The warm spring weather that Varian had been enjoying so far seemed to have decided that was enough sunshine, dropping torrential levels of rain for the next week or so until Varian, his bags, and his equipment, was soaked through. Thankfully his chemicals were spared thanks to his meticulous sealing of their containers, but travel was miserable as the rain showed no signs of letting up. Ruddiger spent his days either tucked inside one of Prometheus' saddle bags or wrapped around Varian's neck, shivering under his cloak. Prometheus was plodding along diligently, but his head dropped, his ears flat and he shook every few minutes as if to let his displeasure known. Varian wasn't much better, head lowered and goggles on just to keep the rain from his eyes. But they didn't exactly have much of a choice to stop and take shelter; this part of Bayangor seemed to be mostly occupied by farms and tiny villages, none of which had an inn or stable they could wait out the rains. It wasn't too bad once Varian set up his tent, using one of his chemicals to draw the moisture from his clothes almost instantly, but poor Prometheus was miserable.
So when the rain finally eased off at the end of the week, Varian was ecstatic, drying as much of his gear as he could before hastening onward, desperate to reach some kind of town before the overcast sky decided to drench them again. His map said that they weren't too far from a larger town which he could only hope had some kind of inn, but they were still over a day's travel away. He could only pray that Prometheus' patience held and his didn't decide to mutiny against his orders.
Varian wasn't going to stop for lunch that day, determined to march on while the weather held. But when an explosion of brightly coloured fire lit the sky off the road to his right, he jumped in alarm, wondering if it was some kind of signal flare. He drew his staff, waiting for an attack, but there was nothing. Well, nothing except for another explosion of fire in the sky. It took him a moment to realise that this wasn't anything like his Rooster back home, but had to be some of Bayangor's famous fireworks. He stared up at them in surprise, marvelling at the brilliant colours they gave off, wondering what kind of chemicals they used that could achieve something like this. He glanced down the road, hesitating a moment before he slowly began to lead Prometheus into the trees in the direction of the fireworks. It wasn't long before they came out to a crop field of some kind of grain. On the far side was a single person, a young boy dressed in a bright red and gold vest over a red sleeved shirt and dark maroon trousers. Even from this distance, Varian could see the scorch marks and soot covering the boy's clothes, as if he spent more than a little time on fire.
What was interesting was that he seemed to be standing on some kind of wooden crate, performing for an invisible crowd.
'I know you're all dying to see more!' he called, his voice making Varian suspect he couldn't be more than ten years old. 'But don't worry! The best is yet to come! Prepare yourselves, for Yong's Magnificent Dancing Dragon!'
He struck a long match on the crate and leaned down to what Varian could only assume was the next firework hidden behind the grain plants. He watched excitedly, waiting, but for some reason, the firework wasn't going off.
'Um... not to worry!' the boy continued nervously, getting down off his crate and vanishing from Varian's view, 'Just some technical difficulties. Hold on...'
Without warning, there was a massive explosion of red, orange and yellow sparks, throwing the boy backwards with a new assortment of smoking patches on his clothes, while the sparks erupted over the grain field. And despite the rain soaking everything for the past week, the crops were starting to burn. It was quickly becoming clear that the fireworks had malfunctioned, explosions of colourful sparks spreading the flames further and further as the boy sat up groggily, dazed. Varian reacted immediately, diving into one of Prometheus' saddle bags, grabbing a large flask of white powder, another vial of deep blue liquid and his canteen of water. He hastily combined them together, shaking the flask which began to bubble up in a pale blue foam.
'Stay!' he barked at Prometheus who looked more than content to graze where he was while Varian raced into the field towards the fire, pulling his goggles down. Across from him, more people were appearing, shouting in alarm at the sight of the rapidly spreading fire, trying to throw water and dirt onto it before it consumed the entire field. The flames were right in front of Varian now when he finally drew his arm back and threw the shaking flask over the worst of it. For a moment, it seemed to have no effect, until the glass shattered and the blue foam erupted outwards, smothering the flames immediately under it. Varian jumped back, swiping the foam from his face as he quickly stamped out the last of the fire closest to him while the people fighting the fire stared in shock.
'Is everyone okay?' he asked, circling around the new patch of foam covering the field and wiping his goggles.
'How'd you do that?' one of the people demanded, an older woman who looked to be in her forties or so.
