Alchemists and Cultivators II

Shortly after, a couple of men came out the door below and headed in the opposite direction to the one just taken by the kids, who jumped from the roof onto the edge of a wall, spreading their arms to keep their balance.

The wall on which they were walking joined two towers with pagoda roofs, adorned with nacre-colored flags finely decorated with the motif of that villa: a pair of intertwined carps, which seemed to chase each other endlessly. On one side of that wall there was the residential area, on the other there was the commercial area, which was their destination.

The warehouses of the villa were normally located in the innermost part, well protected. For obvious reasons, even private homes were kept away from the chaos of the outside world, while not far from the entrance were the schools, common gardens and shops.

Fiamma glanced at the side of the wall that overlooked the private houses and swallowed, a little frightened. The windows did not have glass but thin carved wooden boards or rice paper foils: from the latter you could see the shadows of the objects that were inside, the girl almost fainted when she saw that someone was clearly looking out from one of the windows. She froze in place, terrified. She had to tell herself a couple of times that she couldn't be seen before she could take another step.

'He can't see you, that window isn't glass'.

She reassured herself. Then she reached Ren who was already descending on the other side of the wall.

The boy stretched out his hands to his friend to help her get off, Fiamma leapt nimbly into his arms and touched the ground on her tiptoes.

Ren could not hold back an ecstatic smile. "Here we are, here we are!" He whispered and started to walk again.

But Fiamma, who had the most sensitive hearing, caught the almost imperceptible sound of approaching footsteps, grabbed her friend by the collar of his tunic and pushed him behind a peony bush.

Just a few moments later a figure dressed in long red robe crossed the semicircular entrance of the courtyard and walked right on the path that Ren was about to take.

"You can thank me later." Whispered Fiamma peering through the leaves of the bush, she could see nothing but a long scarlet robe moving away.

Ren peeped out from the bush and he saw the flickering light of a lantern. "It's a boy." He murmured to his friend.

"So?" Fiamma asked.

"So, what is he doing out here? We are at the warehouses" He answered.

Fiamma shrugged carelessly. "Maybe out for a walk? Who cares." She muttered. "I'm afraid they'll catch us."

Ren nodded and took her by the wrist, leaping after another peony bush, just a little further on. They kept running for a few meters and then stopped behind another bush. Ren was keeping an eye on the light of the lantern, now distant, to make sure it did not return in their direction.

The warehouse buildings were different from what they were used to: they were more like elegant elevated huts with thatched roofs. On the upper floors were kept precious or perishable goods, which should not be left in contact with the earth, while below were crammed mainly sealed wooden crates and sheaves of straw.

Fiamma was tiny, but very fast, it would take her a few seconds to cover the distance that separated them from the nearest warehouse, but once she got there she certainly wouldn't have the strength to lift those heavy crates and discover their contents.

That's why Ren needed to search while Fiamma was supposed to stay behind as a lookout. It wasn't the first time they tested that lineup.

Ren was indeed stronger and taller than his friend, but he most certainly was not a giant and he was deaf in his left ear, so the agreed signals to get his attention were almost always visual, and not discreet whatsoever. Most of the time Fiamma ended up throwing something at him.

"Do you still see the lantern?" Fiamma whispered.

"No, he's gone."

"Let's go then." She ordered, taking one last look over the bush to make sure the road was clear, then the two sneaked out of their hiding place and ran under the first warehouse.

It was a dark wooden building, from the architrave, on the corners overlooking the street, hung two lanterns, which swayed weakly in the evening breeze; they cast a faint reddish light on the faces of the two young alchemists.

Fiamma hid behind one of the support pillars of the warehouse and began to lookout, while Ren approached the first stack of crates, trying to guess what was inside. They were almost all marked with a series of Chinese characters, which Ren could not understand.

"It would take us a second if we knew Chinese." He noticed by touching the unfamiliar lines with his fingertips.

"Well we don't know it, so just open the crates." Hissed Fiamma, who was really starting to want to go away, she had a strange sensation at the base of her neck, something that made her think they had better get it done quickly.

