Emille

Chapter 16

 Natalia was getting tired of caring for Peter. It was one thing to heal his wounds and keep him from dying. But to sponge bathe the urine off of his body? To help him undress to bathe that first time after waking up? That was entirely too much.

Luckily, his strength was returning to him quickly. His embarrassment encouraged him to abide by all of Natalia's requests with little complaint. Well no, he definitely complained, but he did as she asked anyway. That was the best form of compliance Natalia could hope for.

By Wednesday, he was hobbling his way to class. He'd only missed Monday class, and he'd had nothing to do with his time in bed but to study, so he wasn't too far behind. Natalia walked him to class, just to make sure he wouldn't pass out like an overexcited Victorian woman, and then they parted ways. For what felt like the first time in ages, Natalia was a free woman.

Kimpy venom. Who knew it packed such a punch? Arthur hadn't studied kimpies much, he'd only taken note of their nasty stingers and concluded that they were probably best left alone. Of course, that had only encouraged Peter to go searching for the wretched things.

Natalia wandered around campus, deciding to let her feet schedule her day. She had no classes to attend, no meetings to be late for. The second she'd discovered that she was a practitioner, she'd rearranged her schedule to have only online classes. It was easier that way. She didn't have to make explanations for skipping class to go on a romp through the Ravine.

When her feet stopped at last, she was standing in the alleyway between food courts. Ah, an excellent destination. She bent down, and rummaged through her bag for the treats she always kept on her, just in case. After a moment, she was greeted by the padding of paws on asphalt.

A long, twitchy nose sniffed up at her hopefully. She reached into her treat bag, and pulled out a slice of dehydrated banana. Two tiny feet grabbed at it greedily. The rat before her began the work of decimating the treat, its eyes glinting with determination. Three more twitchy noses emerged from the shadows, looking up at her hopefully. She divulged more treats from her bag, holding them out. They ran up to her open hand and grabbed at the treats greedily. One of the rats, a plump but grizzled thing, perched on her wrist to snack at a safe distance from the others. Natalia gave it a second treat for its bravery.

After spending some quality time with the rats, Natalia packed up her treats and moved on. "I'll come back on Friday," she promised. The rats looked at her as if to say, you'd better. Natalia's fondness for them grew at their expressions of self-serving expectation. These creatures had standards.

Natalia's next stop was a drainage ditch that ran under a road on the outskirts of campus. Its waters ran clear today, but no fish swam in its waters. It was too unpredictable; it may dry up next winter. She walked up to the entrance of the tunnel that ran under the road. It was quiet, save for the soft rushing of water.

She slipped into the cool, damp tunnel. Water lapped at her heels, threatening to spill over her ankles and seep into her boots. She traced her fingers over the cement walls, watching as grime crumbled over her fingers. She crossed to the other side of the tunnel, walking deeper into the darkness and tracing the walls in search of her prize. At last, she landed upon her target: algae. It glowed dimly in the darkness, sending waves of gently pulsing light across the ceiling in waves. Each pulse of blue light glided over the nearby ceiling and walls in bands and shifting shapes. Almost like a small piece of the ocean floor had been trapped in this dingy drainage ditch in the middle of Florida. It felt like home.

With a pang of regret, Natalia reached into her backpack and pulled out a glass jar. She scraped a section of the algae off of the wall and into the jar. She was careful to leave enough for it to regrow. The algae in the jar sputtered for a moment, then glowed with renewed energy. Sulmec algae was what Arthur had coined it. Algae from the Veiled World that had slipped into the Unveiled World and taken root in moist, dark places. Hardy, beautiful, and very, very useful for spells. It was a non native species that was hard to not love.