Vance flipped the coin in his hand. He was sat up against the door in his bedroom, he seemed relaxed.

Leon was downstairs, someone had come to visit him but Vance wasn't really in the mood to entertain, so he'd hidden himself away up here with his new treasure.

The coin had a rough image embossed on its surface, Vance knew it'd be the emblem of the empire, which he could feel was the image of fruit of some kind enclosed in a wreath. It was heavier than it should be - By his best guess, he figured it weighed 2 or 3 pounds.

Elijah had given him simple instructions with no specifics, just that he needed to learn to feel the mana inside the object.

Of course, he had no idea how to start.

For now, he just held the coin in his hands and familiarized himself with it, moving it between his fingers and getting used to its weight and feel. Whenever he handled something new, he made a point to spend a few minutes getting used to it by feel but in this case, he spent much longer, though if you asked his purpose, he would not be able to answer.

Leon was in the kitchen opposite a woman about his own age. She was tall, thin and by Leon's account, quite pretty. Her name was Anne.

Her family owned a lumbermill not too far from the village where Leon had worked on occasion. She'd come into town for the Arcanists visit on business and was a long time family friend to both brothers, largely thanks to the pre-existing friendship between the two fathers of the families.

Having thrown together a plate of finger foods for his visitor, he finally stopped pottering around the kitchen and sat opposite her.

"Do you really think this whole magic thing is a good idea for Vance?" She spoke with a hushed voice, soft and caring.

Leon's expression sank a little immediately and he lowered his voice to meet her volume.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's nice for him to have some hope in whatever form it takes, he tends to be pretty obsessive when it comes to personal projects, I think he's probably just looking for a distraction, this will do nicely to help him deal with the uh... bad news?"

She nodded and grabbed a small breaded ball of meat from the table and took a chunk out of it, she spoke through enthusiastic chews.

"Honestly, the kid always struck me as a bit of a recluse. Guess I can't blame him for that - hard to kick around a ball you can't see. I think his personality is a great fit for an Arcanist, I just doubt it's possible."

"Hey, you heard the guy in the wizard robes, it's absolutely possible, just not likely. I'd bet on my little brother if I were you. He's related to me. He'll be conjuring...what do wizards conjure? Fireballs? Blizzards? Whatever. He'll be conjuring them in no time."

Leon emphasized this with a little chuckle, a thumbs up and proceeded to obliterate several small meatballs.

"I hardly think that you can compare a genetic gift for superior size to a talent for summoning mysterious arcane forces."

"Both are equally attractive qualities in a man." Leon struck a dramatic pose, though some of the grandeur was offset by the fact he was covered in crumbs.

"Sure." She threw one of the little meatballs at him, he dodged overenthusiastically and nearly fell off of his chair.

"If it was so easy, why aren't we all flinging spells around?" She posed, eyebrows raised, Leon felt like she was telling him off.

He shrugged. "I guess it's complicated. Fortunately, Vance has the brains of the family, whereas I inherited my fathers dashing good looks, wit and charm, as well as physical talent and did I mention good looks? Plus, there'd be nobody to make all the robed guys look impressive if there weren't us normal folk."

"Speaking of your father, where is he? I'd normally like to talk shop with him a bit." Anne looked around like she might've missed the man standing in this very room.

"He's away. Last I heard he was doing a route through Valdari. That was a few months back now, chances are we'll see him later this year. Seems business has been busy."

Their father was Adrian Kalliea, a travelling merchant. He'd taken a few years off of long-distance routes after the death of his wife to take care of the kids, but as soon as Leon was old enough to fend for both himself and Vance, he took to the roads again.

"Alright, when he's back - tell him to come and visit, dad told me he's got an interesting route for him if he's up for it. We've been asked to whip up some furniture for a noble family in Rostun, could be a nice payday."

The two caught up and ate together for a few hours, neither saw Vance for the rest of the day.

