"Nnh!" I grunt and toss yet another failed enchantment into the trash bin. "I almost had it that time too."

"Maybe a lunch break will help." Erick pops his head into the tent. "I know I tend to work better after a good meal."

"Mhm. Is it already noon? Just let me finish up here and I'll join you." My poor patient is somewhat dumbstruck that the baron himself came to invite me to lunch. "Alright, you're good to go, but I recommend going easy when it comes to fatty foods from now on. Try more lean meats, and veggies, less oil, and dairy; stuff like that."

"So, how have you been doing?" Erick asks when I follow him out of the tent. "I hear you found a new spot for your little business. I am truly sorry that... person caused you any trouble, and I can assure you that his future punishment will not be so light." His face is a mixture of revulsion and chagrin right now.

"Mhm. I had planned to move anyways, that incident yesterday made me move things forward a bit." I say while setting out a bowl of candy for those who have to wait. "Damn, how many people have I seen? I'm going to need more wax for the wrappers."

"Enough to make both Elise and Martin jealous. Let alone the rest of the healers." Erick laughs. "I'll send a guard to get you some more wax, and anything else you need."

"Just the wax is good for now... actually, I could use a little information." I add after a moment's thought. "I treated an older mercenary with an eye patch earlier, and I'd like to hire him to work security. I got a good impression when we spoke, and I figure the guards wouldn't have let him through if he was a scumbag. But, looking into his background couldn't hurt."

"I'll have the men look into it. That description should narrow him down, but did you happen to get his name? No? Well, that's alright." He waves it off and guides us into a large tent set up near the tree I grew earlier.

"Mmm, that smells delicious." I let out a small moan as the smell of the food hits my nose. "And, to think I was just going to have some leftovers. Whenever I remembered to eat that is." I add with a chuckle while looking over the tent. It's filled with all of the healers and their apprentices and they're all being served by the baron's staff.

"Leftovers?" Granville perks up, likely interested in seeing some more of his 'rival's' cooking.

"Hahaha. Just some fried chicken and a few of my favorite sides." I left most of the leftovers with Amelia so she and her friends could eat them for lunch, but kept a big plate for myself. "I don't suppose you'd like to try some?" I materialize the plate when the light in his eyes answers for him.

"Hah! Do you think you have enough biscuits there?" Erick laughs at the near mountain of buttermilk biscuits stacked on top of the plate.

"You can never have enough biscuits." I snatch a couple off the top before setting the plate in front of Granville. "Or hush puppies." I grab a couple of those too.

"I don't recognize half of these recipes." Granville growls under his breath

"That one with the corn, lima beans, and everything else is called succotash." I explain when he starts picking out all the different bits. "Then there's collard greens, pecan fried okra, and fried green tomatoes." I name all the dishes he seems unfamiliar with.

"And, these hush puppies?" He takes a bite out of one. "Oh, deep-fried cornbread. Hmm, is that peanut oil?"

"I might just be amenable to trading recipes." I say after taking a bite out of the meal that he prepared.

"Mhm." The man just grunts after seeing the look of desire Erick keeps sending the plate of food.

"The city might run out of bacon if cooking like that becomes popular." Martin says with a soft chuckle. "It looks like you put some in every dish."

"There's none in the biscuits." I reply around a mouthful of one. "So, how's the healing been going for you guys today, anything interesting?"

"You mean more interesting than that Tess woman?" He counters with a snort. "I was nearly floored when Elise told me about her. Do you know more about her condition?"

"Not really." I shake my head. "It's extremely rare and as far as I know only a handful of cases have ever been found; they tend to make the news when they are found though, which is the only reason I even knew about it in the first place. If her eyes hadn't tipped me off, I might not have even realized. How is she doing, by the way?"

"Sleeping off those pitchers she took from you." Elise adds with a sigh. "I'm still interested in learning that sobering spell too."

"Heh. It's just draw matter and cleanse." I bring out one of the leftover pitchers to demonstrate with. "Though speeding up the digestion with a growth spell could provide similar effects."

"Clever." She and Martin both look impressed. "I hear you've been getting a lot of use out of that little spell of yours."

"Yeah, Ed seemed happy when I showed him how it works. Happy enough to sick Struhl on me." I add with an annoyed sigh. "So, I guess as head earth mage around here, he handles all of the infrastructure?"

"Yes." Erick nods. "He delegates most stuff, but a big plan like that would need both his and my approval. And, I hear you sent the Chief right back off aimed at poor Claude." He adds with a wicked chuckle.

