Machinist of Mana

“Go!” I enthused as I was picked up.

“Now, now Percival, stop giving Mrs. Lutte so much trouble,” my mother chided, as she carried me.

I let my little legs wiggle, careful not to hit mother as I worked them. She was the only one in the house who could catch me now, able to move far, far faster than her dresses would imply. To my dismay I'd never developed the magic that my father displayed.

No, I couldn't throw fireballs or bolts of lightning, but on the other hand I could run almost as fast as a car. The sensation was something else, wind blowing through my hair, muscles tensing and releasing all at once. I was strong too, one of the reasons I was being careful not to strike my mother accidentally.

“Go! Down!” I said as I was passed over to Mrs. Lutte.

“Little bundle of energy recently aren't you?” my nursemaid asked.

“Please be careful dear, and let me know if he hits you. We'll get you healed up right away,” my mother told her with a caring voice. “Doesn't know his own strength yet, something we'll have to teach him soon.”

“My Lady I think the boy knows more than we realize. He's always had care with me after that first time, and while he might be a bit of a handful now and then he's never been one for fits,” she answered with a smile.

She was right, and as I sat in her arms quietly I wondered if she did indeed know just how much I got. Over the last two years I'd all but mastered the local tongue, and already knew my way around the house well too. I even knew parts of the grounds, but with my tendency to wander I was never allowed on those without mother close by, lest I should run off.

The other part of what she said pinged a bit shamefully in me though. When my powers had first activated I'd been trying to escape from Mrs. Lutte, and kicked her in my flight. I'd not thought anything of it at the time, not knowing how hard I could kick. The snapping of one of her ribs had put a quick end to my misconception, and since I'd been unbelievably careful around her and everyone else.

Once more I winced as I remembered the scream she'd let out, or the wincing pain as the butler tried to put her back to normal, beads of sweat running down his face. He was one of several servants we employed who had minor magics, called 'talents' his being a small healing spell he could use once or twice a day.

“Still, be careful. I had to ask around for advice on this, since almost no one manifests at his age. Some of the ladies suggested that I hire someone with a talent for durability, but finding such servants isn't easy,” she said with a frown.

“Like Mrs. Lutte,” I replied, getting a smile from both women. “Kaylee too.” That was met with a slightly more complicated look.

“Percival, you are not to touch Kaylee,” my mother told me with a hard look.

“Won't,” I replied.

“I mean it Percival,” she repeated, eyes turning to steel.

“Won't, promise,” I told her truthfully.

Kaylee was Mrs. Lutte's daughter, and whether mother knew it or not my half-sister. I'd been pretty convinced of father's infidelity as a baby, something that had gotten more and more clear as Mrs. Lutte's pregnancy and conversations with him had gone on. When the child had been born my beliefs were confirmed, she looked too damn much like my father for anything else.

Being that I was so little and Kaylee was still a baby it was fine that she was kept in the nursery as well. Her mother did need to look after her at her age, and two children wasn't too much worse than one. I was satisfied that I got to keep an eye on her, hoping that I might find some way to help her one day. Sadly I didn't know enough about this world or have enough power to do much yet.

Mother soon left us, and my nanny carried me back to the room I spent most of my time in she gave me a gentle smile. “How about I read you a story mi'lord?” she asked.

“Okay!” I told her, after all I still needed to improve my reading skills, knowledge was power, regardless of your world.

For example I'd learned this world had trains of a sort, though I'd never seen one. I also learned that I was of the nobility, a title would be passed down from my father to myself one day, as it would from his father. More interesting was that the nobles of this world were new-ish. A few hundred years ago things had gotten shaken up, and while they'd settled back down we were not some ancient institution.

There were no cars yet, but a few pictures in some of the books I had depicted things like guns. Those therefore must exist in some form somewhere. Overall I was putting our level of technology somewhere around the 1800s, though with magic involved everything was a bit wonky. For example, I knew that my father had a number of items that could heat or cool parts of the house, and mother had something akin to a mirror with brilliantly bright lighting around it, though it seldom saw use.

I'd also come to learn through hearing people talk that last year my parents had elected to skip 'The Season', some sort of yearly migration of the nobility to one of the regional capitals. They'd gotten a number of letters questioning if everything was well, and even a few visitors. I'd even been introduced to some of those, their explanation for skipping everything, since mother didn't much want to travel with me. The year previous she'd been pregnant, but I got the feeling that she honestly also didn't really like going.

This year however there would be no skipping of the yearly event, in about a month's time my family, and many of our staff, would be picking up and moving. I wondered where we would be staying as I read along with the book Mrs. Lutte had brought, making the little 'choo-choo' noises at all the right times.

“Are you excited about tomorrow?” she asked when we'd finished.

“Why?” I questioned, a bit confused.

“Your going to visit your grandparents, didn't anyone tell you?” They had not.

“Yay, grandpa!” I told her, not hiding that I loved those trips. Upon seeing her raise an eyebrow I added. “Yay, grandma!” Though I didn't manage the same feeling.

My grandmother mostly ignored me, other than the times she was trying to force manners into my skull. Her husband though was really my kind of guy, and one of my favorite people. Those two were the only ones I visited regularly, so I didn't worry that it was my paternal grandparents. My father's parents were... oddly distant, never really seeing us anymore. They lived in the regional capital at any rate, and didn't travel out our way.