Completed One Minus One

[Alija]

27th Winter 516 Alija was busy clearing up the mess left behind by the last alchemy experiment, broom in one hand and the other furiously scrabbling between the rubbish in search for any chargers that could be salvaged. Since the one she had helped him with, none of the next doorways had worked, and Arios was struggling to figure out why. In his mind, they were perfect, but that was theory and clearly in practice his theory wasn’t working. Which meant less alchemy and more cleaning, for her at least. Alija wasn’t too happy with any of it, but went along anyway, knowing she had no ideas on how to help him improve the success rate of his work. Other than reducing the size of the ring and the number of chargers, but Arios was clearly in the view that that wasn’t the problem. “Alija, come here!” came a call, the apprentice looking at the half-completed work and wondering whether she could finish it quickly. Deciding against it, she gathered the collected items and placed them to one side before hurrying over, wondering what he wanted now. Arios was curled on a chair that was normally found under his desk, unused, and rocked on it lightly, clearly deep in thought. “Get some paper and something to write with. Quick.” He waved his hand towards the mess on the desk, “I need a scribe so I don’t need to think about writing and thinking at the same time.” Was that really that hard? She tried not to question him, already ready with the writing equipment. She hunched over the desk, clearing his papers into neater piles so she had space to write. If only he wasn’t sitting in the chair – it would make her job a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and she had to make do with what she had. “Now... where was I?” the nuit asked, ceasing his rocking for a second as he thought deeply, child-like face crumpled as he pondered. “That was it! We’ve got E1, that I can make no problem. But E1 + F1 -F doesn’t give me the right thing for E2. Write the formula down, that’s it.” Alija scribbled quickly, noting the formula down without understanding any of it. Founts, and filters, maybe? The founts added, and the filters... took away, in a sense. Took away from the founts, at least. That would make sense – what didn’t was the letters she was writing down. “E1” meant nothing to her, although it was clearly one of the components of the alchemy ring. Which one, she wondered as she poised her hand to write the next section, which one? “What’s F1 got that F doesn’t have? Hmmm... F1 is all wrong.” Alija began to annotate the formula, not sure what else she was meant to be doing. “I should have used the poison in a smaller quantity – no, a different one all together. Symenestra venom, maybe? That could do it. You got that, Alija? Different poison, maybe from Symenestras. I’ll have to found some somewhere, but it could work a little better. What do you think?” Alija finished scribbling the last letter and looked up at him, wondering if this was a test again. It probably was, but this time, she had no answer for him. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. I don’t know what the formula is, or the components in it or what you’re trying to do. But I’m sure if you think it’s right, it’ll work, to some extent at least.” Arios gave a light laugh, jumping up from his seat. “I forget how Pulsers know nothing about everything. I’ll show you how these things work, maybe then you can give me a better answer.”

[Alija]

“You’re not stupid, are you? You know basic mathematics, correct?” Alija lingered a second, before nodding her head, not sure whether his basic mathematics was a lot different to hers. “Good. Because alchemial formulas... they’re all equations.” With a gesture of his hand, he asked for something to write on, before deciding to take one of the blackboards that he had set up in a corner. He found a brush somewhere in the mess and cleared a chunk from scribbled that even he couldn’t read anymore, taking a stub of chalk and rolling it between his fingers. He began to scratch against the black, writing out a simple equation. +1-1=0. “The very start. Tell me, what do you think it means?” “The fount and the filter are the same. They cancel each other out.” “Correct. And if we add the subject...” In front of the +1, he scribbled a strange symbol, replacing the 0 with it too. “We still get the subject.” “That is the very basics. But there’s no point making the subject again. With alchemy, we search for changes – that is what the very art is for! So our formulas look a little like this.” He scribbled another one on, this time with § +4 – 1 = §1. “That again is a simple one. My formulas can often stretch several founts or filters. And a transformation can stretch several formulas to get the right result. Any questions, yet?” Alija had a million, of course, but she knew she didn’t have the rest of the day to simply sit and ask questions about alchemial formulas. Instead, she decided on a smaller number, hoping each one would lead to the others she had to leave out. “What if the founts and filters, combined, was negative? What would happen then?” was her first one, something she had considered as an important step. If you simply put them the wrong way round, that would happen.” “Then there would be nothing left to add to the subject in the first place. Our subtract is say... parts that must be removed. If all the parts are removed, and then some, there surely is nothing left.” “And if you had a subject add one add one. If you use the same fount twice. If it were simply a mathematical equation, it would say that you added two, but I don’t see that happening...” “There you are right. If you find yourself repeating a charger, whether it’s a fount or a filter or both, you’ve gone wrong. Adding 1 more than once does nothing, because the same parts are simply added.” “So it doesn’t strengthen the 1, and the properties it gave the subject?” With a slight sigh of annoyance, Arios began to rub out the formulas on the board. “If you really care to know, with these little questions, I give you permission to set up a small alchemical ring and try them out, when I haven’t given you a task to do, and as long as you stay safe and away from my own work. I don’t want anything going wrong and destroying something I’ve worked for.”

