Reminiscing about fond memories certainly puts me in a mood. A little melancholic for times long gone by, but happy in general as well. It's not a bad thing. The mood certainly helps reaffirm my decision to make those colorful crayons. Well, I'll try to make them as colorful as I possibly can. I don't have a long lasting green pigment available after all, thus I have to make some concessions in that regard.

Once we are done with our little impromptu break in the shade, we get back to work. Or rather, I do while Elzbieta uses the balm once more to ease the itching, caused by the rash, that is still troubling Ulryk. He is getting better too though, so I don't have to worry too much. And anyway, Elzbieta is taking pretty good care of him. He is in pretty good hands.

My work begins with crushing plenty of the Ocher I still have in store. I divide the resulting finely crushed pigments into several heaps of similar size. The first I'll use without further processing to make chalk that is almost white. Some more, created from rock that has a slightly darker color to begin with I'll use unprocessed too, to make yellow chalks.

The rest I'll burn in the fireplace. Half of it will only go in for a little while at moderate temperatures, to create a red pigment. The rest will be burnt longer and hotter to create a deep blue pigment. By mixing some of the red with the yellow I should be able to make decent orange chalks too. And maybe, just maybe, if I mix the blue with some yellow I can make half decent green chalks too. That one will be a little more tricky, but I'll certainly give it a try.

Grinding down stone into a fine dust, even a soft stone like Ocher, takes some time. After a while Elzbieta joins me in the workshop and a glace out the window tells me that it's getting a little late. We mix up chores a little. She takes over with pestle and mortar while I prepare the fire, including the water in the big cauldron. The mix for the chalks doesn't go right over the fire after all but into a smaller cauldron within the boiling water of the big one. Only the earthenware bowls with the pigments to be burnt go right over the fire for a while.

Little Ulryk appreciates the distraction for sure. His eyes are everywhere at once, as we work. He happily blabbers along as we sing him a few more songs of Ksawaery's adventures too. He really is improving. Very good. Another night, two at worst, and he should be all better too.

Overall the way he is dealing with the challenge is boding well. Sure the Scarlet Rash is hardly a dangerous malady, it's well understood and easily treatable, but if he remains this calm and cheerful despite the discomfort he is still experiencing, I have high hopes that he'll master other hardships without much of a fuss too. We, Elzbieta and I, can hope, right?

After a while I get the burnt Ocher out of the fire again. Letting it cool might just be the hardest part. At least I can prepare the molds in the meantime. That's better than doing nothing for sure. And I really want to have those ready by the time the mixture in the cauldron has the right consistency.

Once the burnt Ochre has cooled to the point it won't affect the rest of the mixture I start mixing the different powders until I have pigment for each intended color ready. That's as far as the easy part goes. Now it gets a little tricky, as I have to heat and mix wax, oil and pigment carefully, so the resulting mixture has the correct consistency.

And I'm not done with doing it once either. I have to repeat the process for each color after pouring the previous mix into the molds. I have to clean the small cauldron too, each time before I get started on a new color. I don't want the pigments to mix any more after all.

And while the small cauldron is not as hot as it could be if it were directly on the fire, it's still plenty hot enough for me to burn my fingers once or twice. At least a little. Thankfully I have a bucket with cold water ready. It's intended for cleaning, but it serves just as well as an emergency measure to cool my fingers before I can develop any actual blisters.

And of course Ulryk finds the whole process hilarious. Me jumping and waving my hands about while cursing softly each time somehow is hilarious to him. Well, alright, it might be hilarious to anyone else who were to behold me too. Now that I'm thinking about it like that I can't help but chuckle as well, which of course only prompts the little boy to smile and laugh even more. Oh, if only children of all ages were this easily amused and entertained.

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Quite a bit later, Elzbieta and Ulryk are out back on the bench besides the backdoor in the garden, the former to enjoy the last rays of the sun as well as the first stars and the latter to get his evening meal. I in the meantime finish up inside, carefully removing the last colorful chalks from their molds.

I'm quite satisfied with the result. White, yellow, orange, red, green and blue. All colors have turned out alright. Maybe I should have mixed a purple one too? Well, it's too late for that now, as I have no intention of starting another batch. Not right now or anytime soon anyway. No the next chalks I make will be enchanter's chalks again.

I new question is plaguing me now though. How am I going to sell them? Individually? In batches of maybe three or as full sets of six? And should I sell them just like this or should I come up with some kind of packaging?

The mixture is wax and oil based, so a little moisture shouldn't have an adverse effect. Which in turn means I can just sell them like this. Of course I could wrap them in waxed paper for additional protection and easier handling. Except I'd either have to buy or make the waxed paper first.

I sigh and shake my head. I don't really want to think about it right now. Thus I just grab a wicker basket and put them all inside, all seventy two of them, neatly sorted by color for the better part, but one set arranged to lie next to each other for reference. Yes, that doesn't look too bad.

I don't write individual price tags either. Instead I put a single one into the back of the basket. Three different ones for five bronze Crowns. Yes, that sounds decent. If I sell out that should amount to at least ten silver Crowns. Possibly a little more if I do some haggling or hike up the price in general once the basket starts to empty out.

Either way they should be easy impulse sales that go well with other things. Useful or fun and quite affordable. The latter is the key. And despite being priced on the low end, they should still make me a decent profit. The main ingredient, by volume, is after all rock I collected and ground up myself.

That's it for now. I don't put the basket out front right away. I'll wait for Elzbieta to share her opinion first. And anyway, the chalks don't run away. I'm not in a hurry as the shop is already closed for the day anyway.

With the basket and its contents ready I head out back to get some fresh air too. With a sigh I sit down beside the young mother and her greedily drinking baby boy.

"Want to risk slipping into bed with me today? Or do you want to tough it out by the fireplace together with Ulryk one more night? It should be warm at least."

In fact it probably will be plenty warm. It's not just the stones that have had plenty of time to soak up warmth from the fire today. There is the big cauldron full of hot water too. Together with the blankets and pillows he borrowed from Agnieszka, she should be plenty comfortable.

Elzbieta takes a moment to think it over while Ulryk finishes up with his evening meal. She gently rubs first his belly and than his back until he burps and nestles against her chest, already quite sleepy.

"If you are any reference I can go by, my little darling might have one more fever attack tonight. There might be a little more kicking and fussing than usual. I think we'll stick with the fireplace one more night before we go back to sleeping in bed again."

She wraps an arm around my hip and pulls me in a little closer.

I don't resist. In fact I might lean in a little myself.

"We better get ready for the night then, right?"

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