"Do you think I'm a fool? You seriously think I came here without knowing where to look?" Ren replied. "I know exactly what the crates we're looking for look like, it's just that I don't know which warehouse they were brought to." Murmured Ren, who did not share his friend's feeling at all, and was pretty much enjoying every moment: it was the first time he had gone so far inside a villa, and now everything around him caught his attention: his imagination was out of control. He wondered how many of the things around him came from distant and unknown worlds.

"If you don't know where they are, what's the point of knowing how to recognize them?" Fiamma asked bitterly.

"If you don't know where they are, what's the point of knowing how to recognize them?" He mocked her, bending over a box which smelled a lot like herbs and honey.

He put his hand on the wooden planks and narrowed his eyes. Immediately the tips of his fingers began to emit a soft orange light, Ren also placed his other hand on the wood.

"What are you doing?" Fiamma asked.

Ren didn't answer her, not that Fiamma needed a real answer: she asked because she couldn't believe what she was seeing, not because she was genuinely wondering about it. Ren was fooling around! Despite being there with a specific purpose, he was wasting his time with a Matter Recognition spell.

Eventually, the boy opened his eyes again, and his hands returned back to normal: "It is clothes, but they must be for important occasions because they are preserved with fragrant herbs." He whispered excitedly.

"Great. Now let's find the fireworks." Fiamma said, scolding him.

"Why are you in such a hurry? Who knows when we can come back down here, carpe diem, won't you?" He replied, and without further ado tugged at the lid of the crate which opened, revealing a finely decorated and extraordinarily perfumed red silk dress.

Ren touched it, fascinated. Tracing the embroideries with the tip of a finger, he felt the excitement of touching something precious into the depths of his bones.

"I think it's a woman's dress." He said to his friend. "It's just for you, it's red and embroidered with this flame motif[1]."

"Can you please just let go?" Fiamma begged. "I want to go home Ren, I have a weird feeling."

Ren rolled his eyes and closed the box: he would have liked to continue to look around, but his friend's concern worried him a bit, therefore he decided to indulge her.

"Okay okay." He said and pulled out a small black pebble from his pocket. He smiled and blew lightly on it, which reacted immediately, crumbling until it assumed the appearance of a light black cloud that floated around the boy's face, as if it wanted to caress him, Ren giggled.

"Alright, I'm glad to see you too." He said. "How about you help us find your friends?" We are looking for black powder, do you trace anything around here?" He asked, the cloud floated a little around Ren and then fell on his chest, pressing against the boy's brown jacket until it was nothing but a black spot, right at the height of his heart.

"How melodramatic." Ren commented happily.

"What's wrong with her?" Fiamma asked. "Why did you bring that thing?"

«Because Pitch is made of coal! And what are we looking for? Black powder, namely sulfur, saltpeter and coal. Don't you ever open a book?" Ren retorted, extending a hand in front of his chest while patiently waiting for Pitch to decide to set him free from that desperate hug.

"But why does she stick to you?" Fiamma asked.

"She has a crush." Ren said, shrugging. «Can you blame her? Besides, she doesn't like you, she's a bit jealous I fear."

"It's just a lump of coal." Fiamma muttered but couldn't help but smile.

"That's exactly what makes her jealous. If you were a cloud of coal dust you would be jealous of real girls, too" Ren replied, while Pitch finally let him go and floated to settle on the palm of his hand. "Come on Pitch, be good, okay?" He softly whispered.

After several phrases and caresses to soothe her, the cloud of ash finally decided to cooperate, and floating in midair it began to proceed in the direction of another warehouse.

"Yes! You are really great, Pitch." Ren encouraged her, following her like a puppy.

They passed three more stilted warehouses before Pitch let them know they had finally found the right one, whirling frantically around Ren's face.

This warehouse, however, unlike the first they had inspected, had no lanterns hanging from the lintels, and was immersed in almost total darkness. Ren and Fiamma had to grope to avoid bumping into anything.

"Someone is coming!" Fiamma exclaimed suddenly, and took her friend by the hand, hiding behind a pile of crates.

[1] Fiamma is a medival Italian name, it become popular in its variant "Fiammetta" after Giovanni Boccaccio gave it to one character in his "Decameron" in the XIV century. The name literally means "flame".