My Fair Lady

Potion

As Juliet sat quietly in the horse carriage, she gazed out of the window, thinking about Syvil's sudden personality change.

Outside of the window, there were many peasants on the streets and prostitutes lingering in dark corners. Drunk men stumbled out of gambling dens, pawing over the street whores.

Suddenly, Juliet froze. She leant her head out of the window. There was a man coming out from one of the houses. Even though he was dressed in a cloak, she recognized the tall, lean frame.

"Edmund!" she shouted.

The man looked up and Juliet gasped when she recognized the emerald green eyes sparkling in the dark, hazy surroundings of Whitechapel.

"Juliet?" Jasper touched her arm. "What's going on?"

As the horse carriage clattered on, she lost sight of Edmund. She turned back and said slowly, "I think I just saw Edmund."

"Lord Edmund?" Jasper frowned. "Why would he frequent Whitechapel? It's not befitting of his rank. Which house did he come out from?"

"The one with the sign titled, "The Seductress"," Juliet answered.

"Oh, I know that establishment." Jasper nodded. "It's owned by a very powerful woman called Caroline. It's a gambling den and whorehouse."

"What?" Juliet gasped. "You don't think that...Edmund...went there to...." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"I'm not sure." Jasper shrugged. "Despite my misgivings, he seems like a man of true character. It's indeed strange that he would visit that place."

Juliet turned back to stare out of the window again. She must trust Edmund. He wasn't the type to frequent such sleazy places. He would never betray her.

Her thoughts were momentarily interrupted when Jasper announced, "We're here."

******

As Juliet stepped into the dark house with Jasper, she noticed that the scene hadn't changed. There were strange, disturbing ornaments like skulls everywhere but she was used to it now.

The witch was standing in front of a table with many jars of foul-smelling liquids. She was mixing and brewing some liquids in a container.

"Madam Favela?" Juliet asked.

"Tsk. Tsk. You young lads should knock before coming in," Madam Favela said without looking up.

"The door was open," Jasper interjected. "If you don't want any intruders, you should lock it."

"Lad, don't get ahead of yourself. What do both of you want?" Madam Favela answered, still busily mixing the liquids. "I thought I was done with the lot of you. I ain't got that much time to entertain a bunch of high-strung nobleborns."

"Can you cure a psychological illness?" Juliet asked.

"I assume this is about your friend? The one who's currently scorned and shunned by the society?"

"How did you know?"

"I do have ears," the witch snapped. "Now, what about the illness?"

"Lady Syvil doesn't recognize people anymore. She hallucinates and all she does is stare off into space," Jasper explained.

Madam Favela snorted. "Oh, she's one of those."

"One of what?"

"One of those lovesick, high-strung ones," the witch snorted. "'Tis a love sickness, it's incurable."