Anyway, I uh, I hope you enjoy!
Spoiler
It was unusual for Lorelei to spend a long time at the Keep, and it had Tirian so worried he’d been having stomach problems. If she had chosen to spend most of her time in the library or infirmary or even the classrooms he’d have been less worried, but no. No, she had settled herself in the rose gardens, and Tirian had only seen her a few times since then. He knew she had agreed to help Lady Alua research breeding, though she hadn’t yet turned anything in. What kind of uncle would he be if he didn’t at least give her a heads up that time was almost out?
Despite the winter weather, the rose gardens remained comfortably warm all year. Tirian welcomed the reprieve from the chill of the Keep’s stone halls as he stepped inside, glancing around. A few life magi were tending the bushes with the help of the imps, and they gave him polite nods as he moved past them. It wasn't hard to find Lorelei as he continued deeper; in fact he heard her before he saw her.
“Look, GhostStickweed, I get it! You don’t want to make an egg, and are, in fact, completely uninterested in anything that may result in an egg. I support you and your choices and your bodily autonomy. I am also saying that you are completely throwing off my datasets,” Lorelei said, her voice only a little quieter than it normally was. Tirian found her sitting on the ground by a yellow rose bush, cradling an annoyed-looking yellow imp in her hands. Around her were several pieces of parchment, as well as quite a few vials of a strange, shimmery green substance.
The imp noticed him before Lorelei did and chirped; Tirian didn’t need magic to know what the imp wanted.
“Any reason you’re bothering one of your imps instead of writing your paper?” As he asked he settled himself onto the grass near Lorelei. Glaring down at the imp, she mumbled something he didn’t catch, then cleared her throat.
“This is for the paper. And my yellow imps keep messing up my results. They keep giving me these instead of eggs,” she grumbled, and then pointed at the pile of green vials. Ignoring them for now, Tirian grabbed one of the papers, raising an eyebrow at the scribbled numbers.
“Well, what’s your hypothesis for your paper, and how are they messing it up?” Another piece of paper talked about the amount of vials, but nothing about what Lorelei had been looking for.
Lorelei blinked and shuffled through some of the papers around her, the imp moving to rest on her shoulder. “It was, uh…” she cleared her throat, “Hypothesis: Different colors of rose imps have different rates of breeding success.”
“And what have you found?”
“Well… out of the twenty times I bred my red imps, I got nine eggs, though one of those times was with a white imp and one of those times was with a black imp. Oh, the red and white wasn’t successful though,” Lorelei snagged another piece of paper and squinted at her own dismot-scratch writing. “Incidentally they only gave me a weird vial instead of an egg once. So I wrote their likelihood of breeding to be around forty-five percent.”
“A good start. Did you count each breeding as one attempt or two?”
“One attempt if they were the same color, two if I was attempting two colors… is that okay?” Lorelei bit her lip, and Tirian nodded.
“That’s fine, but be sure to indicate that in your paper. What about your white imps?” He urged. It would be best to help Lorelei organize her thoughts aloud before she wrote the final draft.
“Because I have less white imps, I only bred them ten times, though once was with a red rose imp, twice was with pink, and once was with yellow. Oh and once with black as well. Two of the double white breedings succeeded, as well as both the pink and white, so their success rate I said to be around forty percent. They also gave me two vials, but one came in addition to an egg, so that kinda invalidated my theory that the vials were all the life energy from failed eggs.”
Despite how hard he tried, Tirian couldn’t stop himself from grinning. As often as she acted goofy, it was good to see Lorelei taking something mundane so serious. He couldn’t be prouder.
“A good theory, but not the point of your paper. What about pink, and then black?”
“Well, uh, pinks also had a forty percent success rate, two of the eggs came from breeding with whites, one from breeding with yellow, and one that was two pinks. They also have given me four vials. Blacks had a forty-five percent success rate with five eggs out of eleven breedings. All but one were from a pair of blacks, and the other was from the red and black pairing. They gave me two vials, one from an unsuccessful white and black and one from a successful black pair.”
As she had been speaking, Lorelei had gotten quieter, and Tirian was relieved to see that she was writing as she spoke. Good, at least she’d have something to turn in.
“And, finally, yellow.”
At that Lorelei groaned. “So. I have tried to breed my yellow imps ten times. And I have had only one success. As that was only with a pink imp! And only the once! The second time I tried? Failure. Tried with a white imp? Failure! Tried with another yellow! Guess what? More failures! They have a ten percent success rate! Ten!! They’ve also given me four vials! They’re completely messing up the data!” With a wail, Lorelei flopped dramatically onto her back. The imp on her shoulder snapped in irritation before climbing back into the nearest rose bush, and Tirian did his best not to laugh.
“I think you’re looking at that from the wrong angle, Lorelei,” Tirian said after a long moment, once it became clear Lorelei had no intention of sitting back up. “Remind me, again, what your hypothesis means.”
There was silence for several minutes before Lorelei gasped and sat up, her eyes sparkling. “They proved my hypothesis! That yes! While the other imps' success rates were within a margin of error for such a small sample size, having the yellow imps have such a low rate means that there is a difference!!” Almost glowing, Lorelei scrambled to her feet, gathering papers. “I have to go write this down, like, now! Bye Uncle Tirian!”
