Catalytic Silicate

"So she doesn't trust any recipe more than two zyugas old?"

Felix took longer than usual to answer, his stare into the crucible so quietly intense that Jhun couldn't contain himself.

"Careful, or you'll heat the silicate faster than we expect."

"What do you mean?" Felix blurted out, the worry in his voice much too earnest for Jhun to tease.

"I was suggesting the intensity of your gaze could magically heat the crucible," Jhun lamely explained. "As a joke."

Felix offered a smile of sympathy and relief.

"I was worried I'd mismanaged the spit."

Jhun patted Felix's shoulder reassuringly. Felix had spun the crucible spit for heaven knew how long at this point, never pausing or changing speed.

Jhun was ready to join the open world again. The laboratory was a cold, sterile environment, built from concrete and burnt wood all around, completely sealed in by wax. The "pressure-positive" air made him feel buzzy and odd, like his breaths weren't quite right.

Magic itself was odd. That was what made all of this so hard.

"Two zyugas sounds right. Onawa and Alex have said a bunch of times not to use references that old."

"Why not? Tals'Hayun recommended this one!"

"Just looking at it, it's a runic tablet, which means it's pre-Sekoya. Probably Zyuga Pioneer."

"Reform, Realmschism, Pioneer, Turmoil," Jhun recited. "To be fair, that's only two zyugas old. So what's the problem with pre-Sekoya records?"

"Well, they were before Sekoya."

"And he was that important?"

Felix's eyes widened.

"Of course he was! But there might have been more to it as well; I don't know. You'd have to ask Alex."

"I might do that," Jhun said, with no intention of doing so.

There was nothing to be done about the recipe's age, anyway. This alchemical process hadn't been performed in at least two zyugas—volcanic ash was the gardener's choice for all of living memory, despite the recent shortages. Zyuga Pioneer was as cutting edge as they would find.

Besides, the instructions were rather reasonable, unlike a lot of the convoluted, indecipherable tablets that Jhun studied in his childhood. Despite the ancient symbolism, this process was simple: Pack the silicate into a crucible sphere, seal it shut, and heat it on a rotating spit over a steady fire for seventy-two minutes. Luckily, nothing in the technology had changed enough to confuse even Jhun and Felix.

"So how do you think it looks at this point?" Jhun asked. He stared at the crucible, bluish grey under the intense heat of the burner. Over many hours, the table had gathered all sorts of clutter, ranging from steel tongs to glass beakers to alcoholic solvents to timing devices. Luckily, Yoza and his fellow alchemists had proven quite forthcoming with tools and gadgets, if not their time.

"I'm unsure of the readiness," Felix says, "but it's okay if we don't get this right. We have plenty spare extract, thanks to you and your hunt."

Jhun blushed. "I don't know."

His head still echoed with Ty's complaints and Yoza's reprimands. Ty had proven to be a good leader, taking the full blame for their decision to overstay. He could only imagine what Ty thought of him now.

"I'm not sure Ty's forgiven me, yet."

"Nonsense," Felix said. "Ty doesn't hold back when she thinks you deserve it, so it can be painful in the moment. But it's always been out of love, and there's always been forgiveness and joy after."

"So should I act like everything's normal, then?"

"Ah. No, that's not it."

"Then what?"

Felix scratched his head, leaning far back from the crucible as he did so.

"See how she acts. Use your gut."

"Eh," Jhun said. He spent a minute finding his next words.

"That sounds risky, Felix."

"You are correct."

They reflected in silence a while, until Felix tapped Jhun's hand in excitement as he pointed at the sandv̇glass.

"So," Felix said. "Shall we?"

Jhun wanted to look inside the crucible—Isn't that what Tals'Hayun said, to always keep checking for feedback from your processes and plants? But Felix had already told him no, transmutation requires exactness. Breaking the seal prematurely would ruin the heat distribution completely.

"The thing is," Jhun said, licking his lips, "I flipped the sandv̇glass early, I think."

"Oh." Felix's face fell too far. "How early? What. . . what do we do?"

"When you said 'ready' to mean you were going to seal it, I thought you meant you were setting the crucible on the fire, and I didn't realize until halfway through. But maybe it's okay? It was only a minute or two."

The despair in Felix's face gave Jhun no reassurance.

"Maybe three," Jhun added.

The sand trickle abruptly stopped in the timer, and the two boys looked to each other. They waited a minute, then another. Felix moved as if to grab tongs for the crucible but then paused for assurance from Jhun.

