Chương 102: Chapter 99 - Still Kicking

The thumper was not settling. It wasn't loud enough to be called a problem, yet. Which somehow made it worse. Loud things announced themselves, declared their intentions, and then you could put up a fight or call a meeting. This sat somewhere in between, just off enough to demand attention without offering anything clear in return, like a man clearing his throat in the middle of a conversation he had not been invited to.

Alric had the stone half-seated, his grip on the tongs loose enough to move quickly if needed, but not so loose that he would have to chase it when the heat shifted. The copper of the still held heat. The belly of the thing was broad, almost reassuring if one did not know what it contained, and above it the column rose in a smooth, swelling curve that narrowed too late and then too quickly, as though it had reconsidered itself halfway through being built and decided that decisiveness was preferable to correctness.

At least, they now trusted it not to explode. The copper thickness saw to that. He had noticed that 'specific' shape the moment he saw it. A deeply suspicious shape. The bottom was round, before tapering to a neck shape, then it flared out and tapered slowly upward. He had also decided not to comment on it.

"Too quick," Stromni said, not looking at him, his attention fixed on the outlet with the sort of focus usually reserved for things that might explode out of spite. Alric eased the stone back, not removing it, just enough to see if it was feeling cooperative. The thumper took a while to notice the change and slowed.

"Not quick," Alric said after a moment.

"It's… pushing." Stromni made a noise that did not commit to any interpretation. He shifted his stance, wiped his hands on a cloth that had long since ceased to have any meaningful relationship with cleanliness, and glanced over briefly.

"Well?" he asked. Alric kept his eyes on the column.

"It hasn't failed."

"Aye, you were right though, this is a pain."

"But it works." Stromni's mouth twitched, which in him covered a wide range of expressions and, in this case, seemed to settle somewhere between approval and the recognition that he had no better alternative. He returned his attention to the still. The rhythm held for a few seconds longer than before. Alric adjusted the stone again, pre-emptively this time. Stromni noticed. Said nothing.

"How many we gotta run?" he asked after a while, the question arriving in the space between two adjustments as though it had been waiting for a gap in the work. Alric slid the stone in a fraction, watched the response, then answered without looking away.

"six, maybe seven." Alric said.

"Gonna take all week." Stromni said with a sigh.

"How's the brewery going?" Alric nodded, still intent on the thumper.

"Five boilers all running now, the sixth coming in next week."

"Aye?" Stromni said arched a brow.

"Hm." Alric said. The thumper dipped, then corrected itself without assistance. Alric did not trust it and eased the stone again anyway. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"And that's… working?" Stromni asked, though not in a way that suggested doubt so much as curiosity about how Alric defined success.

"Well, we can take on new taverns now, so there is that." Alric explained. That earned him a proper glance.

"That sounds like something people would be pleased about."

"They are."

"And you?" Alric watched a thin line of condensation forming where it should not have been and would need attention later, which was the sort of problem that politely waited until it had become inconvenient before making itself known.

"The damned arena." Was all he said as he pushed the stone back in. Stromni let out a short breath.

"They'll need more. They always do."

"And more taverns will close."

"Aye, well it aint ya decision lad, it's the peoples ya know?" Stromni said eyeing him sideways. The thumper chose that moment to surge. Alric pulled the stone back cleanly this time, no hesitation. The heat dropped, slower than was comfortable, faster than could be ignored. Both of them watched it without speaking, the silence that followed not so much companionable as mutually necessary. It settled, eventually, in the manner of something that had decided to behave for now but would not be held to that decision.

Stromni shook his head once.

"I don't like that."

"It doesn't like being ignored." Alric said with a chuckle, bringing the stone back.

"We weren't ignoring it." Stromni said wearing a distinctly dwarven pout.

"We were talking." Alric said noting the pout.

"Not the same thing." Stromni said turning back to it.

"For it," Alric said, nodding slightly toward the still, "it appears to be. Its sensitive, like you." Stromni snorted, which might have been agreement.

"What happened to ya berry thing?" he asked after a moment, as though the thought had been sitting with him long enough to become unavoidable.

"The one that smelled like ya were trying ta charm a pretty lady."

"The wine?" Alric asked "It's gone. All of it, sold."

"All of it?"

"All of it." Stromni glanced at him properly this time.

"You didn't keep any? Why?"

"Tarrow pointed out, if people noticed…" Alric said, "We'd hear a bunch of sad stories from nobles, probably the temple too, all of them would want discounts. Hard to say no when someone tells us how many orphans they are supporting."

"Aye, sad stories, happens." Stromni said.

"Yes. We got letters the next day from the temple about summer wines." Alric explained. Stromni huffed a quiet laugh.

"Aye. Best ta sell it like ya did then." The thumper wavered again, smaller this time. Alric corrected it without comment. They stood with it for a while, the rhythm returning in pieces rather than all at once, like a compromise reached between parties that did not entirely trust each other.

"You'd have kept it," Stromni said eventually, not really asking. Alric considered that, his gaze drifting briefly up the column before returning to the outlet, "To see what it became. Sure, instead we added honey." Stromni blinked.

"You… what."

"Not enough for mead," Alric said, adjusting the stone again as the thumper threatened to wander.

"That's not wine."

"It isn't trying to be. We didn't get enough honey for mead, the wine was too tart and sour." Alric adjusted. It settled.

"Aye?" Stromni said, still faintly amused.

"Well if it's all gone, nothing for it then lad." They let the conversation drop after that, not because it was finished but because the work required it. Adjustments layered over each other, small corrections that blurred together until the only clear thing was the fatigue that followed them. The stone grew heavier without changing weight. The sound of the thumper moved from something they listened to into something that lived behind the eyes, present whether acknowledged or not. Stromni shifted first.

"This is… a pain in the arse," he said after a while, as though arriving at the conclusion reluctantly and finding it difficult to argue otherwise. Alric nodded once.

"Only way for now, we just need to see it works." Stromni looked at the still as if reassessing every decision that had led him to this moment, which was a list that would have taken some time to fully account for and was therefore best left implied.

"I reckon what ya meant now," he said slowly, "why ya wanna make it big enough ta run itself." The thumper surged again, softer this time, predictable. Alric corrected it before it could begin singing the song of its people. Stromni watched the movement, then the still, then the stone.

"How big ya reckon?" Stromni asked Alric shrugged "We mentioned before, wouldn't fit in this room. We really want something we can adjust with stones over bells." Stromni nodded once, decisively, as though the matter had now been settled in a way that required no further discussion. He let out a breath that sounded like acceptance finding somewhere to sit.

"You won't be here for all of them."

"I can charge the stone in the morning but you'll be sitting with it all day." Alric explained. After a moment, Stromni moved closer to the outlet, leaning in just enough to catch the smell before retreating again with a face that suggested he regretted the decision immediately.

"We gotta run it five more times aye?" Stromni asked knowing the answer but not wanting to hear it. Alric nodded.

"Then we can do cuts, We'll have real whisky then." The condenser started a steady drip drip into the waiting cask. Both watched it for a while before adjusting the stone again.