Time/Date: TC1853.01.20 (Mid Morning)

Location: Metropolitan Police Station - 4th Ring, Interrogation Room Three

Selene looked up when the door opened again. Expected Veyne or Morrison, maybe Wu, finally making an appearance. Instead, a thin man in Guild Master robes swept in carrying a leather satchel that clinked with glass vials and ceramic containers.

Morrison and Veyne filed in behind him. The quiet authority of people who’d seen enough to be unsurprised by anything, but whose expressions suggested they were about to be proven wrong.

"Mrs. Brenner." Wu’s voice carried command weight as he entered last, closing the door with deliberate care. "This is Master Alchemist Feng from the Imperial Guild. He’s here to verify some aspects of your statement."

Feng set his satchel on the table with a deliberate thump. Opened it to reveal neat rows of ingredients—dried herbs in labeled vials, crystalline powders in sealed containers, small bottles of viscous liquids that caught the light. His movements had the precision of someone who’d done this thousands of times, arranging them in a specific pattern that spoke of ritual and long practice.

"You claim to have alchemical training." Feng didn’t bother with pleasantries. His voice carried that particular dismissiveness experts used when confronting obvious fraud. The tone of someone who’d evaluated hundreds of hopeful alchemists and found most of them wanting. "Let’s see if that’s true."

He began extracting components with professional efficiency. "This is a standard journeyman test given at the Guild. Most applicants fail. Those who pass usually take two to three hours and produce an acceptable but flawed result." He looked up, dark eyes sharp with professional skepticism. "I’m going to ask you to create a complex healing potion. Mara’s Relief, to be specific. Requires precision blending of seven ingredients in exact order, with temperature control and essence extraction."

Selene stared at the components. Her fingers had stopped rubbing the silk. "You want me to make it? Now?"

"Unless you’d prefer to admit you’ve been lying about your capabilities." Feng’s tone made his opinion clear—this woman was a fraud, and he was here to expose her. Another noble dilettante who’d played at alchemy and somehow convinced herself she had real skill.

"I..." Selene looked at the ingredients again. Then, slowly, almost hesitantly, she reached for the first vial. "Where’s the mixing bowl?"

Feng produced a ceramic bowl with professional efficiency. Set it before her with a gesture that said go ahead, embarrass yourself. He’d seen this play out dozens of times. The confident start, the fumbling middle, the eventual admission of defeat.

What happened next would be talked about in Guild halls for years.

Selene’s hands moved with certainty that seemed to surprise her as much as it shocked her observers. She uncorked the first vial—Sun-lily extract—and measured out precisely three drops without using any measurement tools. Muscle memory so deep it transcended conscious thought. The kind of precision that came from years of practice, from understanding the weight and viscosity of ingredients so intimately that tools became unnecessary.

Then the second ingredient, crushed Moonvine root, was added with casual precision. No hesitation. No second-guessing.

"Temperature needs to be elevated slightly," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else. Her fingers passed over the bowl, and Morrison watched in fascination as faint spiritual energy—weak, barely there, but unmistakably present—caused the mixture to warm.

Feng had gone very still. That dismissive expression cracking like ice in the spring sun.

Third ingredient. Fourth. Fifth. Each addition came with subtle shifts in technique—stirring direction changing based on the component, mixing speed adjusted for viscosity, the precise moment of incorporation timed by instinct rather than measurement. Her movements held a natural flow that couldn’t be faked, couldn’t be memorized from watching others. This was instinct. Talent expressing itself through hands that didn’t realize what they possessed. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"The Starwheat needs to be ground differently," Selene said, reaching for a mortar and pestle Feng hadn’t even offered yet. As if she simply knew it would be there, because of course it would be—you couldn’t do essence extraction without proper grinding tools. "Most people use the pre-ground version, but that loses too much essence in storage. You have to do it fresh, and..." She demonstrated, crushing the grain with a specific technique—circular motion first, then direct pressure, then circular again. "Like this. Otherwise, the binding doesn’t work properly and the whole mixture becomes unstable."

Morrison was scribbling notes with increasingly frantic handwriting. Wu had pulled out his communicator to record video evidence, the kind that would stand up in court when this case inevitably reached places they couldn’t yet imagine. Behind the glass, Officer Chen watched with her mouth slightly open, her notepad forgotten.

