15. Elixirs and Potions

A few days after the tomato incident Uodeela regrew a new hand and she seemed glad to have it, she showed it off to Luz one morning in order to assuage her fears of loosing her old one.

"Ah feels good to have both hands again," she said flexing, and turning it in front of Luz, "see kid good as new."

"I still can't believe you can do that," said Luz, "I must admit I'm a little jealous."

"Well here's hoping I don't lose my tail anytime soon," began Uodeela, "Ah don't worry I can regrow that too it just takes a bit longer."

"Well good to know anyway," said Luz, "In the future I'll try not to freak out if I see you loose a body part since I know how easliy you can regrow them."

As the days and weeks passed by Luz got used to the routine with Uodeela and her apprentices. She would spend some days lecturing her students about the various types of potion ingredients and how to prepare them. Other days she would take her students out on a walk out in the forest and point out different types of plants and what they could be used for. And on other days she would prepare a potion in front of her students for some practical knowledge. Then drink it to show its effects, though as of yet she hadn't had her students try and prepare a potion of their own. Though that would soon change.

"Good news pupils," declared Uodeela one morning, "today for the first time each of you are going to prepare a potion as part of our work today."

"Yes!" said Amara with excitement, "It's about time."

"Wow! I can't wait!" said Lilly.

"So what kind of potion will we be brewing?" asked Gustav.

"I figure lets start small with a nice sleep potion," said Uodeela, she turned a few pages in a book she was holding until it landed on the page she was looking for. Uodeela turned the book around to show her students.

"This basic sleep potion is great if you want a full relaxing eight hours of dreamless sleep," said Uodeela, this potion is in demand from farmers and laborers who have had a hard day and need a swig of this stuff to help them recover. It's not terribly complicated to make and it's also unlikely to kill you if prepare it wrong."

"That's reassuring," said Luz dryly.

"So you can grab a cauldron from my kitchen and use your book to prepare the potion," said Uodeela, I have stores of ingredients in my cupboard, though one of the flowers that is required for the potion needs to be harvested fresh. So if you head out into the forest you should find it. Now this isn't a race so don't rush, take your time reread the instructions if you need to."

With that the apprentice went to grab some cauldrons and set them up in their own workspace. Luz looked over her book carefully and did her best to gather ingredients for her potion. The first thing she needed was water, which was easy enough to put in her cauldron. Then she looked in her book to see what she would need. Luz began gathering her ingredients and brought them to her pot. Finally she saw the flower that would be needed, it was called "The Blue Orchid." Uodeela had mentioned that they were fairly common in an area just to the north of her house. Luz started out alone but was joined by Lilly and Gustav as they walked together to find the flower, as they moved into the clearing they saw Amara already having picked her own flower walking back to the house with a smirk on her face.

"Better hurry up slow pokes," she teased, "at this rate I'll be done by the time you even find the flower."

"It's not a race Amara," called Lilly, "teacher said so."

"Whatever," said Amara dismissively as she turned to walk back to the house.

"At least we know we're heading in the right direction," said Gustav. The trio continued walking and eventually found a clearing with many blue orchids growing in it.

"These are so pretty," observed Lily, "I almost hate to have to mash it up and use it in a potion."

"So if a guy frog wanted to impress you then maybe he should give you one of these," teased Luz.

"Oh well I guess, but honestly it would depend more on what my father wanted," replied Lilly.

"Huh?" asked Luz.

"Oh right not from here," began Lilly, "most frogs still do arranged marriages. That is your family has a say in picking out your future spouse."

"What?!" exclaimed Luz, "That sounds terrible! You mean your parents can force you to marry someone? In my world they used to have arranged marriages and it was awful especially for the women."

"Well yes and no," said Lilly, "I doubt my father would ever force me to marry anyone. While some families might force their children, I know my father wouldn't."

"Really?" asked Luz.

"Yeah, honestly the person you should feel sorry for is Amara," said Lilly, "Her family is upper class so I get the sense they would force her into a marriage if it helped them get even more wealth or help form some sort of alliance between them and another family. I doubt she'd have much choice about who she marries."

"In any case," said Gustav, "we have the plants we need, lets head back to the hosue and start grinding these up." With that the group marched back home.

