My Wonderful Second Life

Chapter 10- Odd things

I found it odd.

What, you ask? Many things.

The first was how badly I did with archery. I had never entertained the expectation of being brilliant on my first try, but for sure I did not expect to cause the flowerbeds to grow arrows instead of actual flowers. No matter how much Eloise tried with her inexhaustible patience, I never improved and the flowerbeds suffered. Though, I was pretty sure archery was not for me; I continued the lessons. I enjoyed Eloise's company, and it was a splendid exercise. It was also the second route in case I failed alchemy, which was turning into my best bet.

The second involved the etiquette classes. I still disliked them, but at least I did not hate them. Lady Sargosa was the competent type and had an answer for everything, even my reservations. A usual topic of disagreement was dancing and my lack of will to do it.

"No one would ask me or dared to." I defended.

Lady Sargosa would turn to me and say with a smirk on her face. "Really no one? My ladyship does not know anyone bold enough to affront you or your dear father?"

I do. Problem is that I do... I knew two troublemaker princes (and one would do it just for the heck of it)... and a dimwitted future duke... shit...

After that, though, I went on with the lessons to the pleasure of everyone except me.

The third thing applied to Jennifer and her watchful stares at Emmanuel. She had a serious expression and hid it whenever someone saw her. Came out of nowhere someday and I couldn't find an explanation. And Jenni, being Jenni, did not help with that either. She always avoided talking about it, employing her very well practised "end of a conversation" smile. Wide and detached, it ended all enquiries.

The fourth and last odd thing was Emmanuel, the fool himself. Besides being unaffected by Jenni's sometimes evil stare, he became a rollercoaster of emotions. He and Fanny were part of my cheering squad when it came to my archery attempts. Captains actually. Every time I failed, I could see his desolation. Same with every time I improved with alchemy, his eyes would tear up. He was odd... I would have thought he would be both sad or happy in the same way. It could only mean archery had been his solution to my alchemy efforts... which was strange since both would cause him to lose his head if the duke ever found out.

He was the oddest of the bunch...

Though none of those odd things stopped my alchemy studies. I did them anyway and always in the evenings, watched by Emmanuel and Fanny, and sometimes Jenni. This time, she was there. When I made my breakthrough. When, for the first time, I fabricated a usable alchemy object.

In the beginning, I thought about the possibility of making the end product liquid and having a mould created to shape it. However, fabricating liquids was out of my league. In the end, I opted for a solid shape, which brought its difficulties as well.

It didn't matter, for now. I had accomplished to produce a smoke rock (without filling the drawing-room with smoke- victory!). Spiky and grey, it was beautiful to look at. The moment I took it from the caldron, Emmanuel's complexion paled and he faced a wall murmuring under his breath as he beat his head on the cold (smoke-free) surface.

Fanny hugged me in animated delight, having forgotten about the "danger" alchemy was for me. Jenni was more restrained in her expression. Neutral was a better description. And while Emmanuel sobbed without actual tears, I analyzed the rock.

I knew my limitations. Even if people thought of me as inconsequential, I recognized I could never be the best in alchemy. Without a true master, I could only go so far. But what I had was enough. For now, it was. Even with the spiky shape and lacklustre shine, this was my beginning. I would getter better at those, but at this moment, I worked with what I had.