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For the present, there wasn't much to do besides make sure nothing was broken. He hadn't heard anything of that sort, but with the heartbeat growing to a roar in his ear, he might well have missed the telltale crash, or the possible secondary noises. "Might wanna wait a little before you go. He might still be out there. I'm not a criminal now, am I?" The more time went on, the paler his yellow skin got as the tranquilizer wore off fully and the potential magnitude of the situation sank in. No hyperventilation, not yet, but Aire looked very much like someone about to throw up.

Luckily, he only vomited questions in a flurry of verbiage. "Is this one of those 'complicated' family things I keep hearing about? Is he gonna come back and burn the place down once he finds out I lied? What did you do to piss that guy off? Nothing got broken back there, did it?" A long breath inward followed that outpouring, followed then by temporary hyperventilation.

Since it sounded like reasonable advice, the boy did as instructed, taking in air through his bent nose and out through the mouth. While he worked on getting breath back in his chest, he listened, and was given pieces to the story. Jumbled, true, but no moreso than his questions. Her being a criminal was one of the only ways this made sense, either her pursuer was a lawman of some sort or a fellow(?) criminal. The scenarios writing themselves in his head were clear on that. ...But she'd confirmed it as a family thing. Apparently that automatically makes it complicated. Keep hearing that, anyway...

Within thirty seconds, Aire had regained some of his color, though he still had the wide eyes and tight mouth of one alarmed. Hearing that all remained intact back there relieved some. "Good. Okay. I mean, breaking some of those might've killed us, so obviously those weren't damaged. Easier if I'm not breaking the law helping." This did not appreciably slow the homely 'prentice's mouth, excited as he was. "By the way, the antitoxin for what I gave him's found in whistleweed. Pretty common in Jauhar, my teacher says."

Not unreasonable concerns. Things were different in Belrea, to be sure. There, they had the facilities to deal with such unfortunate occasions, mostly by reinforcing and buttressing the walls from outside. Still, his teacher has his reasons. Lacking the proper facilities, this reduced shrapnel, could be easily torn down before fire spread, and a few other things. "That's why I told you not to muck about with the glassware, isn't it? With you slinging that hammer around first thing? I'm still making the signs. Where else would they go? Outside the range of control, where anybody can get at 'em? We're already on the outskirts of the city! Lots of things kill you if they're broken! Like houses! Roads! Swords! Hearts! ...I was going somewhere with this, I'm sure." While Aire attempted to puzzle it out, brow creasing in thought,

The other question, more pertinent to their current situation, drew the boy's attention away from that line of thought. He'd get back to it later. "Takes less time the more worked up you are. If your blood starts pounding in your ears, then it's about five minutes. After that, there's a lethargy that settles in, a relaxation of musculature. Mostly sell it as an anesthetic, 'cos not much hurts once it's settled." Still attempting to calm himself, to relax, it nearly sounded tempting to dose himself. ...But no. No, this was their stock in trade. It didn't do to go using it on a whim outside of emergencies. The tranquilizer he'd taken was an emergency measure. Another deep breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, as instructed. They'd already shouted at one another, which was just doing things out of order. "...My name's Aire Enahz. I'm the 'prentice to the alchemist here. What's your name?"

For the most part, he was settling down, and not about to throw something at the first intruder. Not even a little thing like the empty peppermint oil phial. Really. The way she'd hefted that maul made the redhead think it might've been a bad bet, flipping out at her. Still making progress, Aire steadily returned to a calmer state of mind. "Good to meet you, Rajani. As to safety, I didn't exactly have time to explain, did I? You were the one barging into a labful of unknown chemistry." He'd mentioned his teacher so she didn't think him the owner of this pharmaceutical stockpile. It... mostly wasn't his layout. Some of the more volatile compounds had his hand in them, though.