Luz began using a mortar and pestle to mash the flower. The instructions called for the flower to be ground into a paste and boiled in the cauldron. After that she added the other ingriedients and brought the whole concoction to a boil. When that was done she let it simmer for a few minutes, then she had it cool. The potion looked good, it had a shy blue color to it similar to its description in the book. Luz got a small test tube and scooped up some of the potion to give to Uodeela. Uodeela took a look a the potion and nodded in approval.

"I'll keep this and run my own analysis on it to see how you did," she began, "but to truly put it to the test you need to scoop up some and drink it tonight. If you've prepared it correctly then you'll have a nice restful dreamless sleep."

"Oh ok," said Luz a little nervous.

"Don't worry kid, this is a beginners potion, trust me when I say even if you prepared it wrong you won't die. While Luz wasn't entirely reassured with that comment she did feel a bit better.

As her bedtime approached Luz got into her pajama's and ready for bed. She drank the potion in one gulp. It tasted like grapes. Almost immediately Luz felt the effects of it as her eyelids became heavy and she drifted off to sleep. Next morning she woke up feeling refreshed and revitalized, it turned out her companions had all prepared the potion correctly and all slept well too.

"I told you this one was easy," said Uodeela to her students, "now get ready we're going to keep going."

Over the next few weeks the students continued to learn new potions. Some of the potions were ingested to gain their effects while others were ones that you mixed together and stored in a bottle before throwing them. When this potion reacted with air it would have a reaction. Uodeela taught them a useful fog potion that you could throw on the ground to make a smokescreen, a potion that gave you a temporary increase of strength allowing you to lift heavy objects. A potion that improved your vision allowing you to see a long distance away. To a potion that increased your stamina allowing you to run or do strenuous tasks for a long period of time. Luz and the pupils managed to make all of these successfully and they were filled with confidence at their success. The days and weeks melted into each other and for a time Luz was happy. She had adjusted well to her new life in Amphibia, her friendship with both Lilly and Gustav was growing as the three started to bond more. While Luz would occasionally think about home and her friends she had to admit learning potions was a lot more interesting than any subject she had learned in school.

On this particular day Uodeela was showing them an explosive potion.

"Essence of Harrid's bane is the key ingredient in this one," lectured Uodeela showing them a picture of the flower and its stamens, "now you have to be careful with this one as it's very potent. The amount of Harrid's bane that you add to the potion will determine how powerful the explosive is. And trust me when I say a little goes a long way."

"So how much would you recommend?" asked Lily.

"One stamen that's been properly prepared and liquefied will give you a nice big explosion," said Uodeela, "the great thing about this potion is that you can keep the Harrid's bane separate from the rest of the ingredients for safety if you want. The potion doesn't become volatile until it's added into the main mixture. At that point I wouldn't hold onto it for much longer you best throw it at whatever you're trying to explode. Now this flower is a little tricky it only grows in areas with little sunlight, making it hard to find. Though you can usually find them in caves and tunnels. In fact there's a cave not far from here where I believe you can find some."

"So are we going to go get some right now?" asked Luz hopefully.

"No," said Uodeela.

"What?!" said Luz in surprise, "I thought that's why you were teaching us this potions?"

"Actually I am teaching you that potion so I can segue into another topic," said Uodeela, "you see if you're going to go exploring in a cave for a flower then you're going to need a light source in that cave. So before you go looking for that flower I'm going to teach you an Elixir."

The three amphibians let out an "Ooooo" at this proclamation.

"So what exactly is the difference between potions and elixirs?" asked Luz.

"Sigh, yet another basic thing about our world that the outsider doesn't know about," said Amara dismissively.

"Since you seem to be so concerned about that Amara," said Uodeela, "why don't you explain the difference to Luz."

"If I must," said Amara smugly, "a potion is a basic mixture of ingredients, they are usually very easy to make and are either drunk to gain their effects of thrown to cause them. An Elixir is a much more complicated mixture, whereas potions are not required to have perfect measurements and most are not affected if the ingredients are slightly off. Elixirs require a PRECISE calculation of ingredients, even a small deviation could make the Elixir worthless. Not only that but Elixirs tend to require much longer to prepare and unlike potions which are either drunk or thrown, Elixirs are always drunk to gain their power. Finally elixirs require a precious stone to be added as the final ingredient and they need to be left to simmer a long time, usually overnight, in order for the elixir to absorb the properties of the stone and function correctly."

