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Description
The wooden creak and bump of wheels on cobblestone slowed.  Benjamin slid open the curtains on the carriage window and sighed.  The country house they had pulled up to was completely dark – it had the look of an abandoned building.

Elizabeth had forgotten.  Again.

He shouldn't be surprised.  None of his friends would be.  They all heckled him mercilessly about his parent's choice for his bride.  She was unconventional, absentminded, and completely uninterested in royal affairs.  But despite her many flaws, he had found himself caring for the woman.

Which, of course, led his friends to tease him all the more.

He pushed himself off the seat with another sigh and stepped out, nodding slightly to the carriage boy who held the door open for him.  Raising his voice, he called out into the crisp night air.

"Elizabeth!  Hello!  Is anyone home?"

A ghostly face appeared in the attic window, its mouth open in an O of shock, and immediately vanished again.  Benjamin pressed his ear to the front door, and heard the ungraceful clop of feet on wooden stairs, punctuated by a few distinctly unfeminine curses.  With another muffled curse, the front door groaned open.

A pale blonde peered through the crack, her wide eyes glowing with reflected moonlight.  Her full lips were still parted in surprise, and Benjamin' frustration with her melted away as he willfully restrained himself from stepping forward to kiss them.

She opened the door further, and he suppressed a chuckle – despite the delicate fairness of her face, the rest of her was a frightful mess.  Her tangled hair stuck out in a nebula around her head.  Her dress was stained, despite the smock she was wearing, and the sleeves were blackened.  Scorched by another Alchemical accident, no doubt.

"Benjamin!  What are you doing here?"

"The Duke's ball is tonight," he reminded her gently.  "I don't suppose you'll be ready to leave soon?"

"Oh!  I completely forgot." she glanced down at her clothes and blushed a pretty shade of crimson.  "It's tonight?  Are you sure?"

"Yes – he sent around a messenger today to ask if we were attending.  It doesn't start for another hour, though," he smiled.  "I suspected you might have other things on your mind, so I made it a point to pick you up early."

Her face lit into a stunning smile, and Benjamin again focused his efforts into restraining himself from embracing her.  He had to be the luckiest man in the world.  Their betrothal had been arranged by their families – a marriage of convenience between the son of a near-destitute Baron, and the daughter of a wealthy merchant family – but as Benjamin had grown to know his intended, he had become enchanted with the eccentric woman.   Her intelligence astounded him.  She drew vast amounts of inspiration from the world around her, and studied seemingly normal events with an amazing mixture of steadfast determination and childlike wonder.

He could tell that even now, as one part of her mind was running through the preparations she needed to undertake for the ball, another part was still with her experiments upstairs.  Knowing that it would make her happy, he asked about them.

Her grin grew even wider, crinkling the delicate skin around her eyes.  Benjamin was briefly distracted from her response, studying the appearance of the little lines and deciding that she would become even more beautiful with age.  He couldn't wait to grow old with his Elizabeth.  And raise children.  And grandchildren.  His mind cobbled together the heartwarming image of his small estate in the city, filled with laughing family.

"Benjamin!  Are you listening?"

He gave her an apologetic shrug.  It would be difficult to explain where his thoughts had gone – he wasn't sure if she shared his feelings about their marriage.

Without hesitation, she launched back into her enthusiastic explanation.

"I was saying that I got a copy of Robert Boyle's papers.  Did you hear about them?  He's released his studies on chemical properties to the Society.  The man is amazing, Benjamin!  He's recorded everything in regards to his experiments – location, weather, the position of the planets – everything!  And I think I've found some correlations in the data!"

"Indeed?"  He wasn't sure what she meant, or the response she wanted.

Apparently, expressing any interest was enough, because she took his hand in hers, and tugged him towards the stairs.

"Come up to the attic, I'll show you."

"Um, Elizabeth?  I'm not sure this is proper.  I should probably just stay in the foyer until you get ready."

"We're both adults.  And you know I don't have any servants here.  I just want to show you my experiments – who's going to know?"

He raised his eyebrows, but allowed himself to be pulled up the staircase.  As they passed the second and third floor landings, he peered down the dusty hallways and shook his head.  The house was falling apart from disuse.  Elizabeth's family had instated her here after she had set fire to the attic of their London manor for the third time.  She claimed to love the quiet and good moonlight that the country house provided, but Benjamin wished that she had somewhere cleaner to live.  She deserved servants, polished floors, and glittering chandeliers.

