Down on Ring-World #1, outside the red-brick wall of Barn #88, Boom-Pot Sun skidded to a stop in the mud, his soot-stained alchemy robes flapping behind him like a burnt crow.
With a pair of long iron fire-tongs in his left hand and a thick brass magnifying glass in his right, the crazy alchemist-chef bent over the pigpen fence and picked up one of the three-foot-long golden tail-feathers that had fallen off the Angel Commander’s backside.
“Look at the grain on this feather! Look at the steady golden glow inside the quill!” Boom-Pot Sun pressed his magnifying glass right up against the feather until his nose nearly touched the gold, his wild hair standing straight up with pure scientific joy. “Old Guo! Come feel how warm this is!”
Old Guo lumbered over, setting down his heavy wooden bucket of Sweet-Spring Spirit Water beside the pig trough. He wiped his plump hands on his apron, pinched the stem of the golden feather, and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“Huh! It’s warm like a charcoal hand-warmer, and it doesn’t smoke at all!” Old Guo marveled, sniffing the feather carefully. “Even better, there’s no sulfur stink! Just a clean, dry warmth like aged mulberry wood!”
