The Alchemist's Redemption | Book 2

Chapter XIII

Aquaria laughed as she threw her arms up.

"This is so much fun!"

She was sitting on Varian's shoulders as they walked through the castle. Ruddiger had situated himself on Aquaria's shoulder happily.

"Ha! It's fun to carry you around!" Varian held her legs so that she wouldn't fall.

"Hey, guys!" Rapunzel waved when she saw the two.

"Hey, sis! What's up? What are you up to?" Aquaria asked her sister curiously.

"I'm about to head out to Neserdnia with Angry and Catalina," Rapunzel said which made both Aquaria and Varian perk up.

"Neserdnia? Would we be able to go to the Neserdnian market?" Varian asked excitedly.

"If you come with us, yeah!" Rapunzel smiled.

"Let's do it!" Aquaria said to Varian who nodded.

"Let me get my bag from Aquaria's room and I'll be right out!" Varian said as Aqua got down from his shoulders.

"Alright! Come on!" Rapunzel took Aqua and Ruddiger out to the cart.

🧪

Varian was sitting on the cart with Aquaria in front of him. She was sitting on the step to the cart with Ruddiger in her lap.

Varian smiled while he played with Aquaria's hair as they rode to Neserdnia.

Suddenly, Pascal and Hamuel were flung at them into the wagon.

"Oop! Careful you two. We we don't want to break this stuff before we get to Neserdnia," Rapunzel said as she hopped into the back of the cart to make sure the two animals were okay.

"That's right, 'cause once me and Catalina return this last sack of stolen loot, we will have officially put our thieving days behind us," Angry said with a small smile.

"Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on a copper-plated alembic from the Neserdnian market!" Varian said excitedly and Aqua nodded quickly.

"Do you have any idea how many poly-alchemical substration tests we'll be able to run?" Aqua asked, looking at the others with a bright smile as she and Varian geeked out a bit, but Angry just rolled her eyes.

"Anyone wanna switch seats with me?" Angry asked as she looked away from the two nerds.

"Hmm, we're happy to have you both along," Rapunzel said to Varian and Aqua as she sat beside Varian. "Plus, I'm hoping once Max and Ruddiger spend some time together, they can finally become friends."

"Hopefully," Aqua said before Ruddiger jumped from her lap. "Ruddiger?"

The raccoon raced up a tree that had a shiny red apple and grabbed it before Max could.

The cart jerked and Aquaria nearly fell off the step. Varian pulled her up, letting her sit in his lap.

"Woah! What happened?" Rapunzel looked at the animals. Max had the apple in his mouth while Ruddiger was still holding onto it.

"What's this?" Catalina asked from the back of the cart. "I don't remember stealing it." She held up a beautiful shell necklace.

"Oh. Whatever it is, it's... beautiful," Rapunzel said as they all looked at the pendant.

"And I bet it's pretty valuable," Angry added.

"Uh, gang, hi, hello, speaking of valuables, we uh might wanna stow the loot. We're comin' up on Deadman's Curve. Yeah, it's a hotbed of highway robbery," Varian said nervously.