The return trip was uneventful.
Fate bade farewell to the Febenochi triplets and rushed off to Old Man Travis' shop. It was only his second day on the job, and he already had to start late due to the Familiar Ceremony.
Fate and Kravoss entered the store to the familiar chime of the bell, the old man himself standing behind the island in the back of the store. He held a finger up to the Journeyman to tell him to wait and continued talking to his customer, a man in his late thirties with dark hair and kind brown eyes.
He was dressed nicely, but not nice enough for nobility. A wealthy merchant, perhaps. As Fate and his Familiar walked closer, he overheard the tail end of their conversation.
"… Shipment should arrive next month," Travis told the man. "I've got four hundred more panes to finish, and then that window will be complete. You're sure you're fine with the design?"
"Fine with it? I love it!" the merchant exclaimed. "My friends had told me you did great work, but even I didn't expect someone to so perfectly capture Her Majesty like you did!"
"I try," Travis said sheepishly, handing the other man a box. "There's your shoes, all patched up. Don't get them wet for the rest of the day, or they'll shrink on you. Also, keep it in the box and don't touch it."
From his crash course the day before, Fate knew that the shoes had been treated with Lotus Blood, the nectar of a special flower. Lotus Blood could mend holes in leather and skin, although it wasn't used as medicine because of that same side effect.
Even working up a light sweat would see the mended area shrunk to a quarter of its size, rendering the limb useless or spilling your guts out onto the floor. And if it got on your head…
Let's just say there was a reason Old Man Travis kept bandanas in the back.
The merchant thanked the shopkeeper and left, giving Fate a polite nod as he passed him. Fate nodded back and approached his master.
"Thank you again for letting me come in late," Fate said gratefully. It was about seven-thirty in the evening, a full hour and a half after he was supposed to work.
"You're still working the full four hours, so it makes no difference to me. You could come in at three in the morning if you wanted to, as long as you got those four hours in. Now come on, time to get to work."
He led Fate into the warehouse-like back room, throwing his apprentice a leather apron and thick leather gloves. Fate diligently slipped them on, standing dutifully to the side as Old Man Travis grabbed a few tools off of the rack nearby.
"You still remember what I taught you yesterday?" he asked.
"Of course," Fate replied.
Yesterday, they had made metal wand cores, the old man showing Fate how he did it with his Spells and then how Fate could do it with tools and technique. Following that, Fate was taught the Imprints necessary to restrict a wand to a certain grade.
He hadn't managed to find out how his Facet could produce such a result yet, but by now he had the Imprint down pat.
"Good. That's what you'll be doing today. I've got three wands needing Imprints for the Seed Grade. Get to it."
"Yes, sir."
As Fate was about to start his task, he was stopped by his master.
"Actually, wait."
The Journeyman turned to the old Adept. "Yes, sir?"
"Who's this?" Travis pointed at Kravoss, who was currently enraptured by the window depicting the Empress. Fate could tell through their bond that the Dragon Chicken was as enraptured by it as he was.
'It's exquisite.' Fate could've sworn he heard the chicken choking up.
"This is my Familiar, Kravoss," Fate explained to his master. "He also thinks the window is impressive."
Old Man Travis' face scrunched with a conflicting mix of embarrassment and pride. "I've been hearing that a lot lately, but I still don't see it. Did you pick him out yourself, or do I have to deal with another person as stubborn as you are?"
"I used the tablet, if that's what you mean."
"Oh, great," Travis said, dripping with sarcasm. "Now there's two of them."
"I'm not that stubborn," Fate protested.
"Boy, you got the life whipped out of you because you wouldn't ask me for a damn raise!"
"I just didn't want to impose on you."
"Yeah, sure. I'm not paying him, though, not unless he can sprout hands to work with."
"He is good at cutting stuff."
"Hm." Travis scanned the Dracok again, scratching his chin as he came to an idea. "Water Dracok?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hmm… Not as useful in our line of work as a metal one, but that water beam could come in handy. Alright, if I need him, I'll pay ten Lights per beam. Sound good?"
'It's your work, what do you think?' Fate asked his Familiar.
'Seeing as how your Academy won't provide me with food, I'll take what I can get. At least this way, I can support myself.'
"He'll take it," Fate said.
"Good, good. I have something I can use him for now. I was gonna use the fire cutter, but this way's less tiring. Come along, little rooster. Let's put you to work."
Kravoss walked off with the old man, leaving Fate alone to his own devices. He pulled his gloves down tighter and headed over to the three wands Travis had mentioned. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and cast out with his Mage Reach.
In less than ten minutes, he had perfectly replicated the restriction Imprint onto each wand. This was just a practice run, of course, and the Imprints held no power. He was just reminding himself what the shape was that he needed to form.
Now came the hard part, trying to apply his Facet to the enchantments.
He sunk into his thoughts as he thought of the possible ways to go about this. A wave of his hand saw the practice Imprints washed away by his Mana.
'How can Negativity regulate power?' he wondered.