The Demonstrator took some dirt from [a certain place] and sifted it carefully into a large glass votive holder. Ke made sure no twigs, seeds, or identifiable organic materials were in the dirt. What was left was like fine sand. Of the three inch candle holder, the dirt was only 1 inch deep.
Ke then took a tea candle and carefully peeled the flimsy aluminum off of it, leaving only the candle wax and the intact wick. Ke placed the denuded candle on the dirt and lit it.
I raised a hand to gently interrupt. “Um.” Ke raised kir hooded head to indicate ke was listening to me, but never allowed kir face to be shown. “Once that wax heats up and flows out, it’s going to just soak into the dirt, and the wick will be left stranded long before that short thing burns down.”
Ke nodded.
“Wait. There was no incantation, no marking, and no invocation. This isn’t a working. The point isn’t to burn the candle. The point is to melt the wax into that dirt. This isn’t a complete demonstration. This is a precursor step to something else that will require that waxed dirt.”
Ke nodded again, and I could feel kir smiling.
“So is the point to wax the dirt, or to dirty the wax?”
The wax had indeed poured away from the flame and pooled over the warmed dirt. But the dirt was not warm enough for the wax to soak into. The stranded wick burned itself out and the Demonstrator quickly plucked it out of the holder. In the soft wax, ke made a depression and placed another denuded tea candle.
Ke lit another match to light the tea candle with. As the new wick caught light, my awareness was snuffed out.
I guess I’ll find out later.