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Dubious liquid medicine used in strange experiments conducted by high ministers of the Healing Church.
A type of anesthetic that numbs the brain. Hunters, able to retain consciousness by force of will, make use of a secondary effect of the medicine, which dilutes their presence while standing still.
***
Orphans hide behind overgrown lumenflowers, in the shade of the dried up fountain against a mountainous-to-them stone wall. The children try to keep quiet while the fussy grownup in the long white robes and funny mask chase after them. It is a game, you see. Hide and seek, disappearing from the world. With mirthful grins plastered on their faces, they didn’t think then of how their parents had disappeared (it was good luck they found a home within the Healing Church). All Fiora and Dryden thought of at that idyllic moment was the thrill of not being caught.
The hot summer sun, making them sweat, glistening with budding attraction that will never be fully realised, not before they are given enough paleblood to become kin.
Under the flowers their hands brush the others: pushing back, play-fighting, keeping souls still, protecting vulnerable parts from laughter. Trying to make the other one give up the game. They were too innocent to think of anything otherwise.
Quiet sneaking murmurs of the adult who is hunting them, thinking they can be quiet but children – below the lumenflowers, below the consideration of adults, children disappear. (This trait carries over when they become celestial.
A rustle of leaves. The adult is close, so close, the children can hear them breathe. So they become invisible. They cover their mouths with their fingers, pressing tightly against lips that will never know a kiss. Electrifying nervousness – will they be caught? They look at each other, wide blue eyes, they have been drip fed the paleblood ever since they were babes, in preparation of their ascension.
The adult gives up, murmurs defeat, walks away. Fiora and Dryden take their hands from their mouths, revealing wide smiles. They have won. Their cleverness has thwarted authority. It is not much in the long run, these lives that are destined to be harvested. And yet they are the closest to being children they ever will be, with the game of hide in seek in the garden. They hold hands in the shade of the plants until the church bells ring for supper.
***
Blue Elixir is harvested from celestial kin flesh, usually after another surgery or experiment has rendered them corpses. The brain and belly – the most valuable parts of the celestial – are reserved for exploratory surgeries or pulling parasites that will be cultivated into hunter tools. Blue Elixir is thus best harvested from the hands and fingers of the deceased kin. The mottled blue gray skin is thin and frail, barely containing the gelatinous flesh within. To gather, cut a thin line through the skin around the wrist of the celestial. Place a shallow metal bowl under the hand. Then press your fingertips under the cut and pull the skin off towards the tips of the fingers, taking care not to scrape away too much of the flesh underneath. (It becomes a topographical challenge, to remove the entire skin without breaking the surface.) Lay out the skin on a prepared surface to dry. With no skin to hold the flesh, it should immediately start to drip off the bone. Use scraping motions, digging only with the pressure of one’s fingers, and deposit the flesh into the bowl. Work quickly: the more solid the flesh is when it is processed into a Blue Elixir, the more potent its effects will be. When the bones are clear, make sure to break apart each knuckle to extract as much of the fluid as possible.
It is, after all, important to use all parts of the kin.