My eyes flutter open groggily to the sounds of movement. Looks like the other girls are waking up. I feel strangely dazed when I sit up. Sleeping more made me more tired...? I rub at my eyes, shake myself, and mentally check the time. About third bell now.

It takes some time, but everyone does end up wandering up and out of bed eventually. We head downstairs, where Marrianne is in the kitchen. The smell alone tells us she's cooking. Probably breakfast, even though it's after the normal time. Well, she can't hear the bells, so it's not too surprising.

"Hi, Marrianne," I wave and she turns partway around while standing at the hearth.

"Good morning, girls," she greets us with a smile, not giving any indication that we already met earlier this morning. There are others up already, all looking about as sleepy as we are. Why do rainy days feel so sleepy? Especially with the chill seeping in through my thin clothing, I'm even colder than I was earlier. I'm surprised I want to go lie back in bed... At the very least, I should make some fire mana. It helps with heat, does it help with cold too, like actual fire does?

I continue to wonder about things while Marrianne exchanges a few words with the other girls. Looks like the other caretakers didn't come in the rain. She lets us know breakfast will be done soon, then we head toward the other end of the house with a few waves back at her.

We find a corner, a spot not already occupied, as far away from the outer walls as we can, where it's not as cold, and all huddle close together. I can't help shivering anyway. If I could put on more layers of clothing like them it wouldn't be so bad; they're all wearing three or four shirts each. Most of mine are still wet. How much colder does winter get anyway?

While the other girls chatter, I lean into Emily's side, resting my head on her arm, and close my eyes. I remain like that, somewhere between sleeping and meditating, while other voices join. Some of Emily's friends I think. Then some more, other kids I'm not as familiar with. It sounds like they know Eve. It gets a bit loud with so many people, but I ignore it, just happy to spend time with Emily at my side. With the time to do nothing but rest for once.

Marrianne eventually comes by and tells everyone that breakfast is ready, even though it's getting closer and closer to lunchtime at this point. But they don't know that, so they all head into the dining room happily. I break off from them and go to the kitchen instead.

"Just hold on a bit, Aria. I'll make yours next," Marrianne tells me while cleaning stuff in the kitchen. I glance back to where everyone is eating, then look up at Marrianne again, but this time I catch the movement of her hands. Is she shaking? I step closer, watching closely to see that her hands are trembling and she's shivering slightly.

She's washing the cooking utensils with water out of a bucket. If she just pulled that from the water jug... I squint briefly, seeing that she's trying not to get her hands in the water too much, and I walk closer. She raises a brow at me when I stand up on my toes at her side. I have to brace myself against the counter, and it's just enough to get my fingers over the edge of the bucket. I can only graze the top of the water inside.

I wince at the freezing bite of the water before pulling my hand back. "That water is really cold!" I tell Marrianne. No, she obviously knows that, I tell myself. Why didn't she heat it up or something? She's shivering!

"Oh, it's fine, sweetie," she smiles warmly at me, but I frown back at her. For some reason, that makes her smile more and pat me on the head, calling me cute. Ok, maybe it was more of a pout...

"Anyway!" I stand up straighter and make my look more stern this time. "You could at least heat it up or something, then you won't be cold."

"I have to get to your breakfast," she replies with that gentle smile, but I still don't like her focusing on me instead of herself here.

"You could put the water on the hearth," I try saying, "then it won't be so cold." Of course, she just gives me a look that reminds me the bucket is made of wood and can't go on the hearth. "W-well, we have the pot..." The pot that's dirty from cooking breakfast. I raise a hand, still trying to protest, but there isn't anything more I can say. So I cross my arms and return to pouting at her. Even if I understand, I don't have to accept it.

Maybe I'll could get us a second metal pot so this won't be an issue again? I'm not sure how much that would cost though, are pots expensive...? Marianne chuckles and shakes her head, continuing with the washing while I keep considering how to help.

Oh! As soon as I turn my thoughts to other solutions, I trip straight over my thoughts from yesterday, and rush upstairs. When I return with ingots of durite and nuvrite, Marrianne gives me a curious look. Since just using magic to heat up the water isn't really an option - at least, not for any of the caretakers except Marrianne - I can do this. There's no way it's as effective as magic, but the excuse I had to think up after worrying over Ralph blowing my secret gave me this other option.

Since Nuvrite heats up whenever it gets near a magnet, I can just throw a strong durite magnet in along with the nuvrite, and when they get close together and the nuvrite heats up, it'll also heat the water. I go up on my toes again and do so, dumping them into the bucket together while Marrianne works. Soon enough, when I test the water with a finger, it's heated up a bit. I wouldn't even call it warm, but at least it took most of the bite out of the cold.

