NOVEL WEB 11. Naughty Girls
"All that?" I gasped as I stared at the bottle sitting on the middle of the table. "All that's from this morning?"
Cat grinned, "I know! There's almost a litre there, it's great!"
I finally tore my eyes off the bottle that was nearly full of fresh milk, and stared at my sister instead. It finally dawned on me that she and I had very different opinions about the subject at hand.
"I don't know about great," I said with a grimace. "That's all though right? I mean, you don't think there'll be even more next time do you?"
She smirked, "Maybe a little? Remember, I told you it takes a few days to reach your full potential. You'll probably reach your peak tomorrow."
"Or maybe the day after," she added in a very quiet mumble.
I stared at her, "Please tell me you're joking. A litre a day is enough already, isn't it? Seriously Cat, what are we supposed to do with that much milk?"
My sister shrugged, "It's a key ingredient in a lot of potions. We're going to be making healing potions to start with, and it's the perfect base for those."
Before I could respond she gestured, "Eat your breakfast cutie, we've already wasted enough time this morning."
I'd made us some oatmeal this time, it was fairly cheap and filling, but like everything else in our budget there wasn't a lot of flavour.
After the fun we had earlier we both rinsed ourselves off and towelled down, but neither of us had bothered with clothes yet. I knew my sister would get dressed once she'd finished eating, and I'd have to put something on as well before leaving the house.
I had a spoonful of my breakfast then asked, "Wait you said healing potions are the most common potion out there right? Where's all the milk come from to make so many potions?"
Cathryn shook her head, "Probably half of them are made with water. It's cheap and ineffective. That's where you get people chugging a whole flask just to heal a cut or straighten a twisted ankle. Then another third are made with other milk, like from cows or goats or whatever's handy. They work better but they're still not that effective."
She rolled her eyes and added, "They'd be great for healing cows or goats though. But the best, most potent potion for healing people is made with the right ingredients. And our potions are going to be the best."
I frowned as I ate, "Still, a litre a day seems like a lot. Are you really going to need that much for your potions?"
My sister shrugged, "Perhaps not, but if we have excess I'm sure we'll find some way to use it."
That didn't exactly make me feel much better, but I let it go for now. When we were both finished I rinsed out the bowls and tidied up, then looked to Cathryn and asked "So where do we start?"
Ten minutes later we were both dressed, me in my little skirt and blouse and she in her simple dress. She took the bottle of milk with her down to her workshop, while I carried two empty wooden buckets out to the local well.
It was a routine chore, something I'd done every couple days for the past few months. It was also a stark reminder that I'd lost a noticeable amount of strength when I became a small cute busty girl.
Getting to the well wasn't so bad, but by the time I'd got the first bucket filled my arms were tired. And by the time I had both of them filled my arms hurt. And I still had to get them back home again, hopefully without spilling too much water.
What used to be a ten or twelve minute task that I did without any problem had become a thirty or forty minute ordeal. And by the time I had both buckets back home and up the stairs my arms ached, I was exhausted and drenched with sweat. And that was just the start of my day.
I gave myself a short break as I sat at the table and waited for my arms to stop hurting. After a few minutes I peeled off my skirt and blouse, then got back to work.
There were a bunch more tasks I needed to take care of, and only a few of them had anything to do with Cat's alchemy work. That was life as an apprentice though, and fortunately it wasn't a big shock or adjustment to me. Working with dad or just listening to him talk about the different trades he did business with I had a good idea of how tough some apprentices had it, especially when they were just getting started.
Next up on my list was laundry. After this morning's fun I needed to wash all the bedding and some towels and rags, and that took most of the water from one of the buckets I'd hauled up earlier. It also took the better part of an hour, and when I was done I strung up a length of rope on a couple hooks and hung everything up to dry.
Even that turned out to be an extra challenge, I had to stand on a chair to reach the hooks and to get the bedding hung up.
Then while the sheets were drying my next task was to make stoppers for the vials. Rather than buy finished corks it was cheaper to get a sack of off-cuts and scraps from a place that made corks for vintners. Since our vials had much smaller openings than wine bottles, we could take their scraps and turn them into something useful. And by we I meant me of course.
So I sat at the table with the sack of cork scraps and one of the low-quality glass vials we got from Lucas, and with the little knife I used to cut vegetables for dinner I started cutting bits of cork into workable stoppers.
Even though we only had twelve of those budget vials Cat told me to make five dozen stoppers, so we'd have them ready for when we got more vials. On the other hand we had enough cork scraps that I could probably turn out well over twice that many, so I was grateful she only wanted sixty.
That took me till mid afternoon and by the time I was done my fingers ached along with my shoulders and arms. I set the stoppers aside and put the remaining cork back in the bag for later.
I checked the bedding and found it was dry, so I pulled it all down and made the two beds. Then I pulled down the cord as well, and put that away.
At that point I headed down the stairs to my sister's workshop to see what else she needed.
