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The end-of-term heat on Sage's Island was oppressive. As Silver and Lilia headed into the small town near NRC, the former noticed that even the cats had abandoned their usual wandering in favor of lying flat and boneless in whatever patch of shadow they could claim.
It was the perfect day for an ice-cold frozen treat.
Lilia had been on the hunt for a popsicle stand Cater had told him about. Apparently they had more flavors than average, and the redhead had been raving about the spicy strawberry. It had intrigued Lilia, and of course that meant he dragged Silver along to try them too. Unfortunately, Cater hadn’t communicated the price.
"6 Thaumarks," Lilia read the board with growing incredulity. "For water. Frozen water, with a little fruit syrup mixed in. Silver, are you seeing this? Do you know what 6 Thaumarks could buy you when I was younger?"
"I imagine it bought quite a lot of things you'll tell me about at length," Silver said with a sigh, knowing that his father's indignation usually ended one of two ways. With them being banned from a location, or a project.
"It bought a full meal and drink!" Lilia crossed his arms, shaking his head. "I am not paying that much to lick flavored ice off a stick. We can make our own. It's water and fruit and a bit of sugar. How difficult could it possibly be?"
Silver, who had learned over the years to pick his battles, simply nodded as Lilia dragged him back towards the school, mumbling under his breath.
“Come on! It’ll be fun!”
NRC’s kitchens were empty at this time of day. Lunch was over; culinary class had been that morning, so it was easy for him and Lilia to slip into the kitchen. Something Silver found incredibly concerning considering his father's reputation for kitchen…experiments. He was fairly sure that growing up on his father’s cooking had made him immune to poison at this point.
As Silver looked at the ingredients on the table, his shoulders relaxed.A crate of berries going soft in the heat, a bag of sugar, a stack of popsicle molds unearthed from some back cupboard where they'd been collecting dust. He couldn’t see much leeway to go wrong, assuming Lilia didn’t pull i something else. Lilia rolled up his sleeves and started mashing the fruit in a bowl to make the syrup. "How much sugar does that call for?" Silver asked, wincing as he watched Lilia upend what very nearly the entire bag into the bowl of berry mash. He was fairly sure that should have been strained first…and maybe on heat so the sugar would melt faster.
"However much tastes good," Lilia said, which was not…really an answer as he poured the bowl of half-melted sugar and fruit pulp into a pan to simmer. "Flavor is instinct, not a measure. You'll understand when you're older."
Silver, who was fairly sure Lilia's taste buds had died before Malleus was born, stayed silent.
The “syrup” that resulted was less a syrup than a dense purple sludge, thick enough that when Lilia lifted the spoon it started to stick.
“Oh well! It should be fine”
Silver stared at it dubiously “I think it’s too thick.”
“It’s fine. If you’re worried, we’ll add some water for the second batch!”
They poured half of the syrup into the molds and set the whole tray into the school's largest freezer to leave it overnight.
Then Lilia added water…cold water to the rest of it, gave it a token stir, and poured it into the other set of molds for good measure.
***
The results the following morning were catastrophic in two equally impressive directions.
The first pop Silver tried to demold came apart the moment he tugged the stick. The majority of it stayed in the mold, and what emerged was a thick, slightly grainy taffy-consistency thing. Lilia insisted it tasted amazing and he’d have to remember the recipe for next time. Silver thought it was absolutely revolting.
“So what do you think went wrong?” Silver was fairly sure he knew exactly what the problem was, but he asked anyway.
"I believe we may have used too much sugar."
“I agree. Let’s check the other set.”
The set they’d added water to had set, but the top of each stick was pure, clear, unflavored ice, while the bottom was frozen concentrated sugar syrup.
“Hmmm… perhaps I should have used hot water and mixed it longer. But it was almost successful!”
Silver groaned, hand covering his face. He’d said as much last night, but his father had had a “Well, we’ll see.” attitude about it.
“Father, perhaps we should just go buy some.”
“You saw the price”
Silver took his father's hands. “If you are willing to make your own, then we can buy some from the grocery store, Father. They are FAR cheaper than the homemade ones at the stalls.”
Lilia brightened, then frowned again. “True! But they won’t be homemade… Let’s try again!”
Silver took a slow, deep breath before using his secret weapon.
"...According to Google, the grocery store in town has the League of Legends collab popsicles you and your online friend mentioned the other day.”
Being dragged to the store in search of limited-edition popsicles was far easier than trying to make more, even though he winced when he saw the price.
But…Instead of declaring that they go back to making their own, Lilia nodded sagely.
“Seven Thaumarks is such a steal! They even come with a code for an in-game profile icon of a popsicle!”