Everything happened so fast—or maybe it only seemed that way because of the spike in my nerves and heart rate. The more I wanted to watch Barbara work on Thoma, the harder I found it to give her some space. Kaeya sticking by my side made the room feel even more crowded. The chance to see her use the holy water never came, though. Before she'd even opened the bottle, Barbara looked at us apologetically.
"I'm sorry, but you two must leave the room while I treat the patient."
"What? Why?" I asked in a rush.
"I've never worked with holy water before, and I need to be focused," she explained. "We cannot afford any distractions or mistakes."
A lump formed in my throat, and I nodded slowly in understanding. Though my legs carried me to the exit, I couldn't take my eyes off Thoma's body. With the holy water's power and Barbara's skill, would this truly be the last time I saw him in this state? I sure hoped so.
Kaeya placed a gentle hand at my back, and we left the infirmary together. A mix of anxiety and hope bubbled in my chest. The hope took over—a smile creeping onto my lips. Excited, I grasped Kaeya's hand and shook it somewhat aggressively.
"She found the holy water," I said in awe.
Kaeya nodded and returned my shake with a soft squeeze. "She did."
"Thoma…he's going to be alright."
"It seems that way, for now."
I swallowed and tried to bring myself back to reality. "Right. It's not over until it's over. How long do you think the treatment will take? Will Barbara let us back in soon?"
Kaeya opened his mouth, but no sound came out before he closed it. It was then that I realized that no one would know the answers to those questions. Only another healer might have a general idea, and Kaeya was far from being one.
"We'll be patient," I stated more to myself than to him. "We've waited a few days. We can wait a few more hours."
"An excellent point, and the timing couldn't have been better."
Kaeya gestured to the wall clock that hung over the reception desk. Only a few minutes remained before the hour was over and we'd have to leave for class. My gaze fell down naturally from there and landed on Qiqi's expectant face.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"I think you'll be getting one extra person to sign out today," I told her and marked down my departure in the logbook. Since I was already there, I moved one line above and did the same for Kaeya.
"Okay." Qiqi didn't question what I meant by that, but her sharp stare at the logbook was accompanied by the tiniest of smiles. Her dedication to such simple work was cute.
Now, there was nothing left to do but leave the infirmary. With this good news, I could finally let go of the dread surrounding Thoma's condition—allowing myself to engage in class and reclaim my attention.
My optimism had been a joke. In each of my classes, I could barely focus on instructions for five minutes at a time before my mind wandered back to the infirmary. How far had Barbara gotten with the treatment? Did the holy water work? Was Thoma awake right now? I would have preferred to be there when he woke up, but all that mattered was his full recovery.
These thoughts swirled in my head constantly—earning me an earful from Instructor Xiao when I failed at basic dodging. I vaguely remembered Professor Minci teaching a lesson regarding new research on Vision durability, but her voice had lost against my distraction. Luckily, Professor Morax chose to not call on me for anything, and that left the final hour of horticulture. The hour turned to minutes, and my unblinking eyes were beginning to sting as I kept them glued to the clock. Seconds, now.
Professor Baizhu never had a problem with ending class on time, and today was no different. Since my hands had already stealthily packed up my belongings by the time he wrapped up, I was the first student out of their seat. Xiangling was the second—hot on my heels.
"I feel like it's been forever since all of us last ate together," she said as we power-walked down the hall. "I mean, I guess it has been forever. Winter break was already kind of long. I miss having someone who actually liked my cooking experiments."
"Hey, I also enjoy them."
"Remember the slime condensate quiche?"
"Maybe not all of them," I amended with a wince. "I'd eat that quiche again if it guaranteed the holy water's success."
"With a name like that, there's no way the holy water hasn't cured Thoma."
The two of us reached the administration building in record time—not that there's any record I knew of—and I led the way to the infirmary room. Upon entering, I walked directly to the logbook before Qiqi could say a word. Xiangling bounced on the balls of her feet behind me, and I also wrote her name to save time.
"Come on." I waved her over to the hallway with recovery rooms. "I can't wait to—"
My hurried steps came to a halt when I saw Professor Kreideprinz emerging from Thoma's room with a sullen Barbara at his side. Xiangling crashed into my back, but my spine had stiffened enough to prevent us from tumbling over. I barely registered her blunder. The bundle of hope inside me unfurled to reveal that the dread had never left.
"What happened? I asked. "Is Thoma okay?"
Professor Kreideprinz looked up from a clipboard in his hand. Surprise flickered over his features as his eyes took note of me and Xiangling peering down the hall. Barbara looked less surprised to see us, but her lips thinned to a disappointed pout.
"I'm sorry," she stammered. "There's been some difficulty with the holy water. The patient's condition is rather unstable, so visitors will no longer be allowed for the time being."
