly? No."

Anna sighed a little and went back to her work. The fact that she spent barely a year there whilst studying advanced alchemy would keep, she thought. After a short while she heard the bell tinkling downstairs.

"Finally. That must be the shopboy with the orris root he forgot," Anna said.

She heard quick footsteps on the stairs and was surprised when the door swung open and Imoen breezed in.

"Hello!" she sang out. "I met a lad downstairs, he had this for you." She plunked a sack on the table, making Xan jump. "He's pretty cute. Where does he work?" She grinned and hovered over the elf. "Whatcha' making?"

"Something I'd like to concentrate on, if you don't mind," he said, pulling back.

"Fine, Mister Grumpy. What can I do?" she asked Anna.

"You?" she responded.

"Yeah, Xan said you were working on something big or other and I thought you could use an extra hand. I spent more time than I'd like in the kitchen and I know my way around herbs and things."

"We aren't baking pies, child," Xan said. "This is slightly more complex."

Imoen leaned her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hands.

"Anna?"

"Well, you could help with the bottling," she answered. Though she freely admitted an extra pair of hands would be useful she had doubts about Imoen's attention span.

"Great! See, somebody knows how to accept a polite offer. And don't start with the 'child' business, Mister G, I get enough of that from Jaheira."

She gave him a pat on the head and skipped over to Anna. If there were a pitcher of cream in front of Xan it would've turned acidic indeed but he went back to his work with a low grumble.

....

All the rest of the afternoon and into the night they worked. Imoen wasn't the disruptive force Anna feared; the girl worked with a will, proving a surprisingly dab hand at everything set upon her though she still found time to hurl a cheerfully insolent comment towards the elf now and again. Xan however seemed to pay little heed that either of the women were present. At first Anna thought he was deliberately ignoring them but watching him she began to feel he was wrapped up in magic to the point that he took small notice of his surroundings. His face would lighten or darken with the difficulty of a task in an almost childlike way, something Anna found rather endearing in the melancholy elf. He barely nodded when the women finally decided to quit for the night.

"Gods, I never want to handle sealing wax ever again!" Imoen exclaimed as they stumbled into the kitchen for a snack. "Think I burned my fingertips clean off. Though honestly, I'm kind of glad to get away from the inn. Not the best atmosphere over there."

"Mm," Anna said, her stomach fluttering slightly.

"Finn's been out of it. Tried to talk to him today and he about bit my head off. And I don't know what's going on with Khalid and Jaheira," she continued importantly while wrapping a piece of cold ham in bread. "They seem pretty frosty to each other lately. 'Course, Jaheira could give anybody an ice cream headache, but still…"

"You did really well today," Anna said, wanting to change the subject. "Have you done this sort of thing before?"

Imoen looked pleased. "I studied alchemy with the monks at the temple. It was interesting but the lessons were always in the cellars and it was so dark and cold down there I couldn't wait to get out."

"You studied magic?" Anna asked through bites of her sandwich.

"A little, anyway. Gorion set us to it, but Finn'd always be skipping out on lessons. He kept bugging him to train with the guards and the old man kind of gave up. I liked it more, but—you know."

"No, what?"

"Well, I don't think Gorion had as much an interest in me," Imoen concluded, picking at the bread. "I didn't feel too bad about it, I mean, Finn was his son after all—but I kind of got left out sometimes. Eventually they sent me to the inn to live with Winthrop and his wife, Vera."

"That's a shame," Anna said.

"It was alright. They didn't have any kids so they figured I could take over when they got old. I can't complain really, how many orphans get taken in and given a life like that? I miss the old fogies, you know. Your Maya reminds me a lot of Vera," Imoen smiled. "Though Vera's even bigger!" she added in a whisper. Anna laughed silently.

"You know…I could help you study magic, if you want. Finn said something about it before but he seemed to forget," Anna said ruefully. "I don't know how detailed the lessons would be since we're on the road all the time, but you have talent and it seems a shame to drop it. Maybe when you get back to Candlekeep you can start in earnest again."

"Yeah?" Imoen perked up. "That'd be really cool. The great and powerful Imoen, potent sorceress and renowned beauty of the Sword Coast. That works!"

Anna smiled. "I think we'd better start with 'competent novice' and work our way up from there."

"How'd you end up doing this alchemy thing, anyway?" Imoen asked. "If I was a mage I'd be travelling all over, fighting baddies and impressing people with my power."

"You're sort of doing that now," Anna said, laughing a little. "I don't know. My uncle's ranger taught me about plants when I was young, and after I started studying magic it seemed like a natural progression."

"But don't you get bored out here all by yourself?"

Anna started. "I'm not a hermit. There's plenty of people around."

"True, but surely it doesn't compare to adventures, intrigue…romance?" Imoen said impishly.

"All things have their season," Anna quoted to her with a bit of a look. "For now though, I'm going to bed."

...

The next morning she found Xan still at work.

"Did you rest at all?" she asked. His eyes looked heavy and his mouth was set.

