Chapter 9: 9. Problem Solved

I did my best to keep my voice calm and level, though despite myself it also came out sounding quiet and anxious.

"When you offered me those potions you warned me I'd be losing my status as a man," I stated. "I was fine with that, happy even. I knew I'd lose my position as first-born son of the family, I'd much rather be the second daughter instead."

"And I'm grateful for that Cathryn," I added. "I'm grateful for the body your potions gave me. I'm still getting used to some of the other things those potions did, but you told me up front there'd be surprises and I accepted that, just like I accepted and agreed to the obedience thing."

I paused for a deep breath, and tried to keep myself calm as I got to the point. "What I did not agree to, what was never mentioned, was that I'd be expected to give up my heritage or my family name. I didn't agree to become a stranger. I'm Valeria Mercier, younger sister to Cathryn, second daughter of Luis and Jacqueline Mercier. I'm not just some girl you've taken on as an apprentice. I'm your sister, your only living family."

Cat looked across the table at me. Our purchases were still there between us, the fabric and blanket, the two glass bottles. Even the needles and thread were there too, we hadn't put anything away yet. As soon as we got in we came upstairs and sat down for this conversation.

My sister sighed, "I'm sorry Valeria. Like I said, we should have talked about this before going out today. I made some assumptions, I thought I was looking out for you. I just want to keep you safe, I want to protect you and look after you."

"How does taking away my family name protect me?" I asked with a frown.

"That's not what I was trying to do," she protested quietly.

She looked and sounded apologetic as she continued, "I just wanted to spare you from being hurt. You know people won't understand why you wanted to be a girl, that you're happy like this. Some might condemn you, or treat you like a pariah. Some might even want to hurt you or banish you. I thought it'd be safer and easier if everyone believed you were someone else."

"And if people didn't know you wanted this," she added, "Then people would condemn and attack me thinking I've cursed you and done something terrible to my brother."

That made me sigh, and I stared down at the table. I hadn't put much thought into that side of things, but I knew she was probably right. If my father's reaction back when I was twelve was anything to go by, then odds were people wouldn't be very accepting or understanding if they knew I'd been born a boy but wished to be a girl.

"Ok sis," I finally responded. "I understand what you're saying, and I appreciate that you're trying to look out for me? But I'm still not prepared to give up my family name and pretend to be a stranger."

She nodded slowly, "All right. Does that mean you want to be known as my former brother, despite the hardship and trouble that might bring us?"

I hesitated as I thought through the alternatives, and soon an idea came to me.

"Obviously people who know our family well are going to know there wasn't a second daughter," I said. "But what if I wasn't around before, because dad kept me a secret? I'm Valeria Mercier, daughter of Luis Mercier, half-sister to you? An illegitimate child kept hidden, until after word of his death spread?"

Cathryn asked, "So my brother left to take an apprenticeship after all, around the same time my younger half-sister turned up? It should work, but there will likely be questions. And with our parents gone, there's no way to prove or disprove the story either way."

I smiled, "If we ever need proof I could draft a letter in dad's name, confirming me as his daughter. I've helped with his correspondence in the past and I've grown adept at forging his signature."

"Ok Valeria," my sister smiled back at me. "If that's the story you want, that's what we'll go with. To everyone else you're my half-sister, but to me you're my one and only beloved sister. And I'm sorry I didn't think to discuss this with you ahead of time. I shouldn't have acted without asking first."

She got up from her seat and came around and gave me a tight hug. I held her too as I quietly thanked her. I felt a mix of happiness and relief that we'd got that conflict sorted out quickly and with a minimum of stress.

When we finally let go of each other I asked, "What's next for today?"

Cat gave me an apologetic look, "One last trip to the shops. Now that we've taken care of the household and established a business relationship with Lucas, it's time to buy some actual ingredients."

This time when we left the house I brought a small basket with me. I normally used it when I was shopping for food, it was big enough to hold a couple loafs of bread and some vegetables and the likes.

"Why didn't you bring that before?" my sister asked as we walked together back into the market square.

I shrugged, "I didn't know what you were planning to buy. And anyways, it wouldn't have been big enough to hold the blanket and fabric, and it's not a safe way to carry glass bottles."

"Speaking of glass," I added, "Why did you order a dozen vials from Lucas when you already have three dozen back home?"

She explained, "Two reasons Val. First, I wanted to establish that relationship with him. This way he'll know I'm going to come to him for my glassware needs, and hopefully he'll be careful to give us a good deal in order to keep our business. The relationship with our father doesn't hurt either. Second, those vials at home I stole from the academy are top quality. I'm not wasting them on cheap batch potions for the masses. We'll reserve them for the highest quality product, that we sell for the highest possible price."

That put a smile on my lips, "What sort of price? What's the most expensive potion you can make right now?"

Cathryn smiled back as she shrugged, "The most expensive are always the custom orders, the rare one-off jobs. When a lord or rich merchant comes into our shop and asks for something special, then we'll be quoting prices in sovereigns."

"Like the ones you made for me?" I asked.

She nodded, "If someone asked me to create that as a custom order, I would demand fifteen hundred sovereigns minimum. Up to two thousand sovereigns if I thought they could afford it or if they wanted their potions in a hurry."

