cascade | kotlc

14. A Little Bit of Marellinh

132 chapters in and we've finally got marellinh

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"We can't tell her," June whispered. "This will break her."

Biana closed her eyes. "I know it will. But that makes it... they have soporidine, June. The most dangerous sedative on Earth. And from the amounts of ash they must've gathered..." She traced her finger over the screens, plugging in numbers. "Here -- display."

Viridescent light flashed, expanding outwards and forming something almost akin to a metaverse. Beams shifted and polarized, linking vibrant dots with each other and constructing lines. Biana toggled a dial on her ring and barrels filled the space, twenty in a group.

"This would require about a fourth of an acre of complete ash," she explained. "Let me just check- yes, that's right. There are thirteen fire sites with these efflorescences, and assuming everything was mixed together, taking the average size of these sites -- thirty acres each -- that's four times thirty times thirteen, which is one thousand five hundred and sixty bundles of these. Each bundle has twenty barrels, and each barrel contains thirty gallons of soporidine. A gallon is 3785 milliliters. That means the Neverseen has 3.3 billion potent drops of soporidine. Enough to knock out a person for at least a month." Biana spread her hands.

"Nerd," Faye murmured. Biana smacked her teasingly, and Faye rolled her eyes, surprisingly not fighting back, though she did flick her card between her fingers menacingly.

"We can't tell Sophie," June repeated again, the numbers whizzing in her mind. 3.3 billion potent drops of soporidine. "We can't tell her. This would break her. I need her... whole."

"I know," Biana said gently. "I'm still holding out hope that the gnomes can develop a cure for soporidine -- in fact, I'm sure I have a lead. Since nitrogen reacts with carbon and hydrogen to form the four nucleic acid constituent bases, we should be able to transfer those particles into actual gene sequences, assuming we can find and locate a special match that can neutralize sedatives -- I'm thinking perhaps kelpies. But it would require us to separate..."

June shook her head, not understanding a word Biana was saying. Faye glanced over, shrugging.

"Don't be scared," she reprimanded when June flinched after Biana said the word narcolepsy. "It'll only get onto you if you let it."

"I know," June muttered, tracing her finger down her blade and accidentally drawing blood. "I'm... whatever."

"That's my line," Faye snapped, looking offended.

"Alright," Livvy said from behind them, breaking up their conversation. She was collecting samples in sealed bags, marked with Sharpie. Biana strolled over and they grew into heated debate filled with alchemical lingo that sounded like utter gibberish.

"Let's get going," Sophie said, bringing Livvy's crystal up to the light. June shared a look with Biana before she stepped into the dissolving gleam.

-

"Alright!" Faye yelled, slamming her blade into a counter, fracturing it into pieces and sending lightning dancing around the room. "Let's finally settle this. I've had enough."

"Really," June agreed. "Can we say that everyone will respect my sister's decision, since this is her family we're going to save?"

"I second that," Mr. Forkle called from the doorway. "But before we consider that, I have one other option we should consider. I kept asking myself what other special abilities would provide an advantage on this mission, and I came to a certain conclusion. You'll need something unexpected. And since you'll be facing creatures that are only vulnerable to fire, your best defense is to bring a Pyrokinetic."