A Curious Concoction

"So, now that we've calmed down from yesterday's excitement" Rasze began as his leg restlessly shook under the table. "You mind explaining yourself?"

This was the first time Rasze had spoken to her since yesterday. When she returned home her father was already asleep, skipping dinner entirely. She'd already gotten a stern but soft talking-to from her mother and Nanaia couldn't stop clutching onto her, worried that she could lose her family at any moment.

"What can I say?" She tried to explain albeit nervously, she couldn't even meet his gaze. "I just wanted to mess around."

Rasze stared in disbelief, put a hand to his face, and scratched his head while trying to understand the logic behind her actions.

"Let me get this straight, Serah." He said as his hands gestured in the air as if trying to grasp at flying letters to choose his words carefully. "You made one of the most potent paralysis potions I, or my forefathers, have ever seen just to 'mess around'?"

"...Yes."

Rasze sat on his stool across Serah, between them was a long table full of bottled potions, poisons, and reagents. While the distance between them was less than a few feet, the moment he heard her answer he felt that he was on a completely different planet through the sheer absurdity of it all.

"Do you understand, at all, at how" Rasze collected himself and said the words calmly, but as the words left his mouth his demeanor went from calm to a crescendo of anger. "stupid, dangerous, stupidly dangerous, and dangerously stupid this is!"

Serah sat there, taking the biggest lecture she has ever gotten from her father - at least, to date. She'd already gotten her emotions sorted out yesterday, she knew what she did, she knew she deserved this, but that didn't take away from how much it hurt her. But he was right.

"You could have hurt somebody, you almost did!" Rasze continued. "Worse of all you could have gotten yourself hurt in more ways than one!"

Serah looked at his worried expression. 'Why do you have to be so nice?' she thought 'couldn't you just cuss me out and hate me like everyone else?' It would have been easier if he hated her. At least that way she wouldn't have to worry about disappointing him.

She looked away from him, trying to keep her composure.

"So now what?" She asked him "Are you going to ban me from the lab and take away my supplies?"

"Nope." Rasze said as he stood up.

"Great I'll just go and get them from my room to make it ea-" She started and stopped the moment his reply dawned on her. "Nope?"

"Nope!" Rasze explained as he sifted through different bottles and mixing tools "What good would it do if I did? Banning you would be counterintuitive. You wouldn't learn anything from it; if anything you're most likely going to ignore what I say and continue experimenting behind my back, which would be very dangerous."

"Really?" She said with a mixture of surprise and glee "Are you sure about this?"

"Serah," Rasze explained as he laid down different tools and supplies on the table. "I know I can't stop you, what I can do is teach you how to do better."

"Alright!" Serah was practically jumping with joy on her seat "What are we doing today?"

"Your paralysis toxin." He said matter-of-factly.

"Didn't you say it was too dangerous to use?" She asked.

"I did and it is, so today we're going to refine your formula. Figure out if there's a way to lessen its potency on dragonkin, and for your sake, on humans" He said as he set up the lab. "Now, I know you have the recipe hidden under your desk drawer, go get it so we can get started."

"How'd you know about that?"

"Serah, I'm your father." He said with a smile "And frankly, I'm insulted that you think I didn't use to do that when I was your age, now go."

Once Serah retrieved the recipe from her room the two set up the lab to begin their work. They stations cylinders, bottles, and burners in an organized fashion as if it was second nature. Different solvents were organized for ease of use, hot water was prepared on the boiler, and every tool was cleaned to perfection. The two of them wore thick clothing, a hard leather apron, leather gloves, and masks for protection.

"Let's see here." Rasze said as he looked at Serah's recipe for a paralysis toxin "Where do we start?"

"Cool 80mL of Ashetree extract down to near 0 degrees Cerius and mix in 10 mL of shade root. Alright, so far so good, nothing too extreme." Rasze said the recipe out loud while doing what it instructed. "After 15 minutes add 7 grams of - Tiamat's Teats?!"

Rasze's eyes widened at the next ingredient. He looked at Serah then back at the recipe repeatedly as if not wanting to believe what she had mixed into this.

"7 grams of Sarin meat?!" He asked in sheer disbelief. "The pseudodragon species specifically known to have venom that turns limbs numb and gangrenous?"

"Technically" Serah corrected "the limbs become gangrenous because of the numbness, not the venom itself."

"That's not the point, Serah!" He said "How'd you even get this? Are any of your limbs numb? Are you sure you can feel all of your toes?"

"Dad I'm fine." She reassured him "As for where I got it, you know what one diner that makes jerky from Serin skin?"

"You've been dumpster diving for the meat haven't you." If Serah could see it she would see the lack of facial expressions on his face.

"Yep."

"Alright, fine, but I don't have any Sarin meat on me." Rasze relented "Although, now that I'm thinking about it..."

"What is it?" Serah asked.

"The potency of your toxin is probably due to the dense amount of venom from the meat." Rasze pondered.

"Don't you dare say what I think you're going to say, dad." She protested, knowing exactly what he was going to suggest next

"Theoretically..."

"Stop."

"We could lessen the paralytic effects..."

"I'm warning you!"

"And all we'd have to do is mix in..."

"I'm not hearing this!"