"Of course. But elves do not require eight hours sleep a night, as you know. I wanted to begin on the invisibility potions, they take time to distil."

"I appreciate all this, but you don't need to work so hard," Anna said, slipping into her robe.

"Would you rather I quit halfway though? Speaking of which, I noticed Imoen tripping off."

"She's just gone to see what the word is at the inn. I think I might start teaching her magic," Anna said.

"What?" Xan said, turning to her. "Magic in that girl's hands? Seldarine, we are doomed. She'll blow us all to pieces."

"I think she'll do quite well," she replied. "She's not as foolish as she appears. Why did you invite her along yesterday, if you feel so?"

"I did no such thing. She ambushed me in the hall and wouldn't let me pass till I'd made a full confession. The last thing we needed was her here, chattering like a chipmunk."

She swallowed a smile and went back to work. Imoen at first glance hardly seemed like the sort to devote the time to magical study. But seeing her at work Anna realised what she guessed at before, that there was more to Imoen than pixie and she felt irritated with the elf for refusing to see beyond the obvious. Eventually though she lost herself in her work and thoughts of Xan and Imoen drifted out of her mind.

....

She weighed out a number of small phantom crystals, placed them in a rough stone mortar and began carefully grinding them down into a powder. Xan looked up.

"You should grind those in a marble mortar, that stone will leave impurities behind."

"Stone grinds them easier. The impurities will come out when it's distilled, it won't change the potions' effectiveness," Anna said, not stopping.

"It's no excuse to cut corners. Your magical technique can be sloppy at times, if you'll pardon me for saying so."

"Sloppy? Taking time-saving measures isn't sloppy, it's practical." Anna exclaimed.

"Perhaps. But to use a gardening metaphor, it is the difference between blindly scattering seeds to the wind and taking heed to the soil, weather and moon. Both may result in growth, but which will bring a better harvest? You cast your spells but I wonder how much appreciation you truly have for their causes and results."

"You think me heedless?" Anna said, becoming irritated. "You may be more skilled than I, but you are not so much more powerful that you can speak to me in such a way. I rarely have a spell fail."

Xan sighed. "Very well. Feel free to keep banging on in your fashion."

Anna set down the pestle and looked at him. "Fine. Tell me what it is you would have me know, that you seem to feel I don't understand."

"Tell you?" he scoffed. "It is not something I could relate in an afternoon, or even your entire lifetime. Even I do not fully understand the mystery and I have studied the arcane for centuries. Though perhaps I shouldn't chastise, that you cast spells like you do at all is remarkable."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. We should carry on."

"No, what is it? I—" Anna paused. "Oh. Yes. Of course." She grimly went back to her task.

The elf said nothing and they continued in silence. Anna fumed inwardly though and she dropped her pestle again.

"So, Xan, if you have been studying magic for centuries, why are you not as powerful as Elminster by now? I would have thought you would be very far above me in skill, at least. But you are not."

The elf's eyes snapped.

"Amadahin," he said under his breath. "Rapid advancement is not always a desirable goal."

Anna flashed back. "I'm not a child, Xan, and I could be wrong but I do not think myself a fool, either." He looked surprised. "It was a simple enough question."

"Simple? Hardly. It was a bait," he said flatly. "You are not a fool, I suppose, I apologise for that. But you cannot be, what, twenty years of age? Or forty. Regardless, a true understanding of a subject as complex as the arcane art cannot be reached in so short a time. And you…no. I do not want to continue this conversation. It is pointless."

"I'm twenty-eight, if you must know. But you're right, it is pointless," Anna replied.

The elf's nerve pricked at her. So what if he had hundreds of years to tinker around with one accent on one syllable? Higher understanding or no her magic worked as well as his any day. Though the thought that she would never know one way or another irked her. It wasn't an argument she could win. Stress built in her and she felt fit to burst.

"I swear, Xan—one of these days, I'm going to take you by the ears and box you around!" she blurted out suddenly.

She regretted the childish statement the moment it passed her lips, her irritated outburst just proving his argument for him. The threat seemed to have an unexpected reaction though and Xan noticeably started, his cheeks pinking slightly.

"Ah, yes. Well, at least I was near the mean."

Looking at the expression on his face Anna felt her anger dissipate. The absurdity struck her and laughter bubbled up. Xan stared at her.

"Why, are you laughing now? You truly are young."

"Yes, if I ever grow too old to laugh at nonsense than I am too old, indeed," she said, smiling into his frown. She gathered her breath. "I'll throw out this batch and do up another in the marble mortar."

"No, it's all right. It would be pointless to waste components. As you say, the potions will still be effective," Xan said slowly.

Anna said nothing and went cautiously back to her work, lest Xan find another flaw.

...

After some time Imoen returned, looking considerably less enthusiastic than the day before. She had little to say about news from the inn and went about the task that Anna assigned her without comment. Anna thought at first she was reluctant to help but her tight mouth and worried eyes spoke of more than boredom.

"Is something wrong?" she asked her finally.

"No…but—Xan, by the way, we've all moved to the Burning Wizard. Don't worry, they grabbed your things."

