Jacob followed Sera through the hallway, leaving the hum of the enchanted gauntlet behind.
The words about his magic that Sera mentioned as they left the room were bouncing around in his head.
Is it magic, or just another form of my enchanting? He thought to himself.
I have been working on this mystery for a while, but I forgot after getting caught up in all these other endeavors. What is different when I remove the core versus when I try to form a fireball by channeling magic and intent into my hands?
He set his thoughts aside as they approached the main festivities for the day. He could always figure the mystery out later, but he made a mental note to actually come back to this topic.
The air shifted as they entered the dining room, moving from the scent of cold metal to the heavy aroma of seared beef and rosemary. May and Lila were already positioned by the long table. They had added extra boards to the central furniture to make room for the guests.
Elis sat at the far end of the bench with his wife, Martha. Their son, Silas, was already sitting next to a chair that was clearly reserved for Caleb.
Silas was the same age as his friend and the two boys were rarely seen apart during the festival months. Jacob took his spot next to Sera while they all watched the mud-room door.
The heavy thud of work boots sounded on the porch. Arthur and Caleb walked through the threshold, wiping the dust of the fields from their brows.
"Surprise!" The group rose as one.
Caleb froze in place. His eyes darted from the decorated table to the smiling faces of his friends and family. Birthday celebrations didn't happen every year, so it really was a surprise to get one.
A massive, toothy grin slowly took over his face as Silas jumped up to pull him toward the empty seat.
"Over here, birthday boy! I saved you the seat of honor!"
Everyone settled into the extended table. Large platters held thick, seared steaks that dripped juice onto the dark wood when they were moved around. Beside them sat bowls of mashed potatoes topped with melting yellow butter.
May had also prepared heaps of crisp green beans and glazed carrots pulled from the stock of vegetables they kept fresh in their weird preservation box.
The room filled with the clinking of silverware and the low rumble of neighborly talk. Elis recounted a story about a stubborn mule to Arthur while the two boys laughed over their own private jokes.
Jacob felt the tension he had been feeling from his magical experiments fading. The warmth of the hearth and the easy companionship felt more grounded than the amber glow he had just left on his desk.
Once the main plates were cleared, May disappeared into the kitchen for a moment. She returned carrying a dense honey cake that caught the light of the flickering tallow candles.
The room fell into a respectful silence as she set the treat down in front of Caleb.
Arthur began to clap a steady, slow rhythm on the tabletop. The rest of the table joined in, creating a steady beat for the village song.
"Deep the root and high the leaf, Time is but a golden sheaf! Another year has come to pass, Like the dew upon the grass. Stand you tall and keep your stride! With the village at your side... "
The voices were deep and resonant, echoing the chants used during the long hours of the harvest.
Caleb took a deep breath, his face glowing in the candlelight. He blew out the flames in a single puff, sending thin trails of grey smoke toward the rafters. A cheer went up from the table as May began to slice the cake, ensuring Silas and Caleb received the largest portions.
The last crumbs of the honey cake disappeared as May cleared the small plates. Then, she nudged a lumpy bundle toward Caleb while Lila bounced in her seat.
"Open mine first!" Lila squealed, her hands gripping the edge of the table.
Caleb pulled the yarn from the wrapping. It was a thick, blue head-warmer with uneven stitches that wandered across the fabric. He tugged it over his ears, and the lopsided brim immediately slipped down to cover his left eye.
"It fits perfectly, Lila," Caleb said, his voice muffled by the wool. "I can feel the warmth already."
Lila giggled and clapped her hands. "I made it extra thick so the frost can't find you!"
May handed him a heavy package of folded canvas.
"I noticed your old pair was thinning at the shins. I doubled the layers on the knees and used a heavy waxed thread for the seams. You are growing too fast for my sewing kit to keep up."
"Thank you, Mother," Caleb replied while he ran a hand over the sturdy fabric. "These look like they could survive a trek through a thicket of thorn bushes."
Arthur leaned forward and placed a wide leather belt on the table. The brass buckle was polished to a mirror shine, and several heavy loops hung from the sides.
