Talis pinched some peppermint into a small iron bowl. The vibrant leaves peppered a colorful mixture of flowers and seeds. She tilted forward an ornate bottle filled with sparkling blue liquid, smoothly pouring a measured portion into the mixture. Talis then counted using a series of clicks of her tongue that caused the brew to ripple, following the metronome of her vocalizations. Her body buzzed and hummed in a magical tune of her own as the herbs began to bleed into the liquid in rivulets of color. Wafts of rainbow fog lifted from its surface as beautiful small fireworks bloomed in its atmosphere.
"Great work!" Her sister's voice came from the doorway.
Talis beamed at her sister's approval. "Thank you! It took me a couple tries, but I think I finally got it. I'm sure it's not as good as one of yours, though." Talis thought of Idoni as a natural healer, while Talis felt she had to force the ability.
Idoni held out a hand. "Let me see."
Talis sheepishly held out the potion.
Swirling the mixtures around, Idoni lifted the bowl, breathed in deeply and then took a small sip of the elixir, now emulsified and homogeneous. After a moment she clicked her tongue in approval. "I'd say that's just as good as one of my stamina potions."
Talis' expression immediately fell and her shoulders caved forward. She let out a whiny sigh then complained, tossing her head back. "It's supposed to change the color of your hair."
"Oh, I see." Idoni chuckled as she gently patted the younger woman on the back. She should have known. All of her little sisters' experiments were meant to enhance oneself or make a beauty routine easier.
"Why does this always happen?" She threw her head back in defeat and questioned.
Talis had always been quick to voice her complaints. Often with flair a bit on the spoiled side; nasally and dramatic. But she was always ready to persevere and her somewhat bratty nature became an endearing driving force " Don't get too down. You made an excellent stamina potion. You managed to fall up this time around." She patted her sister on the back. Write the recipe down and add it to your grimoire. Remember, concocting potions and medicines is personal to each healer. You will discover more and more of your own recipes the more you practice and explore."
Talis let out a deep sigh, her pouting face staring at the floor in ruffled defeat.
"How about you take a break. Korin and Mikhail invited you to go visit the vendors with them."
Her successful failure briefly forgotten, Talis lifted her head, mouth just slightly ajar in mild disbelief. "Really? Korin did?" Korin?
Idoni nodded, an odd smile on her face. "Well Mikhail invited Korin and Korin thought to include you." The shy woman would have never initiated such a gathering on her own. "Have you met Mikhail yet?"
Korin had invited her. Talis found this situation even more odd. "I haven't met Mikhail, but I've heard a lot about him. Everyone in the village has been talking about him and his aunt since they moved here." Almost two moons ago the two blondes had taken up temporary residency in the village and it was the most exciting thing to happen in years.
She had heard of their striking beauty and how Mikhail was kind and charismatic. So kind that the villagers had found it odd how he had befriended Korin who was infamously creepy and reclusive. "He seems like a nice guy."
"Hmm." Idoni stroked her chin quizzically. Talis quickly recognized the look of scrutiny on her older sister's face.
"What? Is there something weird about him?" Talis thought it wouldn't surprise her if there was something off about Mikhail. The first thing the pretty man did was befriend the pariah of the mountain. Nobody has ever done so before. The fleeting thought left behind a speck of guilt in Talis' chest but she cleverly bottled it away like a failed potion. Just as she usually did when she encountered Korin.
Idonis lips contorted for a moment thinking of her earlier greeting with the young man. "At first I thought he didn't have any spirits."
"Like Korin?" Asked Talis. The world was a busy place to those who had the eyes to see it. Spirits mixed and mingled and followed the living around as they walked through life. Humans coexisted with luminous and glowing ancestral spirits who floated around in gossipy packs, nature spirits wrought in a plethora of elemental design, protective spirits bearing decorate weapons and armor, or even dark spirits that loomed nightmarish and ugly. The eyes of the Aasai people could see them all.
"It's rare to meet a spiritless individual like Korin. So I thought at first I must be damn lucky to have met, not one, but two people without spirits." It was believed that the spiritless were souls whose spirit followers had shed away from them in previous lives. The Aasai believed it was the way eternal souls experienced rebirth. A moment of witnessing immense cyclic change. "But when I shook his hand I got a flash of one. It was hiding inside him, in his soul." Idoni chewed her lip. "Or at least I think it was a spirit. I only sensed it for a split second before it hid away."
This was indeed abnormal. Spirits would sometimes hide inside people, rare possessions and unconscious influence, but they didn't hide inside the soul. Souls were like mazes forged in miles with gates and crossroads chained in divine locks. The thought of a spirit that hid in its walls was horrifying "Perhaps it wasn't a spirit you felt."
The two women looked at one another in contemplation before Idoni broke the like minded silence. "I want you to join them today and see if you can tell if anything is off about him. Your spiritual abilities are better than mine."
Talis rolled her eyes at her sister. She didn't like that at all but she knew it was true. Aasai with strong spiritual abilities often became mediators of ancestors and spirits. It was supposed to be an honorable position of relaying information and messages from the spirit realm to the material one. But Talis knew it was mostly just listening to spirits whine and spit venom about whatever their living liege was doing or not doing. She thought it was a dumb position and she didn't want it. In truth, she didn't really want to be a healer either. But those feelings she was keeping to herself for now. "Do you think he's dangerous?"
"Noooo….I'm not sure. But I do feel like he is aware of his passenger" Idoni thought of the way he had watched her watch him. In those few moments, as she peered beneath his surface, he watched her do it. There was a deviously regal and calculating air about the foreigner. His posture had been upright and imposing but languid, easily moving him about in a flowing and graceful fashion. Traveled and cultured more so than the people of this isolated village. It was behavior in which Idoni knew the nobility of other countries possessed. Aristocrats and politicians, businessmen and bankers, people whom were meticulously schooled and trained to dance even when standing still. This observation alone put her on edge. "I want you to keep an eye on him for the safety of Korin and the people of the village. He is of the bourgeoisie and by that alone I do not trust him." He could just be some uppity noble on a Ipanish mountain vacation but she doubted it.
Talis shifted in her seat and then said something taboo and often socially prosecuted amongst the Aasai. "Do you think it could have been a being from one of the lower realms?" There were old stories of creatures from the lower realms that fed on the trails of souls seared into the world. Demons and creatures from the deepest parts of the cosmos. They typically remained just out of touch, existing in unseen waves of light and shadow. But occasionally one would come forward, a little too powerful and a little too eager to feast on more pure energy than trails of travel.
"Those are just ancient legends." Idoni frowned at her sister but neither did she confirm nor deny Talis' question.