Potions Master Chapter 4:
With apologies for the delay, please enjoy Chapter 4. Chapter 5 is nearly complete and being edited and expanded. Please send feedback and suggestions for things you'd like to learn more about.
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By Jon McGee, cottagecore.stories@gmail.com
I dressed carefully to meet Prince Linden. First impressions are important to me.
On the advice of Minor-domo Cooper, who trafficked in Court gossip, I'd met with a tailor fashionable among the Prince's courtiers. In a salon off a chic boulevard on Clothiers' Row, I spent an afternoon being interviewed, measured, color-matched, and discussed most flagrantly by the Tailor and his staff. A week later, I received a wardrobe that fit for the Court.
To meet the Prince, a fitted white linen shirt with a little lace at the neck and wrists, under a tight doublet of pale blue silk brocade. House Brooks colors. Sleek woolen leggings in charcoal gray. Polished black calf-leather boots. I pinned the House Brooks sigil to my left collar, above my heart, and my Potions Master chalice on the right. Donning my black felt acorn cap, which denotes my Mastery, I was ready to meet the Prince.
A valet brought me from the locked doors at the base of the Prince's Tower up two flights of stairs. At the antechamber to the Prince's Solar, the valet introduced me to the man I would learn to be the Prince's Private Secretary, Mr. Clark, sitting at a desk under the window, formerly an arrow-slit, but now widened and glazed: "Potions Master Green for Prince Linden."
"This way," the Secretary to me, dismissing the page with a flick of his hand. "Your are expected," he said, and then chuckled to himself, "although I expect you will be most unexpected."
Secretary Clark knocked twice, and then once again, on massive oak doors, which swung outward after a series of locks clicked open on the other side.
"Sergeant Gerri will show you to the Prince. You are allotted one hour, use it wisely. His time is precious." An little officious, this Secretary Clark, I though.
Sergeant Gerri led me through an antechamber and knocked on another set of solid oaken doors. A knock and then two more.
After a moment, a muffled "enter."
The sergeant unlocked the door, pulled it open, and announced, "Potions Master Green for Prince Linden, if you please."
Prince Linden, it seemed, was not pleased. He remained seated, his back to me, reading from a massive tome bound in read leather. Morning light streamed through the north and east windows, and the Prince did not seem eager to give it up.
After a moment, he said in a distracted voice, "thank you Sergeant. You may go. A moment, Potions Master, while I finish this passage."
You are Prince, I thought. Your time is precious. "Yes, Prince Linden."
While I waited, I took in the room. His solar looked north and east, as did mine, but the Prince's study was at the top of his tower, five floors above mine, and the vantage it commanded was magnificent.
The view stretched to the horizon, past the farms and fields to the North. To the East, the Royal Woods gave way to rolling hills and granite crags in the hazy distance. The Kingdom stood before the Prince, were he inclined to look up and see it.
The solar was lavishly appointed, with honeyed woods and leather inlays on his tabletops. The upholstery was mohair with silk accents. Landscapes and scenes of the hunt hung on the walls. Bookshelves and scrolls racks filled every space that a window did not occupy.
After a few more minutes, the Prince marked his place and turned towards me.
There is no denying the rumors. The Prince is a very handsome man. Lordly to be sure, if perhaps too young to be called kingly. Taller than most, with a muscled physique attributable to his military training and love of the hunt, he was striking if I am being honest. His emerald green eyes sparkled under his light brown hair. A light spray of freckles ran across his nose and cheeks, but only in the summer and fall I would learn.
As the Prince took me in, he contained himself, but I must admit to enjoying the fleeting surprise that played across his face when he first laid eyes upon me.
"Good Morning, Prince Linden," I said with a well-practiced bow. Deep but not too deep, respectful but not fawning.
"Potions Master Green," the Prince said, standing. "I am sorry to have kept you waiting. I was engrossed by a passage, which I will return to after we meet." Was the prince a bit flustered? His royal reserve held, if barely. "The Southern States are vexing, I am afraid."
"I know well the pleasure of a diverting passage," I said, trying to put the prince at ease, "although I have read less lore than perhaps I should. The Queen told me that you enjoy your books, we have that in common, to be sure."
"The Queen told me little and less about you," grumbled the Prince. "You are not whom I expected."
"Let me guess," I said. "A stooped gray beard, and black robes smelling of chemics? Perhaps a belly cinched with a Potions Belt, phials and flasks and powder boxes clinking? Stained fingers and, if you're lucky, a clean apron?"