And then she was gone, leaving him to stare after her in bemusement. She’d left several quills behind, as well as a half-empty inkpot and the mysterious vials. Clicking his tongue to himself, Tirian gathered them up; he’d return them later. It wouldn’t do to interrupt her once Lorelei had finally figured things out.
Despite the winter weather, the rose gardens remained comfortably warm all year. Tirian welcomed the reprieve from the chill of the Keep’s stone halls as he stepped inside, glancing around. A few life magi were tending the bushes with the help of the imps, and they gave him polite nods as he moved past them. It wasn't hard to find Lorelei as he continued deeper; in fact he heard her before he saw her.
“Look, GhostStickweed, I get it! You don’t want to make an egg, and are, in fact, completely uninterested in anything that may result in an egg. I support you and your choices and your bodily autonomy. I am also saying that you are completely throwing off my datasets,” Lorelei said, her voice only a little quieter than it normally was. Tirian found her sitting on the ground by a yellow rose bush, cradling an annoyed-looking yellow imp in her hands. Around her were several pieces of parchment, as well as quite a few vials of a strange, shimmery green substance.
The imp noticed him before Lorelei did and chirped; Tirian didn’t need magic to know what the imp wanted.
“Any reason you’re bothering one of your imps instead of writing your paper?” As he asked he settled himself onto the grass near Lorelei. Glaring down at the imp, she mumbled something he didn’t catch, then cleared her throat.
“This is for the paper. And my yellow imps keep messing up my results. They keep giving me these instead of eggs,” she grumbled, and then pointed at the pile of green vials. Ignoring them for now, Tirian grabbed one of the papers, raising an eyebrow at the scribbled numbers.
“Well, what’s your hypothesis for your paper, and how are they messing it up?” Another piece of paper talked about the amount of vials, but nothing about what Lorelei had been looking for.
Lorelei blinked and shuffled through some of the papers around her, the imp moving to rest on her shoulder. “It was, uh…” she cleared her throat, “Hypothesis: Different colors of rose imps have different rates of breeding success.”
“And what have you found?”
“Well… out of the twenty times I bred my red imps, I got nine eggs, though one of those times was with a white imp and one of those times was with a black imp. Oh, the red and white wasn’t successful though,” Lorelei snagged another piece of paper and squinted at her own dismot-scratch writing. “Incidentally they only gave me a weird vial instead of an egg once. So I wrote their likelihood of breeding to be around forty-five percent.”
“A good start. Did you count each breeding as one attempt or two?”
“One attempt if they were the same color, two if I was attempting two colors… is that okay?” Lorelei bit her lip, and Tirian nodded.
“That’s fine, but be sure to indicate that in your paper. What about your white imps?” He urged. It would be best to help Lorelei organize her thoughts aloud before she wrote the final draft.
“Because I have less white imps, I only bred them ten times, though once was with a red rose imp, twice was with pink, and once was with yellow. Oh and once with black as well. Two of the double white breedings succeeded, as well as both the pink and white, so their success rate I said to be around forty percent. They also gave me two vials, but one came in addition to an egg, so that kinda invalidated my theory that the vials were all the life energy from failed eggs.”
Despite how hard he tried, Tirian couldn’t stop himself from grinning. As often as she acted goofy, it was good to see Lorelei taking something mundane so serious. He couldn’t be prouder.
“A good theory, but not the point of your paper. What about pink, and then black?”
“Well, uh, pinks also had a forty percent success rate, two of the eggs came from breeding with whites, one from breeding with yellow, and one that was two pinks. They also have given me four vials. Blacks had a forty-five percent success rate with five eggs out of eleven breedings. All but one were from a pair of blacks, and the other was from the red and black pairing. They gave me two vials, one from an unsuccessful white and black and one from a successful black pair.”
As she had been speaking, Lorelei had gotten quieter, and Tirian was relieved to see that she was writing as she spoke. Good, at least she’d have something to turn in.
“And, finally, yellow.”
At that Lorelei groaned. “So. I have tried to breed my yellow imps ten times. And I have had only one success. As that was only with a pink imp! And only the once! The second time I tried? Failure. Tried with a white imp? Failure! Tried with another yellow! Guess what? More failures! They have a ten percent success rate! Ten!! They’ve also given me four vials! They’re completely messing up the data!” With a wail, Lorelei flopped dramatically onto her back. The imp on her shoulder snapped in irritation before climbing back into the nearest rose bush, and Tirian did his best not to laugh.
“I think you’re looking at that from the wrong angle, Lorelei,” Tirian said after a long moment, once it became clear Lorelei had no intention of sitting back up. “Remind me, again, what your hypothesis means.”
There was silence for several minutes before Lorelei gasped and sat up, her eyes sparkling. “They proved my hypothesis! That yes! While the other imps' success rates were within a margin of error for such a small sample size, having the yellow imps have such a low rate means that there is a difference!!” Almost glowing, Lorelei scrambled to her feet, gathering papers. “I have to go write this down, like, now! Bye Uncle Tirian!”
And then she was gone, leaving him to stare after her in bemusement. She’d left several quills behind, as well as a half-empty inkpot and the mysterious vials. Clicking his tongue to himself, Tirian gathered them up; he’d return them later. It wouldn’t do to interrupt her once Lorelei had finally figured things out.
