Having finished as many of the orange-tinted glasses as the pair could manage, Renat and Mairwen turned their collective attention to other projects. Renat's mind was beautiful but scattered, and the princess took great pleasure in directing it more carefully. The scientist had a million ideas, but not all of them were worth pursuing.

"What about a a machine that will milk a goat for you?" Renat queried. He tapped his chin with a feathery pen.

"Surely a machine to milk a cow would be more useful," the princess countered.

"More poor people can afford goats than cows, but I believe cows can produce far more milk per day. What if I could make something that comes in two sizes, large and small? Then both animals could be serviced. Or better yet, one machine to milk them both! Two attachments to milk both animals at the same time. We could create a super hybrid milk!"

Renat's mind whizzed on as his eyes glowed with excitement. He began to scribble feverishly on the page before him. The scientist could be quite nervous and quiet until some notion or invention came into his head. Then he spouted off words like a stream spurts water. He would quickly write as much down as he could before the next stroke of genius invaded his thoughts.

Mairwen watched the boy with a tolerant smile for a moment before placing her hand on his. Her touch set his nerves on end, and he dropped the pen like a hot coal. "Forgive me, Your Highness," he apologized as he drew back from the table. "I got carried away again, didn't I?" Renat's voice was shaky. He scratched the back of his neck.

The Princess's smile grew. "You were talking of attaching two animals to the same contraption for the purposes of overpowered milk."

Renat hung his head, "I am sorry." He sat back in his chair, defeated.

Mairwen started to comfort the boy, but her eyes flicked to their audience. Eira was pretending not to listen, but the soldier was obviously noting every word and action. The other soldiers were equally as diligent. The princess sighed. "Let us think about something more useful…" she said to herself as much as her companion.

"How are two of my favorite young people this morning? Have you finished your lessons already, Princess Mariwen?" The doctor strode in to the workshop casually. He bowed and smiled warmly.

It took all of the girl's charm not to roll her eyes at the doctor's second question. She stood and curtsied. "We are well, Doctor. Thank you. And yes I have finished my lessons and archery."

"Ha! She was up before dawn getting all her work done!" Eira laughed, before realizing that she had spoken aloud. Her face blanched before returning to its disinterested state.

"Oh?" The doctor asked innocently. "And to what do we owe this eager attitude?"

Mairwen inhaled sharply through her nose. "I asked that something be delivered here for examination. I wanted to be here when it arrived."

The doctor nodded briefly, and walked over to the table. "You two have been working hard lately. What brilliant ideas have you stumbled upon today?" Before Renat could stop him, the doctor had his latest work in his hands. "A dual-animal milking machine?"

Renat sank into his seat. "Not one of my better works."

"Indeed." The doctor replaced the paper with an amused snort.

"Do you not have patients to attend?" Mairwen politely inquired.

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"The healers and other physicians have things under control." The head doctor have a toothy grin. They would not get rid of him so easily.

"Someone call for a Councilman?" Zan came through the doorway.

"We did not," the princess was confused.

"How about a Spymaster?" Brinn announced herself.

"No on both counts," Mairwen could see a joke was now being made at her expense. "And it is getting a little crowded in here."

Zan tilted his chin, "My apologies, Your Highness. Allow me to remedy the situation." Instead of leaving, he dismissed the two soldiers with Eira. "Wait outside," he told them. "Is that better, Princess Mairwen?"

'No,' she wanted to say, but did not want to seem impolite. "I appreciate your consideration," Mairwen responded instead. Brinn sniggered. Something was definitely up.

Renat could feel it too. "Should I be worried?" He whispered to Mairwen.

The girl shook her head. "Not yet, we should only worry if—"

"Glory to the Empress!" The cry rang out from the infirmary just beyond the door.

"—if she shows up. Yeah we should be very worried." The princess stood and covered her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment. 'I was having such a lovely morning,' she groaned inwardly.

Aurora made a dramatic entrance and was greeted by those in the room. Nurlan followed directly behind her, vigilantly looking for any threat. When the soldier's eye found the young scientist, he raised his eyebrows slightly before continuing on. Renat wondered if Nurlan had changed his opinion about the boy's experiments or if that was just his face while guarding the Empress.