"Something like that," admitted the Prince with a small smile.
"My vocation attracts the eccentrics," I agreed.
"But really, Master Green, we are of an age," marveled the Prince. "How is it possible that you are a Master?"
"We are close in age," I corrected, "but I have two years on you. I was able to start my Apprenticeship two years early due to my scores on King Rowan's Examination. I learned quickly and had largely developed my Masterpiece by the end of my seventh year. A few tweaks to distinguish it from an earlier discovery, and I was made Journeyman at 18. Rare accomplishments, to be sure, but not unprecedented."
"And the Queen thought you to be the best Potions Master in all the Kingdom for House Brooks?" he asked skeptically.
"I did not think to question the Queen's judgment," I deadpanned.
Prince Linden's reserve broke. He hooted with laughter. "No doubt, Master Green, no doubt at all. I rarely question my mother, and I'll be King soon enough. Well, she has her reasons. Please, be seated. Will you tell me of yourself?"
I took the offered chair beside the fire. "I come from a long line of boatwrights, here in State Capitol.
My uncle Turner Green succeeded my grandfather, and his mother, and her father, and so many more before them at the Green Boatworks on the River Wynn west of the city."
"I know of their works," said the Prince. "The finest river boatwrights in the State, or so some say. Your uncle's innovations have my attention."
"He will be honored to know it," I told the Prince.
"But if your family are esteemed boatwrights, how came you to Potions?"
"Queen Alder instituted the Royal Examination when my parents were children," I began.
"The first generation to benefit," noted the Prince.
"And benefit they did," I said. "My father did not love woodwork the way my Uncle Turner did and his scores allowed him access to the Learned Professions. He achieved Master Maker and spent many years improving the Royal Waterworks. Last year, he accepted a contract with State Clearwater to redevelop its aqueductary."
"I know of that project," said the Prince. "Worthy, to be sure. State Clearwater and the entire Kingdom will benefit. What of your mother?" asked the Prince.
"Also a Master Maker, Prince Linden. Her parents were refugees from the Southern Islands after their Troubles. Her parents are weavers. Textiles and artwork when the time allows."
"We benefitted greatly from the Southern Troubles," mused the Prince. "We gained citizens with so many skills, so much learning and tradecraft. Their loss was our gain."
"My mother did not appreciate the repetition involved in weaving. She met my father in the guildhouse soon after they each made Journeyman. For many years my mother worked in the clockworks of House Timmer, but now she owns a shop on the Street of Sounds. Her specialties are timepieces and alethiometers, but she has recently taken an interest in optics. In truth, I think there is nothing she could not build or repair."
"Yet you chose Potions over Making?"
"My Exam scores opened many doors," I explained. "I found Potions captivating in ways Making was not. I knew the life of a Maker, or so I thought at 10 years. I was captivated by Potions and all its mystique. The combination of art and science. The magics inherent in potionmaking intrigued me. And Master Hall was a convincing salesman, it must be said."
"My father put much trust in Master Hall," said the Prince. I wonder how much he knew, or suspected, of the work Master Hall did for the King. Conversations for other days.
"I leaned much and more from Master Hall, and from Master Stewart after. I may seem young to be a Potions Master, Prince Linden, but I assure you, I am ready to serve House Brooks however I may be needed. Potions is my calling."
"I must needs trust my mother in this regards, I suppose," said the Prince. "And you, of course, Master Green. I know little of potions, which is why I asked to retain a Master."
I nodded in acknowledgement. Enough of me. "What are your interests, if I may ask, Prince Linden?"
"I read deeply of the Lore Masters. Patterns repeat themselves in human events, yet few realize how much. Human nature follows instinct. Understanding past events as they have developed provides useful indicators of how future events may develop."
I agree, and said as much to the Prince. "Are there disciplines on which you focus?" I asked.
"Some are compulsory for a Crown Prince. Statecraft and the Purse, the Conquest, the States' developments, and their various particulars."
I nodded. "What of your personal interests, if a Crown Prince may have personal interests?"
The Prince smiled ruefully. "I am interested in innovation. The refinement of manufacturing and agronomy, the improvement of technology, the betterment of our Works. And innovation in thinking. We are a narrow people, but less so than in the past."
I quoted Queen Rue, who had united our island as a single domain a century before. "`To chart our future we must know our past.'"
The Prince laughed. "Master Green, look behind you." Over the door I had entered, engraved on the lintel, was that exact quote. "I prefer not to admit too frequently that my mother is often correct, but I suspect we will work very well together indeed."
