We spend some time considering things, and end up deciding to test two of each metal slag. One we'll combine with lightning, the other we'll leave alone, so we can see the differences. It should tell us if there are multiple different things left over in the slag.

There's nowhere near enough space in the back room, so Eryk just says he'll get the second batch later, after I go home. For now, we have one crucible of each type of slag. There are only seven, since multiple metals come out of the some ores.

Pointing down the line, Eryk calls out each one. Tin, mollite, nuvrite, iron, copper, titanium, and illium ore slag. He has them lined up carefully, so he won't get them mixed up, since there's no way to tell them apart by sight. I make sure to memorize their positions too.

Even though we're testing them with lightning, we've already seen slag do things way outside our expectations, so we're extra careful of anything dangerous. Eryk has the door behind him open, just in case he needs to jump back, and I have iron ingots scattered around because I'm pretty much always worried about lightning. With our eyes trained on the crucibles, we get to work.

Eryk mixes, while I go from one crucible to the next, to combine them. Each time, I stick in the ends of our coil magnet... thing. Should probably come up with a name for that too...

Putting that thought aside, I turn the crank a few times to make the lightning energy to combine whatever is in each of the slags, before quickly wiping off the ends with big, thick pieces of leather, then placing those aside, before the superheated slag can burn through each one. They go in a pile in the corner, out of the way where we definitely won't touch them. As soon as we've finished with the line of crucibles, thankfully without incident, Eryk picks me up under my armpits while I'm wiping away the sweat on my forehead.

I yelp a little, but hold still while he carefully moves me over the line of crucibles between us, and carries me right through the open door. He sets me on the ground at his side, to lock it behind us. When I look up, I realize he's breathing heavily, his face dripping with sweat too. He unlocks the outer door and pulls us back into the main section of the workshop.

"Woah," I pant out, when the normally hot air of the workshop feels incredibly cool against my skin. Even with the fire mana, I didn't realize how hot I was getting.

"Seven crucibles in a small room is definitely pushing it," Eryk jokes while fanning himself with a hand. "Let's get something to drink." I quickly agree, and we walk back to his office.

"I'll have to pull those out of the back later, they'll never cool down, shut in a tiny room like that," Eryk thinks aloud after downing a whole glass of water.

"Pah!" I gasp myself after I finish mine in one long go. I might have drank it a little too fast, I'm dizzy for a few moments, before I manage to shake off the feeling.

Eryk begins pouring each of us a second while continuing to think aloud. "I'll get the other set and have them all cool overnight. Then mechanical testing tomorrow, and you can give them a test on Firoday."

"Umm..." When he sends a look my way, I scratch my cheek awkwardly. "I was wondering if I could look at them tomorrow?"

That makes him frown faintly. "You don't work tomorrow, it's your day off."

"I know that, it's just, well..." I can't hold his gaze, and look away when I say, "I only have about two weeks left, I really want to learn as much as I can in that time."

His whole posture straightens, suddenly alert. "Two weeks? Until...?" He doesn't say it, but we both know what he means. Whatever 'thing' I have to do, as far as he knows.

When I go to battle.

"Yeah, I have to learn as much magic as I can before then, so I don't want to waste any time, you know?"

"That's... understandable..." He bites his lip momentarily, thinking hard, before he looks at me again, eyes suddenly piercing. "You're sure you don't want to talk about it?" I don't even know exactly what he means. Talk about what part of it?

"No," I answer anyway. Going to battle is what I'm for, and every time this topic comes up, people say I shouldn't go and I end up really angry... for some reason. I don't want to go through any of that today. "I don't want to talk about it." I wince when it comes out more harsh than I intended, just thinking about the usual arguments around this has me on edge. As I'm closing my eyes and making myself breathe, I realize something really odd.

Even though I started getting angry, there was no sudden spike of anger from all the fire mana I'm carrying. With a big huff of breath and a shake of my head, I push those thoughts away. Continuing to brood will just make me feel bad, so I'd really rather not.

"Sorry, can we talk about something else?" I try to push the conversation to anything else instead.

"Fine, fine," Eryk sighs sadly. "You can take a look at things tomorrow, I'll consider it part of your personal access to the refinery." I have to take a moment thinking about that, before I remember. He did promise me access to things here to help with my magic studies, way back when we made our first agreement, didn't he? "So, don't think about it like work, just focus on learning anything you can about magic, alright? Anything so I never have to see you like that again." Eryk visibly winces, teeth clenched, and I'm sure he's picturing how I've looked after the previous battles.

