It was only Monday, but I was already busy. I’d just barely made it back to the dorms in time yesterday, so I hadn’t had a chance to stop by the greenhouse. I’d woken up early today so I could go to the greenhouse and look after the greater and antidotal herbs. The two greater herbs I’d left planted in the classroom greenhouse looked like they would soon be ready to harvest seeds from. After checking on those, I watered my two antidotal herbs.
“You’re pretty diligent,” Ms. Makias said, appearing out of nowhere as usual. “You can harvest the seeds from those greater herbs tomorrow.”
She always scares me, and she’s so quick.
I’d been trying to get around quickly, since I still had to return to the dorms and wake up Princess Margaret, but I had nothing on Ms. Makias when it came to speed.
My first class today was diplomacy, for which I’d ended up writing two papers: one on musicians, and one on magic stones. As always, I walked to class with Philips.
We arrived at the classroom, and there were already students discussing their reports. We’d all left homeroom at the same time, but since I was slow, I was the last to arrive. I need to practice walking faster!
“Hey, Patience,” Russell greeted me. “Was that book useful?”
“It was incredibly useful, Sir Russell,” I replied.
Since the other students were showing their papers to each other, I joined in and showed Russell my papers.
“Whoa, this is impressive!” he exclaimed.
Is there something odd about my paper? Are reports written up differently here? I’m getting worried.
“What’s all this fuss about?” Philips said, taking a look at my report.
“I can’t believe you were able to organize so many details from that book, then put it all into a report,” Russell said, praising my summarization of Verrier’s household accounts. “You’re really smart, Patience.”
I’d probably only done so well because I’d helped Princess Margaret with her homework for household math.
Philips proceeded to read through my second, shorter report on magic stones, and he looked surprised.
“Oh, it looks like we arrived at the same conclusion,” he remarked.
I read through Philips’s report, which was quite a bit more thorough than mine.
“Your paper is much more detailed than mine though, Sir Philips.”
I read through Russell’s paper as well, which took a more generalized approach to analyzing the topics at hand. He’d done research about the Kingdom of Sonia’s Ministry of Culture and had written about how our kingdom needed a department of cultural affairs.
In class, we had discussions about our various papers. Though everyone had done research for their reports, no one had been as thorough as Russell and Philips.
“Patience, Russell, and Philips all pass,” Mr. Fotchner announced. “I encourage the rest of you to work a little harder.”
Mr. Fotchner praised my work! Yay!
In world history, our lesson covered the beginning of Emperor Hadrianus’s eastern conquests. Philips seemed very excited during class, while I on the other hand found myself critical of the late emperor. I believed that excessive expansion was one of the factors that had led to the fall of the Kazarian empire, so it seemed wrong that the emperor had spent so much of his financial resources on this expedition. Bigger didn’t always mean better.
“We’ll get to keep learning about Emperor Hadrianus’s conquests for the next few weeks!” Philips raved.
I won’t rain on his parade with my thoughts.
“I’m bored,” Russell grumbled. “He travels all over the place, and it’s difficult to remember what year each event takes place.”
I’m on Russell’s side. I’m probably going to struggle with years the most during the spring final.
During lunch, Prince Keith, Ralph, and Hugo all thanked me for the study sessions.
I didn’t actually teach Ralph anything, but I appreciate it.
“I followed your advice from the other day and thought back to previous tea parties,” Princess Margaret reported. “Thanks to you, I passed Etiquette I! Unfortunately, I didn’t have any space for Etiquette II in my schedule, so I’ll be taking it during the same block as Etiquette I.”
It was nice to see that things were going smoothly for Princess Margaret.
“The assignment in Etiquette II is a luncheon, and in Etiquette III it is a dinner party,” I explained. “I’m sure you will do well, Lady Margaret.”
The princess was confident she could receive a certificate of completion, which put her in good spirits.
“Yes, but I’m still going to struggle with household math, as well as sewing and cooking. Everyone seems worried about the assignments for this week.”
