Completed Philter 101

[Agnusha]

Nighttime, 32th day of Winter 513 AV Night shift at Starry Chalice was not a problem to Agnusha because to the nature of Lhavit, the city was awaken at night. Skyglasses reflected every light, candles, torches, and ultimately the moon itself, and magically painted Lhavit with ever changing spark of joy and revelry. She'd already get used to it. Costumer kept showing up between rests, some looking for simple philter as lipbalms and some other with their unusual potions request. Everyone was greeted by the master philterer herself, Tian never missed a chance to welcome them. This night thing was going as usual, quiet and serious. Philtering left little chances for the apprentices to had some idle chitchat for the philter usually demand no small amount of concern. Agnusha stood still behind distillation glass, wrapped in a protective gear that seemed to be heavy. Flock of winter white hair framed her face instead of lustrous jet black, her skin tone was also a lot brighter in this form. Pair of dark horn protruding from both side of her head, one was longer than another. The horn made her overall height to be taller and eyecatching. Ethereal aura seemed to glow around her, reducing any other beauty around her. Ethaefals was always an awe to behold in their celestial seeming. She'd just finished sealing vials of distilled alcohol when the master philterer walked into the lab. "Is it done?" "Yes, it is" She answered with a melodious tone she never used in her other form. "Good, could you come with me?" well that was rhetorical question after all but Agnusha gave her the philterer a graceful nod and followed her step out of the lab. Tian lead her to the rear side of the building, through a door into a roofless part of the building she had never seen before. It seemed like it was an extension to the indoor lab for many heavy philter tools lied around. "Have ever used a cupel before?"

[Agnusha]

Agnusha tilted her head slightly, she eyed the master philterer with interested look. A cupel was a tool used in a process called cupellation, a process of refining metals. In the Starry Chalice they always had hundreds of potions, tinctures and essences. But request around minerals and ores were rather uncommon. "Not really..." She replied melodious as before. Tian didn't seem to be much surprised with her answer. She took a step closer into a somewhat cubical deep blue skyglass furnace, her hand swept down and grasped a flat metal plate. That supposed to be the aforementioned cupel. "Process of refining ore into purer noble metal with the help of extreme heat, known as cupellation. Precious metal such as gold and silver was nearly impossible to come by as pure deposit in the wild. But they known to make a bond with lesser metals. She took small leather bundle out of her pocket and untied it carefully. Agnusha leaned a bit just to see a dark lump in size of an ordinary egg, unshaped and uneven, not much different with every other rock. But when she took more accurate glance, she noticed faint lines veined the rock with shimmering glitter. Tian held the ore between her index finger and her thumb and raise it to her eye level. Rolled it playfully before putting the ore into flat cupel."In process of cupellation, ores placed into the cupel before casted into a furnace. Heat would purify the metal for the base metals would greatly evaporated or absorbed into the cupel, leaving purer lump of gold or silver." Tian always used flat and rapid Common when she gave instruction, it look like that she was reading the instruction directly from the book rather than giving direction. It was bothersome for Agnusha at first but now she was used to it. Her hand quickly flew to her pocket and took out a pocket note and a pencil as Tian dictate the concept of cupellation. She barely wrote it down when Tian was already finished but the words was already inside her head. Her pencil danced above a blank page as she copied the Philterers words into written form. "What about the cupel itself? Won't it melt just like the ore?" "No, It won't. This..." She poked the metallic plate with her nails "cupel made from heatproof material designed to withstand blasting furnace's temperature."

[Agnusha]

For chimes later, the Philterer and the Apprentice spent their time to kindle the furnace and settling the inside with searing blaze of flame. The blaze itself created delightful glimmer thanks to the skyglass unique habit upon reflecting light. Protected with gloves and mask, both of the Philterer and her Apprentice squatted near the opening of the furnace to keep the fire ablaze. It was indeed a simple blasting furnace however the heat was quite unbearable. "Now we need to set the cupel" Agnusha stood up and find herself a tong. Carefully she clamped the cupel while Tian piled the smudgy black ores. Back to the furnace, she set the cupel inside the furnace among the flickering ember. Strange, the whole process wasn't quite like Philtering process. Perhaps the reason was the main role of the fire? Or the lack of liquid involvement? For many season she already knew many of the Philtering procedure, and all of them had always been involving something liquid like water and alcohol. Refining metals was not Philterer's domain -- perhaps it was Metallurgy? She also failed to see the connection between pure metals and potions. She never heard about potions that listed gold or silver as ingredients though. "Aren't there any?" Tian smiled playfully when Agnusha spoke up her curiosity but not revealing the truth "And yes, it is closely tied to Metallurgy. But still it isn't the only disciple that take benefits from cupellation--" a gentle bell ring interupted her explanation, that must be another costumer. The Philterer stood up quickly, discarding her mask and giving direction as she jolted to the door. Keep the fire! The ore will be molten down in matter of bells." Agnusha stared blankly as she went. Well, another task to do tonight. She can't be sure if it was her specialty. But the fire need only patience and concern. Both of the quality that Agnusha was excel. At the end of her shift, the black lump was ultimately reduced into less than spoonful of liquid shiny metal. "Silver, I suppose?" Her master nodded in agreement "Pure Silver." From there Tian kept the silver to be 'used in another process'. Agnusha didn't argue or asked what was it. The night was ending and so her night shift. Unmasking herself, this time she was the one who jolted to the door.