Jeb finished his glass, now more able to focus on the flavor of the beer. It was not the best beer he’d ever had, but it was good enough that he would have been happy to drink it, even without the fun effect. He had another pang of homesickness as he realized that he could not share the drink with his family.
Thinking about that reminded him that, while he may not be close to family, there were still plenty of people in the Academy that he could share the drink with. Jeb looked at the barrel.
It might be a little inconvenient to carry this with me, he thought. When he struggled to get a good grip on the barrel, he nodded and set it back down. Jeb made sure that the barrel was not going to continue pouring and made his way to the Workshop.
He watched the doors pass by him, each filled with their own mysteries. When the Weaving door passed by, Jeb realized that he had not talked to the Weaver since making his woven fire.
I can’t get distracted now, he thought, mentally resolving to talk to the Weaver about it soon.
After waiting for a few minutes, the door he was hoping for finally appeared. Jeb entered the Glassblowing Workshop and found an open area. The head Glassblower met him at the station. Sounds of breaking glass echoed in Jeb’s mind as the woman looked him up and down.
“Are you looking for instruction?” she asked, frowning slightly.
Jeb shook his head. “No, I’m just here to make some bottles,” he said.
She nodded. “I assume from your clothing that you are from the Academy?” Seeing Jeb nod, she continued, “there are bottles for Academy students with matching sized corks available there,” she gestured to a wall of bottles.
Jeb considered the offer. His goal had initially just been to get bottles, it was true. As he thought about it more, though, he realized that he did actually want to make the bottles that he was gifting to people. Even if they didn’t know that he had put in the extra effort, he would.
The Glassblower seemed to see something in Jeb’s eyes, and so she gestured to another wall. “If you want to make standard sized bottles, there is a mold over there.”
Jeb was confident in his ability to free blow bottles to the right volume, even if they would not all be identically shaped. Since he was only planning on giving each person a bottle as thanks, though, that did not seem important. It was far more relaxing than he had expected to simply work with glass and heat again. He almost thoughtlessly used Least Create Fire to keep the glass at just the right temperature, and Least Move Air meant that he was able to blow multiple bottles at once.
Jeb decided to make thirty bottles, since he was unsure how many he would want. He was sure that it would be well under that number, but figured that it was always better to have spares. When he finished, he saw that the Glassblower was staring at him, mouth slightly agape.
Jeb waved, and she waved back after a moment. He collected the bottles and made sure that a cork would fit in each of them, then made his way back to the brewing barn. He carefully filled each bottle before corking them and putting them in his bag. When he exited the barn, he paused, debating which to deliver first.
“Jeb, this is a surprise,” Dean Aquam said, looking at his clinking bag. Jeb felt all the liquid in the bottles stir in unision, just for a second, before they resumed sitting normally.
“I wanted to say thank you for all of your support since I’ve come to the Academy,” Jeb said, handing over a bottle.
Dean Aquam took a sip, nodding appreciatively. When he breathed out, the flames came out tinged with blue. “It has been a few years since I had a Firebeer,” he commented. “Is this the standard recipe?”
Jeb shrugged. “The book that Margaret gave me just had amounts of malt and Fireleaf. It’s possible that they used a different kind of malt or yeast.”
He turned to leave, then stopped, remembering that he had more to do. Handing the Dean a bottle, Jeb asked, “would it be possible for you to get this to Cyprus? I want to thank him for the advice and yeast.”
Dean Aquam took the bottle, nodding.
“Also,” Jeb said, a little hesitantly, “I realized that I never asked how much the barley cost.”
Dean Aquam waved the concern away. “Assuming that you remain in the Remedial College, your debts are not going to accrue any interest.” Seeing that Jeb was about to object, he continued, “the grain merchant was, of course, fairly compensated by the Academy. I have gotten the impression, however, that economics is not a subject for which you have any particular love.”
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Jeb nodded. “Thank you!” he said, leaving to go deliver the other bottles.
Professor Quicksilver sniffed the bottle quizzically before he took a sip. He let out an audible sigh of relief, bright white flames licking down his beard. “Thank you,” he said, “I would, of course, be happy to purchase more of this at a later date.”
Jeb nodded. “Talk to Dean Aquam about that!” he said, moving off to deliver the other bottles he had.
The Weaver took the bottle happily and complimented Jeb on weaving fire. Margaret, Declan, and Kaitlyn were all in the Stacks when he made it into there.
“Were you looking for us?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Yes!” Jeb handed each of them a bottle, which they took with thanks, though he noticed that none made any motions to open the bottles. Without anything else pressing for the term break, Jeb decided to make two more barrels of Firebeer, one with the Yeast Energizer and one without, to test whether there was any real difference between the two. To his relief, other than the time that it took the brews to be ready, Jeb could not find a single difference. Still, with three full barrels of beer, he was beginning to worry about using up all of the beer before it went stale.
