Parasitic Peony

Chapter Eight

"Her Source?" Princess Caromine asked in confusion as Moxie and Honey finished explaining what needed to be done. "What is-ooooooooh, you mean that fancy sword she was so obsessed with. Yeah, I threw it out."

"We already knew that. What we need now is the materials for a potion of acid resistance and some cooling gear." replied Moxie, taking the reins as Honey had no idea what she was talking about.

Caromine shrugged. "I don't know how much of my country and castle you saw, but I am quite clearly in no financial state to be going around giving away valuable supplies to Coral Sea residents pro-bono. Sorry."

Moxie's shoulders fell and she grit her teeth, trying to stay calm and not lash out at this arrogant monarch. She was, after all, only a kid doing what she thought was best.

"But it's not for us," Honey said, carefully. "Technically, you'd be financing one of Lilac's projects, which as her employer, you're obligated to do anyway. We're just helping her with the setup, but ultimately, this is your  witch's task."

The young girl tilted her head and eyed the ceiling, pondering. The women held their collective breath.

"Well then, I guess that settles it. Make me a list of what you need."

Plum finished sanding the rough teakwood table smooth and scattered it with salt in lazy, haphazard fistfuls. The less controlled and measured, the better, his aunt had taught him when he was young. Salt is to the summoning process what it is to caramel, merely an enhancer of the flavor in a recipe where everyone has  different taste. Do whatever feels right.

Altars and rituals had never been Plum's personal speciality. He'd focused mainly on conjuring all his life to be the respected master of it he was today. But hey, learning experiences were valuable.

Lilac lay out two bowls of water, dry, browning rose petals afloat on their surfaces, one at each end of the table. She placed a candle in the centre of the altar and drew a circle of coal around it with her finger, mumbling all the while about how stupidly specific this was and how she usually just used a Sharpie.

"That laxity is probably why even a witch like you could only summon a microeldritch demigod." he snarked, trying to be funny. Lilac just rolled her eyes.

They worked in silence for a few minutes as Plum covered the bowls and drew the sigil of Decarab on one lid.

"So your source is what? A wand? A jewel? A tupperware container?" he tried again.

"Why do you wanna know? Moxie and Honey are doing that part." responded Lilac.

"For now, at least. And I'm just making conversation."

"It's a sword. Caro's dads gave it to me at our first playdate."

"They gave you a sword at a playdate? How old were you, like five?"

"They were very weird parents."

"Clearly."

Moxie let a tiny drop of boiled francifluorine drip into the beaker, unleashing a small puff of golden, bitter-smelling vapour into the air.

"That's the last reagent," she explained, capping the solution and turning to Honey and Caromine, both draped boredly over plush, silky sofas laden with magenta furs and crushed soda cans. "It's extremely alkaline, and there's nothing to be done about that, but leaving it to sit for about half an hour should calm down the magickal reactivity enough for safe consumption. What are you doing?"

Honey looked up from her pile of blocks. "Building the best fucking spaceship east of Crystal Land."

"Watching her play with my old toys that have seen more vomit than a pukeplague doctor's trashcan." Caromine chimed in.

"I'm pretty sure that could apply to anything in this kingdom..." Honey mumbled under her breath. "Anyway!" she continued before the princess could realise what she'd said "If it needs to sit for a while, why don't we go get the others and check out the coolant gear? We'll need to decide who's going in and find a set that fits them."

And it wasn't like there was much else to do.