Luminous

39 - The Truth

Coris didn't wait for Meya's return. Having fulfilled his goal of meeting his kidnapper, he left with Zier and Arinel for Hadrian Castle, and arranged for the Armorheims to hitch a ride on another merchant caravan back to Crosset the following morning.

Meya spent her last days in Hadrian with her siblings and the two Boszels, enjoying her first May Fest. Meanwhile, Coris was home supervising preparations for their voyage to Safyre.

His parents had seen fit to add Fione, Heloise, Frenix Pearlwater and Amara Hyacinth to the entourage. In the case of Fione and Heloise, it was part of their training, but for Frenix, it was because being a Greeneye, the young page would probably burn Hadrian to the ground if he weren't allowed to go on such an adventure with the big boys. Figuratively and literally (You never know with that kid).

Over to little Amara, she was less than thrilled to drop by her hometown, Hyacinth, the last stop before Safyre. But her mother, Lady Amoriah, insisted Amara visit. Coris suspected she was suffering the empty-nest blues, now that her daughters had left for training and she was stuck with her son. Based on the rumors Coris had heard of the Hyacinth women, this anecdote came as a slight surprise. Still, it was nothing compared to the surprise he would stumble into at Bishop Riddell's lab.

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Bishop Riddell prided himself on his ability to focus on several tasks. His eyes fixed upon the rows of glass beakers on his cluttered workstation, he explained the complex procedure to his young assistant Meya, who hovered beside him scribbling down notes.

His ears were tuned in to the steady drip of the water hourglass as he timed his experiment, but he caught the gist of what the two men beside him were discussing.

(If you must know, it was the weather, then their children's dissatisfactory choice of life partners, then the weather again, and whether it was just one of them or the other also caught a whiff of a burning smell. No one tolerated silent waiting like an alchemist).

Riddell also felt the vibration of approaching footsteps before the door to his lab swung open.

His assistant and the two chitchatting audience spun around, while Riddell remained bent over his alchemy vials.

"Sir Apollon, you sought my audience?" said Lord Coris in his cool, cracked voice. The men of lesser status didn't have time to address him first, as was customary. Head Cook Apollon seemed taken aback. He hadn't expected Lord Coris to visit the alchemist's lab himself, and right away, too.

"My lord, you shouldn't have," Apollon protested, feeling his bald crown sheepishly. Coris cocked his head, his eyes twinkling.

"It was a choice between review the budget for my honeymoon or fob it off on Zier as I watch Bishop Riddell singe his other eyebrow off. I chose befitting revenge."

Coris's smile widened in relish. He had the sense to at least seem apologetic when he met Arinel's eyes, however. Then, he turned to the most senior man in the room,

"Bailiff Mansfuld. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Agh, nonsense," Hunchbacked old Frentis Mansfuld lifted a veined hand from his knobby cane and wave it aside. Traces of affection lurked in his smoky gray eyes, even as the lines on his face were fixed in his usual scowl, "We're still waiting for the results, anyway."

"Results?"

Mansfuld nodded towards Riddell's workstation. Blinking, Coris craned his neck to see. Apollon obligingly edged his voluminous self aside to make way. With Riddell still occupied with timing the experiment, Arinel stepped up to explain,