kael pov :
We wandered through the village, me and Mira, weaving past fruit stands and quiet bakeries, stone paths and chatter-filled porches. The village was small, but every shop looked the same wooden signs, colorful curtains, flower pots out front but none of them said anything close to potion shop. Not even magic store. Nothing.
By the time the sun had started leaning toward the west, we still hadn't found anything.
We ended up sitting on the steps of some dusty old shop we didn't even recognize. Mira hugged her knees. I sat beside her, pretending not to be tired.
"I think we'll never find it…" she muttered, kicking a small rock with her foot. It bounced off the step and rolled into the road like even it was giving up.
I glanced down at her, then smiled, trying to keep the hope alive even if mine was running thin. "Don't say that, Mira. We've only searched one side of the village! There's still hope on the other side."
She gave me a look. The I-don't-believe-you-but-I'll-let-you-try look. Kids were good at that.
Just as I started to get up, ready to push forward--
"Mr. Teacher! I need help organizing these potions! You know I'm still bad at them! God, stop giving me hard jobs!"
The voice rang out from inside the building behind us.
I paused. Mira paused.
We slowly turned and looked up at the sign hanging just above our heads.
"The Magician Library."
I blinked. Mira blinked.
"Wait," I muttered, staring. "Of course. In a magician village, they keep the potions in a library. Because why make anything easy?"
"Or maybe… only this weird village does that," Mira added, already hopping up the steps.
She pushed the door open, and the little bell above it jingled softly. I followed her in and then stopped short.
Because I saw something I will never forget.
A dragon.
With glasses.
Reading a scroll.
He looked like the nerdiest creature in the entire realm. His scales were a soft mossy green, and he wore a tiny vest that somehow made him even more bookish. Perched on his snout was a pair of square reading glasses, and behind him, shelves full of glowing bottles and thick books stretched to the ceiling.
Next to him stood a small girl, about Mira's age, with black curly hair tied in a high puff, brown skin, and round glasses that kept slipping down her nose. Her arms were crossed. She looked very done with everything.
They both stared at us. Waiting.
I cleared my throat. "Uhm… sorry to barge in. Do you have any potion that can break a curse? Or… undo a transformation caused by a potion?"
The girl adjusted her glasses and rolled her eyes. "No, we don't. There's no such thing as a potion that breaks another potion or curse. That's just made-up fairytale logic."
Mira's face fell, her excitement dimming into disappointment again.
But the dragon suddenly snapped his head toward the girl. His eyes flared. "Of course there are! How many times must I tell you not to give wrong information to guests?! That's the third time this week, Juniper!"
She muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "Then stop making me your unpaid assistant," before stomping off to a back room.
The dragon let out a long, dragon-sized sigh and turned to us with a strained smile. "Please forgive her. She's very bright, just… selectively helpful. Anyway while we don't have the kind of potion you need, we do know where you might find one."
He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "You'll want to speak to the King of Nemora. His kingdom borders this village just beyond the southern forest."
I raised a brow. "A king has a memory-repairing curse potion just lying around?"
The dragon nodded. "He does. Or, rather, he used to. He kept a collection of ancient brews and relics one of them might be what you're looking for. But…"
There it was. The but. There's always a but.
"…he's not in the best mood these days," the dragon continued, lowering his voice. "His wife vanished a long time ago. Disappeared without a trace, leaving him alone with his young daughter. Since then, he's grown… withdrawn. Bitter, some say."
I could feel Mira's eyes on me before she even said it.
"We're gonna have to find her, aren't we?" I muttered to myself.
Another quest. Another missing person. Another royal problem tossed into my already full backpack.
Because if there's anything I've learned from my travels, it's this: kings don't give away rare magical potions just because you asked nicely.
Mira pulled on my sleeve. "We're gonna help him, right?"
I looked down at her, at the hope building in her eyes again.
And I sighed. Loudly. Dramatically.
"Of course we are," I said. "Because apparently, I collect impossible tasks like they're shiny rocks."
She smiled wide. "You're the best strange man ever."
Kael bringed her to his small house the night. It was cozy smelled like some unclean room.
He didn't know where she should sleep bec the house was so small that he didn't have a bed.
He made her sleep on floor under her a blanket and another blanket over her.
He went to the wooden table wehre he usually draws or writes. He started to draw the first map. Started with the lake wehre he's first story of writing this map began.