Mark and Cat still seem confused, but I put them out of my mind and focus on straining the sap from the now pulped dandelions. Melanie soon has her two barrels, and I have several more just starting to curdle.

"We should probably run this through a centrifuge before making gloves with it." I comment after setting the barrels next to Melanie. "At least until I breakthrough my imagery block. But, eh, the balloons turned out alright. So, it should be good enough for now."

"Centrifuge?" Melanie asks while struggling to shift a barrel.

"Sorry, let me fix that." I morph each barrel into eight smaller casks which she then slowly starts putting away in her storage. "And, a centrifuge just spins stuff around really fast to separate out its components by weight."

"What's a balloon?" Cat looks between her master and me in confusion.

"This is a balloon." Apricot flies up and drops a water balloon right on my head.

"Ahh-ah-aah." I start shivering and quickly run the heating spell over my whole body to warm up after being doused in what felt like liquid nitrogen. "Okay, I'll admit I deserved that. But, I said ice water, that was a lot colder than just ice water."

"Heheheh. That's what you get for trying to prank the queen of pranks." She chortles, but settles back down on my now dry head.

"Whatever." I roll my eyes and start wringing the moisture from the now curdled rubber. "And, I'll try making a centrifuge later, after I figure out a working turbine."

"Is it always going to be like this around here?" The apprentice asks as the cured rubber sheets start vanishing.

"Pretty much." I tap the ground again and clover rolls in like a wave to cover the bare earth. "And, sorry Mark, it looks like you'll have to wait a moment for the rest of the show." I turn my attention to a wagon that just pulled to a stop just meters from us.

"Oh, that must be Claude." Melanie says. "Ed told me he'd be dropping by personally to deliver your windows as thanks for making it so that he wouldn't need to import sand anymore."

"Right, and right." An energetic middle-aged man hops down from the driver’s seat and rushes forward to shake my hand. "I am Claude and I do have your windows. I have no idea how to thank you properly though; I nearly fainted when Edsel drew out the perfect sand for glass from common soil."

"Well, could you teach me the basics of glassmaking?" I ask. "I need to get those sprinklers built before the fire chief finds out about them." I send a look straight up to the prankster pixie.

"Gladly, gladly." The man claps his hands together. "Just let me get your windows unloaded, I included enough extra to outfit your workshop too."

"No need." I gesture at the wagon with Blackthorne and the crates on it vanish into storage. One reappearing in my vines, where I crack it open and remove the padding to see the glass inside. "Oh, these are perfect, thank you."

"Nng." I look over at Melanie when she growls. Her eye is twitching and she still hasn't finished storing all the casks I gave her. "You know, most people need to be touching something to use that spell."

"Why?" I smirk back at her. "All you need to do is permeate the item you want to store with your magic. Sure, being closer helps, but there's no need to actually touch it."

"He's just so infuriatingly sexy with his attitude towards magic." Apricot sighs. "Even I didn't think to use my inventory at a distance until I first saw him do it with storage."

"Is that what yours is called?" I've been curious about it because it feels so similar to storage, yet subtly different. "And, I only figured it out after you showed me that trick with the stuck arrow. So, if you want to whine, whine at yourself."

"Hah!" She snorts and slaps the top of my head. "And, yes. Inventory is basically storage, but easier to sort. You can put everything in its own space instead of having it all in one area. I could show you if you want."

"Maybe later." I reach a hand up to her and hug the winged woman with the tendrils growing from the back of it. "I have so much crap in there that it would take forever just to shift it over."

"I thought Ed was exaggerating your skill at magic, but wow." Claude has expression under better control than Mark or Cat, but more than a bit of his admiration leaks through in his voice.

"It's all thanks to my teachers." I send a tendril up to tousle her hair.

"Oh, hush." She swats the tiny vine away. "And, quit messing up my hair."

"I'm not sure you could mess up that mop." I tease. "But, if you don't want me playing with your hair, then I won't play with your hair." I send the tendril to tickle her instead. "Alright, where were we? Oh, yeah. Rubber and glass. Claude, would you be kind enough to tell me the basics while I mix up what's needed for what I'm working on."

"Of course." He bows slightly. "There are a lot of different recipes for different colors, but basic clear glass is just white sand, salt ash to lower the melting temperature, and lime so that it won't melt when it gets wet."

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"Oh, yeah." I snap my fingers. "I remember reading about that somewhere. But, say I don't have or want to waste the fillers, can I use pure silica? Just how hot does it need to be? I can smelt aluminum, but it takes a good chunk of mana to do so."

"Yes... and it's uh..." He swallows his saliva. "Not quite that hot, but not far off."

"Mhm." I grumble while kneading the rubber mixture together. "Apricot, would you please ask Amelia if her books have any electric spells?"

"There’s a joke spell that lets you zap someone." She answers right away. "We were planning to prank you with it later. Why?"

"Lucky me." I deadpan. "But, that should be enough for me to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. They burn more than hot enough to smelt aluminum. Hells, I think it was used for platinum. But, platinum is not a plant, so I'm not really sure."

"You're just not happy unless you break someone's brain at least once a day, are you?" Apricot flies down to hover in front of my nose.

"Oh, come on." I roll my eyes with a huff. "I'm sure that Melanie and even Cat knows not to add iron to acid anywhere near an open flame. Zapping water is just another way of making the same gas."

"I haven't started teaching her about acids yet." Melanie states. "But, you're right. That gas does burn, usually explosively so. But, I've never heard of using electromancy on water to produce it."