[Alija]

Alija nodded, planning to hold him for his word. She wouldn’t be experimenting with it just yet – she knew the dangers of playing with a magic she didn’t quite understand – but she would be practicing, any moment of the day where she got a spare opportunity. When she wasn’t smithing or investigating metals, that was. Anyway, she had another question that was much more interesting than her previous ones, that probably had not real life impact or context. This one... this one was important. “How do you know what to use?” she asked, quickly, before he could call their little lesson off. “Practice. Trying things out. It comes from experience, most of all. Experience helps you consider everything, so you don’t forget the little things that change everything. You pick what you want to add, find something with that property. That is your fount. Then you look at that object, and find the imperfections to it. Things you don’t want. Then you find things with the properties you don’t want to cancel out – and lacking any properties you do, so they don’t filter them, too.” That sounded complicated. There were so many properties, so many things to consider. Thinking back to Nyka, to the alchemy she had been introduced to there... Iron + gold paint – water = gold iron. How did that work? Paint had more in it than water, things that made it thicker and goopier. Why didn’t that affect the iron? “Surely there are millions of properties to consider and filter out. How can you get the right ones without trying absolutely everything? I know one...” and she told him it, explaining as if she wasn’t speaking to an alchemist, “How can water filter out everything?” “The reaction depends on you, and the way you perceive things. At times, yes, you need to break it down into individual components. But in this case, what is the property you don’t want?” “The liquid part of the paint, I suppose. All you want is the colour.” “And the alchemist who made that used water for liquid. He was filtering out with the purest liquid he could find. Water. So remember, you guide the reaction. Your perception of the chargers is key.”

[Alija]

It was all starting to make sense now. How it worked. How people managed to work it out. And Alia was eager to try it out herself, to combine various things together in the hope of creating something new. She wasn’t even interested in creating something good, not yet. She wasn’t even planning the things she could change, the materials she could create. She was just thirsty for magic, and this magic in particular called her. The possibilities, the creation – the control it gave her over nature and the changes she could make. The djed called to her, wanting to be manipulated, wanting to be changed beyond recognition, stripped back and built upon. “Alija, I asked you a question.” Arios was clearly not amused by the way she had zoned out, lips pressed together tightly and hands on his hips, “If you don’t care enough I won’t bother teaching you.” Eyes open wide, she tried to remember if she had heard anything. “I’m sorry,” she decided honesty was her best bet, “I was thinking too much. There’s a lot to go over, a lot to wrap my head around.” Partial honesty, at least. “I wasn’t listening. I’m sorry, but could you repeat it for me?” With a deep sigh, Arios spoke again, this time more slowly. “I was asking whether you think you understand formulas enough to return back to the previous subject, where we left off?” Alija was certain the formula part made sense now – and it could only get better with actual practice of making and trying them out. Unfortunately, it was Arios’ formula that wasn’t making sense, namely because it was just letters, as opposed to things she could actually comprehend. “The formulas are fine. Your formula... I’m sorry, it still makes no sense to me. I don’t know what any of the chargers are.” Arios frowned, hurrying over to where she had been writing it all down and looking over the formula and the notes jotted around it. “What... oh, of course! I’ve been using letters, no wonder.” He smiled lightly, pressing a finger to his lips in consideration before gathering up the sheet anyway. “Any good alchemist never write down the formulas in full, because then any scoundrel could steal their secrets. There are plenty of dirty wizards on this island who make their way by stealing work of another, so we have to encrypt everything we write, to make it a lot harder.” His following silence left Alija thinking about the encrypted notes she had found in the forge she had been working in, and the way they were actually recipes for alloys. Was that another attempt by another wizard to stop the others? It had to be, why else would they encrypt it? Making a mental note to look into encryption and decryption, and everything to do with it, she looked back up at her master, who was still sitting silently. “Your formula?” she asked, waiting for it to be explained to her.