"Huh," Marrianne gives me a funny look and smiles again when I explain it for her. "Now that is a really neat trick. You're such a smart girl." I go red at the sudden praise, looking away when it makes her giggle. Since the metal has done what it can, I awkwardly get her to pass them back, and escape upstairs in embarrassment.

As soon as I calm my heart and separate the ingots again, the nuvrite drops to freezing cold, so I push it off into a corner, where it should eventually warm up again, at least the the same kind of chilly temperature inside the house.

...How do normal kids deal with adults, always praising them for stuff...? I squeeze my eyes shut and whip my head back and forth to shake away those thoughts that suddenly bubbled back up again after I thought I got rid of them, and head back downstairs.

By the time I arrive, Marrianne is cooking again, and it's not long until she hands me a bowl of food for breakfast.

"Thanks..." I take it into the dining room and eat while she finishes washing up.

Since we're stuck at home for the rest of the day, I take a while to teach Emily more. We've made it through the entire alphabet now, and I'm starting to teach her more words. She knows a lot more than I did when I started learning, but a ton of them have somewhat tricky spelling, so I cover those extra carefully.

A bunch of other kids take notice as we work. I try not to pay attention to them and focus on the lessons, but it still makes me nervous.

When we finish up, I spend time meditating and chatting until lunch (which actually comes after the seventh bell,) then end up snoozing in bed with Emily through the rainy afternoon. Well, it's almost night already, but that doesn't make it any less nice.

We get up again, and we're pulled right into playing some games with Emily's friends. I don't know how to play a lot of them, but they explain the rules as we go.

By the time the rain starts to let up, the sun is has long since disappeared, but the kids are still up since we all woke up so late. It's really dark inside, and we wind up heading to bed since we can't really see anymore, despite lots of kids having plenty of energy left. I just lie down in bed with Emily. Even if I'm not tired yet, this is so comfy, I don't care. I'm really glad for the blanket tonight too, even if it's not as thick as the nice ones Eryk has. Emily's warmth more than makes up for it.

When I wake up the following morning, it's still wet and cold. Since I only have a few sets of clothing, I put on a second shirt over my first one, and then do the same with my skirts, like the other kids did yesterday. It feels kind of stiff and awkward with them both around my legs though. And the cold air just comes up underneath anyway. Boys wear pants and I feel like they would be way more effective in this weather, I wonder if I can get some too...?

Actually now that I think about it, why do we wear clothes with the whole bottom open when we're trying to stay warm in the first place? Since everyone was up later than usual, Emily went back to bed after putting my hair up, so I can't ask her right now. Oh well, I'll leave those thoughts for later. I generate a little fire mana and wince. My barrier's still not fully healed. Well, this will let me see if fire helps with the cold, I figure, and head downstairs.

When I reach the first floor and see Ami at the hearth in the kitchen, I look around some and find Zoe wiping down a table in the dining room. Marrianne must have the day off. That's good, she looked pretty tired, having to take care of everyone, all hundred of us, all on her own.

I sit, meditate, read back over my homework from Arcaday, and kill time until breakfast. "Wow, these are some awfully big words," Ami comments when she walks past, picking up my homework while I'm carefully eating. "What's it about?" she asks while shifting a few pieces aside, her eyes scanning over the paper much faster than I'm able to.

I answer, "It's an overview of crop planting and harvesting." It's written by Claire, so I know the information has been cut down to the basics, but it still includes pages on the ideal growing conditions on a number of key Melphiran crops and the best places in the country to find them. Back when Irene told me wheat is the most common crop in our kingdom, she wasn't kidding. The Melphiran climate is perfect for it, all flatlands and flood plains. There are just a few areas noted in the last couple pages, mentioning where the soil is more dry and mountainous, where we grow barley and other things instead.

Ami's eyebrows draw in, her expression almost concerned for some reason. "That is... unique. Why are you learning about farming though? I thought you were spending time at that refinery across town."

I scratch my cheek. "Well, my teacher is supposed to give me a comprehensive education, which includes a whole bunch of different topics. So far I'm just learning the basics of it all, because there's a ton of stuff I don't know anything about. Like..." I have to think a bit, before I come up with a good example. "All those animals that have been coming from the forest? I didn't know any of their names before, so I had no idea what to actually call them until she taught me about them."

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense," Ami agrees after a few moments. "I still think it's a bit much to go this deep into agriculture, but who knows?" She straightens the papers, setting them back down beside me on the table.

Still, she thinks just that bit of information is too deep into the topic? These papers alone mention of a dozen different things like 'cover crops' and 'clover types' with nothing but a note that they'll come up in more depth later. For all I know, each one is another whole lesson worth of information I'd need to learn before any of this basic information would actually be useful for anything. It doesn't even mention any soil types besides the couple most common in Melphira.

