“Did you sleep well, my lady?” He asks with a gentle smile.
The question catches her off guard, images of the night before, with Quell and the mounting stand flashes in her mind. She coughs, choking on her juice; Coral can feel her face turn bright red, “Um… yes, thank you Prince Vadim,” she manages to choke out, her eyes briefly flashing to catch a smirk on Quell’s handsome face.
She spends the rest of the time eating her breakfast in silence, listening to the idle conversations of the family around her. When Rainer chastises Wistan for drinking too much the night before, a smile reaches her lips and she oddly finds herself wondering if this is what it is like to belong to somewhere, to have brothers, a father and a mother.
“What do you find so amusing, Coral?” Rainer’s voice draws her out from her thoughts; she looks up to see a frown on his deep, dark skin.
“I apologize, sir,” she stammers out, her eyes dropping down to her plate.
“Do you think that Wistan’s behavior was amusing? He’s lucky he didn’t break another leg! Well, out with it maiden!” The sharpness of his tongue draws everyone’s attention to him, only for their eyes to fall on her.
She clears her throat, “That must have happened after I left; I didn’t see any of it, master centaur.”
“Then why do you smile so?”
Poking the bread around her plate, her voice is small, “I was just wondering if this is what a family feels like; brothers talking and enjoying one another’s company, parents irritated at their children’s foolishness but in general a warmth I have never known before. It was a silly thought, I was just caught up in it is all, sir.”
Unexpectedly, she feels Rainer’s hand encircle hers, his large fingers squeezing gently, his voice soft and kind, “It is not a silly thought, Coral. Yes, this is what a family feels like.”
She looks up hesitantly to see an odd smile on his face. He squeezes her hand once more, before letting go, “You will have one of your own, someday soon no doubt,” his lips start to frown and his voice turns irritated once more, “with your own foals who act like fools. You will cause the death of me, boy.”
Everyone can’t help but laugh heartily, finishing up their meal. With the Queen and King having already finished and left, Vadim and Quell walk out of the breakfast room alongside Coral.
“After dinner this evening, I’d like to take you to town,” Quell says, though there is cheekiness in his gaze, he adds, “to show you the building that Rainer wishes for you to occupy.”
Smiling, she averts her gaze, “I’d like that.”
“Perhaps I will join you,” Vadim cuts into their moment, “I hear there is a new shop that sells wares from beyond our borders. It seems most interesting.”
Coral turns her attention to him, offering a soft nod.
“Shall I see you down to the surgery?” Vadim asks with a gentle smile.
Knowing that he is to be mated soon she feels almost more at ease around him, thinking that she mistook his kindness for affection. Yet when she glances at Quell she can see that he is jealous of the growing relationship Coral has with his brother.
“Thank you, Prince Vadim, but that won’t be necessary. I have my own escort,” she motions to the centaur from this morning, who is still shadowing her.
“Just as well,” Quell says, “father wants us to go over the books Elex.” He bows slightly to her before turning to walk down the hall.
Vadim remains, his eyes still lingering on Coral’s face. When the intensity of his stare causes her think that perhaps she is wrong yet again Vadim bows and turns, drawn away by Quell’s fading voice, “Are you coming, brother?”
The doctor is already busy at work, straightening up the surgery, by the time she arrives. There are a few servants who have come to help, a woman who sweeps and dusts and two men moving furniture about. Coral jumps right in to assist.
The stacks of books are sorted by category and shelved appropriately. When they get to the cabinet full of herbs and vials, he defers to her as to how it should be sorted. Coral suggests they put them in order by the first letter of their names, which works well for the bottles that are labeled. For those that aren’t they have a guessing game between them, each smelling the bottle and conversing before deciding what it contains. It is only when they break for lunch that Coral is finally able to sit down and rest; the surgery is far more organized than before, leaving only stacks of notes that Pelium has kept over the years. Washing down her bread with a glass of water, she stretches her feet out in front of her.
“Have you had time to read any of that book I gave you?” Pelium asks conversationally.
“Yes, in fact I have made it more than half way through,” she opens the book, having brought it with her, to the point in which the ribbon marker is so that she can show him her progress.
“Oh my, I did not think that you would have gotten that far so quickly! I found it rather dull, myself, though it has been many, many years since I read it.”
“I found it rather intriguing. If I may be so blunt,” she flushes slightly, “it contains a great deal of information about things that I… am not yet acquainted with.”