"I would not have accepted the position if I did not think I could serve you," I assured the Prince. "But tell me, if I may, what have been your potions needs?"
"I will be honest, Master Green. I was raised to distrust the Magical Arts, mages and potions and all the rest. We Brookses do not like that we do not understand and neither the mages nor potions masters could not save my father as he faded. The mystiques you mentioned? A warning for me, to be sure."
"I quite understand, Prince Linden," I said. "I am afraid that much of the mystery of potionsmaking is a bit of a ruse, which may give you comfort. Theoretical Potions Masters, which I consider myself to be, know the science that undergirds our Craft. There is magic to be sure, but little that cannot be explained."
"Will you share your learning with me?" asked the Prince."I will," I agreed. "I suppose there may be secrets of my craft that I am Guild-Bound not to share, but as I understand my Bind of Silence, I simply could not elocute such secrets—the words would not come. And I would never propose that you use a potion I could not explain."
"I am grateful, for there are potions I fear I must needs take," said the Prince, with resignation.
"Perhaps," I said. "Although we do not yet know the potion or even what it would cure."
"Master Green," said the Prince, "let us not avoid the Topic any further. You know of the task the Queen has set before you?"
"I do, Prince Linden," I said, and then cleared my throat. "Although I believe the task is set before the both of us, and you more than me if we are speaking directly."
The Prince signed. "Yes, of course. Us." After a pause, he asked quietly, "do you really think you can cause this change to me?" Suddenly, he seemed younger than his 18 years, and much more vulnerable than before.
"Prince Linden, I would not change you in any material way. I said as much to the Queen, when I first learned of this Topic. Indeed, I misunderstood her charge to me. Based on my misunderstanding, I attempted to decline her offer after first accepting. That was not well taken."
The Prince laughed darkly. "I would imagine not. But you still have your head, so you must have come to an understanding."
"Do you know," I said, "the Queen agreed with me that you must not be changed. `Prince Linden is precious to me just as he was born, perfect in every way.' No, Prince Linden. Our Project is not to change you."
"Thus my skepticism," said the Prince. "My learning is that such change is not possible. I justify my skepticism by the futility of what I thought you would try to achieve."
"You have been well instructed, Prince Linden," I said. "As you may know, in the Olden Times, there were those who believed that love such as you experience—and I too, you should know—was an unnatural love, wicked even. Selfish, some said. Have your studies the subject with your Lore Masters?"
"`You and I?'" asked the Prince. As I nodded my confirmation, he smiled and then answered my question. "At my request, the House Brooks Master of Lore and I have investigated these subjects at some length."
"Has your Lore Work addressed the role of potions?" Prince Linden shook his head no, so I continued.
"In the Olden Times, at the urging of the Crown, Potions Masters sought to extinguish man love and lady love, to reorient those who love and desire those of the same gender. Every endeavor was a failure."
"Perhaps that's why the role of potions isn't covered in the Lore," suggested the Prince.
I smiled. "As taught in Potions Lore, our Masters' failures provided the Crown with final confirmation that the attractions of which we speak are immutable. If human will cannot change one's heart, and we know it cannot, nor can the Mages' spells, it was left to the Potions Masters to brew a `cure.' When our Masters could not, the Crown acknowledged what we now know as fact."
"I had not learned it as such, but what you say matches my studies. After many generations of effort, the Crown and Faith accepted as fact that some men are born to love men, and some women born to love women."
"And some are born to love both men and women, yes. Perhaps the Mages learn that their failure at spellcraft was the final blow. We all place ourselves at the center of things, such is our nature. Whatever the case, there have been no serious efforts to revive this work in many decades, for we all know it would be futile. We are born as we are born and no willpower or spell or potion can change that."
Again the Prince sighed. "Then how will you . . . how will we . . . how shall we do what we must?"
"It is my charge to find within you a desire for an heir as strong as your other desires, although I do not mean to trivialize your feelings as mere desire. From what little I have heard, and from what I know of House Brooks, I believe such a `desire' resides within you. We just need to identify and then harness it."
"What do you know of my desires?" The Prince was joking a little, but not entirely.
"I know of no details, other than rumors I do not credit," I said. I did not suppress the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth, good natured and not mocking. "Broad strokes only, my Prince." Perhaps I exceeded my bounds, but I hoped the Prince was accustomed to some gentle teasing, at least in private.
