• Memory • I have a question, Associate prof. Tethys.

[Sintih]

Ashan, 43rd, 711th Arc
Training Grounds, Andaris

Sin paced back and forth at the edge of the training grounds. Where was he? Two times in a row now? What was that scholar doing to him. He didn't want to waste time here like this either but Sintih had been coming here none the less. Every two trials, like clockwork for the past two season and a third. But two trials ago, Sin had stood here for a break waiting for Doran before he decided to do some simple exercises on his own. All in all, a waste of his time. He hadn't even gotten a good warm up out of it. Today, it seemed like it was going to be much of the same again. What could Doran possible be doing that was so much more important than his training sessions with Sintih? He wouldn't stand for it.

Things had been going a little better between him and Doran. While he never said it, Sin felt respect for the scholar who kept beating him with his sword. His anger had been kept more in check as well, with not a single vocal outburst in the past season. Sin had switched from his father's longsword to a shorter and lighter version on Doran's recommendation and it had worked out so far. Not a lot of time had been spent on actually training with it, instead Doran had made him go through countless breaks of mundane exercises to build up his muscles and stamina. After all that, Doran thought he'd just let him walk all over him like this? An appointment was an appointment. Stick to it, Skich. Sin put back his training sword and grabbed his cloak before heading out.

Same Day, 43 bits later
Rynmere University, Andaris

At some point in his life, the majestic building that was the university of Rynmere had dropped a much younger Sin's jaw to the floor. Holding his mother's hand as she brought him in, his eyes had sparkled and he wished he'd had eyes in the back of his head. There had been so much to see here. This trial, however, none of the mystic majesty remained as Sin strode into the main hall of the university. The pendulum swung its usual swings, unnoticed by the Eidisi youth. There were desks against two walls with clerks working, keeping notes on whatever they were working on. Some paid attention to Sintih as he walked right past them and towards the teacher offices. Maybe it was the fact that he walked so intently and precisely towards it or perhaps someone recognized him but he was left alone as he walked.

It was only by the time he'd passed the second name on a door that Sin realized that he didn't know if Doran was actually a teacher here and, if he was, what his last name was. He doubted anyone called him professor Doran here. Did the man even have a last name? His mother had certainly never used it that Sin could remember. She was far too fond of and friendly with the man to use his last name. Turning around on his heels, Sin marched back out and towards the information desk. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Doran. He's like a teacher here. Or so he told me, at least. I wouldn't hold it against him to lie about that. Do you know a Doran, by any chance?"

The man behind the desk looked up from his work, a little shocked by the young man's words. His prestigious university ears weren't used to such a language. He pushed the spectacles up his nose as he looked at Sin for a moment, trying to size the man up. "Doran... Doran... Ah, I think you might be looking for associate professor Tethys. H-.." Sin turned away and started walking back towards the teacher offices. "Right. Thanks. I'll find it." Tethys, Tethys. What a strange sounding name. It didn't fit with Doran, Sin thought. He looked over the plaques on the doors until he got to associate professor Tethys' office. After a single knock on the door, Sin tried the handle to storm in but nearly hit his head as the door was locked. Frustrated that the man would be such a hassle to find, Sin shook the door handle before turning away from it, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

The sound of a door opening and closing came from down the hallway and Sin watched a young man dressed in student garbs come out of one of the many offices located here. Keeping himself from sprinting down the hall, Sin walked as fast as he could to catch up with the student. "Hey, you there. Yes, you. Do you know a guy named Dor-... associate professor Tethys? His office is locked and I don't know where he is." The student seemed as perplexed by Sin's approach as the man at the desk but he was equally quick to respond. "Associate professor Tethys? Ah yes, I believe he's teaching or working on something. He should be in his usual classroom. I can take you there, if you like." Sin nodded and walked with the student as they moved down the hall and around the corner towards the back of the building.

