Chapter 55 A/N I don't own Merlin. Stupid classes mean less time writing...I think I'll find a way around that. :P
"What's that?" Cassie heard Lancelot ask through the open door as she walked back to her chambers once she'd finished her rounds.
"This is your seal of nobility." Merlin answered, making Cassie pause and back up, walking into the room with a few empty bowls in her hands.
I don't understand."
I give you, Lancelot, fifth son of Lord Eldred of Northumbria." Merlin said proudly, unrolling the parchment and showing him the perfect forgery.
"No, Merlin. No."
"I'm with Lancelot on this. This is stupid." Cassie said, setting the bowls on the table and taking the roll from him.
"No one will ever know, the seal is flawless." Merlin said, looking between the two of them disbelievingly.
"Uther knows Lord Eldred, Merlin. He'll know there is no fifth son. You'll have him executed!" Cassie cried.
"How do you know this?" Merlin asked sheepishly.
"I've been here a lot longer than you, and Lord Eldred visited twice. You're better off finding a Lord from one of the Western Isles, or from Alba." Cassie told him, taking the seal to the fire and burning it.
"What did you do that for!"
"If anyone found this, he'd be hanged."
"Not to mention I'd be lying myself in." Lancelot added, standing beside Cassie.
"Oh, right. So you don't want to be a knight then." Merlin said, turning around to leave before Lancelot stopped him in his tracks.
"Of course I do!"
"Well the rules don't allow it. Damn the rules! The rules are wrong!" Merlin said passionately.
"But it's a lie. It's against everything the knights stand for." Lancelot argued back.
"You have as much right to be a knight as any man. I know it." Merlin told him looking between him and Cassie.
"But the rules, Merlin."
"I'm with him! Damn the rules!" Cassie said with a wide smile, a plan already forming in her mind as she changed sides and stood next to Merlin.
"We're not breaking the rules. We're bending them, that's all." Merlin said simply, explaining to Lancelot his thoughts on the matter. "You get your foot in the door. But after that you will be judged on your merit alone. And if you succeed- if they make you a knight-it'll be because you earned it, noble or not. I can't change the way things are done around here, but you can...if you let me help you."
"Us." Cassie added, nodding in solidarity as Lancelot leaned against the table, looking at them intriguingly. "What, you think that speech wasn't moving, I'd be crying right now if it weren't for my excitement." she added with a shrug, looking between the two men.
"Well, we need a new seal now." Merlin said, looking at her.
"Leave that to me. I'll get one no one will question." Cassie said, looking Lancelot up and down. "But for now, he needs to look the part. You know where to go for that."
"What's wrong with my appearance?" Lancelot asked, standing up and opening his arms, looking down at himself.
"You don't look the part. I'll stop by when I'm done with the seal. No one will ever question it." Cassie answered, giving them both a quick kiss on the cheek and running out. "Forgot the plates." she said going back in with a sheepish smile and grabbing them from the table.
"Typical." Merlin replied, rolling his eyes at her.
"There are so many things I could say to you right now, Merlin. But I'll hold them back. There will be time for insulting you later, my friend." she said, narrowing her eyes playfully at him and repeating the obscene gesture from earlier that day.
"You two have a peculiar friendship, you know." Lancelot told them, shaking his head at them.
"It's part of our charm." they said in unison, the same smile on their faces after a brief look at each other.
"Yeah, let's go before I change my mind, Merlin." Lancelot said, walking out the door and ignoring their laughs.
"I'll see you at Gwen's then." Cassie said giggling.
"Yeah, bye." Merlin said as they each took different paths.
"Hello Geoffrey! Nice day today isn't it?" Cassie asked amiably in a soft voice when she entered the library.
"Hmm." he grunted in agreement.
"You don't mind if I look around, do you? I'd like to find a book to read, I'm rather bored today." Cassie asked, waiting for his nod in response. "Thank you!"
She walked around the room, eyeing the spines of the books until she found the one she was looking for as well as the birth registry, going over to one of the tables in the corner and settling down with her back to him.
