Chapter Text
Espen hummed a little tune as he bustled around Luke's tiny kitchen, ducking around the Baby Toy Spinners he had hung around, pouring some fresh milk into a pan and cracking some eggs into another. He flipped his hair over his shoulder, pouring some water into a small pot which he set on the Table-top with Adjustable Flame he had installed in Luke's kitchen just the previous week. He was quite proud of this particular invention of his, having sent a document detailing its functions to the Inventors' Society just a few days ago.
Perhaps Table-top with Adjustable Flame is too long a name.. Since the main function of this particular invention is to cook food more easily, so maybe 'Cooker'? Hmm, he will have to ask Luke for his opinion. He is better at this kind of thing, after all.
As Espen stirred the milk while keeping an eye on the eggs and water, the door to Luke's bedroom opened, revealing a bleary-eyed Luke with little Boyd cradled in his arms. Espen smiled warmly at the pair and poured the warm milk into a bowl, placing it on a separate table together with a wooden spoon.
"Good morning, Sleepy Luke and Sleepy Boyd~ I have prepared milk for Boyd, and our eggs and tea will be ready soon enough. You can eat some bread first, If you would like.”
Espen nodded toward the basket of bread on the table before turning his attention back to the eggs and boiling water.
Before Espen’s eyes, a very curious thing was happening. The corkscrew-shaped Baby Toy Spinner that was hanging above the now-boiling pot of water was spinning, the little flat gear and animal shapes fluttering from some unknown force. How curious.. I have never seen anything like it. Firstly, why are these pieces of cloth and metal fluttering? I can only imagine a draught is causing this, but this room is an enclosed space. Espen’s eyes fell on the gently bubbling pot of water, steam rising from its surface and crossed his arms in thought. Steam.. Could the steam be acting as a sort of wind? He reached up to unhook the Baby Toy Spinner, hanging it at another location where there was nothing under it. Sure enough, it stopped spinning. Steam.. To think steam could act as a sort of wind.. If strong natural winds are able to rip trees out of the ground, would a large enough amount of steam be able to do the same? How would that be achievable? A grin started to worm itself onto Espen’s face as he stood in front of the Cooker, arms crossed and his eyes sparkling from his discovery.
“....Es! Oi, Espen!”
Espen snapped to attention at the urgent tone in Luke’s voice, hurriedly taking the violently boiling pot of water off the fire and belatedly remembering the eggs that he was cooking.
“Oh no, I burnt our eggs..”
Luke sighed, holding a spoonful of milk up to Boyd’s lips who eagerly lapped at the liquid.
“Did you suddenly get a flash of inspiration or something?”
Espen scraped the charred remains of the eggs onto a plate and rounded on Luke excitedly, his eyes twinkling.
“Oh Luke, we simply must get experimenting as soon as we can! I may have found an amazing thing!”
Seeing Espen this excited made Luke’s heart thump heavily in his chest as well, his childhood friend’s eagerness somehow seeming to affect him as well. If Es is this excited.. This discovery could well be a life-changing discovery. The alchemist-inventor cracked a smile of his own and nodded at his childhood friend, who was helping himself to the bread he had set out earlier.
“I’m guessing you want to work on this project together, then? All right, we still have time before you leave next week so let’s at least get a hypothesis before you leave.”
Espen’s face fell for a moment, his bread hanging loosely from his hand. That’s right, I have to meet those important clients.. Truth be told, that was the last thing he wanted to do but blowing the meeting off to work on this project was definitely out of the question. These particular clients were.. Special, after all. Not only did they have the backing of powerful Nobles, their influence, too, spread like the roots of a large tree, quiet and unseen. If anything, Espen never wanted Luke to come into contact with them .
“Es?”
Espen looked back up at Luke with a smile on his face, tilting his head to one side, his hair falling over his shoulder.
“No need to worry, Luke. We shall start after our breakfast!”
Luke returned the smile, cradling a droopy-eyed Boyd and getting up to fetch some writing materials.
“I’m looking forward to what we might discover.”