"You are doing a man's work in those fields now. You need a way to carry your whetstone and your shears without losing them in the dirt."
Caleb buckled the leather over his tunic. "It feels solid, Father. It makes me feel a bit more like a proper farmer."
Silas reached into his pocket and slid a small object across the wood. It was a hawk carved from dark heartwood, its wings spread as if catching a warm updraft.
"I found that piece of oak by the creek," Silas said. "The grain looked like feathers, so I just followed the lines with my small chisel."
Caleb held the bird up to the candle flame. "The detail on the beak is incredible, Silas. You have a better eye for wood than anyone I know."
Sera reached into her cloak and produced a slim box. "I found these while shopping around in Thornhold. They are made of high-grade steel."
Caleb opened the lid to reveal a pair of pruning shears. The metal was dark and heavy, with a spring that looked like it would never snap.
"These are far better than the rusted ones I've been using," Caleb remarked, a bit of awe in his eyes.
Jacob waited until the others had finished before he pulled a small object from his pocket. He laid a folding knife with a handle of polished white bone on the table. Unlike the other gifts, the air around the knife seemed to ripple with a faint yet unmistakable pressure.
"I picked this up in Thornhold as well," Jacob said. "But I spent the afternoon talking to the metal."
Caleb picked up the knife. He flicked the blade open, and the steel caught the light with a clarity that seemed impossible. The edge didn't just look sharp, it looked as if it was actively repelling the air around it.
"It feels strange," Caleb whispered. He moved his hand near the blade, and the hair on his arm stood on end. "It feels like it wants to cut something."
"I didn't force a command on it," Jacob explained.
"I simply made a suggestion for the steel that its natural state was one of persistent sharpness. It believes that being dull is a mistake, so as long as you treat it well, the edge will hold itself against the wood without you needing to press nearly as hard as usual, and it likely will never need to be sharpened or repaired."
Caleb closed the knife with a soft click, his eyes wide as he looked at his brother. "It's a great gift, Jacob. I will make sure to take care of it and use it often!"
Jacob smiled at his brother. "Nothing would make me happier, Caleb."
As the party started to wind down, Elis and his family made their way out after saying their goodbyes.
Lila and Sera started helping May with cleaning up as Arthur and Caleb moved into the living room to whittle next to the hearth.
Instead of joining them, Jacob went back to his room and put the gauntlet back in the lead box.
Alright, lets see how this magic stuff works.
He pulled out an earth core from the jar where he kept them and sat down at his small desk as he sat in meditation.
With his mind calm, he reached out with his magic, letting it work with him instead of commanding it in order to pull the geometric shape out of the core.
He observed the way he used his magic as he pulled the shape out and placed it back into the core several times. After pulling it out and placing it back in while paying close attention to what he was doing, he realized what was different.
I am directly using magic to do this! It never goes to my fingers, instead it is doing something in my mind as I try to work with it as a partner!
In order to test his observation, he started trying to coax the magic differently. Instead of nudging it towards carefully removing the shape from the core, he tried to summon fire directly.
Imagine fire, as a flame, but the flame is folding in on itself, maintaining its form in a contained sphere.
His initial attempts were fruitless, but as he sharpened his visualization of a sphere of self-contained flame hovering in front of his face while relaxing his hold on the magic, he felt his magic move as it once again did something within his mind before a fireball appeared in front of him.
It was a small, undulating ball of fire just a few centimeters off the desk, but it was there without any outside intervention. It was just his magic interacting with the magic of the world.
Eureka! I did it!
In his excitement, he lost control of the small fireball, which promptly exploded in his face. It did him no damage, but it did catch his desk on fire.
He tried to imagine water smothering the fire, but he was panicking as he feared he would burn his house down and did not manage to summon water.
Instead, he grabbed his pillow from his bed and hit the fire until it was out, leaving small burn marks on his desk.
Sera came into the room, finished with helping clean up the birthday party, and noticed that Jacob was staring at his desk. Upon further inspection, she realized that it had burn marks on it.
"What happened, Jacob? Did you fail to enchant something?"
He looked over to her and smiled. "I finally managed to do some magic!"