They reached the top of the stairs.  She pulled him towards a low worktable, scattered with vials of mercury and chunks of metal, and launched into a lengthy explanation of planetary movements and elemental properties.  Benjamin watched her contentedly, enjoying the way the animated way her face moved as she discussed the solar and lunar relationships of the metals on the table.

"Here, I'll show you."

Her words ripped him from his study.  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the charred burner and pan that she had been arranging on the table.

"It's all right, my dear," he assured her.  "You can show me some other time.  Right now, you need to get ready for the Duke's ball, right?"

Her brows drew together, wrinkling her forehead with furrows of disappointment.

"Were you listening?  I have to work on this now, tonight, or I won't be able to finish this experiment for another 28 days.  I have to heat the mercury under full moonlight.
The moon is going to set in just a few minutes – I need to do this now."

"I know it's important to you, Elizabeth.  But we've promised that we would attend."

"It's another 28 days, Benjamin!"

"Elizabeth.  You have the rest of your life for this work.  The Duke is only having one ball this year."

She turned her head away from him, and Benjamin thought he saw a glimmer of tears beneath her lashes.

"You just don't understand."  Her voice was watery.

"Well, explain it to me again.  What's so important about getting this work done now?"

"This could be the key to making the Stone.  To making gold.  I have to finish this, Benjamin."

Benjamin' stomach clenched at the firm tone of her words.  He grasped for a compromise.

"How about this, my dear?  If you tell me what to do, I'll work on this experiment for you, so that you can go downstairs and prepare for the ball.  I just need to heat this mercury and make some recordings, correct?"

"I… I suppose.  Promise you'll pay close attention." Her tears had dried, and she was looking at him sternly.

"I promise." He nodded.

Elizabeth placed the burner directly in a pool of moonlight, and quickly explained how work the burner and how to time and log the resulting temperature and weight changes in the mercury.

"I'll be back up by the end of it.  Then we'll take the final weight."

"It all sounds easy enough to do, Elizabeth.  Go get ready; I'll take the measurements for you."

She shot him an uneasy glance, but hurried down the stairs.

Benjamin stared at the burner in front of him, absentmindedly swirling the dish of mercury.  As soon as she had left the room, his resolve began to crumble.  He forgot the excited look in her eyes, the passion and wonder that he loved most about her.  The candle in front of him flickered slightly, mirroring his indecision.

He had promised her that he would help complete her experiment.

But earlier that month, she had promised him that she would attend the ball.  Was he as much of a blinded fool as his friends had accused him of being?  After all, the wife of a Baron shouldn't be perusing Alchemy.  Shouldn't be spilling chemicals on her dress or setting fires in attics.  She should be proper, and attend balls with the rest of the noble society.  She should keep her promises to her husband.

A small part of his mind rebelled, wanting to keep its promise to the woman he loved.  But he wasn't going to let himself be led around by his emotions.

He stood, pushing the burner out of the fading moonlight, and waited for his betrothed to finish getting ready.

The moon set.  He watched as it dipped below the horizon, marking the end of Elizabeth's experiment.  Soon after, the swish of skirts announced her arrival.

He turned around, breath catching in his throat as he took in her lithe figure, now showcased by a brocade dress with a long bodice and dropped shoulders.  Her hair had been combed; its golden tresses formed a perfect shiny cascade down her back.

Ignoring his adoring look, she strode across the attic quickly, pushing him aside to see the results of the experiment.

A low moan escaped her throat.  "Oh, Benjamin.  You didn't…"

Benjamin suddenly felt horrible about his betrayal, but resolved to remain strong.  He would be the head of their household soon; he needed to learn to uphold his decisions.

"No.  I didn't.  You had promised to attend the ball with me tonight.  The promises you make to your future husband should outweigh your Alchemic" he waved his hand dismissively, "hobbies."

Elizabeth collapsed to her knees, curling up until her forehead was nearly touching the floor, arms wrapped around her head.

"Uh, Elizabeth?" Benjamin crouched next to her, confused at her reaction.  He had expected anger, frustration.  But not this outpouring of grief.

"You don't know what you've done."  He barely heard her muffled whisper.