"`Broad strokes,' Master Green?" said the Prince with a raised eyebrow, "come now. Beating around the bush gets us nowhere."
"Very well, my Prince. Let us deepen this intercourse." He smirked, if a Crown Prince can be said to smirk. "I am led to understand that you do not wish to take your Queen Wife to bed, whomever she may be, nor do those acts with her which would naturally produce an heir."
"You understand the situation well. A child born of a loveless union will not know love. A child born only from duty will know only duty, but not life's Higher Purposes."
"So say the Faith, so say the Healers," I said, although I had my doubts about the soundness of the these beliefs.
"You know why I do not wish to bed my future Queen?" said the Prince.
"Yes, Prince Linden. If my understand is correct, the issue is two-fold. Would you agree?" I asked.
"You are correct, Master Green," confirmed the Prince.
"No matter, Prince Linden," I said, "no matter at all. I am unconcerned that you enjoy the company of men, or that you prefer to receive their attention. I do not believe either issue will be an impediment to our work."
From the look on his face, it was clear that the Prince did not expect to hear such a direct statement.
"What do you have in mind," he asked.
"Not yet, my Prince, if you will allow. You remain skeptical of this endeavor, and there is much and more I do not yet know. I am a believer and no skeptic, but I have much work yet to do. I would rather delay discussion of the details while I research and detail a plan."
"You're as lost as the rest of us, aren't you?" asked the Prince seriously.
"I am not, my Prince. I have hypotheses, some better than others, but their success will depend in large part on your personality and willingness to engage with me, to say nothing of your Queen. Rather than vomit up half-formed ideas, I beg you allow me spend time developing them. Indeed, in our brief meeting today I have glimpsed new avenues to explore. Surely you will better consider my plans when you know more of me and I know more of you."
"I do not believe you are stalling trying to buy time to develop a plan. So be it." Prince Linden said. "I put my trust in you."
"Thank you, my Prince," I said, "The more we come to know and trust one another, the more likely our success will be." The Prince nodded.
We talked for a time of other matters. I asked the Prince of his preferences in the Royal Libraries. We talked of our travels to the dark and curious corners of the Kingdom. Knowing my time was nearing an end, I steered the conversation to lighter subjects.
"What are your potions needs presently, my Prince?" I asked.
"There are not many," said Prince Linden. "I appreciate your hangover cure, although I do not often need it." He paused, and then said, with a gleam in his eye, said "lubrication." The Prince was trying to shock me, I suspected.
"Who do you use?" I asked, stoic in my best bedside manner. "Master Tanner, of course. Or Master Grace? He is gaining favor among some."
"Tanner," he said, "although it has its limits. Grace is too slick, and can stain. Although the smell is quite pleasant."
"I quite agree," I said. "Mine is better than both, I assure you."
"I've never heard of Green," said the Prince.
"I have not yet marketed it," I said. "But after considerable research, I assure you that Green is the superior lubricant of any available in the Capitol, and I daresay the Kingdom. And that's just the base variety. My Enhancements are unparalleled."
"Research?"
"Extensive, my Prince." He chuckled. "Top and bottom, with many partners, and many refinements along the way." The Prince looked down his nose at me, feigning surprise. "I am a scientist after all," I deadpanned. "Research is critical."
"What did you mean, `enhancements'?" he asked.
"So far," I explained, "I have developed four formulae in addition to the base. One provides the recipient with a moment of numbing, but just a moment. Another relaxes the recipient, in case the partner is larger than one normally accommodates. Another tightens the recipient, when more size is desired but unavailable. I have also developed a pleasure enhancer, which I recommend in very small doses at first, lest things end prematurely for both partners."
The prince was bemused. "Does the Queen know about these potions?" he said.
"It did not come up in my interview," I said with a straight face.
"You walk a knife's edge, Master Green," said the Prince. "You are tasked with producing me an heir, yet you offer me potions decidedly unlikely to accomplish that goal."
"Sir," I said, "it is you who will produce the heir, with your Queen Wife of course. I will facilitate that production however I can. In the meantime, I vowed not to change you. I admit to ulterior motives: I need your trust, and if I can provide you potions you value, it will aid in trust-building." I did not mention how lucrative a Royal endorsement of my lubricants would be, although it did cross my mind.
"When may I try these lubricants?" asked the Prince.
"They are brewed and bottled and cured already. I could have them to you within minutes of my return to my laboratory."
