If the question surprised him, Kre did a good job of not showing it. His mind flicked between memories of his experience in the depths of the Ancient’s city, the stone he still held in his pocket, and the two dragons that he made the acquaintance of.
“Yeah, I’ve heard about magic,” he answered as casually as he could.
Dain reached into another one of the pouches he wore across his body and pulled out a tiny piece of paper and held it between two fingers in front of him. “An apothecary,” he intoned, giving the name of the profession a slight inflection that indicated he was correcting Kre’s lapse in memory, “would examine this paper and say that it had been treated by soaking it in alcohol infused sulfuric suspension and allowed to dry out. That is what makes the paper flammable though it is by far the most efficient method of doing so and thereby results in a less than impressive flash.
“The sulfur smell is clearly evident, even weeks or months after the paper had been initially treated,” he added, holding it out and wafting it under Kre’s nose so he could experience the rotten egg smell for himself.
“Yeah,” Kre agreed. “That’s pretty vile,” he said as he leaned back and waved the paper away from his face.
Dain continued without too much pause, making Kre wonder if Dain was even aware that he was there, or if he even cared. “What the apothecary does not know and would never be capable of detecting, is that the paper has also been enchanted.”
The pause Dain held after his revelation seemed to be longer than normal, almost awkwardly so, especially as Kre had not yet made a comment even a simple sound that would have expressed his awe.
As the pause got longer, it became more and more apparent that Dain was waiting for exactly that kind of reaction. “Nifty?” he finally murmured. His unease translating directly into his odd manner of turning his comment into a question.
“What?” Dain asked quickly. “Oh, yes. It is… uh… nifty, as you say.” This strange reaction confirmed in Kre’s mind that Dain had not been waiting for his response at all, and likely had forgotten that Kre was even there. More probably, Dain had just lost himself in thought and it wasn’t until Kre said something that he even remembered that he had been lecturing.
There was another pause, but this time Kre figured it correctly that Dain had simply lost track of where he had left off. “Enchanted paper?” he offered.
“Yes,” Dain said quickly. “The treated paper has been further enchanted through arts both arcane and mystical. This is more commonly known as magic.”
“Who enchanted it?”
“I did,” Dain snapped back, “you impudent boy.”
He muttered something else under his breath and then cleared his throat. “It would be better for you to ask what the enchantment does.”
Kre sighed and obligingly took the offered bait, “What does the magical enchantment do?”
Dain looked up from under his oversized hat and grinned widely. “Tulvada!” he intoned as he flicked the paper towards Kre.