The walk to the edge of the village was slow due to the thick and clinging mud that covered the road. Jacob and Sera eventually reached the wainwright shop where the smell of fresh cedar and old grease filled the air.
Master Garret was hunched over a heavy wooden frame while he worked with a large drawknife to smooth out a new spoke. He looked up when he heard their footsteps and spat a glob of some sort of leaf juice into the sawdust near his feet.
"Er' if it ain't the pair what fixed m' cart on the road," Garret barked while he wiped his grimy hands on his leather apron. "That wheel would've been the death of me if you lot hadn't come along with those fancy ideas of yours. I still tell the boys down at the taproom 'bout how a couple of farm kids that had a better idea for a repair on the spot than a man who's been makin' wheels for thirty years."
Jacob smiled warmly and stepped over a pile of curly wood shavings near the doorway.
"We were happy to help, Master Garret, but we are actually here to see if Bran might have some time to spare for a project of ours. We have some complex machinery for the farm that needs a steady hand and a clever mind to sort out."
Garret gestured toward the back of the shop with his thumb while he picked up a mallet.
"The boy is back there tinkerin' with his bits of string and wire as per the usual. He makes his own hours under this roof, so you'll have to ask him yourself if he wants to go wandering off to your farm. But if it's as complex as you say, then it's him you'll want to be talkin' to."
Bran emerged from behind a stack of seasoned oak planks with a look of intense concentration on his young face. He saw Jacob and immediately tried to explain a new discovery he had made about his recent progress with his personal skills.
"Heuck!"
He opened his mouth to speak about the internal mechanics of the system, but he suddenly clutched at his throat while his face turned a deep shade of red. The invisible geas of the world seemed to squeeze the words right out of his mouth before he could even start the sentence.
Jacob waited patiently until the boy stopped coughing and finally managed to regain his steady breathing.
"It is quite all right, Bran, you do not need to force the words when the world itself is trying to keep them hidden," Jacob said while he offered a small nod of understanding, now that he knew what the problem with system holders suddenly choking around him was all about.
Jacob gestured toward the enchanted sack they had brought over from the farm to catch the boy's wandering attention.
"I have a vision for an automated seeder that can plant some grass bulbs or seeds in our new fields without the need for constant manual digging. The idea is to create a machine that releases a single bulb or seed at perfect intervals as it moves across the damp soil."
He reached into the bag and pulled out a heavy brass component that shimmered with a polished golden hue in the dim light.
"I brought back these specialized parts from a master blacksmith in Thornhold. They are made of high-quality brass and were originally intended for a complex mechanical loom before I commissioned them for our agricultural project."
Bran's eyes lit up with a hunger that only a true tinkerer could possess while he listened to the description of the gears and distribution plates.
Bran took a step forward while his eyes remained fixed on the intricate teeth of the primary gear. "Those parts look like they belong in a royal palace or a grand clocktower," the boy whispered while reaching out a trembling hand to touch the cold and heavy metal.
His skill told him what each piece was and how it could be used, but he was surprised to see them, nevertheless.
"They are indeed built for incredible precision, which is exactly why I came to find you today," Jacob explained as he handed the piece over for the boy to inspect.
"I can provide the magic and the materials, but I need your mechanical mind to ensure these wheels turn exactly as they should under the pressure of the field."
With the excited young tinkerer so interested in the project, the group made their way back to the Hemlock barn, where the afternoon light filtered through the cracks in the high wooden walls.
Bran stood over the workbench while he picked up the brass gears Jacob had already attempted to assemble earlier that morning. He turned the metal over in his stained hands and let out a soft, skeptical whistle that echoed in the quiet space.
"This design is a total mess if you want my honest opinion on the matter," Bran stated while he set the drive wheel back down on the scarred wood.
"The torque ratios are completely wrong for the weight of those grass bulbs you showed me on the way in, and it will need some sort of adaptive mechanism to switch to seeds. I don't see how you expected to keep this from jamming after the first ten feet of travel through the wet mud."
Jacob leaned against the sturdy bench while he watched the boy examine the distribution plate.
"I was planning on using enchantments to guide the distribution systems. I can use my intent to direct the flow of the distribution system, I just need some help in constructing it in a way that allows me to get the timing right."
He adjusted his feet a little as he thought about how his magic worked so he could explain it to Bran.
"My magic functions through a form of conceptual pressure rather than rigid commands. If I enchanted it, I would not dictate the specific movements of every individual cog or screw. Instead, my focus would be on the final outcome, such as the water reaching the specific seedlings at the correct hour if I were to enchant an automatic watering mechanism."
Then he stretched his hands out in emphasis as he explained further.
"I project a mental image of the completed task and allow the enchantment to fill in the gaps between the starting point and the result. It is a suggestive force that encourages the metal to behave in harmony with my vision. I provide the purpose of the process, and I expect the enchantment to handle the mechanics by acting as an intelligent partner that has the regins to accomplish my wishes in the most efficient manner that it can. I essentially ask the magic to do what I want and rely on it to do what needs to be done."
Bran shook his head while he adjusted the physical alignment of the secondary plate with a small hammer. He tapped a specific set of recessed grooves along the inner rim.
"That approach will never work for machinery this complex, based on how you said your enchanting works. It sounds like you have less structure and more of a suggestion to the enchantment, but this requires precision. It sounds like your magic acts like a fluid, Jacob. It wants to fill gaps and smooth over rough edges. But these valves and those gears are designed for a specific mechanical friction. If you try to 'intend' the gears of this mechanism to flow, your magic will likely coat the interior of the cylinders like a layer of thick oil."
Bran pointed to the tiny pivot pins holding the governor in place.
"The moment that magical residue builds up, the weight of the pins will change. They will become sluggish and fall behind the rotation of the main axle. I think that all your enchanting power is going to end up just trying to keep those gears from grinding themselves into dust. You will be fighting the very physics of the machine. The enchantment will try to make the metal behave like a thought, while the metal is trying to behave like a hammer."
Jacob reached out and touched the main axle while he focused his mind on the internal structure of the metal. He sensed the cold, unyielding reality of the brass. Under his mental touch, the machine felt like a complex puzzle where every piece was slightly too sharp for the soft, rounded edges of his visualization.
"I can use a different method of enchanting for this project, then. I have previously developed three-dimensional circuits that wrap around the internal components that could give me much more control over every individual tooth on the gear. It would just be much more complex in design. If you can tell me what each part needs to do, I think I could get it to work."
Bran fell into a thoughtful silence while he processed the technical implications of what Jacob had just described to him. He looked at the brass assembly again with a new sense of respect and a focused grin.
"If you can actually map a circuit in three dimensions, then we might actually be able to make this thing work. I don't know much about magic, but it sounds like it should allow us to distribute the work we need without having to have someone crank a shaft."
Jacob nodded, then mentioned an idea.
"I think we could also get a water core incorporated into the design. I bet it would help with the flow. Although I am not sure if I can get it to work solely with the three-dimensional runes, since I have only used the intent method with it before."
"Well," Bran smiled as he looked up to Jacob in reply, "there is always a first time for everything, and this entire project is going to be a first time for me."