Whatever the case, Ami shrugs it off and pats me on the head, before walking away to check on Zoe, who I can hear sweeping a couple rooms away. I finish up my breakfast, look over my stuff for work, and check the time. I still have some left, so... Oh, I should ask about pants, like I was thinking earlier.

I hop up out of my chair, trotting over to where Ami is speaking excitedly at the clearly overwhelmed Zoe, like she always does, with her dark purple hair bouncing right along. Sounds like she's complaining about... her parents? I pause briefly to listen.

"I swear, how do they expect me to get married when they can't even find a decent man? Everyone my father approves is so booorring." Her shoulders slouch low, with an exaggerated groan and her head rolling back. "And don't even get me started on the ones my mom finds!"

"A-ahh..." Zoe mumbles uncomfortably, and I move forward. Maybe to distract Ami as much as to ask my question at this point.

I raise my hand a little while I speak up and try to get their attention. "Hey, umm?" They turn with questions on their faces, so I ask, "I was wondering, you know how it's getting cold? Why don't we wear pants?"

"Pants?" Ami asks, like she doesn't get it.

Zoe however, has more to offer. "Women aren't usually supposed to wear pants, it isn't really proper outside of places where you do hard work." Then she pauses, like she's going to say something else, but it looks like she decides not to, instead going on with, "Men find it to be off-putting." I tilt my head, not fully understanding. We just... 'aren't supposed to?' Even though pants would be way more convenient? Is it like how certain types of dresses are meant for certain ages? And what does hard work have to do with it anyway?

Even with all of my questions, I'm not sure how to actually ask them - where to start. There isn't much time until first bell anyway. Maybe I'll ask Eryk and Claire instead, they're really good at explaining things in a way I'll understand. I'm still worried they'll be mad at me for not coming yesterday though... "Mm, thanks, Miss Zoe," I say for now and bow. Before I turn to go, she uses the chance to excuse herself and escape into another room, and we end up leaving Ami alone, looking around and scratching her head.

With just a little time left, I go upstairs to wake up Emily so we can both get ready to go to our jobs. When John arrives, I hug Emily and wave goodbye to the caretakers, then we head off.

When I walk into Eryk's office, he doesn't say anything. I send a few glances his way after I sit down, trying not to show my nerves, but it's pretty clear he picks up on it when he levels me with a look.

"What is it Aria?" His tone has a little stern sound to it that makes me gulp. Is he mad about yesterday after all? Should I try to explain? "I can tell you're worried, is it something important, or something silly?" he adds when I don't respond because I'm stuck in my own head. "There's never any middleground," he sighs for some reason.

"It's..." I look away, not wanting to see him when I answer, "Are you mad at me? For not coming yesterday?"

He's silent for a few moments, long enough that I steal another glance his way, and he's clearly exasperated, shaking his head. Then he says, "Silly it is," and looks relieved. "No, I'm not mad at you. It was a rain day, of course you aren't supposed to come in."

"Oh, good..." I'm so glad Marrianne was right after all...

"So is that all? Nothing else bothering you?"

"No, just that," I tell him. Besides that worry, things have been going well lately.

Then he asks, "Well then, how are you feeling? Are your burns healing well?" Oh right, there was that. I wouldn't put exploding metal slag in my 'good times' box. But no one got hurt, so it really wasn't that bad either, even if it could have been. Just need to avoid a repeat and it'll be fine.

While I'm considering all that, I answer that they're pretty much healed already. They were only minor burns in the first place. "Good to hear," he nods strongly.

"Oh, I do want to ask about what happened though," I speak up when I think of it. "Why did that slag explode anyway?"

"That... is actually my fault," he responds with a guiltily grimace. "I read back through everything I have at my house yesterday, and there is mention among some of the refining texts to avoid pouring off slag while it's still hot. It specifically mentioned to avoid pouring different batches of slag together because it can randomly explode, just like we saw."

As soon as he says it, I remember the ores and add on, "Because there are different things left in the different metal slag. Some of them must react when they get mixed together. Is it like our star metals, or something else...?" But star metals are made by combining metals, and that doesn't happen without mana or lightning. If things could combine with just fire and heat, it would happen to at the refinery all the time. "No, that can't be it..." I mutter while I stare at the floor and think. So something else then? Like how some metals respond to magnets or mana in different ways...?

Then the second bell rings. "Anyway," Eryk cuts into my thoughts, "we can get to that later. Claire should be here any time now." He gets me up and in position for her arrival with a short wave of his hands.

As he said, she shows up just a few ticks later, and we head back to my lessons like usual.

After a lengthy lecture on animal handling throughout the day, Claire finishes up, and it's time for work with Eryk. We get back to our earlier conversation on our way into the workshop. "So what, we try testing each ore slag individually?" I guess.

