Leon was browsing the local butcher's shop. Lawrence, the guy who ran the place was chatting idly with him and giving him advice on the best cuts of the day.

He was checking out the more expensive cuts. Lawrence eyed him and asked "Special occasion?"

Leon met his eyes with his trademark grin and told him "Yep, It's going to be Vance's 16th birthday tomorrow. I promised him I'd get him something particularly tasty for dinner tonight and naturally, I thought of you Lawrence."

Lawrence was a big guy, though not in the same sense as Leon, he was less of a "Lion disguised as a human" and more of a "Walrus trapped in a sauna".

but he was a nice enough guy. "Then it's got to be this one." Lawrence held up a big slab of beef with both hands that he was evidently very proud of.

"Whoa, yeah - that's the guy."

Leon finished his purchase and waved goodbye to Lawrence and made his way home, picking up a couple of other key ingredients on the way.

When he got inside, Vance was nowhere to be seen, figures.

He started to put away his new purchases and made sure that the other present he had prepared for Vance had not been tampered with, it was hidden on top of some of their kitchen shelves, Vance would have very little chance of finding it, perfect.

"Hey, Leon." Another deep, masculine voice rang through the building.

"Hey Dad, I got a huge beef cut, check this out." He proudly presented the slab to his father who had been in town for about 3 months now. Adrian looked a lot like Leon, but older, somehow a tad taller with a generous extra serving of facial hair.

He was skinnier than Leon, probably a result of his time spent on the road.

Adrian approved and moved to help him put his various things away, then he spotted the hidden present which was now visible while Leon had been checking it.

"Really?"

"What? You gave me one when I was 16, only seems right."

Adrian sighed

"How's Vance?" Leon asked.

"He's fine, he's still out there, just like always."

Vance was sitting out in the back garden, at the moment he was cross-legged and his palms were layered atop one another in what appeared to be a meditative stance. This has been his routine every day for the last 2 years.

He had never considered himself lazy, though even he was surprised by his diligence in this task, through wind and rain he had continued this activity, more than once he'd caught a nasty cold and considered moving inside for those miserable days, but he persisted. He only went inside to eat and sleep.

He reasoned that if he wanted to learn to feel mana he needed to figure out which sense to pay attention to. He's always known that his hearing was better than that of the people around him due to his lack of eyesight, though he couldn't just get rid of all of his senses. Instead, he tried to sort them.

Out here, his senses were always active to some degree, the wind would keep his sense of touch active, the various nearby farm animals would keep his ears and nose engaged and with enough of them, he was willing to say that his sense of taste was usually always stimulated to some degree as well, unfortunately.

And so, like this, he searched himself and his environment for anything that didn't fit into those categories.

So far, nothing.

The only exception to his training was when on one occasion Ethan had visited to tell him that he'd purchased one of those firestone charms that Elijah was talking about and offered Vance the chance to take a look at it, in case it could help.

Much like the coin and its weight, Vance could sense the extra unexplained heat that radiated off of the stone, though he couldn't feel the mana, just its effects.

Although he hadn't been able to feel the mana, Vance had felt that he had developed something of a better sense of introspection, it was difficult to describe but he felt like perhaps he had a more concise picture of himself after spending so much time searching inwardly.

"Vance?"

Oh, Leon was here. He hadn't noticed, how odd.

"Hey Leon, Sorry - didn't hear you coming."

"Ha, told you I could sneak up on you if I wanted. How's it going?"

"Uneventful. Though, I've noticed over the last few days that there's a deer or something who shows up to graze around the treeline, just over there. Maybe we should trap it." Vance pointed south, maybe a few hundred feet away.

"You heard it that far away?"

"Not exactly, I inferred it from the reactions of the other animals. I think it's probably a big one, a lot of the smaller critters make a lot of noise and scatter from that area at around the same time. I hope it's a deer, or I might've been ignoring a bear for the last few days. It hasn't come closer though, so I don't think so."

Leon produced a little snort-laugh and gestured over towards the bear trap they have by the back of the house, then realised the futility of his gesture.

"Alright, I'll put down the old trap later on. Thanks for the tip. I hope you're right on the deer thing, that'll be a good catch."

"Bearskin is valuable too, good for rugs."

Leon looked at his younger brother who he thought seemed to have aged about 35 years in the last 2. The way he spoke now was very different to just two years ago, something had changed. He's calmer, more composed and far more serious.

Then he recognised it, it was something he saw in his father during his grief for his mother. He was young at the time so he didn't know it, but he was seeing a man running out of options, in his father's case it was inevitable acceptance of his wife's death, in his brother's case, it was being forced to accept his affliction.

"How goes the whole magic...sense...thing?"

"Slow. I think I'm making progress because honestly, I feel a little...I don't really know, different? Maybe it's just because I'm older now, but I feel more aware of myself than I ever have before, do you know what I mean?"

