The Alchemist's Assistant Part 2.

Story by Avia Jiutai on SoFurry

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#9 of The Alchemist's Assistant Series

Amazingly, I managed to crank about seventy percent of this out about twelve hours after the first post. I managed to get someone to spellcheck it this time, since mine is still broken, but I still apoligise if their's errors here and there.

Having written as much as I have now, I feel commited to reaching some kind of end goal here and finishing off their story in due time.

However, I am due to go back to work tomorrow, so I may be unable to find the time to write anything except on my days off, so if their are delays, you'll have to bear with me.

After an accident in one of the gardens, the alchemist will have to play nursemaid to his assistant for a short while.

Any questions or queries about the story can be asked, but I cannot give away spoilers. Enjoy the read. And I'm as bad at tagging as ever. @_@


Darrius awoke sometime the next day to the smell of reheated stew and small twinges of pain in the small of his back. Most likely from sleeping awkwardly, or in an unfamiliar bed, he thought, remembering for a moment the crisp white sheets and feather-stuffed pillow that he left behind at the guild hall all those weeks ago. However, any further thought on the subject was interrupted by his stomachs complaint over lack of food and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and groped for the water jug.

As he began to wash, his mind turned back to the guild. Life was always fairly simple in the guild halls and it's students were well looked after, as was tradition.

It shocked Darrius to discover that the tradition was upheld because mages were often privy to rather terrible accidents, and death could be fairly common, so comfort for those would-be mages would be a nice little trade off in case one of the novice spell casters caught fire, or showed the class the intricate details of the working mind. Usually after a spell had backfired and the working mind was in pieces and no longer working at all.

Yes, the elders could sleep soundly in their beds, knowing that the last thing going through their students minds was anything other than reproach at the guild's stellar service and accommodation.

After finally pulling on some clothes, he pulled back the curtain dividing the rooms, revealing Cha'kaar busying himself over the stewpot, who nodded solemly at him. Darrius was a little taken aback at that, considering how pleased and chirpy he'd been yesterday. "Is everything alright?" He asked as he headed for his seat.

"No." Came the reply. "I lost the ladel in the stewpot." The lupine flicked his tailtip and reached into the pot, thumb and forefinger ready and plucked the ladel from the seething mass of meat and vegetables. He swore as he sucked on his finger, dropping the ladel against the side of the pot, hanging it on the lip. "Well, at least I got the blessed thing..." His head darted around the immediate area for a cloth of some sort, and settled with the tip of his loincloth, the ladel still being rather hot.

At that moment in time, Darrius became rather facinated with a rather large knot in the table's woodwork, only snapping out of it when his bowl was placed in front of him with a short smile. "Eat up, and don't be afraid to ask for seconds. I need to use it all before it goes bad."

He happily obliged, spooning the mixture into his maw, but with a little more care this time around. A goblet of mead was placed beside his bowl as Cha'kaar sat opposite him again with his own meal, but hardly touched it. He seemed to be focused on the young fox's choice of clothing.

"Did I grab these out of the wrong drawer?" He said, his ears folding back a little. "I'm sorry, I'll go and change." Halfway through to getting up did the lupine hush him and settle him back in his seat. "No no, it's nothing like that. It's just been a long time since I've seen those clothes."

The outfit in question was a simple tunic in a deep green afair with a small cord near the neck, and a set of black trousers that looked a size too small, judging by the tight look. Darrius coughed politely to draw his teachers eyes back up. "It was the only pair close to my size, sir."

Cha'kaar waved a hand dissmissively and grumbled. "I told you, that you don't need to stand on ceremony and all that 'sir' nonsense here, child. The minimum of politeness is enough."

"I was told that the minimum of politeness was to call my elders sir or madam... sir." A tiny smirk creeping onto his lips. Cha'kaar simply steepled his fingers over his bowl, resting his muzzle on them. "Had a good sleep?"

