•••
It had been hours since Caius returned from Lochxen.
His father, Lucian, sat in the dining hall by himself having dinner after accepting that his son would not be joining him.
"He's still at it?" Lucian asked. It sounded almost like he was speaking to no one.
But someone answered.
"Yes, Lord Lucian," Roland answered with a fond laugh. The young master remains locked in with his Alchemical set. Children will play and play, I suppose."
"Seems more than play, actually," Lucian said.
There were vents in the Alchemical Chamber that had been prepared for Caius, all pulling out the vapors of refinement and letting them out into the atmosphere. In the hours Caius had been at it, the vapors had gotten thicker and thicker, never once ceasing from being released.
