Completed On the Whims of Smoke and Roses

[Marik Sitai]

Fall 1st, 524 AV
Location: Bloodflower.

Unhurried. Delightfully languorous. Restfully leisured.

There were no better words to describe the atmosphere within Marik Sitai's bedroom as he lounged within the Bloodflower plantation. The room smelt of rose oil mixed with tobacco as the servants of the house always kept fresh roses misted with perfume in the vase that rested on the drawer next to his bed. The source of the tobacco smell stemmed from a burning cigar which laid on an ashtray on the mantel of the fireplace which Marik used as a makeshift incense.

The walls of the room were adorned with textured warm peach colored wallpaper that matched with the main colors of the plantations design. The fireplace that dominated the furthest wall of the room opposite of the doorway burned with a low crackling of logs which cast flickering shadows across the walls of his room as Syna was still a long way from rising. Today was the official grand opening of his business after spending last season obtaining a loan from his family and setting all of his affairs into order.

Marik sat at his desk which stood proud at the center of the wall opposite of the foot of his bed as he looked over the instruments of his philtering lab. He could not find peace enough to sleep due to an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach, but the tobacco in the air took the edge off of that feeling which left him in a contently sleepless state of not knowing what do do with himself.

An idea flashed across the Philterer's mind when his eyes passed over a stack of books that were apart of his philtering lab. He opened one of the books to find introductory information a beginner would reference to start making basic recipes. His languorous contentment shifted into studious leisure the nighttime beyond his windows marked the time as Leth transitioned to the second bell of the day.

Marik left the book open on the desk in front of an alembic as he rose to his feet which were covered in leather riding boots. The ends of his black silk trousers were tucked into his boots which matched the way his black long sleeved satin shirt was tucked into his pants. The sleeves of his shirt had been long since rolled up to his elbows earlier during the night, but he adjusted them further while walking out of his room into the hallway. It was not hard to find a slave in close proximity that his family owned.

"You."

The word was stated effortlessly.

There was no noise loud enough in the hallway that could deter the slave or cause any misinterpretation as to who the word was pointed at. The slave was a young fair skinned human woman dressed in a simple linen dress uniform. She looked to be sweeping the hall before standing to give Marik her full attention.

"Where is Theo?"

He asked the slave to point out the location of Bloodflower's head slave trainer who also happened to be a slave. "He is giving intimacy lessons in the slave wing, Master Marik." The young woman responded with a low bow of her head as Marik nodded at her answer.

"Find him and tell him to send me a slave who's ready to learn."

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand once he finished speaking. "Yes, Master Marik." The woman said while watching Marik head back into his room as she quickly gathered her broom to go do as she was told.

Marik moved over to the fireplace when a voice called to him from the doorway which caused him to glance over his shoulder.

"I thought you would have spent the night at your new business since you had a bed delivered there." Varya of the Red Moon, the Captain of the Guard at Bloodflower stated while dressed for combat in a set of plate armor over which she wore a surcoat bearing the heraldry of the Sitai rose.

"It's true, I am a creature of habit." Marik said with a smirk as he reached up to the mantle of the fireplace to retrieve his lit cigar. He took a long puff of smoke from it to fill his mouth with the tangy flavor of tobacco before he blew a puff of smoke down towards the ground. He allowed himself only one puff before returning the cigar back onto the ashtray.

Marik gestured towards the room that he grew up in as a means of welcoming her further into his personal space. "Your company is always welcomed, but is there anything in specific that you wanted to say to me Varya? You do not seem to be dressed for idle conversation." His tone of voice carried something that it lacked when speaking with a slave; that being sympathy. Varya worked herself hard like a slave in many aspects of her life; even going so far as to not accept payment by the family for her services, and yet she had the status of being a freeborn which Marik respected.

"There are no problems. I have been on patrol throughout the house and all of the guards on patrol outside have had nothing substantial to report. I did question a slave that just rushed down the hallway about why she was in a hurry. She told me you had given her a task, so I am just checking for her sake to see if that is true."