Fifteen minutes after she’d started—fifteen minutes, not the two to three hours Feng had mentioned—Selene set down her stirring rod. The mixture in the bowl had taken on a soft golden glow, exactly the color Mara’s Relief was supposed to exhibit when properly prepared. The kind of glow you only got when essence extraction and binding were perfect.

"It needs to rest for five minutes," she said quietly, looking at the mixture with something that might have been satisfaction or might have been confusion about why they were all staring at her. "Then it’ll be ready for final filtration."

Feng approached the bowl like it might explode. His hands—those master alchemist hands that had mixed thousands of potions, that knew the weight and feel of properly prepared compounds—trembled slightly as he pulled out testing vials and indicators.

The silence stretched while he worked. Chemical tests checking purity ratios. Essence resonance checks measuring spiritual binding. Stability measurements ensuring the compound wouldn’t degrade. Each test seemed to drain more color from his thin face, replacing it with something that looked like shocked disbelief.

Finally, he set down his tools. Looked at Selene with an expression caught somewhere between awe and horror. Like he’d just witnessed something impossible, something that violated everything he thought he knew about alchemical talent and training.

"This is..." His voice came out strangled. "This is perfect. Better than perfect. The essence extraction ratio is ninety-eight point three percent. The binding technique you used is something I’ve only seen in ancient texts from master alchemists who’d trained for half a century. The efficiency is..." He looked down at his instruments again, as if they might tell him different numbers if he checked one more time. "The efficiency is ninety-seven percent overall. That’s... that’s what I’d expect from someone who’d been training for thirty years under direct Guild supervision."

He looked up at Wu, then Morrison, then back to Selene. His professional composure completely shattered. "This is master-level work. This is what I’d expect from our best Guild Masters. The ones we hold up as examples of perfect technique."

Selene blinked at him. "But Caelia always said—"

"I don’t care what Caelia said." Feng cut her off, his voice rising with something that sounded like professional outrage. The kind of fury that came from witnessing beauty destroyed, potential wasted. "This is extraordinary. You’re a natural-born alchemist. A prodigy. The kind of talent that appears once in a generation, if that."

He grabbed her shoulders, actually shaking her slightly in his agitation. Professional decorum forgotten in the face of what he’d just witnessed. "How is this possible? Who trained you? Why aren’t you famous? With this level of natural ability, you should be the top alchemist in the Empire! You should have students. Research. Recognition. How have I never heard your name?"

Wu watched Selene’s face cycle through expressions—confusion giving way to dawning realization, then transforming into something that looked like her entire worldview collapsing in on itself.

"What... what talent?" Her voice came out small. Broken. The voice of someone whose foundation was crumbling beneath her feet. "I’m not talented. Caelia said my potions were half-baked. The tutors said I was wasting my time. That I should stop embarrassing myself and focus on things more suited to—"

"HALF-BAKED?" Feng’s voice cracked. "This is master-level work! Better than I could do at your age! Better than most Guild Masters could do now!" He spun to face Wu, his thin frame practically vibrating with outrage. "Commissioner, something is seriously wrong here. This level of talent doesn’t go unnoticed. It can’t go unnoticed. Someone should have identified her abilities decades ago. Someone should have nurtured this. Developed it. She should be—"

He cut himself off, breathing hard. Looked back at Selene with something like grief in his eyes.

"She should be famous. Respected. Valued. Someone people wrote about in history books. Someone whose research advanced imperial pharmacology. And instead..." He gestured helplessly at the perfect potion still glowing in its bowl. "Instead, she thinks she’s worthless. Believes she’s incompetent. Has spent years convinced she has no talent when she’s one of the most gifted natural alchemists I’ve ever encountered."

Selene sat very still in her chair. Those pale blue eyes filling with tears that had nothing to do with guilt for baby swaps or poisoned hotel workers, and everything to do with the sudden, devastating realization that her entire life had been built on lies.

But the full weight of it hadn’t hit her yet. Not really. That would come later, when she had time to process. When the shock wore off and the implications really sank in. Right now, she was still numb from the revelation, still trying to understand what these people were telling her about herself.

Morrison closed his notebook with a soft snap. "Mrs. Brenner. I need to ask you something, and I need complete honesty." His weathered face showed genuine compassion now, the kind that came from decades of witnessing human tragedy in all its forms. "When you made the potions for the banquet fourteen days ago—the Amber Kiss, the Nerys root blend—did Caelia help you?"

"No. She..." Selene’s hands came up to her face. "She told me to stop wasting her ingredients. Said I was too stupid to understand real alchemy. That I should leave the complex work to people who actually had talent."

