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This takes place a few days after Almost Too Late
“You need to pay attention.” The spirit said with both concern and frustration.
A hand ran down the Knight’s face from the edge of her near wild red hair to the tip of her chin. “I know, Cashel. I know.” She hissed out. Cashel was just trying to be helpful, Hy-Brasil knew this, but it didn’t help matters that both him and the horrors of her mind kept trying to pull her attention. The only difference between the two was Cashel was real. Well, as real as a spirit could be, while the voices in her mind weren’t. Cashel meant to help and the other voices didn’t. So, Cashel definitely had her best interest in mind and Hy was using that as an anchor to keep herself functional. Functional was not easy with the constant darkness of her mind pressing in on her. In truth, she was ready to find the nearest corner of the tower and cry. Well…if the tower had a corner. Which it didn’t as a spire.
The spirit of old man Cashel sighed. “You’re going to miss the timing for adding the next ingredient.” He said as calmly as he could as he looked to the gathered ingredients that Hy had managed to gather. “The tea mix is first, followed by the buttercup.” He tried to keep things as simple as possible for the Knight. Overwhelming her with too many steps had bogged the Knight down to the point that she became near incapable of doing anything. He had found that out quickly enough after giving her a long list of things to do to just prep the cauldron and fire. It pained him to see the Knight struggle so.
“Right. Ok.” She said as she grabbed the small satchel of tea mix she’d gotten from Richtersvelt. She made sure the satchel was tied tight before plopping the fabric bag into the water at Casheel’s prompting.
“Ok give it one minute then the buttercup.” The spirit watched Hy carefully as she grabbed up the small tender yellow blossoms. “Make sure to remove those stems. We only want flower itself.”
Hy did as prompted as she leaned heavily on the table. Her brow was soaked with sweat that wasn’t just from the fire and small cauldron she worked around. Her mind kept roving in circles with self hate and deprecation. On top of that were the voices that continued to beat her down on everything with a strong focus on her current task. ’Failure is all you’re good at.’ ' None of this will ever work. It’s a waste of time and energy.’ ‘Just give up everything.’ It was exhausting. So very, very exhausting.
“Now. Hy. Now! Or you’ll miss it!” The Knight scrambled at the sound of Cashel’s voice as she practically threw the flower into the simmering pot. The murky, dark liquid swallowed up the flowers quickly. Hy couldn’t help the despair that roiled in her stomach at the visual.
“What’s next?” She asked as she stepped away from the small cauldron.
The old man watched Hy carefully for a moment. “You can put in the bark from Puck to steep. The leaves you will need to grind with the lavender from Pendour.” Another pause as he watched Hy grab the piece of bark and toss it into the brewing tincture. This one, thankfully, didn’t melt away into the darkness of the liquid but instead floated on top. “Are you alright?” Cashel finally broached.
Hy walked back over to the table where the mortar and postal she’d brought along sat with the last of the ingredients. She leaned heavily on it and barked a crude laugh. “Hardly. You damn well know that Cashel. You’ve seen me like this before.” In fact, Cashel had seen her worse. High as a kite and barely functioning. She was one of the two today, and the former was something she was highly regretting at the moment. Sadly, for her, she needed to not have any drugs in her system. There was no telling if the tincture would work if there was anything else in her system. It was bad enough the cravings were already making themselves known. She’d been spared dealing with her last bout of withdrawals due to the stasis. “I’ll get through it. We just need to do this quick enough. I am afraid the Sidhe may come again like last time.”
Cashel nodded. “Get that ground up. You have some time until we can add it.”
So, Hy grabbed the now dried leaves and lavender. Shaking hands worked at plucking the flowers from their stem. It took time. More time than it should have, but she got it done. Each precious petal was in the mortar with the leaves. Working the pedestal she began grinding it all down.
Cashel joined her as she worked. “Tell me.” He said quietly.
Blue eyes looked up from the work. The pure exhaustion spoke volumes. “It’s bad. If this doesn’t work. Cashel, I don’t know if…” She stopped, teeth biting onto her lower lip as tears slipped down her cheek as she continued her work. She was so exhausted and beaten down. If it hadn’t been for the small tether of hope to cling to that was the tincture she’d have given up by now. Given up on everything.
The old man looked at her with eyes full of sorrow. Never had he thought one of his descdants would be forced to battle something like this. The worst of it being he could only watch and help in such small ways. If she wasn’t here he was left wondering if she’d ever return and when she was here, well, it was like watching a wraith of what she had once been. He remembered all too well how vibrant and energetic the girl had been upon her first few times here. How happy and full of life. Now, he would have never thought she had been that vivacious woman. The fight had been taken out of her. “It’ll work. Just focus on that.”