"I'll show you later, once I learn that spell and a couple others I'll need." I smile and then turn to her young apprentice. "And, you. No blowing up the lab while trying to copy one of my stupid stunts. Please."

"We should probably make that rule number one." Melanie nods exuberantly while Apricot lands on my shoulder. I think she chose to land there just so I can see the dirty looks she keeps shooting me. "One: No explosions, period. Two: no copying Sorrel, not without proper supervision, at least."

"Hey, I always put safety first." I grumble.

"True, but you also have the magic to back it up when something goes wrong." She counters. "Like a hydrogen explosion for example."

"Fair." I nod, but now all I can think of is filling a balloon with hydrogen and setting it off.

"Maybe 'no copying Sorrel' should be rule one." Apricot says. She knows what that twinkle in my eye means.

"Says the woman who wants me to build her a ballista." I counter

"I'm still waiting on that, by the way." She smirks. "But, I'm a grown woman, Cat is an impressionable teenager, and you. Well, you do tend to leave an impression."

"Point taken." I send her a nod of respect. "I promise not to do anything truly dangerous around the youngsters. I need to learn a sound muffling spell first, anyways. No need to startle all the neighbors just because I want to blow stuff up for fun."

"Come on, Catherine." Melanie takes her apprentice by the arm. "Let's get back to work before he makes any more of an impression."

"You are such a butt." Apricot punches my earlobe.

"I know." I smile back at her. "But, you know I'm as protective of kids as you are. And, it's not every day I get the chance to tease you."

"You're still a butt." She humphs.

"Love you too." I smirk when she bats my ear again. "So, back to glass. You need to cool it slowly after it’s formed, or it will shatter, right?" I recall that from some half-remembered episode of 'How it's Made'.

"Yes." The glassmaker nods, still looking a bit overwhelmed, but happy to be back in familiar territory. "May I ask what exactly you want to make?"

"Of course. Just uh, don't let Adriana find out until I have a working product." I say nervously. "Apparently, the only reason she isn't hounding me for fire hoses is because they won't be of any use until the new several kilometer-long water pipes are built." I feel a little bad for Ed and whoever else she drags into that project.

I carve a wooden model of a fire sprinkler. I even simulate the 'glass' shattering when I light a fire underneath it.

"These, on the other hand, could be implemented right now with just some minor plumbing work." I explain. "See, the bit that I broke away will be made from glass filled with liquid that will expand and shatter it when it gets too hot."

"That... wow." He looks the model over with increased scrutiny. "What a clever way to fight fires."

"Mhm." I shrug the shoulder Apricot isn't sitting on. "They're common where I came from, so they came straight to mind when the Baron asked if I had any other ideas like the hoses and extinguishers. He's the one who recommended I have a working product to show before letting the fire chief know about it."

"Hmm, you should probably use regular glass for these ampoules." Claude nods to himself. "Fused quartz is stronger and will, therefore, need the liquid inside to be much warmer before it breaks. What were you planning to fill them with? I feel like I might give it a go myself."

"That would be fantastic." My head bobs up and down exuberantly. "Magic makes up for a lot, but glassmaking is just a little bit outside my area of expertise. And, I was probably just going to use alcohol. The tiny amount inside an ampoule isn't going to make any difference to a fire hot enough to break it. I'd be happy to provide whatever supplies you need."

"Thank you, but Edsel has already offered to provide me with all the quartz sand I could ever use." He quits shaking his head and starts smile. "I have everything else I'll need, including the alcohol. If you don't mind, I think I'd like to go give it a try."

"Of course." I offer him a bow. "And, thank you. Knowing that a master is on the job takes a lot of the weight off of my shoulders. I'll still give it a go myself, but now I can focus on learning a new skill instead of just worrying about the finished product."

"Then let me welcome you in advance to the art of glassmaking." He returns my bow before heading to his wagon. "And, thank you again for showing Edsel that spell."

"So..." Mark draws out the work after Claude leaves. "Explosions and Ballista? It's probably a good thing that you're friends with the Baron."

"They're meant purely for entertainment purposes, I assure you." Saying this with a straight face earns a snort from both him and Apricot. "Alright, back to the resistance bands?"

I mold the batch of rubber into several different lengths and diameters before curing it. Once they're ready, I add handles and a fabric sheath just in case the rubber snaps. I have a few more ideas to try out later. But, now that the glass is here, I want to install it and finish decorating the house.

"Here, I made extras so the rest of the guards can play around with them too." I make a bag to hold them all. "Now, I hope you don't mind, but I had planned to finish decorating the house this morning."

"Of course." He accepts the bag with a bow. "Thank you for this, and sorry again for earlier."

"Like I said, don't worry about it." I say with a smile and then watch as he jogs back to the city.

"Oh, boy. What next?" I chuckle ruefully, thinking of how the simple task of checking on Melanie got sidetracked and ended up taking over a good chunk of my morning.

"Next you make some furniture for me to nap on. Just watching you work is tiring." My pixie says with a laugh, shifting back to human-size as soon as the door is closed behind us. "And, you don't need to carry me around anymore. I think you running that race with me on your back proved your point." She adds when I go to scoop her up again.

"Aww." I pout until she bops me on the head. "Alright, but I don't want you thinking that we don't need you anymore." I pick Apricot up despite her protests and give her a slow, sensuous kiss. "I love you, you crazy little thing and I know that I would be a lot worse off without you."

***