Tante Olga soon headed out to attach the newly-made iron knocker to the outer castle door, and Bettina took a break for lunch, leaving Sabrina alone. She had just started to examine the broken clasp of a delicate necklace when she felt a tug on the back of her canvas apron.

Turning around, she was surprised to see a Helferin standing there, the top of its brown hood not quite reaching her waist. It gazed up at her, or at least, she assumed it did...all she could see was a patch of darkness where a face would have been, had the messenger been real rather than a spelled creation.

"A package arrived for you," a voice said from somewhere inside the enchanted castle helper. "From your father."

A smile leapt to Sabrina's face, and she immediately set down the necklace. Quickly untying her apron, she draped it over the back of a nearby chair, hoping it indicated she wouldn't be gone long. Normally witchlings didn't just leave their work in the middle of the day, but a present from her father simply couldn't wait.

Ever since her father, Wilhem, had written a few weeks ago and said he was sending something special, Sabrina had been waiting impatiently, checking in with the Helferin numerous times a day. Ultimately, she'd decided to make sure she received notification the moment a package arrived, which she'd done by casting a combined task-and-spreading task spell.

The task part of the spell specified what she wanted the Helferin to do, and the spreading part meant it would pass from the original Helferin she cast the spell on to the rest of the castle helpers. It wasn't particularly exciting magic, as it was something all witches could do, but it was efficient, and Sabrina was quite fond of efficiency.

Hurrying through the crowded hallways, she tossed off apologies she didn't really mean as she darted around witches who seemed to walk slowly for no other purpose than to irritate her. She almost tripped over a group of Helferin, sending the brown-robed helpers scurrying out of her path and muttering behind her back.

It seemed as if it had never taken so long to reach the suite of rooms she shared with her mother, but eventually she saw the dark wooden door fitted with a brass nameplate, the last name Verrun etched in sweeping letters by someone with far better handwriting than hers.

Opening the door, Sabrina fervently hoped her mother was out. Marlene didn't usually spend much time in the rooms during the day, preferring to work in her office or be out among the other Hexen, offering suggestions, a listening ear, or a word of encouragement, but she also frequently seemed to appear when Sabrina most wanted privacy.

Thankfully, her mother was nowhere to be seen, and Sabrina rushed towards the oversized wooden crate sitting on the dining room table. Pressing a hand against the cream-colored wood, she connected with the nails keeping the lid shut and quickly shared an image of a hammer pulling nails out of a wall, followed by the word, Open!

The iron nails grumbled at her rudeness, and flashed a series of images that made it clear they would liked to have been asked rather than ordered around. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Sabrina offered a perfunctory apology in the form of an image of herself with her head bowed, gazing sadly at the ground, which the nails accepted.

After a few seconds of creaking, the lid was loose enough for her to easily lift off. Sabrina carefully pushed aside the packing material filling the crate, her heart pounding with excitement as her hand made contact with something large and solid, wrapped inside a thick cloth.

Pulling the wrapped package free and setting it carefully on the table, Sabrina untied the string that held the cloth in place, and as the protective covering fell away, it revealed a large, brass microscope.

Sabrina grinned, running her fingers over the shiny surface, admiring the tiny mirror, numerous eyepieces, and various dials. Peering back inside the crate, she noticed a folded piece of parchment, which she quickly retrieved. It read:

Dear Sabrina, I hope this finds you well. Great progress continues to be made in the pursuit of scientific endeavors, and this is the newest model of a microscope I frequently use. I thought you might enjoy it.

Sabrina's father was right—she would enjoy it. The microscope had also come with a small box of prepared slides, and Sabrina withdrew the first one and fitted the glass gently beneath the thin metal clamps before looking through one of the eyepieces.

Adjusting the dials until the slide came into focus, Sabrina gasped. It was so much clearer than her old microscope! According to the title of the slide, she was looking at a sliver of a plant—a thistle, to be specific—and she could see each tiny, circular cell of the cross-section butting up against its neighbor.

She thought back to the first time she'd seen such a thing. She'd been six-years old, impatiently waiting for the Spring Equinox so she could undergo the seasonal Affinity Testing and discover her unique connection to magic. Her father had sent her a microscope as a birthday present, and she'd spent countless hours staring at the tiny particles contained inside soil, blood, and pond water, each captured in a single instant, forever unmoving, allowing her to examine them to her heart's content.

She'd been amazed at how looking through the microscope had felt like falling between the innermost pieces of whatever she'd been looking at, like she'd shrunk down and found herself surrounded by countless tiny particles, able to touch them above, behind, beside, all around her.

When she'd undergone Affinity Testing and been given the chance to interact with metal, she'd felt the exact same thing...in addition to sharing pictures and words on a page in her mind, she'd also found herself able to mentally adjust her perspective, changing her focus in the same way she turned the knobs of a microscope.

This allowed her to go deep inside the metal, able to see how each particle connected to another and how the object held itself together from the inside out. It also allowed her to study the metal from a distance, even in her mind's eye, letting her observe every outward indentation, ridge, or coloration.

Whether looking through the microscope had prepared her for discovering her affinity or had simply provided her with a paradigm through which to use it, she wasn't sure.

She did know, however, she would always be grateful to her father for that birthday present.

Sabrina lost herself in the microscope, completely unaware of the passing time until a knock rang out from the front door. For a moment, she considered ignoring it, but the knock sounded again, more insistent this time, so she contented herself with frowning as she made her way from the dining room to the foyer.

"Yes?" she asked sharply as she jerked open the door.

A Helferin stood there and offered her a piece of paper. She recognized the writing immediately, each word printed in Tante Olga's neat, even script: "Is everything alright?"

Sabrina groaned, wishing she could tear up the note and, by doing so, destroy any other demands on her time. She'd completely forgotten about her regular metallurgy work, and there were still pieces waiting to be finished.

Picture by Kevin Woblick from Unsplash