Darrius simply blinked. An odd change of the conversation, but he'd humor the old codger for now.

"Well enough, aside from a small ache, and some dream I can scarcely remember." He rubbed the small of his back and chuckled. "I guess my back really missed those bedrolls and splintered seats of the caravans." Cha'kaar nodded silently in agreement. "can you remember anything of your dream? Anything at all?" The vulpine simply shook his head. "Sadly, no. But whatever it was, felt very vivid."

Seemingly satisfied with the response, the wolf returned to his stew, his eyes briefly glancing at his stock of alchemical ingredients arranged on his shelves, returning his gaze to Darrius. "It looks like we're low on a few components, and luckily for you, it's an easy job." He prodded his wooden spoon towards the door. "Front garden has some plants you can harvest, and I trust that you'll be able to keep them seperate in the sachel and not to pluck them into twigs." With that, he stood up and spooned a few more lumps of stew into his bowl as Darrius finished his own meal and made to stand.

Cha'kaar nodded to the corner with the rows of tiny bottles, petals and various other items on display, and wedged in the corner, was a greying leather bag. A cursory exploration revealed several pounches on the outside, and even a few sectioned areas in the main hold. A curious finger worked its way into each pouch, making sure it was empty and free of spiders, or whatever else lurked in such a place. The worn leather strap sat snugly on his shoulder as he opened the door into the cool, slightly damp morning air.

The squelching underfoot suggested that it had rained for a short while during the night and caused Darrius to have a little shudder as the muddy water welled up between his toes. After pressing on to the other end of the garden, taking care to avoid the larger puddles, and eww'ing at everything black and slimy that oozed it's way back into said puddles upon his approach, he set to work, plucking various petals, fruits, fungus and berries from the plants in the fenced off areas. A cursory glance at the wood saw a few runes carved into the surface, most likely to ward off anything that would snack on the plants and destroy the ingredients. After a few minutes of harvesting, he noticed a second fenced off area, but upon aproaching, he felt a force push back a little harder the closer he got, it felt like he was trying to walk through a canvas sheet, and at any moment, he'd either tear through it, or be flung back and end up on his backside.

After two minutes of pushing towards the fence, he was leaning at a fourty five degree angle and in danger of falling into the dirt. Mere inches from the fence felt like the fiercest winds he had ever felt, waves of energy peeled from the deeply inlaid runes, which glowed a bright gold that burnt onto his retinas and made him blink. It was only after the sound of a few stitches popping on the sachel that he gave up, carefully backing away and moving into a standing position, the runes glow fading and the energies dying down. Darrius checked the sachel and found the handle had nearly ripped from the bag, the pouches having caught the breeze generated by the energies. The ingredients he had collected were rather crushed, but still useable.

The vulpine turned to face the second fenced off area. The runes had blackened the sun-bleached wood, and the plants remained intact and untouched. Even from this distance, Darrius knew he couldn't identify any of the plants, each one seemed an unusal colour or bore fruit that he knew no herbalist would be able to recognise. Whatever was in that orchard was well protected and not meant for prying fingers, Cha'kaar had made very sure of that. He sighed and looked in his sachel again, notcing that half of the pockets inside were empty, and the other pockets had the samples crushed, limiting their usefulness. He'd have to double up on what he'd harvested at least. He spared another look to the second orchard and made a mental note to write down what he'd experienced, padding off to the first orchard once more to strip a few more branches bare.

Little to Darrius' knowledge, Cha'kaar was watching from one of the squallid little windows, chuckling to himself as the vulpine struggled against the etherial energies before trudging back to the first area to gather fresh ingredients. The foolish little pup would be at least an hour gathering more materials and trying not to strip the branches bare, which would give him plenty of time to have a rummage. The wolf turned from his window and sat at his alchemy desk, where Darrius' shoulder bag lay opened, and several documents and pieces of blank paper lay. The runes on the bag were simple at best, and easy enough to crack. He poured over a few of the more important looking papers, even letting out a snort or two in some places.

