Adrien spun the valve and turned off the burner's fire. He put on gloves, picked up the potion with tongs, and placed it on a stand on the table, making sure to align it properly according to the instructions of the star chart. After adjusting its position a few times, he delicately let go of the bottle and stepped back.

Val glanced down at the recipe book, his eyes darting across the page. "That looks right", he said. "We'll see how it went tomorrow morning".

"Right", Adrien said. He tossed the gloves aside, washed his hands and face in the stone sink, then plopped himself on a nearby chair. "Wow", he wheezed, "that was a lot of work... And you said this was the simplest one to brew, and it took the whole day! What about the harder ones? Do they take weeks?".