Vlad started Lisa's lessons the next night with the studies of microbes and a demonstration of the microscope. Before doing so, he gauged her thinking with a series of questions on the cause of the Great Pestilence from over a century ago. Lisa was able to conclude it was most likely by something that could not be seen by the eye itself but became stumped when she could not prove her reasoning to Vlad. He let her mull over it for a few moments before guiding her to the microscope, unable to contain his amusement at her struggle.
"Behold this instrument of magnification. It will allow you to see things a thousand times smaller than the eye can. Now tell me... what do you see?" he instructed Lisa to peer through the lens.
"Are these… fleas? Those who were afflicted indeed had the marks, but it's also possible to be bitten and not get sick," she observed.
"Correct, but there's more to this," Vlad pointed towards the lens again. "Look at the insides of the fleas," he prompted.
"The blood inside the right flea's gut is blackened like the Pestilence itself. There must be something in it to cause this," Lisa glanced over the entirety of the microscope. "Can this be brought closer?"
"Unfortunately, this is the limit for this particular instrument," Vlad appeared to be baring his fangs in a semblance of a grin. "However, I have isolated and grown the culprit in this dish," he gently slid the dish to Lisa. "You may look, but do not touch it. This would be the most direct way of contracting the Pestilence."
"But if you know this is the culprit, then surely you know what stops it? I shouldn't have to worry about not touching the dish," Lisa smiled mischievously.
Vlad chuckled. "Ah, that I do. Though if you don't heed my warning, there's no guarantee that I will show you how."
She gave a playful sigh. "Fair enough," Lisa directed a finger to the plate. "Now, am I to presume this grey matter is our culprit?"
"Yes. These are multiple colonies of very small and simple life forms called bacteria. This one here is responsible for the Pestilence, but many other types of bacteria can also cause harm—and some that can help," Vlad properly disposed of the dish and led Lisa to a workbench full of other apparatus. "Come, there's still much more to learn and we've barely even scratched the surface."
Over a few weeks, Vlad kept the curriculum to be cumulative. Having begun with some of the tiniest organisms, he built on this foundation until they were examining the human body itself. "We're not desecrating the graveyard at Arefu for this, are we?" Lisa grimaced.
"Unnecessary. I have detailed anatomical models that work just as well unless actual corpses are what you prefer to work with. In which case, that can be arranged as well," Vlad teased.
With more knowledge taught came more playful banter between Vlad and Lisa until it seemed they were more like friends than scholar and apprentice. However, their interactions were limited to the laboratory and sometimes the dining area when Vlad would join Lisa at her dinner.
One cool, clear autumn night came, and a lunar eclipse was due to happen according to Vlad's calculations. There was nothing significant about this eclipse except an opportunity to explain how the phenomenon worked scientifically to Lisa. They were atop a turret of the castle as the moon rose above them.
"A penumbral lunar eclipse. The moon is passing the outer part of the earth's shadow, or penumbra. This results in the moon's surface appearing slightly darker than normal," Vlad lectured on.
"I'll admit this is fascinating, but it's not something the average person would immediately notice and be frightened of if they see it," Lisa was quick to point out. "Try telling the people of Constantinople who believe their fall to the Turks came about by a rising half-eaten moon in the colour of blood."
Vlad huffed in slight annoyance. "Partial lunar eclipse. The moon passed halfway through the earth's shadow and the redness is from the refraction of the sunlight in the atmosphere. It was entirely their fault to have fallen to the Turks, not some coincidental celestial event."
As the eclipse tapered off, Vlad started to identify stars and constellations present in the night sky along with their compositions. Lisa recognised many of the elements within the stars were also within the human body and reflected on this.
"Is it not too far off to say life and everything else may have come from the stars above?" she thought aloud.
Vlad was silent for a minute as he processed Lisa's rather profound question. "No, it is not too far off. When stars reach their end, they explode spectacularly and their remnants scatter across the universe. In the time since earth's formation, countless remnants have fallen as dust or gas—many of them containing the elements necessary for life."
Lisa laughed breathlessly. "That's amazing!" she was looking at Vlad now; her face alight with wonder.
"Amazing?" Vlad chuckled back. He found Lisa's laughter to be rather contagious at times.