When the student pointed him in the direction of another closed door, Sin thanked him and headed for it. What was Doran doing that was so much more important than his promise to a woman he, as he claimed, held in such high regard? Sin could understand that the man was busy outside of their bi-trialy sessions but they'd had such a good thing going for the past two seasons. They had never missed a session and Sin had learned to complain less in the last few ones. Well, there were those few times when Sin had trouble with his body and getting to the field had been an impossible task. He'd explained after the first time and Doran had told him that he would come to his house next time to make sure things were alright. Since Sin didn't know where Doran lived, harassing him at his place of work seemed like the next best thing to do. Opening the door slightly, Sin peeked inside, trying to see what was going on and if he could spot Doran.

[Doran]

The Mortalborn felt as if he were dealing with a race against time. He had barely slept the previous night or the night before that. He had only spent a break here and a few bits there at his desk, with his eyes closed. He had found that those brief naps, combined with the occasional cup of coffee had allowed him to keep going and stay somewhat focused where he would have broken down from sheer exhaustion otherwise. Soon even that wouldn’t be enough anymore, but fortunately his work was almost done.

He just needed to finish the final ingredient. He took a small container with almost colorless stones – calcites – and spilled them onto the slab of steel that was lying on the table in front of him. With a hammer he broke the stones into small pieces. Having done that, he used a granite mortar and pestle to grind the fragments into a fine powder. He allowed himself to sit down for a moment then. The muscles in his arms hurt from the exertion, and his hands were trembling ever so slightly. He needed a short break to recover at least some of his strength.

A few trials before somebody had vandalized the classroom. He was not sure if it had been a thief or a student prank gone wrong, but the end result had been the same. The glass fronts of the cabinets where he had stored the chemical and alchemical substances that he used during his lessons as well as some of his own work had been smashed, and a good part of the substances themselves spilled and thus rendered useless.

He was supposed to hold a major exam on the 44th. His students needed to conduct an experiment during it, and he needed to make some of the necessary chemicals from scratch now. For a while a colleague had helped him, but the woman was busy now, and thus he had sent a messenger to Sintih’s house, informing him that he would have to cancel their appointments.

Besides that, he also needed to complete an order for a noble lord that wanted something that would allow him to make any object glow in the dark. He had figured that the best way to accomplish what his client wanted was to grind a phosphorescent stone, such as calcite, make some sort of paint from the resulting powder and thus transfer its properties onto the target before he sealed it in order to sure that the phosphorescent layer would not be washed off again the moment the item in question got wet.

The resulting glow would not be permanent - the item needed to be recharged regularly by subjecting it to a light source - but he was confident that his client would be content nevertheless. Since he had been so pressed for time after the destruction of his previous work, he had worked on the necessary components during what were normally his breaks.

It was a good thing, he decided, that he was not a full professor for the time being, although he was not sure how long his superior would last, given his ill health and certain mental issues – the man seemed to have a penchant for explosions. The added responsibilities would likely have made it impossible for him to finish everything on time.

He had just poured some alcohol into a bowl. The powder he had created had a lower density than water and was thus almost impossible to disperse in said liquid. It would just float on top. That problem was solved by mixing the powder with alcohol that was less dense than water first. He was just about to do that when he noticed that the door was being opened. He set both the bottle with alcohol and the container with his calcite powder down and turned his head towards the door. As he saw just who was standing there, he furrowed his brow somewhat. It was the last person that he had expected.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, in a tone that was not entirely unfriendly. The past seasons had lessened his dislike for Beira’s son somewhat, although they were not exactly best friends yet. To his surprise the boy had demonstrated a certain willingness to learn and was not entirely stupid after all. “I’m almost finished with my work, so if there’s anything you need …”, he continued and gestured for the false Eidisi to come in.

Sintih would see that, while he was as immaculately dressed as ever, Doran had dark circles under his eyes and seemed somewhat pale, although it was not enough to be a cause for concern.

[Sintih]

When he peeked in, Sin saw Doran standing over a desk of some kind, working. He watched as Doran put down a bottle of some liquid and a container with powder in it. His first thought as Doran turned his head was wondering why Doran would be baking at the university. When he made eye contact with the scholar, Sin pushed the door further open. Was this the reason for Doran missing out on training? Some sort of experiment? The scholar beckoned him to enter and Sin stepped in, closing the door behind him. Despite how he felt about the man, his mother had raised him properly.

