With a pleased face the jeweler looked at the boy and thought to himself, 'what harm could it do to show him the polishing room?' Smiling he nodded, "How would you like to have me show you?" Excitement flashed on Kaleb's face and he followed the man behind the curtain. In side were many tools and machines that the boy had never seen before. There were rock hammers, chisels, a foot powered grinding wheel, a polishing wheel, polishing cloths, tiny pliers, a small forge like area, cutting tools, magnifying glasses, and things that looked like they belonged in some sort of lab. There were also raw gems, cut gems, polished gems, carved gems, and much more. The old jeweler showed him everything and how it was used. Then he sat the boy down on a stool next to the grinding wheel. He explained how he ground off small amounts of material and imperfections to get to the most beautiful parts of the stones and faceted them to make them sparkle in different ways to catch any kind of light, next was how to polish them to not have sharp edges and bring out the luster. Most importantly he told him that the process could not be rushed as it would ruin the gems and they could be lost forever unless part could be salvaged to make something else. He then gave Kaleb a catalog from an old friend that lived in a faraway place called New York, that had pictures of all kinds of jewelry drawn in it to look over. Enthralled by the new things that he learned Kaleb went off to tell his Grandfather. He found his sisters and headed back home. Rubbing his hand over the fancy lettering on the cover over and over again he smiled warmly at the word Tiffany. What a wonderful magical name he thought.
That night Kaleb had dreams of Emerald, Ruby, Esper, and the other gemstones living in those fancy necklaces and rings that he had seen in the shop. How wonderful that could be, sitting on the hand or neck of the most gorgeous people in the world. Going to high class parties and being the envy of not only other people but other gems as well. A soft smile graced the boys face as he was so proudly dreaming.
As of the next morning the excited Kaleb ran to the cave to tell all of the gems all that he had seen and learned the previous day. The excited little gems and sparkles twinkled at his explanations and the pictures in the catalog. Never had any of them ever imagined such a thing existing in their little part of the world. Thinking long and hard Mother Matrix asked Kaleb, "Do you think anyone would love my little gems the way that they love the ones in that catalog thing of yours?" Kaleb answered back, "I believe they would love yours even more." Mother Matrix was very happy to think of that and suggested that Kaleb take some of the broken gem spikes and prisms to see if there could be a purpose and new life for them, not to mention that it was becoming quite crowded now that new tiny gems were starting to grow. Kaleb ran home to get a bag and came back, then carefully put some of the loose, broken, and toppled gem spikes and prisms into it wrapping each of them in cloth scraps to keep them from clinking and rattling against each other.
The following day he went to town to see the jeweler again to show him what he had. Amazed the old man started to ask where he had gotten all of what he had brought. Kaleb told him it was from his special place at his home and it was left at that. The old man pried no further. Kaleb asked if he could learn from the man and it was agreed on that as long as his Grandfather agreed in writing that it was fine. Also he was let known that the man could not afford to pay him at this time since funds were tight, but if something made by the boy sold that he would receive a bonus from its sale. So with that in mind he ran home to ask his Grandfather if it was alright. Jimmie wrote a short letter to state that it was fine as long as it did not interrupt his schooling or chores. Kaleb ran the whole way back to town to give the letter to the jeweler. Thus a new friendship and apprenticeship was formed.