Marik answered her statement with a nod. "Your due diligence towards keeping the family safe makes my heart flutter." He said with a smirk as he turned to face her. "Speaking of safety, since I will be breaking my habit of staying here. Are you open to teaching me how to properly defend myself sometime?"

Varya eyebrow raised at the question which she responded with a nod of her own.

"So long as it does not interfere with my duties to your family, my time is yours Master Marik."

"Tomorrow, then. The same time as tonight. My days are going to be quite busy from now on and this will give me a reason to come home at night. We should be able to utilize the ballroom for our late night dances if there are no late night celebrations."

Varya nodded in agreement towards Marik and excused herself to return to her duties.

WC: 1069

[Marik Sitai]

2nd Bell

A handful of chimes later the sound of someone knocking at the doorframe caused Marik to turn his attention to it. He watched as an elderly man strode into his room with an intoxicating aura which matched the burning fireplace with how well it filled the room with warmth. The man's advanced age may have taken his good looks but it did nothing to remove the charisma from Theo's body language.

The elderly slave who was in charge of slave training bowed his head upon entering the room as three slaves followed behind him in a line.

"Young Master, Marik. I have three slaves who I believe satisfy your requirements of being 'ready to learn'. As you are aware, during the night I have slaves improve their graces of seduction and these three were already of a mindset to be educated."

Marik passively cast his gaze over the three slaves. Two females and a male. All of them appeared to be in their early twenties. His eyes returned to Theo as he moved to stand next to his chair. "Who in the family purchased them and which of them can read?"

"They belong to your brother, Master Marshal. As you know, he only utilizes slaves here at the house to handle his affairs while he is in the city. Master Marshal has an amazing eye for only the best so each of the slaves have the ability to read common."

Marik lifted a hand to point at a female slave with dark rooted hair which transitioned into blonde nearing the ends that gave away her Svefra heritage. He glanced over her face that was lined with fresh makeup that he assumed was from the Slave's seduction lessons with Theo. "She will do. You are dismissed to continue teaching the others. I'll have her return to you when I am finished." Theo motioned a hand for the slave to step forward towards Marik.

"As the rose wills."

Theo gave a bow which all of the slaves emulated before the elderly slave trainer left with the other two slaves following at his heel.

Marik turned his attention to the woman to properly look her over. Her body was covered in a linen dress which ended just above her knees, but his eyes lingered down her body for a while.

He felt something off about her as his gaze lifted to lock with hers. There was a clear lack of confidence in the way she stood in comparison to that of Theo. If the older slave gave the room warmth then this slave chilled the room with an anxious frost.

Marik's gaze caused the slave to become even more tense as she did her best to remember the key points of being a seductress that Theo had mentioned to her earlier. All Marik could see was her puckering her lips in a ducklike fashion while awkwardly leaning her chest towards him.

She may have been awkward, but Marik was someone to take what he was given in this regard. She presented herself and he looked over her curves for that much longer before motioning a hand to his desk.

"Sit down."

The slave trotted her way over to the seat as quickly as she could. Her gait only slowed due to her focused attempt to sexily saunter her hips until she sat down on the edge of the chair without using the back rest.

"Ah yes, that is on me. The chair is mine. You are to sit on the floor." He pointed to the ground to the right of the chair. "I hate slaves standing and fluttering around me like flies while I work. Also, your efforts to seduce me need more work, but do not take that as permission for you to stop."

The female Slave's eyes went wide at the thought of having disrespected her superior. She made an exaggerated hip wiggle while lowering herself off the chair to sit down on the floor on her knees.

Marik slid the chair aside to stand in front of his lab equipment. He glanced down at the philtering recipe book to trace his finger along the words of the page while reading to himself. They were words that he'd studied many times during his youth but now he wanted to refresh his memory before going to work during the day. Once he finished reading to himself he repeated the information aloud from memory in his own words.

"Tools vary depending on how ingredients for a philter need to be handled. Such equipment used for philtering are as followed: An alembic which is a glass apparatus used for distilling and separating liquids. It consists of a pear-shaped chamber with a screw-on venting hood at the top. Several tubes are connected to the hood to channel heated vapors into a waiting container. Alembics are typically placed on ceramic or metal stands and heated."

