2.4

May 4

Marketa is clearly falling ill. I told her, very sternly, “Marketa, you must set these tests aside and rest,” but it was as if I had not spoken. Even now, I can see the sweat gathering on her face and neck. I know the signs of fever. But she merely bends over the circular sliding rings that were given to her, manipulating them back and forth. Occasionally she waves a hand at me to leave her.

I think that she does not like anyone to care for her who is not Hannah.

The women have gathered to watch her, although they will not interfere. They have given her three crystals full of metal fragments, and tasked her with finding out what these compounds are called and what connects them.

I cannot begin to track her methods but I will document her mutterings -

“Those are the three metals, then…but under which constellation is it best to alchemize them?”

“I know that calamine is best alchemized when Earth is in Scorpio.”

“I must do things properly. The sooner I identify the metal… and the crystal structure… and the constellation, the sooner I can identify their compounds and what they have in common.”

She is fumbling through her old documents - constellation charts, astronomical associations. The women are murmuring.

I find myself wondering if this is genius or madness.