"Hmm very good," said Uodeela, "that was actually a good explanation."

"I do actually know what I'm talking about," said Amara, she turned to Luz before continuing, "I'm also better than you."

"Ok we get the picture," said Uodeela trying to restore order, "In any case I will teach you how to brew the Elixir of Light. As elixirs go while it is more complicated than any potion you've ever attempted, it is one of the easier Elixirs to prepare. When this elixir is drunk it will give you night vision for up to three hours. If you can prepare this elixir correctly you will be able to explore the cave and have no trouble seeing in the dark."

Uodeela took the book she was holding and flipped it to a different page. This page showing the recipe for the Elixir of Light. The first thing all the students noticed were the long list of ingredients. Uodeela turned the page to show them the equally long instructions for preparation.

"Well then I have a few stores of some the things you'll need," began Uodeela, "but the rest you'll have to go out into the forest and find for yourselves. I'd recommend you all work together to gather what you need. Also the elixir has to simmer overnight so make sure you leave yourselves time to for that to happen."

"Do we have to work together to gather the ingredients?" asked Amara morosely, "I mean what about those of us who are already well versed in identifying various plants for use in potions. The ones who aren't might hold us back." she glanced to Luz, Lilly and Gustav to show who she was talking about.

"You know Amara," began Uodeela, "some might say that if you really are better at identifying plants that you should share your knowledge and expertise with others. Perhaps if you helped others they might rise to your level in expertise. Have you ever thought about it that way?"

"Can't say I have," said Amara, "but I suppose working together will allow us to work faster, in theory."

"Well you all better get out there and get at it then," said Uodeela.

With that Amara and Gustav went to Uodeela's potion stores to see what she had, they marked off a few ingredients while Luz and Lilly wrote down the rest of what would be needed out in the wild. After writing down the list the four pupils went off into the forest, it took hours but they eventually managed to gather everything they needed. The sun was setting as they made their way back to Uodeela's house, Uodeela told them that they didn't need to start brewing it tonight as it took a long time. So they got ready for bed and an early start the next morning so they would have as much of the day as possible to work on the elixir.

Next day the students woke up early and began the vigorous process of preparing the Elixir of Light. It took almost the whole day as the ingredients needed to be prepared in specific ways. The elixir as a whole needed to boil and simmer for specific periods of time. Luz was honestly a bit flustered as she worked to try and get everything just right. As evening approached it was time to add the precious stone, in this case a quartz, and let the elixir simmer overnight. If everything had been prepared correctly then the elixir would turn a yellow-golden color when it was ready the next day.

When the next day came the four students rushed to have a look at their mixture. Only Amara's cauldron had golden liquid in it. Which was disappointing to the other students.

"Well this wasn't that surprising," boasted Amara, "there's a reason that newts are better than other species, and now you can see why."

The others didn't really have much to say in response to that as they looked over their failed elixirs that ranged in different colors. Luz's was close it was a bright yellow compared to Amara's more subdued gold. Luz stirred her elixir with a spoon and wondered what could have possibly gone wrong. At that moment Uodeela came down to greet them.

"Well let's have a look see at your first attempt at an elixir," she began.

"Amara was the only one to make it successfully," said Lilly bitterly.

Uodeela looked at the different pots and saw how none of them were the correct color. She stopped at Luz's at first thinking it was, but then quickly realized it wasn't.

"It may look the correct color," began Uodeela, "but lets have a drink and make sure it works properly," with that she dipped a ladle into Amara's mixture and spooned it into her mouth. Then she went down into the basement, making sure not to turn on any lights. After a few minutes Uodeela reemerged.

"Seems like Amara knows what she's doing," said Uodeela, "her Elixir of Light works perfectly, well very good work Amara, I recommend you bottle up the rest of it and keep it for future uses. As elixirs tend to be complicated you'll definitely want to keep some around. As for the rest of you good effort, you can try again some other time, but don't get discouraged."

"Thank you master," said Amara, "does this mean I can go into the cave to get the Harrid's bane?"

"If you'd like," said Uodeela, "but be careful." As soon as Amara left Uodeela went to talk with her other students.

"Don't feel bad," she began, "Amara has no doubt reaped the benefits of being raised in an upper class life. She probably had a private tutor, butler, and maid."

"And a private library," added Lilly, "she told us about that one."

