The small group made it to the Magic Dorm’s outer kitchen just before 5. The cook, Mrs. Cooper, let them in the cafeteria, but was on the way out herself.

“Professor Dupont,” she greeted the teacher. “It’s been a while since you came by.”

“Hello Mrs. Cooper!” replied Professor Dupont. “I just came from a class and heard that Dorin here is quite the cook, I decided to try some of it out myself.”

The cook laughed, “Well, if he could keep himself from blowing up my kitchen, I’d say he’s quite the good cook!” Dorin looked embarrassed. “Get in the kitchen boy,” she added, “you can start peeling the potatoes while I go out to buy something.”

[Perhaps I can be of assistance?] Sebastian showed her his slate.

“Not unless you have some baking soda up your sleeves.”

Sebastian was silent for a while, then shook his head.

[I can buy it for you]

“No thanks. I know how high your ‘service charge’ is...” Mrs. Cooper waved him off.

“Hmm... baking soda...” Professor Dupont mumbles, “Sodium hydrogen carbonate, or bicarbonate of soda...” he looked at the cook, rubbing his chin. “Perhaps I can help,” he smiled. “Mind if I enter your kitchen?”

“By all means...” replied Mrs. Cooper.

The small group of students followed the cook and the professor to the kitchen, but Mrs. Cooper told them to stay beyond the counter. “I don’t want too many people in my kitchen,” she said.

“Hmm... let me see... what you have in here...” Dupont looked around the kitchen, opened cupboards and peeked into tin cans and other containers, finally he found what he was looking for. “Ah, you’ve got Natron!” he picked up a small sack full of yellowish powder.

“Natron?” asked Margarette who sat by the counter between Dorin and Sebastian.

[It’s a kind or mineral salt used to clean stuff] wrote Sebastian.

“Yes, I use that to clean my kitchen counter,” said Mrs. Cooper. The students look around at the speckle free kitchen. “I know that natron has a bit of sodium bicarbonate or baking soda in it, but this is natural Natron, it also has a lot of other stuff mixed in.”

“Then we will just need to separate the substances to come up with enough baking soda.”

Upon saying this, the professor took a handful of the yellow powder and tossed it in the air.

“What are you doing to my clean kitchen!” yelled the cook, but before the powder could scatter, Dupont spread out his hands fingers out, and kept the natron floating in midair.

“To separate substances from a compound, we would need some kind of chemical reaction,” the professor explained, his hands molding the powder into a round ball as it floated in front of him. “To separate hydrogen and oxygen from water, we use...” he paused and smiled expectantly at Sebastian.

[Electrolysis] Sebastian wrote instantly.

“For other compounds, there are several ways to do so, including distillation, filtration and even magnetism, but that takes too much time,” Dupont continued. “There is another way that is much faster...” He raised his right hand with the other still extended at the floating ball of powdered natron, “And that is, by magic.”

As he raised his right hand higher, part of the yellow powder seem to separate from the mass, leaving it a bit whiter. “Natron, when in its natural state, is made up of different salts, particularly sodium chloride, sodium sulphate and sodium bicarbonate or baking soda. By separating these substances, as well as other impurities, we can come up with enough baking soda to last you for tonight, at least.”

“You can do that?!?” Dorin asked wide eyed as more substances were separated from the middle clump.

[But how do you know which elements to pick?] Sebastian asked.

“By weighing them,” answered the professor. “Each element has a unique number of protons in them, and its atomic mass is about equivalent to its atomic number, thus measuring the weight can give you the right element.”

“I know my elements by heart, but this theory is still a bit vague...” Dorin looked perplexed.

“Vague... yes, this is beyond me...” said Margarette who was content in watching the free magic show.

“What is this ‘atomic number’?” Dorin asked, “How can you tell its weight?”

“You mean, you’ve never seen a table of elements?” asked the professor. “Atoms can be differentiated by the number of protons around them,” he explained, “it’s what makes one element different from another. Using your heightened senses, you could tell one element apart from the others...” Dupont saw the gaping look in Dorin’s face and gave a small laugh. “Perhaps one day you could sit in on one of my lectures to learn more about how to magically ‘sense’ elements and atoms,” he said, “for now, just think of it as separating pebbles by their size and color.”

[Then by doing this, you either need to weigh the atoms... or count its protons..] wrote Sebastian.

“And have a very big knowledge of the table of elements,” added Margarette.

“Exactly!” Dupont grinned. “Magic, after all, is just the 6 senses going haywire. Who needs an electron microscope when you can use magic to magnify things in your mind? All you need is to remember what they look like.”

“I think I kinda get it now...” Dorin said thoughtfully. “It’s like... flying up in the air and looking for a particular shape in a landscape!”

The others look at him blankly.

“Well, now that we have more than enough baking soda,” said Dupont, “I think it’s about time you make us something to eat!”

He stretched out his right hand, a trail of white powder following it, and pointed to an empty jar that quickly filled up. “There you have it madam,” he said with a little bow of his head.

“Thank you, Professor Dupont,” said the cook with a chuckle, “you never run out of ways to amaze me.” She looked at Dorin, “Now boy, time to cook,” and with that, the two entered the kitchen.

The professor settled on the kitchen counter as the two fed the fire in the oven.

“It seems to me that your friend has a lot to learn about the basics of chemistry,” he told Sebastian. “What division did you say he wished to enroll in?”

[Actually, he’s only here for the photography camp] wrote Sebastian, [he’s leaving tomorrow after they hand out the awards and certificates]

“Just for the camp?” Dupont was genuinely surprised, “And he said he came all the way from Monarch forest?”

[And he even came riding on a branch]

“A branch?” Dupont paused for a while. “You mean... he flew all the way here?”

