An Alchemist’s Love

Cleo

Cleo was short for Cleopatra. You know your parents have lofty expectations for you when you are named after an Eygptian Queen. She grew up in a household that put pedigree and intellect above all else. Any charity was simply a facade for their overall image as the perfect family. It was toxic, but when you grow up in a vat of acid, you do not have much choice but to become acid yourself. So Cleo had accepted who she was, and that she would be a cold hard b***h, but the kind that is backed by achievements and determination - not just for the sake of being mean. That meant always being the top of her class, being early to meetings, and stepping over dead weight whenever necessary. Her parents were one of the first few deadweights she cut off. As soon as she turned 13, she had enrolled herself in a boarding school in Connecticut. Her parents were too focused on appearing wealthy, rather than building true wealth and power; so she decided to move away so her parents would stop forcing her to go to dinner functions and social events. At boarding school she applied all her time to creating the prefect balance of academia and extracurricular activities to be a shoo-in for Harvard. She peppered her achievements with acts of kindness, and arranged to donate a kidney to a child at the hospital where she interned. It was all calculated down to the minute details. It was tedious and tiring work that never seemed to end. So you can imagine, when Genavie came waltzing into her life, Cleo was not pleased. Genavie had everything at her finger tips. Not only did she have a natural talent for alchemy, she was also the daughter of one of G.A. Pharma's top executives. No one in the Vern family was short for cash, but being at the top of the corporate food chain meant access to ridiculous resources. Her parents had been the golden couple of most social scenes until her father's death, but even as a widower, Ellalise stole the hearts of those around her. Cleo knew that she was jealous of Genavie, and that it was not Genavie's fault that she was born so lucky; but at least she could try to be better. She never took care of her appearence, always looking like she rushed out of the house last minute. She had this whole "down to earth" scherade, as if she wasn't loaded. It all just seemed so typical.

"Today, like any other lab day, she comes waltzing in, minutes before we are meant to start and then has the nerve to make herself a coffee while keeping everyone waiting. Honestly, who does she think she is!" She thought to herself. "She is also dressed in sweatpants and a sweater. Why? Why would she deem this appropriate?" She could feel her temperature rising. Cleo had spent at least 30 minutes getting dressed up in an appropriate semi formal work attire, like they were expected to, before making her way to the den. She had arrived 30 minutes early and prepared a cup of tea for herself, before sitting down and reading through the briefing for the day's lab work.

Cleo knew there was no point making an enemy of Genavie because she was bound to be the next head of the family, and did have the brains to back it. It was also evident that Genavie did try, so you couldn't really hate her. But still, she felt herself scream internally. Despite her best efforts to be calm she sarcastically said, "Just in time, as usual". Then she sipped her tea.

---

Now that all the scheduled Daughters of Vern had arrived, the lab debriefing could begin. The training always followed the same procedures where the girls would be given a file with a theoretical question that they had to solve. They spent however long they needed at the den until the puzzle was solved. Phones, tablets and laptops were confiscated and there was no access to Wi-Fi within the den. The idea was that they had to figure out the problem without using outside resources, in order to develop their lateral and critical thinking. Honestly speaking, it was the kind of challenge that Genavie loved. Working with others to find a solution, brainstorming and bouncing off one another. The problem was that sometimes she was ostracised by the other girls. It depended on which 8 other girls were selected for the lab. In those cases she either solved it on her own, or took the entire weekend as a mini vacation, spending time in the forest and the gardens.

Today, however, she knew it would be alright. With the exception of Cleo, these Daughters of Vern had no problem with her. They all specialised in different forms of alchemy, and had spent enough time with Genavie to understand she was not a threat to their success or reputation. Cleo, although she seemed to hate Genavie, was too ambitious to allow her feelings to get the better of her.

"Alright!" Cleo took charge, "let's begin with reviewing the brief."

One thing that is different from a science lab and the den's lab was that everything was based on the art of alchemy. Specifically the magical elememts of alchemy. Many layman's thought that G.V. Pharma rose to power through having cutting edge medicine, which they did, but their darkest secret was that they practiced magic. Not the kind of magic that involves wands and elemental control, that was magic of fairytales. Instead, they used the elements of nature as well as nature's life essences to make potions and poisons that could morph the fibres of existence. There are horror stories of some Daughters of Vern accidentally creating time rifts when accidentally mixing the wrong ingredients, or of bringing back the dead with the wrong soul, causing mass destruction and serial murders. There are rumours that Jack the Ripper was an abomination from a misjudged poison that a Daughter of Vern had tried to use to kill her unfaithful lover. Most of the stories were nothing more than myths created to make young girls cautious of experimenting carelessly. Ellalise had told her which ones were real and fake growing up.

