"Not...really?" Allereun replied. Lifting one hand, the alchemist motioned awkwardly towards the bundle of clothes on his arms. They were modest, drab, and fairly formless, but he still had to suffer odd looks from the seamstress when he purchased it. "Figured you'd want more practical outfits, so...like...here?"

She still stank, of course, and that helped him a lot with keeping his own emotions in check. They had other things to do first.

Opening the door, he waved her in, before stepping inside himself, locking the door behind him while lighting a lantern with a magic-engraved flintstone. Warm light filled the aisles of magical powders, and Allereun quickly strode towards the back room. "I'll heat up a bath for you. Just...chill, I guess? Maybe think up an explanation for what...that stuff even was? Would be cool, uh...N-november."

"Thank you." November responded to yet another change of clothes. "Explanation?" She added after. It was good that he didn't throw her out all of a sudden and stamped her as crazy.

"For what? I simply had to agitate the Church. Now, we wait. Are you able to use water magic?" Hopefully they would appear. She had gathered a few idiots who truly believed the bullshit she spewed, enough for the potential disruption of their harmony. So surely, they had to act?

Regardless, as Allerun entered the backroom, November's old clothing was still hanging from some improvised clothesline. Including her undies, which meant...

"I mean, anyone can use water magic with time and all...so, sure?" Came Allereun's muffled voice from behind the door. Soon after, the sound of a fire being stoked could be heard, a constant crackling of fanned flames, followed by the sizzling of something splashing into the waters. This continued on for a good ten minutes, before the alchemist, apparently satisfied, came back out, his sleeves and pants rolled wet, forearms glistening in the warm candlelight.

"Think it's done now. If you want to heat it up, just add another hot rock or so? Oh, and your clothes can go in the basket." With that, he gestured towards the back. "The tub'll be in the back of the room, to the left. It's sorta outside, but I set up the covers, so you'll be fine...probably?"

November tilted her head a bit. "With time? I'm not sure if taking your time is what you want to do when there is the possibility your humble house might burn down." November simply stated before giving a small bow and entering the backroom. Right. Hot baths were used to relax and clean oneself, wasn't it? That was... a smart idea. Yeah, your body is a temple, or something like that, wasn't it? Without further ado, November stripped herself naked before entering the tub. Truly, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

...
...
...

A hour and a bit more passed.

---

"That's the place?" He pointed at a humble alchemist's hut.
"That's the place." The other confirmed.
"Let's burn it down. I h-" A maniac grin revealed itself behind a cloaked face.
"Wait. Sigh You goddamn Pyromaniac. There might be innocents." He was kept in check.
"Who cares?" A hunch of apathy, mixed with disappointment.
"I care. Now huush." He finally silenced him.
"So, what's the plan? Are you implying we're going to behave like reasonable people and knock on the door?" The tallest said in a sarcastic tone.
"That's the plan." Their leader replied calmly.
"But our or— hey, wait! It's a, uh, shop. Can't we just enter anyway?" The two followed.

---

As the sun was already setting, Allereun could hear a strong knock on his door. As the young boy opened it, three males - shrouded in white robes adorned with golden caricatures of The One's only religion - were standing there. One, tall and slim. The other two about the same height, with one having a clearly muscular build.

"Good Evening." He greeted the Alchemist, before cutting right to the chase. "We have reasons to believe you're giving shelter to a criminal we're hunting." The other, not-tall guy, whistled in a fashion of paying respect. "Female. Blonde hair. Blue eyes." He scratched his chin. "Ring any bells?" The other budged in.

"A criminal?" Allereun looked visibly concerned. "I dunno if she is but...MAY! GET DOWNSTAIRS! SOMEONE'S LOOKING FOR YOU!"

The brunette alchemist put on his best stupid smile soon after. "Sorry 'bout the hassle. She'll be here shortly, sirs."

May.
A name that was carried by none.
At least not living in this particular place.

Whatever November made out of this, the Alchemist could only wonder as seconds continued to pass. Few, at first, and then many more. The gentlemen opposite of him were calm at first. But only for that long.

"Shortly." The tallest scoffed.
"Tzch." The other spit on the ground.
"May we come in?" Despite his courteous behavior, it sounded more like command than question. "You don't want to fall under suspicon of aiding a criminal, right?" A simple threat, as he took one step forward to put his boot between door and frame.

Allereun shrugged, feigning ignorance.

"Maybe she's still changing. You know how it is with girls."

Did they? He sorta felt like they didn't. Opening up the door wider, he stepped to the side, waving them all in.

"You know how it is with girls." The tallest repeated in a mocking voice as he was about to do something before the leader held up his hand in a gesture as telling him to stop.

"You do not seem to understand the gravity of the situation you are in." — "Death penalty!" He ignored him. "The Witch is to be executed. If it turns out you are purposefully hiding her..." — "Sssslit." The tallest slit his thumb along his neck.