As Sin stepped in, Doran would find the young Yludih dressed as always. A rather new, but showing signs of wear, suit of leather armor covered him from shoulder to toes. Sin had decided not to buy the helmet as it got in the way more often than not. It was obviously a set buy as the armor showed the same coloring and similarities from the chest piece to the gloves and the boots. While the coloring was much lighter than the first armor Sin had ever seen the scholar wear, it was undeniable that he had picked up on Doran's armor preference. The short sword he used required mobility and only the leather armor could provide it properly. The gloves that belonged to the set were hooked in his belt on his side, revealing the two scar lines running over the back of each of his hands.

Sin walked to the other side of Doran's worktable. There were various tools spread out over it and when he looked up from them to Doran, Sin noticed that the man, for the first time since he'd known him, looked like he'd missed quite a bit of sleep. Ignoring the question Doran had asked him for now, Sin leaned in towards the bottle and sniffed the air. He then dipped his finger into the powder on the steel slab, rubbing it onto the table surface. Satisfied with his inspection, Sin looked up at Doran and raised an eyebrow. "Really? You stood me up twice in a row so you could cook with alcohol and... chalk?" Sin's voice went up a little at the end, indicating that he wasn't entirely sure what he'd put his finger into.

While Sin's knowledge of alcohols and chalks was limited to recognizing the basic forms, he had spent quite a few arcs under the tutelage of his mother who had had her finger in roughly every subject pie the university had to offer when she was still working for it. That it was chemistry came from his knowledge of Doran, who his mother had claimed was very skilled at it despite his age. Sin's knowledge reached just far enough to know some basic elements and that chemistry was a thing people studied and that it had to do with investigation of the properties of all things that existed. It basically meant that Doran was a bookworm who spent a lot of time with various substances trying to find out what they did to each other. Something along those lines.

"So? What are you doing?" Sin didn't realize that he was simply returning Doran's question to him until he'd finished the sentence. Like it wasn't nice to ask for people's names before giving your own, answering questions with other questions was equally not done. "I was waiting for you but you didn't show up for training. That's two times in a row now. I thought maybe something had exploded and I wanted to see how badly you had gotten burned." That was also something he knew about chemistry. Things tended to blow up. While things hadn't changed very much between Doran and him, Sin felt a little more connected with the man. He didn't want to use the word friendship when it came to Doran. Not yet, at least.

[Doran]

He had been so sure that the boy was improving and that he was not a lost cause. He was dressed appropriately for a fight, he had accepted his new weapon and even turned out to be somewhat skilled with it, but as Sintih walked over to his worktable and proceeded to sniff the bottle and dip his finger into the powder he had just created he wondered if he had been wrong after all. He could not believe his eyes. For a moment he actually wondered if he had begun to hallucinate due to his lack of sleep before he abruptly pushed Sinti’s hand away lest he touched the powder again or tried to drink from one of the bottles of acid that were standing nearby.

“Explain to me”, he ordered him and looked directly into his eyes, momentarily ignoring the accusations that Sintih had thrown at him. He would address them later. “Why you thought that walking into a laboratory and touching an unfamiliar substance would be a good idea. Some of the things that I experiment with are toxic. This could have been one of them. You know that I’m a chemist and alchemist. You should have been able to guess.” He capped the bottle of alcohol in front of him tightly. It was much too strong to be drunk, and he did not trust Sintih around it.

“I am not cooking”, he informed him matter-of-factedly. “What you can see here, Sintih, is alchemy. The crystals I’ve just ground are phosphorescent. That means that they glow in the dark”, he explained, in case Sintih had never heard of phosphorescence before which he considered to be highly likely. “I am trying to transfer that specific property onto a material that does not normally glow. If I manage to find a way to strengthen the glow, this could eventually become a safe alternative to candles and torches”, he continued. For a moment the tone of his voice was not just cold and polite. There was real passion, and there was a shimmer in the Mortalborn’s eyes.

