Varian and the Seven Kingdoms (Varian's Seven Trials)

The Caped Crusaders

It had been over a week since they had left Aardeterre, and Varian had been occupying himself day and night with experiments. Everyone assumed he was missing his family and said nothing of it. Since leaving the kingdom, they were all getting along well besides the occasional disagreement between Nuru and Hugo, which was usually resolved in the same day.
The group had stopped for the night, and the Princess was on the roof, charting their route to the next kingdom; The Dark Kingdom. Yong was sleeping in his bed, curled up with Ruddiger and Olivia.
"Hey, Stripes. What y'up to?" Hugo asked as Varian worked at the desk.
"I'm looking into the chemical build up of this compound from the trial. It's fascinating- Each trial we've taken it to, has taught us a lesson in alchemy." The boy explained, goggles over his eyes, he dropped a pipette of the solution into a beaker, which was part of a bigger apparatus.
"Oh yeah? Colour me intrigued." Hugo leaned against the desk.
"The first trial, we had to burn away the exterior of the stones to reveal the gems inside. That taught us Calcination; burning away unwanted material to reveal hidden essences. In the second trial, we washed away, or dissolved, the outer layer again to reveal a new element. In Zephaeli, we had to separate the elements and choose what could be discarded. And the last trial, we completely changed the element again by combining the stones together with the use of a catalyst; the tears- that's conjunction." Varian looked up at Hugo, and was happy to see he had been following.
"You work that out just now?" He laughed.
"Yes- well, I've been working on it for a while, but I can't find anything in my books about the seven alchemical laws. I know I've read about them somewhere and I- I've written down the ones I can remember by heart but one's missing- Its driving me crazy."
"Mom's not written about them?" Hugo grinned and Varian sighed.
"Like most important information, it's conveniently missing from her journal."
Hugo looked aside to his satchel, lying on his bed, then back at Varian.
"It...makes me wonder what Donella's intentions were." Varian pulled his goggles onto his head, "Was she trying to protect whoever read my mother's diary from meeting the same fate, or is there something she's trying to hide?" The boy sighed and when Hugo was silent, he laughed, "Sorry, you probably don't wanna hear about this."
"No, I think you have the right to be suspicious of her, but If she's the one that took those pages, she clearly had a reason." Hugo crossed his arms, "Maybe she was trying to protect people. Who knows what happened to your mom."
Varian stared at the open journal, "I still think she could be alive."
"Really?" Hugo asked, unsure.
"Well, why not? Donella never said what happened to her."
"I think you'd know if she was alive, Stripes."
"Would I? She could be anywhere, Hugo. Maybe the library will help me find her."
Hugo sighed, leaving a moment's silence before he spoke again,
"How long's it been since she went missing?"
Varian stayed quiet. He pulled his goggles back on, and chose not to answer Hugo's question, instead he continued with his experiment.

"We're on track for the Dark Kingdom for now, but once we cross the river further down, we should head East." Nuru told Hugo and Varian once she returned from the roof. She shivered from the cold outside, and Hugo threw a blanket at her. When it landed on her head, she sighed,
"Thank you." The Princess sat on her bed and when Hugo wasn't paying attention, she threw a pillow at his face. The boy looked at her slowly, through his lopsided glasses and forced a smile.
"To replace 'the worst pillow in the caravan'." Nuru smirked.
"Thanks." He grinned, replacing his old pillow.
"Ah-" Varian dropped a neutraliser into the beaker of bubbling green liquid, "Phew." He sighed in relief then lifted the beaker, "These tests are pretty outstanding..."
"What did y'find?" Hugo walked over and rested an arm on Varian's shoulder a little too hard. This made Varian lose his grip on the beaker and he struggled to keep hold of it, spilling some of the liquid on his boot. The boy panicked and placed the beaker down, rushing to clean his shoe of the compound. The chemical, however, didn't do anything. The liquid just dripped from his boot, doing no apparent damage. Varian let out a deep breath and looked back at Hugo, who had walked off. He held the beaker up again and cleared his throat,
"After much consideration, I've decided to call this new compound Hugorium." Hugo looked over at him, and raised a brow.
"Because it's ineffective and ruins everything." Varian finished and Hugo narrowed his eyes, Nuru sniggering.