Oh the things those old codgers were up to, you had to laugh, really. He picked up a piece of blank paper and frowned at it for a few seconds before turning it around, and then upside down. Cha'kaar rolled his eyes and sighed, setting the paper down on the desk again. For all the power of the mages guilds elders, they appear to have resorted to parlor tricks, and petty ones at that. No matter the answers he gave for the disappearances, they always asked for proof he couldn't give. And now they sent some young whelp to try and spy on him and, here he consulted a different piece of blank paper, take note of anything unusual or alarming. Well fine, they wanted proof for where the other assistants had gone, he'd supply it in the form of Darrius as an eye witness. Anything to clear his name and keep those squabbling old farts off his back, if only for a few months before they deem the eyewitness' testimony unworthy and probe further into his "highly suspicious" research.

Cha'kaar poked his head out the window to check on the fox, who seemed to have been startled by something in the orchards undergrowth, and had gone tumbling back against the fence, crushing several plants underfoot as well as snapping several pieces to the fence pannel. He sighed and chuckled a little under his breath, remembering for a moment of such times when he was young and "grossed out" by such things. The lupine took his time putting the documents back where he had found them, swishing his tail a little as he re-applied the runes and returned the bag to it's resting place. The door opened just as he pushed past the curtains, Darrius limping over to the alchemy table and dropped the dirt-specked sachel on it. "I'm done collecting your samples." He said in a mock sing-song voice.

A look up and down the poor child's frame. Clearly, he'd taken a rather nasty fall out there. His right side was splattered with mud, ruining the clean clothing, and as the fox limped to his stool, he could see the scratches and tears in the clothes as the wood splintered and tore into the tunic. Cha'kaar rolled his eyes and disappeared into the back room once more. Darrius' ears perked at the sound of the cellar door opening and closing, as well as the rustle of cloth, the wolf reappearing from the doorway and helping the vulpine to his feet. "Come on, lets get you fixed up."

He got to his feet grudingly, wincing with every other step as he was led into the back room. A white sheet was laid out on the bed, and the dresser had a small set of medical equipment, such as bandages, a needle and thread, tweezers, and a small bowl. The pitcher's bowl was steaming as Cha'kaar carefully set him on the bed and turned away from him to soak a cloth in the warm water. The vulpine began to take the tunic off, but yelped as blossoms of pain welled up from near his right shoulder. "I wouldn't try that again." The lupine said as he dipped the tweezers tip into the water. "You've got some rather large splinters lodged in there, and we'll need to get the bigger ones out before you can take that off."

"Oh... Well thank you for warning me in time." Each syllable laden with bile, which Cha'kaar chose to ignore.

"You know, for someone who volunteered to come down and help a poor decrepit old man of twenty nine who lives in a swamp, you seem rather surprised to find various slimy, squidgy things around here that are keen to make your aquaintence." He sat next to the fox, who squirmed and turned away from him, the tweezers, as well as a bowl in his hands, beginning the process of removing the larger pieces of splintered, ancient wood from his flesh. He felt a slight twinge of grim satisfaction with each twitch the vulpine made with each splinter removed.

"Well I'm sorry that I imagined not having to deal with quite so many of these insects and bugs and gods know what else lurks out there." He huffed, wincing as a particularly large splinter was removed and his tunic was removed, revealing the small mess of cuts and scrapes underneath. The tweezers were applied again, digging out some of the deeper splinters lodged within. "So I take it you're a cityboy through and through then."

