Chapter 3: Schlaftraum's Gift

Ferdinand, 1st year Royal Academy

A couple of days after classes had started, I choose Eckhart and Justus to accompany me to the forest to begin collecting materials that we would need. Thanks to Sylvester, I managed to get a blade for Eckhart and a dagger for myself. This made Eckhart feel a little better about the excursion. I suspected the true reason he had agreed was to get me out of the dorm and away from her people. There had already been several poisoning attempts. Justus caught them all, blessedly. The fact that those of the Veronica faction did not try to follow me made me both relieved and uneasy. I certainly felt their sharp gazes as we left Ehrenfest's common room. But once we were free from the watchers, I pulled the book from my satchel. It had been Sylvester who had gifted me this book on fey plants. It wasn't often he managed to sneak something so valuable to me as a gift without her interfering. So, it brought no small amount of joy when my brother had given it to me.

I flipped through the pages as we walked. Colorful and detailed paintings for each plant had been rendered in stunning detail. The original artist must have studied all the plants up close. Something I myself wanted to do. I skimmed through the pages for the plant I had found while reading in my room. Its pollen could be used to make sleeping potions, but I wanted to see if it could be used more offensively. Thankfully, this flower had grown in a number of places including the forests in the Sovereignty and the Academy grounds.

While we explored, Eckhart kept watch, slaying any feybeasts that came too close. Mostly eifintes and zantzes. He collected the feystones as part of his payment for being the guard, though he insisted he did not need payment. Justus on the other hand was practically drunk on excitement. He would flint from one new material to the next with a fever of energy. But he always remained close to me, never letting me get more than a few steps away from him. It took us about a bell to locate our prize nestled in the shade of a large tree

A seven-pointed star shaped flower. The blooms were a bit bigger than my open palm and there were several dozen climbing the tree. Just as the book described the center of the flower was a light purple that faded down to a pearl white. The stamins were a bright yellow coated as they were with pollen. All in all, Schlaftraum's Gift was very pleasing to the eye.

"So, this produces a sleep powder that gives good dreams." Justus leaned forward and sniffed. His nose wrinkled. "It smells bitter and acrid."

"The book mentioned it could smell different." I wonder if the environment changes the smell. Would it be difficult to grow back home? Surely if I can recreate the various environments it can grow in, I can figure out why the smell changes. Maybe its properties will change too. It was while I was contemplating the possibilities and how to go about them that I reached out to pluck one of the blooms.

"Stop! You fool!" A female voice cracked like a whip overhead.

Instinctively, I wrenched my hand back and turned to see who had shouted. Eckhart and Justus moved to either side of me. Their intention to protect me was clear in their posture and gaze. Three people approached wearing Dunkelfelger capes. One girl and two boys. I recognized the girl as the archduke candidate that had spoken directly to me at the greeting. My noble smile was instantly in place remembering how she had threatened me. Another interesting note, why was this girl alone with two boys, didn't she care about her reputation?

The silver eyed girl's eyes went immediately to the sword that Eckhart was not quite pointing at her. Her guard knight was also eyeing him. She made a sound of disgust. Before snapping at Eckhart, "You will have far bigger problems if you raise that against me." For a brief moment she looked far older than her ten years could have possibly allowed. Her sharpness was then directed at Justus. "What kind of attendant does not make sure their Lord is properly outfitted? Where are his gathering gloves? Or were you both just going to let him pick those and laugh at the result? You should be ashamed of yourselves."

"It is not Flutrane's place to tell Mestionora how to use her wisdom." The words came out of my mouth without me giving any real thought to the consequences of telling a greater duchy's archduke candidate to mind their own business. Though I felt a warmth of anger building as she attacked my most loyal attendants.

Then her sharp gaze snapped to my own. She held my gaze for far too long. I had the strangest feeling that she was searching me for something. The edge to her expression cooled and then all the emotion seemed to be sucked up by the noble smile she put in place.

"You are correct. No harm seems to have been done if you haven't touched the flowers."

"Not yet." I turned back to my gathering. Perhaps this was hazing from an upper duchy. How tedious. "But I will in a moment."

The Dunkelfelger woman made a very un-lady-like sound that caused me to glance her way. Her eyes were practically bulging out of her head. How disgraceful. But the panic was plain and true. "Do you at least have a stabilizing agent? You must if you do not have a glove."

