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Matheo would have trouble listing all of the things he disliked about the chemist. It was simply too long a list. Their silly green hair, their eye-bruising clothes, the ridiculous spring in their step, the smell of mint and slime paste that seemed to follow them wherever they went…
One of the things that set his teeth on edge the most, however, was the disgusting creature bounding down the trail leading to Matheo’s cottage. The dog’s ears and tongue flopped wildly as it ran, and it let out a happy bark as it came to a stop next to his garden.
Matheo scowled. If he weren’t on his knees in the soil with a trowel in his hand, surrounded by plants he’d grown himself from mere seeds, he’d stand up and shoo the accursed beast away. As it was, he didn’t particularly want to touch it, especially not with the string of drool falling from its terrible maw. He settled on waving his trowel at it. “Shoo.”
The mutt didn’t seem bothered. It simply lifted a paw and rested it on the half-log barrier at the edge of his garden.
“If you drool on my lemongrass, I’m charging your master for the trouble.”
As if on cue, Matheo heard the dull beat of well-worn boots on the cottage path. A head of bright green hair popped around the corner, accompanied by a bright smile. "Hi, Doc!" Brown skin framed a dazzling flash of white teeth. “Raff, here, boy.”
The chemist patted their thigh and snapped their fingers, and the mutt trotted up to their side. “Ooh, that’s a good boy, finding Doc for me.” They scratched behind the creature’s ears, and it happily thumped its leg in the dirt. “Here, buddy, have a treat.” They reached into their pouch and produced a biscuit.
He rolled his eyes. People, he somewhat understood. Plants, he understood even better. The idiosyncrasies of animals, however, continued to baffle him. “There is no need to use your beast to invade my privacy, chemist.”
“Cypress,” they corrected absently. “And it’s not like I went into your house while you were gone. Raff’s just good at finding people.” They ruffled the mutt’s fur and cooed, “Isn’t that right, boy?”
Matheo took the opportunity to shift so that his body was between the chemist and the plant he was examining. He lifted the sage plant’s textured leaves and frowned at the neat line of purplish bugs on the stem. The parasites had begun their invasion on the garden the day before yesterday. Some had even begun leaving strange clumps of webs along the leaves. Nothing he could think of had gotten rid of them.
“Anyway, I had a question,” the chemist said.
Matheo glanced over his shoulder, and found the chemist giving him an easygoing smile. He snorted and went back to examining the sage. Perhaps I’ll have to pick the insects off one by one, but that will be time-consuming and risks damaging the plants. More likely, there’s some solution I haven’t thought of yet…
“Are you not even curious what I want to ask?”
He felt a muscle in his jaw twitch. Matheo had never met someone so brazen about ignoring simple social cues. "I am not in the habit of answering questions from a capital puppet."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a capital puppet!"
Matheo sighed and released the sage plant, and pushed himself to his feet. His knees groaned in protest, an ever-present reminder of his years catching up to him. He turned and scowled at the chemist. "Well?" He snapped. "Ask your question."
"Do you know anything about magic?"
"No. Goodbye."
"Oh, come on." They huffed as they leaned against the fence, like they were comfortable, like they belonged there. "They don't call you a witch doctor for nothing, do they?"
Matheo sincerely wished that he could set the chemist's stupid hair on fire, if only to get them out of his garden sooner. "Why would you even care about magic?"
The chemist shrugged. "My education was kind of lacking in that area. I want to learn about it so that I know what to do if someone comes in with a magical problem."
A hazy memory floated through Matheo's mind: an annoyed rant his mother had launched into as she paced in the kitchen, about those insufferable chemists scoffing in her face and calling her magic "illogical, can you believe it? As if we haven't been around longer than the capital's existence! Pass the willow bark, would you? Opalheart asked for some extra."
"As noble of an aspiration that is," Matheo said, "it is not my duty nor my inclination to educate you. I suggest you find someone else to pester." With that, Matheo turned and crouched in the garden again, ready to return to his most pressing problem.
"Do you want help with those bugs first?"
It was a good thing Matheo wasn't holding the plant - otherwise he might have ripped it out of the ground. "How did you - "
"You started growing the konjac, right?"
