Somewhere beyond the fog, the suns were high in the sky trying to penetrate the haze. And to a certain degree, they managed. The mist outside looked whiter but it was still stubbornly stationed outside her door. The breeze also tried to tear the veil up a little and at times the forest would appear like shadowy figures, guarding the shack and watching the progress happening within its walls.
Which was none to speak of as of yet.
Elowen had had her breakfast and munched it down as quickly as she could. She went through her morning routine in a blur and was now standing fully dressed, with her headscarf secured on her head. She was at the common table, facing the plants with the hearth in the background. She knew she had to replicate the situation from Asgall's fateful night.
That bit was easy. The hard bit was how could she then capture the steam which according to her carried the essence of the plant? She was still battling with the idea of capturing something that had no substance even though she now knew the steam was the carrier. Was there a way to turn vapour more solid?
She wasn't starting to dabble with magic, was she? Though it sure felt like it.
The girl walked over to the cold, dark hearth. She had an idea about which pout she'd use since size-wise it was the closest she used in the Gallach residence. Wrapping one arm around herself and resting the elbow of the other on top of it, she was pressing her knuckles against her lips.
And like so, Elowen began focusing on possible answers and solutions. Whenever she leaned over a cooking pot, the steam felt wet on her skin. Sometimes it was little. Other times she had to wipe away the perceived moisture. It wasn't hard to think that water and steam were one thing. But could she place something above the pot to capture the steam and then somehow turn it into water or whatever the essence of the plant looked like?
Her mind ran away with itself at that point, trying to device contraptions involving bowls and lids and spoons to achieve what she had set out to do. It was all clatter and sighing in the shack. She was certain to give herself a headache with it all if she continued. But before that could have happened, she started to confuse herself, unable to follow her own running thoughts and the multiple ideas or the reasons behind why she put a spoon there in the first place!
She stepped away from the hearth, rubbing her eyes. Did it really have to be this complicated?
No...it didn't, she thought, suddenly remembering another time when she also over complicated something and the subsequent trip to Rosebay. Trap didn't have to look like a trap for it to do its work, Elowen recalled the main lesson Dandelion had taught her that time. So perhaps, this also had a much simpler solution.
She gave her eyes one final pat before staring at the ridiculousness in front of her again, her hands cupping her cheeks.
Simple, simple, simple,... If steam was water then it could be liquid again. Somehow. Maybe if there was enough steam it would group together like droplets and flow. In which case...
Elowen tilted her head to a side. She started re-arranging things in a much slower and more determined way. She grabbed a bigger pot, two deeper bowls and a shallow one. She placed one of the deeper bowls upside down into the pot so its bottom was facing up, then she placed the shallow bowl on top of that, creating a very skewed hourglass shape inside the pot. She then poured into the large pot the water from the original small pot. There was almost a full finger depth. Not much but if anything, Elowen wasn't going to change the proportions.
In theory, once she added the herbs and placed the whole thing over fire, she would cover the pot with the final deeper bowl, its bottom side pointing towards the shallow bowl. This would act as a lid to prevent steam from escaping, forcing it onto its surface. And if her thinking was right that enough steam gathered together would accumulate like droplets of water and then it would flow downward, it should then gather in the shallow bowl.
Well...there was only one way to find out! Elowen turned to the herbs. Time to put this to the test and hope for the best.
Which was none to speak of as of yet.
Elowen had had her breakfast and munched it down as quickly as she could. She went through her morning routine in a blur and was now standing fully dressed, with her headscarf secured on her head. She was at the common table, facing the plants with the hearth in the background. She knew she had to replicate the situation from Asgall's fateful night.
That bit was easy. The hard bit was how could she then capture the steam which according to her carried the essence of the plant? She was still battling with the idea of capturing something that had no substance even though she now knew the steam was the carrier. Was there a way to turn vapour more solid?
She wasn't starting to dabble with magic, was she? Though it sure felt like it.
The girl walked over to the cold, dark hearth. She had an idea about which pout she'd use since size-wise it was the closest she used in the Gallach residence. Wrapping one arm around herself and resting the elbow of the other on top of it, she was pressing her knuckles against her lips.
And like so, Elowen began focusing on possible answers and solutions. Whenever she leaned over a cooking pot, the steam felt wet on her skin. Sometimes it was little. Other times she had to wipe away the perceived moisture. It wasn't hard to think that water and steam were one thing. But could she place something above the pot to capture the steam and then somehow turn it into water or whatever the essence of the plant looked like?
Her mind ran away with itself at that point, trying to device contraptions involving bowls and lids and spoons to achieve what she had set out to do. It was all clatter and sighing in the shack. She was certain to give herself a headache with it all if she continued. But before that could have happened, she started to confuse herself, unable to follow her own running thoughts and the multiple ideas or the reasons behind why she put a spoon there in the first place!
She stepped away from the hearth, rubbing her eyes. Did it really have to be this complicated?
No...it didn't, she thought, suddenly remembering another time when she also over complicated something and the subsequent trip to Rosebay. Trap didn't have to look like a trap for it to do its work, Elowen recalled the main lesson Dandelion had taught her that time. So perhaps, this also had a much simpler solution.
She gave her eyes one final pat before staring at the ridiculousness in front of her again, her hands cupping her cheeks.
Simple, simple, simple,... If steam was water then it could be liquid again. Somehow. Maybe if there was enough steam it would group together like droplets and flow. In which case...
Elowen tilted her head to a side. She started re-arranging things in a much slower and more determined way. She grabbed a bigger pot, two deeper bowls and a shallow one. She placed one of the deeper bowls upside down into the pot so its bottom was facing up, then she placed the shallow bowl on top of that, creating a very skewed hourglass shape inside the pot. She then poured into the large pot the water from the original small pot. There was almost a full finger depth. Not much but if anything, Elowen wasn't going to change the proportions.
In theory, once she added the herbs and placed the whole thing over fire, she would cover the pot with the final deeper bowl, its bottom side pointing towards the shallow bowl. This would act as a lid to prevent steam from escaping, forcing it onto its surface. And if her thinking was right that enough steam gathered together would accumulate like droplets of water and then it would flow downward, it should then gather in the shallow bowl.
Well...there was only one way to find out! Elowen turned to the herbs. Time to put this to the test and hope for the best.
