Peter and Catherine were both struggling to properly process their situation. Yesterday when Peter had stolen a small bottle of mysterious liquid from his employers alchemy lab, he had thought it was just residue from the alchemist making some kind of health elixir. He had stolen it with the hope that even with reduced potency it might be able to save Catherine, as she had been so appallingly ill he had been afraid she might die. Catherine had drunk about a third of the stolen liquid and it had certainly healed her, but it had also done a lot more than that. Catherine claimed that her eyesight was now perfect, and after drinking the thick red liquid her libido had skyrocketed - resulting in some incredible sex for both of them. Catherine's breasts had also grown. Where once she had been just a step away from flat-chested, she now had a pert pair of round tits that her dress (which had previously fit perfectly) was struggling to contain. The most worrying change however was her newfound strength.
"Peter, we really need to find out more about that potion. I mean, I have definitely enjoyed the side-effects and I feel OK, but I don't want to hurt you or anything." said Catherine.
Peter took a moment to answer, considering his options. "Yeah...but I can't just ask Alexei about it directly. He'll think I stole something from him. Which...I guess is true actually. But you know how furious he will be if he thinks I'm a thief. He'll call the city guard and have me thrown in prison. Besides, he's probably still angry that I missed work when you were ill. I mean, he threatened to fire me if I didn't turn up for work on time."
"You didn't tell me that! But I can believe it, that greedy bastard probably wouldn't think twice about tossing you out without a penny for your trouble."
"Yeah, so I really can't afford to be late today. He'll be expecting me to be there soon so I can get things cleaned up properly before he opens the shop. He insists on the shop being spotless since clients could drop by unexpectedly."
Catherine drummed her fingers, still a bit angry at her husband's awful employer. "Well, I think I'll just stay in today. We can survive at least one more day before I need to go to the market, and I am sure I can keep myself busy until you get home. I don't want to go outside just yet - if I shake someone's hand I don't want to be afraid of breaking it. See what you can find out, and then come home as soon as you can."
The couple then spent some time just holding hands and making small talk, but too soon it was time for Peter to leave. Catherine managed to prepare a packed lunch without breaking anything, much to her relief. They shared a deep and intimate kiss on the doorstep, and then Peter began the journey to Alexei's workshop.
******
The streets of the city were quiet, and it didn't take long for Peter to make his way to the workshop. Oddly, the front door was ajar. Normally Alexei kept the front door securely bolted unless he was open for business. Curious, Peter pushed the door fully open. The downstairs shutters were still closed, so the interior of the shop was dark and gloomy. But even with the limited light it was obvious no-one was around the shop floor. Once inside he called out in case Alexei was upstairs, but there was no reply.
Peter unlatched the shutters to let in light, yet the banished shadows revealed nothing amiss. The display cabinets and shelves full of the brightly coloured tinctures, perfumes and ointments that were Alexei's day-to-day stock in trade were undisturbed, and there was no evidence of forced entry. Peter called out again, but still heard no reply from inside the house. He knocked on the door that led upstairs to Alexei's living quarters, but the door simply swung open at his touch. Once again he called out, and once again the only response was silence. It was certainly out of character for Alexei to leave his house and workplace unattended and unlocked, but perhaps he had simply gone out on an errand? Peter spent a few more minutes checking that the building was in fact vacant, though he refrained from going upstairs. Alexei held his private chambers sacrosanct, and if he caught his cleaner upstairs there was no telling what the alchemist would do. In the end Peter found no evidence of anyone else being present, and wondered what on earth could have made his employer leave without even locking the front door.
If it had been thieves, Peter would have expected to see some evidence of theft. The workshop seemed somewhat disorganised, as if someone had been rummaging through it, but there was nothing missing as far as Peter could tell. It had probably just been Alexei working on some project late into the night with the expectation that Peter would clean up after him (as usual). There was still no sign of Alexei, and a darring thought occurred to Peter. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to see if he could find any notes about the potion he had stolen! Alexei kept most of his records in a small office adjoining the workshop. Peter wasn't normally allowed into this space, but that seemed the most likely place for him to find some information and it wasn't as if there was anyone here to stop him.
With some trepidation, he opened the door to the small office. The door squeaked slightly as he pulled it open. The cramped space was shrouded in darkness, so he lit a small lantern and looked around the room. Alexei had managed to make the already small space seem claustrophobic with the amount of stuff he had crammed into it. Three walls were taken up completely by shelf upon shelf of books, papers and ledgers. There was so much paper that many of the shelves were bent and creaking under the weight. The alchemist had clearly run out of space at some point as the floor was a mess of haphazardly stacked boxes and untidy piles of aging leather-bound books, some of which were nearly four feet tall and looking alarmingly precarious.
Gingerly Peter stepped around one particularly unsteady looking pile and seated himself at the solidly built writing desk that stood in the centre of the room. Peter knew Alexei wasn't always the tidiest (which is why Peter had a job in the first place), but he had never imagined that his employers office would look like this. He had never seen so many books in one place! He imagined that Alexei must have some kind of system to finding things in the chaos and clutter around him, but Peter didn't have a clue where to start.
Peter could read, but not well. He only knew his letters thanks to a kindly travelling priest who had taught periodically in his village when he was a child, and he had never had much opportunity to practice. He opened the first book that came to hand, and found seemingly endless columns of numbers and names on every page. He couldn't make sense of any of it, but it was clearly some kind of accounting or ledger book.
He closed the book with a thud, raising a puff of dust. Peter looked around the room, and sighed at the prospect of trying to sort through the jumbled mess that surrounded him. This was going to take some time...
******
Back at home, Catherine spent much of the morning busying herself with domestic chores. There was something of a backlog from her days of illness, and she threw herself into the tasks to distract herself. By the time she was hanging the last of their clothes to dry, it was just approaching noon.