"What? Why?" he said, looking up.

"Well, there was a little…problem last night. Finn got into a fight or something—no big deal, but the landlord asked us to leave."

She spoke quickly and quietly, trying to sound casual. Anna and Xan both stared at the girl.

"Imoen, what happened?" Anna asked.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, exasperated. "Something to do with cards, money…stupid stuff. It wasn't Finn's fault, it's all right now."

"Seldarine, I knew he would land us into trouble eventually," Xan exclaimed. "Let me read between the lines—he became soaked in ale and decided to take a swing at some unfortunate soul. Wonderful. Were the guards involved?"

"He wasn't arrested!" Imoen almost shouted. "It wasn't like you said, either. Some fellow was cheating him. Can we just shut up about this now, please?"

She threw out a hand as if to push the conversation aside and knocked a glass retort off the table into Xan's lap. He let out a yelp as the liquid soaked his robe. He managed to catch up the hot bottle in his sleeve but as he jumped to his feet Anna let out a gasp. Where the liquid touched the fabric Xan was no longer visible. Half of his legs were missing and streaks of him melted into the ether as the potion trickled to the floor. He gritted his teeth and let out an elvish word that Anna wasn't familiar with but whose meaning she guessed.

Imoen clasped her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Xan—I am so sorry!"

"Sorry!" He continued fuming at her as he hastily removed the garment. "Supposing that had been acid? Would you still be sorry then? Clumsy fool!"

"It—it was just an accident," Imoen stammered. "You're all right, aren't you?" Her face was red and Anna could see her eyes growing wet.

"He's fine—he's fine," she said. "It's just invisibility potion, it will wear off."

"In a tenday!" he exclaimed. "It wasn't fully distilled. I'm lucky it just hit my robe. It could have ruined my spellbook."

Anna looked at the girl on the verge of tears and the apoplectic elf and let out a haggard sigh.

"Imoen, it's all right. Xan, I have some powder of dispelling that I keep for emergencies—it should lessen the potion's duration, anyway. Why don't you take it into the garden and see how it goes?"

She pulled a jar off a shelf and handed it to the steaming elf who marched out of the room. Anna replaced the retort and waved a hand to extinguish the blue magical fire that burned underneath the bottle. She took a reserved handful of golden powder and carefully sprinkled it over the liquid on the floor, causing the wood to become visible once more. Straightening up she looked at Imoen. The girl trembled and clutched at her shoulders, wiping a stray tear away from her cheek.

"It's okay," Anna said, smiling in sympathy. "I'm sure even the all-knowing Xan has spilled a potion or two in his life. He'll get over it."

"I don't care about him," Imoen sniffed. "It's Finn. He's doing it again, and I don't know what to do."

"Doing what?" she asked, directing the girl to the window seat.

"All this. I didn't want to say anything with that snooty bastard elf standing there, but this isn't the first fight Finn's been in. He…he almost killed a fellow back home. He practically beat him to death. The guard captain ruled the other guy was to blame, but still…he was starting to scare me," she said, her voice wobbling. "It's like he wasn't himself anymore. He'd be all normal then something'd set him off. He was doing better but then all this with Gorion happened—now he's going downhill again, and I don't know what to do..."

She trailed off and stared at the handkerchief she twisted in her hands. Anna felt a chill run through her but she pulled the girl close and gave her a hug.

"It'll be alright," she soothed. "You're not alone here. We'll get some sense into him."

"Thanks," Imoen replied, trying to smile. "But...don't tell anyone about this, will you?"

"About Finn? Why?"

"Just...I don't like to talk about it. It's all past now, anyway. Please?"

"Alright, I won't," Anna promised.

...

Xan walked into the room, his robe mostly back to normal but still vaguely transparent in spots. He saw Imoen's expression and looked startled.

"The powder worked well. I—I am sorry for my outburst, it was uncalled for," he said to Imoen. "Perhaps I was working too hard, I do tend to get carried away by my studies and it can leave me somewhat…"

"...Bitchy?" Imoen interrupted.

Xan's mouth twitched. "Not the exact word I was thinking of, but accurate."

He looked at Anna and she saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. He must have read something in hers however for his expression fell serious once more.

"Well," Anna said, clearing her throat. "Thank you both so much for your help but I think I can finish here, you don't need to trouble yourselves further. I'll take care of the rest…"

She stood up and began moving around the room, trying to hide her distraction.

Imoen rose. "Will you come by the inn later?" she squeaked.

Anna nodded and Imoen hurried away without another word. Xan remained, staring at the leftover potion in the retort. Anna turned to him but the words froze in her mouth and she looked quickly at the low fire on the hearth.

"Anna…what is the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly. "Thank you, but you can leave too if you want. I'm sure you have magic of your own to work on." She laughed nervously.

He regarded her for a moment then let out a sigh. "Very well. I believe I shall find Kivan, I should speak with him."

He made a slight bow and departed. Anna tugged on her amulet chain and wandered over to the window, staring out at the garden, thinking.