No progress to report for the parents. We attempted some joint visualization sessions in the morning, but after about an hour, we decided we'd had enough togetherness of this sort, and reverted to individual study and effort.

I didn't try any new experiments, instead I concentrated on constant use of the Leatherskin mode, with bursts of full Woodman, trying to become accustomed to the constant drain. It made me hungry most of the time, but that wasn't a large change from normal for the last few months. After doing that for the remainder of Tenday, I was an exhausted mass with a numb brain, and I slept like the dead.

Oneday passed pretty quickly, with a constant stream of customers, stocking shelves, and tidying up the blown dust and dirt from over the enddays. A couple of shelving units were getting a bit wobbly, so Henrig had me unload those, then we re-pegged the shelves and shimmed the base. I then got to reload the shelves and that finished out the day's work.

The real excitement of the day was when I got home and discovered that I had mail.

Mr. Coddlestahl,

As you can tell from this letter, I am obviously in receipt of your letter. While I am happy to inform you that the test analysis is going very well and I would like to convey the appreciation of the test director for your kind inclusion of the page of analyses, as they were most perspicacious, I am not able to share our results with you prior to publishing by the test director, but I have been able to convince the director to let me send you a summary of the results at the time, along with our continuing correspondence. I would be delighted to hear any details of your discoveries in magical theory, as I am still searching for a topic for my final project next year, and I would substantially prefer covering a new technique rather than resorting to covering terrain already well mapped.

My studies here are going well otherwise, and as a student, the cutbacks in the research funding have not had any significant impact on my continued time here. I do appreciate your provision of the stamped envelope as it made sending this reply simpler. I have also enclosed an envelope with my address for your use. While I would be happy to continue our correspondence, I did not budget for the expense of the post in my stipend this month.

Sincerely,

Lunette Vedlimdt

I'd hoped for more, but I'd feared that I would get even this much. After all, there was a hint of perfume to the paper, not as though it had been sprayed directly, but as though she had daubed it to her wrist before writing the note. It was enough for me to notice and enjoy, but not so much as to elicit comment from my parents. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it was somewhat more hopeful than the relatively plain words and clear self-interest in her correspondence.

On the gripping hand, not only had she responded, it was a mildly positive response and a request to continue. I'd have to think about my response, because I would absolutely respond. She uses a budget. And sticks to it. That’s so math, and really good willpower. I guess one benefit to no rapid communications network is that buying stuff with money you don’t have isn’t possible for the average person.

I know some of the shops work with each other on a credit basis, and my parents offer more to anyone selling books to them if that customer will accept a store voucher instead of cash. Here in Pleichston, credit isn’t given out because of some score from some secret process somewhere else, if it’s given out, it is because of you and your reputation with some impact from your family’s reputation as well. That can make it a bit hard for newcomers who might have a cash flow problem before they get the first harvest in, so there are downsides as well, but generally they can use the harvest as collateral in dire need. I needed to focus on the issue at hand, not the intricacies of credit markets versus cash versus income based monetary policy.

It took me several dozen attempts and a few hours to finally compose my reply. I thought waiting might be for the best as I didn't want to appear desperate, no matter how true that might be, but then it would take a few days for her to get the response anyway, and I'm not one for waiting and gamesmanship in relationships. Playing games there seems to be the "strange game, only way to win is not to play" variant in my limited experience.

Since I tend to overshare when I get passionate about things (see the credit discussions above), I also needed some help to keep the most vital discoveries secret. Perhaps the visualization technique by itself would be safe enough. Combined with the chants for focus, a clear visualization seemed to increase the efficiency. I could also talk about the channeled heat technique, that was new, but not as different as the healing or the special defensive modes I'd created. Once I had a rough idea, I did check with my parents about the idea of sharing the iterative upgrade ideas that didn't touch on the radical new applications I'd been developing. This gave them time to think while I was drafting and redrafting my response. With their input, I decided to focus on the use of flame burst as a slow release heating method for greater control.

Ms. Vedlimdt,

I am grateful that my work was valuable to you and to the research project overall. I am also quite pleased to hear that you are not facing any hardships due to the budget cuts in the Department.

As to ideas for your project, have you considered that what can be released quickly can, with enough control, be released slowly with less instantaneous drain? While this may not be true of the electro snaps, you might be able to apply this to the flame bursts. I found that with concentration, I can emit heat from my hand sufficient to warm two gallons of water beyond the comfort point after about 30 minutes. I don't have the equipment here to test exact heat gain, but I estimate it at roughly ten hectatherms total, so roughly 33 basic thermal units per minute. This seemed to take only the energy it would have taken me to do a medium speed run for the same amount of time. I'd be interested in knowing if that is a duplicable result for someone else, and how they might describe the energy to heat exchange rate. It also might be split into two experiments, with the first being can you teach the subjects a new method of using the heat burst, and the second being a follow-on, should the first test be successful. I might be an oddity, after all.

Finally, I have discovered that my current job has given me some intangible benefits in terms of occasional access to a respectable library in the home of my employer, so if I find any other interesting antique techniques in these books, I'll be sure to pass along titles and synopses of the important parts.

I have made a note of your address, so you can dispense with the envelopes in the future, I would not wish to be a strain on your resources, and cannot help but laud you for your wisdom in having made a budget and your discipline in staying within said budget. As such, find enclosed my envelope, stamped and addressed for your deeply desired reply.

Your Friend,

Grint

There. It was not a masterpiece, but it was honest, a bit more personal than the last one, which is a chance I was willing to take. Now I just had to post it, which will take another day. Those tomorrows just keep sneaking up on me. I hated waiting, so it's just too bad tomorrow doesn't have a rope or a tree branch or something.