I frowned. Stabilizing agent, I had never heard of such a thing being used for Schlaftraum's Gift. Though I had seen the recipe in the back of the book. "The book did not say anything about it for this particular plant?" Was this a trick?

"Glucklitat, you test me too early." She swore under her breath. "Peter-."

The green haired boy; who wore scholar robes, stepped forward already holding a fist sized jar of clear liquid and a single glove made of a soft red hide. "Right here, Lady Minerva."

The other boy; in knights clothing like the lady, was practically brimming with restless energy was glancing between the stuff that Peter had produced and me. He was clearly uneasy about what his lady was planning. "My lady, wouldn't it be wise to just tell the boy. Your father wo-."

"It is a good thing I did not ask what is wise. And father will hear nothing of this." She smiled sweetly at her guard causing him to straighten at her unstated threat.

Her rudeness was as outstanding as her brashness. I was not certain if her not so subtle threat extended to us, but it was clear she did not care that we knew something that could potentially get her in trouble with the Aub Dunkelfelger. Interesting. Or did she think that no one would believe us?

She stepped past Eckhart and Justus as if they were not even worth worrying about. Then she rolled up the long sleeve on her left arm. Donning the glove on her right hand and snatched one of the flowers from the vine. She took a step away from me, but turned so I had a good view of her exposed arm. She proceeded to drag the flower's petals over the skin of her forearm. It left streaks of yellow pollen over her lightly tanned skin.

At first nothing happened. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. I was starting to wonder if this really was a hoax at my expense. Then quite suddenly her skin took on a bright red color. It didn't stop there though; her skin also began to pucker and bubble up. It was like her skin was being burned. No, it was. I could only imagine what would have happened if I had grabbed the flower and handled it. Her hiss was the only indication that the experience was painful. Her eyes started to take on a glassy sheen and her skin seemed to slicken with sweat. Her guard clenched his fist in frustration, but made no move to intervene.

It was then that the young man with long emerald hair acted. He stepped up beside his lady and dumped half the jar of clear liquid on her injured skin and the gloved hand with the flower. He then splashed more on the flowers that were still on the vine. Their smell became stronger and turned sweet after a few seconds. The Dunkelfelger woman seemed to admire the damage done to her skin.

"In case you were wondering, it is as painful as it is ugly. Thankfully, it didn't get on my hands. The blisters are excoriating when they pop and they are quite easy to burst."

Peter then produced another potion in a small glass tube. Lady Minerva took it and drank it in one gulp. The blisters shrank then faded completely, though the redness was slower to recede, but it too eventually disappeared.

"Here." She offered the flower to me. Instantly, Eckhart and Justus were between us. Their gazes hard. She snorted. "A bit late, but better than never." She dragged the flower back over the area that had just finished healing. We stared for several minutes, but nothing happened. "See? It is safe." She then reached and grabbed a couple more and demonstrated they too were fine.

Justus took them gingerly from her grasp. Usually, her attendant would have given them to Justus, but she did not have one with her. Her gaze turned back to me.

"What were you thinking grabbing a feyplant without understanding the dangers, Little Flower?" Her tone was not accusatory as I had expected, but soft and gentle. That nick name nearly had Geduldh's color rising to my cheeks. But then there was also her intervening to save me from what would have been a very embracing situation. I kept my noble smile in place knowing there was no way she would see through it. It was then that her scholar stepped forward drawing my attention.

"I know this is very forward of me, but may I see that book you carry, Lord Ferdinand?"

He was looking me in the eye so I could clearly detect his intention to draw the focus away from his Lady's rudeness to me. But there was something far more calculating in those bright orange eyes. I felt the knee jerk need to hide the book behind my back. Not that I could as attention had already been drawn to it. Peter sensed my reluctance to part with the book though mistook it as being unwilling to part with something of value. He reached into his pouch and pulled a small gold coin.

"In case I damage it."

"Alright." I reluctantly handed the book over after taking the coin. The young man took the book very gently, cradling it as if it were a grand treasure. He flipped through the pages with such care it was almost as if he expected them to crumble under the slightest touch. I noticed as skimmed through the contents he started to frown and steadily frowned harder. Finally, he looked back at me from over the pages. He opened his mouth about to speak then seemed to think better of it and sighed.

