[Erenthril Mael'tharias]

Mistress Llorai retrieved a few more items from the wooden cabinets and set them on top of the center wooden table. Adjusting the white lab coat she was sporting, she turned to Eren and smiled before gesturing across the wide variety of items they had already covered so far, then turning her attention to these newcomers.

“There are only a few more pieces the atypical Alchemist will use. This particular apparatus here,” she selected a glass tube that was twisted and serpent-like. It was essentially a round bottom flask with three apertures, one being much more narrower than the others, and was surprisingly long. The third aperture to the right extended out and into a U-bend before the terminal tube at the posterior of the apparatus ended in a bulb, followed by another. “Is called a fermentation tube. The third aperture, this one,” she pointed at it, “is filled with water while the other two are filled with fluids or gases. You use it to block air from interfering with your work… pretty much the norm when dealing with substances such as phosphorus and the like, which ignites when it comes into contact with air,” she grinned. Frighteningly so.

Eren nodded his head and took a closer look.

“The other two apertures can be sealed, but not the third. When it’s filled, and only partially so with water so gases can leave, it will keep air from entering. The entire apparatus is meant to keep the air from coming into contact with whatever substance you add into the first and second apertures. Simple enough if you pay it some thought,” she stopped and moved along to the opposite side of the table, pausing just long enough for the information to sink in more thoroughly for her learning student.

“Now this last item we’ll cover is a tad bit simpler, but don’t get your hopes up,” she spoke, waving at the round flask with a downward drooping end. A small aperture was located at the top of the flask, sealed with a rubber stopper. A small opening could be discerned in the drooping end as well, where liquids probably spilled out. “We use this to collect vapors and gases from the fluids you boil via Calcination. The vapors collect and condense in the top, where they escape the heat and cool off before eventually returning to their fluid form b dripping from this aperture. Hopefully into a flask, though I’ve had a few nasty mishaps of forgetting to place one there. There’s no greater shock in the world than to return to a lab set only to find the wood being eaten by a corrosive acid you’d formerly evaporated,” she offered a brief teasing smile, though the story definitely seemed substantial enough.

“It’s called a retort, and between that and the fermentation tube, will be the most advanced objects any Alchemical lab will boast. Some Alchemists create their own constructions, of course, for varying methods and purposes, but the ones we have covered are the standards found in every lab. Every decent lab, at least,” she grinned again, and instantly Eren was reminded of her joke of the fire pits.

Eren helped her put all the equipment back up on the shelves, followed by the flasks, stir rods, mortar and pestles, condensers, water pumps, and the like. As he put each one up he mentally noted its name and shape, so he could make the distinction if he had to should she call upon him to select one.

“Alright Heru Mael’tharias, I think that’s all we’ll cover for today. I want to grab a bite of eat before teaching my afternoon class. Umm… we’ll meet again tomorrow, same time?” she asked, taking off her white lab coat to reveal a simple burgundy sweater and black pants. Tight pants at that. Eren nodded his head and murmured a polite goodbye.

Walking out the door ahead of him, she stopped at the entryway and turned around, hand resting alongside the wooden doorpost. “Sometimes I find writing down the names and drawing the shapes of the apparatuses helps in memorizing them. It’s a lot to take in on one day, but I think you’ll be fine,” she beamed a smile at him before twirling out of sight.