The task of passing word of tomorrow's operation to the Church was left to Miss Reinhart's Followers. The Witch Followers always seemed to be skilled at such things.
Shade was not idle that afternoon either. The "Magic Potion Merchant" had gone back to his potion shop to pack up and had yet to return, while his meeting with Major Rades was not until next week, so he found other things to do.
Shade had not forgotten what Luvia mentioned that morning about ink for writing on Serpent's Sheddings. After lunch, he asked the Elders about it, but they said that while some ancient documents written on Serpent's Sheddings still remained, the tradition itself had vanished long ago, and they had no ink formula.
"However, Claire's father studied the composition of the ink on those ancient Serpent's Sheddings. He seemed to have wanted to determine how local writing methods had changed. You can ask him."
The witch had other matters to attend to that afternoon, so Shade visited the Reinhart Family alone. It was Thursday. Mrs. Reinhart had gone to teach at the town school, while the folklore professor had stayed home.
He was not drunk today. After inviting Shade in and hearing his question, he asked Shade to sit down and talk.
"Mr. Watson, have you ever looked into the evolution of ink-making methods? Before the Steam Epoch, most ink used was Iron Gall Ink. Crushed gallnuts had to be soaked to extract tannic acid, then the mixture had to be colored, thickened, cellared, and so on. The process was extremely complicated, and the finished ink was corrosive."
He picked up the fountain pen from the table again.
"But now, as we speak, common ink is a product of Coal Tar chemistry. It is cheap and easy to use. Yet