Matheo ground his teeth. The resurgence of the konjac was still bittersweet. He’d been trying to bring back these plants for most of his adult life. How the chemist had swept in and managed it in less than three months, he didn't know.
Even so, he’d obviously leapt for the opportunity to get some seeds for himself. He’d been rewarded with a small row of purplish red blossoms at the far edge of the garden, a miracle sprung up from the soil.
"Are you suggesting that I failed to notice parasites on seeds I planted in my garden?" He snapped.
"Not the parasites themselves."
It took Matheo a moment, but he slapped his forehead and groaned. “Eggs.”
The chemist gave him a sheepish grin as they scratched the back of their head. “Yeah, turns out the konjac wasn’t the only thing the frostmites were crowding out. Once they left, these little critters had the opportunity to come back full force. Sorry.”
If Matheo was being honest with himself, he couldn’t really blame the chemist, no matter how much he wanted to. Revival efforts like these often had unforeseen consequences. There was no point in standing up and punching the chemist with all his might.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t considering it, of course.
“Well. While that was very…informative, it won’t save my garden. Go and bother someone else.”
“I told you I can help, you know.”
"I will not have your accursed concoctions poisoning my garden." Matheo turned to glare at the chemist again. "This is my last time telling you. Go. Away."
"Mint leaves."
Matheo blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
Cypress pointed at the patch of mint in the corner of Matheo's garden, cordoned off and strictly disallowed to grow any further than its patch. "The mint doesn't have any of the parasites. Grab a leaf and see how they like it."
Any gardener worth their trowel knew about menthol. Matheo was well aware that mint leaves grew the compound to make themselves unappetizing to parasites. Of course, it was only one compound, and there were plenty of insects with a resistance to it.
Still, if the chemist was right, it could save him a lot of time…
Matheo inspected the mint patch. He found no trace of yellowing in the leaves. With a gentle hand, he plucked a single leaf from the nearest plant, one that would soon fall off on its own. He rolled it into a ball between his finger and thumb, and the sharp aroma of mint burst forth.
He shot a skeptical look at the chemist. "If this doesn't work, you are leaving."
They put a palm against their heart and raised their other hand. "Upon my honor, Doctor," they said. Any solemnity of the gesture was overwhelmed by the amused smile at their lips.
Matheo turned away with a huff. He knelt and lifted his hands to the base of the sage plant. At least I'll be getting rid of the chemist sooner, he thought.
It was almost uncanny just how immediate the effect was. The offending insects leaped off like fleas, scattering away from the crushed mint leaf before it even made contact with the stem. Almost all of them fled to other plants, with only two or three stragglers hanging on.
"I diluted some crushed mint in a three-to-one mix of water and slime extract. I can give you the exact recipe later.”
Matheo gritted his teeth. He knew, just knew that they were wearing a self-satisfied grin. They would be the type to gloat and hold their victory over Matheo’s head. “That won’t be necessary. You may leave.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” they said.
Matheo began plucking mint leaves from his patch. “I don’t care. I promised you nothing.”
The chemist groaned. “Oh, come on. I helped you out. Can’t you just tell me something about magic? One little thing, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
He scoffed. The only way for the chemist to ‘get out of his hair’ was for them to board that accursed train and never return to Moonbury.
He shot a glance at the chemist, and found them peering over his shoulder at the garden - no, at him. They were watching his movements as he harvested leaves, their bright green eyes following his hands. Pure, undisguised curiosity.
Something in Matheo’s gut twisted.
“You want to know about magic? Fine.” Matheo stood up and brushed past the chemist, strolling over to the dirt patch in the center of his yard. “Ask what you like.”
“How do people do magic in the first place? Is it a part of them, or is it something they learn?”
Matheo had to grant Cypress that they didn’t waste any time. “It depends. Few people possess a true gift for magic. Sometimes it is a matter of blood, or exposure to certain environmental events. Don’t ask me how that works, it’s still a mystery. But anyone can learn how to perform magical rituals and spells - it is simply a matter of saying the correct incantations and providing the correct ingredients.”
He heard Cypress inhale to ask another question, and he cut them off. “And no, I will not teach you any of those rituals.”