Darrius nodded between winces. "Never been in a field, let alone a swamp..." Cha'kaar rolled his eyes and sighed inwardly. Wonderful, yet another boot-licking city boy that until a few weeks ago, probably never saw a cow. The lupine leaned to the right so Darrius could see his face. "You realise that I'm going to have to hold your hand on the visits out into the deeper swamp for samples now, don't you? Lest you fall victim to the wisps, or, god forbid, a dragonfly should startle you." Darrius managed a grim smile and winced as the final few splinters were removed from his back. "Just going to get a salve for the wounds." Cha'kaar stood up and tilted his head as he saw some blood dripping from the young mans right forearm, as well as his left thigh. "Just how many splinters did you get in you? Did you roll around in the detritus afterwards?" He left the fox to grumble and returned with three bottles, all the same sickly green colour, barely big enough to hold a mouthful and laid them on the bed, uncorking one. It smelt like a forest crushed into paste and wasn't at all pleasant. "Now, this is going to sting." With that, Cha'kaar applied some to a rag and began to rub it in, and gripped Darrius' shoulder as he nearly jumped off the belt with a yelp.

"Gah! You said it'd sting, not feel like a knife between the ribs! What the hell is that stuff made from? Crushed nettles?!" Cha'kaar rolled his eyes and held him still, mashing the stuff against his open wounds. "Oh quit your belly-aching child!" After a minute of mashing the concoction into his fur and wounds, causing the vulpine to shudder a little, the wound soon felt numb, either because of some numbing effect the stuff had, or he'd broken through some kind of pain barrier. The wound was bandaged rather tightly around his chest, and over his right shoulder to prevent the bandages from slipping too far down.

Having finished the bandages, he patted the vulpine on the head in mock kindness. "Better, child?" He said sweetly. Darrius pushed aside his hand and held up his right arm, which continued to drip a steady amount of blood onto his trousers. "Maybe when these are delt with..." Sighing, Cha'kaar crouched in front of him and set to work, removing the splinters, the fox looking rather uncomfortable at this stage. It was halfway through the removal of the splinters that he spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry for... for get startled at a newt or... whatever it was and breaking your fence... I didn't get much time to study the local flora and fauna, or the native creatures... When I accepted the position, they sent me out the next day and- Motherf-" This was to the addition of the second salve of foul green liquid. Within a few minutes, the wound was clean and bandaged right up.

Cha'kaar stood and washed out the cloth in the bowl. "I know, child. They tend to be rather quick with their turnaround of messages from such a long way away, but I am surprised they gave you no research material or warnings about the creatures that lurk in the local area."

"They gave me a few papers, and even a book, but... the papers weren't very helpful, and someone used the book for cooking fires because I left it in the caravan..." The wolf wrung out the last few drops from the cloth and set it aside, returning to the fox with his tweezers. "So, you're stuck out here without the faintest idea of what lurks out in the wilds, correct?" Darrius blushed in shame and nodded. The blush deepened when Cha'kaar split his legs apart and lifted the left one, forcing him onto his back. "Hey! C-careful now!" The vulpines tail swished and tucked itself over his strained groin, the tight trousers now leaving little to his imagination. The wolf gripped the foxes tail and wrapped it around the poor mans right leg. "I can't see with all that fur in my face. Now keep it there." A whimper was heard, but his order obeyed, leaving him free to pluck out the larger splinters that would catch on the cloth. He used his claw to widen the hole a little, to make sure no others had snuck under the material while he was manouvering the vulpine into position. However, his eye was slowly drawn to the foxes bulge, the poor thing was panting, waiting for him to finish with the tweezers and he could feel his member stiring the longer he looked. After tearing his gaze away, he hastily checked the wound before setting the leg back down. "All right, all done. I just have to apply some of the salve and bandage it."

Cha'kaar turned to get the final salve that he had moved to the dresser when he heard the clink of a belt, and the sound of cloth. As he turned, he saw Darrius stand, staring at the ground as he slid his trousers down. He felt a blush creep into his cheeks and his member stir once more. Darrius had no underwear on. "The trousers were too tight to get on with underwear, it's why I wore the tunic, to cover anything..." He eased himself back onto the bed, shivering a little. It took a few moments for Cha'kaar to get back in control, pouring the salve onto the cloth and grabbing a roll of bandages, only turning when he felt his member had softened enough not to be noticed.