"Ah, yes. This one is more like it, far enough away to not be known." Cassie mumbled to herself, opening the birth registry and feeling her magic rise up as she put her hands over two blank parchments, quietly whispering: "Ic us bisen hræð tán hwanon." she watched as the blank parchments suddenly showed the seal of nobility for Lancelot, seventh son of Lord Seisyll of Alba and then she placed the copy into the birth registry, whispering: "þrýe se trāmet anbewearp þære béc (bind the page into the book). There, that's done." Cassie whispered to herself, rolling up the seal and closing the books, replacing them on the shelf and smiling at Geoffrey. "Thank you, Geoffrey!"
"No need, my Lady. It's my job." he replied with a small, suspicious smile, knowing exactly which books she'd gotten. "May I ask what's so interesting about genealogy today? You're the second person to take the book today."
"I was just bored. And walking around the garden talking with some of the Ladies of the Court. And then Lady Claire said something about a Lord from Alba and his children and I wondered how many kids he had by now. She was just gushing about his youngest son and how absolutely adorable he was! Apparently, he's got ten. I have as many brothers and sisters, so it's not really surprising to me. And then she told me abou-"
"Thank you, my Lady I should get back to the task at hand." Geoffrey said, cutting her short with a raised finger and nodding to the door, knowing well enough how she could ramble.
"Okay! Well, have a nice day! You should take a stroll outside, it's beautiful today." Cassie told him with a wide smile, knowing she'd been able to keep his curiosity at bay with her nonsensical ramblings.
Cassie made her way out to Gwen's cottage, greeting a few of the village boys who were friends with Alex and opened the door with a wide, proud smile.
"One bona fide seal of nobility. This man has many children, Uther wouldn't know if Lancelot wasn't one of them." Cassie said, smiling at the blush on Lancelot and Gwen's faces as they looked at the door, startled.
"It's really good. Almost as good as mine. Almost." Merlin said with a teasing smile, admiring her handiwork after Cassie leaned against the wall next to him and held the parchment out.
"Well, yeah. Camelot needs knights. Not just Arthur and his kind but ordinary people like you and me." Gwen finished saying, slightly flustered as she put the measuring tape away.
"I'm not a knight yet, my Lady." Lancelot told her, ignoring as Cassie looked at him with an amused expression, one which Merlin returned as he looked sideways at her.
"And I'm not a Lady." Gwen replied with a giggle, looking into his eyes with a wide smile.
"Sorry, my…" Lancelot started to say, looking down at the floor and quickly returning his gaze to her as he caught himself.
"How did yo-" Merlin started to ask Cassie but was interrupted by Gwen.
"Okay, we're done. Erm… I should have these ready in no time." Gwen said quickly, the flush on her cheeks growing darker when she saw Cassie big, knowing smile. "It's nice to meet you, Lancelot." she said, holding her hand out, which he gently took and gave a quick, gentle kiss before he chickened out. Merlin just hid his smile and clapped him on the back, nodding for them to leave.
"I can practically hear the girly shrieks in your head, Cassie. Don't even think about saying a word!" Gwen said, picking up a spare bit of fabric and throwing it at her giggling friend.
"Fine, I won't say anything." Cassie said, catching the cloth, misinterpreting the look Gwen had on her face completely. "To you." she added, running out the door with a happy laugh.
"She seems lovely. Guinevere." Lancelot said as he and Merlin walked down an empty corridor, not noticing the girl running to catch up.
"Hey! Wait up! Wait for me!" Cassie yelled, panting hard when they stopped to turn around.
"You ride for days on a broken foot, and you're still standing and make it up the stairs, but running the length of this hallway gets you winded?" Merlin asked, his lips pressed together to suppress his laughter at the girl who was doubled over.
"I'll have you know I'm plenty capable of running the length of this hall, Merlin." Cassie said once she caught her breath and straightened up. "You just left without the seal. Fat lot of good it'll do in my hands." Cassie told them, handing it over to Lancelot. "So, what were you two gossiping about?"