Marik lifted a hand to point at an alembic which rested on his desk. He reached forward to slowly lift the glass venting hood on it to show her how to do it with a soft amount of pressure. He them grabbed an empty beaker to fill it with water from a bucket on the floor to the side of the desk. He poured half of the water into the top of the alembic before holding the beaker aside for the slave to take. The Slave delicately took the beaker that was offered to her as Marik pointed for her to do the same as him. She stood up to pour the water into the alembic with some obvious amount of confusion on her face.

"Put that down and sit back down."

Marik said as he returned the glass venting hood to the top of the alembic. Once she sat down on the floor he pointed to the brazier on the desk that the alembic hung over.

"A philtering brazier is used for heating a beaker or bottle during various processes that require heating a substance, either directly or indirectly. These three items can result in distillation. Boiling a liquid in the alembic causes it to evaporate into vapors. The vapors travel along these distilling coils from the venting hood into liquid as they move away from the heat source, and the condensation of the new purified liquid gathers in collection containers. Containers such as beakers, tubes, vials, jars, bottles, cups of various sizes, or simply in a retort."

Marik put the same beaker the Slave used under an exit spigot to catch the purified liquids. He reached out to touch a retort on his desk with a finger to show the slave that is was a singular glass to distill with rather than the complex alembic with a venting hood. The Slave watched as Marik grabbed a flint and steel before he struck them together which caused embers to ignite the kindling in the small brazier into a flame. "This will result in distilled water free of impurities. "

wc: 1161

[Marik Sitai]

Marik pulled the chair behind him to properly sit down with the woman kneeling on the ground to his side. "Answer me this, name the tool and process occurring within this." Marik pointed to the alembic as he canted his head to the side to look down at her. "Distillation in the alembic?" The Slave responded with no confidence in her voice as her eyebrows furrowed from self doubt. Marik regarded her absently on the note of her response, and he supposed she was doing her best. "Wonderful job. Do well not to forget it because someday you may be put to work at the distillery near the tobacco barns."

He said with a smile as he patted his thigh in a silent gesture for her to sit on his lap. The Slave rose from her place to position herself somewhat uncomfortably onto his lap with her back resting against Marik's chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist while looking over her shoulder to the alembic. "Hurry up and wait. It's something that you'll run into often when dealing with philtering. Staring at potions and waiting for water to boil. But having free time does not mean you should be inattentive. When I was a child, I forgot about a beaker of water I was boiling. I returned to it to find all the water evaporated and the glass shattered. I also remember a spring when bodies were found in the river resulting in the dynasties needing to brew and filter water to keep everyone safe. Not just boiled, but filtered. Imagine drinking hot water that sill had bits of the dead in it. It was a ghastly situation to be sure." Marik could feel all of her focus shift onto the equipment on the table as her body relaxed against him as he spoke.

Marik enjoyed the Slaves company as about five chimes passed until the water began to properly boil which began the distillation process. "See, that's how long it usually takes for water to boil." He pointed to the collection beaker towards droplets of distilled water that fell from the distilling coils.

Marik leaned back against the chair with his arms running up the slaves sides. "That is as much as you need to worry about for now. Any further information you retain will simply show your dedication to learning. For now, you will keep me company as I read. Hold the book up for me."

She picked up the book as she was told and kept it open for him to read over her shoulder. His eyes took in the words on the page as he read to himself first before repeating the ideas aloud as a means of reaffirming the information into his own memory.

" Absorption. To cleanse vapors of their impurities, one must pass them through treated cloths, often woven from the finest cheesecloth steeped in charcoal... that's what those cloths are over there." He nudged his chin against her neck to get her to look in the proper direction at his desk. " The charcoal, like a faithful guard, traps the foulness and leaves only purity to ascend. These cloths are placed within glass globes along the distillation tubes, and through the pressuring of vapors and isolation of elements, the cleansing is complete. Thus purified, the vapors may be brought to condensation, a distillate of the finest clarity."

