Mother's Things

Meara and Calla had a relaxing dinner with two dishes of meat and vegetables and steamed rice.

After dinner, Calla cleaned up and prepared Meara’s bath.

“You can go ahead and rest after cleaning up. It's been a tiring day.” Meara told Calla.

Calla went ahead and retired after cleaning up.

After Meara was done with her nightly soak, she put on her loose cotton nightgown with ruffles on the sleeves and hem. She looks like a giant child in a yellow childish dress.

As she was brushing her hair with a small towel draped over her shoulders, she was thinking of her mark.

She suddenly remembered something. So she stood up and went over to her luggage she pulled from under the bed. But before she touched the lock, she stood straight back up and went outside to the yard.

Some crisp sounds can be heard in the silence of the night as she walks. Warm wind blew but sent chills to her since she had just taken a bath. She went towards the far end where they gathered the dried leaves and branches earlier in the day.

After a while, she went back inside carrying two branches with dried leaves from the yard and used it as a blanket so she could sit on the floor, which is soil. Her home is a shanty, not tiled nor laid with stones.

She dragged the luggage, laid it on the side, and opened it. She went through the remaining things from her luggage. Considering how small her room is as well as the cabinet for clothes, some of her things were not taken out.

She gently unwrapped a set of notebooks bound by a rope in a cloth. These are notes and a few ancient books her mother owned when she was alive. The notes in her mother's handwriting were a collection of recipes, love poetry, and a diary of when she met Meara's father.

The diary's last entry was when Meara was still in her womb. The ancient books are the Essence and Herbs Medicinal Book, History of Aishnova Kingdom, and Plants Cultivation Guide.

These were the only things left when her mother died. When her father was grieving he had all her mother's things burned, leaving only their wedding rings in his fingers. Nanny Lione on the other hand sneakily took these books and an exquisite box and then gave it to Meara the night before she went to this mansion.

Her mom is a talented woman who loves cooking, loves her husband, and is fascinated by medical marvels. So the reason she is rummaging now is because of the medicinal book. She wants to see if there is something in this book that can unravel the mysteries of the third color in her mark.

The book is written by a Healer, Ramian Punn. The pages were coffee-stained in color, dark around the edges and some of the illustrations are a bit unclear. The handwriting though is large and impeccable despite being around for hundreds of years.

Slowly, Meara read through it one by one, not wanting to miss any page. A major part of the book discusses the benefits of the essence and various ways to sustain the abundance of the essence for transfer. She turned the pages as carefully and slowly as possible under the light of the oil lamp.

As she turned the 6th page, a small piece of paper had a note written:

Eloise sweetie,

Your father and I have fought tooth and nail for this ancient forbidden book. See if this can help you discover anything about the second shade.

Love, Mom

PS. Keep this well and do not mention this book to anybody.

'Second? Shade? Mom has a second… Color?' Her eyes flickered.

The tension in her chest got heavier. This book may have information on her gradient mark. She looked at the date. It was dated a year before she was born. Could her mother have had enough time to investigate this?

As she read through, she realized there is a part where the book discusses the possibility of making liquid essence. However, it uses a rare stone, Black Amethyst, which acts as a catalyst in bringing out the power of the essence during the process of making the potion.

The detailed process is written and illustrated vividly in the book. One major ingredient of course is blood. The procedure requires the blood to be taken by pricking the finger. The remaining liquid at the end of the process will either be green or blue depending on the essence of the bearer.

There's one thing that stands out. This book looks like a forbidden book. At the mention of blood, Meara immediately thought of the reason.

Blood.

Blood is used in the process. Using human blood is like a sacrifice. It’s like witchcraft. Taboo and not generally accepted.

As to the catalyst stone, they can inquire from the servants about the Black Amethyst and where to find one. Meara has a few pieces of jewelry and gold, hundreds of penns, and fine cloth in her possession. They are currently stored in a wooden chest which is her dowry. These can be exchanged or sold once she finds somebody who can sell her the precious stone.

Towards the end of the chapter on liquid essence procedure, there was a summary of different mark colors and there were 4 possible colors identified.

The two were basic green for healing and blue for relaxation and clarity of mind and heart.

The other two are said to be educated assumptions only and may not be entirely correct. This means it may need a few more trials and was not confirmed during the time the book was written.

The third one is red. There is a very short description of it. As simple as red for blood. There are only three cases and it is assumed that it can help replenish blood during massive blood loss.

The fourth is black. It may have the ability to counter poisons. There is only one case and the conclusion was not completed.

Having known about this, Meara got a big question though. If she tries to do the potion, what will be the result if she is carrying three colors in her mark?

Meara stared at her patched ceiling, with a few stars twinkling in between the holes. Her heart trembled a bit.

What does it mean?

Isn't she blessed and not cursed?

Can I give more to Donne?

I want to experiment as soon as possible. But how…?

A/N: Some rare stones mentioned in this book may or may not exist in real life. Again, research has been done on most of the details of the story but imaginations are needed to solidify the story.