"No way you gathered an angry mob after you! Again!"

"Get lost, Mark." Said Sirius from behind a book, he was reading at the library.

"I mean, you have a talent for that! It's a second time in a year!"

"Do you want to be my second test subject?"

"What?... Who was the first?"

"That arrogant moron of a priest. I had to test medicine on him when his bones exploded."

"His what!?" Mark shouted in amazement.

"His bone what?" Asked Melissa who just entered the library.

"Oh, hello Melissa!" Said Sirius, while leaning back in chair to see her. "Yeah, did you see that priest, who was supposed to be on probation in our village?"

"That prick who flaunted his skills by shattering apples?"

"Right, that one. His oh-so-majestic spells were too violent and his arm exploded from the stress."

"I thought it was his flow that was bad." Shrugged Melissa.

"What are you two talking about?" Interjected Mark.

"You will learn that... Some time later." Hesitantly said Sirius, since he did not really know when people learn about spells. "Actually, since when do you know about the flow?"

"I was taught that as a preparation for becoming a priestess. They said if you use too much force you will be punished by Gods."

"Huh, sounds exactly like what happened. He seemed rather angry."

"Angry at you? What were you doing there to anger him?" Asked Melissa.

"Nothing much, just said his skills are lacking. Actually, I never intended to go there. All I wanted was to create a couple of ceramic bowls, and now half a village sees me as a madman who makes arms explode."

"At least you healed him." Said Mark.

"So what? People still view me as a sinner, even with Emissary's verdict. I might have to go live in a forest like my master did."

"Near the World Tree? What if people try to sneak up to you?" Asked Melissa with concern.

"I'll gladly see them try. I swear, I will reverse-engineer the process of exploding bones just to prove a point, and will use it on such idiots who shoot right and left without reason."

"I would rather you not, Pupil Sirius." Said Emissary who opened the door into the library. "Brown is searching for you. His kiln's enchantment has collapsed, he wants you to fix it."

"Wow, am I allowed? I thought it is the property of Ravenloft." Said Sirius while closing the book and putting it away.

"The Order wants to evaluate your skills, so it is the great opportunity for you."

"Of course they do." Disappointedly said Sirius. "No problem, be right there in a minute. See you all soon!"

On his way to the blacksmith Sirius felt the terrified, concerned and disgusted looks if the villagers. Sirius wanted to prove his innocence, but the cold-blooded stare of Sirius during his healing procedure made him look uncaring. Just one day has passed, and the story began to evolve as the rumours were spreading.

"Hi Sirius!" Said Corwel Brown from his workshop.

"Hello, mister Brown. Were you looking for me?"

"NI was worried you ran away. How are you after yesterday?" He said in a hushed tone.

"Me? I mean, I am fine. Why are you asking?"

"I heard that Arthur tried to kill you with an arrow, but you deflected it back to him."

"Oh Gods, it became even more absurd." Sighed Sirius while pinching his eyebrows. "He brought it upon himself. I did nothing wrong, just healed him afterwards. But he did try to kill me, that part is true."

"I thought so. You are no priest to be able to use the divine gift."

"That's right, but either way I am here to help with a kiln, Silver Sister allowed me to."

"Seriously? I was ready to wait for a mage from Ravenloft to fix it!"

"I can't promise anything, but the Inquisitor's Emissary is quite confident in me. I can't disappoint her. Let me take a look."

The kiln was built with firebricks, charred over the edges after the intense heat. After removing the cover on the floor Sirius found an intricate diagram that spread up the base of the firebox. It had many interconnected parts, even some pits with copper spheres, likely for storing some energy.

Stolen novel; please report.

"How is it?" Asked Corwel, looking that Sirius was scratching his head.

"I am... not sure. I see many parts that don't make sense."

"Erm, may I help?"

"I might try to describe what it does. It stores some energy as the kiln cools down, maybe to use it to start fire later."

"That's right, it kindles on its own."

"Great, that means... Might it be that the bricks are fortified? If so, the part that regulates their temperature has burned out."

"Is that fixable? I have a number of pots for people waiting to be fired."

"I can fix, but it will fizzle out right away, the problem is elsewhere... Damn, it has a lot of functions for such a small diagram."

"That... is small?" Bemused blacksmith looked at a huge diagram that covered half of his workshop in thick lines.

"Actually, I can't say for sure. Also it looks incomplete, does it have any other parts?"

"Oh, that! It had those statues." Blacksmith pointed at a small ceramic pillars with ornaments of potter, blacksmith, and metalworker. "I was said to use them to choose the function of the kiln."

"It is quite smart actually." Said Sirius while holding one of them. He felt some resistance to mana passing through it. On bottom they had some small diagrams made of metal. "They complete the diagram. All but this one. Look, the metalworker's statue has a crack."

"I might have dropped this one. Is it critical?"

"It should have a tin chunk on the inside, but it doesn't."

"It melted away from the heat. One day I found a blot under it." Concluded Brown, while scratching the back of his head in shame.

"That is the root of the problem." Sirius took out a box of ritual chalk. "Shall we make a new one?"

After fixing the overloaded connection by outlining it with a chalk, the kiln was ready to be used again. Sirius together with Corwel covered the diagram back with a plate. They carefully created a hollow statue together with a detachable base. Since they were firing the whole kiln anyway, Sirius created a bowl for metal dust. Additionally, he thought about mixing in the metal dust in a clay and made testing bowls, jars and sticks using copper, tin and iron. This whole metallurgy has proven to be quite useful, so he wanted to try out more various applications he came across.

After loading the kiln with freshly-made, still moist creations they closed the kiln and put a put the potter's statue on a special podium near the kiln. After that Corwel showed how to fire freshly-created clay. Sirius knew that to properly fire the jar must be bone-dry, or it will crack. Blacksmith put a couple of logs into the firebox and they began kindling right away. After that he went behind the kiln and pulled a couple of levers that shifted something under the kiln, likely altering the connections in the diagram.

"This is the drying mode. The temperature will slowly rise to about boiling point and maintain like that for half a day. At sunset it should be ready for firing, so I'll add other pots and it will fire overnight." Described Brown, while covering the mouth of a kiln with a cover.

"So it will be ready by tomorrow?"

"I hope so. I am glad I can fire all that stuff overnight, without the enchantments it would be beyond tedious."

"Can I ask you for a help?" Asked Sirius.

"Sure, anything you want."

"Can you help me make small cups out of tin, copper and iron?"

"What for? Tin and copper are too soft, I'd add some other metals to harden them."

"For now I would rather them be pure. I want to try something in my studies."

"Fine, why not."

After leaving more detailed drawings and descriptions, Sirius thanked mister Brown and went into the forest to gather herbs and materials. When he was sitting on a branch yesterday, he noticed something rather interesting in that area. The grass was more cyan there, rather than usual green and he noticed an unfamiliar flower growing close to the trunk, he had to test it right away.