Darrius had slipped to the middle of the bed, shivering a little with his legs closed, arms wrapped around them for warmth. As Cha'kaar sidled over to get at his leg did he lay down and present his left leg. The wound was in a very awkward position, which would make bandaging difficult.

A hiss of indrawn air was heard as the salve was applied, along with a long, low groan that stirred the poor wolf's loins further. He fumbled for the bandages and began to wrap them around the wound, his positioning not helping matters as he held the leg steady by laying it on his shoulder. After tying the bandage tight, and removing any excess did he notice the fox trembling beneath him, his eyes sliding from his closed eyes and down his body, finally ending at his groin. His vulpine shaft was throbbing against his stomach. The tremblings slowed and stopped as he opened his eyes, they were pale blue. He rubbed the bandage on his thigh, a look crossing his face. "It's a little tight, but I'll live." He smiled weakly at the wolf. "I promise to be more careful next time, hon."

Cha'kaar blinked and focused on those light blue eyes of his. "Did you just say hon?" This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Of course I did." The vulpine slipped his leg from the man's shoulder and sat up, nuzzling against his neck as he shuffled closer. The wolf was stunned. The mixture wasn't supposed to last this long or lay dormant! It wasn't made like that!

Any other thoughts on the subject were brought to a halt as he felt a hand against his shaft, the fingers tracing slowly up his rapidly hardening length. A ragged moan escaping from Cha'kaar's lips as his lust began to take over, filing the problem under "Solve later" in his mental filing cabinet.

Darrius looked up into the wolf's green eyes that seemed to glow in the light and a hessitant nod was all that was needed, the fox twitched aside the loincloth, wrapping his hand around the base of his lovers gurthy length, and pulling the tip into his maw. Yet another moan from the wolf prompted him further, sliding those tender inches into his maw, right to the very hilt as his masterful tongue whipped around his length. Cha'kaar undid the knot that held his loincloth up and dropped it beside the bed, a hand scritching at Darrius' ears as he bobbed his head slowly, taking his time with every single inch.

A few minutes had passed before he released his wolf's length, panting a little as he wiped his lips, blushing softly. He felt the lips press against his, felt the tongue rake against his teeth. Startled at first, he quickly relaxed, closed his eyes tilted his muzzle, and pressed his own tongue against Cha'kaar's, the wolf wrapping his arms around his young lover, gently lowering him to the bed until a yelp broke the kiss, Darrius arching his back and turning to the left a little, a small whimper as he muttered. "Still a bit tender..."

Cha'kaar chuckled and ruffled his hair, causing the vulpine to flick his ears a little. "Their are ways around it." With that, he carefully lifted him into a sitting position and planted another kiss on his lips, gently turning him onto his hands and knees, Darrius playing the innocent young man routine, covered himself with his tail, his blush matching his fur. "This is... kind of revealing..." He muttered, squirming a little to cause his hips to sway teasingly.

Cha'kaar leaned back a little and took in the sight. Whatever he may think of himself, the boy was a teaser through and through, what with that sweet, lithe form and those swaying hips of his, perfectly formed, the bandages only adding a mysterious beauty to his form.

With that, he brushed aside Darrius' tail and pressed his shaft against the boys rumpcheeks, leaning over him as he ground his shaft between them, drawing a moan from those tender lips as he carefully angled his shaft against the mans tailhole. Pushing forward, he met resistance and a soft whimper, his lovers tailtip flicked as he turned his head, a slight look of pain in his eyes. "Dry..." Was all he said, and Cha'kaar understood, leaning back, and grossing out Darrius a little, he spat expertly between the boys cheeks, grinding against the saliva until his shaft had lubricated nicely. A second go at entry brought forth a deep moan, bringing a smile to his lupine lips as he leaned over his lover, pushing forward with a long, slow thrust, letting loose a grumbling murr as he hilted.