He looked at his work before he abruptly turned to inform Sintih why he had missed their training sessions. A part of him felt bad about it which was strange considering that it had not been his fault. Apparently, he realized, he had begun to care about the boy at one point during the past seasons, to some extent at least and almost against his will.

“I asked one of my students that lived near you to stop by and tell you that the laboratory had been broken into and that I needed to record the damage as well as replace the substances that had been destroyed as well as a few personal projects. Apparently he never showed up. As for my being burnt, I’m afraid that the perpetrator missed me by a few breaks. As you can see I’m unhurt.”

“Is that why you came here?” he asked, somewhat amused. “To see if I finally managed to blow myself up? Or do you actually have a question for me or want to offer your assistance?”

[Sintih]

When Doran verbally lashed out at him, Sin was taken aback. Almost instinctively, his brow tightened together in a sign of beginning anger. He thought they'd made some improvement but it seemed like only he thought so. He pulled his hand back as Doran pushed it towards him. Right, fine. No touching. I get it. As Doran spoke, Sin let his eyes glide over the man's outfit. It told him everything he needed to know to give his response while trying to control the smug look he had on his face. Tried and failed.

"You're not wearing any gloves or mask yourself. There was no stop on the bottle from the moment I opened the door until I sniffed it. The powder is being kept out in the open were air could move it easily. Those things tell me that neither of them could cause even irritation if touched. And you're working in one of the public classrooms, which my mother told me are sometimes open for outsiders as well so you wouldn't keep instant-kill poisons of any kind here no matter what. Also, you've got some powder on your own hands." While the last wasn't true, Sin just wanted to try and make him look. Doran seemed wholly uninterested in his antics as he started explaining what he was doing.

While the way he delivered the information wasn't really to Sin's liking, the fact that Doran explained what phosphorescent meant was nice of him. The word was so out there that Sin didn't mind not knowing about it until now. Who even used that in a daily sentence? Recently, Sin had begun to realize that he didn't want Doran to think of him as an idiot or a weakling or useless anymore, so he made a mental note of the word. In all his time he'd known Doran, Sin had never heard the man speak so passionately about something before. When he explained in short what he was working on, Sin felt a tug somewhere deeper within, something that hadn't happened in a good decade. Curiosity spurred on by this man? No way.

"Wouldn't it just work if you glued the phosphor powder onto it? Or just use the crystal before grinding it?" Alchemy was not a subject Sin was up to date with. It had passed in mention, much like chemistry, but his mother had never discussed it in more detail. He knew it was sort of a hybrid magic, not requiring the spark that he needed to rupture with. Anyone could learn to use it with time. That was about all he knew about it. But his curiosity had been drawn towards it now and Sin was looking at the various tools on the table. The plate was obviously for grinding down the powder Sin had so carelessly stuck his finger in. He had little to no good ideas as to what the rest of the equipment did.

His attention pulled back to Doran hearing about the burning. He had actually been joking about that but someone had actually burned something here. When Doran questioned why he was here, Sin didn't have an immediate answer. "I'm glad you're fine, then." It slipped out before he could think about what he was saying and Sin all too happily moved on to his questions. "I just came to see why you weren't in for training two times in a row. I must have missed that student then." Sin let his eyes wander over the equipment that Doran was working with as he reached for the cloak hanging around his neck. Stepping away from the main table to put his cloak and gloves on one of the many empty ones, Sin spoke. "Can I assist? I've never done alchemy but it looks interesting. How does it work? Do you need some ether because I can get you that... What's the alcohol for?" Remembering Doran's previous warning, Sin pointed at the bottle instead of trying to grab it.

[Doran]

“True”, the Mortalborn replied calmly as Sintih pointed out that he was wearing neither gloves nor a mask. “You are very observant, but there are possible explanations for why I’m currently not using any protective gear apart from the fact that the substances that I’m handling have a low toxicity. I could have taken my gloves off shortly before you came in. Maybe I wanted to drink something.” He gestured towards the half empty cup of coffee that was standing nearby. “Maybe I wanted to take a break because I was tired. Maybe I felt an itch somewhere and wanted to scratch myself. Maybe I’m working in a somewhat public place, but store the actual chemicals that I’m working with somewhere else.”