“By the way, Sebastian,” Margarette butts in, “I ran into Professor Althea earlier, she was asking about you,” she stared at Sebastian. “Professor Althea wanted to know if your injuries are doing okay.”

[I’ll go to the clinic later] replied Sebastian, returning the stare.

“What exactly did happen in the military department?” asked the professor as he looked at Sebastian’s arm.

“A magic endowed weapon malfunctioned,” Margarette explained

[An elemental gun blew up] Sebastian wrote at the same time.

“It seems that the weapon was not properly maintained, that’s why it blew up while Sebastian and Dorin were handling it,” Margarette hurriedly added.

“Well, I did hear that some of the weapons they use in the target ranges were quite out of date, perhaps that’s the reason behind the explosion?” Dupont frowned.

“On the contrary,” Margarette said defensively, “our division take good care of all our weapons, and the old issues are merely there for new, inexperienced trainees to use. We keep the new weapons under lock and key and only high ranking officers are given access to them.”

“Hmm... then, it couldn’t have been a maintenance issue that caused the accident?” Dupont said thoughtfully, “I wonder if it was a user defect...”

Sebastian frowned at Margarette.

Her plan to try and hide the truth behind the accident seemed to have backfired by her own doing.

[Perhaps] he wrote, [In the meantime, Major General Muller has brought the gun to the artificers to be fixed. They can then tell what the real problem was]

Just then, a person entered the kitchen and stopped to look at the 3 people seated by the counter. Sebastian, Margarette and the professor turned around to see a tall young man with a shaved head.

“Professor Dupont?” Johan looked surprised, “What are you doing in the kitchens?”

“Johan! I didn’t know you were working here tonight,” Dupont said happily.

“Well, you did suspend all your classes for today,” replied the other. He looked at the other two students sitting beside the professor.

“Ah, that’s right, I had an event I had to go to...” said the professor, “By the way, this is Sebastian Revius from the same department, and 1st lieutenant Margarette Gunnar from the Military department, a new acquaintance of mine.” The two nodded at Johan. “This is Johan Ignacius,” Dupont introduced him, facing the two. “One of my protégés, just like you, Sebastian.”

[Nice to meet you] wrote Sebastian. Johan stared at the slate with a frown.

“What? You don’t talk?” the redhead asked as he looked down at Sebastian.

“Just like you, Johan, Sebastian has his own circumstances,” Dupont gently said with a smile. The young man flushed, murmured some kind of apology, and went inside the kitchen where Mrs. Cooper assigned him to scullery duty.

“That’s one rude kid!” Margarette said under her breath. Dupont simply kept his smile.

[Professor, may I ask what his circumstance might be?] asked Sebastian.

“I found him in a small abandoned mine at the edge of the southern mountain ranges, near the borders of the Arfan Empire,” he said in a low voice. “He was using his fire elemental magic to unearth certain metals from the mine and selling it across the border.”

“To the Arfan Empire?!” Margarette snarled, “That is considered –” The professor touched her softly on the arm, urging her to keep her voice down.

“He didn’t know better,” Dupont told her, “he was never educated. He lived with his old sickly grandmother who was in need of medical attention, and it was the only way he knew how to pay for the doctor’s fees.

[He must be an exceptional fire mage then, for him to catch your eye?] asked Sebastian.

“Yes,” Dupont grinned proudly, “he’s a real diamond in the rough, and I mean ‘rough’. I had to drill basic manners and etiquette into him, it took me weeks just to get him to wear a shirt, not to mention shoes!”

“That explains his rudeness,” said Margarette, still a little irritated.

“Let’s just say, his personality is as fiery as his powers...” Dupont said with a grin. “In fact, what you see now is already quite an improvement. Back in the mines, he hardly spoke since his grandmother was stone deaf and blind. All he had to talk to were potty-mouthed miners and some hillbilly poachers who sometimes traded fur with them. I had to teach him to speak properly!”

“How long have you known him?” asked Sebastian.

“About 4 years now.” replied Dupont. “It was only last month that he decided to come to the university with me, after his grandmother died.”

The two students fell quiet.

[It seems the two of them have a lot in common] The words appeared slowly on the slate, as if Sebastian was in deep thought. [but Dorin can’t stay...]

“That is Dorin’s choice,” Margarette suddenly intercepted. “As he said, he only came here for the photography class...”

“Is he any good? Perhaps I could persuade him?” Dupont asked Sebastian.

[YES] Sebastian replied in bold red letters. [Oh, I can write in color] He thought, surprising even himself. [He can do AMAZING stuff, he even FIXED my slate here] he wrote in varying colors and style.

“Is that so?” Dupont said surprised, “Hmm... an artificer in the making, huh? And he seemed really interested in my lecture earlier...” Dupont speculated. “Maybe a short talk with him and his parents would persuade them to send him to study here in the university... I’d really like to see what he would grow up to be.”

“Well, I think we should respect his decisions, especially his mother’s.” Margarette said, emphasizing the word ‘mother’. Sebastian looked at her.

[Yes, I guess you’re right. But I really hope he would reconsider] Margarette gave him a nasty look, good thing the professor didn’t notice it.

“What are you lot talking about?” asked a grinning Dorin holding a tray with 3 plates on it. “Here, I just finished the meat pie and some roast with veggies, have a taste.” He left the tray and went back into the kitchen.

“Well, let’s dig in!” Professor Dupont said, raising a fork. The 2 students did the same.

[Not bad] said Sebastian after a mouthful.

“The pastry on the pie is nice and flaky,” observed Margarette.

“But these are Mrs. Cooper’s recipes, I’d like to eat something Dorin makes himself, one day,” Dupont said as he swallowed another mouthful of roast.