<blockquote>“Funny you should say that,” I said. “I’m interested in paint.”
“Painting.”
“Paint,” I said. “I dabble a bit in alchemy, and I reckon it might be possible to make synthetic blue. Instead of having to grind up ruinously expensive lapis lazulae in a pestle and mortar.” She didn’t say anything, so I went on: “There’s definitely a demand for it. A genuine deep royal blue at a fraction of the price. A man could make a nice little bit of money that way.”
“I’ve never used blue.”
“Too expensive?”
She nodded. “That’s why I started doing portraits, you don’t have to have any sky.”</blockquote>
