Toivo lowered his sextant and stared up at the sky without it. Mercury was bright lately; things would be changing again soon. No big surprise, there, really. But it was nice to have the warning.

As for things that weren't changing...

Toivo turned back to the academic paper he had picked up today. A fellow alchemist had written on the importance of Venus' luminosity when transmuting barium into silver. Lead into Gold had been such an easy science to crack, comparatively. Most alchemists no longer worried themselves over it, since alchemical gold was practically worthless, lacking as it was, the magic signature of Baron Hughs' minters.

Despite this, it was still a mark of pride among alchemists to be able to transmute random lower metals into one of the seven High Metals. Toivo had no idea why Sartouff was writing on Venus' importance in transmuting to Silver. Every alchemist knew that Venus ruled Copper. Still, some of Toivo's research needed funding; he couldn't live forever from major breakthrough to major breakthrough. He pulled in extra capital from reviewing papers for academic integrity.

And he'd developed a bit of a reputation for it.

More than once he had written editorials so scathing he'd gotten angry letters back for weeks. It didn't worry him, though. There was no one as skilled as he in the field, so far as he knew. He may as well enjoy the spotlight at the very least.

As for his own paper, it was being published as he sat on this rooftop. Bubo circled around the widow's walk where he'd set out all his instruments and notebooks. The mechanical owl hooted softly, and then veered off on a lazy flight pattern of its own design.

There was a light wind blowing, and it felt good in the warm summer air, so he decided it was time for a break.

He sat down, his legs dangling under the railing of the widow's walk. His right hand sought out the ring on his sixth finger on his left hand, and twisted it around comfortably. Tycho didn't have this finger. It was the only thing that set them apart. Toivo had developed it after too much time in the lab, and one too many close calls. It served no great hinderance or help, only something to occupy him with during idle times.

The ring was a small silver ourobos, the snake devouring its own tail. The silver had been an ingot he had transmuted, among the first of any real quality. It was set with black stoney eyes and black engravings of the zodiac symbols, which doubled for steps in the alchemical processes. He pulled on it, sliding it on the thin boney segment of his hand between his swollen joints. He could remove it easily, but he tended to misplace it then.

He leaned back, resting on top of his notebooks. "Nevertheless," he told himself, staring up at the flickering stars, "it moves." He chuckled wryly to himself a little. Galleleio had been a great contribution to modern alchemy, too. In fact, nearly every great scientific advancement brought alchemy further and further forward.

Electricity had given those without rigorous magic training in the intranscribeables a chance to offer their observations, though it still came much easier for the mages. Radio had allowed them to share their results with others abraod, thoughh ink and parchment were preferred, though highly expensive. Many of the advancements actually came in laboratory safety. Toivo had exploded his own lab no less than three times, once while he was in it. He wouldn't have survived without several very hasty spells and the rubber gloves that kept the Aqua Fortis and Aqua Regia off the back of his neck.

Enough of this.

He grabbed his pen and filled the nib with ink. He still had the experiment to duplicate, but as it stood right now, it seemed a load of bunk. He sighed and shook his head. Som e of his peers in the field were morons. This paper proved it.

"Sartouff's paper is completely unfounded," he wrote. "The luminosity of Venus is practically constant, except on cloudy nights. Any schoolchild could explain this to him, had he any care to remove his head from the ground to listen. Furthermore, any alchemist without a reputation to keep - which is obviously Sartouff's only motive to publish a paper without any merit whatsoever - would readilly explain that it is the Moon that rules Silver, not Venus. Venus rules Copper, a metal so fundementally different from Silver that it takes years to transmute one into the other."

He continued with a small dissertation - about a page and a half - on the phases of Venus and their application here on Earth, being that they were so short-lived that there could be little scientific or alchemical value to worrying about them.

He'd entertained similar thoughts with Mars for a few months when he was younger. He tried to use the phases of Mars with respect to the Earth to make stronger iron. It didn't work. As it turned out, the only celestial bodies with any say in their metals were the Moon - which made better Silver if it was waxing or full - and the Sun - without which transmuting Gold was practically impossible. The yellowness had to soak from the sun into the transmuting mixture to make a proper gold.

Actually, come to think of it, he'd published that paper and those results. Some people never learned. Consult the experts before you trounce about on some unfounded tirade. It saved you face in the academic world.

He finished his commentary and gathered his papers and notebooks and sextant. He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled twice sharply and shortly. Bubo lighted on the railing beside him as he opened the trapdoor down into his laboratory.

Bubo preceded him, and landed, whirring to himself, on one of the perches in the hallway. Toivo set his notes down on the stairs, made certain he was forgetting nothing, and pulled the trapdoor closed as he descended. He grabbed his notes and unlocked the lab. Bubo clicked greatfully and returned to his regular perch above the door.

It had been a long set of days. Ideally, it was high time he sat in meditation. There was always so much to do, though. No. It was time for meditation. This was all.

For once, work would wait.

He dimmed the lights and cleared away several of the empty glass vessels from the benchtop. Then, he sat on his stationary stool and pulled a sheet of heavy parchment from one of the drawers on his right. Upon it was a Balancing Seal - the four alchemical elements around an Ourobos around a hexagram. He'd drawn this one himself, spending a painstakingly long time inking the king cobra Ourobos, but he had done so during meditation, so it was not wasted time.

He withdrew a small pot of Quicksilver and a fountain pen. He filled the pen with the shimmering liquid and took a deep breath. He let it out softly and tried to relax.

Softly reciting words from the Emerald Tablet, he wrote in the symbols for Mercury, Salt, and Sulpher - the three most important elements in alchemy. Then, he wrote in the Latin words for spirit, soul, and body. The hexagram's outter triangles were filled, but its center remained empty. He pulled the silver Ourobos off his left hand and set the ring inside, making certain that its head was facing the corner diagonal from that of the cobra.

"True, true, with no room for doubt, certain, worthy of all trust."

He closed his eyes, clearing his head, letting his thoughts fall where they would.

"As above, so below. As below, so above. This is the miracle of balance and unity.
"All things are formed from It in a single process.
"Its father is the Sun, and Its mother is the Moon.
"It was born of the wind's belly and nourished by the earth.
"It is the source of wonderous works, guardian of mysteries.
"Throw it upon the earth, and earth will separate from the fire, the impalpable from the palpable.
"Through wisdom it rises slowly from the world to heaven. Then it descends to the world combining the power of the upper and the lower.
"Thus will come the light of the world, and the darkness will disappear. It will bring mastery of all subtle things, and penetration of all things large.
"By It the world was created.
"From It are born manifold wonders, the means to achieving which are here given.
"Thus, I am Triple Hermes, so named because I hold the three elements of all wisdom.
"This is a work of the Sun, and I deem it complete."

The Emerald Tablet recited, he opened his eyes, and began to meditate.