Herb-Witch (Lord Alchemist Duology) by Elizabeth McCoy Page B

they were primed."
    "My
teacher forgot to teach me that." Kessa spread her hands,
smiling wryly. "Do you have recipe books down here?"
    "When
they're in use, but most are in the library off the lecture hall.
You're interested in healing preparations?"
    Flashes
of memory came to her. Laita coughing and coughing, unable even to
drink until Kessa found a mix of herbs whose boiled vapor soothed the
ragged itch. Burk asking, Can't you brew something that'll make me
small again? Laita burning with fever that'd laid even her
brother low. The little foundling baby who'd caught the red spots and
died before Kessa was more than the youngest roof-rat in Tanas' care.
"Yes. At times. They're useful."
    "You're
a journeyman – you could get a master's permission, and read
the copies in the guild house. At least, Mother says she'll vouch for
me when I'm done with my apprenticeship." Nicia led the way back
upstairs.
    "Who is your mother?" Kessa asked, keeping her tone friendly
so the younger girl would know it wasn't meant as insult.
    "Oh!
I'm sorry, I forgot! Herbmaster Keli! Surely you've met her?"
Nicia held the upper door open for Kessa.
    Master
Rom'd mentioned the title, saying he'd reported Kessa's rank and
shop. Kessa'd always assumed the Herbmaster was one of the rare male herb-witches, to have completed a masterwork and been elevated to the
ranks of guild officers. "No, Master Rom never said I should."
Kessa followed her guide through hallways, into a large hall with
chairs, small tables, and a podium at one end. There were a number of
bookshelves, but Nicia went through another door, near the podium,
into a smaller room entirely lined with shelves, with only a table
and chairs for furniture. The first room had windows in two of the
walls, but this only had a lamp with Incandescens Stones.
    "What
sort of healing are you interested in?" Nicia asked, moving to
touch the leather-bound backs. Symbols and words were embossed,
painted, or gilt upon them.
    Kessa
dared to look up and around. "General diseases. Some sort of
cure-all, if such exist." She remembered her manners. "If
it's not a trouble."
    "Diseases
have an entire section . . . Here's a basic book, Yeetl's Compendium of Curatives . Isn't that Master Rom's
family name?" Nicia turned to look at her.
    Kessa
dropped her eyes again, hoping she'd been fast enough despite the
distraction of all these books, all this information, a possible
golden recipe to give Laita the strength to throw off illness . . .
"Yes. Did he write it?"
    "It's
a recent copying, but probably not, or it'd have his first name.
Perhaps his great-grandfather." Nicia set the book on the table.
    Kessa
sat and opened the book to the front page. If it was a recent
copying . . . Yes, an index. For Pox. For Spots.
For Warts and Growths. For Coughs. She started flipping to that
one.
    "Um . . .
Could I ask a question?" Nicia sat, boy-like, with her chest
against the back of her chair; her skirt was rucked up nearly around
her hips, revealing her hose had an in-expertly mended hole at the
knee.
    "Mm?"
Kessa acknowledged distractedly. No, rot it, she knew this recipe;
it'd made Laita nigh unconscious for two days, terrifying everyone.
The cough'd gone afterwards, but she'd not eaten hardly
anything – and caught the very next dripping-nose disease to
come near.
    "Are
you looking for something for yourself? Because of, um . . ."
    She'd
seen Kessa's eyes. "Of?" she asked, blithe and merciless.
    "Your . . .
Well . . . Um. You don't look at anyone."
    Kessa
attempted to prove the girl wrong by glancing over, through her hair.
"It's a habit."
    Nicia
was wringing her hands together, where they rested on the chair-back.
"There are . . . I know there are potions which
change people's hair, and skin, and eyes . . ."
    That
was how she'd met Maila, when Kessa was just a brat who could put
nearly anything in her mouth without harm. Tanas had taken her to the
Shadow Guild's best herb-witch – and alchemist,