Flannel

Couldn't find a better word for effect conveyed by perspiration so I went with diaphoresis.

I want to get this out ASAP so I'll add the rest of the notes later tonight.

Chapter 23! Come on up to the Lab!

In contrast to the Mana Fountain, the Right’s huge, two-story atrium Alchemy Lab was vastly superior to Justin’s expectations. Both floors of the bow wall were covered in apothecary’s cubbies, drawers, and cabinets like Taiko’s office had been, all labeled and presumably stocked – Justin had pulled a few open to check. The port and starboard walls closest to them each had, at a guess, equipment cabinets on both floors, with washing stations taking up the farther halves on the bottom.

The center was divided in half by three large double-sided blackboards suspended from a brass – probably naval – theater rigging grid attached to the ceiling’s fly loft, along with Sunwood chandeliers and lanterns of the same material. Thanks to the banks of unshuttered windows composing most of the stern wall, there was no need to light them as yet. Two long tables with grey stone tops ran parallel to the blackboards on each side, above an odd looping pattern of brass tracks on the floor.

On the starboard side of the room there were three rows of three large square tables, each topped with a 2x2 checkerboard of white and black stone, over granite pedestals.

Intriguingly, those were locked into place with seesaw levers at foot level, over what looked like three sets of the brass rails inset into the floor, like smaller versions of what urban trolleys used. Justin followed them with his eyes to the solid partitions between the windows on the starboard wall, where the tracks turned vertical, climbing to the ceiling.

Justin’s eyes tracked to the chains, pulleys, and handled wheels on that wall to either side of each, and he muttered, “Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” under his breath.

“Brother?” Taiko said. He continue to almost hover over Justin, like a mother unprepared for her child’s sudden combination of the ability to walk with their gross ignorance of environmental dangers. . .and even more unsure how to handle it herself, both emotionally and practically.

“Come help me with this,” Justin said, moving to the nearest vertical rails. Yes, there were the locking pins at the floor, and next to them vertical bars – also yes, geared at the bottom, connected to handled wheels at waist height. Justin looked up. More locking pins, these synched to gearing at the top of the bars. He kicked free the lower locking pins, and spun the wheels attached to the bars, which pulled out the pins above.

“Grab that wheel and start turning when I do,” Justin said. Taiko took position, gripping the handle.

“I don’t understand,” Taiko said. “Are the tables supposed to. . .attach to the walls? And be raise – oh by the Dawn -”

Justin had planted his foot on the wall and pushed as he started spinning his own wheel. The top of the wall, a good twenty feet up, cracked free of the hull and began folding outwards from the base. As it lowered, the effort needed to spin the wheels increased slightly, and a thin set of railings and banister began rising diagonally out of either side. Then, once the platform it was becoming had passed the 45-degree angle, the strength needed became even greater, as a further matryoshka extension inside the wall began extending outward as well.

“Whoa, this is way too cool!” Justin enthused. “It must be for tests and ingredients and concoctions requiring direct sun and moon and starlight! Kick the tables free, roll ‘em on out and in again as needed. Neat! What do you think, Taiko? About ten rods -” thirty feet “- long?”

Something heavy clonk!ed into place below as the fully extended platform reached horizontal. Justin crouched down to peer underneath and see supporting buttresses locked in place and the shallow channel in the hull below up from which they had been drawn as the platform descended. Super cool! he thought. Dad would have loved this!

“What in the Stars is that!?” came the voice of the Right’s helmswoman from above. “Nothing like that was ever installed – where – how -”

“It’s all good!” Justin shouted up. He trotted out onto the platform – which felt solid as a rock, no flex whatsoever – and turned to wave up at her – Bari, right. “Post-investiture modifications, Bari, courtesy of the Dawn and Book Smarts!”

“Er – yes – Prominence -” the woman said. “Ah, thank you for explaining?”

“You’re welcome! ‘Scuse me now, I need to get familiar with everything else woohoo!,” Justin said, returning inside.

“And those?” Taiko said, pointing at two enclosed, separate structures occupying the center of the port side of the room, like small temporary buildings.

“Armored brewing stations, I’d guess,” Justin said. “Alchemy explodes sometimes, right?” It certainly did in. . .those. . .xianxia novels.

“It is – not unknown -” Taiko said, getting somewhat wild-eyed again at the prospect of yet another tangible, and worse, probably approaching risk to his god-given charge. “Ju- Brother,” he said, “may I ask – must you hurry so? Are there reasons for your. . .haste?”

Justin found it both amusing and admirable how the old monk could condense the emotional sense of ‘your damnfool recklessness verging on the pathological’ into the pronunciation of one single-syllable word.

