"Lily get up!" a feminine voice snapped. "You have errands to do."
Lily groaned before trying to raise herself up. She winced as her body protested at the slight movement.
She knew that Heather will not be pleased if she remained in bed. She had a lot of things to do.
After her training with Zeke, she felt exhausted and decided to take a short break. She did not think that she would fall asleep on the couch.
Getting up and grimacing, she made her way to Arcana. She would have asked Zeke to make her a healing potion but the wizard had gone to somewhere.
Seeing some ingredients in Arcana's kitchen, Lily decided to take things into her hands.
Heating up water on a cauldron, Lily muttered and began adding a few herbs. "put a few leaves of peppermint, a devil's claw, 5 cherries and teaspoon of honey to taste."
She stirred occasionally and the mixture gave an eerie glow before it had settled into a calming reddish hue.
Getting a cup of the mixture, Lily added a few sprigs in. The sprigs came to life and bloomed inside the cup. It gave a flora scent enough to relax the nerves.
While Lily was enjoying her cup, Heather chose the moment to enter. She was astounded to see the girl's skill in potion making.
"This is good!" Heather praised as she took a sip of the concoction.
Lily's eyes widened. It was the first time Heather had actually uttered such words to her.
The headwitch was usually harsh and unforgiving especially if she messes her spells. When she succeeds, Heather would only nod her head as acknowledgement.
"Where did you learn this?" the headwitch asked.
"Zeke and Master Chervil taught me the basics. Hazel also gave me a few lessons with potion making." She explained. "But they were mainly healing potions and potions that could calm ones nerves. They did not teach me how to make potions that I can use as offense."
Since Heather specializes more on curses and jinxes, she enlisted the help of Mrs. Caraway in teaching the girl.
~~~
"I think I would like to hire this girl! She had surpassed me in just a matter of six weeks!" Mrs. Caraway exclaimed after she downed her glass of enchanted tea.
"I don't think I made such achievement." Lily blushed and gave the witch a smile and continued mixing a few more concoction.
It really pleased her to hear such complements from her potions master.
"Nonsense dear." Mrs. Caraway said as she took another glass. "I have a good eye on potions and other drinks. I could tell if they are good and bad. But the ones you had made by far could be rated as A plus!"
Mrs. Caraway had been teaching her other types of potions that could aid the girl. She had mastered the truth potion with flying colors. She had also made another concoction that could allow her to order around the one who drank it for a few hours.
Potions that could make one grow a few years older than his or her original age and potions that could make one grow in height or shrink in size were a piece of cake for the princess.
Lily snapped out of her reverie when Mrs. Caraway said. "You better get ready, dear. The next potion that you will be learning is by far the dangerous kind. Since it is considered illegal nowadays, I will have to have you gather the ingredients on your own. We cannot risk getting discovered by the authorities."
"What type of potion am I going to make?" Lily asked in bewilderment. She did not know that there were potions which were illegal even in Nightshade's Grove.
Mrs. Caraway smiled. "It is Love Potion, my child."
Hearing those words, Lily was shocked. She couldn't believe that love potions are considered illegal. When she got over it, she probed. "Why would love potions be illegal? I don't think it is that dangerous."
"My child, love potions violates some of the natural laws. It works against a person's will. It forces them to change emotion and loves a person they normally won't fall in love with. This potion is the most abused in the entire world. But it got banned for over a decade."
"If it is illegal, why are we going to make it?" Lily asked.
"It might come handy for your mission in the future." The older witch cryptically replied.
Lily nodded after some considerations.
"Here is the list of ingredients you need to find." Mrs. Caraway said as she handed Lily a note.
Lily let her eyes scan through the ingredients needed and mentally noted the exact spots where she could find them.
"Please make sure that you gather all the ingredients a night before the moon waxes. We need to start making the potion by then." Her instructor reminded. "Now off to your next task."
~~~
Lily concentrated her mana and put layers of barriers on her soles for her daily run.
"I'll definitely beat those imps." She said as she glared at the foliage in front of her. "Thirty laps... I need to finish it today."
Taking off, the girl ran past hurdles. All of a sudden a group of imps appeared a few meters from her.
"Éclair come forth!" she recited and sent a few zaps to the imps. In response the mischievous creatures moved aside to evade the crackling current. It allowed Lily to get through them without any more trouble.
The witch fledgling lost the barrier twice when the imps managed to launch their counterattacks.
But unlike the first time she had undergone her training; she immediately refocused and easily got back on track.
It had been eight weeks since she started training and even Lily could already see the improvement she was making.
Although she still has temper tantrums from time to time, the explosions that she caused were greatly reduced.
Lily finished her last lap sweating all over and panting. "I actually reached thirty laps! Wow!" she exclaimed before sitting on the ground.
"Well done! You made a great achievement meeting the quota." Zeke remarked. He tapped the ground with his staff twice and a glass of water appeared beside the girl.
Lily took the drink greedily and emptied the glass. The girl frowned while wishing to have more water to quench her thirst.
She would've asked Zeke for another glass when the glass refilled itself. The girl chugged it down to relieve her parched throat.
"It was hard to believe that you almost quit for the first two weeks." Zeke commented while eyeing the girl. She had somehow increased her muscular density and was glowing in health.