Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 11 - Is Anything Really Flawless?

The hanging crystals in Ongrad's workshop took only a minor amount of tweaking in order to get the lighting adjusted just right. The room illuminated brightly with a single beam of light focused down into the glass forge where the quartz melt would occur.

Over the previous days, Ongrad had been able to locate his master's notes on the process for refining moonglass. They were contained within a thick red leather-bound book. "Moonglass refinement occurs within a refractory crucible of peridotite heated to a temperature of 880 degrees," Ongrad read. Anja looked around for a cauldron of likely looking material, but she had never heard of peridotite. "The green one," Ongrad pointed. "Top shelf." Anja grabbed the aspen ladder and retrieved the small pot from an upper shelf. "Tokki," called Ongrad. "How goes the quartz base preparation?"

Tokki was seated at a small table and was using a large mortar and pestle to grind up some of the obsidian he and his sister had collected on the way to Ravendome. Ongrad had been impressed when they had showed him. "Obsidian is the best start for moonglass," he had said. "And you have found some of the purest. I do not want to unduly raise expectations, but this base gives us a fighting chance at success."

"I have it ground pretty small," Tokki reported. Ongrad set his book down and checked the grains between his fingers.

"Finer, it must be nearly powder."

Tokki nodded and bore down on the pestle again, his small tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in concentration.

"Skari, the refinement calls for a metal free fire, meaning we cannot light the forge fire with traditional flint and steel. Do you think you could conjure something up?"

"Of course," replied the old seer from his seat on the far side of the workshop where he had been sitting reading a small book on botany that Ongrad had found with his master's notes. "I was wondering when I would be able to provide some kind of assistance."

Anja grabbed several heaps of peat from a pile near the door, but Ongrad held up his hand. "Peat from Torfi's Bog will not burn at 880 degrees. I doubt it would even get to 600, but luckily I saved a jar of fae oil for just such an occasion." He stuffed the kiln full of dry moss and poured the entire jar into the kiln. "We have just enough for one run at this. I suspect there is not another jar of contraband fae oil in all Ravendome."

"Hopefully we will only need one run," Skari said as he cupped his hands and blew softly into them. A thin line of smoke rose between his knuckles. Tokki stopped crushing the obsidian to watch, fascinated. "Ooh!" Skari laughed shaking his cupped hands as the smoldering increased. Tokki could see a red glow emanating from the seer's hands. With a final flourish Skari produced a bright red coal which he dropped ceremoniously into the dry moss in the kiln. The ember spread among the dried moss as Skari coaxed it with his breath. Finally, the flame flickered to life and with a whoosh, the kiln took light.

Anja carried the crucible over and placed it on top of the open flame.

"The um... base is ready!" said Tokki bringing the mortar over. Ongrad rubbed the powder between his fingers and dabbed a small amount on his tongue. Satisfied, he upended the mortar into the crucible.

"Now to get this heated up..." He said reaching down and connecting a foot-bellows to the kiln. As he compressed it with his foot, air blew into the kiln and the fire jumped and danced, growing hotter. "We will need someone manning the bellows constantly, for the next 24 hours. Right now, we are just melting the quartz, but later, the moonlight will volatilize the impurities and drive them off. Thanks to our new lighting system, we should have plenty of moonlight so long as the skies stay clear tonight. I suggest we take shifts; not more than three hours lest someone fall asleep and spoil the refinement. One foot-pump every sixty seconds." Ongrad showed them the technique once more.