His previous time with the young man had loosened him up nicely, even more than the potion had done so, their was little to no resistance, and what little their was only added to his pleasure. The vulpine below him was stunned and gasping in rapture, still quite new to such pleasures, his knot already fully formed. Cha'kaar pulled out slowly, bucking forwards equally as slowly, the look on the fox's face was one he'd commit to memory, locked almost perminantly in that sweet spot of undenyable pleasure. It felt like a sin to pull out each time, to remove him from such dizzying heights of extasy, only to resore him back to those giddying heights with each thrust.

After a few minutes, he picked up the pace, the gasps and whimpers teasing his loins further. A hand moving up through that sort white underbelly of his, up his chest, throat to his muzzle. An idle digit slipped into the boys muzzle prompted him to clamp onto it, suckling hard. Cha'kaar breathed heavily into his lovers ear, causing him to moan deeply, ears flattening against his head, sweet whispers of what was to come only served to ellicit more moans, whimpers and bucks of his hips.

Sensing an oppertunity, the lupine pulled an ear tip into his maw, and suckled, tugging gently. Darrius was unprepared and opened his maw, groaning so deep and lustfully his own member shot pre across the sheet. Having found a sweet spot, Cha'kaar slipped a second finger into that willing maw, and raked the ear between his teeth, causing the vulpine to shake and lose his balance, his arms no longer able to hold him up, fingers twitching as he raked at the sheet, shuddering in a pleasure he'd never before felt, nor felt he could survive without it.

Without a doubt, the fox below him would do anything to climax, to feel himself pushed over an edge he never knew existed, and Cha'kaar did not want to disappoint.

Angling himself a little, he slowed his thrusts, giving the poor thing a chance to breathe, to relax, if only for a moment, before he slammed his hips against him, teeth raking across his sensitive ears as his forming knot smacked at his ring, his lubricated fingers removed themselves from the boys maw, the clawtips dragging themselves against the head of his shaft. Darrius' eyes opened wide as he screamed in pleasure, raking at the sheets once more, shuddering as his hips thrust of their own volition, pleasure overwhelming every single sense he had as he climaxed, his seeds sticky strands plastering themselves on his belly and the sheet.

It took several frantic moments for the pleasure to subside, a pleasure he felt that he'd never again experience as he lay there, suddering, panting and drooling, certainly a mess, but a ravishingly beautiful one at that. The Lupine, who had stopped upon his lovers messy and rather frantic climax, leaned down and whispered into his ear. "Feel better?"

Speechless, and panting to heavily to answer, Darrius swallowed, and nodded, his eyes half-lidding. Cha'kaar smirked, the single word laden with teasingly evil intent. "Good." He slammed into the poor, spent creature, rapidly building up to his previous speed. The vulpine could hardly believe it, his body already spent, wracked with pleasure before, now felt his lover's second wind. Already tired, and unable to fight back against the waves of pleasure washing over him again, he could only let his body be subject to these urges.

Cha'kaar could hardly believe what he was doing. He had never felt this way with anyone before, nor had he been with anyone who reacted so well to such teasing. His shaft ached for release as he gazed down at the form beneath him, almost desperate to feel the same level of extasy that the fox had felt mere moments ago. The very idea of such a thing, of pushing the vulpine over the edge again drove him to outperform even what he expected of himself. Teasing every square inch of that beautiful body, with carresses, licks, nips and even a bite or two, the fox took it all in his stride, body wracked once more with a pleasure he never thought to know again, it took only a few more moments before Darrius climaxed, the teeth against his neck dug in as the wolf slammed against his ring, knot hammering against his form as his seed poured into his lover, who twitched, panting and unable to even squeak.

