The Line
the dark-elf alchemists
The Recipe
Inputs: Reagent-Herbs, water, fire, the alchemist's shelf Output: the draught, the poultice, the tincture — the healer's table Time: a week for a draught, a month for the tincture
The alchemy is the floor of the shelf: the wound is the one who is always waiting, and the draught is the one the world grows slow. The basics are the healer's whole argument — the bleeding's answer, the broken's answer, the stunned's answer — and the answer is the one the light school has to cost.
The recipe is the knowledge, and the knowledge is the one the guild charges for — on the ladder in The Maker's Hand, the recipe is the middle leg: the world gives the material, the maker knows the recipe, and the item is what the maker owes.