Haeli listened quietly without interrupting. She nodded occasionally and met Johanne's eyes when the girl seemed to quiet. The witch didn't want to interrupt now that the other was starting to open up and talk. She spoke, giving tidbits about her life but no details. For example, she gave her place of birth as a town with rubble, but named no names. Perhaps an astoot person well versed in Mizahar geography would know of from where Johanne came, but to Haeli the description was elusive. Not Lhavit, that much was for sure, though now they they all lived among peaks, it wasn't hard to pinpoint that description as their home here.
When Johanne questioned her, Haeli shook her head. "No, there were no people at all, especially humans. Once in a while, perhaps a couple of times a year, we'd see someone stop and come ashore to trade. My mentor had a reputation as a very powerful witch and she often traded things from the Gyvaka for things we could not get. My hatchet came from one such trade. I did very well for myself that day. I don't think I even saw another human until I was fully grown, maybe four years ago. Ozantha kept me away from the traders. They were dangerous." Haeli added.
She nodded when Johanne suggested the ink. She sipped at her tea and then gathered up all the moss of the variety she'd pointed out to Johanne, and beckoned that the girl follow her. They moved through the shop, passed double doors, and into a lab area filled with glassware. Haeli relished it now that she could get it. In the swamp their vessels were of plainer sorts, baked clay left to harden in the fire for days. Glassware was superior to that in every way.
The lab was an assault on an organizational minds sensibilities. Wild vines grew everywhere and seemingly formed themselves into brackets of their own accord that Haeli affixed shelves too. Jars lined every surface above the counter top, filled with all manner of things. Potted plants, handy for Haeli's work, grew within arms reach of critical workspaces. Bunches of dried herbs hung from the ceiling as well as scarves of bright cloth that seemed to suit no purpose other than being there for the witches' joy. There were bones, horns, skulls, and teeth mixed in as well, laying about in an organized chaos that probably only occupied Haeli's mind. But the counters, that stretched around the place, were absolutely clean except for several types of apparatis' that looked slightly out of place among the wildlings' things.
And the glass. Haeli had glassware everywhere, as if it were more precious than gold to her. Interesting bits of lab equipment that held no purpose for her were hung and often used to pot plants that thrived in the large glass windows that illuminated the lab. Even in the late fall early winter, things bloomed here in the warmth the skyglass provided for the observatory turned orangery. And it seemed the witch made perfect use of it.
"Have you ever used a distiller?" Haeli asked, setting the moss aside, down with her tea. "This one is more properly called an Alembic, though I have several different types because they all do different things." Haeli said, showing Johanne a curious device that looked like two large vessels, one sitting over a pot designed to hold fire, and containing a strange domed lid with a long spout coming out of the top of it. The spout lead to another flask that seemed to be there to hold water.
Haeli removed the top of the flask and gestured using it at Johanne. "This is the cucurbit. You put the moss in here with water." She gently sat the metal lid down, took the vessel, and walked to a hand crank and started working it to bring forth water. Once the vessel was filled, she started stuffing it with the moss in about a half and half ratio. Then setting the vessel aside, she laid a small fire in the firepot below the alembic and got it burning with a neat tap of of her flint sparking the material. Once she got the fire really well set, she put the vessel on the blaze, capped it, and moved a stand over to set a flask on to catch whatever came out of the lid. "We want to heat the moss with the water then distill the liquid out so we get a heavily concentrated ink." She explained, running through the process. "The water heats up and the moss breaks down staining the water. Then you boil the water with the fire.. which we have to keep going... and let the water bleed off while the liquid from the moss - its juice - condenses and cools then is carried up by the steam and collected in this lid. It drains into this flask and we get the basics for ink." Haeli added.
"I'll give you the somewhat harder task than minding this. This does all the work for us. But the ink that comes out is a bright green like the moss. You will want it darker, so we'll gather some lampblacking to mix with it to make it darker." Haeli added, taking down a large pilar candle and lighting it form the firepot. She set it before Johanne and handed her a large metal spoon. Then, carefully, she laid out a bowl and a paintbrush beside the candle. Then she took the spoon from Johanne and stuck it over the burning wick of the candle. "This is lampblacking. It collects from the smoke of the candle." She said, idly dancing the spoon across the flame until the spoon turned black with a sooty substance on it. "Take the paintbrush and carefully collect the soot in the bowl. It will take a lot of soot and a lot of patience to do this.. but this is true black, so every bit you get means you can get your ink darker. So the more you like your ink dark instead of bright, the more motivated you will be to get more soot. I would normally collect enough to fill half the bowl. It's not a big bowl, but its going to take time." Haeli said.
With that explained, Haeli checked and rechecked the alembic and made sure the vapors were rising the correct way and liquid was indeed starting to condense. Then she went to find the gum powder. She liked using Cyprus Gums because they were easy for her to get, and set the powder down on the shelf too. "This is Cyprus gum that's been dried and powdered. It's not the sap, but more like a layer under the bark that's wet and dries?" She added as if she wasn't sure the Lhavitian equivalent. "Once we get our ink to the right color, we don't want it too runny so we add gum powder to thicken it." The witch added, nodding.
