From the recesses of her memory, the remnants of the ancient tongue surface.
The closest translation is…
Iron that permeates.
The name suddenly feels less like a coincidence.
She huffs a laugh. When the scholars identified and named the resin, she’s sure they would’ve named it after the tree’s root system. And now? She’d wager they’d turn in their graves if they knew it was being used to permeate memory itself.
Ferralis Perforatum.
The word settles into her bones with quiet certainty. Something about the name.Iron. Permeates. Resin.
Of course.
She remembers it. Remembers that most people call it ironsap. A simple resin for simple issues.
It is not a binding agent in the traditional sense—no skilled apothecary would reach for it as a binder. It does not dissolve cleanly as a resin because it was never meant to. Finely powdered, though, it can remain suspended in liquidlong enough to be consumed. Learning that, though, goes far beyond the scope of every apothecary she’s ever known. Goes far beyond its typical uses. Ironsap protects. Preserves. Forces what it carries to endure conditions that would otherwise break it down.
Apothecaries have used it to seal wounds and support healing for as long as anyone remembers. When mixed with healing compounds like lunabark, it seals and heals wounds.
Seeing it on a trade log would never raise eyebrows.
No—it would be approved and cleared for entry in a heartbeat. Healing compounds pass inspections far more easily than military materials. No one questions medicine entering a kingdom.
Rubi flicks back through the books now that she knows exactly what she’s looking for.
Botanicals of the Known Realms.
Her fingers flick through the alphabetical pages, skipping large chunks, until she arrives at F.
Her eyes dart over the pages, hunting for the compound.
Ferralis Perforatum.
Common in the Matuli Desert of Caeloria—as she expected.
Advanced extraction technique required due to compound density, and therefore demanding a higher trade price.
Strongest known coagulation factor. Rubi swallows.
Her mind spins, taking in the information, trying to organize it. And mostly, trying not to let her mind spiral downward.How would she fight this? Fix this?Her chest tightens hard enough she thinks she might vomit across the pages. Sobriety turns out to be profoundly convenient for panicking efficiently.
And then she finds exactly what she’s looking for.
Highest level clearance required for import and export.
Rubi leans back slightly, her mind already moving beyond the page.
Ironsap is not rare in Caeloria. But it is controlled. Harvested in specific regions. Traded deliberately. It does not move in small, unnoticed quantities—it travels in caravans, in shipments that require negotiation, protection, approval.
Which means it is accounted for.
Which means someone knows exactly where it is going.
And exactly when it’s received.
Rubi closes the book with a quiet, decisive thud.
