Later that afternoon, the team was crammed into a private lab suite at the alchemy guild.
Books were stacked high, reagents bubbled in controlled flasks, and a magnified crystal lens apparatus flickered with runic light. At the center of it all, Vuvi hunched over a microscope contraption, muttering and fidgeting with knobs. Her goggles reflected the eerie shimmer of the strange, iridescent liquid sample beneath the lens.
The others sprawled out around the lab in various states of curiosity and impatience. Sera twirled a glass rod, Penelo snoozed lightly with her legs over the arm of a chair, Lula tapped her heel on the floor, and Zora hovered like a quiet shadow, arms folded, watching Vuvi like a hawk.
Pip sat off to the side in a comically undersized stool, politely silent but pulsing tiny waves of encouragement to Vuvi as she worked.
Vuvi finally groaned and slid her goggles up, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Alright," she said with a dramatic sigh.
