Basia nodded and rubbed her belly. “I agree. The glass is gorgeous. That vase would look lovely in my living room. But also, how long until we visit the gift shop, and is there a bathroom nearby?”
Gray and I exchanged a glance as Dan told her where the restrooms were located. Gwen looped her arm through Basia’s.
“I’ll take her,” she said. “You two can continue to geek out.”
“Hey, I’m not geeking out,” Gray protested. “I’m absorbing interesting information.”
I rolled my eyes at Gray. “You are geeking out. Thanks for taking Basia, Gwen. Gray and I will head to the ironworks. You can meet us there when you’re ready.”
“Sounds good.”
We stayed in the glassworks a bit longer before we walked over to the blacksmith, located in a refurbished barn. As we stepped into the barn, we were immediately met with the strong scent of burning coal. The forge was located at the center of the blacksmith shop, a brick hearth with a roaring fire fed by the bellows. A massive anvil stood on a sturdy wooden block, its face marred only slightly from years of hammering. Along the one wall, a variety of hammers, tongs, and other tools of unknown purpose hung on neatly crafted iron hooks.
The blacksmith, a cheerful man in a tricorn hat and outfit of the era, greeted us and gave a quick technological and historical background. Before I could even ask a single question, he launched into a full explanation and history of Batsto’s Revolutionary War contributions.
“Every musket ball and iron bar was hand-forged right here to help the Continental Army strike for freedom,” he said.
“The history is really fascinating,” I said. “But that blast furnace is amazing technology. The way they channeled the heat upward for even smelting—well, that’s CFD before CFD even existed.”
The blacksmith looked at me blankly. “What’s CFD?”
“Computational fluid dynamics,” I explained. “That blast furnace is like an eighteenth-century version of CFD. Just with more heat, soot, air, and a lot less software. The blacksmiths of this time cleverly manipulated airflow and temperature without ever running a single simulation. That’s genius.”
“I’d assume there was a lot of trial and error,” the blacksmith said.
“That goes without saying.”
We discussed the process for a while before he left to adjust something with an oversized set of tongs.
“Now you are totally geeking out,” Gray said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Extra geeking is happening.”
“Okay, maybe a little,” I admitted. “But come on. You have to admit, this is seriously cool.”
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Gray admitted.
We looked around a bit more before leaving the building and heading for the gift shop, since we hadn’t seen Basia or Gwen return. We still had a lot to see in the village, and that included the town mansion, church, farm, post office, and general store.
“Too bad they didn’t have VPNs back in the day,” I joked to Gray as we left the blacksmith.
“Why?” Gray asked.
“Well, if they did, I’d have been the only witch spared. They’d have needed me for firewall maintenance.”
Gray laughed. “You really are the geekiest person I know.”
“Guilty as charged,” I said with a grin. “And I don’t really mind you saying it.”
Chapter Eight
Lexi
Gray and I met up with the girls sitting on a bench eating ice cream cones.
“Ice cream again?” I asked.
“I was hungry,” Basia said, taking a lick.
“And I didn’t want her to eat alone,” Gwen said, biting her cone and then wiping her mouth with a paper napkin. “How was the blacksmith barn?”