But Jhun was stuck. A moment too early could mean a wasted hour; too late could mean a wasted batch entirely.

He would wait a moment longer.

"Aiya, you still haven't finished?!" Luna cried out.

The boys turned to greet her, her windswept hair and flushed cheeks betraying an hour of bustle outside.

"Are you going to spend the whole damn day in this sad building?" Luna asked.

"Hey!" Yoza's distant objection went unanswered.

"I've been gone for nearly two hours, haven't I?" Luna demanded.

"I lost a bunch of time on the sealing part, but we're just about to crack it open!" Felix said.

Jhun cut in as Luna scanned the workstation.

"And I flipped the sandv̇glass early, so we've had to guess at the last few minutes."

Felix closed the gas valve, removed the crucible from the spit, and placed it carefully on the anvil before them. One swing of his hammer cracked open the seal, and out of the two halves spilled a thin, blackened water.

Nobody needed to say anything.

Jhun sucked at his teeth in disappointment. "Let's begin again, yeah?"

"I guess so," said Felix, grabbing a steel brush and a gourd of alcohol solvent.

"I can groom the leaves and give them an oil massage while you prepare the crucible," Jhun said.

"That's a great idea!"

Luna settled back into a seat between the two boys, her hard eyes taking in the scene of ineptitude. She kindly spared them her judgment, though Jhun could imagine it clearly in his head.

It shouldn't take two rited men half a day to complete this kind of recipe. I'm hungry! Why did I leave my cat for this!

"So what did Kanchana need?" Felix asked. "Not Zinny again, I hope?"

Luna groaned. "He snuck into the aviary as a tabby, and Kanchana is convinced he was about to slaughter the lot of them. But he was only chasing Tyran. That little pseudocritter probably deserved it, too."

"So you didn't bring him here?" Jhun asked.

"Into here? Are you mad? Yoza would throw a fit."

"Very correct, ḱosa." Yoza added from his station.

Luna paused and lowered her voice, ducking to hide her face behind a shelf on their left.

"Is he just going to listen the whole time?"

"Yes, I am," Yoza responded, his voice projecting even louder. "Every vibration in this lab is monitored. There are no secrets in here. Read the sign."

Jhun answered Luna's look of bewilderment with an oily finger pointed to the entrance. "The plaque says all business must be conducted in the open, and we can't expect any privacy. Did you not see it?"

Luna didn't seem to hear his question.

"Zingiber is in tiger form right now back at Ganadi. He's too liquid as a tabby. It's much easier to keep eyes on him like this."

Jhun leaned forward to examine the ewer plant's seven grown leaves. The oil revealed the green veins, pores, and fibrous hairs under the lab lights. It was eerie, but oddly beautiful.

"Maybe we can visit him at the ranch after this," Felix suggested. "If you two are free, that is."

"If you ever finish, that is." Luna said.

Felix snapped back to his crucible, his feigned concentration failing to hide a sheepish smile.

"I think the seal is good this time." He bounced the crucible on the anvil once to make a satisfying ping and caught it with both hands. "Ready to go?"

Jhun nodded, raising the sandv̇glass pointedly. "Tell me when to flip."

Felix secured the sphere onto the spit with a tension ratchet.

"Flip it."

Jhun flipped the timer as Felix commenced the slow spinning of the spit.

"Incredible work, boys."

The next few minutes passed in silence. It was not uncomfortable, the three watching in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Jhun had to ponder Luna's point—he couldn't waste much more time in the alchemy lab if he was to begin his search for Rowan's alkis.

If Rowan still expected it, anyway. Jhun hadn't heard from the prince since the hunt; days had passed with nary a pigeon nor a terrier.

"Do either of you know where I could find goldnectar? Or is there someone I could ask?"

"I would always start with Xochitl, who works at the plexus," Felix replied. "Our people are the natural experts, obviously."

"She's very kind," Jhun mused.

He couldn't be more grateful for that simple fact. Jhun's second visit to the hyphaplexus had gone much better than his first, if only because Rowan had introduced him to Xochitl, young and pretty and patient. She had explained to him not only the intricacies of the kipu credit system, but also the unwritten rules of the guild. In Sudalijhe'Yi, food and land were abundant enough that nobody had to pay for feed or keep. The only question was how a ranger could leverage their time and resources into greater, bolder feats.

As an attini, Xochitl could easily get Jhun's order threaded onto the exchange. All he'd have to do was ask. He could do it soon, if not by the end of the week.