"I… then tell me.  Tell me what's wrong, and we'll fix it.  Together."  Her reaction was sending him into a panic – he wanted to be strong and firm with her, but he hadn't wanted to hurt her.  How had he failed so badly?

"I need to make gold.  You don't understand."

"Elizabeth.  Your family has plenty of money.  I know that Alchemy is important to you, but I hardly think that it's worth this level of passion," he tried to reason.

She looked up at him, and he was surprised to see that her face was free of tears.  Instead, she was pale, so colorless that she looked like a corpse.

"It is.  We need the money," she whispered.

He sat down, wrapping his arms around her.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

"Several of father's shipments have gone missing over the past months.  The goods were purchased on loan – we stood to make a huge profit.  But now that they're gone, the interest…" she trailed off.

Benjamin sat, holding her, thinking.  Finally, he voiced the question that had been rolling around in his mind.

"So your dowry?"

"Gone."  A single tear traced its way over her cheekbone.

"Oh, God.  I'm sorry I ruined your experiment, Elizabeth.  I'm so sorry."

She curled back into herself, turning her back on him.

He rubbed her back, trying to soothe her despair and his own crushing guilt.

"Let's go to the ball, Elizabeth.  You're all dressed for it – you're lovely.  Maybe some dancing and good wine will put things in a better light."

She gave him a despondent look, but allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and led down to the awaiting carriage.

They sat in rigid silence as they traveled to the ball, as far from one another as the confined space in the carriage would allow.

Finally she spoke. "So what are we going to tell everyone at the ball?"

He turned to her, reaching for one of her small gloved hands.  "That the wedding will take place in June, as planned."

"What about your family? My family?  I mean…"

He interrupted her.  "The wedding will take place in June."

She was silent, but allowed the jostling motion of the carriage to rock her body closer to his.  As they pulled up to the Duke's estate, Elizabeth turned to him, confusion in her eyes.

"I still don't understand, Benjamin.  My dowry – the entire reason for our marriage – what about that?  Why wouldn't that matter anymore?"

He leaned in close, brushing his lips across the top of her flaxen hair.  "Because you're all the gold I need."

Description
The wooden creak and bump of wheels on cobblestone slowed.  Benjamin slid open the curtains on the carriage window and sighed.  The country house they had pulled up to was completely dark – it had the look of an abandoned building.

Elizabeth had forgotten.  Again.

He shouldn't be surprised.  None of his friends would be.  They all heckled him mercilessly about his parent's choice for his bride.  She was unconventional, absentminded, and completely uninterested in royal affairs.  But despite her many flaws, he had found himself caring for the woman.

Which, of course, led his friends to tease him all the more.

He pushed himself off the seat with another sigh and stepped out, nodding slightly to the carriage boy who held the door open for him.  Raising his voice, he called out into the crisp night air.

"Elizabeth!  Hello!  Is anyone home?"

A ghostly face appeared in the attic window, its mouth open in an O of shock, and immediately vanished again.  Benjamin pressed his ear to the front door, and heard the ungraceful clop of feet on wooden stairs, punctuated by a few distinctly unfeminine curses.  With another muffled curse, the front door groaned open.

A pale blonde peered through the crack, her wide eyes glowing with reflected moonlight.  Her full lips were still parted in surprise, and Benjamin' frustration with her melted away as he willfully restrained himself from stepping forward to kiss them.

She opened the door further, and he suppressed a chuckle – despite the delicate fairness of her face, the rest of her was a frightful mess.  Her tangled hair stuck out in a nebula around her head.  Her dress was stained, despite the smock she was wearing, and the sleeves were blackened.  Scorched by another Alchemical accident, no doubt.

"Benjamin!  What are you doing here?"

"The Duke's ball is tonight," he reminded her gently.  "I don't suppose you'll be ready to leave soon?"

"Oh!  I completely forgot." she glanced down at her clothes and blushed a pretty shade of crimson.  "It's tonight?  Are you sure?"

"Yes – he sent around a messenger today to ask if we were attending.  It doesn't start for another hour, though," he smiled.  "I suspected you might have other things on your mind, so I made it a point to pick you up early."