Cha'kaar laid the shivering thing down, his own hands shaking as he slipped out carefully, and laid, spent and exausted beside his lover. The vulpine whimpered and gradually pulled his head onto the lupines chest, heavy with exaustion, and listened to his heartbeat go from a flutter, to a purr, to a gentle rhythum as he relaxed, the sound soothing his exausted frame as he drifted off into slumber, leaving Cha'kaar, his head now clear, to ponder on the dormant properties that the potion wasn't supposed to have.

After a few minutes, when he was sure Darrius was sleeping, he carefully shifted off the bed, and cleared up the bed, using the sheet to carefully wipe the excess off that smooth stomach of his, grabbed his loincloth, and quietly left for the front room, tossing the blood and seed soaked sheet onto the fire, only returning to the back room for a damp cloth to clean himself properly.

After ensuring he was properly clean and presentable, did he sit at his desk to run his fingers over the spines of his books. Some were new, some ancient, and others just seemed to have an unusual air about them. He plucked a battered looking book from his collection and opened it up to a page listed as Pleasures of the Flesh.

Scanning down the page, he found what he was looking for in the index. The autor of the book was one of those awkward ones that tried and tested each and every single potion, salve and mixture in an unidentifiable order before gluing the pages together in a book. The index was added later on by the publisher who saw it prudent to do so, lest they get complaints from the alchemical and mage folks about them mixing up a cure for sea-sickness instead of a draught of Unknowing Night or something.

The page he was after was wedged between a teeth-whitening salve and some kind of stubborn stain removal. The potion drawn on the page was a light blue, but also showed two smaller bottles, one green and another deep purple, the page reccomending to mix the potion in the smaller bottles like so, as the finished concoction only had a shelf life of three days, and the potency wore off rapidly in that time. His claw dragged down to the warning and side-effect section, and no matter how many times he read it, he couldn't find any clue as to why the mixture had laid dormant. The shelf life was terrible, and even more so inside a living person.

He plucked several more books from their shelves and flicked through the musty crackling pages, unable to locate a thing, until the fourth book yielded some information on a test subject who had a very similar concoction. He was interrupted by the cloth curtain being pulled aside, revealing Darrius, naked as he rubbed his right eye, yawning hugely. "Is there any stew left? I'm hungry..."

Temporarily flustered, Cha'kaar jerked a thumb to the pot. "Theres some left, but it's probably cold."

The vulpine stood in the doorway and weighted the options, still rubbing his eye. "It'll do." He trudged into the room, causing the lupine to tilt his head in wonderment, as to why a man who had been too shy to remove his tunic before, felt just fine to walk around nude, not that he wasn't complaining.

Tearing his gaze from such a sight, he returned to his book, running a dull claw over the very short list of symptoms. All but a few were present. The clanking of the ladel put him off his work. Turning to tell him to keep it down, he gasped, and returned to his book before darrius could notice anything was wrong in his sleepy state. He mentally ticked off what he had seen, and flipped the page to read a more in depth version of the test subject. The voice of the author seemed to echo in his head as he read on.

"Subject C was a curious case. Subjects A and B acted in line with the potions effects (Eye colour changed, sexual attraction reversed when in proxcimity to same gender, memory loss.) and no side effects were observed. Subject C, when presented with a dominant young male for the second time, reverted back to the previous state despite no second inbibing of the concoction. Repeated exposure to the young male caused shivering, hot flushes and small changes in attitude and behaviour. Final coupling produced complete heterochromia, and a relaxed state around the young male that was only observed when under the influence of the potion. When questioned, subject C admitted to having feelings for other males that he kept hidden for years, but now felt comfortable enough to "be himself."

My conclusion is that those with such desires of the heart that have been hidden from view, either from others, or even themselves, the concoction reveals what true desires lie within. Several months without further inbibment have not allieviated the heterochromia or feelings towards males. I believe that the change is perminant and irriversable."

Cha'kaar looked up from his book and turned, watching Darrius finish the last of the stew by licking his spoon clean. His right eye was pale blue.