So, this chapter might be confusing for a lot of people. For most people, actually, since I was scratching my head at places reading this the second time. If you lose track of what's happening, just scroll down to the author's note, I've provided a detailed, scientific explanation.
Also, I've always, always wanted to incorporate science and mathematical logic into Narnia. If you've passed the sixth grade, you'll see this bit is basically a play-off of acids and bases changing colour in the presence of indicators. This was a geeky note. But anyway, read on! Dedicated to my sixth-grade chemistry teacher!
10th. Greenroof, 1000 - Second-day
Talus was waiting for him in the eastern part of the Healing Wing. Edmund had had to cross the Eastern Gardens, go past the orchards, cross a gravel path that led out of Cair and to The Great River's younger sister, River Ralce, through the main gate of the Northern Wing. Edmund then had to climb down the stairs that provided a comfortable path to the lower ground—for Cair Paravel was built on a small hill, at the mouth of the Great River—and smiled to finally have sight of the glimmering, marble walls of the Healing Wing that bordered the Eastern Gardens. He entered through the front door, not bothering to knock for he knew Talus would be expecting him. And he was.
The faun was breathing in the fumes coming out of the mouth of a flask when Edmund found him. Talus then grimaced, wrinkling his nose at the bitter smell, and then turned. Giving a wide smile, Talus ushered Edmund to the square table in the middle. He pulled back a chair and gently shoved Edmund onto the seat. Edmund adjusted the chair, settling onto it a little more comfortably. By the time he was done, Talus had was rummaging through the cabinets built above the small bed on which the faun slept—its bedding was covered with fur. Unbothered by messiness then. Like Peter, Edmund thought amusedly. And when he turned back attention to his tutor, Talus already had placed three flasks in front of him. Edmund blinked. Two were blue and transparent, and the other red and opaque, much like blood. Edmund leaned away from the flask at the thought.
"One of them has been poisoned, King Edmund."
"I'm sorry?" Edmund asked, bewildered by the simplicity and comfort that the alarming words were said.
Talus, as if he hadn't even heard Edmund, said, "And you are going to drink one."
Edmund was half-ready to shout for the guards. But he stopped himself. If Peter had put his trust in the faun, even if he seemed mad to him right now, he would do as the faun said. But before that, "Am I to choose? Or are you?"
"Oh, no, my King, you are going to choose. But first, a small demonstration, if you will," Talus said, stomping his hooves. Then he pulled out a vial, smaller than Lucy's diamond cordial, long and thin. Much like a tube. It contained a purple mixture. Talus shook the tube once and the colour darkened. He placed it beside a fourth flask Edmund had failed to notice until now. It was colourless and transparent, showing a magnified, wavy image of the faun's fingers as he brought it to the middle of the table. Then he held the tube over it, tilting it slightly. A drop fell. Edmund blinked. And the flask's colour had changed to a glistening purple. Only natural, Edmund thought.
"This was water, King Edmund," Talus said. Edmund mentally scoffed, like he hadn't known. "And taste this," the faun suddenly said, sending a sliding blue flask towards him. Edmund raised his eyebrow at him. Hadn't one of them been poisoned? "Oh, not this one. Taste it, go on!"
Edmund picked the flask and hesitated for some small seconds. But then conceded and quickly shoved a drop down his throat. Sour. Very sour. He put the flask back, fanning his burning tongue with his hand. Too sour. As if someone had just squeezed a lemon's juice into his mouth. "Water," he said through his cracked lips, licking them.
"Oh, give it time. You're not a small child," Talus said, grabbing the flask that had killed Edmund's throat. Edmund rolled his eyes. He was ten! A child indeed, if you asked him.
Talus then tilted the small tube over the mouth of the flask. And a purple drop fell. A rush of colour spread through the mixture, bubbles of purple hovering over the surface. After a blink, the mixture had almost lost its blue colour, the purple dominating. Edmund couldn't resist another blink when his eyes burned for moisture. And the liquid was completely purple, not a trace of blue left. It had vanished. How?
"What did you see, King Edmund?" his tutor asked as he grabbed the three containers. He spilled their contents into the sink to their left, built beside two more large wooden cabinets. Then he washed the flasks with clear water from the tap, and set them into the sink, mouths facing the metallic surface. And then walked to the small cabinets above his bed and rummaged through his contents again. He filled the small tube with the purple mixture again and placed if before Edmund, between the two remaining flasks. Edmund had been watching so keenly that he'd forgotten to answer the question, so Talus asked him again, "What did you see?"
"The colour disappeared," Edmund answered, "the purple liquid took over. But how? Why?"
Talus only smirked, shaking the tube gently until the colour darkened. "Now, I've shown you all you needed to see to know which flask has been poisoned. Can you deduce which one you should drink? If not, then I hope your brother won't kill me."
Edmund laughed. "You're not—you can't be serious," Edmund said, "There's a fifty-fifty chance that the flask I choose is the one that's been poisoned!" Edmund stood up. "I'm sorry, Talus, but I'm leaving. You should be grateful I haven't yelled for the guards yet."
