Treasures Of Heaven And Earth

Even though Chún had worked hard on building the kiln, it was refreshing to tear it down since it was going to be replaced.

A single twist removed the chimney and he then removed the top roof of the kiln to get at the pottery from his first attempt - carefully to avoid dropping any large bits of hard mud and smashing anything.

It was then easy to reach in and take out the pots and basic cups he had made. There was only one broken one. The rest were usable. He took great delight in smashing the rest of the kiln flat, only stopping to take out the now ceramic bars he had put in as grates.

"Finally going to be able to drink like a civilised person! It is amazing what you only notice missing once it is gone! Hmm - one small pot or cup, two large pots." He used his Essence Sense to see that the pottery had set into a very rigid structure, similar to rock. There were no other patterns of Water, Fire or Life in it. The Earth pattern had changed into a shape closer to the patterns he saw in the few crystals or semi-precious stones he had run across.

"Wonder how that's going to affect the Dao pottery idea," he mused, putting down the pot.

Moving over to the fancy new drying pit, he could see all the new clay plates, cups and pots were dry on the shelves and the Fire shut off. This clay still had very active Dao patterns, with Fire being added to the balance of Water, Earth and Life he had noted the night before.

A pulse from the link grabbed his attention and an image formed in his head - the newly dried Essence imbued clay pots, plates and cups being placed on the ground where the remains of the old kiln were.

"Ok…" It only took a moment to place everything from the shelves on the ground in the space indicated, taking up an area twice the size of the original kiln. "Now what?"

To Chún's shock ground under the plates sank into the earth and then closed over. While he was still trying to process this a small rumble heralded the appearance of a short chimney coming straight out of the ground.

"Oh - you have put the firing chamber under the ground instead of building on top? That - actually that makes a lot of sense if you can do it. But where is the firing point?"

"It opens onto the side of the drying pit," his locus responded, "I am placing Fire Essence jets like the one in the drying pit just inside the mouth. That will replicate the position of an externally fed flame and suck the oxygen through, without the need for fuel...and done."

Chún heard slight 'woosh' sound and he jumped into the drying pit - immediately feeling a distinct draft. With Essence Sense he could see water and air Essence streaming into a large hole in the side of the pit.

"The firing chamber narrows before it opens up to where the clay bakes - this increases the intensity of the heat. Also completely sealed so much less heat loss from anywhere except the chimney. I have added Dao Runes inside the kiln to stabilise and reinforce water, Earth and Life patterns and I am also circulating Essence through the baking chamber - if you could push Essence through the ground over the kiln every so often instead of adding wood, that would help a lot."

He raised his eyebrows and leapt up back out of the drying pit walking over to where the kiln was and pushed a pulse of Water, Earth and Life Essence into the ground through his feet. "Like that?"

A wave of affirmation from the link. "Now what?"

"Please go and make more clay pots?" asked his locus, "I am sure we will need to do this more than once before we get it right. I will let you know when I need more Essence pushed into the kiln."

Chún sighed, going over to pick up his basket. "This had better work - or it is going to be such a waste of time."

"Even if it fails it has been beneficial for you," pointed out the Mountain, "Your Dao pattern is much more stable now, compared to after the battle."

"OK, but I hope there is something else to do after this. I am getting sick of pottery making."

"Try digging out the clay and forming it into the shapes with Essence like you manipulate the water from the stream," his locus suggested, "after this batch is drying, the Heaven and Earth Vine has asked for your help with advancing something."

"Really?" asked Chún as he waded across the creek which seemed deeper and swifter than usual, "Huh, has it been raining?"

"Further up, mostly although the clearing got some. I covered the drying pit with a temporary dome when it came through - that is when I realised an underground kiln made more sense."

"For you, maybe - for me it would have been a great deal of added work." pointed out Chún as he pushed his Essence into the clay bank - pulling on the Essence in the clay, causing it to flow into his basket.

He looked down at the full basket. "Not bad…. Hmm..." Putting his hand on the clay in the basket, he could see that it was even richer in natural Essence that the last bunch he had harvested - the 'Essence' of clay almost. Pushing his Essence into the clay, he stirred out the lumps and rocks and other debris, of which there was only a little, leaving with a solid ball of pure clay the size of his head.

"This is how I should have done it all along. Live and Learn… hmm." Chún looked at the clay bank speculatively and then repeated the process. In about a kè he had a half-dozen clay balls lined up which he then piled into groups of three - two on the bottom one on top - picked them up in his arms and walked back to the workshop area.

"So do I add old pottery or not?" he asked his locus as he set the clay down next to his work-stone.

"Yes, the ones made with the clay you added the old clay to are holding the patterns better - generally more stable. Can you put more Essence in, please?"

Walking over to the kiln area he picked up the pottery that had failed and pushed more Essence downward. "More?"

"That is fine, thank you."

It took another half-shi, but Chún mixed in the crushed old pottery into the clay evenly, pushing Essence though his fingers again. "Can you turn on the Fire Essence after I leave to stiffen these, please," he asked his locus, before placing the clay on the shelves in the drying pit and then going to have lunch.