"I don't gossip, Cassie."
"Yeah, right!" she scoffed incredulously, "You're a bigger gossip than I am! I've seen you talking to the kitchen staff. In particular that pretty redhead." Cassie said with a twinkle in her eye, keeping pace with the two as they continued down the hallway.
"So you and Gwen...you're not… you know."
"No, no. We're just friends." Merlin said with a laugh, casting him a sideways glance.
"Flowers." Cassie said, watching them out of the corner of her eye.
"What?" Lancelot asked.
"Flowers. Do with that information as you will." Cassie said with a wink at Merlin. "I should go, promised to have lunch with Morgana and Gwen." Cassie said, giving them a kiss on the cheek and going in the opposite direction as they headed back to Gaius' chambers.
"Guess what I found out." Cassie said in a teasing sing song when Gwen sat down for lunch with Morgana and Cassie.
"Cassie, I hate you." Gwen groaned as Morgana smiled widely at the blush creeping up the other girl's neck
"What?"
"Gwen has a new crush." Cassie answered smugly.
"No! Who?" Morgana demanded, leaning forward with bright eyes
"Lancelot. He only just arrived, he's staying with Merlin for the time being and is going to try out for the Knights." Cassie said, taking a sip of her wine and talking amiably. "Yeah, and Gwen's helping make him the surcoat for it."
"I don't get it, shouldn't he have one already. The First Code only allows nobles to become knights." Morgana said confusedly.
"He's a damn good swordsman, and an honorable man. He would put any of the knights to shame." Cassie continued, swallowing some meat, "Except Owaine."
"The sign of a lovesick puppy." Gwen said teasingly, her face flushed red. "Her love's the best at everything."
"Not really, Merlin's got a much better sense of humor." Cassie pointed out.
"And that's about the only thing she thinks of." Gwen said, nodding as if she'd just made her point.
"Shut up, now tell me. Is he really as strong as he looks?" Cassie asked with a smirk.
"Wait, what?" Morgana asked with wide eyes.
"Gwen was measuring him, plenty of places to touch. So? Is he?" Cassie asked, smiling triumphantly as Gwen began to stutter.
"I liked you better before, when you were too shy about speaking this way." Gwen muttered.
"Answer the question, Gwen. How strong is he?" Morgana asked, the food forgotten in front of them as she refilled their wine cups.
"Well, he's very firm. I had to resist poking his arms to see just how firm." Gwen told them, all of them giggling as the wine and empty stomach finally made their presence known.
"We should eat unless we want to be completely drunk in a few glasses." Morgana commented, eating some of the cheese on her plate.
"She's right, the wine's already got to my head." Cassie agreed, nodding as she took another sip.
"Yes, but just the smell of wine makes you drunk, Cassie." Gwen pointed out.
"Does not!"
"Yeah, it really does." Morgana told her.
"So, any guys piquing your interest Morgana?" Cassie asked lightly, offended at their comments.
"No." Morgana responded glaring at her underhanded comment. "None of the nobles are catching my eye as of late."
"Why are you looking at her like that?" Gwen asked, noting the tension.
"Because she's saying I'm a lightweight. As are you."
"Because she's being a right bitch!" Morgana and Cassie said at the same time, in the same offended voice and with the exact same expression.
"Yeah, you two could be twins, you're so alike. Except for your appearance." Gwen said with a slow nod. "We should eat quickly, I have to finish the surcoat and find a haubergeon for Lancelot."
"Okay."
"Fine." they said simultaneously, popping more food and chewing angrily, eating silently.
"I have to go and finish them. Make up. You're friends, you should act that way." Gwen said, looking between the two of them like an annoyed mother and taking the empty plates to take to the kitchen as soon as they finished. "I mean it, my Ladies."
"She's right you know." Morgana said after a few minutes of tense silence.
"About what, that we're being petulant children or that we could be twins?" Cassie asked, sitting with her arms crossed over her chest in exactly the same way as Morgana was.
