Hidden beneath dust, half-torn tapestries, and old festival drums, the east wing storeroom of House Darsha had been long forgotten.
Which made it the perfect place to build a secret workshop.
Sharath had claimed it slowly—first by crawling in with a ribbon and blanket, then returning each day with "toys," "tools," and a growing glint of mischief in his eyes. The servants thought it adorable.
They did not realize the little lord had initiated a private research facility.
❖ The Nest of WondersBy the end of the first week, the storeroom contained:
A wooden bench made from stacked crates.
A small forge tray repurposed from a ruined brazier.
A rune-marked spoon (for stirring, but also enchanting).
Four stolen brass buttons.
A broken kitchen bell.
Two squirrel bones (don't ask).
And one very confused cat, now named Thermo.
Thermo had wandered in, examined Sharath's schematics, and promptly made the corner pillow his throne. Sharath accepted the feline's presence as payment for guarding the door.
❖ Gears and GroansSharath's next goal was clear: build a rotating device with adjustable force output.
To that end, he began experimenting with gear ratios.
His first design used repurposed toy wheels and carved wooden pegs. When spun, the device made a cheerful grinding noise—and promptly fell apart.
Version two was sturdier, but the axle wobbled. Bearings, he realized, were the problem.
He tested:
Waxed leather sleeves: too soft.
Tin rings: too brittle.
Cloth-wrapped dowels: caught fire.
After the third fire, Thermo the cat relocated to a high shelf and gave him a look that said, You're lucky you're cute.
Sharath grumbled and chalked the wall:
Bearings – Failure #3Current issue: friction + instability.Needed: harder casing, smoother rotation, magical buffer?
He began sketching a theoretical design: wood exterior, enchanted copper rings for glide, and a stabilizing rune that dispersed pressure evenly.
He named it Spin-Stone Mk. I.
❖ The Material CrisisBy midmonth, Sharath hit a wall.
Not literally—though Thermo did knock over a crate once.
The problem was materials. Every time he tested a component, the local wood warped, the metal bent, or the adhesives crumbled.
He made a list:
Pine warped under heat.
Oak cracked when enchanted.
Most village metal was too impure or brittle.
He needed:
Stable alloys.
Uniform wooden grain.
Consistent enchantment conduction.
But such materials were rare—and nobles didn't just request trade modifications without council approval.
So he improvised.
And began recruiting.
❖ The ApprenticesIt started with Dayo, a young scullery boy with a knack for stacking dishes into perfect spirals. Sharath gave him a toy that chirped when balanced right. Dayo was intrigued.
Then came Mina, a gardener's daughter, who could untangle any vine and recite flower names in three dialects. Sharath showed her how vines shared design principles with flexible wiring.
Together, they became his first apprentices—though they thought of it more as "weird playtime with the baby lord who knows too much."
Sharath communicated through hand gestures, toy demonstrations, and eventually a series of chalkboards with increasingly complex diagrams.
Dayo learned how to carve cogs.
Mina mastered precise glue mixtures using flour and ash.
Thermo, as unofficial supervisor, knocked over anything out of alignment.
It was a system.
❖ First Functioning Gear AssemblyAfter twelve failed versions, three finger-pinching accidents, and one terrifying near-explosion involving dried cinnamon powder and heat runes, Sharath finally assembled a working two-stage gear system.
It turned smoothly.
It amplified rotation.
And—when connected to a manual crank—produced enough torque to lift a loaded basket with half the effort.
Sharath stared at it, blinking.
Mina clapped.
Dayo shouted, "It's alive!"
Thermo blinked once, unimpressed.
Sharath whispered, "It works."
❖ Parental SuspicionLady Ishvari, curious about the increasingly long "naps" her son insisted on in the east wing, peeked in one day.
She found Mina polishing a metal bracket, Dayo organizing brass bits, and Sharath lying on his back beneath a miniature pulley system, tightening a bolt with a cloth-wrapped stick.
He looked up at her, blinked, and gave a sheepish wave.
She stared.
He gave her the "duck smile"—his fallback expression for "don't ask, it's going well."
She shook her head, laughing softly. "If he asks for blueprints before he speaks full sentences, I'm sending for the Arcanum."
❖ Log Entry – Spin-Stone ProgressSharath wrote, with a worn chalk nub:
Workshop Status: Operational
Gear assembly functioning ✅
First pulley test successful ✅
Bearings still unstable ❌
Material limit reached ❌
Apprentices recruited ✅
Next Steps:
Seek copper alloy samples.
Design basic press mechanism.
Sketch spring-tension propulsion ideas (see: bouncing chair test).
Begin experimenting with hand-powered drive shafts.
He underlined the last line and added a crude doodle of a cart with pedals—and a very confused chicken strapped in front.
He grinned.