Epsilon Twilight
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36. Measurements
🕑 Added 2024-06-13 11:12:09 +0000 UTCGetting seeds to evolve was easy, easier than Aloe had expected considering her limited mobility. Lulu didn't mind whatsoever being sent to the bazaar to get things for her, she just shrugged it off saying it was part of her job. That didn't stop Aloe from allowing the woman to keep the change. She had so much money that she didn't know what to do with it.
This wasn't only because of the ludicrous amount of money she had gained back at Asina, but rather that her living expenses were next to none. Aloe ate, slept, and bathed on the palace as it was rather troublesome getting elsewhere with her wheelchair. The only expenses she had came either in the form of Lulu's outings or taxes. Taxes that were easily covered by her salary.
Unlike many years ago, there was no education or health fees or mortgage to be paid. Her family had always found one way to be unable to save up money, mostly through costly education or hospitalization. Amid, Aloe's father, fell sick before dying, and most of their savings had been spent on trying to save him. A futile endeavor, unfortunately. Something similar happened when Karaim appeared nearly dead on their doorstep months ago, her mother took rather unwise expenses to help her father. Ironically enough, when it was Shahrazad's time to succumb to sickness, she didn't take a single coin from the family's treasury. Not that she would have needed as the palace had paid for all her expenses.
Another futile endeavor, nonetheless.
Aloe had found a pattern with her family. One that she didn't enjoy. Not only did everyone die and leave her alone, but all did through sickness. In Karaim's case, however, it was a cold that got lucky thanks to the man's advanced age rather than an outbreak.
The cultivator would not allow that to happen to her. If she were to go down… it wouldn't be on a bed. Some said that the best death was in bed surrounded by loved ones, others on the battlefield. Considering she was scarce in the loved ones' department, Aloe was inclined to take the latter if the occasion popped up.
Not that she thought she would die from a normal sickness. Toughness made her more resilient, maladies included. If she were to sicken, then her accumulated vitality would assist her to survive.
She didn't let the thoughts of death dwindle on her, not others, not hers.
Vitality poured from her fingertips and into a black seed. Every time her vitality exceeded that of what she had before leaving Sadina, she used it up in one way or another. She wasn't particularly worried about displaying less vitality than that – partially thanks to her Cure Grass pellets at hand -because maximum vitality could diminish and fluctuate in small intervals. It normally occurs due to sickness or physical afflictions. Aloe had already noticed that during the days she was menstruating, her stances weakened. She assumed this was due to the loss of blood and exhaustion.
Obviously, once those days passed, her vitality would be back to its normal efficacy, but any other malady could justify a reduction of vitality, even something as simple as lack of sleep.
The only one who showed constant fluctuations of vitality in the palace wasn't her though, but the imperial scribe. Naila Asina liked to train too much, leading her body to its extremes. It was common to see her vitality halved from time to time.
Whilst not slashing throats at the speed of the wind, even staying in the wheelchair was exhausting for Aloe, so appearing to be at 'full' vitality to the sultanzade was something she did sparely. Better to make them think that she was constantly spent, so much so that it was taking a toll on her Nurture.
These small games – regulating her vitality in front of the princesses – went on for a few days. Today it marked the first week since she had come back from her 'diplomatic' mission.
Aloe did her best during these days, but they had been hectic at best. Her assistants, Idris and Fayruz, wanted to help her, but the protocol was strict about the emir's personal scribes managing certain affairs. Her limited mobility at least saved her from further diplomatic missions, even if they were on Sadina itself. But what mattered to her was what she managed with the vital arts.
Recovery was now her de facto internal infusion. She had no reason to don any other internal infusion besides toughness when the pain got a little too great to power through. As much as she wanted to practice with other stances, whether it was getting used to speed or reducing others' shifting time, her focus was on increasing her maximum vitality.
Black seeds were her way to go. By now she had a jar full of them. She thought to dispose of them as they were only a liability but disposing of a jar sounded more suspicious. There was, of course, the option of eating them to erase any tracks, but there was a twofold reason why she didn't do so. First, she would need them in the future. Sure, not all of them, there were already enough in the jar to irrigate a farmland, but if the sultanzade found a single one then it all would be over. Having them all grouped up made no difference whatsoever.
Second, she was tired of eating them.
Unfortunately, to keep up appearances with her stupid excuse, she had been eating black seeds from time to time. This also justified her need to send Lulu to buy them in the first place. They weren't awful, but there was a reason why people used them as spices rather than eating them directly.