"Waxes and semi-solid substances yield their secrets through the art of assation. By the touch of flame or the embrace of heated ashes, the substance is dried, reduced to dust and ash, revealing the essence within. Place the base material in a glass vessel, and whether it be by brazier or oven, the process strips away the unnecessary, leaving behind only the truth of the substance. Keeping with the idea of fire, sublimation is the art of transformation through fire. With intense heat, a true solid is swiftly vaporized, only to be just as swiftly condensed, becoming a new solid form. Porcelain retorts withstand this mighty heat, and coils packed in ice hasten the cooling, ensuring the swift completion of this great work."

WC: 688

[Marik Sitai]

Marik hugged his arms around the slave’s waist which caused her to turn the book to the next page. She lifted the book up to her side so that he could read it properly over her shoulder. He took a few chimes to read the words silently to himself before closing his eyes to recall the information. “Calcination, it is the great reducer of the hardest of solids. Through careful application of heat, without allowing the substance to touch the flame, one may reduce even the toughest material to fine powder, a purified form free from rubbish. Some substances will even take on a crystalline form, showing the philterer the purest aspect of their being. Through crushing, smashing, and heating, the substance is transformed into calx.”

A knock on the doorframe caused Marik to open his eyes to glance over at who had visited his room. Marik found his niece Flavia standing at his door wearing a pink sundress with tall riding boots on her feet. “Flavia? Do you need anything?” He mentioned while turning his eyes back to the book. Roland’s daughter trotted over to him to glance at what he was reading.

“I don’t need anything. I just wanted to ask you something on someone else’s behalf.”

Marik raised a brow as he rested the back of his head against the top of the chair’s backrest to look up at Flavia. “Really? Then I am all ears.” He loved rumors, secrets, and trading gossip since it was just how Kenash operated. Flavia just said one name which told Marik everything about what he was being asked. “Aria.” Marik just laughed to himself as soon as the words graced his ears. “If I’m not mistake my brother banished your sister from Bloodflower. There's nothing I can do about that." Flavia waved a hand to ward off his laugh. “I know that. What I want to know is if she will be welcomed at your new place of business.” Marik just rocked his head up and down against the backrest. “My place of business is not on plantation grounds. You can tell Aria that she is welcome to visit anytime.”

Flavia leaned down to give her uncle a kiss on the forehead. "A certain someone will be getting great news. You should get some rest for your big day, Uncle Marik. Have a good night." Marik just huffed out a small chuckle to himself. "I may do that in a few chimes after I finish reading and goodnight to you too."

The slave sitting on Marik's lap silently held the book up as the two Sitai's spoke to each other. She bid her time by passively reading the same page over and over again. "Where was I?" He asked the slave woman who pressed her finger against the end of the paragraph about calcination. Marik did not even thank her as he returned to his process of silently reading the repeating the information aloud to himself with his eyes closed.

"When the eye alone must discern what lies hidden within a substance, we turn to the method of chromatography. Dissolve the unknown in water, and allow it to journey through a tube lined with papyrus. As it passes, the elements and compounds within it separate, revealing themselves in bands of color upon the paper. Through these colors, we come to know what was once concealed. To render a material pure, we turn to the method of cupellation. Placing the substance within a cupel, and applying the heat of a thousand flames, the impurities flee; absorbed into the cupel or burnt away into smoke. What remains is the purest essence of the material, stripped of all imperfection. Through insuration, we purify by saturating the substance in a dissolving liquid, or, in another method, using salt to draw out the moisture. The salt, a most noble agent, dries the substance, preparing it for further refinement or transformation."

Marik felt his mind hint at a need for sleep once he finished reading the pages on the basic process of philtering needed to utilize the recipes in the rest of the book. He stifled a yawn. "Get up and join me in bed with the book." He said while pressing up at her hips. Marik got himself comfortable as he laid on his bed with the slave curled up at his side. "You heard everything I read. Just keep reading those things to me until I doze off. If I am asleep then may go back to Theo."

It took half a chime before Marik slipped into the embrace of a dream to the soft lullaby of philtering information.

WC: 775