"Both." Morgana said with a laugh, seeing how they wore the same expression.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that in front of her, I was being petty."
"You were, but so were we. Teasing you like that. I'm sure it's not just the fumes that get you drunk." Morgana said, "Besides, it's not like we don't get drunk quickly too. There was this one time years ago after one of Uther's feasts that Gwen and I snuck a few bottles to an empty room, we didn't even finish the first one we were so trashed. A couple of the visiting nobles heard us- and they were only like a year or so older than us- and they joined us, if Arthur hadn't found us, Merlin wouldn't have been my first."
"That is not something I would have wanted to know, 'Gana. Now I have that image of you two in flagrante burned into my mind." Cassie said slowly, shaking her head to get it out, and ignoring Morgana's light laugh.
"Believe me, get a few drinks in you and Owaine, and you'll be sequestered in your room doing things you wouldn't otherwise." Morgana said with a smirk.
"You don't know what my husband and I do behind closed doors. Nor will you ever, especially after knowing what you and Merlin did after the consummation ceremony." Cassie replied, blushing darkly as she longed for her husband.
"Well, looks like you're definitely thinking about what you'll be doing when he gets back." Morgana told her, hiding her smile behind her cup.
"So, you and Merlin…"
"Nothing after that night. Although, there are the dreams."
"And the looks, I've seen the way you watch him. Where's your heart at?"
"I can't be with him. I know that."
"But, you can't control it. Do you love him?"
"Love is a strong word. I don't think I do. But if I'm not careful, I will eventually fall for him." she said carefully.
"The goofball that he is? I always pictured you with someone more serious, like Arthur."
"I would never be with Arthur." Morgana snorted, in a very unlady-like manner.
"Why don't you tell Gwen. Two heads are better than one. Especially when you need advice. And if the one is mine." Cassie asked softly.
"I don't want her to hate me. She's been my best friend for so long, I couldn't stomach it if I lost her." Morgana said softly.
"Just dangle Lancelot in front of her and she'll forget about it. Honestly, she and Merlin are just friends. Besides, I've never seen her blush as much with anyone."
"Nor have I. Not even Merlin."
"You know, I never would have thought that Merlin of all people would have caught the eye of the two prettiest girls in Camelot. And half the kitchen maids. And the maidservants. And th-"
"And the Ladies, they'll never admit it, but I've heard them talking to each other about how attractive they think he is." Morgana said, cutting her off.
"He's not ugly, but he's also not my type."
"Your type is Owaine. You never looked at anyone else." Morgana told her with a laugh.
"Yeah, that's true. Although many of the knights are very attractive. Come, you should see Lancelot. He is definitely very attractive, our Gwen does know how to pick them." Cassie said, grabbing Morgana's hand and leading her out to the training fields, giggling on the way there.
"Which one is he?" Morgana asked, looking at the ones on the field.
"He's not here yet, neither is Merlin. Let's just watch the knights over there. Sir Agloval is definitely easy on the eyes, and he's fighting Sir Bors right now-who isn't ugly at all." Cassie said, turning around and walking over to where some of the other Ladies were with Morgana to gossip some more.
"Is that him?" Morgana asked after half an hour of watching them train.
"Who? The handsome dark one by your maidservant?" Lady Brengaene asked.
"Yeah, Lancelot. Sixth son of Lord something or other. Eldred I think he said." Cassie replied offhandedly, craning her neck to watch.
"Lord Eldred only has four sons." Lady Sophia said, looking at her strangely.
"Oh, well, I didn't really pay much attention to what he said, I was too busy looking at his lips."
"You've only just married." Lady Brengaene said amusedly.
"Yes, and I love Owaine, but that doesn't mean I can't admire how handsome he is. Or how kissable his lips look." Cassie replied, looking back out to watch the other knights. "Or your husband. He really is very handsome."
"Yes, he is." she agreed, turning back to watch the knights and continuing to talk about the latest gossip with Sophia.
"Come on, let's get closer." Morgana said, walking over to watch them train.