'Just some chemicals,' Varian replied, 'Don't worry, it'll evaporate. Won't damage your crops either.'
'Are you a wizard?' another asked, a younger girl maybe eleven or twelve.
'Nah. Just an alchemist. I was just passing by when I saw the fireworks and thought I'd come have a look. I wasn't really expecting this though.'
He gestured to the field and the first woman's face darkened with anger, but not at him.
'Yong!' she snapped, turning to the boy who was still smoking slightly as he staggered to his feet. He looked out towards the field in shock before he hung his head, trudging over.
'I'm sorry, Mama,' he muttered, 'I don't know what went wrong. I think there was something wrong with the fuse, or maybe my black powder ratio was off, or-'
'That's enough, Yong,' the woman ordered and he flinched. 'How many times have I told you to stop playing with your fireworks out here?'
'Yeah, it's not like you'll be good enough to get back into the festival anyway,' one of the teenagers commented drily and Varian felt a surge of anger at the way he was being treated. But he bit his tongue, realising it wasn't exactly his place to speak out in what looked to be a family matter.
'But if I can just get this one right, I can-'
'Yong!' the woman exclaimed, exasperated, 'I don't know how many more times the farm can cope with your attempts! Now you are going to clean up this mess until all of the burnt patches are cleared, understand?'
He nodded, lower lip wobbling before he turned away, slouching past Varian to begin tugging at the crops still covered in Varian's foam.
'Sorry about all that,' the woman said briskly, turning to Varian with a sudden bright smile. 'I think I owe you thanks for saving the rest of our crops. I don't think we could afford to lose another field to Yong's antics. My name is Zhi.'
'I'm Varian,' he replied, still glancing back at Yong with a frown.
'Oh, don't worry yourself about him,' Zhi assured him, 'He's always been a little too clever for his own good. Needs to learn the value of wisdom if he wants to grow into his smarts. Now, I think I owe you for your marvelous help.'
'It's fine, really,' Varian insisted, 'I'm just passing through.'
'Nonsense! At least stay for a meal! It looks like those clouds won't hold off for much longer anyway.'
Varian hesitated, looking skyward at the darkening clouds again. Spending the rest of the afternoon slogging through the muddy road didn't sound very appealing and the idea of a warm meal was too good to pass up.
'Okay,' he finally replied, 'Let me just bring my donkey over.'
'Of course. Bai, can you go and get the stable ready? Our guest needs a clean stall for his donkey.'
The young girl nodded and raced away to one of the nearby farm buildings. Varian started back across the field but he paused, looking back to Yong again still struggling with the crops and felt a pang of sympathy. By the time he'd retrieved Prometheus and Ruddiger, he'd come to a decision. Once he settled the donkey in the stable, he headed back out to the field.
'Sorry, I should actually help clean all this up,' he said to Zhi, 'This foam can be a little tricky to get rid of.'
Zhi sighed, looking reluctant to let her guest clean up what she clearly saw was her son's mess. But eventually she nodded.
'Very well. But don't work yourself too hard out here. You've already earned your keep.'
She headed back towards a larger farmhouse across another field, leaving Varian to turn back to Yong who looked miserable as he worked.
'Are you okay?' he asked as he came up alongside the boy who nodded, still looking like he was fighting back tears.
'Mama's right, it's not the first time,' he replied, 'I'm used to blowing myself up.'
Varian winced but couldn't help the small smirk that formed at that. Yong looked up at him and was apparently confused at his reaction.
'Are you laughing at me?' he asked, looking even more upset.
'No, not at you,' Varian corrected him quickly, 'I'm laughing at me. I used to do the exact same thing back home.'
'Really?' Yong asked, pausing in his tugging at one of the burnt plants.
'Yeah. Though mine weren't as... sparkly as yours.'
He looked down at the burnt remains of the malfunctioned firework, crouching to examine its casing in surprise. It was well-made, though with how quickly it had burned, it was impossible to work out what the point of failure had been.
'Did you make this?' he asked and Yong nodded despondently.
'Yeah. I want to be a great performer like the pyrotechnicians in the capital city. They can make the most amazing fireworks in the world! They can even make them into animals that move across the sky!'
His face took on a longing smile that Varian had seen many times before on his own face. But just as quickly, it faded as he kicked at the scorched dirt of the field.