"Can draw you out a sketch of the plant, what not to eat of it, and some ways to tell when it's most effective." Picking up his Reed pen once more, the voice of his teacher again whispered in the back of his skull. Anything worth doing is worth being paid for, boy. And his lessons were his lessons; however bad his master was at actually following that advice was immaterial. "Also got some whistleweed essence in stock, if you want. Good for fevers, too. It's maybe three silvers for the six doses."

Nodding amiably, making his fat braid sway, Aire resolved to do just that. ...Once he was done with the dyes. Anyway, it was good to have someone that knew what they were looking for in the lab. A last deep breath was spoiled by a belly laugh, only lightly seasoned with manic energy. "...You wouldn't believe how little attention some people pay to their environment, Rajani. Isn't so much trying to sell anything as thinking ahead. The old man would've added 'of fools' to the end of it, but he's a curmudgeon about most things." Now that he was reasonably sure the danger was past, or put off, the boney lad was regaining what must have been his natural cheer, smiling fit to light the room.

Her new acquaintance clearly had no such reservations about decorum, but then, few looked glamorous in stained leathers anyway. Less so this young man. A nod, and he turned on his heel back towards the cabinet o' chemicals, soon locating the essence he sought. "Wouldn't cost so much for the weed itself, but that's also less potent. Takes time to distill, if you wanna keep the properties and not just wind up with a sour tea." It was plopped down on the counter, and again Aire took up his reed pen to scritch out a receipt. Just good business, there.

]

From one angle, this whole business had been shady as hell. He'd just sold a (nonlethal) poison to a less-than-scrupulous warrior, and then turned around and sold the antidote to his intended prey. From another, kinder one, the 'prentice artificer had been doing his best to make it up as he went, and had managed to help the woman. Aire had been dancing along the edge of panic the whole time, or an outburst, or something. So it was that his crotchety master's conscience, a softer voice than his usual impression, whispered at the back of the earthling's mind.

Young Aire tested the coins, and put them on the parchment slip, marking the price as discounted. "You've had a hard day, from what I see. The markup on the drug was higher anyway, so we still turn a profit like this." Two of the shifter woman's three silvers were returned with the receipt, along with an apologetic tint to the smile. "The sale was all I could think of to throw 'im off, so it's my fault he has it anyway. What was his name? Don't think I ever caught it."

This event had turned the day into an unwelcome adventure within a few minutes. A profit had been turned, even a smaller one, which satisfied the mercantile side of things. Someone's distress was temporarily eased, and she was a little better forearmed for the future, fulfilling the more moral concerns. Most importantly, nobody got hurt. All in all, despite initial expectations, it hadn't turned out too badly. The homely scientist might have even made a friend. There would be reports to make, mostly to his master, who would likely take no action but observe.

"I won't say it was my pleasure, but I'm happy to help." Mention of hiding brought something else to mind. Slim fingers snapped, punctuating the thought. "Oh. Out of curiosity, you didn't hide in the pile of insulation, did you? Only I might have left some of my tools closeby when I woke up, and I haven't had a moment to check." Luckily Jauhar wasn't as temperate as Belrea, so he didn't really need much in the way of blankets, so long as the netting was hung up.

The ruddy eyebrows, half-concealed by hair escaped from his braid, rose, and the whole mass tilted sideways in confusion. There had been a miscommunication here. "Pet bed? We don't keep an animal near the volatile stuff. That would be insane. No, I meant my sleeping-pile." ...But she hadn't seen the tools. They were going to be important in a scheduled experiment today, but he had time to find them after Rajani left. Ah, well. Might be behind some of that last batch of explosive dust. "Well, thank you anyway.

What sort of creature do you tend?" He'd noticed a lot more people kept docile beasts around here on a personal basis, rather than purely work-related. The only such creature he and his siblings had been allowed to keep was a brightly colored bird. He still thought of it sometimes, with great affection. While the left hand toyed absently with a silver earring, Aire propped himself against the writing-desk, putting the reed-pen away.