Her face lit into a stunning smile, and Benjamin again focused his efforts into restraining himself from embracing her.  He had to be the luckiest man in the world.  Their betrothal had been arranged by their families – a marriage of convenience between the son of a near-destitute Baron, and the daughter of a wealthy merchant family – but as Benjamin had grown to know his intended, he had become enchanted with the eccentric woman.   Her intelligence astounded him.  She drew vast amounts of inspiration from the world around her, and studied seemingly normal events with an amazing mixture of steadfast determination and childlike wonder.

He could tell that even now, as one part of her mind was running through the preparations she needed to undertake for the ball, another part was still with her experiments upstairs.  Knowing that it would make her happy, he asked about them.

Her grin grew even wider, crinkling the delicate skin around her eyes.  Benjamin was briefly distracted from her response, studying the appearance of the little lines and deciding that she would become even more beautiful with age.  He couldn't wait to grow old with his Elizabeth.  And raise children.  And grandchildren.  His mind cobbled together the heartwarming image of his small estate in the city, filled with laughing family.

"Benjamin!  Are you listening?"

He gave her an apologetic shrug.  It would be difficult to explain where his thoughts had gone – he wasn't sure if she shared his feelings about their marriage.

Without hesitation, she launched back into her enthusiastic explanation.

"I was saying that I got a copy of Robert Boyle's papers.  Did you hear about them?  He's released his studies on chemical properties to the Society.  The man is amazing, Benjamin!  He's recorded everything in regards to his experiments – location, weather, the position of the planets – everything!  And I think I've found some correlations in the data!"

"Indeed?"  He wasn't sure what she meant, or the response she wanted.

Apparently, expressing any interest was enough, because she took his hand in hers, and tugged him towards the stairs.

"Come up to the attic, I'll show you."

"Um, Elizabeth?  I'm not sure this is proper.  I should probably just stay in the foyer until you get ready."

"We're both adults.  And you know I don't have any servants here.  I just want to show you my experiments – who's going to know?"

He raised his eyebrows, but allowed himself to be pulled up the staircase.  As they passed the second and third floor landings, he peered down the dusty hallways and shook his head.  The house was falling apart from disuse.  Elizabeth's family had instated her here after she had set fire to the attic of their London manor for the third time.  She claimed to love the quiet and good moonlight that the country house provided, but Benjamin wished that she had somewhere cleaner to live.  She deserved servants, polished floors, and glittering chandeliers.

They reached the top of the stairs.  She pulled him towards a low worktable, scattered with vials of mercury and chunks of metal, and launched into a lengthy explanation of planetary movements and elemental properties.  Benjamin watched her contentedly, enjoying the way the animated way her face moved as she discussed the solar and lunar relationships of the metals on the table.

"Here, I'll show you."

Her words ripped him from his study.  He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the charred burner and pan that she had been arranging on the table.

"It's all right, my dear," he assured her.  "You can show me some other time.  Right now, you need to get ready for the Duke's ball, right?"

Her brows drew together, wrinkling her forehead with furrows of disappointment.

"Were you listening?  I have to work on this now, tonight, or I won't be able to finish this experiment for another 28 days.  I have to heat the mercury under full moonlight.
The moon is going to set in just a few minutes – I need to do this now."

"I know it's important to you, Elizabeth.  But we've promised that we would attend."

"It's another 28 days, Benjamin!"

"Elizabeth.  You have the rest of your life for this work.  The Duke is only having one ball this year."

She turned her head away from him, and Benjamin thought he saw a glimmer of tears beneath her lashes.

"You just don't understand."  Her voice was watery.

"Well, explain it to me again.  What's so important about getting this work done now?"

"This could be the key to making the Stone.  To making gold.  I have to finish this, Benjamin."

Benjamin' stomach clenched at the firm tone of her words.  He grasped for a compromise.

"How about this, my dear?  If you tell me what to do, I'll work on this experiment for you, so that you can go downstairs and prepare for the ball.  I just need to heat this mercury and make some recordings, correct?"

"I… I suppose.  Promise you'll pay close attention." Her tears had dried, and she was looking at him sternly.

"I promise." He nodded.

Elizabeth placed the burner directly in a pool of moonlight, and quickly explained how work the burner and how to time and log the resulting temperature and weight changes in the mercury.

"I'll be back up by the end of it.  Then we'll take the final weight."

"It all sounds easy enough to do, Elizabeth.  Go get ready; I'll take the measurements for you."