"Which is why I say don't worry too much about the fact that she got it right on her first try," said Uodeela, "you don't have those kind of resources, but you've still been able to do well with what I've taught you. And Luz here isn't even an Amphibian, she's a complete outsider but still managed to brew potions correctly."

Luz took another look at her elixir before responding, "it's just frustrating that it looks so close to the right color, and yet it's not right," she paused before adding, "hey is this safe to drink? I know it might not work, but I'd still like to test it just to see. But only if it won't poison me."

"It should be fine," said Uodeela, "if the elixir wasn't prepared properly then it won't have any effects, your welcome to try."

Luz took a sip of the elixir, it tasted just like honey, she didn't feel any different after. Though she ventured down to the basement, making sure to keep the lights off, to test and see if it would work. As soon as she descended down the stairs she could tell that she couldn't see in the dark. She tried taking a few steps only to trip on her own makeshift bed and fall to the ground. Luz growled in frustration, as she sat on the ground. In her mind she tried imagining being able to see in the dark or at the very least creating some kind of light source in order to help her see.

It was then that something happened, a small orb of light appeared in her hand. Luz jumped back in surprise at this development, but after the initial shock wore off she looked down at her hand and the glowing orb in it. She couldn't believe what had just happened! She released the orb up into the room and watched as it hovered In the air, shining light for her to see.

"UODEELA!" she called to her mentor, a second later the doors to the basement opened and Uodeela came down her eyes immediately moving to the orb of light.

"What?!" she said in disbelief, "how did you do that?"

"I was just thinking about having a source of light so that I could see then suddenly this orb formed in my hand," said Luz.

"That's incredible," said Uodeela, "see if you can do it again,"

Luz sat down and closed her eyes, she thought about light again and once again an orb of light formed in her hand, it was larger this time. Luz held it in her hand and showed it to Uodeela.

"That's interesting," said Uodeela, "keep trying, I want to see what you can do."

"What's going on down there?" said Gustav's voice, he appeared in the entrance to the basement and was amazed at what he saw.

"Whoa! That's pretty cool! How are you doing that?" he asked.

Luz concentrated and in her mind once again imagined light, though this time she imagined it forming in her hand. It was a lot easier to make this time because of that. Again the orb formed in her hand, this time she pulled her hand back and shot it forward causing the orb to fly straight at Gustav, it gave him a small scare but then dissipated harmlessly against him.

"Wow that's kind of like teacher's magic," he exclaimed.

"Yes it is," said Uodeela, "here I'll show you." Uodeela closed her eyes and when they opened they were glowing red. After which she summoned an orb of light to her hand exactly the same as ow Luz had done. Uodeela released it into the air before closing her eyes and returning them to their normal color.

"Usually that kind of magic is only possible when you've bonded with a special gem," explained Uodeela, "I believe I told you this before right?"

"Yeah you told me about it and showed us the gem you have," said Luz, "how do you think I'm able to do this?"

"I don't know," answered Uodeela, "for now let me take a sample of your elixir and study it. Maybe I'll be able to figure it out. I think a good theory might be that you drinking the elixir had some unforeseen affect on you. That being said I think you'll only be able to form these light orbs for as long as the elixir remains in your system. You should probably bottle up the rest of it for the future."

Luz went back upstairs to bottle the rest of her elixir. Uodeela and Gustav followed her, though Gustav tried to talk with Uodeela about something.

"Master I've read a few books about the history of Amphibia, I know there was a time when gems like the one you have were a lot more common, but it's always been weird that we seem to not be able to figure out what happened to them," said Gustav.

Uodeela starred at him, not responding.

"Do you think maybe the reason Luz can do magic is that she's somehow bonded with a gem? Luz has said she's from another world maybe gems that grant magic exist in her world?" said Gustav.

"A good theory, but there's one problem," said Uodeela, "Luz has said that there is no magic in her world. If there were gems that granted power in her world then I can't see how magic couldn't exist."

"Oh I hadn't thought about that, I guess you have a point," said Gustav, he scratched his chin before continuing, "Hmmm maybe the method that brought Luz into our world did something to her and gave her powers. Perhaps the elixir did something to awaken them?"

"That's certainly a more plausible theory, though the problem there is that neither us nor Luz seems to know how she got here. If we knew that we might be able to make a better guess." said Uodeela.

"Yeah you're right about that," said Gustav right as Luz came running back to the basement.