Edmund ranted on as he walked to the door that led to the narrow corridor that would take him straight to the front door. But he heard the unmistakable sound of a bowstring being drawn back. Edmund halted. What a fool he'd been! He didn't even bring a sword! "Sit, King Edmund."
Oh, his tutor was mad!
Edmund took a deep breath and turned on his heels, unsurprised to find an arrow pointed at him. Talus gestured at the unoccupied chair opposite of him with his bow and Edmund reluctantly walked back and sat on it. "Now, make a deduction. And choose."
Edmund glanced at the two flasks. One blue and one red. Exactly the same quantity. Nothing to tell him! Nothing to deduce! "Talus, the High King will hunt you down if you kill me. You can't escape."
"But I'm not killing you. You'd be killing yourself if you choose the wrong one," Talus said, holding the bow steady above him. If the arrow was released, it would go straight through Edmund's right eye. Edmund shuddered. "You're allowed to use the tube's mixture."
Edmund looked up. He blinked. Looked down at the flasks and then the tube. And just like that, he knew! Edmund elatedly smiled and then poured one drop of the mixture into the red flask. The drop's colour rushed through the mixture but then the purple vanished in a second's time. And the red remained, undefiled and untouched. It had dominated. Edmund frowned. Then he spilled another drop into the blue flask, and this time, too, the blue dominated. Edmund gulped. This was not the result he'd expected. One of them should've turned purple. Hence indicating that that one hadn't been poisoned. But now Edmund felt as if he'd been fooled. He looked up at Talus. The faun pulled the string further back.
Edmund shut his eyes and breathed deep.
The blue one hadn't been poisoned. Because he wasn't dead. And the blue colour had been recessive. So, if the blue flask here hadn't turned purple, that would mean it had been poisoned. So, the red one!
"The purple colour appears not because of the poison's presence, but because of something else's," Talus said.
Edmund was back to square one. So, the poison doesn't affect the purple mixture. And now, he also knew that both the flasks lacked that important component. But. But! But what if the poison is what dissolved the component! That would mean both are poisoned. And he knew that wasn't true. Oh, Aslan!
"I didn't show you how the mixture affects the colour red."
Edmund gazed up the faun, blinking twice. He was right. Edmund could be sure of one thing. That if the blue mixture lacked the essential component to change colour, then the poison had had a hand in it. He could be sure that the blue did, in fact, lacked that component, for it didn't turn purple. Now, he didn't know how the purple mixture worked on red colour! So, he couldn't be sure if it had been poisoned. But he knew that blue one had been. And if one of the two was safe to drink, it was the red one! He grinned at the faun, and quickly took a sip of the red mixture. He gagged as the bitter liquid travelled down his throat. He thanked Aslan it didn't taste like blood.
Talus put down the bow on his bed. He clapped his hands. "Well done, King Edmund. But you're only half-correct." Edmund lifted both his brows. And the faun drank the blue mixture.
"No, wait!" Edmund yelled, jumping out of his chair. "Talus, why did you—"
"Not poisoned, Majesty," Talus said with a large grin. He then braided his long, orange hair, and continued, "What deductions did you make, King Edmund?"
"Uh, that the poison was what affected the component that changed the colour and—"
"No, no, young King, how can you determine that based on what you know?" Talus asked. "It's a simple rule, your Majesty: Unless you are sure, you are not correct."
"But—"
"Listen. Here's what you knew: That the blue mixture had not been poisoned. That the purple colour appears because of something's presence, not the poison, that is. That would mean that the blue mixture did indeed have that component but the flasks in front of you did not. Now, how can you possibly know which one of them had been poisoned based on that?"
"So, I wasn't—"
"This riddle was impossible to solve. And you just risked your life based on false deductions."
"But you said—"
"Your enemy will always lie to you, King Edmund. Today, we learned how the plant Lavias acts on sour and bitter liquids. The sour liquids contain Plothium and turn purple in Lavias' presence. The bitter liquids contain Prestum and turn green in Lavias' presence. Neutral substances like Water are not affected at all. Tomorrow, we shall learn how to actually know if someone is trying to poison you, and how to break out of the situation if you can't know for sure," Talus said, glancing at the chair's legs. Edmund bent down.
A knife!
"I expect you to note it all down and remember what I've taught you. Go on now, young King. You need to sleep."
When Edmund finally reached his chambers, breathing heavily, eyes drooping with exhaustion, he found Peter wrapped in his blankets, snoring on his bed. Peter had insisted to share his room after Beruna, terrorized by nightmares, and he hadn't thought of moving back into his grand room ever since. Edmund's room was smaller than the one reserved for his brother, the High King. The walls were bathed in burgundy tapestries, paintings depicting the Victory of Beruna and Aslan's Resurrection. The two beds were put almost adjacent to each other, only a small table separated them. Peter's side of the room, the left side, was in a haywire disorder. The wardrobe was left open, clothes thrown on the ground, not hung as were to be. The desk was devoid of any contents, and the chair that should have been pushed beneath it was barely balancing on the windowsill, ready to topple down. Piles of documents had been pushed next to the bookshelf that was practically empty. Edmund sighed and turned back to his side of the room. Much better. The wardrobe was closed and his tunics hung in a dignified manner in it. His bookshelf was large and didn't have any empty space left. Maybe he should ask for a personal library, one like Susan had. The door that led to the bathing chamber was open, filling the room with a soapy smell, and chilly wind, carrying water from the large pool inside it.
