.

The next week, Lei finally made a plan. She had snuck out to the town to find a herb Alderia had told her about - Deadly Nightshade, which, even though it was poisonous, couldn't kill. However, if it was combined with dandelion paste, the story changed completely - becoming a colorless, odorless liquid that could and would kill someone in minutes. Lei already had a small vial of dandelion paste ready in her pocket, and now she was flurrying down a path. She had no idea where deadly nightshade would grow, but she did know it was in this forest and comprised of large violet flowers. it seemed easy enough. 

Lei pulled her clock tighter over her head and continued running down the trail, her breath fogging in the cold air, the moon and stars casting a dim glow over everything. It was hard to see, but she couldn't risk bringing a lantern. Not that it would be much use anyway - she couldn't hold much with her swollen fingers. 

Finally, a small bunch of violet flowers beamed at her from near a tree. 

Lei instantly crouched to grab the flowers, crushing them in between two rocks and squeezing whatever came out into the vial. There were a few more patched next to the tree, now that she had bothered to look, and she took sap from those too.

White, milky sap with small bits of crushed purple petals swirled around in the dandelion paste. As soon as the two liquids came in contact with eachother, they each started to turn like water. Lei desperately shook the vial in her hands, fumbling multiple times, and finally slipping it carefully back into her pocket after checking to make sure the lid was closed. 

She covered her head a bit more with her hood and rushed back, leaving crumpled flowers, two rocks, and white sap bleeding into the soil.