"I have about seven bottles of elixir," exclaimed Luz, "If this ability does wear off at least I know I'll have some stockpiled for the future."

Later in the evening Uodeela was up in her room reading a book when there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said. Luz entered her room looking a little depressed.

"You were right about the elixir," she began, "It eventually wore off and now I can't make those light orbs anymore."

"I'm sorry about that," replied Uodeela, "still it's good to know that you have some saved. I'm still not exactly sure how you were able to do that, but it will be interesting to see what else you can do if given a different elixir."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it," said Luz, "thanks again for teaching me what you have. Being stuck in s strange world is rough, but learning magic has been fun. Goodnight!" As Luz left, Uodeela's thoughts turned to herself and how she had first learned to brew potions.

500 Years Ago

"Good job Uodeela," said her mother as she looked over Uodeela's elixir.

"Yes I think that looks perfect," said another older salamander.

"Well it's my first time trying," said a much younger Uodeela, "I'm glad I have both my mom and my grandmother to help me.

"That's why someday you'll be a great witch in your own right," said her mom.

"Hey grandma," asked Uodeela, "is it true that you used to work directly with the king?"

For a moment Sheresade hesitated as she thought of what to say, but decided to tell at least a bit of the truth.

"I did, yes, but that was a long time ago," said Sheresade, "Almost like a distant memory you could say."

"Why did you stop working in the palace?" asked the young Uodeela.

Again Sheresade hesitated, before finally talking, "I'd had enough of being cooped up inside and thought it was best to try new things. And hey because I left I was able to start my own life. I raised your mother from when she was an egg, and now I helped to raise you."

"You know grandma you almost never talk about your time working in the palace," observed Uodeela, "I wish you did, I can only imagine the stories you must have."

"Ha! Ha! There are indeed many stoires," began her grandmother, "but I'm not sure if I will tell you all of them now, and some things are better left in the past. You know it wasn't just Andrias I was friends with, there were two others, a frog and a toad, whom I was also on close terms with."

"Oh are you still friends with them?" asked Uodeela

"No, but that's because they died…." said the grandmother trailing off a bit.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," corrected Uodeela.

"No, no you didn't upset me," answered the grandmother. "We salamanders are one of the only amphibians blessed with longer life spans, but in some ways it can be a curse. It means you are certain to see friends who won't live as long as you die first."

"Oh….that sounds so sad," said Uodeela.

"I once told Andrias, that's the problem with having such a long lifespan compared to others, especially when you make friends with them, the more you love them the more it hurts when they go. I've outlived quite a few friends and it hurts every time," said the grandmother.

Uodeela didn't say anything, but hung her head.

"Still you shouldn't let that discourage you from making friends," said her grandmother, "if you do it will only make you cold and alone, even though I've lost friends simply because I lived longer than they did I still cherish the times I had with them. And I'll cherish the time I have with you."

"Glad to hear that! Grandma Sheresade," answered Uodeela as she hugged her grandma.

200 Years Ago

"By the time we arrived sire there wasn't much left," said the newt captain as he was explaining the situation to the king. "I think the herons really did a number on that place, we looked for survivors but so far we only found one." With that he motioned to the red salamander behind him. She was starring down at the floor not moving. Her tail was missing, having been torn off by one of the herons.

"I see," said Andrias, "has she said anything?"

"She says her grandmother knew you, that's why she wanted to talk to you," said the captain.

"I see," said Andrias, he looked over to where the salamander was standing.

"Come here child," he said as he motioned for he to come closer, "are you ok? I see they got your tail."

"I'm not a child," answered the Salamander, "I'll have you know I'm over 200 years old."

"Well compared to me you are still a child," said Andrias while laughing, "You know I'm just over 800 years old, and still young."

"Is it hard living so long?" asked the salamander, "my grandma said that you were one of the only species who could live so long. She said you've seen things that no one else has. She said that you were a special kind of newt blessed with a long life."

"Well but salamanders live long lives too," countered Andrias.

"Not as long as you though," said the salamander, "yes we do have long lives, but my grandmother died 100 years ago. She was over 600 years old when she died, but even that's nothing compared to you is it?"

"No I suppose not," answered Andrias, "with that said even though you're over 200 years old you're still young. You still have many years ahead of you."

