Elria: The New World

4 - Lǐzhì-Mei

The following are instructions to make an invisibility potion:

1. Grind together 1/2 teaspoon each of ground ginger, nutmeg, and gryphon saliva in a mortar.
2. Add these ingredients to a cauldron containing equal parts boiling water and mantrap leaves at a volume of 120 litres.
3. Stir the mixture clockwise over a medium flame until it turns a light green colour.
4. Add the following: -1 pint of manticore venom -1 ounce of maiden's hair -A sheep's eye -55 pints of pulverised sky serpent scales
5. Stir the mixture until it thickens and turns a deep dark purple colour.
6. Turn the flame down just barely and let the concoction simmer to a syrupy consistency.
7. Remove the cauldron from the heat and let it cool.
8. Once cooled, bottle the potion and drink it to achieve the desired effects.

- From the 11th edition of the compendium of rare and experimental potions, by Arcturus Zephyr and others.

The miniature Jung fleet which surrounded her tea ship split their formation and hung back, letting her little tea ship speed past.

Lǐzhì bounced on her feet, eagerly awaiting landing on the holy island and, far more importantly, the fellow demigods who were supposed to be there More people like her presented a wonderful research opportunity! She could finally test her observations against other test subjects instead of endlessly theorising.

What a wonderful scientific opportunity!

Lǐzhì watched the sailors prepare to dock as they approached the golden shores of Zhōngxīn. She hadn't touched land in a month and was eager to disembark. She rushed up to her cabin and rushed through her rooms, packing her alchemical supplies and spell scrolls away before rushing back on deck with her stuffed pack.

"Chin up Mei, don't hide your face." Yù-Liàng tutted. Liàng was a short, stout woman draped in many layers of silk and jade jewellery. Her dark, pitch-dyed raven hair was perfectly sculpted, and her makeup was exactingly applied.

"I'm not." Lǐzhì sulked, resisting the urge to do so.

"You are, and you need to be at your best." Liàng admonished as the ship began to dock.

"You said I'd be perfect for this."

"And I'm not taking that back, but you need to be presentable. You're meeting with other demigods, some of which are of the nobility, and high priests. You're representing all of us."

"I know that. I've spent my whole life preparing for this." Lǐzhì lifted her hand and drew a character in the air in front of her. Her bags lifted jerkily, bobbing and floating along behind her as they disembarked.

"This is what I'm talking about." Liàng reached forward and corrected her rune, refining her sloppy handwriting. Her bags moved along smoothly now. "Magic is supposed to be refined and elegant. Your form and character work... is not."

In combat, there isn't time to keep your magic pristine. Lǐzhì was about to bring that up, about to rehash the same arguments they've already had over and over when Hua appeared. The tanned older sailor hobbled forward on a simple wooden cane to greet Lǐzhì's delegation. They had sailed ahead of the group to prepare things for her, a measure Lǐzhì thought was unnecessary, but she was so glad they were here now.

"Liàng, I don't think now is the time for a lecture. We wouldn't want our esteemed allies to be kept waiting?" They walked up to Lǐzhì and placed a kind hand on her shoulder.

Liàng sighed. "Fine. I will speak to the Kyst delegation to make sure your accommodation is prepared." Liàng flounced away, leaving Lǐzhì and Hua alone to speak.

"I wanted to check you were all packed and ready and I see you... certainly are." They glanced at her overflowing baggage.

"Yep," She patted her floating pack.

"Good. How are you feeling?"

"Excited but anxious?" Lǐzhì paused then whispered. "I want them to like me."

"The bonds I made as a soldier lasted with me my whole life." They set a heavy reassuring hand on Lǐzhì's Shoulder. "You will find your place."

My place? What is my place? What if they have another spellcaster? A better one? Will they even need me? What if Liàng is correct and they think I'm clumsy? Pathetic? Lazy?

Talentless? Defec-

"I see I have only made your worries worse." Hua frowned. "Trust me. You will be fine."

Fine, fine, perfectly fine. I'm fine, fine...

Lǐzhì chanted to herself quietly as she disembarked from her tea ship and walked onto the docks, surrounded by her guards and retinue. The docks were full of other foreign ships and sailors: dark skinned O'Àwiṣuran's sailors with their deep multi-decked canoes, fair-haired Cerisi with their longships, and so many others. Her retinue met a delegation of priests headed by a grey and stooped over, golden robbed priestess followed by younger priests and their guards. The priestess walked with the help of a wooden staff, topped with a golden cage that held a flickering flame.

"Welcome to Zhōngxīn." The priestess spoke in a soft raspy voice. "I am Mother Qiara, and I will be your guide while you're here, Lady of the Hǎimén, daughter of the Grand Zi of Shābīn-shāi."

"Thank you for your invitation, Mother Qiara stewardess of the flame." Lǐzhì bowed. "I am Mei, and these are my companions."

"If you follow me, I will take you to your accommodation."

Lǐzhì would have preferred to walk, or float, but Liàng would sooner die than let her do something as unnoble as walking and Hua couldn't save her this time, so Lǐzhì awkwardly stepped into a litter that her servants dragged down from the ship. Lǐzhì train of people followed Qiara's through the city, her entourage in tow. The city was bustling with people, all of whom stopped to stare at Lǐzhì and her entourage. She tried to ignore them, but it was hard. She was used to being stared at (one doesn't use a litter as their main form of transportation and not expect stares), but not like this, not stares of adoration and...

...devotion?

"They're staring at me," Lǐzhì whispered to Hua who walked next to her litter. Liàng sat slightly behind to her left in her own smaller litter.

"It's not every day one sees a godling walking among us," Hua whispered back.

Lǐzhì frowned and shrank back into the litter, trying to hide herself from the crowds behind the litter's silken curtains and plush pillows.

"Don't hide your face, Mei." Liàng said. "You can't let them think you're too stuck up to make eye contact. But don't make too much eye contact, or they'll think you're overcompensating. You need to be proud but not too proud."

Stuck up? Am I stuck up? I hate eye-contact. Why do people love eye-contact so much? Overcompensating? I didn't know there was such a thing as too little eye contact? What's wrong with people? Or is there something wrong with m-

Lǐzhì took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and righted herself. She stared straight ahead, trying to shove her anxiety down as she carefully and mechanically made eye contact with a few random bystanders. She felt like an automaton, but that's probably what Liàng wanted. The procession continued through the city and began cresting up a hill towards the city centre and the temple square.