"Let's split up." Considering the size of his fine establishment, there wasn't too much to split up. Nonetheless, the three opened all kinds of cabinets and lockers, with the leader dissapearing inside the (empty) bathroom.

"Oooops. How clumsy of me!" While some flasks crashed on the ground after the tall one ACCIDENTALLY pushed them away.

Only the silent one of the three seemed somewhat reasonable?

"Did someone use the bath tub?" The leader yelled from inside the other room. A rhetorical question? After all, there was a May supposed to be here.

"Ooof," Allereun replied, "Could I ask you to be a bit careful with the searching, friend?"

He swallowed, leaning against the doorframe. This really was just youthful excess, wasn't it? It was indirect, but he WAS helping someone accused of being a Witch. "Maybe she used it?" the alchemist called out, his hands in his pockets, "I usually just prep the bathtub around this time, so she mighta slipped in or something."

Worse case scenario, could he pretend that he was under her magical charm and shit?

"Ahh, I'm sorry again! I suppose today is one of those days, is it not?" He chuckled as more flasks and tubes crashed to the ground as they continued their search.

"Those are... woman's clothing. A wet floor. An open window." He continued investigating as he knelled down to see how wet the water still was. "The room's not that cold."

"It's all pretty obvious, is it not?" His friend joined in, before shrugging. "Either way, does it really matter? You know how it goes. The usual. Also, it's an alchemist shop, so it only makes sense." "Regretful indeed, but it is what it is." Closing his eyes and shaking his head, the leader sighed before leaving the room together with his henchmen in tow.

"It's all pretty obvious, is it not?" He spoke now to Allerun, pointing his finger at him. "You are here—"

CACHUNK

An entire shelf fell over as the tallest vividly took a step to the side and turned around, his face looking like he could barely contain his pleasure. "He...hehe... HAHAHA. I'm so-so SORRY! But..." He opened his palm, in which a globe of fire formed. ...but the clumsy alchemist is gonna burn his own house down!" A somewhat distorted and weird smile formed on his face, as his next words were pronounced in a rather creepy tone. "Collateral damage..." Someone who was about to die didn't need to be fed any more lies, after all.

"Tzch. Of course he couldn't just shut up." The other one sighed.

"Guess she ran away then?" Allereun replied, narrowing his eyes, "Shoulda turned her away if I knew she was going to be so m-"



The falling over shelf and the shattering of glass caused the alchemist to immediately cringe, reflexively jumping away. Ok, this WAS bad. At this rate...

"No, dude, seriously, I'm telling this to you as a fellow, decent human, but you don't want to push over everything willy-nilly, and...oh geez." It was a wisp of flame that became a ball, burning brightly within the darkness of the apothecary. Though this normally would have meant nothing, as Allereun naturally had the common sense to not store explosive concoctions in easily breakable containers, the combination of certain ingredients would usually create a variety of really bad, really unpleasant things. Add some heat to accelerate the reaction, and what did you get?

A chemical weapon that was scentless and insidious.

"Ok, being real here, my man. Put away the fire, don't try any more magical stuff, and just...stop, ok? Really, if you want to burn down the store, go for it, but don't do it right now, yeah? Seriously. Just chill."

"What? You scared of fire?" He said mockingly, taking some steps closer towards Allerun as he shifted his hand threateningly around. "Maybe if you beg nicely, I'll just slit your throat instead."

He simply shook his head, sighing, his face clearly showing his thoughts: 'Why did I get assigned together with this idiot?'

The leader, on the other hand, thought for a moment. "Stop it." He said. It took a moment for the two to realize he meant their own kin rather than the Alchemist. Both looking in confusion. "We're in an Alchemists hut. You shuffled a lot of Chemicals around." He actually took some hasty steps towards the exit, a stainless blade suddenly dashing forward from below his sleeve. "I'll finish it quick." There was no mercy in his words.

"H-H-Hey! Stop it. I have been waiting for this, THIRSTING for this!" His flames grew more intense.

The third one simply disappeared, ran, inside the bath room again, his face having looked somewhat panicking before.

It was either now, or never.

But it was Alleruen who had been standing beside the exit the entire time, watching things grow steadily out of control. He was panicking but he was also eerily calm, his heart settling down as danger drew nearer and nearer. God was good, and he had no problem with organized religion either. But between faith and his life, the decision was too easy to make.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Tossing something against the ground, Allereun quickly exited the store and slammed the door behind him, pushing against it to keep it shut. One had ran out from the bath room portion, but for the two in the storefront?

He had dashed an accelerant against the floor. Moments later, toxic flames burst inside, feeding off the reagents and concoctions and growing more sinister still.

A part of him was sad that his house was going to burn down. Another part recognized that it would have burnt down no matter what he said.