But he couldn't get past Xochitl's final advice: Bringing her an actual plan or source would make the process much quicker.

"What kind of bounty do you think it would take?" he asked aloud.

"Probably a lot," Felix said.

"Do you truly think so?" Jhun was surprised, if only because Rowan had made it sound so easy.

"Who uses goldnectar anymore? You're not finding that at the Market, and a bounty on the exchange will cost you everything. Why not use something like June-maple sap? Or even agave? You could pick that from the garden."

"That's what Ty uses. Is goldnectar better than the maple sap?" Felix asks.

Jhun couldn't be sure—what could "better" mean?

"Hm," he murmured. "I'll have to ask Rowan."

"Good. Both options should be fine," Luna said.

"Tals'Hayun will be thrilled to share," Felix exclaimed.

Jhun nodded enthusiastically. "I'll have to go pick some just in case."

"Where is Rowan, by the way?" Felix asked. "He didn't go with Ty and all of them, did he?"

"Wait, are they still not back?" Luna asked. "Is that why Ty wasn't in class yesterday?"

Jhun shrugged, refusing to appear too interested.

"It's an important mission, after all, for important rangers," Felix said. The boy was indignant, if Jhun didn't know any better.

"Rowan's not with them. He's here at camp," Jhun said. "He's—er—busy, I think."

"It can't be easy juggling all of his responsibilities," Felix said. "I can't believe we're friends with a real prince, can you?"

"One of Mithran's many, right?" Luna asked.

"A dozen at most," Jhun offered.

"How many brothers can one person have?!" Felix asked.

They never did explore that question, for a lanky alchemist materialized by Felix with a note in his hand.

"From Kayin," Yoza said, his face covered by an intricate bifocal contraption, one that surely covered his vision. "That's the rookie from the egiell, isn't it? Xifo'Buchi tells us we should expect Kayin in the lab next cycle."

"Thank you," Luna said, taking the note with two hands.

"It's for Felix, actually," Yoza said. He abruptly left to bother another alchemist at their desk.

"So what does she want with you?" Jhun asked. His eye twitched at the slight incredulity in his own voice, but Felix and Luna didn't seem to notice. "Are you helping her prepare for the harvest festival?"

"No, they're errands for Alex. Hm." Felix shifted in his tiny chair. "She wants to get going within the next half-hour."

Comforted by Luna at his side, Jhun patted Felix's shoulder. "You can go without me, friend. I'll be fine alone."

The two looked at him at once, sharing a unity of expression previously unmatched—was Jhun being serious, and how much so?

Jhun could see the struggle on Felix's scrunched face as he searched for the right response, until suddenly his eyes lit up with a brilliant idea.

"It's simple stuff—just picking garlic with Tals'Hayun at the greenhouse, and then finding one of the blacksmiths for a few bars of silver."

"Faerie hunting, are we?" Luna asked.

"Basically—see, I knew you'd be perfect for this, Luna!" Felix just about exploded with excitement. "You know your way around the garden, which would be super helpful. Why don't you go in my stead?"

Jhun had never seen Luna's eyes or mouth so wide open.

"I. . . I don't know about that," Luna said.

"Why not?" Felix asked.

"She's expecting you, isn't she?"

Felix took his aluminum pen and painstakingly wrote a message on the back of Kayin's scroll.

"Who do I call for in here, if no animals are allowed?" Felix asked.

"Just give it to me, and I'll take care of it," Yoza called out in a resigned voice.

The aisupo trundled over to their desk, grumbling the whole time. "If they'd just fix the pneumatic engine and get me the duralum they'd promised, I could get the automatic system working, but with the delays. . ."

"We'll see what Kayin writes," Felix said with a grin.

"Hm." Luna shifted in her chair to bring up both legs and cross them. "So why isn't she with Alex?"

Felix splayed his hands out, palms up. "She didn't want to go. That's why Alex asked us to take care of these errands."

"Alex wanted Ty over Kayin?" Luna asked, making no attempt to hide her disbelief.

"They've been doing this since we were young," Felix explained. "Even though Ty isn't the greatest auramancer, Onawa helps lead her through the steps. I used to listen to them practice while Alex tended to her chores.

"Besides, when you go out on these kinds of missions, or when people ask you to do things with them, it's not just about getting the best results. It's also about assembling a group to spend time together. Alex, Ty, and Onawa have been apart all month. They deserve some fun."

Luna nodded. "Onawa is good."

