Okay! Conrad was not asked a question so he will not say anything or ask anything. He doesn't think anything actually happened there, socially.

Conrad does not know 'the modern birthday song' and does not join her in singing it. He wants to sing but sadly cannot.

He also has no colorful boxes with ribbon on them to give! It does seem like he doesn't have to have one, because some people also do not. He's tempted to make a box with a ribbon on it, but it would not be colorful. It seems to him that the color is loadbearing. He does not make a box.

Also, while most of the boxes are going into this witch's hat, one of them is being opened and turns out to contain jewelry she puts on and thanks Saffron for. So this whole colorful box thing is possibly pretty complicated.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you're supposed to put things in the box!! In that case it was very good that he did not make one. He does not know how to work gems to make jewelry, and certainly could not make one in time for the box giving event.

Yeah, that was probably a smart move.

Other people seem to be eating cake, does Conrad want to try it?

Yes.

It's good! It is sweet and...sadly that is the extent to which he can explain foods. But it is very good!

And people start to trickle away from the table. Some of them, mostly ones who gave boxes, head off in a cluster with the witch who got boxes. Others head other directions. The light coming in through the windows is getting darker.

And Saffron turns to Conrad. "Alright. You came here by your own power and not with portals, so you don't need air, yes? I'd like you to come with me to one of my client's bubbles that's not really large enough for residence, and do a power demonstration away from all the nice things."

"Yes, Lady Saffron. I do not need air."

Power demonstration hooray! He is smiling.

She'll lead him out to a small bubble by broom.

"Don't hurt me, and don't affect things more than, oh, a mile away from here."

Conrad follows with Windkeeping.

"I will not hurt you or affect things more than a mile away from here.

May I recharge my mana store?"

"Through means not violating the criteria for this demonstration, yes."

His plutonium battery is entirely localized and non-Saffron-toxic! He will get it from his hat and sip.

After two minutes, he will ask, "In what way do you want me to demonstrate? Do you want me to demonstrate particular things?"

"I didn't have a specific demonstration in mind, I thought you might have a demonstration routine from Alphazon or such. Something that shows your most difficult-to-mistress powers, definitely. If you can also demonstrate your aesthetic taste or your skill at combat while keeping to my criteria, that works too. You don't have to do everything at once."

"Yes, Lady Saffron. Alphazon did not choreograph a demonstration routine for me. When they wanted me to demonstrate something, they usually wanted me to do one thing that was performed according to specific criteria.

I will demonstrate powers that are difficult to master, show aesthetic taste, and skill at combat."

He is not used to working with such loose and free criteria!! What is he supposed to do. He doesn't know if Lady Saffron is looking for intricacy or force.

"I will create a wind wall with a pattern of random vortices, and throw targets into them. Then, I will shoot them with coordinated small arms fire with Metallurgy." He will create said wind wall near the edge of the bubble, and then create metal from nothing, forming them into fifty thin meter-diameter circles with concentric circle engravings. He will then throw them into the wall, and, as Conrad has said, they will move in a random pattern.

"I will now turn my back towards them so that they have time to move." He will do that, and wait thirty seconds. Then, he will turn around, and the guns will aim and fire on their own.

In five seconds, all of the targets have been shot cleanly in the center.

"Is this the type of demonstration that you were looking for, Lady Saffron?"

"Yes, it is. I would also like to see something with firecalling. You mentioned an interest in combining elementalism and dance, and I'd like to see that if feasible."

"Yes, Lady Saffron. I will now take a minute to think of an appropriate demonstration." He will take a minute to think of an appropriate demonstration.

"I will create floating platforms that I will animate with Hexes and Windkeeping. The floating platforms will move very slowly up, and then, once they have reached the apex, drop down quickly.

I will move away from you and create a spherical wind wall around me with the same random vortex pattern as the current wind wall. The wind wall will have targets that I will have to hit with Firecalling.

I will not use Metallurgy during this demonstration except for making the platforms and targets. I will also not use Windkeeping except to make the wind wall and to animate the floating platforms. I will not use Witchery to fly."