Edmund's eyes then turned to the desk. Oh, no. He'd forgotten!
He was supposed to go through the monthly production in the Western Mountains, and then sign the peace treaty—which he had to carefully read because he knew none of his siblings had bothered. And then read the complaints that he would have to solve tomorrow! Oh, no, no, no! His vision was so blurry; he could hardly make out his brother's face when he turned onto his back. How was he to read!
But he took a deep breath and pulled back the chair and sat.
This was going to be a long night.
He started with the treaty.
Peter woke when the temperature grew cold. The curtains were fluttering and the balcony on the left was open. He shivered as he shoved aside the blankets and pulled back the doors of the balcony by their handles. His attention then turned to the chair dangling by the windowsill. He laughed and placed it beneath the desk. And now, he glanced back at his brother's bed, wanting to make sure he was alright. But the bed was empty, the bedding untouched and plain. Peter frowned in concern. And his eyes instinctively flew to Edmund's desk when he heard a light snore. "Oh, Ed," he said, shaking his head.
He walked to his little brother, gently pulled him up in his arms, frowning again to realize how light the ten-year-old was. Edmund never stirred. And Peter put him down on his bed. He pulled up the covers, tucking him beneath them. Peter sat beside his brother, and then eventually lied down, crawling beneath the covers, when he felt cold.
Kissing his brother's forehead, Peter pulled him closer. And he slept.
Tavas woke him minutes later; at least, that's what it felt like. His valet made his bed, brought some order to the room, and prepared a bath for him.
By the time he bathed, put on the tunic Tavas had pulled out for him, and came out of the bathing chambers to put on his armour, ready to head to the Training Grounds, Edmund was already gone. The bed made, and the documents he'd worked on overnight nicely placed on the desk in a neatly adjusted pile. Peter was drying his hair with a towel, waiting for Tavas to pull out his armour when the door opened.
Peter laughed. "You're late, Tirius. He's already gone."
Here's the simple explanation:
When Talus poured the purple mixture of Lavias into the blue flask - which contained Plothium, since it is sour, it turned purple as sour substances do. Now, it wasn't poisoned. Hence, Edmund concluded that the mixture that does turn purple is not poisoned. But neither of them did.
So, Edmund kept scratching his head until Talus told him the mixture turns purple due something else's presence. Edmund naturally concluded the poison affected that component which changed their colour. However, that would mean both mixures were poisoned.
Then Talus reminded him that he hadn't shown him how the purple mixture affects red mixtures. Edmund beamed and drank from the red flask, thinking that since the blue didn't turn purple it must have been poisoned.
Talus said he was 'half-correct' so as to not dishearten him. He was absolutely wrong. But still, he got some brainly warm-up.
Here's the nerdy explanation:
Consider Prestum the OH- ion and Plothium the H+ ion. Then the Lavias is Litmus. Well, the rest is easy. Sour liquids (acids) contain the H+ ion and change to blue litmus to red. Bitter liquids (bases) contain the OH- ion and change red litmus to blue. Similar things, as you saw, happen with Plothium and Prestum.
And the mathematical logic! I personally adore Talus' line "If you're not sure, you're not correct."
Probability is a powerful tool. But it can trick you as well. Have you heard of the 'False Positive Paradox'? Though it doesn't really fit here, it perfectly conveys how concluding a truth on first glance can be bad. Fatal in this case. Edmund should have taken his time, but he is ten.
If anyone is interested, here's a video lesson from one of my favourite platforms, Ted-Ed: (without spaces)
w watch ? v= 1 csFTD XXU LY
Author's note:
Well, that was long. A really long ramble. But it's been a while I've had a scientific talk with somebody. And I know most people won't really care, but despite being a fantasy-lover, I have a deep craving for knowledge. I'm an engineering student and being locked in my house, studying with no companions, has been driving even me mad. I, a prime introvert! This is one of the reasons I've been writing so much. But updates are going to get slower and less frequent as the year 2020 approaches its end, since I've got a lot to go over, organise my life (I do that every year), and study harder.
But nothing to worry for now! I've got two complete, unpublished stories! And Black Justice is almost finished! Though editing the beta'd documents takes time. :p
Anyhow, see you all! Tell me if you thought something of this short lesson, or do not want math to invade your entertainment zone!
And P! I'm flattered! I'm only in my teen years, so maybe I'll be writing twenty years later! (Hoping to get something original out by then? But fanfics will always hold a special place in my heart!)
With love, and apologies for that long rant,
~Pacifia