"That reminds me," said Jhun, who realized Luna would be headed for the greenhouse. "Luna, could you watch out for that agave while you're out there?"

He looked to Felix for confirmation, which came enthusiastically.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't you be asking Felix?"

"She said yes," Yoza yelled from across the lab.

The boys watched Luna set down the tongs and stand from her chair.

"I'm sick of being spied on every which way. I'm glad to leave."

Luna turned to leave but took a second to gather herself.

"Please finish this up. Lunch at the Firepit, right? Hour and a half?"

"We'll see you there, Luna," Felix said, beaming.

"Can I use that?" Jhun asked, not waiting for Felix's affirmation before grabbing the chunky metal pen. He scribbled a message, marked Saya'Rowan Righs as the recipient, and stood up to find Yoza.

"I'm telling Rowan I can take care of the goldnectar," Jhun said as he walked off. "Keep up the great work, Felix."

The Ocona delivered a perfect performance, turning the spit at a steady, painstaking pace for another hour.

Once Jhun found his seat back next to Felix, his heart managed to settle again, and, with all the manual labor resting on Felix's right shoulder and elbow, Jhun found their time together quite relaxing. Seventy minutes passed in one comfortable yawn and chuckle.

Eventually, the last grain of sand dribbled through the neck of the sandv̇glass, and Jhun slapped Felix's shoulder with excitement.

"Let's go then, Felix!"

Felix removed the steel crucible and cracked it against the anvil again. This time, nothing pooled out—instead, Felix grabbed the sphere with a pair of tongs, dropped it into a wooden bowl, and slowly lifted the open crucible, revealing a thick flow of silvery resin. The tablet's depiction did the final product no justice; this was perfection.

"Do we let it cool, now?" Jhun asked.

"No," Felix said, shaking the last of the silicate from the crucible. "We pour it directly onto the plant!"

Jhun laid a light hand on Felix's massive bear paw.

"What?"

"That's what it says," Felix insisted.

Jhun scrambled for the tablet, his vision a blur as he tried to decipher the final two instructions of the recipe. After melting.

"It's cooling, Jhun. Do I pour?"

Silver. Pour. Jhun cursed his discomfort with Altic runes.

"Jhun? Do I pour? Jhun?" Felix demanded with increasing desperation. "Pour? Pour?? POUR?"

"OKAY DO IT."

Felix tipped the bowl over the plant pot.

Thirty grams of molten silicate oozed out, crushing the thick central stem of the ewer plant with a sickening sizzle. Half of the plant's leaves melted on contact, leaving behind only a thick smoke that smelled of a sour swamp fire. The rest of the plant collapsed into the silver pool, sinking slowly for a second before coming to a rest; before either boy could blink, less than a quarter of the original plant remained intact.

A draft came alive with a roar, pulling the smoke up into a hidden chute like Ty's lantern. The vortex whipped away the outpour of sweat on Jhun's forehead, cooling him down as his panic came to a boil.

Felix rubbed a surviving leaf between a thumb and finger, almost jumping in his seat when it broke away from the stem with a clean snap.

"Felix," Jhun said. His friend turned to face him, the guilt plain on his large face. Jhun took a deep breath, wary of misspeaking his feelings. He tried to process the utter devastation of his Horticulture project; he couldn't understand why so many hours of work had led to such a horrific result.

But it wasn't Felix's fault.

"We killed the plant," he finally said.

"Maybe," Felix mused.

Jhun stared down at the tablet, slowly working through the runes in a fugue-like state.

'After melting, release silver liquid from crucible. Pour over plant immediately.'

"Immediately," Jhun read out loud. "Huh."

They both nodded, staring at the mess before them. Felix poked the silicate with a tong and found a clink. Their silicate had fully hardened into place.

"Do you suppose we could find a new plant with Tals'Hayun?" Jhun asked. "Maybe they'd allow it if we actually went to get it ourselves. It's the Silverglades, isn't it?" Or was that the wrong type of ewer plant? Jhun couldn't keep it all straight.

"Maybe," Felix said sagely. "But first. . . let's just wait."

"Wait for what?" Jhun almost asked, but he noticed Felix's drooped shoulders and persistent frown, and he realized they could indeed wait.

Examining the tablet for nothing in particular, Jhun muttered, just loud enough for Felix to hear, "Maybe we've done exactly what we were supposed to. Maybe this is right."

He saw in Felix's eyes a child's watery hope for a miracle.

The Ocona rookie's shoulders heaved with a sigh.

"Let's go eat some lunch."