He raised an eyebrow as Sintih claimed that he had some powder on his hands, but did not look, although it was quite possible that he had gotten a few grains of it onto his hands or his clothes when he had created it from the crystals. Instead he gestured for the false Eidisi to come closer. He was surprised that the boy had noticed so many details. He had not expected him to, despite the fact that he had shown himself to have inherited some of his mother’s traits after all during the past seasons. His wording did as always leave something to be desired, but that, he decided, was something that he would be able to work on.

“This powder here is harmless”, he admitted and handed a small dish where he had gathered some of it to Sintih so that he could take a closer look. “But in general my warning still holds true. Don’t touch anything you don’t know unless given permission and unless you know all the details.” Whatever leniency he might have had, probably the result of a lack of sleep, disappeared as Sintih started to speak about phosphor. Had he not explained to him what kind of powder he was experimenting with just a moment before?

“This”, he informed him and gestured towards the powder. “Is not phosphor powder – or rather phosphorus as would be the correct name for the substance in question. Phosphorus, white phosphorus to be exact, is toxic, highly flammable and self-igniting, meaning that it automatically starts to burn upon coming in contact with air. As I‘ve already told you before, what you are seeing is phosphorescent powder.” He put a noticeable emphasis on the word ‘phosphorescent’.

“It is derived from crystals that are commonly called calcite. There are other crystals that are phosphorescent and even some living matter, but I chose calcite for its relatively low price and its availability”, he explained. The tone of his voice was somewhat calmer now. As Sintih spoke about using glue, he looked at him, considering him for a moment before shook his head and he replied, “No, I don’t think so. It’s an interesting idea, but how exactly would you go about it? Every single millimeter of the target material needs to be covered otherwise the glow effect will be imperfect. Even if you succeeded and managed to glue every single grain of powder onto the target, it would take trials. As for just using the crystal before grinding them …”

He narrowed his eyes somewhat. While Sintih’s first idea had had some merit, this one seemed completely ridiculous to him.

“No, that is not an option at least not for what I have in mind. What I decided to do was to disperse the powder in alcohol and create a paint or maybe a paste from it and then simply paint the target material as a painter would his canvas. The phosphorescent effect will only be superficial of course. One could possibly achieve a stronger effect by perhaps melting the target material, adding the crystal powder to it and then letting the mixture harden. One might even be able to make glowing weapons and armor with that method, although I have no idea why anybody would want something as flashy.”

He nearly shuddered at the thought of knights dressed in brightly glowing plate armor.

As Sintih asked him if he could assist him, he nodded curtly. Some of the boy’s statements concerned him, but even the most brilliant scientists had started out relatively ignorant. Besides, if Sintih practiced alchemy in his presence he would be able to keep him from accidentally hurting himself which seemed better than the alternative to him.

“I already explained what the alcohol is for. Perhaps you could disperse the powder instead of me. While you do that tell me what alchemy is or what you think it is and in which way it differs from magic on one hand and mere chemistry on the other hand. You have some knowledge of magic. You should be able to come up with a satisfactory answer.”

[Sintih]

Before Sintih had noticed it, exercise master and trainer Doran had shifted into university teacher Doran as he explained just about everything he could about the things he was working with. Phosphorus, smosphorus. Who named these things so similar when they were so different? One was a harmless glow-in-the-dark powder, the other was a highly volatile, automatically exploding when in touch with air powder. Whoever named it should have gone with Explophorus instead, that would have made it easy to set apart from the others. But they hadn't so phosphorescent and phosphorous it was.

While Sin had no idea what all this was really about, it seemed that Doran did consider his first idea for a moment, entertaining it for the briefest trill before finding a reason not to use it. His second application was shot down even quicker. Fine, so no gluing or using the entire crystal. He wondered what the difference was between gluing the powder to the object and applying a paste. Both had the same merits and faults within them. There wasn't anything stopping the paste from having a less powdered spot or for it to be spread out unevenly. But Sin kept those thoughts to himself. Instead, he focused on the use of glowing weapons and armor as a strategy. "It could actually be pretty useful if you had half an army with glowing weapons at night... Every second soldier. You'd only look half as strong from a distance and in a very open formation, weak against charges. It's the same principle as ordering only half the amount of cooking fires to be lit... And sentries would never require a torch when their entire armor lights up like one."