One thing that bothered Aloe was how she was unable to calculate the effects of Evolution on her vitality. I've tried, but no matter how much I try to measure the increases in my deposit, I always fail. The changes were too gradual, and measuring her maximum vitality was already a difficult endeavor. She needed some sort of anchor to compare her deposit, she couldn't measure herself independently through introspection. If she tried to do so, then sure enough, she could tell when a certain percentage of her vitality had been spent, but she couldn't know what that percentage was equivalent to.
It was easier to account for increases with Blossomflame evolutions, they were substantial. Flourishing Springs, on the other hand, not so much. But it was impossible for her to evolve Blossomflames in her current status, she didn't have enough Cure Grass to do so. The approximated measurements were a guideline at best and risible at worst.
She had managed to get her hands on grass seeds and a pot, so she had Cure Grass at her disposal. Cure Grass was equal looking to normal grass, albeit slightly bluer and containing a sizeable amount of vitality. Nothing respectable nor noticeable, she could barely detect it and she knew it was there. But sensing other living beings' vitality wasn't a straightforward process. Aloe could tell Naila had similar vitality to her, that Lulu had a third of hers, and that Aaliyah had been impossibly superior. But for example, she couldn't put a number on Rani's or Fatima's vitality. It was bigger than her, by a magnitude even, but nothing concrete.
It would have been easy to leave it at that, no one should find her pot of grass was a magical plant of sorts, but the scribe decided to throw the house out of the window. She bought a lot of pots and amphoras and filled them with several plants. Mostly flowers, but also some basic medicinal plants like chamomile or aloe vera. Her excuse had been simple: "I can't go to my greenhouse, so I'll bring it to me." Lulu had been more than happy to assist her with the indoor gardening. Her office now looked like a greenhouse without exaggerating, but unlike the greenhouse, she didn't need to tend to her plants as someone dutifully watered them each day.
It sucks I can't make pellets like this, though. Making Cure Grass pellets to restore her vitality was a lengthy process that required grinding the grass leaves, extracting the aloe vera sap, then combining both substances and letting them rest. As such complex tasks would raise too many questions, Aloe opted to slowly snatch blades of Cure Grass – which were infused with accelerated growth – and smash them in a mortar when she was alone in the office. Without the sap to protect the mush, it quickly dried, but fortunately, it took a fair bit of time for the grass to lose its efficacy once ground.
The smashed grass was more for emergency scenarios, in case she needed a sudden intake of vitality, as she was more than satisfied with evolving black seeds at the moment. It was the lack of clear measurements that frustrated her.
Aloe left the newly evolved Flourishing Spring seed alongside the others and put an unevolved one in her mouth. Lulu was with her in the room, watering one of the many pots. The scribe no longer remembered which one had which plant. That was all a façade to cover up the Cure Grass.
Tranquility, unfortunately, came to an abrupt end as the office's door swung wide open. Only two people in the palace dared enter without basic courtesy.
"I think it is time we talked." Rani-al-Sadina – princess of Ydaz, emir of Sadina, and Aloe's liege – barged into the room.
Aloe had been expecting this moment for a while now. She had been forced to attend her position since day one of her arrival, no rest had been granted to her. Whilst tyrannical, Aloe couldn't be angry at Rani for it. She actually thanked the woman. She had been so occupied with work, and if not that then her vital arts, that she hadn't had time to think. Much.
She hated thinking as of late.
"Welcome to my office, Rani," Aloe stated calmly. "Would you like a tea?"
"I would not refuse one." Saying yes was too simple for imperials.
Aloe gestured at Lulu to get some fresh tea for them. The maid left the room with a bow. The scribe knew she would be back in a matter of minutes, a couple of them most likely.
Rani sat down in the chair right in front of Aloe's desk. Her posture was casual and highlighted the woman's well-built and curvaceous legs. Shiny and devoid of hair, there weren't any imperfections on them. Her thighs were that of a goddess. The emir's eyes shone with light of amethysts, a thing that didn't go unnoticed by the scribe.
"What would you like to know, Rani?" Aloe controlled her weakness.
Strength was imperative and weakness was repulsive, but it had its uses to appear weak before others. It could embolden their enemies and force them into a misstep they wouldn't have done otherwise. She also started shifting her internal infusion from recovery into glamour. Whilst it wouldn't affect the emir – or at least, she guessed it wouldn't – it would give Aloe better control of her emotions. She hated that stance with all her might, yet she knew better than to discard a useful tool. Especially when the person before her was using it shamelessly.
"For starters…" Rani's voice was seductive and enthralling. It had the beauty her whore of a mother never managed to obtain. "How about everything?"
