12.27

Metallurgy had always been one of his prime pursuits. Pouring the molten metal, watching the microscopic crystals form, so small and so quick that he couldn't catch their making, even though he knew it was happening, he had a chance to feel like some ancient scientist alchemizing from basic elements. The unknown was happening right in front of him. He was destroying the raw elemental heat with water or air, leaving only the earth, pristine and smoking. Looking at the castings he had made, he could almost believe he was making primal alchemical constructions. He tried to ignore this fact when working with chromium and molybdenum in his steel, at least for as long as it took to choose the precise proportions to improve the working product. He tried to forget the scientist when pouring, to become the alchemist again. 

Sometimes, the effort was too much, and a strange first-and-twenty-first century laugh could be heard ringing out across the courtyard from his shop.