Demesne 287 - Pleasantly Surprised, But Slightly Disappointed (Patreon)

Lori ruined a perfectly serviceable jar by softening the earthwisps comprising its sides, and then slowly spreading out the material to make a vaguely bowl-shaped… thing. It was lopsided, but serviceable, and when stood on the base—the only part she hadn't touched—it was stable and didn't wobble… much.

Rian, for his part, went to gather fuel, returning with a basket filled with both firewood and some charcoal. "So, where are we doing this?" he asked cheerfully. To Lori's ear, it sounded like a perfectly natural cheer, rather than an annoying cheer, and therefore far less irritating.

"You've obviously been eager to do this," Lori said flatly. "I'm sure you have some ideas."

"Other side of the river," Rian said immediately. "Well away from anything important, and if it does explode, the river is nearby to douse any fires. Probably best if we do it in a shallow pit, so that any explosion is directed upward, and less chance that any debris flies towards us." He thought for a moment. "I should probably get a shovel, so I can clear out any soil we don't want to turn into rock."

With everything in hand, they loaded all the equipment aboard Lori's Boat. Riz still followed after them, mostly to make sure they weren't bothered by chokers or anything else growing wild on the other side. Lori thought she'd probably have heard if there was a large beast roaming the other side—at the very least Rian would probably have told her—so another guard probably wouldn't be necessary. There were still no clouds threatening rain, which was fortunate

On the other side of the river from the docks, a pile of cut ropeweed was stacked, waiting to be taken across. Since they'd begun harvesting this side late in the year, there was still plenty of ropeweed to harvest. Rian waved at those who looked at them, but fortunately he didn't stop to talk. Instead, he led the way towards a rocky part of the shore. "Here should be good," he said. "If you reshape the rocks a little, I don't have to dig, we'd have a decent recess to set the fire in, and we can be well back once the fire's lit and we've added in the white stuff."

Lori didn't really have a preference—she was mainly doing this experiment out of morbid curiosity—so she simply shrugged and waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, then," she said. "Get me more rocks."

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As it turned out, white Iridescence thrown into open flame didn't explode. It didn't even burn.

"Are we doing something wrong?" Rian asked. He looked almost betrayed as he glared at the latest fire, this one fueled by pieces of charcoal that had been ignited by wood shavings and tinder. "The color of the flame isn't even changing! Are we sure that it's in the fire?"

"You were the one who carved out the piece of charcoal and put the white Iridescence in it," Lori said. "Unless you were careless with placing the charcoal, it should still be there. After this many iterations, I can only conclude that white Iridescence neither ignites nor reacts to direct heat."

"Or the temperatures needed for it to react are far higher," Rian mused.

"Rian."

"Yes, your Bindership?"

"You're not taking note. Take notes."

"Ah, right, sorry, sorry." He began to write. "So… what does this mean, exactly?"

"White Iridescence is clearly an inert substance," Lori mused as a Riz based back and forth behind the two of them, either watchful and vigilant for chokers or bored out of her mind and restless.

"Inert to heat," Rian corrected, "and only up to… well, however hot our fire is. We haven't put it in a vitriolic substance that's doesn't contain water." He paused, his writing pausing for a moment. "Though I'll admit, off the top of my head I can't think of a vitriolic substance that does not, in fact, contain water."

Lori tilted her head as she tried to remember. It had been so long… "I think a substance only becomes vitriolic or caustic after interaction with water."

Rian sighed. "So, absolutely no point doing those tests, since it will just dissolve into the water…?" He frowned. "Or would the White Iridescence be mixed into whatever the dissolved substance was when all the water is evaporated?"

"I see no reason to test that at the moment," Lori said. She had reached the edge here, and wasn't willing to go beyond into the colors. "And unless you can think of a good reason to try, you will leave the subject alone."

Rian began to stroke his chin, looking thoughtful. Eventually, he said, "All right, maybe there's no reason to try to find out if White Iridescence is inert to a vitriolic substance with no water in it, but just because we can't think of anything doesn't mean some can't. But yes, I suppose in this instance we don't have to go that far. And hey, we found out we don't have to worry about fire damaging our product! That's something, right?"

Lori supposed that as one way of looking at the results.

They'd placed the white Iridescence in firewood that smoked and, according to Rian, was releasing some still from residual moisture, and in nearly-smokeless charcoal fire. They'd put the substance right next to open flame, and on portions that were actively on fire, and in all instances, the white Iridescence had simply lain there. The shards had gotten hot, which Rian had found out when he'd touched one of the samples after pulling it out of the fire. but beyond that the samples hadn't reacted. No change in color—after they'd gotten the ashes off—no noticeable change in shape that implied deformation, no strange smells coming up with the smoke, and contrary to Rian's hopes, no energetic combustion or violent explosion. There hadn't even been a little pop or sizzle.

It was honestly an anti-climactic result. "Honestly, it's an anti-climactic result," she said. "While I did not wish it to explode the way you did, such an outcome would have been understandable and usable in a conventional way. This lack of result, while intellectually interesting, does not bring to mind any further avenues of experimentation and inquiry."

