Chương 39: Chapter 1.39: New World, Old Principles

"It's stinky. You promised me there would be no yuckiness when we do this." Urania pouted at him through her veiled head, but Favius merely chuckled.

"I promised no yucky insects, and trust me, if we are finished, this will be nice and pleasant." Urania's glare conveyed skepticism and disapproval in equal measure, but even Favius couldn't help but be disappointed about the results. He stepped over to Caliga, who was poking a stirring stick into the pot where olive oil and soda had been mixed. It was a thin pudding with some yellow lumps in it. Favius shook his head.

"I think we're going to be working with rendered fat going forward."

"You think?" quibbed Caliga as she prodded the pots containing olive oil and lime and olive oil and potash, which had turned into a milky and a murky liquid respectively. Favius grimaced as he walked over next and inspected the pot Urania was disgusted by. Rendered fat and lime ash smelled unpleasant, slightly rancid, and the fat and water had separated with a mixture of waxy flakes. I just don't get it. The quicklime should have reacted more strongly, but it's the most disappointing result out of all of them.

He stepped next to Brutus, who was inspecting the final two pots. Fat and potash had turned into a thick brown and greasy liquid, while fat and marsh ash had actually produced a number of largish semi-solid chunks. Yet they were off-white, slightly tanned.

"If I have to stick my fingers into this for them to be clean, I'd rather keep them dirty," grumbled the cultivator. Favius chuckled and poked the man in the arm.

"Well, funny that you should mention putting your hands into it." His protector took a step backward and narrowed his eyes.

"What are you implying, boy?"

"Well, you told us you have insights of constitution and recovery, don't you?"

"I don't like where this is going," said the cultivator. But Caliga clapped her hands beside him.

"Oh, you're going to have him test the substances." Brutus glared at the excitement in the girl's eyes, but before they could get into it, Urania stepped up to him.

"So you told us we are just trying things out, but this is what we need it for, yes?" Favius nodded and gestured at the pieces of torn cloth he had prepared and dirtied with a mixture of oil, dirt, and blood in different spots.

"Yeah, exactly. Brutus, I need you to pick some of this goop and a few of those chunks and try washing those pieces of cloth." For a moment the cultivator looked skeptical. Then his expression grew serious.

"Favius, I am bound to follow your orders, but..." He paused, glancing at the pots.

"Can you promise me this won't poison me or make my hand fall off?" Favius met the man's eyes and considered.

"I am entirely certain it's not poisonous. It might irritate the skin somewhat, but everything should be fine if you wash your hands several times in clean water afterwards." Brutus groaned.

"The shit I've done cause I've sworn the wrong oaths..." He shook his head and used a ladle to scoop out some of the brownish goop that the fat and potash had produced. He dumped it into a bowl, mixed it with water, and started washing the pieces of cloth. Favius observed closely and smiled as some weak foam was produced. Urania stepped up.

"How... how does it feel, Brutus?" The cultivator tilted his head to the side.

"It's a bit slimy. My hands..." He held one up and soapy water fell off it like rain.

"It feels clean, but somehow also..." He rubbed fingers over the hand.

"Greasy and slippery." He whistled.

"My skin feels a lot softer." He continued washing, scrubbing the fabrics, and Favius compared the results to the control group he had washed in plain water. Caliga looked over his shoulder.

"It looks better, but it's not exactly clean." Favius nodded and considered. It's strange that this works, despite it beeing a brown goop. Maybe potash is what you use if you want liquid instead of solid soaps? He shrugged, and Brutus picked up one of the chunks that had resulted from rendered fat and the marsh ash. Let's see if soda is the better option. Brutus began scrubbing and instantly frowned.

"This feels... it burns slightly, but..." He gestured at the dirty pieces of cloth.

"They are almost clean already, so whatever you are planning to do, this works. It just feels..." He crumbled a piece of the soap between his fingers.

"The consistency is strange. And my skin..." He washed his hands off in water, and Favius stepped forward and poked his finger at the soap. He felt a slight burning sensation and studied Brutus's hand as it was clearly red and irritated.