The sound of her work was the only thing to fill the silence between them as Cashel watched over her and the liquid hope brewing over the small fire.
After a few minutes he finally broke the silence, breaking Hy from her methodical work. “That’s good, child. We don’t want it to be too fine of a powder.”
The red-head tossed her hair over her shoulders. A hand wiped at the pieces stuck to her forehead to push them back, slicking her hairline even more. “It’s good to add?” She questioned as she wiped her hands on her dress before taking the time to take off the fur on her shoulder. It was so swelteringly hot.
“Yes.” Cashel nodded.
Grabbing the mortar, the contents were taken over to their final destination and carefully poured in. The powder quickly dissolved. The liquid still stayed dark.
“All that’s left is the Chili from Encke and our own dear flower.” Cashel said. “The chili just needs to be muddled up but make sure to rinse the mortar and pedestal before you do. We can’t combine those ingredients together until they’re in the cauldron.”
Move. Keep moving. Why bother with all of this work? The whole tincture will fail, like you. Hy’s breath hitched, but she grabbed the tools and plunged them into the cold bucket of water she’d kept off to the side. The first bucket was already empty. It’s contents had been the base of their little potion brewing.
She began scrubbing at the stone to make sure nothing was left. Her fingernails scraped against the stone, grinding away at the nubs that had once been well manicured and loved, now left to peeling and the tell-tale marks of biting. Why do I bother? THeir right. It won’t work. None of it will. This all will just com crashing down on top of me. Maybe if I am lucky I’ll have fouled it all up enough to do me in. Who knows what all of this stuff will do together. It’s useless. All of it. Even me.
“Hy. Child.Gwen!” The very masculine voice broke through. Hy’s head snapped up to find Cashel kneeling in front of her. “Focus on me, Gwen.” Hy used Cashel as the crutch to pull to her rest of her mind back from the darkness.
“Sorry.” She mumbled. Looking down at the bucket, her hands were still submerged but a distinct stinging was now felt. Pulling both her hands and mortar and pedestal out she could see the skin she’d rubbed away in her attempt the scour the tools clean. Abruptly she stood and walked back over to the table. The chili was promptly muddled as the Knnight avoided anymore eye contact with her predecessor.
Eventually Cashel huffed his approval and she added it too to the cauldron.
“We only have the last ingredient left. If this worked, the tincture should turn a dark red once it’s added.” Cashel looked at the four flowers that Hy had gathered on her way in. The red blossoms were dainty, on long stems and grew heavily on hills of Hy-Brasil. When the wind blew it looked as if a red sea was rolling over the hills. It was beautiful.
Now the Knight was separated those flowers from their long stems. She held them in her palm reverently as if she were saying a prayer to them. Hy wasn’t the religious sort and her mind was void of any kind words, wishes or prayers now. Now, she just clung to that one gut feeling of hope. Walking to the cauldron she tipped her hand and watched those petals flutter down and onto the liquid where they sat for a few seconds, maybe even a minute, before the heat and liquid sucked them into the darkness that was the tincture.
Cashel joined Hy, and the two of them watched with bated breath. There had been no timing on how long it would take for the color change. But, time slipped by and there was no discernible change. Hy began to physically droop.
Suddenly her head snapped up and she rushed over to one of the bookcases where she had brought along a small collection of jars years ago. They were dusty, but a quick dunk in her bucket of water was good enough before she hurried back over to the cauldron. Fingers and hands trembling, the woman carefully dipped the jar into the tincture, being careful not to touch the hot liquid or the cauldron herself. It was a bit dodgy with her shaking hands, but when she withdrew the glass she nearly cried.
A dark red liquid. The tincture was a success!
Cashel was smiling broadly, relief pasted across his face. “Once it’s cool enough to drink in one fell swoop, you only need a mouthful.” He said as Hy nodded her head, tears now let to run as she embraced the relief that she so desperately needed.
“It’s going to put you to sleep. So, take it with you. We don’t know if the Sidhe will react to the purging so it’s best if you aren’t here for it. Go home to somewhere safe and sleep it off.”
Hy nodded. “I will. I’ll be back to visit soon, Cashel.” She wished she could hug the man. “Let me put the rest of it into whatever jars I have. I don’t want to waste any of this if it can be used again.” So Hy did just that. The few jars she had she filled to the brim with the red tincture. Three jars, each with a lid. Mason jars had seemed the most practical to bring along considering their many useful purposes as both containers and drinking vessels. She mentally thanked her past self.
With a bit more than a single dose, Hy left Cashel and the Wonder with her liquid hope held close.