'But I can't even make a basic firecracker properly. They always go wrong, no matter how many times I try.'
He looked so upset that Varian had to say something. 'At least it was just a crop field and not an entire village.'
Yong looked back at him in confusion and Varian had to elaborate. 'A few years ago, I got it into my head that I'd make a system under my village to produce hot running water for everyone. I used a chemical I created, Flynnoleum, to produce the heat but I got the calculations wrong. Ended up blowing up the entire system and destroying most of my village. In front of my childhood hero, no less.'
'Really?' Yong asked, shocked, 'Did you ever get it working properly?'
'Yep. Now Corona is the first kingdom to have hot running water.'
Varian froze, realising what he'd just said. He was supposed to be keeping a low profile, and here he was telling a complete stranger about what was undoubtedly his most famous achievement in Corona. And it seemed that Yong knew it.
'That was you?' he asked, excitedly, 'I heard about that! Even Ingvarr doesn't have that yet!'
Varian grinned sheepishly, rubbing his neck nervously.
'Yeah, but I don't think I was supposed to bring that up. But my point is, you could have done a lot worse, trust me.'
'Could've done a lot better too,' Yong muttered, 'I don't know why I keep messing up. Mama keeps telling me I should stop playing with black powder or I'll eventually properly blow myself up. But I just can't help it! It's just so interesting and so, so fun!'
Varian sighed, realising he was basically looking at a younger version of himself.
'Well, I don't know much about your life here or anything. I'm not even from this kingdom. But you shouldn't give up if this is something you're passionate about. Try to figure out what is causing these failures, and fix them. You'll get there one day, I'm sure. I'll just have to visit the capital once you're performing Yong's Magnificent Dancing Dragon!'
Yong grinned with an embarrassed blush, but his mood had certainly improved. He turned back to the field as Varian moved back to the stable, grabbing a garden fork he'd noticed when settling Prometheus and heading back out to rejoin him.
'What are you doing?' Yong asked in surprise as Varian began to dig up the destroyed plants. Even Ruddiger looked to have decided to help, digging in the dirt to expose the roots of the plants.
'I grew up on a farm,' Varian explained, 'And like I said, spent a lot of time blowing things up. I know all there is to know about cleaning up this sort of mess. You're with an expert now.'
Yong laughed and took to the crops with a fury, seeming far happier now that Varian was working alongside him.
As Zhi had predicted, the rains returned that afternoon as they were piling up the burnt crops to be turned into compost. Yong dragged Varian to the farmhouse before they could get too soaked and was absolutely fascinated when Varian used one of his vials of powder to once again draw the moisture away.
'I was just about to send Hao out to fetch you,' Zhi commented, smiling at Varian though her face fell at the sight of Yong's burned clothes. 'Yong, could you please go change for supper?'
Yong nodded, bouncing away in far better spirits than he had been earlier. Zhi gestured to Varian to take a seat at the table.
'I hope Yong didn't chatter your ear off talking about his fireworks,' Zhi sighed as she began to serve a delicious smelling soup, rice, and steamed buns.
'I didn't mind,' Varian replied easily. And in truth, he hadn't. He'd listened to Yong chattering away about his black powder, how he made it, how he used it to create his fireworks and fire crackers, going into a surprising amount of detail that Varian had started to mentally take notes from. The kid was brilliant, if a little too enthusiastic for his own good. Just like Varian.
'You're lucky to still be alive,' one of Zhi's other children laughed just as Yong returned in a fresh set of clothes, hesitating as he heard the rest of his family talking about him. 'I'm surprised he didn't blow you up out there!'
'Hey, Yong,' one of his brothers laughed, 'Do you remember when you tried to enter your fireworks in the last festival and you set the whole stage on fire?'
Yong's face was beet red as he stared down at his food, not making any attempt to touch it. Before Varian could interject, one of the older siblings added, 'Maybe it's time you put away your fireworks and started actually learning a useful trade? Something that could help on the farm?'
'Nah, if it doesn't have black powder and explodes, Yong's not interested,' a sister laughed.
'That's enough!' Varian snapped, loud enough that the table immediately fell silent, even startling Ruddiger who was eating one of the steamed buns in the corner. Varian paused, realising that had been insanely rude, but he couldn't stand the way Yong was slowly sinking into his chair under their words, reminding him so painfully of the times his own dad had reprimanded him in the past.
