The Pharmacist and The Prince

Days of the Week

Monday – Montag. Tuesday – Dienstag. Wednesday – Mittwoch. Thursday – Donnerstag. Friday – Freitag. Saturday – Samstag. Sunday – Sonntag.

The Guild of Construction Magickers was a noisy place. The sounds of banging, pounding, welding and clanging could be heard a minute before they arrived. The moment the workers inside the building realized that the Reuentahl was present, however, it was as silent as a graveyard.

The workers assembled in the entrance hall, and as one, bowed their welcome.

Reuentahl was completely used to the deference. He was the Prince of the kingdom and due to his father’s incapacitation, he was now acting as the King Regent.

Ever since he was a child, Reuentahl had always found people bowing and curtsying to him. At first, it made him feel special. Like he could get anything and get away with anything. But as he grew, under his mother’s and father’s guidance and direction, he began to understand the responsibility, the privilege and the burden of being a ruler. His parents had made him understand that he had to become a person worth bowing to.

Reuentahl had also learnt when to defer to people. As a ruler, he appreciated that he was not the most intelligent person or the most talented person in the kingdom. When it came to issues outside his skill set, he knew to defer.

Even if the person he was deferring to was a small woman.

The small, dark-skinned woman stood beside him, her face red. And it wasn’t because she was nervous about addressing a room full of male construction magickers. It was because of what happened shortly after they arrived at guild.

Varick had pulled the carriage right to the entrance of the main building. Reuentahl had been here several times in his life, so the humongous metalwork building was nothing new or interesting to him. Not for Ebony, however. The sight was apparently fascinating for her, as she had her face pressed to the glass of the window, her mouth open.

Laughter came unbidden and before he could stop himself, it had bubbled out of him. She had spun around and the look of indignance and embarrassment on her face only made him laugh harder.

But that wasn’t why she stood beside him, shoulders quivering with mortification. No, it was what happened immediately after that that caused her to redden.

Evidently in a bid to show him up, as they alighted from the carriage, she lifted only the front part of her gown. As he had told her it was normally done. She took one step and with a shriek, tripped and would have landed flat on her face if he hadn’t intervened.

Of course, he had laughed and she had not looked at his face since then. He snuck a look at her face and…yes, still red.

He had to remind her that she needed to address the magickers congregated here.

“Ebony. They are waiting for you.”

The look she gave him told him that if she could, she would have brained him with a rock. But then, she couldn’t. Thank the gods.

Reuentahl saw her back stiffen and her shoulders square and knew that she was ready to speak. And as expected, her voice came, steady and clear.

“Good day, everyone. My name is Ebony Johnseinne. It’s nice to meet you.”

The guild assured her it was nice to meet her as well.

“The King Regent here,” she gestured to him, “has given me the permission to commence a large scale construction project. The construction of isolation centres.”

Not surprisingly, the faces of the magickers all reflected confusion at the term “Isolation centre.” Ebony quickly explained to them what the centre was and what it would be used for. Many of them stole glances at him, as if to say: Can you hear what she is saying? Did you really give permission for this?

His reply was silence. He did not interrupt her nor did he correct or add anything to what she said. He wanted it obvious that she had his full support. The entire hall was pin-drop silent as she described to the magickers how many centres would be built and where.

The whole hall watched as she brandished the diagram that Varick made earlier.

“Mr. Lutz has been very generous and sketched an outline of what the building is supposed to look like. I would still, however, like to hear any opinions or suggestions that you may have for the building.”

Ebony took a step forward and extended the paper towards the group of men and one man, who Reuentahl knew as the Chief Constructor, walked forward and retrieved the sheet of paper with a bow.

He examined it silently before magnifying it with a Magnifying Rune. A sharp gasp echoed in the silent hall. Even if he hadn’t heard it from beside him, he would have known it was from Ebony. Her world did not have magic. This would be her first time seeing such a spell.

Reuentahl leaned to whisper in her ear. “It’s a Magnifying spell. It is, obviously, used to make things larger.”

She nodded but he was not sure she completely understood. No problem. There would be time later to explain in details. Now, Reuentahl and Ebony watched on as the men, including Varick, converged on the now human-sized diagram and discussed in low tones.

Once in a while, one of the men would ask a question such as, “Do you need an attic in the building, milady?” or “Should there be a break room for the healers, milady?” and “Milady, how large should the beds be?”