He lingered on the concept for a bit, letting it mull around in his head but his attention went back to the now when Doran asked him if he wanted to help out. The opportunity came with a bunch of other instructions and orders and Sin had an eerie feeling as to the why of his mother and Doran's relationship before Sin was born. Slowly reaching out for the bottle of alcohol, giving Doran time to stop him if he was already doing it wrong, Sin nodded. "I'll disperse some powder for you, sure." If he wasn't stopped he'd grab the bottle and slide a small glass over to himself as well. He poured a little bit alcohol into it, to start off in case he did it wrong, and took the container with the powder in it.

"Much like the fact that you being a university professor doesn't mean you know everything about every subject handled here, me being a magic user doesn't mean I know about -all- magic. That said, I know alchemy is like, a mix, a hybrid. It does magical things but doesn't require anyone to initiate into it, unlike other magic. At least, that's what I understood from the brief introduction my mother gave me... As to how it differs from chemistry, I'm not really sure. I think, maybe, chemistry is more discovering and testing while alchemy is applying? Like your powder here. You need chemistry to find out it's phosphorescent, and not phosphorous, and that it can become powder and alchemy to apply it to something else that shouldn't be phosphorescent."

While Sin did his explanation, he poured some of the powder into the alcohol and put the container down. Picking up one of the many elongated metal pieces lying around he assumed were for stirring and such, Sin started stirring the concoction. When he got to the phosphorous part of his example of the powder, Sin glanced towards Doran. He wanted to see if he could spot if he was impressed with what a quick study his student was. For two seasons now, Sin had made very little progress despite Doran's seemingly endless exercises and their bi-trialy training sessions. But reading and listening and then retaining information, that he could do. It wasn't anything special, like hearing or reading something once and then never forgetting it, but with almost twenty arcs of book study, you pick up certain tricks and skills.

When he finished explaining, Sin held up the alcohol and powder stir he'd just created before showing it to Doran. "How about that?"

[Doran]

As Sintih suggested supplying every second soldier with glowing weapons at night in order to make an army look smaller, Doran looked at him abruptly, thinking about what he had said, before he inclined his head a fraction, a sign that he approved of the boy‘s idea.

“I had not considered that”, he admitted. Only the barest hint of reluctance was audible in his voice, but he held himself as straight as ever, and the expression on his face didn’t change. “It would be an interesting strategy, but you would have to find an alternative to the crystals that I’m currently using. Calcite is fine as long as you don’t intend to make more than a handful of glowing items at once, but my current method is not suitable for mass production, I’m afraid. Acquiring enough crystals to supply an entire army with weapons that glow in the dark might be a problem.”

That was also the problem with the alchemical lights that he was working on. While calcite was among the cheaper gems, it would be hard to acquire enough of them to supply every single household with them. He was confident that he would be able to strengthen the glow enough that it would allow somebody to read a book without straining their eyes, but as it was his alchemical lights would only be available on order, and there would likely be a waiting time.

“Perhaps”, he pondered and looked at the chemical and alchemical apparatus around him for a moment before he turned to face Sintih again. “It would be possibly to create an artificial substance that mimics the properties of calcite and then apply it to the weapons. If the phosphorescent substance were to be used on weapons, it would a good idea to also include a deadener though that would allow the user to turn the glow off again just like you extinguish a torch.”

“There are times when a soldier would rather not be seen”, he added, although Sintih was without a doubt aware of it if he possessed any manner of military experience.

“I don’t expect you to know everything about magic”, he informed Sintih. „Your answer was in essence correct however. Alchemy allows you to do magical things without being initiated into magic and without possessing a spark. It is a Practice rather than a Discipline, and it has few of the usual side effects associated with magic. I assume that your mother warned you about them before she initiated you?”