"Wow," I half-whispered as my eyes went wide.

"Mind you," she added, "It would easily take me a couple months of work to reproduce those, and the raw ingredients would cost us at least a few hundred crowns."

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That would still leave a profit of several thousand crowns, which was almost unimaginable compared to our current situation.

Eventually my mind sank back down to reality and I asked, "We're not doing anything like that right now though, so what are we going to work on? What sort of potions will we be making first?"

Cat smiled as we came to stop in front of an herbalist's stall, "We'll discuss that later little sister. Now it's time to finish our shopping."

The stall was half-buried under piles of fresh herbs. They were stacked deep on the counter, piled up in baskets on the ground in front, and even more hung from the canvas roof overhead. Most were green and leafy, but there were also bundles of sticks or twigs, small baskets or bundles of roots, several had flowers in bloom, there were even some exotic-looking fruits and things I couldn't even identify apart from that they looked to have come from plants.

Cathryn immediately struck up a conversation with the older woman who ran the stall, while I stayed quiet and tried to follow along. My sister seemed to recognize just about everything the woman had on offer, and it wasn't long before the two of them were haggling over prices and comparing the quality of the various herbs the woman was selling.

When it was over I cringed slightly as I watched my sister count out fifteen silver steeds followed by twenty copper shields. By my math that left us with four steeds and a dozen shields, out of the fifty steeds Cat put in her purse at the start of the day.

In return, my empty basket was filled to overflowing, with roots and rhizomes and more than two dozen bundles of at least five different kinds of plants.

The basket wasn't too heavy for me but it was definitely awkward. I did my best to carry it as I followed my sister to her final stop. There was a boy about my age with some baskets of coal for sale, the lad was dirty and scruffy and he looked malnourished. I couldn't help wondering if he'd been out first thing this morning digging up the coal himself before lugging it into the market to try and earn a few coins.

Cat enquired about the price, but for once she didn't haggle. Not much anyways. The lad wanted four shields for a kilo of coal, and my sister offered him a steed and six shields for a five kilo basket if he'd let her keep the basket.

His eyes lit up, and she handed over the coins then picked up the heavy purchase and carried it herself.

Meanwhile I quietly sighed, as that left us with a meagre three silver coins out of fifty, and a half dozen coppers. I didn't even know why she wanted coal in the first place, it was unpleasant to cook over and while it would warm our home it would also fill it with black soot.

As the two of us headed home again I asked quietly, "Why didn't you try and talk him down on the price? I bet you could have got that for just a silver coin. You didn't need to throw in the coppers as well."

My sister shrugged, "He looked hungry and I took pity on him. He can buy himself some extra bread or something, then make a new basket if he needs it. An occasional act of generosity won't hurt us Val."

"We'll be hungry too if you keep spending money like that," I mumbled to myself. Then I asked, "Why coal? Is it because I told you I was rationing our firewood?"

Cathryn smiled as she shook her head, "No silly girl, I need it for my workshop. Five kilos will last a good long while, so consider it as much an investment as the herbs, the vials, and the glass bottles."

As soon as we were home we went into the workshop room at the back of the ground floor. Cat left the heavy basket of coal on the floor in a corner, then we started carefully setting out all the bundles of herbs and things I'd been carrying.

At one point she sent me upstairs to fetch the spool of thread from the kitchen table, then she used that to hang several bundles upside-down from shelves. All the while she was explaining what the different plants were called, along with what they did or what they were used for.

"I'm hanging these ones so they dry," she added. "The moisture in them dilutes their potency, hanging them like this will dry them without letting them rot. It takes time though, up to a few weeks depending on the weather."

"Other ingredients are best fresh," she continued, "Or some require different processing. Some must be boiled, or roasted. Hence the need for coal, little sister. A lot of what we do will involve heat, and coal is a cheap and effective fuel for this purpose."

I nodded quietly and did my best to pay attention while helping her organize everything.

When that task seemed to be complete I asked, "So what are we making first? And do we have to wait weeks for those herbs to dry? Or will we start making things right away?"

Cat smiled, "We have three errands to run tomorrow, but the day after we'll begin making our first potions. We'll start brewing up a batch of healing potion. That's the easiest to sell, it's the most ubiquitous and common product."

"Other people can make them too," she added. "Herbalists, healers, there'll be some competition. But as a trained alchemist, my potions will be better than those made by amateurs."

That made me smile as well, both at the thought of seeing my sister at work and at the prospect of having some product to sell. My smile faded though as I asked, "What are the three errands?"

"We have to pick up our dozen vials from Lucas," she replied. "We need to buy some cork, and we need some soap. The three silvers left in my purse should be enough for cork and soap, and if there's anything left I'll buy a candle as well. It's not strictly speaking necessary, but a little wax on the corks helps ensure the vials remain sealed."

I grimaced at the thought of spending even more money, but tried to keep those thoughts at bay.

"Ok Cat," I sighed. "Is there anything left to be done today? It's only mid-afternoon."

My sister gave me a sly smile and replied, "We're going back up to our bedroom so you can continue practicing your cultivation techniques cutie. You need to master the first one, so we can move on to the second lesson."

I bit my lower lip as my cheeks went red.

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