"Ah, Puber-"

"No. Definitely not. Been there done that, Leon." Vance couldn't help but smile a little at that.

"So, do you think you're close?"

"No idea. I think I need a new idea, this was a good start, but I don't think it's going anywhere further, call it intuition."

"Alright, what's the plan?"

"Well, I was thinking. A lot. Now that I feel like I've got a really firm grasp of my senses, I need to, sort of...turn them off. At first, I didn't think that was a viable option, but now..."

Leon just stared at him in silence for a moment, Vance continued.

"I know, it sounds stupid, but hear me out. I can hear better than most people because I can't see, I've honed that sense to the point that it's pretty great. I figure I can try the same thing with this...extra sense? I still don't really know what it is, but I wondered if by making it the only thing I'm left with, perhaps I'll have an easier time."

Vance could hear Leon scratching at his chin, seems that his brother had been letting his facial hair grow out a bit, probably jealous of dads beard.

"I guess it sort of makes sense. What do you need?"

"Something soft and preferably waterproof to stuff my ears and nose, a trough filled with water and something from the alchemist that can make me numb, preferably chewable."

"This...sounds like an accident waiting to happen."

"That's what you'll be for."

Leon sighed heavily. "Fine, I'll see what I can do, and only because it's your birthday tomorrow."

"Wait, it is?"

"Happy Birthday, Vance!"

The family hadn't made it a big affair, it was just the three of them, which was Vance's preference anyway.

Adrian and Leon sat with him in the living room, where they had moved a large table and covered it in meat and confectionary. Evidently, they considered this birthday to be quite important, Vance could literally hear how light his brother's pockets were.

The three were tucking into their meal when someone knocked at the door, Leon excused himself to get the door and he stepped outside to have a quick conversation with the newcomer, a few minutes later he came back with something shuffling in his hands, he threw the sack over the table towards Vance, who surprisingly caught it.

"Oh, Nice!" Leon reacted and clapped his hands together.

"Blind my ass, this kid's a better catch than I was at his age," Adrian added.

"The bag is loud guys, I heard it coming."

At once, both of the others replied.

"The point stands."

That made him smile. He opened the bag and the smell of the plant inside made his nose go numb immediately. He closed it quickly.

"Whoa, what's that?!"

"You asked for a numbing agent, so I got you one. Did he call it Mitch leaf? itch leaf? Vich? I don't remember exactly, it doesn't matter. I tried it myself first, it works, maybe a bit too well, I couldn't feel anything for about 6 hours last night."

"Thanks, Leon, once again, you are the most valuable resource I have at my disposal."

"Hey, what about me?" Adrian said, feigning indignation.

"When I need an endless supply of hair, I'll come to you, dad."

"Ouch."

"Speaking of pain..." Leon smirked at Adrian and left the room for a moment, coming back in with something wrapped in cloth in his hands. "Alright Vance, I'm being deathly serious here for once, I have a gift for you that's extremely dangerous, it's a tradition in our family and y-"

"You got me a sword?!"

"There's my little brother." he thought, still an excited kid under the newly minted serious exterior.

"...You have to be extremely careful with it, you can't see, so you might hurt yourself or someone else with it. It's strictly for decoration, understood? I've had Ethan dull the blade significantly to try and avoid you hurting yourself, but seriously."

Vance calmed himself and nodded. "I understand, I know full well that I can't go swinging a sharp object around when I can't see where I'm swinging it. Still, thanks, it means a lot, I didn't think I'd be allowed one."

Adrian looked a little guilty at that. He was originally quite against this idea, but Leon convinced him that it was worth the risk, he knew Vance would feel terrible if he was the only boy in the family who they excluded from this tradition.

Leon handed the bundle over to Vance and told him how it was wrapped, Vance carefully unwrapped the weapon which was held in a gorgeous sheath made of real leather, it was smooth and it didn't smell too strongly, it was expensive.

"The leather is a light brown and the hilt has been coloured a bright silver, including the guard. It's not actually silver - the whole thing is iron, but we thought it'd fit your aesthetic."

"I'll take your word for it!" Vance exclaimed happily and gripped the hilt, gingerly drawing the sword from its sheath. It was heavier than he expected.

"How is it?" Leon asked.

"It feels good to hold, the weight is...reassuring?"

Both other men nodded.

"Yeah, a heavy sword is a sword you can rely on." Adrian chimed in. "I hope you'll never have to use it, but our family is always prepared."

It took Vance a minute to get the sword back into its sheath, and then Leon handed him a belt.

"The sheath attaches to that, you're of age now, so you can wear it in public, though it might not be the best idea."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I think I'll keep it in my room for now."

Nods of agreement permeated the room. "I always knew you'd be the smart one, son."

"Hey!" Leon exclaimed.