"Oh, look, he's approaching Arthur!" Cassie said.
"Yes, I have eyes. No need to narrate, Cassie." Morgana replied, rolling her eyes dramatically.
"Just saying. He seems like a lost puppy coming up to a stranger." Cassie cooed.
"Huh, he actually does, poor Lancelot. Arthur's going to devour him."
"Five thrymsas he slaps him." Cassie said, holding her hand out which Morgana took.
"I think he'll punch. Arthur's not too big a slapper." she said, shaking hands and watching the scene unfold.
"Lance...a lot? My servant mentioned you. Got your seal?" Arthur asked, feigning reaching for it and smacking him in the face.
"Told ya!" Cassie said, holding her hand out for the coin when Lancelot fell on the floor.
"Damn you, Arthur." Morgana said through clenched teeth as she dropped the coin into Cassie's hand. "I should go, Lady Gordon is expecting me."
"Oh? Planning more nights with your impossible lover?" Cassie said softly, a teasing smile on her face as she looked at Merlin with twinkling eyes.
"Goodbye, Cassie." Morgana called over her shoulder, ignoring the comment with a suppressed smile.
"I'm ready now, Sire." Lancelot said, standing up and putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"You are, are you?" Arthur asked, turning around and smirking. "Fine, start by cleaning out the stables." he said, walking away as the others laughed and Lancelot looked back to see Merlin give him a thumbs up and Gwen shoot him a reassuring smile.
"Ah, cheer up, Lancelot. It's not too bad." Cassie said trying to stifle her giggles.
"You've mucked out stables?" he asked skeptically.
"Well, not really, but my brothers have and they told me it wasn't that bad once you got over the horrible smell and all the flies. And the hay that gets stuck in your hair. And the sticky-" she was saying while Gwen left to go back to the castle with a twinkling laugh.
"Yeah, you're not helping Cassie." Merlin told her, stopping her ramblings with a hand over her mouth. "Ow! You bit me!"
"Yes, I don't appreciate you essentially muzzling me! And you need to wash your hands more. They taste gross." Cassie said, glaring at him.
"Still, you bit me!" he repeated, looking at Lancelot in outrage.
"Merlin, did you go back for the herbs? I have potions to make." Cassie said, looking at him pointedly and ignoring his comments.
"No, I haven't. Gaius was nagging me about it today, too. I'll speak to Arthur, get them later." Merlin answered, taking the hint and moving on.
"I can just as easily go, you know." Cassie replied as Lancelot left for the stables, his shoulders shaking with laughter at the two.
"Nah, I don't think I can take another day of having to polish his armor. I swear, between mucking out the stables and polishing his armor, my hands will fall off."
"Well, look on the bright side, now Lancelot has to do those things until Arthur feels otherwise. And, I'll stop by Gaius' later to get the herbs." Cassie told him, saying goodbye and going towards the lower town to continue her rounds.
"Hello, Gaius. Is Merlin back with the herbs, yet?" Cassie asked in the evening.
"No, not yet." he answered, setting up the equipment to make the potions.
"Oh, mind if I wait here, it's kind of lonely in my chambers, what with Owaine gone. We can make conversation for the time being. There's a few-"
"Cassie, no gossip, please." Gaius said with a sigh.
"Okay, what potions do you need to make? I can help with the set up. I only have a cauldron-full of the pregnancy potions to make and then I have to prepare some potions for pain. There's three women that are due for birth around now."
"I'm fresh out of the sleeping draught, you can help with that. And the salve for cuts and abrasions, although Merlin is preparing that one. I'm already preparing the pain potions so I'll just double and give you half, we should have enough herbs."
"I'll just do the sleeping draught, then. The salve is pretty easy. I should actually have Merlin make some for me, Owaine always gets banged up in training for some reason."
"He gets over-excited sometimes. Has done so since he first arrived to be a squire."
"Yeah, I can see that being the case." Cassie said as she quickly went to her chambers to retrieve her potion set.