A shi later, he came back and grabbed the now much more solid clay out of the drying pit, spreading the wood ash from the remains of the old kiln on his work-stone and started making bowls and pots - he mostly focused on smaller, shallow bowls and tiny pots for putting herbs or plants in this time. He did make a few bowls for eating with - he realised he had somehow overlooked that with his earlier attempts - and since he had a lot of clay to work with he even made a small clay tub with a spout at the top for carrying water in - so he did not have to always to pull water from the stream or creek.

The bigger tub needed a slightly different technique than the other pottery - he made a base with a thick edge that curved upward and then added rolls of clay around the edge to build it up, giving each layer some time to dry - working on other pots in the meantime. All of his clay work was accompanied with pushing Essence through his fingers - and occasionally getting up at the Mountain's request to put more Essence into the kiln.

Eventually, after working most of another two shi, he ran out of clay. He had been moving his work to the shelves in the drying pit as the area around him got too crowded, so when he stopped he had an entire pit full of clay pots and a tub - all glowing so brightly with Essence, he was sure he could almost see Dao patterns on them without using his Essence Sense.

"Those are a big improvement, I think," commented the Mountain, "Which is good, because…"

The firing hole on the side of the drying pit abruptly shut off its Fire Essence and filled in. The rock shelves suddenly sprouted ridges on their surfaces around the pots and bowls and rock bars on the edges, locking the contents in place. Barely a niàn after that there was a rumbling crash that sounded like a thunder strike and the ground rocked. The clay on the shelves rattled, but thanks to the sudden safety precautions that appeared, nothing was damaged.

"What?!" exclaimed Chún leaping out of the drying pit. There was a column of black ash and smoke boiling furiously out of a hole in the ground. The edges of the hole glowed red and he spotted the shattered remains of the chimney around it. Where he had been pushing Essence into the ground was sunken in and cracked, wisps of smoke and steam escaping.

"The Dao patterns in the clay became imbalanced… the interaction went violent. Ummm, I have a new reason for keeping the kiln underground... Āiyō." The Mountain's 'voice' in the link was sheepish.

"You are hurt? asked Chún in alarm.

"Like a stubbed toe for you. Not serious," his locus reassured him."

"We should stop. I have enough cups and pots to eat food with. The idea about keeping plants alive was silly anyway." Chún said firmly.

"No, no… I know what went wrong. I know how to fix it. It would not happen again - it was so close. It did not hurt enough to stop."

Chún shook his head. "If your kiln had been a regular sort above ground there would have been more damage when it exploded."

"Well it was not. And it did not. I am a small moon-sized mountain - the damage is already repaired. It is just embarrassing to make such a basic mistake - I was not able to keep the balance, the distribution of patterns in the clay was uneven - this new clay is much higher quality since you used Essence to process it. And I can add balancing patterns inside the kiln and strengthening ones… I want to keep going." His locus 'voice' took on a pleading tone.

"Aiii… you are not going to stop asking are you?" Chún asked helplessly.

"When you agree, of course." The Mountain responded brightly. "I am happy you are worried about me. I will be careful. Why do you not go and help the Heaven and Earth Vine?"

Chún rolled his eyes. "Ok, oh wise Mountain. I will mock your failures later, since you are ignoring my advice."

"It will not be necessary. Go and help these to advance." The Essence Map appeared, outlining a ring of very familiar grass around the edge of the clearing."

He narrowed his eyes. "The ice-crack grass…? That sounds like a very bad idea."

---

Chún glared at the final tall stand of grass around the clearing edge that shimmered in the wind, fading in and out of visibility. The Vine had been very adamant about advancing the grass and though he expressed his reservations via his link with the Mountain, it was still her clearing.

So he had pulsed his Essence as required and the tufts of grass now seemed more like tall river reeds with long, spear like tips that glittered in the light despite being transparent, looking wickedly sharp.

"That looks dangerous." As if in response the swaying, transparent, grass stiffened then whipped forward - towards the treeline with that same sharp crack as before - the glittering tips seemed to shatter into razor shards which blasted into the trees, raising a huge puff of leaves, wood ch.i.p.s and a squeal.

Chún slowly pivoted on his heel and walked cautiously over into the trees. Their trunks looked as if they had been chewed on by some enormous beast, covered in glittering shards and oozing sap. Just inside the tree line was a rabbit, almost completely shredded. He winced and picked it up, blinking as the shards drew blood.

"Well, I see." Careful not to cut himself he moved back into the clearing, realising the grass was not visible.

"Mountain? How do I get into the clearing without ending up like the rabbit?"

"She is controlling them, they will ignore you."

"Right." Moving into the thick Essence mist that marked the clearing boundary, he could not even feel the deadly long grass he knew he had to be brushing past. Grimacing, he dropped the dying rabbit onto the well kept grass of the clearing, walking towards his cave to wash the blood off. Behind him he heard the familiar rustlings of the Vine feeding and shivered.

"Well, I feel a lot safer now," he muttered.

"Yes. Those are very good plants you made. It will help if there is ever a beast wave or other things…"

"I was being sarcastic," sighed Chún.

"Oh. What is sarcastic? You still look like Chún?" asked a puzzled locus, "I have started drying your new pots. I will put them into a new kiln tomorrow!"

"That is great, Mountain."

"I know!"

"Ughhh…" Chún ran a hand down his face.