On the first day of the term, he found Catherine and Declan at breakfast. After a brief set of hugs and hearing about how they spent their term breaks, Jeb offered each of them a bottle of Firebeer. The two other students both looked at their bottle hesitantly.
“Jeb,” Catherine said slowly, “it isn’t even eighth bell yet.”
“Sure,” Jeb agreed, more than a little confused.
Catherine held up a hand, ready to say something, before shaking her hair and lowering her hand. After repeating that a few times, she shrugged and opened the bottle. She took a sip and began to cough.
“What’s in this?” she said, as fire poured out of her mouth.
“Firebeer!” Jeb said happily.
Neither she nor Declan seemed to have noticed the tongues of fire that came out of her mouth. Then again, Jeb thought, maybe they just already know what Firebeer is.
Catherine nodded and took another sip. Seeing that it was safe, Declan took a sip of his own. Both of their eyes widened with pleasure, and they let out a soft sigh of enjoyment.
This time, they noticed the flames. Both leapt out of their seats.
“What was that?” both demanded in unison.
“Firebeer?” Jeb replied, shaking a little bit with joy. He was glad that he was not the only person to be surprised by the drink.
His two classmates took another sip, this time clearly expecting the flames. When they breathed out, they both let out a chuckle as tongues of fire once more licked out of their mouths.
“Jeb, do you have more of this?” Declan asked excitedly. “I know so many students in Enchanting who would love it!”
Catherine echoed similar sentiments.
Jeb grimaced. “I only have a few more bottles,” he said. Seeing their faces fall, he continued, “I do have the better part of three barrels, though, and it isn’t like Firebeer is particularly difficult to make.”
Their eyes lit up again, and the two started planning how best to distribute the alcohol to the rest of the Academy. Jeb sat back and vaguely listened, glad that his classmates enjoyed what he had made.
Suddenly, there was a lull in the conversation. Jeb felt four eyes suddenly boring into him.
“Hmm?” he asked, trying to replay the last few moments of the conversation.
“We asked if you had anywhere to sell Firebeer,” Declan said.
Jeb shrugged. “No, but I’m sure that we can find somewhere.”
He cleared his plate and moved out of the cafeteria. Declan and Catherine hurried to follow him. The walk through the Academy halls felt like it took much longer than normal. Neither of his companions said anything about it, though, so Jeb assumed that he must just be nervous. After what felt like fifteen minutes of walking, the three found themselves in an old, somewhat dusty room.
Jeb looked around curiously. He had never seen dust in the Academy. Catherine and Declan, on the other hand, rushed around, noting the tables and holders already built to keep barrels of beer.
“Could you sell it here?” Declan asked. Jeb had a brief memory of his conversation with the Dean about paying for the barley.
Something of that must have shown on his face, because Catherine gently suggested, “if it helps, Declan and I can be responsible for setting the price and collecting it from the students.”
Jeb nodded eagerly. “That sounds great then!” he said.
Catherine pulled out a pad of paper and asked about the costs associated with brewing Firebeer. When Jeb admitted that the only real costs were barley and effort, her eyes seemed to catch fire. And so, Jeb’s semester suddenly became far less focused on his courses. He still attended every lecture and dutifully completed all the homework.
In the other hours of the day, though, he spent more and more time in the bar. A few days into the term, a sign had appeared, proclaiming it as “Jeb’s Fine Firebeer Emporium”, though both Catherine and Declan denied putting it there. At first, business was slow. Catherine or Declan would bring in one of their friends, who would try the beer, laugh at the novelty, and then leave.
As more and more students seemed to realize that this was the easiest place in the Academy to find alcohol, however, the Emporium became more crowded. The first time that someone mentioned coming for that reason, Jeb was more than a little hesitant to serve them. Thankfully, after two drinks, they left.
That set the tone for the rest of the Emporium’s operation. Gradually more students would come, have a drink or two, and chat with their friends. When one student learned how to make the flames coming out of their mouth a different color, sales doubled.
It got to the point that Jeb ended up needing to ask Dean Aquam to get him a few more barrels of barley, since the grains in the field were not growing quickly enough. Dean Aquam gave him a strange look, but after admitting that he knew nothing about Brewing, sent Jeb four barrels of barley. A note from Cyprus was attached to one of them, thanking Jeb for the beer and inviting him to spend a term interning at Lionheart Brews if he ever needed a break from the Academy.
Like all good things, though, it could not last.