"Yeah..." I agree, grimacing myself. "Like I said, I'll definitely do anything I can." I want to survive. Not just because I'm scared, or for myself anymore, but for all the amazing people in my life too... When I notice Eryk smiling softly, I blink and realize I have an odd smile on my own lips too. With the best nod I can give, I clench a fist and repeat, "Yeah, I'll do anything I can. I'll make it."

The gentle smile widens into Eryk's classic grin. "That's what I want to hear. Now, since we've dealt with the metals, is there anything else today?"

I consider it, and do manage to come up with one thing. We need a name for our coil thing.

After bouncing a few ideas back and forth, we end up settling on something simple. 'Catalyst coil.' It's a coil and it's the catalyst that makes the metals combine. It's pretty obvious, once we think about it.

When we pause after that, I finally remember to ask him about pants, but he just shrugs. It's not like women can't wear pants, it's just that no one seems to want to, as far as he's aware. "Sorry, I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable resource for women's fashion advice," he chuckles.

Hmm, I guess I'll have to ask someone else... With that, it's still about a bell early, but since there's nothing else to do, Eryk sends me home for the day.

While John is carrying me across town, I absentmindedly stare at the sky. The clouds are pretty dark and cover everything, but they're thin enough to partially see to the faintest bit of pink spreading from where the sun is just beginning to approach the horizon.

I rest my head against his chest and close my eyes comfortably. Now that I don't have to worry about the winter chill setting in, this feels really nice. Like usual, I keep Chisa overhead to watch for danger while I direct John on our trip through the northeast district, pointing a hand toward whichever road or alley is next.

I feel like he would have learned the route by now if I didn't keep changing it every day. Another thing to avoid possible problems. Today, he's giving me the strangest look as I direct him though, so I open my eyes and ask, "Yeah?"

John just sputters a laugh and shakes his head for some reason. "It's nothing, Aria." I frown, if there wasn't anything, why was he looking at me like that? He keeps chuckling while he walks. I don't get it...

With a sigh, I shrug it off and return to directing him around the couple suspicious people today. At least I'm not picking up that feeling of being watched anymore. We make it home safely, and I wave John goodbye before he heads off for the night.

When I head up to my room, I start with my homework, which is... a kind of cross-over between history and the animal handling lesson from today. It's all about different ways of raising and caring for mofa that have been discovered, especially the ways that help them grow the best fur for making into fabric, and how the people - at least the ones we still know about - originally came up with the various methods.

It's pretty interesting, especially when it mentions how the mofa burrow in the winter to help stay warm. I guess they're kind of like hobins with that...

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When I finish up reading, I frown. I want to continue my mana practice, but my barrier still isn't fully healed. I'm not going to ignore that and aggravate the injury, or it'll just take longer to heal. Instead, I decide to put off my practice until tomorrow. That'll be enough time for the last of the damage to heal up.

Since mana practice is out for now, I look over my clothes instead. I don't have many left, but what I do have are nice and clean after washing them the other day. I consider patching them up a little more, but decide not to. I'll be getting more over the weekend anyway. So, what to do...? It's about half after the tenth bell, but without my usual practice, I have no idea what to do with myself. I could just do normal meditation, but after a few unsuccessful attempts, I give up on the idea. I just, really don't feel like it right now...

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Feeling strangely restless, I end up wandering out of our room, into the hall. There are a handful of other kids around, chatting quietly outside their doors. Some standing, some sitting on the floor against the walls. Some talk about an interesting person they saw, some about a cool plant they found in the forest. A road in town they didn't realize was there. A ton of little unique conversations. They all pause when I pass by though, their eyes always drawn to my hair.

Mostly, they return to their own stuff without paying me much mind beyond that, but my ear catches on one boy who lowers his voice.

"You see her? I heard the new caretakers make her special food every day."

Unexpectedly, the other boy laughs. "You only just heard? They do it all the time. Kevin said they keep it all in the cellar, he swore he saw them go in one time. Want to take a look?"

"No way! I'm not going down there..." I keep walking as the boys bicker quietly. Is that really where they keep my food? Now I want to take a look. With nothing better to do, I start on my way downstairs. I catch numerous other snips of conversation, and multiple times kids whisper to their friends about me being weird. It's always like this around here, especially now that the kids are more comfortable and talking to each other more. It's part of why I spend most of my time in my room. And I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but sticking out like I do still makes me feel terrible.