"Don't you get it? Not only are we surrounded by stars, but they're also within us. Everything has a connection to the universe—including you and me!"
Giddy with her revelation, Lisa linked her hands with Vlad's and inadvertently pulled him into a folk dance he was unfamiliar with. He collided into her after a few steps, leaving him apologising profusely as she laughed heartily.
Oh.
Perhaps the world was changing after all or maybe the universe was just expanding to new lengths again. Either way, Vlad realised at this moment he knew little of his apprentice and only of her insights and quips. He decided then he would remedy this the next night.
Vlad left a handwritten note in the laboratory asking Lisa to meet him in the study she frequented during the day. He sat in an arm-back chair by the fire while he waited for her arrival. Eventually, a fair-haired head peeked from the doorway.
"Come in and have a seat," Vlad gestured to a chair across from him. Lisa did as she was told, striding over to the chair and taking its seat.
"Is this about last night? I'm sorry if I got a little too carried away. I guess that dance is not well-known outside my village," Lisa meekly smiled.
Vlad was the one to laugh. "Not at all. I wanted to grant you a break for tonight. You've been diligent ever since we started and you deserve some time off for your efforts," he procured two glasses and a bottle of wine from a table. "Care for a drink?"
"Oh! I would love some," Lisa was pleasantly surprised at the sudden change of routine. She watched Vlad pour a glass and thanked him when he handed it to her. They sat tending their drinks for a few moments until Vlad broke the silence.
"I've been a terrible host. You were right about that at the beginning. Now it's been a few months and I still have yet to reach out to you. So tell me something... tell me something so I can know Lisa from Lupu," Vlad leaned forward.
Lisa's mouth was agape at the request. "Well, what do you want to know?" she asked after the shock had worn off.
"Anything. Family, friends, Lupu Village, stories... I'll take any complaints as well," Vlad grinned.
"That's not helpful at all," Lisa snorted in an unladylike manner.
"Wallachian is not your first language, is it?" Vlad finally asked. "You speak it with a slight accent that sounds as though it comes from the western parts of Europe."
Lisa looked into her glass, blushing. "Is it that noticeable?" she sighed. "No, Wallachian is not my first language. Saxon is my first. I picked up Wallachian from the other villagers in Lupu as I grew up. My family originally came from a village near the Saxon city of Coblenz and emigrated to Lupu centuries ago."
"Interesting that your family has held on to their former language and customs for so long," Vlad tilted his head.
Lisa scoffed. "The Saxons are a close-minded bunch. They would rather die keeping their ways than adapting to their settings."
Vlad nodded carefully. "I see…"
After their meeting in the study had ended, Vlad and Lisa decided to continue having breaks like this weekly from then on; enjoying each other's company. As more weeks passed, Vlad found he was falling for Lisa: an extremely bright and spirited apprentice was she, but also kindly regardless of her circumstances. It tore him apart knowing someday she would have to return home.
"I've told you everything about me," Lisa said one night. The first snow was falling outside the windows of the study. "Why don't you tell me about yourself? I would also like to know more about you."
Vlad drew a sharp breath, staring at the fire before them. It was inevitable the question would arise from Lisa after he had enquired about her for so long. He looked at her again after a few moments. "My past is not for the faint of heart. You can withstand it, this I know but I'm not proud of it. I still fear you may run out if I tell you what I am."
Pondering on what to do, Lisa swirled the wine in her glass. "The people on the sticks…" she spoke quietly. "Start with telling me their stories. They must've wronged you in some way."
"Very well," Vlad relented.
He told Lisa the stories of the people on sticks and what they did to earn his wrath; his former days as a bloodthirsty warlord who terrorised the people of Wallachia and brutally killed his enemies until he grew tired of it and shut himself from the world.
The breaks went on for a few weeks until the nights began to grow short again. By then, winter was coming to an end and the lessons became more difficult as the material left to be learnt dwindled. Lisa too had realised despite missing home, she wished she could remain in the castle and spend the rest of her life by Vlad's side. For all the ways he tried to paint himself as a monster because of his past transgressions, Lisa found instead Vlad could be a charming, intelligent man. Though he was cynical at times, he held a passion for the sciences much like hers—and was willing to step out of his castle to experience the world again.
Lisa of Lupu and Vlad Dracula Țepeș were falling in love.