Chapter 64: I’ll try that next time

Chapter 64: I’ll try that next timeArlette was dressed as sexily as ever and Caius felt a bit strange. It just didn’t sit quite right with him that this was how they were meeting again for the first time since what happened— what they did yesterday. He was sure Arlette was thinking the same but her expression showed no sign of it. It even lacked the playfulness she had had all through that first Alchemy class as she looked from Caius to Kaya, to Eloise, and back to Caius again with her eyes difficult to read. "Afternoon, Professor," Caius greeted. Had it been any other Professor, Caius was sure they would have asked why he and the ladies with him were late and he might have tried to find an excuse. But Arlette didn’t ask that. She could tell what it was that had kept Caius just by looking at the company he came in with and she had no interest in hearing him lie to her face. So she asked something different. "We were just discussing the homework I gave last class. Maybe you three will be able to help me. What are the properties of Angelwood, Mandrake root, and Grande-Blac?" This was actually one assignment Caius had cared enough to do. It hadn’t been a fluke that he enjoyed the first Alchemy class. He knew how useful it could be and, although attending class and learning it was far more in-depth than the original story could ever get into, he was still interested enough. "Angelwood possesses Healing properties. Mandrake root helps to cure petrification and Grande-Blac acts as a purifier in the Alchemical process by siphoning and getting rid of impurities." He explained. "Very good," Arlette said and for a moment, it looked like that would be the end only for her to fire out another question that Caius answered, and then another and another to the point where Caius actually wondered if she wanted him to slip up and embarrass himself. Worse yet, it almost happened once but Kaya was there and swooped in to his rescue. Eventually, Arlette sighed and smiled with just a hint of her usual playfulness. "Find your seats," she said and waved them off. The moment Caius was walking up the aisle, he saw a hand raised and waving him over. It was Doran Langston whom Caius had sat next to in the last Alchemy class and had saved him a seat for this one. Caius glanced at Kaya and Eloise and it was dawning on the two ladies that they’d be sitting together furthering the awkward air between them. "Talk to her," Caius told Kaya before he went to take his seat. Kaya and Eloise shared a look and then continued walking together to find a seat and very likely begrudgingly strike up a conversation in an attempt to get back to normal. "Gods, I was starting to worry," Doran said when Caius sat beside him. "Hm?" Caius said in surprise. Doran laughed nervously. "If you weren’t here, who’d help me with their notes?" He asked in a callback to when they sat together last time. Caius smiled. "I’m sure you’d have managed," he said. Alchemy class had a bit more practicals today. They got to use the kits that had been prepared on their tables to extract the ingredients Arlette had told them to read about as homework. Grande-Blac was just meant to assist the Process. Only Angelwood and Mandrake root actually needed extractions and each student got their own set of equipment so they were to work alone and be graded individually. It was halfway through the class when this experiment started and Caius was just starting to regulate the flame so it was just the right amount of hot and wouldn’t burn the ingredients when he heard laughter from a few seats back. He looked back and saw it was Kaya and Eloise elbowing each other and cracking jokes that only they could hear but laughing at the punchlines enough for everyone to glance at them. They were barely taking their experiments seriously. The sight caused the corner of Caius’ lips to twitch at how quickly they had reconciled but then he remembered the regulation of his flame and returned attention to his Alchemy Kit. Considering only two ingredients were being extracted (with a third being a purifier), it was surprisingly very slow work. Even after the extraction began, Caius had to pay attention to the flame regulation still. He had to continuously make adjustments and he found himself focused but actually pleased all through. He had never been the best at Chemistry when he lived his life as Kevin—Actually, he hadn’t been good at anything academic—which made it such an insane change of pace how his mind worked now. How anything about magical knowledge, besides the mind-numbingly dull theoretical subjects, excited him. "Caius, how—" Doran asked. "Reduce the flame two more degrees," he answered immediately, barely taking his attention off his own work. He could just feel what was going wrong with Doran’s experiment. "Right," Doran said and started adjusting. "Too much," Caius told him soon enough, "You’ll cool the Angelwood and it’ll flake off." "Oh, of course. Of course," Doran said nodding but despite the tips Caius gave him, he never seemed to be able to actually follow them the right way, and soon enough, his ingredients went up in smoke. "Fuck!" He yelled. "Language!" Arlette called out from in front of the class. That caused Caius to snigger. There was just an irony to her cautioning that word that caused him to smile. The experiments ended soon enough. Whether they’d succeeded at the extraction or failed at it, every student was stepping away from their kit as Arlette walked through observing and grading while sometimes making comments. She called Aurelius’s extraction Great and said Aylin Khione’s showed promise. She also stared at the black soot that was all that was left of Delia Kragsten’s experiment and shook her head, "Maybe Alchemy isn’t for you, dear." She didn’t even sound condescending about it. It was just as she had said in their first class; Not everyone was going to get the hang of Alchemy. She said something similar to Doran when she got to his and Caius’ table but for Caius’s, she just looked at it, made no remark on how well he had done but said, "See me after class." "Of course, Professor," Caius said as she walked past him and continued her rounds. The class ended almost as soon as Professor Arlette was done with her inspections and collected the very few successful extractions while discarding the failed ones. After that, she assured them she would be making her gradings and announcing them in the next class. She gave them more Alchemy ingredients to read up on and with one last pointed look at Caius, she opened the Portal Gate and left the classroom. "Brutal," Doran said, shaking his head as he packed up his things. "But thanks for your help," he added, "Again." "Don’t mention it," Caius answered. It was the end of the school day and essentially the start of the weekend and a long rest from learning so, chatting animatedly among themselves, Students began to leave. Caius crossed eyes with Delia right as she was leaving and she frowned at him before making a point to turn her face away from him. He smiled at that. Next week would be another Mage-Knight Training Class and he wondered if she’d still want another duel. He saw Aylin Khione after that, walking with her gang of friends. She gave him a look, winked, and blew a kiss that sent a snowflake toward him. The snowflake survived long enough to touch his nose before melting. With that, Aylin smiled, tossed her long greyish white hair back, and left. Soon, it was only Caius, Kaya and Eloise left in the Alchemy Classroom. The two ladies had hung back just for a bit longer as Kaya wanted a final word with him before she left. "So two days, huh," she said. "Will be over before you know it," Caius told her with a smile before looking over at Eloise who was hanging back a few steps away. "And Eloise?" He called to her. "Hmm?" Eloise said and then let out a little gasp as Caius took her hand and drew her into a tight hug. First, she froze and then she raised her arms to wrap them around him while leaning her face into his chest. Caius kissed the top of her head then and chuckled as he whispered into her ear, "If you were that interested, you didn’t have to go to all that trouble to spy on us. You could have just asked to join in." His words carried a tone of levity and Eloise didn’t know for sure if he was mocking her creepy stalking or actually inviting her to join next time. Either way, she blushed hard and smiled against his chest as she nodded. "I’ll try that next time." Caius leaned back then, grabbed her chin between his thumb and index finger, and pressed his lips gently to hers.