I know I can never be like others, people or rail units, but I wish they would stop reminding me about it all the time. All I can do is hold down the urge react, while I walk toward the back of the house. Just focus on what I'm doing, I tell myself...

The one strange upside though - no one is mentioning rumors related to hot water. I guess that despite my earlier worries, Ralph actually did keep the secret to himself. I'm glad I didn't say anything mean to Eve, it looks like she was right after all.

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It's dark in the stroreroom when I arrive, with no one inside. I walk over to the trap door to the cellar and pull it open. Stepping down inside, I blink. "Oh." Ella's already down here.

She looks up. "What are you doing in here?" she asks.

"Umm," I scratch my cheek. I mostly just didn't have anything else to do... "I don't know, I heard there was food down here and I was curious?"

With a small shrug, she gestures to the big table in the middle of the room room. "Yes, this is where we keep the food. The food just for you," she says a little pointedly, giving me a look that I don't understand. It isn't exactly pleasant, but not quite mean either...

Now I feel awkward. Should I leave? But from my spot atop the little set of stairs down into the cellar, the table full of food looks interesting... Pushing past the feeling, I step down into the cellar and walk up to the table's edge. It takes up most of the floorspace, and Ella is on the right side. When I go up on my toes to see over the top, I immediately see how everything is split into two piles.

Glancing between them, there are a bunch of different kinds of food all sitting together, but with a very clear divide between the two groups, one on my left, one on my right. Ella raises a brow at me, but doesn't pause, still pulling a few different plants from the right hand pile and placing them into a basket hooked at her elbow.

"What, are you hungry? Ella asks with the smallest note of challenge. "Dinner isn't for a while still."

"No, just..." I shrug. "Nothing to do." With the next battle coming up, it's pretty crazy that there's nothing for me to do, isn't it...? After all, there should be tons of things worth spending time learning or practicing. That's when something finally comes to me. Ella raises a brow when I perk up at the thought, but it's not like I can mention it to her.

After a brief pause without me responding to the silent question, Ella says, "You're an odd one, you know that?"

I frown. "Yeah, I know." Where is this coming from? Because I'm down here, or just that I'm weird in general?

"All this food... just for you," she sighs. "This food is worth more than I make in a month, and you can't even eat half of it."

"I'm... really sorry about that..." I mumble, starting to feel bad before I realize something. "Actually," I cross my arms in a huff. "as long as it's Karl Liffan's money, I don't care." It's his fault I can't get adopted, and he wants to sell me to that awful Varish. Let him waste his money on food I can't eat...

Ella shakes her head and goes back to what she was doing. Her disapproving look is kind of upsetting though. He's a terrible person, what's wrong with making him waste his money? I pout and poke a finger at one of the foods on the left side of the table to distract myself, the faint reaction from my mana telling me that it has some effect. It's stronger than I remember when eating it too, enough that I can pick up on it just by holding my hand close. This pile must be the ones they don't feed me.

"What happens to the food I don't eat?"

"So far, we've been throwing out what has gone bad," she reports, with that same sour look. I guess Karl Liffan hasn't noticed since he's never around, but... if he does, the caretakers would be the ones who get in trouble, wouldn't they? For letting food go bad that they're supposed to be feeding me...

"This is bad..." I mumble to myself. The caretakers have been wonderful, they've completely turned around life at the orphanage for the last couple months. Even if Ella isn't the nicest, she's still done a ton to help us, and the others have been even better. For them to get in trouble for wasting a noble's money, getting fired from their job would be the least of their problems.

Then we'd end up with new caretakers, ones that might not be as nice, and definitely wouldn't treat us as well if they had any idea what happened to the last caretakers...

I go up on my toes to get a better look at Ella from across the table, and tell her, "I'll see what I can do." Bits of a plan are coming to me as I think. I'm going to need more information. Ella doesn't have much of a response - mostly she just looks confused - so I wave and head back upstairs.

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I'm working on climbing up to the third floor, considering how to get Karl Liffan to stop sending food I can't eat, when I finally realize something I should have thought of earlier.

I already figured out that the money he's spending for the orphans is most likely being supplied by the government, like Claire taught me. The money that buys my food comes from taxes, money that commoners give to the nobles in exchange for them running the government and protecting everyone. And... other things, I think. I don't remember getting into any details beyond that in our lessons yet.