"It's not pleasant. Though..." He studied the cloth.

"I guess this could be useful." His sisters began poking the substance and, after initial tension, started playing with the soap water. Favius just shook his head.

"Don't keep poking your fingers into whatever strange chemical substances we are working with." They grumbled, and he looked at Brutus's slightly reddened skin.

"Wash it off cleanly and then put some olive oil on it. That should help with the irritation." The man grumbled something about how only Southerners enjoyed oiling their bodies, and Favius fell into thought. None of those results are perfect. But the results are promising. As for the consistency… I need to look into refining or cleaning the soap after it is created. He looked at the tanned white chunks and the brown goop. Love what you're reading?

Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. This is not exactly the kind of product I would buy in the supermarket, but maybe... He rubbed his chin. Maybe the chemistry is still off. He remembered something and gestured at the others.

"Let's go. We are talking to the Master of Provisions."

"Doroth Cerul?" Brutus inquired.

"What can he do that would help us with this?" Favius smiled and, as they walked, began explaining.

"So I mentioned that we are trying to produce a certain kind of atomi." He frowned. Can't keep using this word for atoms and molecules. He walked on in silence with narrowed eyes before his mind settled on a word. Agglomeration. It's not exactly molecule, but it will be close enough.

"So collections of atomi are called agglomerations from now on." The others nodded, and Favius continued.

"What we are doing with the ashes in making the caustic waters was that we created specific atomi that were negatively charged and would strip away small positive atomi from larger agglomerations, damaging them in a way that transforms them into a useful substance."

"The soap," said Brutus, and Favius nodded. Urania furrowed her brows.

"Why do you say negative atomi?" Favius grit his teeth.

"That I'll explain some other day. It would take a while. Suffice it to say, I think the Master of Provisions can help me find a substance that allows us to tell how many of those negative atomi are in a substance."

"How would that work?" asked Caliga, and Favius smiled, recalling a childhood experiment involving cabbage juice and pH tests.

"A lot of alchemical substances are on a spectrum between having a lot of these negative atomi and others having a lot of small positive atomi which attack agglomerations by attaching themselves to them. Vinegar or citrus juice are examples of an excess of positive atomi." Brutus nodded.

"And you have an idea to see how strong those concentrations are?"

"Yes, exactly." Favius snapped his fingers. Soon they found Doroth Cerul in the complex of storehouses, but Favius was met with disappointment.

"Red cabbage? Why in the name of all the gods would cabbage be red, young master? I'm afraid I cannot help you with that." Favius pressed his eyes shut. Of course they don't have red cabbage, with my luck that stuff was bred in the eighteenth century or some bullshit like that. But… it's not that I actually need red cabbage. I just need an anthocyanin-based indicator. Urania stepped up to him.

"So you're looking for something that... doesn't exist?" She assessed him with a strange look, but Favius waved it away.

"It was just an idea."

"Your brother sometimes has dreams where he gains certain insights from the gods," interjected Brutus, and Urania's eyes widened.

"Do... do you really?" Favius looked Brutus in the eye and the man nodded gently. Well, claiming divine inspiration... it's not like I'm in bad company with that. Sir Isaac Newton himself was fairly fond of that explanation for his abilities. He sighed and nodded to Urania.

"Some juices have molecules in them that react at several points with the negative or positive atomi, and that changes the agglomeration." Urania nodded, but Caliga interjected before she could speak up.

"So why do you need this strange red cabbage? Wouldn't any red juice do?"

"Well, it needs to contain..." Favius trailed off. True, biochemistry was complex, but what are the odds that only red cabbage uses anthocyanins for a reddish color? He turned to Doroth Cerul.

"So there's obviously grape juice. What other red or dark vegetable or fruit liquids do you have?" A smile spread over the man's face.

"Now with that, young master, I can help." Soon they found themselves back in the courtyard, and Favius looked over their collection: red beetroot, which was currently being juiced in a mortar by a slave, grape juice, as well as juice from elderberries and mulberries. I'm just throwing shit at the wall, but who knows? Maybe something will stick.