"I've got the herbs here, and also went back for the basket from yesterday, figured they would still be useful." Merlin said as he walked in, nodding to Cassie quickly.
"Very, thank you." Cassie said, taking her basket from him and going over to her workstation, cutting up some asparagus and putting it into the cauldron to steam for eight minutes.
"Oh, you're making them here." Merlin said. "At my table, you know that's my table, right?"
"I do now." Cassie said, breaking apart three watermint leaves and tossing them into the mortar.
"And you'll still stay there?"
"Yup!" Cassie said, smiling at him and popping the 'p' before she took six leaves of lady's smock and tore them up before tossing them into the mortar with the mint. "Did you get the raspberries?"
"Yeah, here you go. I had a few of them on the way, sorry. Quite tasty." Merlin said, handing her the other basket which she rifled through. "Do you brew it once for every patient?"
"No, but I have to make sure I don't put in too much mint because too much of it can cause a spontanteous abortion; something about causing muscle contractions in the womb I think it was. Same with the raspberries, so I just measure them out according to how many patients I have and then I grind them." Cassie answered, getting five raspberries and putting them in the mortar and repeating the measuring for the rest of her patients.
"How do you know?" he asked curiously as Gaius put his cauldron on the fire and continued working quitely.
"Edurne, my tutor in Hispania, she used to be a traveling physician before my mother hired her and when she was in the south, there was this older physician who had traveled to the moorish countries when he was younger with his father to learn their medicine. That physician gave her a book that spoke of the regimen for pregnancy and other things among their peoples. I never really understood much about it, and she passed before I could truly become curious and ask her more about it." Cassie answered. "I think the Arabs took a lot of the Hippocratic and Galenic literature and combined it with the Hindu-it's a culture from the Far East but not the Chinese and they have some very rich spices and teas and beautiful silks- but anyways they took their texts and their own knowledge and combined them all. I wish I had the book, probably wouldn't understand it too much, but I wish I had it. It was translated, but they spoke differently in the south." Cassie said, rambling a little.
"Hmm. Good to know." Merlin said, nodding while he ground something and Gaius walked around the room.
"I'm sorry about Lancelot. I see you were upset." Gaius told him as he walked around the table to pour some water in a vial and looked at him.
"Oh. You know...that's life." Merlin replied, glancing up at Cassie and swallowing while he continued to grind the herbs with the pestle. "You win some, you lose some."
"You're taking it very well, very mature." Gaius complimented while Cassie took the asparagus out and put them into the mortar, tossing the raspberry leaves into the cauldron, adding more water and letting them boil.
"Thank you, Gaius." Merlin said with a smile, looking over to the door as Lancelot walked in, completely covered in dirt and straw. "How'd it go?"
"Ugh." Lancelot answered, stopping momentarily before continuing on to Merlin's room as Gaius stared at Merlin suspiciously and Cassie giggled.
"He found work at the stables." Merlin answered after looking at his mentor's expression.
"I see. And the truth before I lose my temper." Gaius said, staring hard at him while Cassie stopped giggling, knowing what was coming next and catching Merlin's eye sympathetically.
"He's...er...trying out for the knights." Merlin said quickly, resuming his work over the herbs.
"The First Code of Camelot has never been broken for any man. What've you done, Merlin?" he asked harshly
"Okay. I bent the rules a little, but the rules are wrong. They're unfair."
"You bent the rules? Using ma-" Gaius said, stopping as Cassie had spoken from behind him.
"It wasn't just him. I helped. And Lancelot deserves a chance, the rules are stupid. In Hispania, if you were talented enough and had the discipline you were allowed to try out. And you made the Royal Guard if you were a good enough swordsman. " Cassie said, grinding all the herbs and raspberries into a paste angrily.
"It's not for us to decide. No matter what we feel. Why did you do it, anyway?" he asked them.
"I owe Lancelot my life. I am paying for that debt the only way I can by giving him the opportunity he deserves. If you want to punish me for it, go ahead." Merlin said, dropping his arms to the side and looking at him for a moment before he turned around and stalked up to his room.