"That would be the safest place to start," Eryk agrees. "My heart can't take a repeat of last time."

"Same..." I agree completely. While Eryk ties a big smock around me, I check on my fire mana. It's about half of... whatever one mana unit is. Anyway, it actually did work protecting me from the cold earlier, at least mostly. It was still cold, but definitely not as much as it would have been without the mana. It should be enough for the heat of the workshop now too.

Patrick comes over while Eryk is tying his own smock. I can't help but notice the way his eyes drift in my direction. "So," Eryk begins, "I read through my books yesterday, it said not to mix slag together. I'm really sorry I didn't remember to warn you about that, Patrick." Eryk lowers his head to the large man, who lets out a slow breath himself.

"I see..." he rumbles. "Sorry, I don't really know what to say," he follows with a shrug. "I'm just glad I'm still in one piece. Thanks again for that, Aria. I really owe you one."

When he lowers his head to me as well, I flail my hands in panic at the gesture. "A-ahh, it's fine! I really didn't want to see you get hurt!" Even if it's my duty to protect people like him, the more I think about it, the more I want to. I never have a chance to talk to Patrick, but he's always there helping us out with things here. I care about him too.

That draws an amused chuckle out of the large man, who steps forward and pats me on the head with one enormous hand. I laugh too, glad that the tension is broken.

"Alright then," Patrick addresses Eryk again. "What are you two up to today?"

When Eryk responds, he finally stops rubbing my head and takes a step back so I can shake out my ruffled up hair. "We're going to work with the slag again, without blowing up the workshop this time. Aria has guessed that each ore type has its own slag, but to be safe, we're not taking any chances here. Make sure to leave it in its cooling trough, and don't pour any off. We'll be filling individual crucibles so there's no chance of mixing. Alright?"

"Sounds like a plan," Patrick agrees. I nod along too, and we get to work. Just like they said, Patrick pulls aside specific troughs of slag, and Eryk ladles portions into a number of crucibles with extreme care.

I stand by the entire time, clutching the black metal and loaded with air and fire mana like the other day, staring, waiting for any little thing to go wrong. My barrier still feels sore and bruised from the other day, but I'll do exactly the same thing again if I have to. Thankfully, now that we have our information right, we don't run into any trouble, and carefully transport the crucibles into the back room where I can study them with more privacy.

"The issue is, we don't know what is in this, or how to get it out. Is it a bunch of different things mixed together, or just one? And each slag is different too..." My brow furrows as I stare across the crucibles. They all look the same, a sort of fading red liquid right now, as they cool. "I mean, I could try mana to start, but I don't want it to explode again..."

"Yes," Eryk agrees stiffly, "avoiding explosions would be for the best. Especially in a small, enclosed room." As I think over his words, I consider that it might not explode. After all, that happened when we poured them together, so it could have been a completely different reaction than they'll have to mana.

However, it's still bothering me how much it looked like they combined together... somehow. But that shouldn't have been it, not without a... without a... I feel like there should be a word - a thing that pushes them to combine, to make it work. Lightning or mana. Well, whatever the word is, there must have been more to it. Even star metals don't do anything just by combining them...

"Eryk, I'm kind of lost here. The slag didn't work like anything I've seen before. It reminds me of a star metal combination and mana response, but they didn't need mana or a..." There's that word I'm missing... "Something to get it started, like mana or lightning."

"You mean a catalyst?" Eryk fills it in for me.

"Catalyst," I try out the word. It has an interesting sound. "Whatever they did, they did it without a catalyst, but I have no idea why."

"Hmm," he rubs his chin in thought, thinking aloud, "that would make it more like alchemy than magic..."

"Alchemy?" I ask, blinking. Another thing I've never heard of.

"Alchemy is..." His face scrunches as he tries to think, but it looks like he can't come up with a good way to explain, because he shakes his head. "It's basically just combining materials together to make something new. It's spoken of like it's strange and mysterious - mystical even. But I've never heard of it producing... well, anything really, as far as I can recall. Sorry, I don't know much more about it than that."

"That's fine, just knowing that there's something else to all this, not related to magic... Unless they also figured out how to combine things with lightning? No, then they would have discovered star metals already. So something else, like whatever the slag did...?" I'm also just thinking aloud at this point, trying to get my thoughts in order.

Still, how does this help us? What can I do with this new information? I close my eyes, trying to think of something, but nothing is coming to me...

I finally shake my head. "Sorry, I don't know if that helps us." I think a bit more, before perking up when I think of something different. "Oh, since using mana for each slag could be dangerous, we use lightning instead. That way, we can see if they combine, without reacting to mana, however they react." Like by exploding. "Then we can test them when they're solid again, and not super hot." That should give us more to go on.

A grin touches Eryk's lips. "Yeah, let's give that a shot."