Jacob reached over after the runes finally faded from the hammer. As he pulled up, he was surprised.
"Wow, this thing is much lighter than mine. But this is not going to work if we want to put these enchantments on the plough. We are going to have to work on that. Still, for a first-time enchantment, it is great!"
He had easily pulled the hammer off the bench with one hand, having no trouble with the sledge. It looked light, deceptively so.
"The nice thing about this rune is that it makes it light in the hand, but the weight is not actually changed."
Jacob reeled for a second, realizing his mistake.
'I tried to force the enchantment to do something it was not meant to do. That is why it is not as light as Dad thought it should be.'
Caleb held up his own tool, finished and glowing faintly with a completed rune. "Mine's done too!"
Arthur took it, gave it a quick look over, then patted his son's head. "Looks good, son, we can add this one to the equipment getting used on the farm."
The boys looked at each other and laughed, and for a moment, the barn felt more like a forge of legends than a dusty farm shed.
"Alright," Arthur said, rubbing his hands. "That's enough magic for one evening. Let's get you two washed up before your mother starts thinking we got eaten by the chickens."
After getting the boys back to the house, Arthur came to Jacob's room to tuck him in for the night.
"You're doing a great job, son. We can practice some more tomorrow after work."
Jacob nodded as he was lying in his bed.
"Are we going to try to enchant the plough tomorrow?"
"We are going to need some more practice with that enchantment first," Arthur said.
Then he reached over and tucked his son in, leaving him with a kiss on the forehead.
As we walked out of the door, he turned back to his son. "Good night, Jacob." Then put out the oil lamp.
Lying in his bed, looking up to the darkness above him, Jacob thought to himself.
'A feather falling is not the correct visualization. I bet the strengthening part of the enchantment was what made it seem so much more potent than Dad's. But what could I visualize as something that feels lighter, but is actually the same weight?'
This problem seemed unsolvable to Jacob, who eventually fell asleep without being able to figure out what to do.
The next morning, May had breakfast ready by the time Jacob woke up. After cleaning up, he came out to his family, eating, laughing, just enjoying each other's company.
'Ah, it really is nice to have a family that loves each other, and me. People I actually love, that I know support me in whatever it is that I do.'
Arthur noticed him come into the dining room.
"Hey there, kiddo! Did you sleep well?"
Jacob was still rubbing some sleep from his eyes, even though he had just washed his face.
"Yeah, I did sleep well. Something in here smells amazing."
May spoke up at that point, while she was taking care of his little sister.
"Go ahead and get you some eggs and bacon. There is also toast and butter if you like. Just make sure to eat well, you will need the energy for today."
Jacob felt the warmth coming from his mother's care and took his seat, eating his fill while joking and laughing with Arthur and Caleb.
After breakfast was his time with the chickens. Even though he was much wiser with his gift of magic, he was still delegated to the chickens for now. It was a rule that farm work was only done at the age of 12.
'Huh, I still don't understand that rule. Dad should know that I can handle more work. There must be a reason if he hasn't given me more work yet.'
He fed and groomed the chickens, then made sure the coop was in good order. Cleaning was done on an as-needed basis. When he was done, he spent time playing with the chickens. They especially loved it when he squatted down and clucked like them with his hands in his pits, mimicking their wings.
As Jacob was brushing the dust off one of the hens, she flapped her wings and sent a gust of loose feathers into the air. One of them floated upward, twisting, drifting, then settling lightly on his nose before falling to the ground.
He blinked.
Then sat back in the dirt, staring at the feather as he thought about his problem once more.
"The falling feather is not the answer . . . the visualization does not match the inscription.'
He thought back to his visualizations for strengthening and sharpness.
'They didn't actually have to be like the visualization; it was the concept. The concept of something that feels lighter . . . it reminds me of hydraulics. The force needed to lift a car was reduced from thousands of pounds down to just a few pounds that could be done with one hand . . . I think I am on to something here.'
With his newfound inspiration, he ran off toward the barn to try his hand at inscribing another sledgehammer.
He quickly jotted down the strengthening runes, taking less time as he got used to writing the base runes. Then he got to the lightness runes, or weight-assist, as he was going to think of them from now on.
With the visualization of something that could lift thousands of pounds with an input of minimal force, he inscribed the set of runes. He took care to keep the visualization as he perfectly inscribed each rune. When he was done, the entire set of runes glowed brightly and didn't dim before he had to head back to the house for lunch.
Lunch was always something quick and easy to eat, and to be taken if needed. Today was sandwiches, and Jacob grabbed his before telling his father what happened.
"Dad, I think I managed to enchant a hammer the right way after taking care of the chickens. Can we go take a look?"
Arthur was finishing chewing his first bite of his sandwich, answering when he was done.
"Of course, let's go take a look."
They left Caleb, who didn't look too interested in making the trip out to the barn, and headed off to see the hammer.