"Sarin feces!" Rasze pointed his finger to the sky in a moment of pure eureka.

"Gods below, I knew you were going to say that." Serah sighed.

"And I just so happen to have some preserved here!" He said enthusiastically as he pulled out a small vial of a greenish-brown substance from a chilled cabinet beneath the table.

"You have that but you don't have the meat?" Serah was befuddled "Why do you even have that?"

"I was going to use it as a control for an odor remover that I was trying to make." He said as he placed the vial on a stand. "But this is just as good of a time to use it as any."

"Why do you even like using poop?" She asked.

"I don't like it," he replied, "but animal manure has a of lot uses for agriculture and chemistry, you'd do well to appreciate the power of poop."

"I'd rather not..."

"Your loss." He shrugged. "Alright, seems like our solution is at the right temperature. What's next?

"Use a paper filter to separate any chunks or residue from the solution and boil the solution" He repeated. "Stir the mixture in boiling water until there's only 20mL left. Once that's done pour the solution in 75mL of alcohol and freeze it until crystals begin to form."

"That's going to take some time." Serah added. "Took me a while to get this part right, I could never get the right temperature for it."

"What temperature did you get it most consistently?" Rasze asked.

"-10 degrees Cerius." Serah answered. "Why?"

"Because we don't have to wait." Rasze gave her a mischievous grin.

Rasze walked towards an empty table across their work space, took out a piece of chalk and a compass, and began to draw in a sigil. Serah watched as he carefully drew each circle and symbol with precision. Among the symbols she recognized ones that Rasze had taught her before, the symbol for cold, motion, and time. Each symbol in the circle was placed in a 'V' shape, the symbol of time at the top right, motion at the top left, and the symbol for cold was drawn the largest at the bottom.

Rasze placed the solution on top of the sigil, took a turquoise-colored stone from his pocket, and raised it towards the solution. As he closed his eyes to concentrate the stone glowed and almost instantly the solution was frozen solid, crystalline cracks began to form inside of it.

"There we go." Rasze said proudly. Meanwhile, Serah stared in amazement, her mouth agape in awe.

"What was that?" She asked with a confused voice.

"That is Thaumaturgy." He said confidently "An alchemist's greatest secret."

"And why am I just finding out about this now?" She asked with a hint of frustration.

"Because I didn't want you to learn alchemy through shortcuts." He said as if it was a natural thought process. Meanwhile Serah stared blankly into space, thinking about all the wasted time she spent waiting for the process of cooling and boiling.

"You're going to teach me how to do that right?" She asked excitedly.

"All in due time." He replied smugly.

"Now," he repeated once more "Filter cold solution through paper and take the crystalline powder. Finally, pour the powder into a solution consisting of 15mL of sofra extract and 20mL of ethanol. Mix the solution until the color has turned from blue to clear."

The pair repeated the process throughout the day, crafting enough bottles to test out the solution. After much trial, error, and paralyzed mice, Serah and Rasze had created a paralysis toxin that didn't require an antidote. The toxin would paralyze muscles for a short amount of time without harming the internal organs.

As the two of them cheered their alchemical endeavors, Nanaia walked into the workshop.

"Dad, Serah?" she shouted from the door. "Mom said it's time for dinne- ugh"

"What?" Serah asked.

"Take a bath first." She said while pinching her nose and left the room in a hurry.

The two of them laughed, carefully placed their toxin on the shelf, and left to take a bath. Once they'd cleaned themselves of the smell of chemicals and leather, they sat at the dinner table with Amise and Nanaia. Serah could hardly say a word to her mother and sister about the day because Rasze would talk nonstop about what they had accomplished.

Serah smiled. The food was great, the company was good, but most importantly her father wasn't angry at her anymore. When dinner ended they washed the dishes together before saying good night. However before she could turn in for tonight, Rasze knocked on her door.

"Hey, Serah" he said. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, I did." She replied "Thanks for not kicking me out of the lab or the house for that matter."

"Honey," He sighed and hugged her "what you did was dangerous but I can't hate you for that."

"I know."

"But there is one important thing I want you to promise me." He said, looking at her with kind eyes.

"What is it?"

"No more experiments behind my back okay?" He said with a soft, concerned expression "I know you said you just did it for the sake of it but I don't believe that. You have nothing to prove to me or anybody. You don't have to chase after great deeds, alright?"

"That's not what I was trying to d-" She tried to explain but he cut her off.

"Sure," he said "you can tell yourself that. But no more surprises got it? If you have any dangerous ideas you can filter them through me and I'll make them safer to use."

"Alright dad, thanks" she said with a smile "now, it's time for you to go to bed, we both had a long day."

"Okay Serah" he said as he left her room "good night."

As the door closed, Serah crawled to bed and closed her eyes.

A scenario that Rasze would have wanted, but Serah had different plans. Later that night Serah would leave, taking a hooded lantern with her into the woods. She carried a bag filled with alchemy supplies and a detailed map of the mountain path that had all the ingredients she needed to make a potent poison.

"You're right, I did want to make something to help the community, something that could help me get on their good side. But sorry dad, I can't stop now" she thought, "If I'm going to be the next Skaedir, I'm going to need all the help I can get."