A few days passed. Leon only ever saw Vance come out of his room for food and other necessary activities, He was happy to leave him to his own devices for now. After a week, Vance took a trip out to the local smithy, where Ethan created for him a small chain to which he affixed the coin, which Vance took to wearing around his neck. He then came home, walked into the kitchen and sat. Beside him, he had the long, smooth stick that he used to help him navigate the village without Leon's help.

He waited there. Eventually, Leon came home from work. He had been helping out on a local farm, performing manual labour, tilling the earth and the sorts. When he came home he looked like he'd opted to take a dip in a muddy creek.

He stopped halfway to the stairs, looking over at his brother sitting listlessly in his chair in the kitchen, absolutely silent. He wiped a little mud off of his cheek, actually, turns out it was quite a lot of mud.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Hey Vance, I'd give you a hug to say hello, but I'd drown you in what I'm pretty sure is mud."

"I can't figure it out, Leon." Vance held up the chain with the little coin at the end of it. "I'm familiar with it to the point that I'm pretty sure I could create an exact copy of it with Ethan's help, I can pick it out from an array of other coins just by the feel of it. I can even identify it by smell. I've tried meditating on it, I've slept with it, tasted it..."

Leon could see the spiral building.

"Can I see that for a second?" Leon interrupted him and gave the chain a little tug, Vance let go and Leon flipped the coin up into his palm.

"So, you're supposed to feel something, right? Hey, this is really heavy for a coin." He mused as he observed the little thing.

Leon was an expert at handling situations like this with Vance. His first bet was always to bring something to the forefront of his attention, give him something he can explain, that worked like a charm every time.

"Yeah, that's the first thing I noticed too, I nearly dropped it at first when Elijah gave it to me, I tried to catch it in a few fingers."

Alright, so far so good.

"Why do you think it's so heavy? Did the wizard cast some spell or something?"

"He told me to try and sense the mana inside it, I guess he put it there? Maybe he added a lot."

"Huh, mana makes things heavier, interesting." Vance could hear Leon flipping the coin around in his palm while he was talking.

"So, no luck so far then? Well it's only been a week, didn't he say even expert Arcanists don't even bother doing this? Sounds like you're in for the long haul here buddy."

Leon could see his plan was working, Vance had begun to get a little more animated, which was a good sign. The childlike disappointment in his failures was fading away, reason once again slowly asserting control.

"Yeah...Yeah. I suppose you're right."

A few seconds of silence passed before Leon exclaimed that he would be cleaning himself off, and he made his way upstairs, leaving Vance with his coin which now had a lovely muddy texture to it. Thanks, Leon.

Shortly thereafter, Vance was on the rear doorstep. Scrubbing the coin in a bucket, meticulously checking that his flawless mind-map of the coin was preserved in reality.

He heard footsteps approaching, heavyset, probably a man. The slap of mud under his foot told Vance that it'd be raining. Luckily, he didn't step away from the house or his feet would be caked in mud. Next, he caught the sound of a small chain rustle in time with the man's footsteps. It was probably jewellery, likely on the neck. Not many people wore something like that in the village, He had a pretty good idea who was approaching him.

"Marcus?" Vance asked in the man's general direction. "Is that you?"

"My word, I'm always impressed by your ability to tell. How did you know?"

Vance explained the sounds of his approach that he'd used to identify him. Though he did admit that it could've just as easily have been Ethan had he worn different shoes than normal, or perhaps one or two others.

This man was Marcus Kendrick, Lisa's Husband. Vance already knew this wasn't going to be particularly pleasant as conversations go. This man was, by his estimation, an unreasonable, self-centred pompous asshole.

"What brings you to our little shack, Marcus?" Vance continued to scrub away at his coin.

"Actually, that coin."

Vance didn't like where this was going. At least Marcus went straight to the point instead of boring him to death.

"I was hoping you'd be willing to part with it, it does - after all, belong to Lisa. In particular, since it has been altered in the hands of a master magician, it only seems fair that it should return to the one it belongs to."