She shot him an uneasy glance, but hurried down the stairs.

Benjamin stared at the burner in front of him, absentmindedly swirling the dish of mercury.  As soon as she had left the room, his resolve began to crumble.  He forgot the excited look in her eyes, the passion and wonder that he loved most about her.  The candle in front of him flickered slightly, mirroring his indecision.

He had promised her that he would help complete her experiment.

But earlier that month, she had promised him that she would attend the ball.  Was he as much of a blinded fool as his friends had accused him of being?  After all, the wife of a Baron shouldn't be perusing Alchemy.  Shouldn't be spilling chemicals on her dress or setting fires in attics.  She should be proper, and attend balls with the rest of the noble society.  She should keep her promises to her husband.

A small part of his mind rebelled, wanting to keep its promise to the woman he loved.  But he wasn't going to let himself be led around by his emotions.

He stood, pushing the burner out of the fading moonlight, and waited for his betrothed to finish getting ready.

The moon set.  He watched as it dipped below the horizon, marking the end of Elizabeth's experiment.  Soon after, the swish of skirts announced her arrival.

He turned around, breath catching in his throat as he took in her lithe figure, now showcased by a brocade dress with a long bodice and dropped shoulders.  Her hair had been combed; its golden tresses formed a perfect shiny cascade down her back.

Ignoring his adoring look, she strode across the attic quickly, pushing him aside to see the results of the experiment.

A low moan escaped her throat.  "Oh, Benjamin.  You didn't…"

Benjamin suddenly felt horrible about his betrayal, but resolved to remain strong.  He would be the head of their household soon; he needed to learn to uphold his decisions.

"No.  I didn't.  You had promised to attend the ball with me tonight.  The promises you make to your future husband should outweigh your Alchemic" he waved his hand dismissively, "hobbies."

Elizabeth collapsed to her knees, curling up until her forehead was nearly touching the floor, arms wrapped around her head.

"Uh, Elizabeth?" Benjamin crouched next to her, confused at her reaction.  He had expected anger, frustration.  But not this outpouring of grief.

"You don't know what you've done."  He barely heard her muffled whisper.

"I… then tell me.  Tell me what's wrong, and we'll fix it.  Together."  Her reaction was sending him into a panic – he wanted to be strong and firm with her, but he hadn't wanted to hurt her.  How had he failed so badly?

"I need to make gold.  You don't understand."

"Elizabeth.  Your family has plenty of money.  I know that Alchemy is important to you, but I hardly think that it's worth this level of passion," he tried to reason.

She looked up at him, and he was surprised to see that her face was free of tears.  Instead, she was pale, so colorless that she looked like a corpse.

"It is.  We need the money," she whispered.

He sat down, wrapping his arms around her.

"What happened?" he asked gently.

"Several of father's shipments have gone missing over the past months.  The goods were purchased on loan – we stood to make a huge profit.  But now that they're gone, the interest…" she trailed off.

Benjamin sat, holding her, thinking.  Finally, he voiced the question that had been rolling around in his mind.

"So your dowry?"

"Gone."  A single tear traced its way over her cheekbone.

"Oh, God.  I'm sorry I ruined your experiment, Elizabeth.  I'm so sorry."

She curled back into herself, turning her back on him.

He rubbed her back, trying to soothe her despair and his own crushing guilt.

"Let's go to the ball, Elizabeth.  You're all dressed for it – you're lovely.  Maybe some dancing and good wine will put things in a better light."

She gave him a despondent look, but allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and led down to the awaiting carriage.

They sat in rigid silence as they traveled to the ball, as far from one another as the confined space in the carriage would allow.

Finally she spoke. "So what are we going to tell everyone at the ball?"

He turned to her, reaching for one of her small gloved hands.  "That the wedding will take place in June, as planned."

"What about your family? My family?  I mean…"

He interrupted her.  "The wedding will take place in June."

She was silent, but allowed the jostling motion of the carriage to rock her body closer to his.  As they pulled up to the Duke's estate, Elizabeth turned to him, confusion in her eyes.

"I still don't understand, Benjamin.  My dowry – the entire reason for our marriage – what about that?  Why wouldn't that matter anymore?"

He leaned in close, brushing his lips across the top of her flaxen hair.  "Because you're all the gold I need."