She was at the workbench, where she had a little chunk of coal burning in a heavy metal bowl. Above that on a metal stand a glass flask full of who-knows-what was bubbling away. That bottle of milk was nearby, it was only half-full so I figured she'd already used some of it. And finally one of her books was open on the bench, and her ink pot and a pen was nearby.
"Hey Cat," I said quietly. The weariness was probably evident in my voice as I asked, "What else do you need me to do?"
My sister turned and looked at me then frowned. "Val you look and sound exhausted and we're only just getting started. I know you can't be this unaccustomed to work, so tell me what's wrong."
I grimaced and my cheeks took on a pink tone as I replied, "I'm not as strong as I was before. So lugging those buckets of water tired me out. And I can't reach things easily, so I've had to resort to standing on chairs for a few things. It's made some of the routine chores much more tiring and laborious than before."
"Ah," her frown shifted to a look of sympathy but she also looked thoughtful.
After a moment she stated, "Well I know you're happy that size so I'm not going to offer a potion to make you taller again. Strength on the other hand, is something we'll definitely address."
She picked up her pen and dipped it in ink, then made a few brief notes on a piece of parchment.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "How do we address strength?"
"With a strength potion of course," she replied with a grin. "I'm making a list of potions to brew for you and I, things I didn't think of before or didn't have time to prepare in advance. I was thinking of brewing a warmth potion for myself to match the one you've taken, so we can continue to save on firewood and so forth. And I already had plans to prepare a contraceptive potion for you, so you won't have to worry about accidental pregnancy. I'll mix a strength potion as well. And another permanence, so none of those things will wear off."
I found myself staring at her in surprise for a few moments, then finally teased "After everything your other potions did to me, I'm not sure I trust you enough to take anything else you offer."
She smirked and teased back, "Well in that case maybe I should slip some other little surprises into your next potion. After all, I wouldn't want to disappoint my little sister."
Before I could react to that her expression became more serious as she asked, "Honestly though Val, aren't you happy with the way it all turned out?"
"I'm very happy with how things turned out," I nodded. Then I glanced at the half-full bottle of milk on her workbench and added, "That was odd at first, and I guess it seems strange to me that you'll be using our other um, fluids, for your potions as well."
"Fair enough," she replied. "And I know how strange it seems Val. I don't think there was a single student in my first-year class who wasn't shocked or horrified or disgusted when they learned. It was enough that about a fifth of the students simply quit within the first month or two."
She added, "Second year, there were less than half of us left out of all the students who began at the same time as me. And third year was even less, perhaps only a quarter out of the original numbers. I'm sure some of that was money, some of them would have left for the same reason I did. But I'm equally sure most of those who quit did so because they'd had enough."
I frowned, "That seems like a very high drop-out rate. Is it really that bad?"
Cathryn smiled and shrugged, "I really can't say if it's bad or not, sis. It was surprising, some of it was shocking. I adapted, as did the other classmates who persevered. Perhaps that means I was more-easily corrupted and perverted than the ones who dropped-out? Or maybe the truth is I was already a naughty girl from the start, and Anwen's Academy of Alchemy simply revealed my inner pervert."
Her smile became more of a naughty grin as she added, "You've taken pretty quickly to these things as well cutie, so maybe being naughty girls runs in our family. Tell me the truth, do you hate any of this?"
I blushed again as I thought through what she just said, and what she asked. And I knew the truth was I didn't hate any of it. Some things seemed strange, and other things took time for me to get used to. But so far none of it was awful.
The only thing I'd complained about at first was the milk, but I quickly got used to it. And Cathryn said it was necessary to make the best potions, so if it didn't come from me we'd have to get it from somewhere else. That meant either my sister, or it meant we'd have to buy it.
Buying it would be an additional expense that would put a greater strain on our budget, which I really wanted to avoid. And having Cat do it instead of me would require her to brew at least two more potions for us, one to make me stop producing it and one to make her start. Depending on what ingredients she required that would be another expense we didn't need. And finally, as her assistant and apprentice it simply felt wrong to expect her to have to do it.
"I don't hate any of it sis," I finally replied. "Honestly, I love most of it."
"As for that," I added as I gestured at the bottle, "I'm used to it, and I'm sure I'll be ok as long as you keep helping me with it."
Cat grinned, "It's a deal. And I'm glad you're happy with things Val, I am too."
She pulled me into a brief hug, then let go and said "Now back to work sis. And I hate to say it, but I'm going to need you to fill up another bucket of water then bring it in here for me."
I sighed but nodded, "Ok Cat. I'll do that right now."
"Thanks Valeria," she replied as her attention returned to her work.
It took me another half hour in total. I had to dress again then took the bucket I'd emptied doing the wash back down to the well, then by the time I'd filled it and hauled it back home my arms were aching. Fortunately I didn't need to carry it up the stairs, I just brought it into the workshop and left it on the floor by Cat's workbench.
She was still doing her thing, and apart from thanking me she stayed focused on her work. And since she didn't have any other instructions for me I stripped off my blouse and skirt again then sat down and spent the couple hours watching her work.