He laughs slightly, “I suppose had I not already been mated at the time, I too might have found it more of an attention keeping read. Any questions?”
“No,” she says, chewing on a piece of meat, “Master Gladstone is quite thorough. Actually,” as the thought crosses her mind, she thumbs back a few pages from her marker, “there was a strange recipe in here for an elixir that he concocted. Something to prepare a maiden to receive a centaur?” She stops on the page, showing it to him as he walks over to her.
“Yes, I remember this now,” he says, walking to a shelf to grab a second book, “I am not sure if he wrote it in the old tongue because there were no names for the plants or if he was trying to keep it a secret, but I do know that when I looked them up there were a lot that were unknown to me.”
Coral sets her plate aside, rising to place the book on the tall table the doctor stands at. He opens the second book to the name of the first plant; she discovers that it contains a picture and description of the plant as well as suggested uses. Underneath the plant’s name in the odd language, she can see that someone else has since penned its new common name.
Coral grabs a quill and a piece of paper, writing down the recipe with the common names of the ones they come across. The first three that are unknown to the doctor she immediately recognizes by the picture, her assumption confirmed by the list of uses below. When they make it to the final ingredient on the list the doctor shakes his head while turning to the page, “Now this one is entirely unknown to me. I have never seen a plant like it before.”
Seeing the elongated, rough edges of the leaves and the conical shape of the flower she knows what this one is as well, “Well that is spearmint; surely you know of it?” Looking up at the doctor she sees that her words don’t cause recognition on his face. When she mentioned the common names of the other plants, he immediately knew what they were as he is used to seeing them dried or smelling them in powder form, not so much familiar with harvesting them from the wild.
“Spearmint?” he repeats, the words foreign on his tongue, “I can’t say that I do. Is it poisonous?”
She looks at him oddly; it is somewhat common back in her village, and she knows the horses love to munch on the plants when she takes them down by the river, “Not at all; it is generally given to help soothe an angered stomach. But I’ve used it for burns as well.” She walks over to her medicine chest, unlatching the lid. It takes some digging, but she finds a vial of powdered leaves. Coral hands it to the doctor.
He cautiously opens the bottle, bringing it up to his nose. His eyebrows jut up, “Oh! That is surprisingly pleasant. Very crisp and fresh smelling.”
She smiles. Grabbing a small bowl, she drops a blob of honey in it, dusting the powder on top. Stirring it with a glass stick, she hands it to him, “It will taste much like it smells, but colder.”
“Colder?” he says, doubtful, until he takes the stick and licks the end of it. A smile crosses his face, “That is invigorating!”
“You’ve never heard of it? There are other kinds-peppermint maybe?”
“Mm, I think we have catmint growing around the grain stores, to keep the cats close so that they can catch mice. Is it similar?”
“Not quite,” she says, looking back down at the recipe. She reads through the list again, “It appears we have everything else, but it requires freshly muddled mint. Is there a baker in town? One that makes sweets?”
“Yes,” Pelium smiles, rubbing his belly through the vest as if he has fond memories of the goods he’s eaten, “she is a very talented woman,” He looks down at the recipe, “Why don’t you mix up the rest of the ingredients, then go visit the baker his afternoon. When you find your mint, you can muddle it and give the potion a try yourself.” Seeing the shocked expression on her face, he says, “It needs to be tested, obviously. As it is to arouse a human woman, I cannot test it myself. Nor my mate-she is also centaur.”
“The author says that the mate should apply it to the woman,” she can feel her face burn red; she shakes her head as if to discard her embarrassment.
“Maybe,” the doctor shifts on his back legs, “Quell could apply it to you. I hear that you two are familiar with each other.”
Coral chokes out her words, “If the potion does as it says, perhaps having a centaur nearby would not be the best idea, unless I am fully prepared to mate with him.”
“That is a good point,” the doctor frowns, seemingly oblivious to her nervousness on the subject, “it might still work if you apply it yourself. It is necessary that we test it though, Lady Coral. If this elixir does as it says, it could change our fate drastically. If a woman had more incentive to be with her mate physically, that could result in an increase in conception and birth rates. It might even lie to rest a maiden’s fear of taking a centaur as a mate. As it stands now every third Atonement the King must pluck several maidens just so there will be enough available who might take the chance. Though some find love in a centaur companion, they always seem to be terrified at allowing a centaur to mount them. I suppose I can understand why. This elixir could change everything.”