The Greatest Discovery

Dietary Preferences

Three hours vanished in the sequence of experiments, scratching of feathers in Pattis' lab book and quiet conversation. Pattis seemed grateful for her interest in his work, or perhaps for not thinking him mad to attempt the project, like other ardents in the meeting. She could not tell which.

Juliyah watched him moving methodically through his preparations and helped with the soulcaster and calculations when needed. All that was required from the soulcaster, for now, was proximity, though, and the math was nothing beyond some algebra and trigonometry, so she often tried spending time reading a book on crystallography she found among his notebooks. She wished she could speak to the stone in her pocket but she didn't want Pattis to think her more unhinged than he surely did already.

The crystallography book, however, was beyond her knowledge level and she found herself distracted by Pattis' work more than occupied by her own. When particularly engrossed in one experiment or another, he unconsciously curled his hair around his index finger. Juliyah wondered if that habit was to blame for his full head of tight curls and smiled at the thought. That would require a lot of experiments.

When the sun started falling towards the horizon, Pattis stood up and rummaged in one of the bags. A vertical crease ran down his forehead for a moment and he muttered grumpily under his breath. Juliyah caught only the bits about writing things down.

"Did you forget to bring something?" she asked. She would feel somewhat guilty if he did. When she suggested the east stairway as the meeting place she intended it to be just that, not the makeshift science camp. Instead of taking her to his study, however, Pattis stumbled to the staircase with as many bags hung around him as a willow would be with branches and she couldn't summon the courage to make him carry it all back. Maybe it would have been the kinder choice though.

"I forgot to pack dinner and skipped lunch too," he said, turning to look back at her.

Unconscious as it was on his part, she was grateful. She had given up pulling her cowl up each time a gust of wind threw it off, but she never caught anything but wonder in his eyes when they flickered to the stirring leaves in her hair. Apart from that, he looked at her as casually and as often as he would at any other colleague and the only emotions she could read on his face were those related to the situation at hand. She wouldn't have expected that feeling ordinary would feel so special.

"I thought of it after the ardents meeting, but well... sometimes I wonder how I do not forget to breathe having never written it down." He sighed and settled back to record a measurement he took from his pressure machine.

"I can go into the tower and ask someone to bring you dinner from the kitchens. It shouldn't take long."

"Lord Vanadin's kitchens?" he asked, disbelief plain in his voice.

"You would be surprised at the perks a soulcaster robe can get you," she said, smoothing the blood-red fabric on her lap.

Pattis shook his head. "Thank you for the offer but I only eat food prepared by my own hands. Oh, I don't think anyone is trying to poison me," he clarified in response to her raised eyebrow, "But I have a full collection of food allergies, each hypersensitive. It is almost as if the Almighty wanted to pack as many of those as possible within one person, perhaps, as a compact exhibit for aspiring surgeons. Anyway, the few times I ate the wrong thing, I had a reaction so strong, my brother started composing funeral invitations. That makes being paranoid about the food I eat a basic survival mechanism."

Juliyah thought for a moment. "Alright, what can you eat safely?"

"Most fruits and vegetables, especially those from Shinovar, lavis and bucktallew, beans and bean protein. It is not as bad as it seems, and I got used to cooking and carrying a few containers of food with me when I move around. Got used to going hungry when I don't as well, so don't worry about it."