"But now I have to spend them alone," began the salamander, "my parents were eaten, I'm all alone now." As she finished talking she hung her head in sadness and began crying.

"Hey you don't have to be alone," said Andrias coming up to her and putting a comforting hand on her, "you can stay here if you want. Your grandmother was right. She and I…knew each other a long time ago. She left the palace and after she did I never saw her again. I never even knew what happened to her, I honestly thought she had died." As he spoke tears appeared in his eyes though he tried to hide them.

"Are you okay?" asked Uodeela

"Yes I'm fine," said Andrias quickly wiping the tears from his eyes, "I assume your grandmother taught you magic?"

"Yes," said the salamander, "I was taught by both my mother and grandmother. They taught me everything they knew."

"I see," began Andrias as he looked closely at the young salamander, "did your grandmother…did she ever talk about your grandfather?"

"No, not really," answered Uodeela, "I never met him, she said he died a long time ago."

"But she never said who he was?" asked Andrias.

"No, she didn't like to talk about her past, all she ever told me about it was that she used to work in the palace. She never said anything more than that," said Uodeela.

"I see," said Andrias stroking his chin, "Oh what have you got there?" he noticed the salamander was holding onto something in her hands that appeared to be glowing.

"Oh this," said the salamander as she opened her hand to show the object, a bright red gem, to the king. It was glowing softly.

"Is that a magic gem?" asked the king excitedly.

"Yes it is," said the salamander, "I found it a few weeks ago and was able to bond with it. My mom was so proud, she said if I practiced I could learn to wield its power, but then the herons attacked…." her voice trembled as she began reliving the horror of that day, "if only I'd found it sooner and learned how to use it, I could have done something." Suddenly she began screaming, "I COULD HAVE STOPPED THEM!"

"Whoa there it's alright," said Andrias kneeling down to give the salamander a hug, "don't blame yourself it's not your fault. And hey you're here now and you're safe. That's what matters."

The salamander sniffled some more, but did stop crying, she looked into Andrias's face.

"So what do you think of my proposition?" Began the king, "I know you've been through a lot, I think it's best if you stay here and take some time to rest. Your grandmother and I were…very close…so let me do this as a way to repay that old friendship. At the very least you should take some time to rest and let your tail regrow."

"I…I guess that sounds good," said the salamander, "is there anything I can do to repay you?"

The king smiled before replying, "actually there is something I'd like your help with, but not yet, after all we have many years ahead of us. I did want to let you in on a little secret though, you see Amphibia used to be an entirely different land. We were much more than we are now, but that greatness was stolen from us."

"What do you mean?" asked the salamander.

"Did your grandmother never tell you stories of the kind of land we used to be?" asked Andrias.

"No, she said all that was in the past and that it wasn't worth talking about," answered the salamander.

"Oh I see," said the king, "well let me tell you a story about the kind of place Amphibia used to be. Once upon a time we were a technologically advanced civilization that never had to worry about herons attacking us."

"Never had to worry about herons," repeated the salamander clearly interested in hearing more.

"Yes exactly, and with your help maybe we can make it that kind of place again," said the king putting his arm around the salamander. For one brief moment the king felt a sort of fatherly pride in hearing the salamander hang on his every word. He showed her to a room in the palace and helped her get settled in. As he spent more time with her there was a small part of him that wanted to open his heart again and try and form a genuine bond with this young salamander. But those thoughts were interrupted as a voice inside his head began to speak to him.

"She's Sheresade's grandchild," said the voice excitedly, "and she's been taught by her, we can use this to our advantage!"

"What do you mean?" asked Andrias to the Core.

"Bring her to the basement and have her consciousness absorbed into the Core!" demanded the voice, "it may not be a perfect replacement, but it is still better than nothing."

"Wait no," said Andrias, "there's no need to do that now."

"Why do you hesitate?" asked the Core.

"She could help us create a new box!" said Andrias quickly.

"Create a new box?" said the Core in disbelief, "such a thing is impossible!"

"But if there's a chance we can do it shouldn't we try?" said Andrias in a pleading voice, "we've waited so long for the old one to return, I'm tired of waiting! We should take a more proactive approach!"

The Core didn't reply immediately as it thought about what Andrias had suggested. Finally it spoke, "Very well, give her a chance to try and make a new box. But if this fails, you will have her absorbed into the Core!"

"Of course," said Andrias, "I understand…father."