I change out of my festival clothes for our nap, but not into my usual night dress. I plan to get back to work in the afternoon after all. Thus one of my usual work outfits is the first choice. I sleep pretty well anyway. Possibly because I'm not sleeping alone for the first time in a little while. It's only now that she is back that I really realize how much I missed Elzbieta's company.

  We don't have a whole lot of wiggle room, especially with little Ulryk sleeping in between us, but that is quite alright. I don't need any wiggle room right now. In fact I'm fast asleep, almost as soon as my head hits the pillow, or at least as soon as Elzbieta weaves the fingers of her hand in between mine. And the sleep that awaits me is deep and dreamless.

  When I wake again a few hours later I'm pretty well rested despite not sleeping anymore. That Elzbieta wakes me with a pleasant if fleeting kiss might help too. Oh yes, I could really get used to waking up like this every day. The words she whispers in my ear are not really romantic, but I'd still rather hear them from her than anyone else.

  “Go ahead and wash up real quick while I finish feeding my little boy. We can head down to the inn to eat lunch together afterwards.”

  I nod sheepishly as I get up and head out to get some fresh water from the creek. At least my hair is still braided, so I don't suffer bed hair. Not too badly anyway. Elzbieta is right though, I need to freshen up a little to wake up properly, even if it's just for lunch at the inn.

  A quick wash later I return. Sour Cream in turn barely twitches with the tip of her ear as we get ready to head out. She is still sleeping peacefully on the window sill. At least for now. She might go and look for another place in an hour or two, when the sun comes around for good. I'm pretty sure she enjoys her naps in the sun, but even for her there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I wouldn't be surprised if she were to move into the house, or possibly the shop some time after we return from the inn.

  Lunch turns out to be a rather simple affair today. It seems most people are content with a rather simple meal after a big festival or a long night in general. Thus today we get a bowl of stew each, just like everyone else. That stew almost cooks itself and doesn't need a whole lot of attention might factor in to why it's on the menu today too.

  Well, I certainly won't complain. The bowls are well filled and the stew isn't bland either. No, it contains exactly the right mix of vegetables, meat and spices. It's both filling and delicious.

  The food isn't the center of attention anyway. No, this role falls to little Ulryk, as this is his first public appearance. I'm just glad that he isn't easily overwhelmed by all the new impressions despite getting a whole lot of attention. He soaks it all up with big, wide eyes until it finally gets too much and he falls back asleep, held protectively and close by his mother.

  I can't help but smile as I see it. I certainly can relate. Especially after the experience of our most recent nap. It's very easy to be comfortable and at ease around Elzbieta.

  Eventually we decide to get a little dessert before we head back to the shop. Some delicious iced coffee with some extra cream. If we weren't properly awake before, we certainly are after we finish with it. This treat too of course is delicious.

  It gets me thinking though, which could be either a good or a very dangerous thing. People get ideas after all, once they start thinking. And the thought spooking through my mind right now would be how I might be able to give the iced treat a consistency more like whipped cream or other similarly fluffy treats.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  It's one of the still unresolved problems of alchemy, or baking for that matter, as far as I know. Whipped cream especially does not take well to being frozen after all.

  It goes hand in hand with another curious, so far still unresolved problem of alchemy. How to imbue potions or other alchemical products with the elemental affinity for air. Well, unresolved as far as I know once again anyway. The other elemental affinities are easy by comparison.

  Water is by far the easiest. Very clean spring water can already do the trick. At worst I might have to distill water. Earth is pretty easy too. Some plants, especially from the twilight forest have that quality. Some salts do so too. Fire is a little more tricky, but the sulfuric salts from volcanoes serve well in that regard. The ash left behind by fire elementals works too. Both are just a little more tricky to acquire.

  Ice has been a problem in the past. For the longest time only the heart crystals of ice elementals could be used until someone figured out how to use enchanted freezers, much like the one I made already, to freeze sufficiently clean water. In a way a freezer like that can turn water with the water affinity into ice cubes with the ice affinity.

  If there is an alchemist, present or past, who has figured out how to imbue a draught with the elemental power of air though I don't know of it. Not even the residue of air elementals can be used, as there is none. Well, none that can be collected in any feasible way at least.

  It's only when Elzbieta wraps an arm around my waist as we stand out on the village square, in front of the inn, that I realize that I must have gotten lost in thought pretty bad.

  “Something on your mind?”

  I grin sheepishly again and rub the back of my head before I finally answer.

  “Just some of the big unresolved problems of alchemy, and how to make frozen treats more fluffy, like whipped cream.”

  She blinks in surprise, as she processes my words. Finally, as we resume our trek back to the house, she speaks up again.

  “Couldn't you just freeze whipped cream?”

  That of course is the obvious answer. And it obviously is not what solves the problem. It shows that my resident ranger as not a wizard of the kitchen. I shake my head.

  “No, whipped cream loses texture and volume when you freeze it. It collapses, turns watery and loses that smooth feel. Sadly it's not that easy.”

  She tilts her head slightly and finally nods.

  “I see. So that is why it has always be to made fresh?”

  “Essentially. If I want to whip air into a frozen treat, or elemental air into a potion or other alchemical product, I have to find a different way.”

  She shifts Ulryk a little. Thankfully he doesn't wake up, as he is still exhausted from all the new impressions and experiences from his first visit to the inn.

  “Well you could experiment a little. Try to whip up other things under different circumstances? I mean, if the freezing causes the change, why not whip up a mix that is already frozen or in the process of freezing?”

  I give that some thought. I have no clue if it would work. To be honest I fear the result wouldn't be any different at all, but I could give it a try. Just thinking about experiments like that makes my arms ache though.

  “I'll have to commission a new bucket to enchant with Olgierd and Nawoja. And I better ask them to make me a metal whisk too. That one might be a little pricey but if I enchant it right to do the whisking on its own, it'll save me from having aching arms for days on end.”

  She laughs out loud, or rather she laughs out not too loud, as not to wake the little one.

  “That would be the prudent solution in the long run. You could put up a quest at the guild too in the meantime though. I mean, it sounds a little like the regular mana mill quest, doesn't it?”

  I can't help but chuckle too. She isn't wrong. All things considered the task is pretty similar.