Sandra watches frowning. "- Hmm, let me hold it and see?" 

He hands it over, gently so as not to squash any air out.

She uses her own weather-barrier, weaker than his, to cool the air inside and gauge the more normal weight, then glances at Abras. "- Er, can you heat it again, sorry?" 

"No problem." He is a very convenient furnace.

"Oooh! I think you're right, it is definitely lighter!" Sandra is practically bouncing with excitement. 

"Nice. We should show someone and try to get permission to make a giant one."

"Hmm. Trying to think who's the right person to ask - Savil, Lancir...? Does your Companion have an opinion?" 

"I'll ask." :Yfandes? Sandra and I are trying to make a thing to test some hypotheses; do you know who we should ask for materials budget?: 

:Oh, exciting - you should tell me about it after! And, probably Lancir needs to sign off on anything significant, but you might as well chat to Savil first and she can take it to him if she needs his approval: 

:Okay, thanks. I'll definitely tell you about it later.: "Yfandes says we should talk to Savil but she might tell us to talk to Lancir."

"All right! Maybe you can come over for supper tonight? I'm going to be late for weapons lessons if I don't go now." Sandra looks SO RELUCTANT to leave, though. 

This is way more fun than weapons lessons but unfortunately they can't just do fun things all the time. "Yeah, I'll see you then."

"See you!" She heads off. 

She's just gotten back to Savil's suite, hair still wet from bathing, when Abras arrives for supper. 

"Ke'chara!" Savil leans in for a one-armed hug, her other arm balancing some ledger-books. "Sandra just told me you made some progress on your research! And need to ask about supplies?" 

"Yes!" He summarizes what they've found so far, "and we think if you made a really big one it would float up even with a person holding onto it and you could fly with it."

"What? No way! That - doesn't sound like it should work - really, are you sure?" 

Well it does sound kind of ridiculous and now he's doubting himself, but he did see it, and Sandra saw it too. "It sure seems to? We tried it with a smaller air bag and it was lighter when it was hot than when it was cold. I don't see any reason we couldn't show you again if you wanted to see it." He looks at Sandra for confirmation.

"It's because air takes up more space when it's hot," Sandra says. "And then it floats on cold air, just like how wood takes up more space than the same weight of water and that's why it floats." Frown. "That's our theory, anyway, I think we still need to test it more." 

Savil makes some faces and then nods. "I - can't claim I totally follow what you're testing, but it does seem worth testing some more. What do you need for that?" 

"We need a lot of cloth, mostly, and wax or something to waterproof it with so the air doesn't leak out. Maybe some rope to hold onto it with if we go up to really high temperatures."

Nod. "I see. What kind of cloth are you using, again?" 

"Uh, so far we've been using my spare bedsheet--I didn't do anything permanent to it."

Savil just nods. "Right. Is that the kind of cloth you want, then?" 

"We'd thought maybe canvas, it's tougher, but - on the other hand it might be heavier too? Might be best if I go to the market and have a look at what they've got. Er, obviously we'll try not to get something too expensive, using silk would be silly." 

"If it's what'll work to test your theory then I reckon it's worth it. Why don't I talk to Lance and get you two a budget for this research project?"