“I don’t know what the Contract’s going to throw at me when It and the Dawn get back from working out whatever it is they’re doing wherever it is they are,” Justin said, shrugging. “And we both know the moment I get far enough away from the Chloe I’ll have to defend myself. Which reminds me; we need to strategize with Tzo about my legal standing before that happens.” He added another note to his list.

“But, that said, I take your point,” Justin continued. “I’ve – we’ve, sorry – gotten most of the time-critical things on my schedule done. We’ve completed So- ah, the Dawn’s instructions, so all that’s left is getting the seed stocks into storage. If you think we can get that done today -” Taiko’s almost frantic nods of agreement at the prospect of slowing Justin’s roll made him smile, “- then yeah, you’re right. I know there was an objective reason beyond that, though. . .oh! Right, I didn’t want to take up too much more of Pei and his people’s time -”

“Shouldn’t be a concern, Prominence,” Pei’s voice came to them from the second floor balcony. They looked up to see the Master Shipwright leaning on the banister above. “After that display of the Dawn’s favor earlier, I had folks arguing over who got to stay and advise you and yours. Look, I’ll say it all, laid straight and knotless; I was uncomfortable about sailing on the Or- your Chloe – for the reputational risks more than the impiety.

“At first I thought you were some absurdly rich tourist brat spending his parent’s money, who’d bought the Church into finally closing the Chloe’s books at a profit. Never would’ve thought the Dawn might’ve tapped you for a Prominence, or the Chloe for your. . .uh, Kyoku?”

“Hmmm. . .I don’t recall any formal classifications – there have been so few Prominences, after all. Kilari’s farmhouse on her Peak is considered a Sanctum now, but -”

“Home, gentlemen,” Justin said. He recalled how much easier it had been to think about, about, literary preferences, a moment ago, and gave it a try: “Chloe is my. . .home.”

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

For once, saying something like that, with its personal double meaning, wasn’t anywhere near as agonizing as it usually was. Bad, but not – disabling, as it had been. There was no hitch in his awareness, no need to repress his pain. That was. . .not funny, not odd – abrupt. He’d never say it was too soon; suffering was no honor, but to recover this far this quickly, after only one breakdown into grief. . .

. . .oh. That’s not why – or not all of why; I’m sure it helped, but – it’s because I’m finally making progress. The Plan is in motion, and it’s working. That’s got to be it.

Something deep inside him - some twisted, furious, raging tangle of loss and hurt and anger - unsnarled a little further as he consciously acknowledged that.

He opened his eyes. Pei and Tzo were politely looking away from his blind display of – whatever had crossed his face while he was thinking privately. Only Taiko was still watching him, a curious mix of sympathy and – was that recognition in the old monk’s eyes? Something for another time. Dinner.

Justin didn’t have many positive triggers. Honesty like Pei’s, though, was definitely one of them, and he decided to reciprocate. After all they’d done for him already, Taiko and Tzo had more than earned that respect and trust, too.

And more practically, it was a great opportunity to shut down any possible plans of theirs to hook him up with someone, which was and likely always would be one of his biggest negative ones.

“Chloe is my dead wife,” he said, “and ‘right here, Chloe’ were my last words to her.” He caught the flicker of unease returning to Taiko’s expression, and held up a hand. “Taiko, I know better than to try and resurrect her. Almost every legend and myth and even story I’ve heard all uniformly make it clear that it would be self-destructive madness. We even made a deal together; I- ” he swallowed, “I promised her I wouldn’t.”

. . .and I don’t think you’re ready to hear about her end of that deal yet, he thought, so I’ll keep it to myself for now. . . .

“I won’t marry again, gentlemen,” he continued. “Or court, or take a lover. All this,” he swung an arm around, indicating the entire thousands-of-square-feet Alchemy teaching and multi-user lab he’d specified in his Contractual Addendums, “is primarily because cures were the one specific Alchemical product named when I was offered this deal. Possible external market pressure aside – and I still don’t know rare such things are – from a personal moral and ethical standpoint, I didn’t want to be the sole bottleneck to providing them.”

“And they’re the fastest way to raise your standing with your security,” Ougo rumbled from the ground floor doorway.

“That too,” Justin said, nodding. “I tend towards the view that practicality is a hallmark of virtue.” Ougo returned him a short head-bob of agreement.

“So! Pei, anything else, before I interrupted you?” Justin asked.

“Was only going to say how a Prominence hasn’t appeared in centuries, and you’re barely man-high and a foreigner on top of it.”

Justin felt a touch flattered that the no-nonsense Shipwright hadn’t bothered to add no offense or something similar to his characterizations.

“I suppose I should make it clear that I’m a Xenopote too,” Justin replied, gesturing at the Lab again and bracing himself. But only Pei reacted visibly, and it was only to lean down to rest his forehead on the banister as he laughed.

“A Voidspawn Prominence!? Ohohohoho! That explains a few more things!” Pei chortled.