Still, that means the money Karl Liffan is wasting buying me food I can't eat - it isn't even his money. It's money from all the people of the city. With that thought in mind, I continue up to my room, grabbing a sack from under my bed, then go back downstairs.

When I reach the cellar again, Ella is already gone. I climb up on the big table, so I can reach everything. I carefully search the table, selecting the different foods, just the ones from the left side of the table. One of each goes in my bag. Thanks to the somewhat stronger feeling most give now, I think I recognize a couple from when I had to avoid eating them. That includes the ones I didn't have a bad reaction to, but I couldn't really explain that to the caretakers, so they stopped feeding them to me anyway.

Like... at a touch, I recognize the feel of the one that made colored mana way more effective. It basically just looks like a potato, but the skin is more yellow than brown. Apart from that and the oddly powerful feeling in my fingers where I touch it, I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference between it and a regular potato. Actually, it massively strengthened my mana, I wonder if eating this before battle might help...

Sitting there on the table, I scratch my head. This food isn't really mine is it? Until the caretakers make it for me, it belongs to Karl Liffan. Just taking it would be stealing, and stealing is wrong. "Mmm..." I grumble.

I think about it a little longer. There's no way I'll be able to buy food like this myself, and I can't steal it either. "Whatever," I push the thought aside. Since this food isn't an option, I'll just focus on the other things I can do to survive. For instance, I haven't worked on my weapon skills since I left the program. We always did it regularly so we wouldn't get out of practice. Even if I can't fight like they can, I should still keep up on that sometimes.

"I don't have anything to practice with..." I murmur while I throw the sack over my shoulder. There aren't all that many different foods inside, but it's still pretty big compared to me. Since I'm so small... I grumble at myself over both problems, walking out of the storage room.

I stop when I catch the footsteps coming from right around the corner. Kerra turns the corner, and I shift to the side so she can pass, but she stops too. "What are you up to, Aria?" she asks with an odd tone.

"Umm..." I consider the question, still kind of stuck on my last thought about that. Since I don't have anything to practice weapon skills with the best I could probably manage is holding something else, like a metal ingot maybe. The balance would be all wrong compared to a real weapon, but at least it would be something. But I can't mention any of that to Kerra, so...

"What's in the bag?" She sounds more stern this time, probably impatient since I didn't figure out an answer.

Thankfully, that one's a lot easier. "Food," I tell her, holding it open so she can see inside.

"And what-" her suddenly sharp tone makes me stand up straighter. "-are you doing with that food?"

I blink a few times, confused. Why is she starting to look angry? For now, I try to explain. "So, I was worried about you all getting in trouble with Karl Liffan because the food he's been getting is going to waste since I can't eat it. I was thinking I'd try telling him which ones I can't eat so he doesn't get them anymore..." I pause there. I still haven't worked through my entire plan in my head yet, but I do have the general idea so far. "But, I really don't want to talk to him, so I was thinking of sending a letter instead, but for that, I need to be able to tell him which foods I can't eat, but I don't actually know what they're called for that," I go on, waving a hand at the open top of the cloth sack.

"I was thinking if I brought them to- uhh," I stop short before saying 'work,' "-to my instructor. She's really smart so I think she could tell me what they are, and then I could tell Karl Liffan." Still... haven't figured out how to convince him to actually care about foods I can't eat though... I'm turning the idea over in my head, trying to come up with something, when Kerra gives me the strangest look. "...What?" I ask uncertainly. Is there some part of my plan that's obviously wrong, but I just haven't thought it through enough to realize yet?

"Oh no, it's nothing," Kerra sighs, one hand raising to her face. "No matter how long I work here, I don't know if I'll ever grow accustomed to you." What about me? What is it this time...? I think to myself darkly, but Kerra puts a stern look on again, pulling me back from my thoughts. "Still," she points a finger at me firmly, "you have to ask an adult first, before doing things like this, young lady. Otherwise it will create all sorts of misunderstandings. Do you understand?"

I gulp. "Yes, Miss Kerra." I don't understand why at all, but I can't argue when she's looking at me like that...

"Good. Now, I'll bring you upstairs."

"Ok...?" She doesn't have to do that, but she does anyway, staying right at my side as I walk through the house, scrambling up the stairs to my room. It's always harder when I'm holding things, but at least I have one free hand right now. Kerra drops me off at my room, heading back downstairs with just a momentary wave back.

I really don't understand adults sometimes...