Then she settled down on her bench to wait, watching the apparatus with bright eyed curiosity and more than willing to answer any of Johannne's questions as the girl gathered the Lampblacken.
When Johanne questioned her, Haeli shook her head. "No, there were no people at all, especially humans. Once in a while, perhaps a couple of times a year, we'd see someone stop and come ashore to trade. My mentor had a reputation as a very powerful witch and she often traded things from the Gyvaka for things we could not get. My hatchet came from one such trade. I did very well for myself that day. I don't think I even saw another human until I was fully grown, maybe four years ago. Ozantha kept me away from the traders. They were dangerous." Haeli added.
She nodded when Johanne suggested the ink. She sipped at her tea and then gathered up all the moss of the variety she'd pointed out to Johanne, and beckoned that the girl follow her. They moved through the shop, passed double doors, and into a lab area filled with glassware. Haeli relished it now that she could get it. In the swamp their vessels were of plainer sorts, baked clay left to harden in the fire for days. Glassware was superior to that in every way.
The lab was an assault on an organizational minds sensibilities. Wild vines grew everywhere and seemingly formed themselves into brackets of their own accord that Haeli affixed shelves too. Jars lined every surface above the counter top, filled with all manner of things. Potted plants, handy for Haeli's work, grew within arms reach of critical workspaces. Bunches of dried herbs hung from the ceiling as well as scarves of bright cloth that seemed to suit no purpose other than being there for the witches' joy. There were bones, horns, skulls, and teeth mixed in as well, laying about in an organized chaos that probably only occupied Haeli's mind. But the counters, that stretched around the place, were absolutely clean except for several types of apparatis' that looked slightly out of place among the wildlings' things.
And the glass. Haeli had glassware everywhere, as if it were more precious than gold to her. Interesting bits of lab equipment that held no purpose for her were hung and often used to pot plants that thrived in the large glass windows that illuminated the lab. Even in the late fall early winter, things bloomed here in the warmth the skyglass provided for the observatory turned orangery. And it seemed the witch made perfect use of it.
"Have you ever used a distiller?" Haeli asked, setting the moss aside, down with her tea. "This one is more properly called an Alembic, though I have several different types because they all do different things." Haeli said, showing Johanne a curious device that looked like two large vessels, one sitting over a pot designed to hold fire, and containing a strange domed lid with a long spout coming out of the top of it. The spout lead to another flask that seemed to be there to hold water.
Haeli removed the top of the flask and gestured using it at Johanne. "This is the cucurbit. You put the moss in here with water." She gently sat the metal lid down, took the vessel, and walked to a hand crank and started working it to bring forth water. Once the vessel was filled, she started stuffing it with the moss in about a half and half ratio. Then setting the vessel aside, she laid a small fire in the firepot below the alembic and got it burning with a neat tap of of her flint sparking the material. Once she got the fire really well set, she put the vessel on the blaze, capped it, and moved a stand over to set a flask on to catch whatever came out of the lid. "We want to heat the moss with the water then distill the liquid out so we get a heavily concentrated ink." She explained, running through the process. "The water heats up and the moss breaks down staining the water. Then you boil the water with the fire.. which we have to keep going... and let the water bleed off while the liquid from the moss - its juice - condenses and cools then is carried up by the steam and collected in this lid. It drains into this flask and we get the basics for ink." Haeli added.
"I'll give you the somewhat harder task than minding this. This does all the work for us. But the ink that comes out is a bright green like the moss. You will want it darker, so we'll gather some lampblacking to mix with it to make it darker." Haeli added, taking down a large pilar candle and lighting it form the firepot. She set it before Johanne and handed her a large metal spoon. Then, carefully, she laid out a bowl and a paintbrush beside the candle. Then she took the spoon from Johanne and stuck it over the burning wick of the candle. "This is lampblacking. It collects from the smoke of the candle." She said, idly dancing the spoon across the flame until the spoon turned black with a sooty substance on it. "Take the paintbrush and carefully collect the soot in the bowl. It will take a lot of soot and a lot of patience to do this.. but this is true black, so every bit you get means you can get your ink darker. So the more you like your ink dark instead of bright, the more motivated you will be to get more soot. I would normally collect enough to fill half the bowl. It's not a big bowl, but its going to take time." Haeli said.
With that explained, Haeli checked and rechecked the alembic and made sure the vapors were rising the correct way and liquid was indeed starting to condense. Then she went to find the gum powder. She liked using Cyprus Gums because they were easy for her to get, and set the powder down on the shelf too. "This is Cyprus gum that's been dried and powdered. It's not the sap, but more like a layer under the bark that's wet and dries?" She added as if she wasn't sure the Lhavitian equivalent. "Once we get our ink to the right color, we don't want it too runny so we add gum powder to thicken it." The witch added, nodding.
Then she settled down on her bench to wait, watching the apparatus with bright eyed curiosity and more than willing to answer any of Johannne's questions as the girl gathered the Lampblacken.
