Prompt: Science time
“Can you teach me something today or are we just going to be cleaning all day?” Ayron asks as we organize the lab, a rather boring but necessary part of lab safety. “The sooner we finish this, then the sooner we can have lunch and then perhaps after if you aren’t too tired I can teach you something.” I respond while dusting off one of the higher shelves. “I’m never too tired!” He protests, though I disagree. More than once I’ve found him asleep on the floor of his room in the middle of playing with his toys. With renewed vigor the little boy diligently helps with whatever tasks he’s capable of helping with. Most of it involves dusting off things closer to the ground, placing books that had been left out back on their shelves, and putting things in boxes to be given away or discarded. “What’s this?” I hear him ask while my back is turned and find him looking very curiously and too close for comfort at a rather expensive piece of glass equipment. “Not for little hands.” I tell him, taking the glassware and putting it somewhere he can’t reach…not like that’s stopped him before. On more than one occasion I’ve found him scaling the bookshelves in order to reach a book on the higher shelves, a tactic he probably learned from Uupse.
Having had the object of his curiosity confiscated he sits down on the carpet with a huff and announces his boredom. Looking around the lab looks much better than when we started, though there are still a few tasks to be done. To occupy Ayron I give him a short list of tasks to help finish things up while I manage to put away the last of the more delicate equipment. “Lunchtime?” he asks now that everything is put away in their respective places and I nod in confirmation. Not two seconds later he runs off down the hall and out of sight, I follow a few minutes later at my own pace. These old bones can only take so much when it comes to keeping up with children, especially Ayron.
Lunch is simple and consists mostly of leftover rice mixed with vegetables and a few other things. Beyte and Delte pass by as we eat, discussing something about the cost of groceries and other necessities for the month. That reminds me I need to send Mistress Dratha another message inquiring about the possibility of the medication for Beyte we had been discussing in the attempt to keep the girl a bit more grounded to this reality. My own research involves the study of disease, but most of it is in regard to physical symptoms and in particular the manifestation and transmission of Corpus disease. Mistress Dratha prefers to study the mind and all its capability for developing abnormalities, and both of us were quite concerned when Beyte began experiencing delusions at the start of puberty that have persisted ever since. I write myself a note before I forget to contact Dratha later this evening if I get a chance once all five children have gone to bed, Azura knows the old woman rarely sleeps these days anyways.
“What’s that?” Ayron asks, trying to get a look at the note. “A reminder to talk to Mistress Dratha about something.” I tell him before slipping the scrap of paper into a pocket. Ayron makes a less than pleased face upon hearing her name. “Why do you have to talk to her?” He asks before adding “She’s old and mean and scary.” Ah the joys of raising very outspoken children, I’d forgotten the two of them don’t particularly like each other. Originally I thought that either Uupse or Alfe would be the most problematic when it comes to sarcasm or very blunt remarks, but it seems that Ayron has more of that in him than either of the clones do. “1. She’s younger than me so be careful who you call old. 2. She’s not mean, she's just very busy and rather paranoid sometimes. 3. Mistress Therana is infinitely scarier.” I respond to his second comment first while I think of a way to answer the first question. “And as to why I have to talk to her, we have been discussing a science question and what to do about it. That’s all I’ll tell you.” Ayron leans in closer across the table and whispers “Is it a secret? Because I’m really good at keeping secrets.” He grins and nods to confirm. “The last time I told you a secret you told Delte what her birthday present would be two minutes after I told you.” I whisper back, no secret scientific research for you Ayron, maybe when you’re older. To that he frowns and sinks back into his chair, staring at me silently for at least a minute before returning to his typical demeanor and going back to finishing his lunch.
After lunch and an afternoon cup of tea are finished the two of us return back upstairs. “Now can you teach me something? Please?” Since he asked nicely and we don’t have anything else to do for the day I agree and pull out some of the alchemy equipment. Most of our lessons recently had been focused on continued levitation practice and some simple conjuration spells, but all good mages should be proficient in at least basic alchemy and enchanting. I think enchanting may have to wait for a bit though, he’s still capable of disenchanting objects but still hasn’t mastered soul trapping to the point of having enough soul gems at the correct power levels. Enchanting an object with a petty soul gem is pretty useless compared to a grand soul gem.
“Do you know how to make a healing potion?” I ask him, as he did have some basic knowledge of magic before coming to me, or really before I stumbled upon him while passing through farmland on a trip back from Vivec. “No, but I can cast a healing spell!” A good skill to know, but not what I asked. “Alright then, that’s what we’ll do today.” I ask Ayron to grab me a few ingredients from the cabinet which he does while happily humming to himself. Next we grind them up into a fine powder and suspend them in a liquid. “Now you just mix it together until everything is combined and it will be done.” Ayron looks into the potion bottle at the mixture and back at me with a look of confusion and slight disgust. “People really drink this?” He asks and I nod to which he once again looks at the mixture and back at me. “That’s disgusting.” I shrug “It’s medicine, it’s usually disgusting. If it was drink that or death what would you do?” Ayron looks hesitantly at the bottle and for some reason sniffs it before very matter of factly stating “I would rather die!” and pushes the mixture away from him. I cover my mouth with a hand to keep myself from laughing for a moment and eventually remind him the potion is still in its unfinished state, he still has to completely mix everything together.
He does manage to mix the ingredients into the liquid until completely combined and the potion is finished, though even then he maintains that if given the option between death or drinking it, he would choose the former. “It’s not that bad, a potion of smithing on the other hand, that’s bad. Besides, at least it's not a needle.” That leads to a remark about his hatred of needles and a question about why blacksmiths would need potions. Smithing is a difficult job, especially when working with armors such as bonemold or enchanted weapons. “To put it simply, everyone can use a potion or two, that’s why science is so important and alchemy is so useful. Now you’ve learned two things for today- how to make a healing potion, and blacksmiths have tough jobs." With that lessons are officially done for the day, though Ayron hangs around the lab for a while longer as I do my own work and simply observes me working.
Eventually he grows tired of watching and wanders off somewhere else, I see him again at dinner before he disappears again and I find him once more in the room Delte and Uupse share playing a rather intense game of what seems to be War or similar card game with Delte as Uupse keeps score. They seem occupied enough to not notice my presence and having looked into Alfe and Beyte’s room I found them both asleep. Now seems as good a time as ever to see if I can get a message to Dratha about our project regarding Betye and her condition. Even if it fails, it would be an advancement in the field of science.
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