"But you made them anyway."

"I... yes. I thought if I could prove to her that I could do it, maybe she’d..." A sob tried to escape. She swallowed it down. "Maybe she’d finally see me as an equal instead of the stupid twin. The one who was only good for looking pretty and making advantageous marriages."

Feng was pacing now. His professional outrage was transforming into something approaching fury at the cosmic injustice of it all. "This is a travesty. An absolute travesty. Someone with this level of natural talent should have been nurtured, not suppressed. Not told she was worthless. Not conditioned to believe she was incompetent." He spun to face Wu again. "Commissioner, I need to investigate this. Need to know how the Guild missed her. How no one in the entire Imperial education system identified someone with abilities this remarkable. How—"

"Master Feng," Wu interrupted, his voice carrying command authority that even fury had to acknowledge, "I appreciate your concern. But right now, Mrs. Brenner is under investigation for multiple serious crimes. Your evaluation has been noted and will be documented in the case file, but—"

"Noted?" Feng’s voice rose again. "Commissioner, this woman could have been one of the greatest alchemists in imperial history. Someone systematically suppressed her abilities. Conditioned her to believe she was incompetent. Made her think she was mediocre at the one thing she excelled at. That’s not just personal cruelty—that’s a loss to the entire Empire!"

"I understand that. But—"

"No." Feng’s thin frame seemed to expand with righteous fury. "No, you don’t understand. Natural talent like this is rare. Precious. If she’d been properly trained, she could have developed medicines that would’ve saved thousands of lives. Could have advanced alchemical theory by decades. Could have taught the next generation. And someone stole that from her. From all of us."

Morrison stepped forward, his weathered face showing the kind of compassion that came from decades of witnessing human tragedy. "Master Feng, we will investigate how Mrs. Brenner’s talents were suppressed. I can promise you that. But right now, she’s still facing charges for crimes committed using those abilities. Crimes with real victims."

"I know." Feng’s fury deflated slightly, professional reality reasserting itself. "I know. But..." He looked at Selene again, and his voice softened to something approaching genuine sorrow. "But what a waste. What a terrible, terrible waste of extraordinary potential."

Wu’s communicator buzzed with the sharp tone that indicated priority clearance. He glanced at the screen, and his military bearing somehow became even more rigid. "Master Feng, thank you for your evaluation. We’ll need a formal written report for the case file. Include everything—the test you administered, the results, your professional assessment of her capabilities."

"Of course. But Commissioner—"

"I’ll ensure your concerns are properly documented and investigated." Wu nodded toward the door in a way that wasn’t quite a dismissal but wasn’t quite optional either. "We’ll contact you if we need additional consultation."

Feng gathered his satchel with reluctant efficiency. Paused at the door to look back at Selene one last time. His expression held genuine grief for potential wasted, for a life shaped by lies, for talent that should have changed the world but was instead hidden away like something shameful.

"Mrs. Brenner," he said quietly, "for what it’s worth—you’re brilliant. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

The door closed with a soft click, leaving Selene alone with the investigators and a truth that was only beginning to crack through her carefully constructed worldview.

Veyne stood with practiced efficiency. "Mrs. Brenner, I’m going to ask you to wait here. We need to discuss these findings." Professional. Neutral. As if they hadn’t just witnessed something that changed the entire complexion of the case.

Behind the observation glass, Officer Chen had been frantically taking notes throughout the entire exchange. She looked up as Wu, Morrison, and Veyne emerged from the interrogation room. Her sharp eyes were wide with implications she was still processing, connections forming faster than she could document them.

"Commissioner." Her voice came out quiet. Careful. The kind of careful you used when saying something that might reshape everything you thought you knew. "If Selene has this level of natural talent, and if Caelia systematically suppressed it..." She didn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t need to.

Wu’s jaw tightened, military bearing rigid with controlled fury. "Chen, I want a full background investigation into Caelia Lin. Education records. Alchemical training. Who taught her. Who had access to young Selene during their formative years. Who might have been paid to discourage her. Everything."

"Yes, sir." Chen was already pulling up search protocols on her tablet. "But Commissioner... this changes the nature of the investigation. If Caelia was willing to destroy her own twin’s potential—systematically crush her spirit, convince her she was worthless—what else might she have done?"

"That," Wu said grimly, his dark eyes hard with the kind of determination that had made him Commissioner, "is exactly what we’re going to find out."