"No, Master Green, bring them yourself on the morrow. I have found our meeting educational and, if I may say, diverting, both of which I find in short supply some days. Let us break our fast together, 7:00 sharp if you please, at the Prince's Tower south door. Now, my Secretary requires a few logistics before you depart." The prince pulled a cord. Moments later, the Prince's Secretary entered to solar.
"Master Green," asked the Prince, "how well do you ride?"
"I have travelled by horseback since I was a small child," I said, perhaps not understanding the Prince's question.
The Secretary was unimpressed. "Master Green," he said with some pedantry, "the Prince is an officer in the Royal Cavalry. If you are to ride with a Royal Party, you must keep up. Trotting along afterwards on a palfrey will not suffice."
"Peace, Mr. Clark," said the Prince. "Your assessment is correct, but there is no need for your scorn."
Secretary Clark bowed his head in stiff acknowledgment. "Master Green must have training, forthwith, if he is to accompany me on my Rides."
"It will be done, Prince Linden," said the Secretary. "What about weapons, Master Green? What is your combat training?"
"Limited," I admitted. "As a Learned Apprentice, I was exempted from Crown Conscription so have only completed Capitol Defense basic training."
"What disciplines?" asked the Secretary. "Not an archer, you are too tall. Can you wield a sword, or perhaps an axe given your size?"
"I trained with a quarterstaff," I answered. "I am taller and stronger than most. I worked with my uncle's woodwrights to craft a hardened ash staff two heads taller than me, capped and footed with a brass ball and spike. I can outreach any sword and break bones when needs be. I've never used the spike but I wouldn't want to receive it."
What I did not mention is that the staff contained an internal steel channel, padded, which I could pack with vials of potions and powders. Perhaps if I could not batter my way out of trouble, I might be able to use my Craft. It also ensured that my Potions would travel with me, unseen.
"Thank you, Potions Master," said Secretary Clark. With a hint of sarcasm, he added, "one hopes we will never need to call on you to bludgeon the Prince's enemies into submission."
"That's enough, Clark," said the Prince. "We did not retain Master Green as my bodyguard. I have no doubt he will aid my defense as needed, but he is here for greater things. No more of these challenges. Master Green will be dear to me."
Clark again bowed stiffly.
"We are early in knowing one another, Master Green," added the Prince to me with sudden gravity, "but I have a Sense that your coming here is auspicious."
I knew enough about Royal Magics to be intrigued. "What kind of sense, Sir?"
"I must admit that my knowledge of my Magics is still growing, but Foresight is a gift bestowed on some Brooks kings and queens. I am coming to understand when I should trust a Feeling as more than merely an instinct. Upon meeting you, I Sense you will be important to me. A Feeling."
I nodded a bow. "I am glad to be here with House Brooks," I said. "Do you Sense any more, such as how I will be of help?"
The Prince sighed. "No. Or at least, not yet." He though for a moment and then continued. "Some Foresight comes to me as a Vision, like a vivid dream, a premonition of a path to take, or one to avoid. Others, such as today, are just Feelings. A combination of a swelling emotion, and a mental state of calmness, certitude."
"We are fortunate to have rulers with such Gifts," I said. "But it cannot be easy to have a power unique to but a few."
"`Heavy is the head that wears the crown,'" quoted the Prince with a shade of irony. "In truth, it can be wearying to learn these powers and frustrating as they develop."
"It must leave you uneasy at times," I said, and immediately regretted my presumption. What do I know about Royal Responsibilities? Fortunately, the Prince was adrift in his thoughts and did not take notice.
"Ultimately, I am grateful for these Magics and fortunate to have the collected wisdom of my ancestors. My Queen Mother chides me for my time with these `dusty tomes'," he said, gesturing around the solar, "but the more I have read, the more I understand my Magics. And many other things, to be sure."
"There is much deep wisdom in some dusty tomes," I agreed. "I have just begun my exploration of the Royal Library. I hope to delve deeply into its collections."
The Prince chuckled. "You would be a fool if you did not, and I can tell already that you are no fool, Master Green."
Secretary Clark intervened: "Your next will be here soon, Sir. Vice Admiral Morrow."
"Thank you, Master Green. I will see you tomorrow." And with that, the Prince returned to his tome and I followed Clark out of the solar and back into the palace intrigue.
Thanks again for reading. Chapter 5 is coming together well and will finally include some Potions Action. Right nows it's heavy on backstory but I hope to break that up with some adventure and excitement.
Please send any feedback to cottagecore.stories@gmail.com