Morning all and welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Here I take the start of a story idea and work on it for fifteen minutes a day. I started with an old writing prompt that interested me, cleaned it up a bit to fit the basic outline of the story I want to write and then set aside fifteen minutes each week day to see it grow. Each morning’s writing starts with the last sentence of the day before. And so now we have the story of Kasca…
Day 110: The man smiled wanly.
The man smiled wanly. “I have my letters, Mistress Healer. If no one else in my house can decipher the details I will read it myself.”
Kasca nodded and the man gestured towards a waiting servant. She looked at the servant and then back towards the man, but he was already gone. She heard a door down the hall close.
‘I suppose we can talk fees after the potion is made,’ she thought. Kasca followed the servant downstairs and out of the main door, finding the carriage had again been pulled close. As she once again climbed in, Kasca realized she hadn’t looked at prices for items yet. It was on her list of things to check but had not yet been crossed off.
‘Things to do, buy a mattress and check on prices for my services.’
The carriage reached her shop and Kasca exited. The carriage pulled away and she let herself into the shop, locking the door behind her and heading straight to the workroom. There she shed her coat and placed her bag on the counter.
The remedy wasn’t that difficult to make, even the magical infusion one she knew well. As Halston Flux seemed to return every spring to Deva it was one of the first cures she learned. The problem was that this was not a space she was familiar with. In truth the potion needed half an hour to brew and another twenty minutes to cool and set the magic,. She had the suspicion that those in the house would be counting the minutes and arrive promptly so she wanted to give herself a little wiggle room to find everything she needed and set it up.
While it did take her longer, once she did get everything in motion she found herself impressed with the previous healers set up. Once the ingredients were brewing, Kasca cast a cleansing spell over herself and another to cleanse the shop. There were a few flickers of red but it was nothing like the vereitble storm of red sparks from the day before.
It still made her feel better to know that her space was once more contamination free.
The potion simmered and when it reached the right stage, Kasca spoke the incantation ove it, enhancing the properties of the contents. The elixir remained more or less the same shade of blue but there was a soft shimmering quality to it. She waited until it simmered long enough for the magic to infuse and then she took it off the heat and set it aside to cool.
As it cooled, she tidied up from her work and found a paper tag with a string attached. She then found quill and a pot of ink. In a careful and deliberate hand she wrote out the instructions, keeping them clear and concise.
When the time she gave the lord for the potion neared, she took it to the front room and set it on the counter. As she did, the carriage once again pulled up. “I expect he’d rather have his man wait than leave it sitting.”
Kasca walked to the door and opened int. the liveried servant once again stepped inside. She left him standing in the center of the room while she fetched the bottle from the counter. She handed it to him and he held it a though it was more precious than diamonds.
“The instructions are on the tag. If there is any confusion or a change for the worse send for me immediately.”
He nodded and carefully, but quickly moved towards the door. As he exited, Kasca could see a small crowd gathered. Seeing various signs of illness, Kasca guessed she was open for business whether she was ready or not.
Ten til Midnight 