Jasmin, still processing the almost magical transformation they had witnessed – turning base ingredients into potential luxury – suddenly remembered the practicalities. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked back towards the now-darkened smokehouse, then at the remaining, substantial jar of rendered tallow and the carefully stoppered jug of potent lye solution they had left inside.
"My lord?" she ventured, her voice still holding a trace of awe as they walked slowly away from the smokehouse under the gathering dusk. The first stars were beginning to prick the twilight sky. "The… the leftover fat? And the strong ash-water?" She gestured back vaguely. "There is much remaining. What… what will become of it? Do we simply discard it?" The thought seemed wasteful, almost sacrilegious, after the effort they'd expended.
Lloyd stopped, turning to face her under the deepening shadows, a playful glint entering his eyes. He feigned surprise. "Discard it? Heavens no, Jasmin! Did I not explain the full scope of our enterprise?"
Jasmin blinked, confusion returning. "Explain, my lord? You spoke of the hard soap bars, the ones curing now…"
Lloyd chuckled softly, a low, conspiratorial sound. "Ah, my dear Jasmin," he began, reaching out to gently tap the side of her head as if imparting a great secret, "those bars? Those are merely… the prologue. The initial experiment. Proof of concept, you see." He leaned closer, his voice dropping to an excited whisper. "They might succeed wonderfully, or they might fail spectacularly – perhaps they'll be too harsh, perhaps they won't lather well. It's a learning process!"
He straightened up, a wide, almost mischievous grin spreading across his face, chasing away the last vestiges of fatigue. "But the real prize, Jasmin? The true innovation? The product that will make nobles weep with joy and throw gold coins at our feet?" He paused for dramatic effect, his eyes gleaming in the twilight. "Liquid soap!"
Jasmin stared at him, mouth slightly agape. "L-liquid… soap, my lord?" The concept was utterly alien. Soap was hard. A block. Something you scrubbed with. Liquid soap? How could soap be liquid? What would one even do with it?
"Precisely!" Lloyd confirmed, clearly relishing her bewilderment. "Think of it! No more harsh blocks leaving scum in the washbasin! A smooth, cleansing liquid, dispensed perhaps from elegant woodcraft bottles! Easily scented, instantly lathering! Imagine washing your hands, your face, even your hair, with something so… refined!"
He saw the wheels turning in her mind, struggling to reconcile this impossible idea with reality.
"But… how, my lord?" she stammered. "The mixture we made… it became thick. Solid."
"Ah, but that," Lloyd tapped his temple again, the grin widening, "is where the type of lye matters. Remember I mentioned the difference between hardwood ash and softwood ash?"
Jasmin nodded slowly, recalling his earlier explanations during the leaching process.
"The lye we extracted today from the hardwood ash," Lloyd explained patiently, simplifying the chemistry, "the 'hidden fire' in it, naturally encourages the soap to become hard. Solid bars. That's its nature." He gestured back towards the remaining jug of lye in the smokehouse. "But there's another kind of hidden fire, found more readily in the ash of softer woods, or produced through different methods," (he mentally filed away 'potash lye' and 'potassium hydroxide' as terms not to use), "that creates a different reaction. It still transforms the fat, but the resulting soap… it prefers to remain liquid! Or at least, a very soft paste."
He clapped his hands together softly. "And that, my dear Jasmin, is what we shall attempt tomorrow! Using the remaining tallow, perhaps blended with a little olive oil if I can procure some discreetly, and a slightly different preparation of our ash-water – perhaps concentrating it further, or maybe trying ash from a different wood source if available – we aim for liquid luxury!"
Jasmin looked utterly flummoxed, trying to process the cascade of new, almost unbelievable information. Hard lye, soft lye, liquid soap… it sounded like pure magic, spun from the mind of this perplexing young lord who seemed to understand the secret workings of the world in ways no one else did.
"So," Lloyd concluded brightly, his enthusiasm infectious despite the absurdity of the topic, "the leftover fat and lye are not waste! They are vital components for Phase Two! Tomorrow, we experiment with liquidity!" He paused, then seemed to remember something else. "Ah, but before tomorrow's experiments… today's work isn't quite finished."
He sniffed the air theatrically. "The bars we made? Functional, perhaps. But lacking… finesse. Elegance. They need fragrance! Something clean, refreshing, something that speaks of nature, not just… rendered beef."