"I will not ask how you came to possess this book, Lord Ferdinand. But I will caution you to have a thorough check of all books' contents. Several of the entries are missing bits of information. A sentence here or there." Something that was easily over looked, was what he did not say. As if he were offering a small comfort as subtly as our stations would allow.

"Is it just a poor copy?" Lady Minerva asked leaning over her scholar's shoulder to glance at the pages.

Peter's smile was conflicted. "I cannot say."

His lady's mouth twitched. "I sense a but in there."

Again, he sighed. "Indeed. But every entry that a sentence was missing from was a plant that has various dangers involved in its use or gathering. It always seems like the information that is missing is the parts that show safe handling. Like the Glover flower, Zantze's Paw, Schlaftraum's Gift, and Schleichende's Tail. Though the Trombe entry was one of the only dangerous plants left completely alone."

I felt as if my veins had turned to ice. The Trombe was native to Ehrenfest. One of only two really dangerous plants found in my home duchy. If either had been missing information, I might have looked deeper into the book to check for tampering. Something I was now going to find a way to rectify.

"Little Flower," Again with that name! "If I may, the librarians here are sovereign citizens, beholden to only the Sovereignty. They could easily fill in any gaps in material you might from dubious sources."

That snapped me out of the terrible thought that Sylvester might have had a hand in this. Instead, I wondered why an archduke candidate from a high ranked duchy would help me when there was nothing to be gained by it.

"Because that would have hurt." Was Lady Minerva's frank reply.

Apparently, I spoken that last thought out loud. Unfortunate. But as I assessed her for deceit, I saw none despite how open her expression was. I resisted the urge to grimace. She really was much too open. The more calculating part of me understood I could use that to my advantage.

"As your guard said, you did not need to show me in such a way. You could have just pointed to the librarians to begin with."

All the sudden her open expression shuttered closed, as if she suddenly remembered who we were, where we were. As if she had not been a noble just moments before.

"Are you going to complain about not learning the hard way?" She placed a contemplative hand on her cheek. "Usually when someone of higher status saves you for a blunder you owe them something. I am sure you were merely overcome with gratitude that you forgot. Let's see, ah, yes, you can attend a tea party my sister and I are holding with the music teachers. Everyone speaks so highly of your singing voice and playing. I am quite sure the ladies will swoon. So, would you kindly grace us with your playing?" She did not even try to hide her amusement, damn her.

My noble smile was as bright as I could manage. "It would be my honor, Lady Minerva." It took all my strength to not consider wringing her neck.

She curtseyed and turned to go. But not before calling over her shoulder. "I'll have my attendant send you an invitation." Her scholar and guard moved to flank her as she glided off into the trees.

"What a vexing woman." I muttered once I was sure they were well and truly gone. Eckhart agreed with me wholeheartedly while Justus seemed far too thoughtful for my liking.

"She is far more interesting than the rumors implied."

I raised an eyebrow at him prompting Justus to explain.

"Some rumors are as you would expect, that the twins are under powered mana wise. I have seen no evidence of that. Mostly, when referring to Lady Minerva alone, they flip-flop between she is a true Dunkelfelger woman as cunning as her mother or that she should have been born a male. Apparently, some whisper that she has Angriff's blessing on her, literally. That she will be a fine knight commander if her father allows it."

I scoffed. "Some knight. She traveled alone with two men. How shameless."

Justus glanced the way the lady had gone. "The scholar is believed to be her fiancé, while the guard is a cousin on her mother's side, if I recall. Whether she is shameful or not, she did us a service. She understood instantly the danger of these flowers, stopped you from injuring yourself. A failing on our part that wounds me." I waved that off and encouraged him to continue. "But she also understood at a glance that you would not implicitly trust her even had she suggested going to the library. She also treated you as both an equal while also like you were an apprentice knight under her wing. What interests me most however, is that though she framed her invitation as a thank you to her, it does you more favors than her. There are not many people who know your distaste for playing in front of others."

I grimaced. Somehow, I doubted Justus was right on the last part. The lady was far too amused for my liking. "We are leaving." Both Eckhart and Justus nodded and followed me as I walked back to the academy.

"You do not think that Lord Syl-."

I interrupted Justus. "He is incapable of such things. More likely it was tampered with before arriving here. This requires too much reading, which Sylvester avoids at all costs. Regardless we will need to be more vigilant. Sylvester hears nothing about this." I made it a command that both agreed to readily.