He will fly away from Saffron with Windkeeping, and dismiss the earlier wind wall, taking back the metal from it. He will also put his guns back into his hats.

He will take twenty five of the meter-diameter platforms and space them out, so that they're around ten meters away from each other in a 5x5 grid. Below them, he will put columns of weak wind wall to let them support weight, and then use Hexes so that they move up and down. They're not synchronized with each other, and their speeds and cycles vary. When they reach the top, they drop all the way down – almost five stories down.

He will make more targets and repair the old ones so that he has fifty targets in total again, and then float them to where the wind wall will be. Once he makes it, they will no longer be able to hear each other.

"I will no longer be able to hear you when I make the wind wall. As before, I will cause the wind wall to make the targets move in random patterns. This time, I will hit them with Firekeeping."

Saffron nods. "I'll Send to you if there's a problem." «Like this.»

He would reply, but he is so unpracticed with Sending that it would take up too much mental space for him to Send back.

He will now make the wind wall, spherical this time, and let the targets float around for half a minute, while he puts his hands on his face to block his vision. After that time passes, he stops covering his face and stops using Windkeeping.

He starts falling. He uses jets of fire from his feet to arrest his fall and glide, but it's not enough to propel him upwards. He will land on one of the platforms on one feet and shoot rays of concentrated fire to burn the targets. Occasionally, he uses his eyes, but he mostly uses his hands to direct them. He has unerring aim. None of the rays have missed and shot through the wind wall.

Rather than merely stepping from one platform to another, he will leap and twist and flip to and fro. On one of them, he lands with a handstand and lets his legs go into split, using one pointed foot to direct a ray on a target. It hits, but not exactly at the center.

He doesn't do that move again, and that's the only time he uses his feet to direct rays. He will still totally shoot rays mid-flight, though!

Once all of the targets have been hit, he stops the movement of the platforms and reshapes the wind wall to let him pass through it, while still keeping the targets moving.

Saffron applauds. «Good, good. Now make a statue of me.»

Hm. He's never made a statue before.

"Yes, Lady Saffron. I don't know how to make colored materials, aside from my Sorcerous colors, and I don't know if it's even possible. Will a monochrome statue suffice?"

"Well. Liking colorless statues makes me look a bit young, so it's not ideal, but it'll do. If it turns out display-grade we can color it later."

"Yes, Lady Saffron."

He dispels the wind wall and the wind columns and takes back the platforms and targets, breaking them down with his nanite swarm. It will make them easier to work. He then orbits Saffron so that he can get a better view of her. He'll do this several times, using his Observer to record, trying to make a 3d model of her to instruct his nanites to create. It takes several minutes.

Finally, he breathes out all the nanites he took in earlier, making them form a dense cloud. It's slow going, because it requires a lot of modeling. Saffron is not a tessellation or a Platonic solid that he can have his nanites create almost instantly. He makes parts of the body first, like a finger or a lock of hair, and then dissolves the edges and joins them together.

It takes twenty minutes. The statue is a very lifelike 1:1 scale model of her, with her hands on her hips and her head upturned, smiling. It's very photorealistic, and he gets the anatomy and Saffron's haughty expression correct, but it doesn't have any particular flair or special art style. The Saffron statue is wearing identical clothes to what Saffron is wearing now. As he disclaimed earlier, it is steel grey throughout. It's much lighter than one would expect, because he used a truss mesh to reinforce the inside, leaving it mostly hollow. It's a technique he uses almost always to get big things with less metal but with comparable strength.

She'll fly around the statue and examine it closely. …wow, he even did good work with the hair and the frills. «Nice work. Come with me and we'll draft a contract. Bring that with you, I'll put it in storage.»

We do so love nanometer-precise manufacture!

Conrad will follow, floating both himself and the statue along with Metallurgy. :Yes, Lady Saffron.: he will reply back, but it will be delayed by half a minute. He really needs to practice Sending more.

Saffron will land at her estate, dismiss her broom, and lead Conrad to her office. An invisible servant will fetch him a booklet entitled Understanding Contracts. Saffron, meanwhile, is going to pull out a three-ring binder and start flipping through it.