David stopped running a couple dozen meters shorts of the smithy and leaned on the palisade to catch his breath. Then he approached his Dad's workplace.

  “I delivered the tools!” he shouted as he went around the building and entered the open air forge. “Do you need me to do anything else?”

  Dad faced the blazing forge, sweat rolling down his arms. He was holding a piece of red-hot iron in his tongs. “Thank you.” He put the iron on the anvil and hit it with a hammer.

  David waited patiently, the heat of the forge blasting his face.

  “How do you feel?” Dad asked, putting the flattened rod back into the blaze. “I ordered more coal, but everyone’s too busy to haul it.”

  “Got it.” David nodded and spun around, but instead of the square, he headed toward the shed.

  He found Mom making ointments. “Mom, can I have a few silver? Miss Dona is selling herbal candy in the square.”

  Mom looked at the ceiling, then smiled. “Of course, sweetie.” She dug out two small silver pieces from her pouch. “Get some for me and your father too.”

  “Thanks!” He hugged her, and went on his way. The afternoon breeze cooled him off. He headed toward the square, where the coal and the candy were, but made a detour to Alicja’s house on the way.

  It was a small hut where she lived with her parents and two younger brothers. “Alicja!” David called out. “Are you there?”

  “Here!” Alicja peeked out from behind the house. Her pink hair was even more disheveled than usual. She ran up to him and hugged him. “Hi, David! Are you feeling better?”

  “A bit, thanks.” He extricated himself from her arms, difficult as that was. Even she outgrew him. Dad needs someone to get coal from the square. Do you have time to help?”

  “Work?” Her smile drooped. “Uh… I need to help my mom sew when she comes back.”

  “You don't have to if you don't want to...” He showed her the two silvers. “But I'll buy you candy if you do.”

  Her brown eyes lit up. “You should have started with that.”

  Minutes later David and Alicja were hauling buckets of coal. David’s arms were burning, but Alicja seemed undisturbed by the weight, even though her bucket was slightly closer to full. When they arrived back at the smithy, David wiped the sweat off his forehead, opened the coal hatch, and poured the coal into it. The black chunks clattered down leaving behind a grey cloud.

  It took two hours of back-and-forth trips to the square, sweating and choking on coal dust to fill the coal bin. When they finished, David wanted to take a short break to let his legs stop shaking, but Alicja heard none of it and pulled him along toward the barrel with water. They washed the soot off and went back to the square for candy.

  David looked at the amber crystals of sugary herbal goodness, and his mouth watered. He handed the old woman his silver coins, and she handed him a fist-sized bag of the candies. He poured a third of candies into Alicja's cupped hands.

  She popped one in her mouth and mumbled, “Mmmm, I love these. Maybe all that coal wasn't so bad!”

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  “Yeah, could have been worse.” David stared at the one-third-empty bag in his hands.

  “My dad's probably back from the hunt,” Alicja said, “so I have to go.” Alicja softly punched his arm “Let's do more stuff together now that you feel better.”

  “Sure, let's.” David waved her goodbye. His stomach rumbled.

  With Alicja’s help, he saved about two hours, which he could now spend experimenting. It was a great deal, even if now he wouldn’t have any candy for himself. Perhaps his dad wouldn’t notice one of his own sweets missing. He looked around, shoved piece of herbal candy in his mouth and headed to the earthworks.

  By the time the candy dissolved, David had reached the edge of the village. The grass was still flattened where he’d lain when his last experiment backfired. The earthworks were deserted, with workers probably reassigned to more pressing tasks. All the more privacy for him.

  He slid down and sat against the tree. The grass was damp and the soft afternoon breeze rustled the leaves and cooled his sore muscles. With all the running and hauling, his face was heating up and he was feeling slightly nauseas. He took a few deep breaths and tried to focus on the prickling on his skin.

  From the moment he drank the sensing potion, he’d been more aware of the mana around him. Whenever he focused on it, he could feel it prickle his hands and face, but the feeling disappeared the moment he stopped thinking about it. To his chagrin, that did not extend to the inside of his body. He could feel vague warmness that spread through his body as if he was sitting in front of a fireplace for a long time, but it was nothing like the sizzling-hot ball of power that appeared in his chest when he’d tried breathing in the mana. He could try to inhale more, but he’d already caused some kind of wound on his chest and wasn’t eager to repeat that. Yet.

  He closed his eyes and focused on the prickling sensation on his finger, willing it to leave him. His finger grew cold. The air in front of his hand popped like a tiny explosion, roughing up his skin. He started wheezing as if someone had punched him in the gut. The unfamiliar warmth ran down his hand like a current and warmed the finger back up.

  He repeated the same thing again, staring at his fingertips and tensing the finger. First came the coldness, then a small shockwave, lastly the heat returned. He swayed and his forehead went hot, though it was the familiar heat of a fever, rather than something magical.

  David teetered sideways and caught himself with a hand on the grass. Black spots filled his vision and his ears rang. Though he barely did anything, he felt exhausted. The last time, he was too panicked from hurting himself to notice, but it seemed that just trying to think about mana was putting a strain on his body. There had to be some trick to avoiding that exhaustion, otherwise his Mom, who definitely wasn’t the most athletic person around, couldn’t possibly do all the alchemical things she did.

  He wiped his hands on his shirt and stood up. His legs were shaking, but he started home, squinting into the afternoon sun.

  Mom and Dad were in front of the house, talking. When Mom saw him, her eyes went wide. She ran to him, grabbed his cheek with one hand, and pressed the other to his forehead.

  “You're burning up!” she said. “What happened?”

  “Nothing much,” he said, “I think I overdid it lugging coal.”

  “You had him fill the whole thing?” Mom let go of him and turned towards Dad. “Bert, he has just recovered!”

  “I was running out and all the carts were taken.” Dad shrugged. “Wasn't he supposed to help me?”

  “Sure, but not so much he comes down in another fever.” Mom said, then she grabbed David’s shoulders and pushed him toward the. “Come, David, you need to rest.”

  David was too weak to argue. He walked inside. The aroma of boiled vegetables and fried meat filled their small home. Mom sat him at the table, gave him a drink of water, then poured him a bowl of stew. “Eat as much as you can,” she said, tousling his hair.

  He spooned up a chunk of meat, venison, to his mouth. It was so tender it almost dissolved on his tongue. Mom watched him eat half the bowl, then, apparently satisfied, went back outside and closed the door. David heard his mom and dad talking outside but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  His head pulsed with a headache. The stew meat was tender and there was so much of it, but he couldn’t really taste it. Nevertheless, he forced himself to eat all of it. He was just too weak after so much time spent wrecked by fevers. Between that and how taxing it was to move the mana around, getting his puny body in a better shape was becoming a priority.

  A few minutes later, his parents came back inside and ate. Dad’s face was a bit red as he stared into his stew. Mom watched David while she ate then forced him to go to bed, despite the early hour.