I shook my head, unbelieving. "That can't be. The holy water…" My words faded out once reality hit me. The holy water was never a promised cure. I knew this, yet I didn't expect there to be an actual failed outcome.
Beside me, Xiangling tugged at my hand. "We should give them room. The reception area has a place to sit. Do you want to go there?"
I didn't remember giving an answer, yet we were suddenly settled into the bench adjacent to Qiqi's desk. Sitting down was a good choice—there was less of a chance that I'd fall over from shock. Already, I'd begun to recover from Barbara's words and thought about the next steps. Just as I said to Kaeya earlier, we had options—shaky options, but options nonetheless.
I lifted my head with what determination I could muster, and it was then that I noticed Xiangling and I weren't alone. Other than Qiqi in her spot, Professor Kreideprinz and Barbara had followed us down the hall. They now murmured in discussion together.
"Why didn't the holy water work?" I asked. The more information I had, the better.
The two of them pulled away, and Professor Kreideprinz was first to speak.
"You misunderstand. As a matter of fact, there was a fleeting positive response after a portion of the holy water had been administered. Though, the potency was too weak to yield the desired result." He paused to look at the clipboard, tapping a pen on the surface. "Allow me to phrase it this way: holy water acts as a blanket of protection. Unfortunately, this function is not as useful when the area of concern is concentrated to the corrosion."
His eyes moved from me to Xiangling, waiting.
Bluntly, Xiangling asked, "What does that mean?"
Barbara was next to give her input. "How about I put it this way…a furnace can heat a room and bring warmth to your entire body. If you're suffering from freezing temperatures, spending time in a heated room will resolve your discomfort. Things become more difficult if the cold was severe enough to cause frostbite. No matter how warm the room is, the frostbite will not heal on its own."
Her analogy clicked in my brain far better than Professor Kreideprinz's explanation. I was grateful to her, but it was hard to muster up a 'thank you' after the understanding set in.
"We can continue to administer the holy water under different methods to chance alternative results, but more research on the substance itself comes first. The holy water in our possession is finite. As such, it needs to be used with caution." The professor's attention slid from me to the clock. His eyes narrowed slightly when he asked, "Lumine, did Baizhu not notify you of your greenhouse duties? Sucrose should be expecting you right about now."
I had forgotten. Professor Baizhu did say that I was to be in the greenhouse each day after classes ended. Guilt sunk down to my stomach. I'd left Sucrose to do the work all on her own.
"There is still time," Professor Kreideprinz said with no judgment. "Please, attend to the plants to the best of your ability. I will be doing the same with Barbara for our patient."
Though I still wanted to glimpse Thoma's condition before leaving, I could neither ignore the no-visitors policy nor the fact that Sucrose was lacking a reliable greenhouse partner. She was so soft-spoken that I imagined she wouldn't make a fuss about it. Still, I shouldn't have forgotten so easily.
Wasting no more time, I left the infirmary with Xiangling promising a surprise treat at dinner. I knew it was to lift my spirits, but there was more to be done than feeling disappointed. Joining Sucrose in the greenhouse meant more than just cultivating plants together. She was my next option.
"—and that's the update." I had just briefed Sucrose on what happened with the holy water.
As expected, she wasn't bothered when I reached the greenhouse late—out of breath from practically running over. It turned out that she had yet to get started on daily maintenance, so I eagerly made my contribution while giving her information.
"I would love to get my hands on a sample of the holy water," she commented. "That can wait for another time—assuming there is any left afterward."
"Have you had any breakthroughs with the lizard DNA?"
"My experiment is…still in the works. After we ran into the Champion yesterday, the first thing I did was return to my station at the labs. I reframed the direction of my objective to focus on human genetics and formed a series of equations and formulas. Each time I almost reached a solution that fit equilibrium, one variable was out of place." Sucrose rubbed at her eyes and snipped the wayward leaves of a glaze lily patch. "I ended up losing track of time, and the sun was up before I knew it."
"You didn't sleep at all?" I stopped watering a maple tree sapling and stared at her with concern.
"Oh, don't worry about that. It's a habit of mine to extend my research to the next day, though Professor Kreideprinz has urged me to keep watch of my health. I limit myself to one all-nighter a week."
She was more dedicated to the cause than I thought. To go to such lengths for a classmate—I admired her commitment to research. I clutched the watering can in a tight hold. If Sucrose was going all-out, so could I.
"Do you have a research partner?" I asked.
"Everyone in alchemy class is given a research partner. For my personal experiments…I work alone. There aren't many in my circle who are accustomed to bio-alchemy."
"Would you like one?"
I knew close to nothing about alchemy, but that didn't mean I couldn't lend a helping hand. After just two days in the greenhouse, Sucrose had already taught me so much about botany and given me a greater understanding of horticulture that not even Professor Baizhu could convey. It made sense why she was Professor Kreideprinz's teaching assistant.