"We had just sat down to lunch." I defend myself, but can't seem to hide the smile on my face. "Though, I probably should have been a little more circumspect since it looks like I'll need Ed's approval to run some pipes to and from the new workshop."

"For those new miniature waterwheels of yours?" The baron lights up, clearly knowing a useful invention when he sees it. "Ed told me about the one you have powering a mixer in your shop."

"Yeah, I thought about enchanting everything, but we have the river right there and it'd be stupid not to use it." I bring out one of the turbines and show how it works with some conjured water, spooking some of the apprentices who thought they were about to get splashed. "I have Sinclair the Clockmaker to thank for these and the new sewing machines too."

"Sewing machines?" Everyone looks interested at that, I guess they hadn't heard yet.

"Yes, I didn't want to do all the fabric work for the new silk we're making." I explain. "So, I went looking for some clothiers to partner with, and I ended up taking them to Sinclair's after finding out that they were still doing everything by hand. The man's a genius when it comes to machines. A grumpy genius, but still a genius." I add with a laugh.

"I've never even heard of him." Erick looks a little ashamed of that fact.

"He used to be a machinist working near the docks, but retired to open a clock shop recently." I say. "The shop is just outside the docks though, so he's been having a bit of trouble finding clientele. I have one of your guardsmen, a beastkin named Mark, to thank for letting me know about him. Sinclair is friends with his father and they used to work."

"Looks like someone is getting a raise soon." Elise says with a laugh for the look on her cousin's face. "And, I'd be very surprised if the manor house doesn't have some new clocks very soon. Now, I'm not much for sewing myself, but I have to know how this machine of yours works."

"Like this." I turn my chair around and materialize my wooden copy of the brass prototype. "Don't ask me to explain all the inner workings, but you spin the wheel here and it sews stuff here using a lockstitch and two different threads."

"It's not even enchanted?" She Erick and Martin all crowd around the machine, with all the other healers and apprentices looking like they want to as well. Only Granville, still picking apart my leftovers, doesn't seem to care.

"This is based on a really old model; the newer ones all have an enchantment powering the moving parts instead of a treadle like this." Enchantment, electric motor, same difference. "And, I've heard of some fancy models that can practically sew the whole garment for you, but it's not my field. Honestly, I was lucky I knew enough about how the basic model worked for Sinclair to be able to figure it all out."

"I think I need to pay this Sinclair a visit." Erick states seriously. "I don't suppose you'd know if he'd be in his shop today?"

"Not sure." I shrug. "I told him about a knitting machine before leaving yesterday, so if he hasn't finished that yet, he'll probably be there working on it. Or, if he has, then he might be over at Cecil the weaver's looking to automate the loom." I say with a smirk.

"Heheheh." Elise laughs after seeing the look on Erick's face. "Any other crazy ideas to drop on us?"

"Well, if I can ever get those stupid electric runes to work then I'll be able to make a furnace hot enough to smelt aluminum." Who knew a bit of simple electrolysis would be so damned hard to turn into an enchantment.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" The baron accuses me after snapping his wide-open jaw closed.

"Maybe a little." I reply with a smile. "I had to smelt a bunch yesterday when I went to collect stone and got to thinking about how electromancers aren't very common around here because they tend to work in dungeons."

"Just how much is a bunch?" He asks in a low tone of voice. "I know you showed Edsel how to extract it from plain granite, but..." He trails off when I start materializing ingot after ingot.

"I found enough to play around with for a while." No need to let everyone know that I'm carrying around almost a tonne of the stuff. "And, I should have more than enough stone to run the pipes that the Fire Chief wants. That was my main concern when I went out yesterday. The aluminum was just a bonus."

"Hahahaha. Only Adriana could inspire that kind of attitude." Erick chortles at his over the top fire chief before returning to his seat. "Find anything else interesting out there?"

"Not really." I shrug again. "We ran across a couple of curious goblins, but they kept their distance. And, I collected some spider web because it was there, but I have no idea what I might do with it if anything."

The army uses it to make bowstrings, but I'm not sure what else it's used for." He returns a similar shrug to me.

"There's an idea." I brighten. "I've been thinking about giving Blackie an upgrade, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to use the spider webs." I try feeding him some, but he doesn't even sniff at them. I then try some rayon which the staff happily gobbles up. "Well, he likes the silk at least... maybe a little too much."

"You are a very strange person, Sorrel." The baron laughs as I play tug and war with the damned staff that is trying to eat all of the silk I have on me.

***