'I'm sorry,' he quickly added, 'But you shouldn't be treating Yong like this! He's your brother! He's brilliant! Yes, he's made mistakes and he'll probably make more but that's what the whole process of science is about! He's already taught me stuff about black powder and fireworks I had no idea about. You should all be encouraging him, not trying to beat him down. Imagine the kinds of incredible things he'll be able to make once he get's some more experience!'
The table was silent and Varian froze, fully expecting to be immediately kicked out, but to his surprise, Zhi replied, 'Of course we love Yong. He can just get... ahead of himself sometimes. We just want him to be safe, that's all.'
But her words fell flat and the rest of dinner was a somewhat silent affair, though Varian wasn't sorry for what he'd said. Under the table, he felt Yong's hand find his and squeeze it tightly for a moment as Yong beamed up at him.
After he'd helped wash up, Varian was prepared to leave again, but despite his outburst at dinner, Zhi quickly refused, gesturing out the window to the pouring rain once again.
'You can't leave in that now! We don't have any beds but the stable is warm and dry. You're welcome to spend the night there and head out in the morning. At least then you might be able to see the road beneath your feet!'
So Varian had agreed, taking Ruddiger into the stable where he found a reasonably comfortable bed in the hayloft above the stall where Prometheus was dozing, taking the opportunity to restock his chemicals. The rain was so loud on the roof that he didn't even hear the stable doors open again or the footsteps approach before a voice said, 'What are you doing?'
'Yong!' Varian shouted, almost spilling the chemical he was mixing. Ruddiger screeched at his yell, scampering up into the rafters in fright.
'Sorry!' Yong exclaimed, clinging to the top of the ladder to the hayloft, 'I thought you heard me come in.'
Varian tried to calm his racing heart, coaxing Ruddiger back down as Yong climbed up to sit opposite him.
'What's his name?' Yong asked curiously, holding out his hand to Ruddiger to sniff. The raccoon seemed to find him trustworthy enough, moving close enough for Yong to pet him.
'Ruddiger,' Varian replied, 'He's kind of my lab assistant. Makes a great hot cocoa.'
Yong laughed as Ruddiger began pawing at him, looking for some kind of snack.
'What are you doing out here?' Varian continued, resuming mixing his chemicals.
'I guess I wanted to say thanks,' Yong said quietly, 'No one's really stood up for me before. People always call me a screw up so what you said was nice.'
Varian sighed, setting down his flask and looking Yong up and down.
'It was the truth,' he insisted, 'Yong, you really are brilliant. Before they malfunctioned, those fireworks were incredible.'
'The ones in the city are way better,' Yong replied heavily, 'That was just basic. Kid stuff. Anyone could make it.'
'Not me,' Varian said, 'I don't know anything about black powder or how it works. We don't have anything like that in Corona.'
'Really? What do you do for your Dragon Festival then?'
'We don't have a Dragon Festival. We have different holidays but I guess our most famous one is the princess' birthday. We make these paper lanterns and light a small flame under them which makes the hot air lift them into the sky.'
'Wow! That sounds pretty. Do they explode?'
Varian laughed at the abrupt question. 'No, they don't explode. It's a Coronan tradition. A while ago, the princess Rapunzel was kidnapped from her parents because she had magic hair infused with the power of the sun drop flower. It let her heal people and extend their lives indefinitely. The person who took her held her prisoner for eighteen years before Flynn Rider, well, Eugene Fitzherbert pretending to be Flynn Rider, took her to the city to see the lanterns. Her parents had been releasing them every year on her birthday to try to call her back home. Now that she's back, it's continued on as a holiday.'
Yong's eyes were wide with wonder. 'Wow! I'd like to see that one day!'
'I'm sure you will,' Varian assured him, 'When you're older and travelling the kingdoms showing off your fireworks.'
Yong's face fell and he looked away again. 'I don't think I'll ever be good enough to do that. I'll probably be stuck here forever.'
'Doubtful,' Varian commented and Yong looked up again.
'How'd you get so good at alchemy?' he demanded, 'You said you blew up your village. Now you're all like "Ha! Take that, fire! Eat foam!"'
Varian pulled his chemical away from Yong as he whipped his arms around him in what was a terrible impression of Varian.