“Including why so many of the young pride of the Church are out there in force,” Ougo said. “The embroidery alone for your defeat or capture is an irresistible prize.”

“Then all the more reason to get brewy,” Justin said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, much as Pei had at their first meeting. The main difference this time was the manic mad scientist grin spreading across Justin’s face. “Ougo, is there anyone with Alchemical experience among your troops?”

“Several. Norodo is the best,” Ougo said. “Though her skills are secondary to her position as our chief chiurgeon.”

“Well, with your permission, let’s get them all in here and cracking away at this. Those seeds I was poking at earlier? Void materials, from my previous home. Not a patch on -” he halted, as the translator failed again, “- uh, painter’s-brush mold broth filtrate, yikes, for medical value – but I think there’s a good chance they’ll be Alchemically potent.”

“I have some familiarity with the craft as well, Brother,” Taiko said proudly, “and yes, ‘Void materials’ as you put it are highly likely to have great potency, and not just in Alchemical terms.”

“Good; that gives us two team heads for testing. First item I want researched is the Fountain water: minimum amount needed for enhancement; maximum amount applicable to an effect; ratios thereby -”

- Taiko had his scroll out and was writing it all down as quickly as Justin was rattling off his list -

“- what kinds of effects can be enhanced; how many kinds at a time; ratios for that; can enhancement choices be pre-installed by will or other means. . .oh, and practical testing should focus as exclusively as possible on cures, sleep or disabling poisons - particularly exhalational and if possible diaphoreinic - and specific antitoxins to those for that sweet parallel development synergy. After that, the beans inside the {coffee} -” huh, there were no words close enough in Riben, and more importantly, he could use English here; very good to have that confirmed, “- cherries and the {cacao} pods, with an initial eye towards speed enhancement for the former and general health and overall improvement for the latter.”

“Elemental interaction should be a primary priority also, Brother,” Taiko said, and as Justin grasped the meaning of the words, the Alchemical knowledge he’d been promised began to unfold within him.

Alchemy, as practiced in this world, followed the cyclical generative-restrictive Chinese elements model: Wood fed Fire, which created Earth, which produced Metal, which gathered Water, which grew Wood, and so on. Likewise, Water put out Fire, which melted Metal, which cut Wood, which separated Earth, which absorbed Water.

Alchemical ingredients had varying amounts of varying affinities with these elements, which were further complicated by their purity, age, processing, contamination. . .a dizzying array of characteristics. These in turn fed into a complicated chain of interactions involving containers, orders of introduction, timing, heat, pressure, solubles, catalysts; the insertion of personal or extraneous mana or chi, which – along with other reactions - could be affected by willpower, incantations, formations –

- but not, Justin noticed, grabbing onto the absence like an infophile clutching a rock in a stream of data trying to sweep them away – music. Oh, there was rhythm, and tonal chants, but nothing really melodic was used – not even chords.

Guessed it, he thought. Not triumphantly; not yet; whether its absence in the craft was oversight or irrelevance had yet to be determined. But if it was the former, or a similar reason, then he might have another ace – no, hundreds of decks of aces! to leverage both his new skillsets with.

“Brother?” Taiko asked, sounding concerned.

“Sorry! All good here, I got overwhelmed by finding out how complex Alchemy can be. Master Pei?”

“Aye, Prominence?”

“Would it be possible to do some private designing for me? As in absolutely secret privacy?”

“For the right price, yes,” Pei said. The interest in his voice suggested the price might be a lot less dear than otherwise.

“Oh, Master Pei,” Tzo said, cheerily, “I can absolutely assure you, price will never be an object for our Prominence. Heheheheh.”

“Normally an Advocate laughing like that about money would send me straight out the door,” Pei riposted, “but I’m listening."

“If one had the means to physically lift one of the Chloe’s hulls with a contained pulling or pushing force, and then impart motive force to it while elevated, what kind of attachments or cradles would be necessary to do so safely and successfully?”

Pei whistled, while Ougo came to that quivering professional attention again.

“Flight?” Tzo whispered.

“I’d. . .have to think on it a while, Prominence,” Pei said, his voice distant as he began considering the idea. “No idea how the Celestial Palaces get around, but. . . .”

“No rush. I just wanted to raise the topic and get on your schedule.”

“Long past done that,” Pei said.

“Glad to hear it. Taiko, please start transferring the Fountain water and setting up for the testing, and be ready to hear music out of nowhere. Ougo, Tzo, if you would accompany me back to the Security section? That’s where I put the master audio controls, and it’s time to check those out.”

Flannel

We're now on the first pages of the Wishes tags by popularity too! Increase in readers and favorites is consistent as well, and almost everyone who reads past the Prologue continues to the latest chapter!

And most incredible of all, I have three patrons already! I figured it was possible, so why not, and I put the page up, but I didn't expect it to happen.

Thank you all so much!