After giving answers that satisfied all the magickers present, Ebony asked when the construction will be done.

The Chief Constructor tilted his head, thinking. “I think the construction of the central and northern offices will be done by Donnerstag. We should be able to finish the construction of the remaining…isolation centres by Sonntag.”

Ebony shook her head vigorously, as if she had just walked into a spider web. “I’m sorry…Sonntag? By the end of this week?” Without waiting for an answer, Ebony began counting off her fingers, whispering “One, two, three…” under her breath.

He didn’t have to have the ability to read minds to know that she was trying to wrap her mind around the little amount of time the construction would need.

She had arrived on a Sonntag. It was now Mittwoch and she had just been informed that the construction would be completed by Sonntag, less than a week since she arrived. It was too much for someone lived in a non-magical world, it seems.

It didn’t seem like a good time to tell her that if the Guild of Construction Magickers was at full force, as it had been before the plague, the construction would have been done by the end of tomorrow.

“Yes, milady. The construction will be completed by Sonntag. Is that too late for you, milady?”

Ebony shook her head again. “It’s fine. It’s perfect. In fact, it’s a lot sooner than I expected.”

Reuentahl ran through the plan she had outlined in his head. Yes, according to the schedule, it would mean she would have to research, train, compound her drugs all before or by the end of the week. It was a tall order. He would have to assign more people to assist her.

“Will that be all?” Reuentahl asked. He knew that Ebony would be eager to get to work.

The Chief Constructor stepped forward. “Your Majesty, about the beds for the centre. We will construct the frames for the bed but we cannot construct the beds themselves. We do not work with such materials here. It would be best if you visited the Guild of Textile Magickers for the beds. We can give you and the lady an accurate measurement for the beds. Will that be fine, Your Majesty?”

Reuentahl thought about it for a second. It made perfect sense. “Yes, it will be fine.” Turning to Varick, he added, “You can stay here and assist in the construction. We will find our way to the western region and back to the castle on our own. Work hard Varick.”

Varick bowed and so did the entire room of Magickers. Reuentahl and Ebony were escorted of the Guild, not before the Chief Constructor handed Ebony a detailed diagram spelling out the length, width and height of the mattress, as per her description.

The Guild had also provided a carriage and a driver for their transportation, to and fro the teleportation rings. This time, Ebony stuck to what she knew and wrapped her skirts around her as she climbed the carriage stairs.

The wooden wheels of the carriage rattled along the tarred road of the northern territory, the carriage itself barely bouncing due to the Shock Absorbing Runes embedded in the wheels. The carriage arrived at the teleportation ring and was whisked away in an instant to reappear at the western part of the country.

Compared to the north that was hot and dry, the weather in the east was more humid and cool, the change in temperature evident from the moment the carriage arrived.

Ebony pushed open the windows, folded her arms on the sill and began to observe the environment as the carriage rolled on. Reuentahl also stared out the window, contrasting the current situation with what he knew the region to be like.

Being the smallest region in all the kingdom, the people of the west were extremely family and community oriented. They valued one another and formed close knit bonds.

When he had visited this part of the country as part of his training in ruling and governing, the duke reigning at time had told him that one person’s problem was the community’s problem and the community’s problem was everyone’s problem.

And he had seen that in action whenever he attended the Duke’s court. It didn’t matter what the problem was. No matter how trivial or how serious. The community was always worried and concerned about themselves.

Even as the plague struck, they shared their rapidly diminishing resources with one another, trying their best to help each other. They had started sharing and rationing food long before Reuentahl established the system throughout the kingdom. It was truly a beautiful place, inside and out.

His eyes shifted from the window to the woman gazing out of it. His mind flashed back to earlier this morning when she had asked for Varick to be included in the construction project in the hopes that the work might provide some comfort.

That had been exactly what he had done when his father had become invalid, leaving the kingdom in his care. He threw himself into the work of governing the plague-ridden kingdom; rationing the remaining food, sharing the rations, appointing leaders where the former ones had died and enforcing a strict lockdown throughout the kingdom.

It all kept him from thinking of his father, who was languishing in pain and disease in his chambers. Now, this woman was here. He had initially doubted her capability but now, in less than three days, she had his full trust. He knew that she would save the kingdom and hopefully, his father.

“Strom von Seelsorger.”

Ebony started at the sound of his voice. “I’m sorry, what?”

“That’s the name of the King. The King who I am serving as regent for. Strom von Seelsorger. He is my father.”