Sucrose turned red at my question. "You want to become my partner?"
"With you as my guide, I can help with the workload. We're so short on time, and I don't want you to break your once-a-week no-sleep policy."
"It wouldn't be the first time," she admitted sheepishly. "I do make more mistakes when I'm sleepy. So…that could work. Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"Okay, then. Let's…let's do it!"
Not a soul should be awake at this time, yet here I was in the dead of night—the labs. I'd been sitting on the same stool for hours, listening to Sucrose explain the basic instruments used in alchemy and the foundational principles of her experiment. We'd long since moved past the introduction of alchemy and were several failed tests into the lizard DNA.
At her station—which consisted of one crafting table and three regular tables joined to form a U-shape—a collection of samples, glass contraptions, and notes were splayed out in a somewhat-ordered frenzy. Sucrose sat in the center of the tables with a whiteboard on wheels at her back. While I was on the perimeter, gathering materials and placing them in their correct places, she often turned around to scribble an additional set of equations.
I'd tried to make sense of the seemingly infinite number of unique symbols in her writing, but I'd given up after the sixth variation of a triangle.
"I think we're ready to try it again," Sucrose announced and held out a hand.
I understood immediately and placed the glass dropper bottle in her palm. Though my body was tired, I kept my mind sharp as I watched her add a full dropper of lizard blood into a fancy glass. Sucrose had called it a cucurbit, but fancy glass stuck better in my head. From there, I pushed forward the tray of powdered minerals.
"We need to measure the metallics differently. I had overestimated the need for iron in the last test. The lizard blood already has a great deal of it, so that must be why the distillation wasn't a success."
Nodding, I scooped up the parchment containing iron and brought it over to the scales. "How much of it should I weigh?"
"An eighth less than before. While you do that, I will dilute the base liquids."
As I'd quickly come to learn, diluting took a great deal of concentration—far more than weighing solids—which is why that role fell to Sucrose. Our joint collaboration cut preparation time down by half. I measured the other minerals as I had the last million times, and we soon collected all of the components into the fancy glass—cucurbit. Sucrose mixed them together until a liquid paste with a dark purple color settled at the bottom.
The next step was for me to light the crafting table's burner while Sucrose assembled fancy glass number two—an alembic—above the cucurbit. Once the contraption was set up, I slid a shallow jar beside the alembic and waited for the fire to do its work.
Slowly, the mixture inside the cucurbit began to simmer and bubble. From this point on, a host of potential problems were almost expected. There was a chance for everything inside to harden—a failure. The solids could reject the liquids and separate—another failure. The cucurbit might explode—a failure on my part after I'd accidentally turned the burner too high once. And…more.
Luckily, none of those things happened. By design, the mixture in the cucurbit evaporated and collected inside the alembic before dripping down an elongated tube and into the jar—now a lavender hue. There was some residue remaining in the cucurbit which I safely disposed of. What we wanted was in the jar.
"The color is optimal," Sucrose noted as she picked up the jar, holding it up to the light. "At a sixty-degree angle, the compound acts with normal viscosity. I will examine the pH levels to ensure it is safe for usage."
That was the tricky part. All of our almost-successful tests failed to reach a proper pH level of seven. Anything basic or acidic would disrupt natural body functions and likely cause more harm than good.
Patiently, I waited for Sucrose to drop a small amount of the liquid onto a pH testing strip. The seconds ticked by as we both stared, waiting for the final results. Then, the paper developed from a stark white to a deep green.
"Is that green green?" I asked with bated breath.
This wasn't the first time we got green, but Sucrose had insisted there was either too much yellow or too much blue to be a true green—fully neutral.
"It's green…green. Just green." An excited giggle escaped her as she lifted the jar again. "Epsilon-series vitanova, variation sixty-three is a success."
"We did it?"
She nodded. "We did it."
Elation chased away any weariness from the long night, and I resisted a loud cheer. I also resisted the urge to run this miracle lizard cure to the infirmary right away. It was still the dead of night, after all. I instead clapped my hands together and raised them both to meet with Sucrose.
Confusion replaced the joy on her face, and she set the jar aside and pointed to me. "What is that?"
"A double high-five. You slap your hands with mine—for celebration."
Her mouth fell open with quiet surprise. For the first time tonight, after pulling her mind from alchemy, Sucrose's blush returned. "Oh, really?" Somewhat awkwardly, she returned my double high-five.
After that, there wasn't much left for us to do except clean up the space and rest for tomorrow. The sky was already beginning to lighten once I returned to the dorms with Sucrose, and we both yawned our goodbyes. A permanent smile remained on my face the whole time. We'd actually succeeded. Well, in terms of alchemy.
The truth would be revealed later tomorrow—today by the sun's standards—if it actually worked.