He raised an eyebrow and added, “I do not mean Overstepping, but the physical changes that are inevitable if you want to advance in your chosen Domain beyond a certain point.” Those changes, those mutations, were one of the main reasons for why he had decided never to become a mage, apart from the fact that a part of him still considered magic to be a perversion of the soul. Magic changed you. It could turn you into a monster and make you unrecognizable, a monstrous exterior to match the monster inside.

“Your comparison between chemistry and alchemy was partially incorrect however”, he spoke. There was nothing condescending about the tone of his voice, not anymore, it was merely matter-of-fact. A part of him was impressed, although he would hardly ever praise his students outright. “Chemistry allows you to change things as well, but as you said only alchemy allows you to seemingly go against the laws of nature and handle magical ingredients. Only alchemy allows you to create potions that enhance the body and give you abilities that you do not normally have.”

Having said that he turned to watch Sintih. To his surprise the boy was quite meticulous. Perhaps, he thought, he would be a better scientist than a warrior. Perhaps he was more Beira’s son than Rudi’s. The thought of Sintih’s mother who lived in some sort of crystal city now, inside a dream, made him wistful, but only for a moment before he handed Sintih the next ingredient – a bottle of water.

“Alcohol evaporates quickly”, he informed Sintih. “For that reason we’ll add a bit of water now. Or rather you will”, he amended, deciding that there was no harm in letting Sintih continue and turning this into an impromptu alchemy lesson. “Once you have added water, I want you to take a spatula and disperse the powder more evenly before we add a binder medium, in this case a type of resin.” He pointed at a glass container that contained a clear and somewhat sticky substance.

“That is the final step before the mixture can be applied to the target material”, he spoke and stepped back to watch Sintih again.

[Sintih]

Sin was surprised that he felt at ease here, talking about applying glow in the dark powder to knight equipment and its benefits and disadvantages. That it was easy to talk about or interesting wasn't the surprising part but that it was like that with Doran surprised him. Their relationship had improved over the past two seasons but nothing like this. It was more a lack of killing attempts from Sin's end and, what felt like, less insults from Doran's end which had made their relationship more bearable.

Sin listened as Doran explained that he couldn't supply a large enough amount of calcite to light up half an army in the night. "I guess that is a tall order..." Sin remained lost in thought for a moment, almost automatically stirring the alcohol and powder together. After a few trills he suddenly raised his head, eyes sparkling. "What if you made a glow in the dark flower and then planted the seeds? Wouldn't you be able to glow... grow the ingredients you needed?" In his haste, Sin's words tumbled over his tongue on the way out. His stirring had momentarily stopped while he was talking about the flowers.

Doran continued speaking, this time about his magic and how it worked, as if Sin didn't know. He ignored Doran's questions about his knowledge on magic and the changes that came with it. For several arcs now, Sin had felt that things were shifting around and, while it was normal for a Yludih, it still felt different from his own ability. Moving on Doran focused on the answer Sin had provided to his question before. He explained to Sin what was right and what was wrong about it in a very matter-of-factually type of voice, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. When Doran explained about alchemy's ability to enhance the body through potions, his eyes locked with the man, trying to determine if he meant to say it in general or for Sintih specific. But Doran didn't seem to talk about anything in particular.

The experiment continued as Sin was handed a bottle of water to add to the mix. He poured about as much water in the mix as alcohol and stirred for a while longer. He didn't speak much, just glanced in Doran's direction every now and then to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong. As long as he wasn't, Sin kept stirring until he finally put his tool aside and picked up the spatula Doran had told him about. He started to press the powder down into the mix, trying to make sure there was no clear water or alcohol in his mix anymore. With a little pushing and poking he managed to spread the powder out rather evenly across the whole mix.

He tilted his glass so that Doran could inspect the contents while he put the spatula aside and grabbed the glass container Doran had pointed out. "So I just add some of this and stir it again or..." He left the rest to Doran as he poured some of the resin into the mix. It flowed slowly, like a sticky liquid would. Sin had learned enough today not to go an touch things without permission so he simply waited for the resin to flow out. Unlike the water or alcohol, the resin dropped down like a stretching rope and only broke when he twisted the container away. With the last ingredient in the mix, Sin followed Doran's instructions to mix the whole together again.