[Alija]

Shaking himself from his own trance, he looked back up at her, “Sorry, I was considering ways to hide my work. My formula, yes. In this case, I have used simple letters to stand for the chargers and the subjects – when doing this, I use the simple rule of adding a number to the end of the subject as the product. Helps me keep track of what came from where. So with a subject of E, I get E1, from E1, I get E2, etcetera, etcetera... For this, it isn’t very important for me to come back to it, so letters work. When I have things more concrete, however, or something I plan to use again, I tend to use a more complex... something for each component. I have known animals, colours, plants, even gods to be used in place of items. Symbols are the most common, often using the aspects I’ve just mentioned. Things that represent, but not in a clear way. “Perhaps, one day, I will teach you my code, I will teach you to understand the formulas I have created. Perhaps. It is often said that, after magic, the downfall of a wizard is always due to his apprentice. Greedy things, apprentices can be. They see their master’s work, and decide reaching their level is easiest when their master is gone and they can take their place. Perhaps if I trust you, I will.” Alija shuddered at the thought of taking an apprentice to only have them stab you in the back. Smaug would have never done that to her, she reminded herself, thinking back to the days of her own shop and her own life in Nyka. She would have trusted him with secret blacksmithing techniques, if she knew them. He would never have killed for it. Then again, magic was a whole other story. It was more powerful than blacksmithing, much rarer and more enticing. Something a lot more special, in most people’s eyes. The only few who would protest that would be those like Alija, who lived and breathed it. There was a more important problem with magic that would make people kill for it. It made them mad. But those were thoughts for another day. She wished to learn about alchemy, and his formula, and help, not hurt him. “Can you tell me what these mean, though? So I can answer your question? What is E1, what is F, what do you want from the outcome?” Arios opened his mouth to speak, before being interrupted by a sharp rapping at the door to the lab. Alija looked over to it, wondering why they had chosen this moment to interrupt, before hurrying over and letting whoever stood behind the door in. A nuit, much older looking than Arios had ever been. The two looked at each other, before Arios rose to stand beside him, murmuring something she couldn’t make out. “Alija, clean up this mess. We can continue afterwards, but I’ll be several bells.,” he commanded cooly, before leaving. So his secrets hidden in the formula were lost. No matter. She had some spare bells, and she knew just what to do with them.

[Languish]

Your grades have been summoned
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Alija

■ Organization +1
■ Writing +1
■ Mathematics +2
■ Cryptography +1
■ Alchemy +3
■ Cleaning +1

Lores

Lore of Planning: What Works in Theory Might Not Work in Practice
Lore of Alchemy: Formulas are all Equations
Lore of Alchemy: Know What to Use Through Experience
Lore of Alchemy: Your Perception Determines Outcomes
Lore of Alchemy: Protect Formulas with Encryptions
Lore of Arios: Has a Secret Code for Formulas
Lore of Magic: Apprentices are Greedy

Additional Information

Injuries, loot, rewards, etc, etc, etc

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