Vance instinctively clutched his hand around the coin a little tighter.

"Sorry Marcus, Sir Elijah gave this to me with instructions to study it. I intend to do so, I'm sure we can give you another coin as payment. You're right, Lisa did effectively gift us a silver coin. Once I'm finished with it, I'd be happy t-"

"Its value is obviously much more than just a simple silver coin, I'm afraid I really must insist. It is not often that an enchanted object finds its way into our village and I'd hate to see it go to waste, regardless of its function."

Vance was pretty certain that it didn't have a function, except perhaps a paperweight. Also, something Marcus said scratched him the wrong way. He felt his hands tighten and Vance felt an emotion he rarely experienced. Anger.

"Waste?" He asked with grit in his voice, like he couldn't quite pry his teeth apart.

"Yes, child. Surely you heard the man? The task he has given you is impossible for even the most practised, it makes much more sense t-"

"No. I'm not going to give it over, Marcus. He didn't say it was impossible, he said it was... almost impossible. There's a chance." Vance did lose a little momentum towards the end of his sentence, he wasn't as confident as he'd like.

"How preposterous, do you really think a poor, fresh fish from the lake can pull off what a master magician considers difficult? Not to mention your...handicap."

That struck home. Vance knew full well that he had difficulties the people around him mostly didn't. Even so, most of them were considerate enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, despite his blindness he was always able to perform passably in most tasks... given enough time to familiarize himself.

Just at that moment, as both Vance and Marcus were opening their mouths to speak at the same time, the voice that caused Vance's anger to fade away and Marcus' blood to run cold rang out at the same time.

"Afternoon, Marcus," Leon said. The enormous man walked out from behind Vance. He was freshly cleaned, but stepped straight into the mud and walked with far too much purpose straight into the space Marcus was occupying, forcing him to take a couple of steps back.

Marcus looked furious, but when he took in the shirtless goliath in front of him, he shrunk visibly to match how small he felt.

Leon pushed a bag into Marcus' chest, Vance heard the clink of metal against metal and the shuffling of fabric.

"You know, our house isn't as large as yours - I heard your conversation. You're quite right, you do deserve some compensation, there are 6 gold coins in here. I should think that's more than enough to pay for a silver coin that's a tad heavier than others, wouldn't you agree?"

"It's not about the-"

Leon didn't speak these words aloud but instead gave Marcus a look that needed no translation.

"Fuck off, Marcus."

The man turned on his heel and left. Vance could practically hear the steam coming out of his ears.

"Hungry, Vance?" Leon had already gathered himself, he sounded perfectly normal, like he hadn't just threatened the mayoress' husband.

Vance heard Leon's feet migrate from the muddy surface of the yard into the hallway onto wooden boards. He whistled as he walked and patted Vance on the shoulder as he passed him. Vance remained sat down for a moment, absent-minded, he replied "Yeah, sure."

He was about to kick into a full-blown argument with Marcus, one which he was certain to lose. Honestly, he didn't feel like he had a leg to stand on. In actuality, it was probably going to be more like a tantrum.

But just like that, Leon was there to bail him out. It was a simple thing, but it meant a lot to him. Leon was there. He was always there.

He asked for nothing in return and Vance was positive over the years Leon had taken on more than his share of trouble on Vance's behalf, he probably didn't even know half of it.

Vance cursed his own lack of capabilities in times like this. He often wished he had the skill and experience to avoid causing Leon such trouble. Unfortunately, he didn't. Not yet.

He took a long, deep breath.

Leon told him that he was in for the long haul earlier. At this moment, Vance made a silent promise to himself that someday, someday soon - he wouldn't have to hide behind his older brother. He didn't really know how he was going to achieve that, but he knew that he had at least one opportunity, and it was held firmly in the palm of his right hand.

"If I have to dedicate every moment from dawn until dusk every day for the next 10 years, I'll do it. Leon wouldn't have to protect an Arcanist."