"I was notwishing it would explode," Rian said with theatrical offended innocence. "I simply thought it would because that seemed like the logical result. Iridescence explodes, after all, so it's only logical to assume this does too."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Well, come on, get the bowl and the last sample so we can get back to working in the alcove."

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In the alcove on the third level, Lori set aside the samples that had been fire-exposed. While they had no visible differences, it would probably be best to set them aside for any further experiments, in case something had still changed that wouldn't be obvious unless they were used for something else. She couldn't conceive what that could be, but best not to risk it…

For a moment, she just sat on one of the benches on one side of the alcove and stared at what was laid out before her. At the large bead that had its semi-transparent shell with its bizarrely directional properties cracked open, revealing the cloudy white insides; the small collection of stone containers in one of the niches, filled with the white Iridescence they'd previously extracted for experimentation, set aside so they wouldn't get mixed in with the source sample; and the box with her glassware and equipment. To one side, Rian sat quietly, the bone tablet balanced on his knees, charred stick in hand and ready to write. Lori half-expected him to pester her with suggestions for things they could test, but he remained silent.

Eventually, Lori stood up and reached for the stone container on which had been inscribed the words 'anchor sample 1', and checked if there were any wisps still anchored to it through her connection to her core. Carefully, she shook the contained white Iridescence, simply watching as the pieces moved. They didn't clump, since clumping was a reaction with moisture, but the different sizes of the pieces meant they didn't all move the same way.

Lori reached into her equipment box, and drew out her metal tweezers. Instead of using them to pick up a piece, she hung it from the side of the container so that one tine was touching the samples. Drawing lightwisps out of the air, she made a simple binding that emitted light and anchored it to the white Iridescence in the container, making sure the binding was contacting the tweezers.

A glow began to emanate from the container.

"Um, is that something I should take a note of?" Rian asked.

Yes, she supposed she should… "Affirming previous findings," Lori said. "Wisps anchor onto white Iridescence, and remain anchored after the imbuement is consumed, as well as retaining the binding." She hadn't put a lot of imbuement in it, but it would still be a few moments before the binding stopped glowing. Lori got to her feet. "I have to go get something. Stay here and make sure no one enters to alcove. Do not disturb the sample."

"Yes, your Bindership!"

By the time Lori came back from her room with a handful of the beads she had made this morning, the lightwisps were no longer imbued, and the container of samples appeared empty. She nodded. "Note: the imbuement has run out, but as per previous results, the lightwisps remain anchored, and the binding remains intact. This despite the lack of imbuement." Reaching back into the equipment box, she drew out a pair of springy metal tongs with curved grippers meant for lifting certain kinds of hot glassware. Pushing the tongs open, she reached down to clamp one of the beads she had with her—

Lori paused, then looked at the tongs in her hands. At distinctive copper sheen, darkening slightly in some spots with patina. "side note," she said. "Inquire with the smiths if they know how to make springs using copper, and what other metals and equipment they might need to do so."

Rian blinked, and also stared at the tongs in her hand. "Huh. I should have thought of that. Making a note of it, your Bindership. The smiths probably know, they just haven't brought it up because it wasn't relevant or needed for anything."

He was probably correct about that. Lori couldn't think of a use for springs made from copper off the top of her head at the moment, but knowing it was a possibilitywould be useful for the future. "Continue the notes. The test setup is arranged as follows: a stone container filled with white Iridescence. Anchored to the white Iridescence are lightwisps in a binding that is meant to radiate light. The binding contains no imbuement but persists because of being anchored to the white Iridescence. A pair of metal tweezers hangs on the side of the container. One tine is intersecting the binding of lightwisps.

Lori paused a moment to allow Rian to finish writing, then continued when he nodded. "Further equipment is as follows: a pair of copper spring glassware tongs and a wispbead, undenominated. The bead is gripped in the tongs, directly contacting the metal to allow for seepage." She opened the tongs and clasped the bead in the curved grippers as she spoke.

"Observational note," Rian interrupted, still writing. "Seepage is probably currently happening, because you're holding the tongs and you're surrounded by some kind of warmth binding you keep forgetting about."

Lori blinked, then blinked again as she realized Rian was right. She hastily put down the tongs that gripped the bead. She glared at her lord, who gave her an innocent look of the borderline-annoying kind. "Get over here and pick these up," she said. "Give me that tablet."

Rian put the charred stick on the tablet and held it out to her. Lori took it carefully, but the charred stick still rolled off. Sighing, she put the tablet on her lap as Rian bent down and handed her the stick. Taking it in hand, she ignored the way it smudged her fingers as she held it like a pen or stylus, ready to write. "All right," she said, "pick up the tongs—don't let the bead fall out!—and carefully touch the metal of the tongs to the tweezers hanging on the side of the container."

Her lord nodded, picking the tongs up by the grippers and the bead—which was actually a good idea. Lori wished she'd thought of it—and carefully moving it until the coiling spring at the fulcrum of the tongs made contact with the tine of the tweezers that hung from the outside of the container.

Light suddenly glowed from the container of white Iridescence.

Lori nodded, making a note of it. "Remove the tongs from the tweezers."

Rian complied. The light vanished immediately.

"Contact them again."

Light.

Lori nodded. "Rudimentary bound tool constructed."