Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

After A Shimmer in the Sand

Ashan 28, Arc 721

It was already comparatively late in the trial when the Mortalborn finally finished his work and had time to take a closer look at the resources that he had gathered that morning. He had originally considered doing so in Vega’s and Arlo’s camp, but the evening was just so lovely that he had changed his mind and simply placed a blanket on the ground outside of it. There was something about the island and the people of Hopetoun that spoke to him and that filled a gap that he hadn’t even known existed so far.

There was a sense of community. The people of Hopetoun looked out for each other, and they were protective of each other. They had, obviously, wondered about him when he had arrived two trials before, but he had never felt like an outsider, or as if he wasn’t wanted here. Viden was his home. He had finally reached his goal and become dean. It was his aunt’s city. A part of him needed to be surrounded by ice and snow, but another part of him enjoyed what he had found here, even though, or perhaps because it was so different.

In Viden he lived in nearly overwhelming luxury. Life here was comparatively simple on the other hand. That didn’t matter though. In fact, a part of him couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he were in a place such as this one instead, at least for a while. For a few moments, he turned his head towards the sky where the stars would appear soon and said a silent prayer, to thank Xiur and Daia, that he had been forgiven, for a second chance, and for Hopetoun and the kind of companionship that he had found here, because Darius Baer and his settlers had created something extraordinary in his opinion.

As he looked at the containers that he had filled with orange sand and with red Rubrum Berries, as he looked at the two colourful shells that he had found, he decided that he would make something for the settlers, that he would give something back, even if it would only be something small – and he already knew what it would be. Hopetoun was still very much a work in progress. There were still a lot of things that needed to be done. He would give the settlers something that would make their lives a little easier, something practical.

And he already knew what it would be.

With that thought in mind, he approached one of the settlers in order to communicate his plans to them. A few bits later, he was back at his spot near Vega’s and Arlo’s camp, carrying a basket that was filled with the objects that he would alchemificate (He had decided to use the word that Vega had come up with from now on.) and proceeded to unpack his alchemy kit and set up a temporary workspace. Some of the settlers looked at him curiously as they watched him. He smiled at them and offered to let them watch if they wanted to.

This would be a gift for them, after all.

When he had alchemificated the glass panes for the beacon the trial before, the son of Ziell had simply created some sort of alchemical paint and subsequently submerged the glass panes in it. A slightly modified version of the recipe in question, with orange sand instead of yellow sand, would work very well now in his opinion. With that thought in mind, he positioned a small tub on the ground in front of him and cleaned it thoroughly, just in case, before he proceeded to check his tools.

He did not think that a grain of dirt or two, or a stain somewhere, would have much of an effect on the alchemical process in this particular case due to the nature of the reagents that he would use; he would never work with equipment that was anything other than spotlessly clean though. In his opinion using dirty equipment was something that was just not acceptable.

Once Doran had put on a pair of protective gloves – he always wore gloves when he worked, even if he used reagents that were not dangerous – he grasped a metal sieve in order to sift the orange sand, remove larger particles from it and ultimately purify it. He did not only sift the sand once though. After he had discarded the particles that had been caught in the sieve the first time, he sifted the sand a second time, and a third time.

Contamination was always a risk when it came to alchemy. It could cause unforeseen side-effects or render the item in question entirely useless if you had especially bad luck. Neither of those things were likely to be the case here since he would be working with natural and reliable reagents rather than more volatile magical reagents; there might be gaps in the alchemical effect though which was something that he didn’t want. Even if there was a gap in the effect somewhere, the items in question would likely still do their job; in his opinion, the people of Hopetoun didn’t deserve anything but perfection though.

You didn’t give people a gift that had flaws.

Just like the trial before, he used water as the base for his alchemical mixture, a carefully measured amount that he poured into his tub. The sand was measured as well, with a scale (he did not use all of it) before he added it to the tub and began to stir the mixture with a wooden spatula, thoroughly, until it had been dispersed completely. Finally, he added a binder that was based on linseed oil. A binder would not only ensure that the reagents that he used would not negate each other; it would also keep the alchemical paint in place after everything had dried.

The items that he had decided to alchemificate were pots and plates; if everything worked as it should the settlers wouldn’t have to worry about their food cooling down anymore as the orange sand would keep it warm. The fact that the pots and plates would contain food was the reason why he had decided to only alchemificate the outer surface of the items in question. None of the reagents that he would use were hazardous to one’s health; he wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea if food came in contact with them regardless.

As he would only alchemificate the outer surface of the plates and pots, he needed something to strengthen the effect slightly so that the food would still be sufficiently warm, a substance that was called a metabolizer. He decided on very finely ground pepper which constituted a natural metabolizer, measured a small amount and added it to the alchemical mixture.

Once he had done that, he moved on to what would be the last step before the actual enhancement. He treated the outer surface of the various pots and plates with a primer, in this particular case a type of liquid that had been mixed with resin (the same kind of primer that he had used for the glass panes; it would work just as well in this particular case). A primer was something that was necessary in order to prepare the item for receiving the enhancement.

Not every item required a primer; he tended to add one in order to be on the safe side regardless though.

While he waited for the primer to dry – he had put his items upside down on a wooden drying rack for that purpose – Doran turned to look at the Ignis Clam shells that he had found in order to think about what he could possibly make with them in more detail. For a moment, he considered crushing them in order to create some sort of heat-resistant alchemical powder that could be applied to other items; there was something so unique, something so beautiful about the way that they shimmered that he was loath to destroy them though.

Instead, he simply got a clean piece of cloth and began to polish the inner shells, thoroughly, until they shimmered like miniature mirrors, and he could see his own face in them, a miniature mirrors that he would be able to take with him, to remind him of those precious moments on Scalvoris, and of the peace, before the war had truly begun.

Finally, the primer had dried, and the son of Ziell proceeded to remove the pots and pans from the drying rack, nodding at a settler that had approached in order to take a look at what he was doing. He put on a clean pair of gloves – he would not reuse his old ones but wash them first – and set his items down on a tray, upside down once more. He had thought about how exactly he should go about applying the alchemical paint for a while – simply submerging the items in it would not work as he only wanted the paint to cover part of the surface, and he would waste a lot of mixture if he just poured it over the items.

Eventually, he had decided on using a sponge in order to apply the alchemical mixture, checking his items on a regular basis in order to make sure that he didn’t miss a single spot. That was a rather time-consuming activity, but one that did mind; in fact, there was something meditative about those repetitive actions, something that made him feel calm and relaxed, almost as much as sitting on the beach and listening to the sound of the waves did.

While he waited for the items to dry - there was a slight shimmer to them now, due to the sand - he cleaned up his temporary workspace, and cleaned his tools, and then he packed up the pots and plates in order to return them to their owners, just as evening finally began to fall.