Teaser Tuesday: The Mystic Marriage (Chapter 23)

[hrj]

Jeanne would have laughed at the thought that she might spend a sweltering summer in Rotenek doing alchemy. Certainly all her society friends would stare to see it. And yet, here she was...and there was no place on earth that she would prefer to be.

* * *

The work was more meticulous now, more subtle. They hadn’t the range of roles to test many new recipes but there were small improvements to be made, changes to develop the purity and brilliance of the stones. Antuniet had taken one brief passing suggestion DeBoodt made for cibation: growing the stones as a pearl grows, layer on layer, refiring each cleaned and polished drop with fresh materials. The technique showed promise, but failures flaked and shattered like ill-tempered glass. Antuniet thought the temperatures were the key: too low and the layers failed to wed, too high and threads of slag were trapped beneath, destroying the purity of the stones.

They made good work the next morning. The pale straw-gold of the gems emerged slowly from the embracing waste. Antuniet took the first to come free and tapped it gently then more sharply with a small jeweler's hammer. As one, they all let out a breath of relief when it stood firm and whole. “A good lot,” Antuniet proclaimed, slipping the stone into the waiting pouch and taking up her chisels again.

Comments

[hairmonger.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! The entire description of the alchemical process was just delightful.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

[hrj.livejournal.com]

And this is why I don't plan my plots too far in advance. The way the alchemy became a continuing metaphoric backbone for the story was something that evolved, not something designed-in.