Aspiring Alchemist Vehya has twice failed her entrance exam into The Academy for Sorcery, Linguistics and Alchemy. Given one final opportunity to prove her skills as a mage, Vehya falls in with an odd group of students and must conquer feelings of d...
AN: Story is back from a break! Planning to pick up with the same 5 chapter dump per week or so. I really hope you guys are enjoying it and would love to hear any thoughts or feedback. Thank you. Happy reading! (Art above and below: FreeFunArt, again love their work)
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The weeks blended together in a routine of classes, meals and training. Too soon their major assessments were due and morale was low among the students of Asla.
"Sublimation." Charlie said holding a small card, a tiny frown between his brows as he tried to read Vehya's cramped script.
"The process of conversion from solid to gaseous form, without liquidising between stages. It requires specific heat and pressure changes for different substances to achieve."
Charlie glanced up at Vehya. They were sitting in one of the study nooks around the library pond. It was past dusk and the water appeared to be a black pool that had only an hour ago reflected the pink and orange sky.
"Can you give me any examples?"
Vehya sighed. She tucked her legs up on the comfortable chair and pulled her sleeves down to warm her fingers. There were other students around them, but nearly all the novies had long since retired from their studies. She tried to think back to a conversation with Professor Bogweed. Shifting through his tangents for specific information was always a challenge.
"A common one is Sal ammonic, the ammonium salt base, used for its medicinal purposes. I think it can be ingested to help excrete phlegm?"
"Inhaled," Charlie corrected and changed a note on Vehya's cards. "You can inhale it as a vapour to prevent chest congestion." He looked up at her with bright eyes. "Do you know how many formulas are out there? Surely not all of them can actually produce Sal ammonic; I found reference that indicated rancid urine could cause the crystals to form, another method described burning faecal matter of plant-eating animals and then using sublimation on the ashes."
Vehya blinked at Charlie who was spinning his quill in thought. "That's disgusting."
He looked up at her and in the dim library lights she saw him blush. "Sorry." He thought for a moment. "Supposedly, it can also be combined with nitric acid, to produce an acid strong enough to dissolve gold."
"Aqua Regis." Vehya mumbled feeling a yawn coming. Their paper would be on one of the twelve main alchemical processes. The problem was they wouldn't know which one until Thursday's class and so the students had to prepare for all of them or try their luck. Bogweed, Tilda had told them, was notorious for changing his mind on the day, apparently depending on the weather in some cases.
Most students put their efforts into comprehending six in detail and just having a brief understanding of the less common methods. Charlie, however, had insisted that all of the processes were important and had managed to convince Vehya that they would need to know them all eventually so why not do it right from the start? She hadn't been able to dispute his reasoning at the time. She was, however, beginning to regret agreeing to the study sessions; on top of her early mornings with Barngrend, Vehya was doing fourteen hour days with little breaks between her classes and study.