He looked over the collection of cups into which Urania and Caliga were filling vinegar, citrus juice, plain water, and water with each of the three ashes they had used to generate caustic solutions. I really wish we had glassware for this, but earthenware will have to do. He stepped up to their collection of cups and began pouring the beet juice into a smaller cup. Brutus looked at him.

"Why are you not pouring it directly in?"

"I need to keep the dosages consistent. If each substance gets a different amount of indicator, that will change the results because the indicator uses up the positive and negative atomi," murmured Favius as he poured the beet juice. It didn't react to any of the liquids. Favius frowned. Well, it might just not contain any anthocyanin or similar indicators. Next he tried the grape juice and for the first time got an actual reaction. In vinegar and citrus and water did nothing but dilute it quickly.

Yet in all the alkaline substances it reacted a bit. Urania leaned in.

"Am I seeing things or is the wine turning slightly blue in those?" She gestured at the last cup where they had the lime ash water.

"This one is almost cyan." Favius smiled. It's not a good indicator, but at least it proves that the idea can work. Next he tried the elderberry juice and grinned broadly at the results. It became almost crimson in the vinegar, pinkish in the citrus juice, and remained deep purple in the water. But trouble started as soon as he added it to the caustic substances. While it turned into various shades between blue and green to begin with, all of the caustic substances turned the juice brown after less than a minute.

"What's going on?" Both Urania and Caliga were leaning in, and even Brutus put a hand on Favius's shoulder. Favius narrowed his eyes.

"It's reacting well to acids, the liquids with the positive atomi. But somehow..." He sighed.

"Somehow the caustic substances are spoiling the indicator molecules." He frowned as he began pouring the mulberry juice. And finally: bright clean crimson for the vinegar, pink for the citrus juice, deep purple for the water, similar to the elderberries. But, as he poured it into the caustic substances, a smile began spreading over his face. A dark violet-blue for the potash, an almost greenish-blue on the marsh ash, and the lime ash turned it green, almost yellow.

"That's beautiful," commented Urania, and Caliga poked at several of the cups. Brutus behind him cleared his throat, and Favius turned.

"Boy, do you realize what this is?" Favius narrowed his eyes.

"It's another measuring tool." He clicked his tongue and considered. Just using plant juices for pH measurement. It's primitive, but if I only use mulberries from the same tree and spread it via grafting, that could give me some consistency. I mean, nothing that wouldn't make a modern chemist spit blood, but still. He spoke up.

"With this we don't have to rely on ratios if we want to preserve food with vinegar or wine. We can just measure how the solution works." Urania clicked her tongue.

"So that means we are no longer dependent on the quality of what the merchants sell us."

"Exactly," said Favius. But Brutus grumbled, "You've just created a major advance in alchemy and you don't even realize it, do you?" Favius laughed.

"Well, I guess." Inwardly he was frowning. On Earth this is so basic, but here... hell, alchemists probably work off intuitions, recipes, and ratios instead of any sort of measurements. He hummed, but Urania interrupted his train of thought again.

"So what do we do with this now?" Favius quickly studied the results, then looked at his sister.

"Well, what do you think the colors mean?" She pursed her lips.

"Well, you told me that vinegar and citrus are acidic." She looked over to the other side.

"It's clear that the lime ash has created the strongest reaction, so it has the most of the negative atomi." Favius nodded.

"So what would you propose we do next for making soap?" Urania rubbed her chin.

"It's strange that the lime ash didn't work, but clearly the marsh ash produced the best soap. So maybe we combine the marsh ash with the lime ash?" Favius nodded eagerly.

"Yes, that would have been my next experiment as well. Though I think we should also look at what happens if we combine potash with lime ash. That way we can see how we can improve our best soaps."

"So we just try stuff until it works?" asked Caliga.

"Is that how your science works?" But before Favius could reply, Urania glared at her sister.

"No, of course not. Haven't you been listening? We try out ideas, and then we improve upon the ideas that work best. That's what this is all about." Favius couldn't help but smile broadly. Even if I don't know everything about this world, I know how to find out anything I want to know.