"Is there a particular reason you're doing this? I mean, glowing rocks are interesting, I guess, but shouldn't you be doing bigger things with this? Like combining trees with humans so they can regrow limbs like leaves or stone that grows into the shape of a house if you pour water onto it? Maybe even something that just kills people when broken so that we can toss it into the enemy camp and be done with it. Save the lives of a bunch of knights that way. I would think those are better applications of a skill like alchemy..." It was quite clear from the tone of his voice that Sin didn't really believe those things were possible and that they were simply examples.

[Doran]

“That”, Doran slowly spoke as Sintih suggested making glow in the dark flowers. “Might work. If one managed to transfer the phosphorescent properties of calcite to a plant …” he murmured and abruptly grabbed his notebook to write a few things down before he forgot them again. He decided that he would have a few words with one of the professors of biology to see if what he had in mind was at all feasible after he had finished his current project and was done with Sintih. Although he knew how to use plants in alchemy and medicine, he knew little about actually growing them.

“Add all the ingredients and stir until the mixture is completely smooth”, he told the boy. Once Sintih was done, the Mortalborn walked over to the windows to close the curtains one after the other. If Sintih looked at the bowl in front of him he would be able to see that the mixture he had created had begun to glow. His work was successful.

“Occasionally”, he explained to Sintih as he opened the curtains again and joined him at the table once more. “People will come to the university and ask for an alchemist to make something for them. They tend to pay well. One of my clients wanted a substance that makes any item glow in the dark, and I decided to see if I could take this project further.”

He shrugged his shoulders and he began to put the items that they would not need anymore away. “Besides, the phosphorescent substance we just made together serves as a safe introduction to alchemy for somebody who has little scientific experience”, he continued and cast a glance at Sintih. He’d wanted to see how meticulous he was and see if he had any sort of patience, both traits that he considered to be invaluable for a scientist.

“If you ever decide to enroll at Rynmere University, you will find that I normally do not let my students practice any sort of alchemy before the second arc of their studies and let them make things such as litmus paper or matches for another couple of months until they are completely familiar with the basic principles of alchemy."

“Alchemy”, he pointed out. “Is inherently dangerous, especially if one handles explosives or begins to explore potions, blood magic or divine magic. I’m not sure if there is any sort of potion that allows the user to regrow a lost limb, but a potion with some sort of regenerative property is certainly possible. I have been working on a few medical projects, such as a substance that will hopefully stimulate a patient’s cardiovascular system and a potion that will allow you to see air currents. Perhaps we can take a look at them sometimes.”

As he said that he realized how much he had missed them, the conversations with Beira and how they had explored the possibilities of chemistry and alchemy together and helped each other with their research. Perhaps, he thought, he would never be able to work with her again, not unless he found a way to get her out of that strange crystal city, but he could teach her son so that he would hopefully follow in his mother’s footsteps.

Sintih seemed to have matured somewhat recently, although he wasn’t sure about using his inventions to save knights. In all the time that he had lived in Andaris the Mortalborn had found little reason to trust them or like them, finding them self-righteous, arrogant and largely useless.

“I am currently also working on a substance such as the one you speak of”, he revealed after a moment of hesitation. Even after all that time he found it hard to admit to himself that his initial assessment of Beira’s son might have been wrong and that he possessed a certain amount of genuine talent after all. Besides, Sintih seemed to be interested in his work, and a part of him felt flattered. This, he realized, was what it could have been like if he had had a son of his own, somebody to share his discoveries with.

“There is a small meadow that is enclosed by walls nearby. I occasionally go there to conduct experiments that are not safe to handle in a classroom that is open to the public”, he said. “I want you to meet me there in half a break. I need to finish a few things here first. I will give you a brief demonstration and might even let you do some things yourself – if you follow my orders exactly.”

With that Sintih was dismissed for the time being. Hopefully he would remember a few of the things he had learned that trial and not immediately forget everything again the moment he walked out of the door.