They sighed. “Damn.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He turned back to face Cypress and held out a single mint leaf. “Watch closely, and I’ll show you something magic can do.”
Sprouting the konjac seeds had been difficult, but calling on the mint was trivial. Leaves and blossoms and seeds from his very own garden were the easiest to work with. He focused on the life and energy inside the leaf, packed in and itching to burst forth. With a whisper of the Ancient Tongue, he awakened the mint’s desire to grow.
A tender shoot curled from the base of the leaf, reaching up towards the sky. It inched higher, and higher, and another leaf budded from its very tip.
Cypress’s eyes widened. There was a childlike wonder in their face - they gaped at the little plant as if it held the world’s secrets. “That’s - that’s incredible…” they murmured.
Matheo opened his mouth to say something else - something reasonable like you’ve seen what you came for, now go, or get the hell out of my town and never come back. But something about the chemist’s expression killed the words before they could be spoken.
With a tentative step, Cypress came closer, lifting a hand to Matheo’s curled palms. “I didn’t know you could do something like this,” they said in hushed awe. They lifted their verdant gaze to Matheo’s face and smiled. “Thank you for showing me.”
Matheo valiantly attempted to summon his disgust, his anger, or any of the other emotions that came up when looking at Cypress. But all he could see was their gratitude and warmth, and a scar on their nose, how did he fail to notice that?
A great weight slammed into Matheo’s side, and he tumbled to the dirt. Two paws pressed into his chest and an ecstatic arooff filled his ear. Before Matheo could lift his hands in defense, a massive sloppy tongue lapped at his face.
More peculiarly, a shiver of ice cold washed over Matheo’s skin everywhere the beast touched him. It was like a snowbank had taken life and tackled him in the middle of summer. A snowbank with a bad case of morning breath and a terrible drooling problem.
“Raff! Raff, down!” Almost as soon as it happened, the chemist’s mutt was yanked off, and Matheo gasped for air.
For a moment, all Matheo could do was gape at the sky. It was bizarre, unprecedented, and altogether impossible. But that wave of cold he’d felt, there was no mistaking it.
Cypress reappeared in his vision with concern and fear in their face. “Gods, I’m so sorry, Doc,” they said. They reached down and grabbed Matheo’s hand, a tight grip meant to help him to his feet.
The motion brought him back to his senses. He winced and sat up, and allowed the chemist to help him up. He opened his mouth to speak, and found his face was damp with dog spit. He spat on the ground and reached for a handkerchief to wipe up with.
The offending mutt paced behind the chemist, whining and pawing at the earth. It affixed Matheo with an eager gaze as it shook itself.
“I’m so sorry about Raff, I have no idea what’s gotten into him. Are you all right?”
Matheo scoffed into his handkerchief. “I’m all right, chemist. Just get your beast away from me.”
They winced. “Yeah, good idea. Thanks for the help, by the way.” They turned and whistled. “Raff, come!”
With that, they started back up the path. The mutt squirmed and shot one last look at Matheo before bounding after the chemist.
A phantom shiver crossed Matheo’s skin. It was impossible. Completely and utterly impossible. He didn’t even know why he was still considering it.
But he just had to know…
Matheo pulled at the residual magic in the air around him. He traced a few symbols in the air with his fingers, and then drew a circle on his forehead - an arcane eye. With a whispered word, the spell activated.
The world blurred and shifted before his eyes. Colors faded to gray - the trees, the sky, even the chemist’s hair all drained of their hues. But with the desaturation came its own clarity as parts of the world burst into new life. His hands, his garden, and his cottage were all surrounded with telltale sparks of light. Those motes of energy, he knew, were magic, almost all of which had come from his own spells.
He turned his eyes to the retreating pair. The chemist, predictably, was as muted and gray as the rest of their surroundings. They didn’t so much as glance behind them as they reached down and grabbed their mutt’s collar.
The dog squirmed and barked, but ultimately followed its master. Still, Matheo could see the energy and unease in its body language as it turned back to look at him. Bright sparks danced in its fur, shooting off and falling into a telltale path as it trotted away.
From the tip of its disgusting nose to the very end of its shaggy tail, this dog - Raff, the chemist called it - was blazing with pure magic