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Thus the eggshells

She needed so that would encase the powders in an almost crystalline structure Make the them off at the nearest brush of heat Yesterday Mariko had reon’s Beard candy and how the sweet a away from the fire

So she’d taken amazura syrup from Yoshi and let it rinding it into a powder Dusted it across the inside of the eggshell Then left it near the heat once shell A reinforceshells themselves far sturdier

If this experi

Mariko carefully measured out the three different powders in the three containers at her feet She poured each into the eggshell lined with alaze

Then she stood

As she’d learned early on whenthese powders, friction caused them to react with one another and for twice before throwing it hard on the ground

It burst with a loud bang A white ss and horse dung Tolerable, if one ran away quickly

At least in one thing Mariko was not a complete failure

--

"I’m impressed," Ranmaru said when Mariko showed hih the smoke so that he could see her

Briefly Mariko considered what ither enemy--her brother’s enemy--with the means to conceal himself from view Alas, it was too late to hide her success, and--as far as she was concerned--theon this project before the events that had transpired in the clearing When Mariko had wished to earn a place in the Black Clan’s inner circle The only thing that saved her froe that she had not shared all she’d learned fro Ranreatest invention yet Despite what her brother had done in Jukai forest, she would help Kenshin best his enemies in whatever way she could

Mariko steeled herself

The first chance she had, she would learn the reason Kenshin hadshe’d experienced while living a And she wished to give her brother the benefit of her trust, at least for the ti

"How ed "It’s ti"

"I’ll sendhow to do this"

And taking note of

"I prefer to work alone," Mariko said "It’s dangerous handling the powders, and an untried hand could set fire to the entire ca "Then train them to handle the powders properly"

"I don’t have the time to train them and make the smokeshields"

"Why don’t you tell me what you need, and I will provide it"

The leader of the Black Clan’s unflinching nature was becoly problematic Ranmaru rarely saw problerated on her nerves now ht quickly Even if she disclosed the ingredients, none of the members of the Black Clan could ever duplicate the amounts Not without weeks of study And she would never tell theshell "The yellow rocks near the hot springs Dried horse dung And ash frolove" A voice elove?" Ranmaru said with a quizzical expression "As in the poison?"

Mariko refrained frolove, but--"

Ōkami stepped before her "Don’t try to fool us, Lord Lackbeard," he said in a flat tone "If you didn’t use it for the sain she thought quickly "I used foxglove sap to line the inside of the eggshells"

Another lie, threaded froain, Mariko recalled the experier When the paste froht Mariko had realized early on that if she did in fact add the paste to the smokeshield, it would likely explode Not just emit smoke and fureatest invention yet

"Interesting," Ranmaru coh he could smell the scent of her lies "Quite"