"Don't be angry with him, Gaius. He's only doing what he thinks is right." Cassie said softly, crushing the cooked asparagus with the rest of the paste and transferring it to the cauldron to boil for fifteen minutes while she went about washing the mortar.
"Why did you do it?"
"I was just being a good friend. Merlin chose a Lord that Uther knew well, and would have certainly got Lancelot arrested, if not killed. I just chose another Lord with more children."
"I don't agree with what you two did, it was reckless and dangerous." Gaius said, walking to her and stopping her from crushing the lavender in the newly cleaned mortar to begin makin gthe sleeping draughts.
"I know, I know that it was reckless, but we couldn't just do nothing! Lancelot is a very good swordsman, and he wants to join, he wants to protect Camelot. Where's the problem in that?"
"The problem is in breaking the rules!"
"Damn the rules, Gaius!" Cassie cried passionately, her voice rising angrily.
"The rules are there to be followed, to protect everyone."
"Not all the rules your precious King has protect everyone." Cassie spat lowly, turning back to her work and crushing the lavender angrily, measuring out the rest of the ingredients for the sleeping draught and preparing it while she kept an eye on the graduated candle, waiting for it to reach a third of its original height to take the antenatal potion of the fire and let it cool.
"Let me finish, I'll take them to you tomorrow." Gaius said after the tense silence stretched on.
"No, no. I'm fine. Won't be too long now, the antenatal potion is almost done. And the sleeping draught will be done by the time that candle's gone down." Cassie said, shaking her head and continuing crushing the rest of the herbs into a powder forcefully. Crushing herbs for Cassie was akin to swordfighting for Arthur; a good way to let out frustrations.
"Okay, I guess I'll finish the salve Merlin left halfway done." Gaius said, moving to where Merlin had been earlier and adding the Lady's smock to continue crushing, sparing a few glances at her every now and then as they worked in angry silence.
"Goodnight, Gaius." Cassie said after she'd finished bottling all the potions she'd made and cleaning up her work station.
"Goodnight, Cassie." he said, "Do you need help taking them next door?"
"No, I'm good." Cassie said, needing the privacy to spell them.
She carefully opened the door and closed it gently, locking it with a glow of her eyes and setting the potions down on the table. She then separated the pain potions from the sleeping draught and antenatal potions and stored the former two on the shelves. She turned to the table, taking deep breaths and calming her nerves before she called her magic up, directing it to each potion with her hand held over the individual vials whispering: "Forþecce þæs cwiþes, áféde þæs ċildes ond þæs byrðran (Protect the womb, nourish the baby and the mother)."
Post Chapter A/N the antenatal potion-completely made up by me. Doubt if it works, but trying to figure out how to make it was fun. I wanted to do a steam distillation before I remembered it requires a fractionating column, and that wasn't invented until 1935-much less all the technology it would require to keep the constant flow of water and pressure. I mean I can write off the round-bottomed flasks and every other glassware as being very rudimentary and everything, but the fractionating column. Uh uh. I do realize I had it in the beginning of the story, but I wasn't really thinking too much about historical accuracy then, pretty much taking a whole bunch of artistic liberties with that description, while trying super hard for Cassie's backstory to make at least some sense-although Mistovij probably didn't to anyone who is a history major focusing on that region or anything. The measurements, completely fake, I have no clue the percent composition of each mineral and vitamin in the herbs, so I just grabbed random numbers and used those. Lady's smock is also called cuckoo flower and helps with bruises and relieves rheumatism and a whole bunch of other stuff-JSYK. I had a blast researching all these herbs and everything. And I did find that some other herbs similar to those do cause uterine contractions in big doses and cause spontaneous abortion, so DO NOT TRY IT! It may be dangerous. And, big bonus, it'll help me whenever I have to do my final project in Chemistry because I now have an idea for the topic-using supercritical fluid extraction for essential oils from various herbs and running them through the GC-MS to find the percent composition of the vitamins and minerals and the compounds in them. Super fun!