Once the berries were in, it was time for the next few steps. Zhenya quickly scribbled them down onto her parchment and ticked off the steps she had already performed. Next was the fluxweed leaves. She got her four measures of fluxweed, cleaned her board and knife, and removed the leaves, discarding the rest. She had to cut them into three pieces, which she proceeded to do, then added them to her potion.

Next was more counting. Counting the stirs. She reached out for her wooden stirrer, cleaned it, and put it into her cauldron. Once clockwise, once counterclockwise. She repeated carefully. Once clockwise, once counterclockwise. She did this seven times. Two stirs each count, which meant she had stirred it fourteen times. Seven turns each. She looked carefully into her cauldron and was pleased that it was looking a bit muddy. She took a gently smell, and was more pleased that it wasn't smelly.