Ian walked into the laboratory at the end of the seven days to check on his potion. He had been checking on it periodically to ensure the flames had not gone out. Hard work doing that and all. He looked into the cauldron to make sure all was in order. It seemed to be. He didn't really notice much difference and he was surprised there was still liquid in there. I mean, would evaporation cause ALL the liquid to go away? He shrugged as he set his satchel down on the floor beside his stool.

He glanced around...then smacked his own forehead with the heel of his hand. Gotta have the instructions, Tinker! he muttered to himself. He leaned over to his right and grabbed the satchel up and opened it and began digging things out. He dug around for a bit, trying to find the parchment he'd written the instructions on. One would think he would have considered that before coming down, but he didn't. After nearly pulling EVERYTHING from his satchel, he located the hidden parchment at his feet. Must have come out when I was pulling things out. Gonna have to organize this blasted bag.

As he began returning things to the satchel, he looked around for his mussel. He knew he had gathered one. Where had it gone off to? Once again, he began to empty out the bag. This was a little bit frustrating. Finally he began shuffling through papers and flipping books upside down. After he had gone through everything THREE times, he remembered he'd put the mussel in his robe pocket. He sighed and put his things back in his bag. This project was getting a bit silly. Maybe the rest of today's work wouldn't take so long.

When everything he didn't need was back in the bag he looked down at the mussel. Fortunately, because of the friction of his pocket, everything had been rubbed from the outside shell of the mussel. Taking it to a rubbish pail, he opened the mussel and using a small spatula, he scraped the inside of the mussel into the pail. He placed the mussel itself on a table beside him. He used a soft rag he had brought to clean the remainer of the shell. After that, he rinsed out the mussel, cleaning it until the water ran clear. He walked back to the cauldron and carefully dropped the mussel and shell into the potion. When that step was completed, he pointed at the fire and said Finite! He waited about 10 minutes to ensure the flames were completely out and the cauldron was good to go.

After he was satisfied everything was in order, Ian grabbed a washcloth, cleaned up the areas he'd used and then gathered up this things. With one more glance at the cauldron, he slung the satchel back over his shoulder and headed out of the laboratory.