Paint-by-numbers for Finch

[ambersweet]

1. Silver - Keith kept polishing the sword, and Celia was more than a little weirded out by how natural it looked in his hands.

2. Gold - "Well?" The ring glittered dully in the dim light. "I'm not going to ask again."

3. Mercury - Joseph found her staring at the sky as if it held the answers.

4. Salt - "Revenge is just less satisfying when there aren't any fields to sow with salt. A weakness of the modern age."

5. Arcane - Jian led Robin into his library for the first time.

6. Code - Technically it wasn't in code, but a dialect of Chinese that hadn't been spoken in several hundred years at best was probably close enough.

7. Great work - "I have plans!" Hammer announced. Lotus just shrugged. "Of course you do."

8. Philosopher's stone - "Immortality?" Jian echoed. "Perhaps, but it was not what I had intended."

9. Lead into gold - What Eden was doing was a greater shaping than anyone seemed to understand.

10. Classical elements - "There are five of them, Blaser... but only four dragons. Why is that, do you think?"

11. Reduce - Lucia's eyes sparkled. "You're fired."

12. Purify - The power ripped through him, building, and Jian screamed.

13. Concentrate - "You'll never be able to do a damn thing until you learn to focus!" he snarled.

14. Distil - "You have five minutes," Lin growled. "I suggest going with the short version."

15. Mortar and Pestle - Annie wiped the sweat off her forehead with her arm and kept grinding.

16. Alembic - "Will this do as a workspace?" Jian asked, and Robin looked around the room, startled.

17. Hermeticism - "What do you know about alchemy?" he asked, and Eden almost laughed at him.

18. Transmute - Lin's skin - rippled - and Zhenya stared.

19. Sophic - Jin wrote everything down. Sometimes in triplicate. It helped.

20. Charlton - "What does that even mean?" Robin asked.