Princess Margaret had apparently burnt her ham steak as well, but hadn’t completely charred it like she had the fish. Ms. Spencer was probably reworking the dishes she’d planned for the class to make.
“I’m sure you will do fine, Lady Margaret,” I said. It didn’t seem like there was much else I could do aside from encouraging her.
I realized that Prince Keith and his friends didn’t chime in on topics like this, so perhaps discussing the home economics track would be good during lunch. Any other topic would be too dangerous, because Prince Keith would always have something to say about it. Right now, the prince and his friends were discussing the knight track, so all was well.
For now, I had some free time in my schedule after lunch, especially today, because I’d stopped by the greenhouse in the morning. Until classroom lectures began in May, I would be spending this period at alchemy club.
“Hey, we’ve been waiting for you, Patience,” President Caesar called out.
Benjamin was already there as well. They’re both here so soon after lunch. Do they even eat?
“There’s precedent for processing slime powder into a flexible material, but it’s probably not durable enough to be used as a tire.”
I’d never seen a slime, nor had I worked with slime powder before.
“What is slime powder used to make?” I asked.
Caesar and Benjamin both seemed bashful as they replied.
“It’s something used for toilets.”
I guess I’m not supposed to talk about toilets, since I’m a girl.
Once water was added, the slime powder turned into a squishy substance.
“May I touch it?” I asked.
They looked at me as if I were asking a nonsensical question. Hey, I just needed to be sure! In some fantasy stories, slimes have acid that can melt people!
Since it seemed safe, I touched the slime. Whoa, it’s slime. I mean, of course it is!
“It seems that it tears easily if you pull at it,” I remarked. The soft, flexible texture was similar to rubber, but it wasn’t strong enough. “What if we try mixing some powdered charcoal into the slime powder?”
I only thought of that because of the black rubber used for tires.
“Let’s try it out!” President Caesar exclaimed.
We gathered the charcoal under the furnaces, and I pulverized it with my household magic.
“Your household magic really is useful,” Caesar remarked. “You’ve also pretty much gotten certificates of completion in both pharmacy and herbology...”
That reminds me, President Caesar has probably taken the herbology exam.
“What is the lecture portion of herbology like?” I asked. “Ms. Makias said I only need to read the textbook, but I’m worried that won’t be enough, so I’m planning on attending the lectures.”
Benjamin burst into laughter.
“President Caesar has never made it far enough in herbology to get to the lecture portion!”
“And I’m betting that you won’t either!” Caesar snapped back.
You two probably kill all your plants because you’re so focused on alchemy.
“I’ll ask around about it, Patience,” Caesar said. “It would be nice if you could simply read the textbook, since that would free up more of your time.”
I was grateful for President Caesar’s words and endless love of alchemy.
“Thank you very much,” I said. I guess I’ll rely on him.
We proceeded to prepare several different mixtures with varying ratios of slime powder to charcoal. Both President Caesar and Benjamin were thorough during these steps.
“I think this is pretty good,” Caesar commented.
We’d succeeded in making the slime more durable, but it was much too hard to become a tire.
“This may be good for the brake pads,” I said.
We had a hard time deciding on a ratio to use for the tires, so I decided to leave the task in the boys’ hands. I went back to one of our failed slimes, which had very little charcoal in it. It was soft and squishy, which made it pleasant to touch.
“What if we were to use this squishy slime for the seats?” I suggested. I bet putting this slime under the leather seat cover would make it comfortable, I thought, and I began testing my theory out. “President Caesar, what do you think of this? Oh, it may also be good for use in carriage seats!”
Carriages were fine for traveling within Romano, but my butt had hurt after the longer trip to the summer palace. I figured it could be nice to have seat cushions made out of leather stuffed with slime. We had plenty of leather to work with, so I sewed some cushions and stuffed them to the brim with slime. Then, I tested one out by placing it on a chair and sitting on it. Yeah, this seems good! Next, I need to test its durability!