'Well, for starters, I don't fling my arms around when there are chemicals nearby. Well, not much anyway. But I suppose... the main difference that I can see between you and me is that I had people who believed in me. When I was your age, I was always experimenting, trying out new chemicals to see what they did and how they mixed. My dad's a farmer too so he really didn't see any value in it. He tried everything to get me to put away my alchemy and take up the farm work but nothing worked. I tried as much as I could to prove that I could do this but... well it never really worked out the way I hoped. I was always letting him down in one way or another.'
He paused, seeing the look of recognition on Yong's face.
'But then... I met the princess. She came to my lab because I had a reputation as a wizard or something. She wanted me to experiment on her magic hair to see how it worked, as well as to investigate these unbreakable rocks that kept appearing all over the kingdom. That was the day my hot water system blew up the village. I figured I'd blown it, literally and metaphorically. But... she wanted me to keep working on it, to try to find answers. Even after all the damage I caused and no one else trusted me, it was like she saw something in me, something that I didn't even see. For the first time, someone believed that I could actually do something right, something helpful. It was... literally life-changing.'
Varian hesitated to tell Yong about the incident with the amber and his father and his subsequent attack on Corona. That wasn't really someone of Yong's age needed to hear.
'Even though I messed up, over and over, and made more mistakes than I can count, Rapunzel and Eugene and eventually the rest of the kingdom, they started to trust me again. And the more I tried and experimented, the more I learned. And soon I was building things that would protect the whole kingdom like my early warning system for danger and even some of Lord Demanitus' old designs.'
Yong's eyes were wide. 'Lord Demanitus? Really?'
'Yeah. But I could only do that because Rapunzel trusted me that day. She gave me hope that maybe I could become more than just the screw-up alchemist in a tiny farming village at the edge of the kingdom. Everyone needs someone who believes in them, and I really do believe that you can become something incredible, Yong. You have so much talent and skill already. You just need to develop it a little more, learn as much as you can, and refine what you do. You'll get there, I know it.'
Taking Varian completely off-guard, Yong lunged forwards and threw his arms around him, surprisingly strong despite his age. He was sniffling quietly and Varian got the distinct impression no one had ever encouraged him like this. He gently hugged him back, wishing someone had told him that when he was younger.
'You really believe that?' Yong asked, leaning back and wiping his eyes.
'I do.'
'Can you stay? Teach me what you know? I know mama would be happy if I don't keep setting the farm on fire.'
Varian hesitated, knowing that wasn't exactly possible.
'I can't, Yong,' he sighed, hating having to crush the kid's dreams. 'I need to get to Bayangor's capital city. There's... some really important work I need to do there.'
'Work for Corona?' Yong asked, whispering conspiratorially.
'Something like that.'
'Then I can take you! I've been there loads of times! It's a big city so you'll need someone to show you around. It's really easy to get lost, especially with the Dragon Festival going on.'
'I can't really do that either,' Varian replied, 'This thing I'm doing, it's a secret. I can't exactly take you with me.'
'Then I'll just take you to the city,' Yong insisted, 'You don't have to bring me all the way to wherever you need to go. I can just show you around for a while!'
Varian could see how eager he was to help, desperate to keep him around just a little longer. And despite his need for secrecy, he had to admit that having a local show him around wasn't the worst idea. His mother's journal spoke about key landmarks of the city to lead him to the trial location, but he had no idea what any of them meant. Perhaps Yong would know?
'You'll have to ask your mom,' he finally said and Yong beamed, nodding vigorously.
'I'm sure she'll love having a break from my fireworks for a little bit! This is gonna be great.'
Varian nodded, finally putting away his equipment, satisfied that his fire suppression chemicals were replenished. But instead of leaving, Yong flopped back on the hay, giggling quietly to himself in excitement.
'Aren't you going back inside?' Varian asked and Yong shook his head.
'No way. Everyone teases me in there. I wanna stay out here with you. Can you show me some of your chemicals?'
Varian sighed, realising that for the time being, he was stuck with Yong. But he found that he didn't mind as much as he might have thought. His enthusiasm was endearing, and he always loved an opportunity to talk about alchemy. So he settled down, starting to go through some of his less destructive chemicals until both of them eventually passed out in the hay to the sound of the rain hammering on the shingled roof.