"Mother," Mairwen greeted Aurora with a curtsy and a kiss on the cheek. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your (and everyone else's) presence?"

Aurora was offered a seat at the table and sat down comfortably. "You asked to examine something. I did not want you to do it without the proper authorities being involved." The Empress motioned to Zan, who produced a familiar looking sack.

"So you are the reason I could not get access earlier!" Mairwen exclaimed. She cleared the table and then placed the sack on it.

"What is it?" Renat asked sheepishly. He realized that he was likely the only one with no clue what was going on.

"This is the bag of one of our intruders from the night of my brother's attack. I think it belongs to Cafer." Mairwen said. The princess had found the sack along with her unconscious father.

"Good guess," Brinn chirped. "That sack reeks of gnome even from over here." The elf leaned against one wall between Nurlan and Zan. She looked far more amused than Mairwen felt that she should.

"Is everything from that night still in the sack?" The princess tried to act professionally. She wanted very much to be taken seriously by her auspicious guests.

Aurora nodded and spread her arms wide. "Everything has been placed back in the bag for your examination."

"Good," Mairwen said with authority. "Please do not tell me your findings until we make our own scientific inquiry." She looked at Renat, who smiled in support.

"Very well, Your Highness," Aurora responded. "I will not give any clues unless you ask."

With a determined squint, Mairwen reached into the bag. Everyone leaned in to see what she would extract first. "Oh," Mairwen muttered with disappointment. The first object was a comb.

"Try again, Your Highness," Brinn coaxed her. "I think you mean: oooooh!" The elf mimicked awe.

The princess realized that she was missing something. She examined the comb more closely. Their were small gems of every shade on the handle including brown, black and grey. Placing her finger on the bright red stone, Mairwen reached for the crown of her head in order to comb the length of her tresses.

"I would caution you to try the ends of your hair first, Your Highness," Brinn warned.

"Perhaps I should do it," Renat offered.

"Thank you, but no." With her hand over the red jewel, Mairwen combed the ends of her hair. The affected piece turned the same shade as the stone. She tried putting her hand over the different colored gems, and each one revealed a streak of hair matching its hue. By the end, Mairwen had a rainbow of colors along the base of her gorgeous coif. "It is a magical hair colorant!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"Amazing, right?" Brinn chuckled. "But you will probably want to trim your hair. It doesn't come out and you will never be able to get the exact shade of your own hair back."

"Wait a second. Is that why you wore that strange scarf for a few days and then got the drastic new haircut?" Zan looked at the elf's very short red hair. "Couldn't you have just shape-shifted to cover it up?"

Brinn held her nose in the air. "The magic is suprisingly shape-shift resistant…not that I would know or anything…pull out the next item." The elf tried to hurry along the process. She wanted to be amused, not amuse others with her own folly.

Mairwen next pulled out a smaller pouch. "I remember this. There is white powder inside."

"May I see?" Renat asked. The princess held out the bag and a puff of white dust hit the boy in the face.

"I-" Nurlan began to interrupt, but was elbowed by Brinn.

"Let them figure it out," Brinn whispered using her wind magic. Nurlan crossed his arms. He did not like where this was going.

"Do you need help?" the Empress offered the pair. Aurora gently held a cloth to her nose and leaned back.

"Have no fear, Your Majesty." Renat assured her. He took this whole event to be some sort of test. He was determined to pass.

"Make sure you use all of your scientific inquiry on that," Brinn teased.

Renat gave her a baleful gaze. "I will. Now, let me see…It has no smell. It is very chalky. Perhaps it is used for keeping hands dry while climbing."

Mairwen disagreed, "I doubt it. Though my guess was wrong too. I really thought it is what Cafer used to put my father to sleep."

That instant, Renat reacted by closing his eyes, falling to the ground and lying still. Aurora sighed, "At least now we know that humans can use it."

Mairwen was in shock. "Did I kill him?" She dropped beside the sleeping boy.

"Of course not," the Empress covered her laugh. "But he will likely have a nasty headache when he wakes."

Brinn crumpled to the floor in a fit of giggles. "Now that is what I came to see. Score one point for magic over science!"