Reborn

Keefe

Sophie spent the next few days repeating the past. Stina bullied her during gym, suggesting she would end up in Exillium and Marella once again saved her. She had telepathy class with Tiergan and he gave her a probe. Like before, he wasn't able to read her mind, but she read his. She'd even pretended that she didn't know Grady was a mesmer.

"Worried about your next session?" Marella asked.
Sophie nodded. Dex had been teasing her about all of Galvin's failed prodigies. It didn't help when Marella smirked and said, "Yeah, good luck with that."

"That bad?"

"Uh, yeah. Lady Galvin only Mentors for the title. Being good at alchemy isn't the same as having a special ability, so unless she wanted to run some crazy apothecary like the Dizznees, it was Mentor or nothing. She hates it—and she takes it out on her prodigies. But who knows? Maybe you'll become her new star pupil."

Sophie wasn't worried about the class, she had taken it once before, but now she had to knowingly mess up and be sent to Elwin's or else she may never meet Keefe.

As lunch came to an end, Marella at least tried to give some encouraging words before Sophie went to her next session, but it didn't call her nerves. She was about to ruin Lady Galvins cape and she wasn't prepared to deal with the consequences.

———

The wide, round alchemy smelled like burning hair, and the walls were lined with curved shelves. Hats. Books. Pieces of fruit. A pair of curved, pointy-toed shoes that looked suspiciously like the ones she'd grown up believing elves wore. It was like King Midas had come through and turned everything he touched to gold.

The center of the room held two empty lab tables—one gleaming silver, the other sleek and black. Lady Galvin wasn't there, so she dropped her stuff on a table and watched the giant bubble hovering over a ring of fire on the floor. Milky liquid filled the bubble, dancing up and down to the rhythm of the flames.

"Step back!" Lady Galvin shouted, rushing over in a rustle of fabric. She yanked Sophie away. "Do you have any idea what that is?" She looked Sophie up and down and rolled her eyes. "No, I suppose you don't."

"It's alkahest," Sophie responded in a not so confident manner. She wished she had kept her mouth shut when Lady Galvin gave her a hard glare.

Lady Galvin sighed the way Sophie's dad used to while doing his taxes. "It's the second hardest substance for an alchemist to make."

"Yeah, it's a universal solvent, isn't it?" Sophie's memory was serving her well.

"...correct." Lady Galvin hesitated, "You are the girl who grew up with humans correct?"

"Yeah, that's me." Sophie got suddenly quiet, trying to resist the urge to pull out an eyelash.

"How do you know about alkahest?"

"Yet you seemed to know a lot about elven solvents." Lady Galvin looked her up and down. She clearly had suspicions that she wasn't going to voice.

"I read it in a book at the Vacker's house." Sophie lied. "I have a photographic memory so naturally I just remember what I've read."

"I know what a photographic memory is, child!" Galvin's tone grew harsher. "What do you remember from your readings?"

Sophie could tell this was some sort of test. She couldn't tell what the outcome would be if she chose to get it wrong. She hoped by giving the right answer, Galvin would go easier on her.

"It's a universal solvent." She began.

"You've said that." Galvin interrupted.

Sophie ignored her, "It can only be stored in a bubble of itself because it dissolves everything. Including wood, steel, and even flesh."

"What human accidentally discovered the solvent in the 1500s and tried to expose us to his world, but not many people would listen?"

"What?"

"It's Philippus Paracelsus. From the human land of Switzerland."

"I- I did not know that."

"Of course you didn't! All I ask for is a decent prodigy—and what do I get?" Lady Galvin stalked across the room to one of the shelves. "A girl who barely knows what the most well known substance is! I should be teaching masters to turn living matter into gold, not little girls who don't know the difference between a tincture and a poultice. Dame Alina probably thinks this is funny, forcing me to teach basic serums. Well, I won't have it."

She removed a yellowed card from a small box, grabbed an empty flask, a few jars of ingredients, and a long twisted silver spoon from the shelves and returned to Sophie. "This serum is the first step to turn glass into iron. I'll have you transmuting metals if I have to walk you through it. Step. By. Step."

Sophie remembered what she had did wrong, she had whipped the concoction when Lady Galvin hadn't explained that WHAP was an acronym.

Lady Galvin fiddled with her cape and rolled her eyes as Sophie checked and rechecked each amount to be sure she wasn't making any mistakes. When she felt confident that she had it right, she poured everything into the flask.

She took a deep breath and grabbed the spoon but she couldn't do it. She couldnt purposefully ruin Lady Galvins cape- no matter how she didn't like her.

So Sophie did her second best option: be clumsy.

In one swift motion, she elbowed the flask and tried to catch it as it fell, earning herself another welt. Lady Galvin practically screeched as it hit the floor.

For someone who is naturally a klutz, it was quite possibly the most graceful intentional moment she could have made.

"I'm so sorry!" Sophie gasped and went to clean up her mess. Lady Galvin stopped her by grabbing her wrists. Her eyes got big at the welt on Sophie's hand.

She sighed. "Better head to the Healing Center."

"Yes, ma'am," Sophie said a little too enthusiastically. Last time she had dreaded going to see Elwin, but now she was more than excited.

Sophie rushed toward the door. "See you next week?"

Lady Galvin's face darkened, and she turned away muttering under her breath about incompetence.

———

She wondered if Keefe was already at the bench. Was everything timed the same? What would she do if he wasn't there when she passed?

Sophie suddenly realized last time she had gotten very lost, meaning she couldn't just head to the Healing Center and expect to find him, she had to find that exact bench.

Her memory was a little bit foggy on that part.

She tried to think like twelve year old Sophie, choosing the halls the looked the most likely to leave to Keefe, but it was hard when she had no idea how she chose which halls last time.

She almost gave up when her gut kept telling her to go down a specific hall. Her mind kept telling her it would make her more lost, but she took the chance.

"You must be lost, Sophie."