Genavie's favourite true story was of a Daughter of Vern named Robin. She would use special forest elixirs to create vines that grew instantly into the shape of a ladder. At the top of the vine was a flower, and when plucked, the vines would rot and disappear. Robin had used this trick to steal from the rich and cause michief (this included her other rich relatives). She would take her stolen goods and distribute them to the poor, all the whole hiding her identity by wearing a stunning cape with a hood. Eventually one of the other Daughters of Vern caught her, and exposed her identity within the Gardens of Vern. The Gardens of Vern did not state that mischief was against the code of conduct, so Robin was let off the hook. In fact, some people began seeking her advise in forest alchemy and she soon was considered a coveted member of the community.

Today's task was not as interesting as these fairytales, however. The girls were asked to come up with a way of preventing Valley Fever from developing within soils that are fungal rich. It was basically a farming oriented alchemy. Not Genavie's forte nor interest. After the briefing, the girls would have a brainstorming session about how they wanted to approach the topic. They would assign roles and responsabilities and normally break off into pairs to do their relevant tasks. Sasipha, her Thai cousin, was a specialist in agriculture related alchemy as her family ran a produce farm that was used for food as well as potion ingredients, her family was highly respected for their humility and competence. Somehow, Genavie and Cleo ended up being paired off together, and assigned the responsibility of foraging. Another important element of these labs was having the ability to source and find the ingredients they needed. It was normally a simple task, as there were plenty of gardens, wild lands and several green houses where most ingredients were cultivated. The harder part was normally finding the right natural energies - this typically envolved finding something with a life essence, such as a bug, forest creature or fae. The fae live around bodies of water; sentient beings that were ancient and magnificent. They were extraordinarily difficult to work with and notorious for their mischievous behaviour. Genavie had little experience working with them, but desperately desired to learn more. It was one of the most mystical elements of alchemy, and mystery was one of Genavie's strongest motivators.

Genavie and Cleo ended up sitting in the back yard with their coffee and tea waiting to get an ingredients list from the other daughters. The awkward silence was deafening, so Genavie lead with a question.

"So, what's up with the Peru project?"

Cleo looked surprised by Genavie's interest, "Why?"

"I dunno, I was just asking... never mind."

Cleo paused for a moment before replying, "I discovered an old journal that talks about the location of larva with the potential of curing poisons. The journal's author claimed to have been saved when a local tribe found him bit by a snake, and fed him these larva to help him recover."

"That's awesome!"

Cleo looked at Genavie, expecting to see her giving a sarcastic or uninterest expression, but she was genuinely engaged in the conversation.

"I'm not going to lie, I do not know if the larva are still in Peru or if they are in fact medicinal. But it would be a shame to not follow up on this lead."

"I agree." Genavie replied, "I have always wanted to travel to the sss. Promise me you will consider taking me if you go!" Genavie said with a ridiculous puppy eyed expression that Cleo couldn't help but laugh at.

When Cleo started laughing Genavie joined in.

It was the first time in a long time that Cleo had laughed, and she was suprised it was because of Genavie. She had always known that Genavie was a kind soul, so it made it hard to truly hate her, just like her mom. Cleo looked into Genavie's eyes,hoping to find some level of cunning there, but there was none. She was unabashedly herself and oblivious to how cut throat the world was. Hopefully her sheltered upbringing would not be her downfall.

At that moment, one of the daughters came out with the first list of ingredients. There were normally at least a dozen lists that they would receive over the next couple days, as the daughters experimented and trialed different potions. It was a arduous task, but mindless and a nice form of reconnecting with nature.

"Alrighty then," Genavie said, "let's go foraging!"

They both picked up their baskets and headed towards the closest green house that was at the far end of the back yard.

Sasipha watched from inside the glass annex as Cleo and Genavie walked away. She was glad to see them getting along a little bit. They actually had a lot in common when it came to their passion for alchemy. As she watched them head towards the greenhouse, she thought she saw something move in the hedges on the left side of the garden. She watched intently for a minute, until a small mouse came darting out. She giggled at herself for getting spooked and returned to her work. As she turned her back a small glowing creature floated from the bush, trailing behind Cleo and Genavie.