== WEDNESDAY ==

I appreciate how much Messrs. Rallus and Critelli have done for alchemy with their Journal revival, but perhaps it should've never gone mainstream.

Some alchemy-obsessed moneybag wants me to build an orrery [mechanical model depicting planetary motions] for their stargazer kid. Relevant experience? Who cares - "Mallard" means "fancy spinny gizmos" and I know what a transmutation is, so I'll do. Did I sensibly decline? It's money and the kid shares my interest, so... oops.

Built a prototype. (My ears! The engine's clockwork does not like being misused.) Needing to actually calibrate it scares me; the library should have an almanac or something, right? And how do I even begin to model the Earth-Moon system? Hope the metallicity indicators count as educational, at least.

Wonder what dad would think of this... I'd rather not waste his entire legacy on shallow trinkets.

(from the diary of J. Mallard, amateur alchemist)