Moving along, she quickly copied down the next set of instructions before pulling out her glass stirring rod and knife. All she needed to do was run them through the hottest, blue, part of the flame and not burn her hand. Her hand slowly reached out towards the burner flame and allowed the glass stirring rod to pass through twice before repeating with the knife. No burned fingers!

Relieved that part was over, she picked up her rosemary and made quick work of stripping the leaves. With knife in hand, she very slowly and carefully chopped the leaves and measured out one tablespoon before sprinkling it on the potions and stirring clockwise two times.

The murtlap tentacles were up. Her heart pounded a bit, knowing she wasn’t the best at knife work and, after already chopping the rosemary without incident, she was pushing her luck. She placed the murtlap tentacles on her cutting board and picked the closest one to start with. Her knife point went in easily and slid down the length of the tentacle. Her heart calmed and her breathing slowed as she realized she was getting better at cutting. A small smile stretched across her face as she finished her slicing without cutting any of her fingers.

It was smooth sailing from that point on. She mixed the tentacles with the honeywater on her board, just like Professor Noble had shown them, then added the pile to her cauldron. She counted out the five drops of tea tree oil into the cauldron, then took a small step back to wait for the next set of instructions.