"I think it worked! Do you want to try to come up with a way to put numbers to it?"

"- Yes, but I haven't the faintest idea how to start. I suppose...hmm. Instead of fusing and unfusing it, we could use a little stopper, like a wine-cork, and give it a long skinny neck, and then count out how long it takes for the air to stop hissing?" 

"That sounds good. And for heat . . . maybe I could boil some water and freeze some water and get a sense of how much heat is required to get how much water from freezing to boiling?"

"That's a good idea. Do you have a pretty good sense when you're doing magic of how much energy something is taking? Savil says I'll find that easier with practice but it's still pretty loose, the same thing feels easier or harder depending on if I'm already tired." 

"Things definitely feel harder when I'm already tired, but I can compensate some for that when it's something I've done a lot of times."

She makes a face. "Also I bet you don't get as tired from heating up a kettle of water a few times." 

"Yeah, that too. I cheat a lot." Pulling the correct amount of power out of a node is also good practice for getting a sense of amounts of energy, but that's also because of how he is ridiculous and cheats a lot so he doesn't mention it.

Sandra nods. She glances at the window, gauging the angle of the light. "Think I'd better go soon, I have weapons class. We should do this again though! Test all the things we talked about."  

"Definitely. I'll practice heating and cooling water and make up some useful units of heat."

He does make time for that, a few days later, and gets deeply absorbed in repeatedly heating and cooling various borrowed buckets and pots of water and setting up a table between made-up units of energy and made-up units of heat. And then testing with different volumes of water and checking how long it takes for hot water to cool how much on its own, and (something is distracting him but he shields it out) being fascinated to discover that it isn't a single rate but depends on the temperature of the air and . . .

and oh shit he completely forgot that he had mage-work he had promised to do this afternoon, but he completely ignored Yfandes reminding him and now he's 1) late and 2) lower on reserves than he ought to be for a serious construction project. He needs to get over there right now and apologize, but first he needs to figure out whether there's likely to still be time to do it, and before he does either of those he needs to figure out what he's even going to say, but he should be leaving right now and--

He uses the calming loop so he can think clearly enough to get everything to safe temperatures and exit his room, and then does his best to freak out again because this is exactly what he was worried about when he got the calming loop in the first place, he's using it to avoid feeling bad about something actually bad he did. He ends up standing in the middle of the hallway, trying to be miserable and partially succeeding.

:- Abras, love, are you all right?: 

:Not really. Sorry for ignoring you.:

:It's all right. Hmm. Want to try to push through and talk about it later, or come take five minutes with me to get settled, or cancel it?: 

Aaaa trying to make decisions is how he got into this mess

:I want to do it if you think that's still an option--can you ask Kellan to tell Savil I'm sorry I'm late and I'm on my way? And--don't let me forget to think about the calming loop problem later?:

:I'm not sure it's a problem, but - sure, of course, I'll remind you we should talk about this: Yfandes sends a strong wash of reassurance her direction. :Already passed on to Kellan that you'd gotten into a groove on magic work and were running late, Savil's probably going to be curious and ask you about it. Told them you're headed over: 

:Okay. Thank you.: And now he has to go or he will have made a liar of himself. Come on, one foot in front of the other. He can avoid using the calming loop until after he's had time to figure out a better policy and he should figure out that policy while he's not under its influence or feeling any especially strong emotions anyway. That argument is convincing enough to get him out the door and over to where he needs to go.

Savil, looking distracted, gives him a one-armed hug and makes no comment about his lateness or emotional state. "All right, we're reinforcing shielding in the east wing today. Want to do it in concert or split up the hallway between us?" 

"Uhhh, split it up?" His heart is still racing and he's probably very unpleasant to be in rapport with right now.

"Sure, works for me." She lets go of him and starts walking in the direction of the east wing. "Kellan said you were running some magic tests, something you and Sandra were working on? I'm glad you're getting along with her, she's always looking for people who'll be interested to hear about her alchemy." 

"Sandra's brilliant; I'm helping her study air and heat and fire. I was trying to come up with a way of measuring temperature."

"Huh! You two are both so clever, I can't wait to hear what you come up with." 

Savil gets to work on her half of the wing. 

Abras gets to work on his half, slowly because he keeps getting distracted by guilt and embarrassment and worry and also occasionally by thoughts about temperature measurement.

Savil finishes her section way ahead of him, of course; she's faster than him to begin with, given forty years of experience. She gives him a companionable pat on the shoulder and, without speaking, starts working from the other end of his block to meet in the middle. 

He appreciates both the help and the not talking about it and plods along until they're done.

"Good work," Savil says at the end, like always. "- You feeling all right? You've been really quiet."