Grounded

And so, the ecstasy of attaining a goal was met with the despair of punishment…

I'm currently in my room. The reason seems flimsy, but I can't argue with mother. It was right after the journey home that I told her the good news.

…

"Hey mom!" I called excitedly, trying to keep weight of of my sprained leg. "I've made us so much coin. All we have to do is collect some web."

"What are you talking about?" Amusement flashed across her features. "Have you found some stay spider silk? With that much we could only sell it for so much. Why don't you go and get it turned into thread instead honey."

"I have more than just a bit mom." I proceeded to tell my tail. It didn't register that as I continued, mom's face paled further and further.

"Dave, I'm going to say this once. Got up. Go to your room. You are grounded." Fury blazed from her body.

…

Apparently those spider nest are handled by ten to twenty well armed people. I didn't know why, it wasn't too hard. Sure it was scary as all nether, but with a good plan I pulled it off.

It was satisfying when despite everything, mom got her business associates to come help her harvest the nest. They even got ingredients and such from the spiders. Their legs are supposed to taste good, or so mom says.

So here I am. I'm super bored. I don't even feel like doing anything right now.

"Dave, I've gotten something for you. Even though what you did was insanely reckless, I still want to say thank you." Mom spoke from the other side of the door. "I don't want you to think your efforts were bad. You did really well, but doing something like that was very dangerous. I don't want to lose you."

My eyes watered as I threw open my door and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry."

"It's not particularly fine, but what in the world motivated you to do… that!?" She was staring into my eyes.

"Well" I nervously stuttered "you said that to get that string, I would have to get web from a spider nest. So I did just that."

The look I got was incredulous, wide eyes with jaw dropped. Then the laughing began. I chuckled along for a few seconds, but it was getting a bit uncomfortable.

"Well at least I know not to put any more ideas in your head. You're so stubborn, you'll try to do anything you put your mind to."

…

Later that day mom brought me the spoils of my effort, a big heavy spool of thread. It was even gold colored like I asked her. There was also a bag of coin, but that wasn't important at the moment.

Now, I started to plan. I had what I needed to make some magic clothes. I already had a design in mind. The main color would be purple. I wanted to use the golden colored silk in a honeycomb pattern. The hexagon was definitely important. And on the back would be the symbol of my trade. It would look like two T's combined with -'s adorning each side.

I also needed to line some pants and gloves with the magic cloth, as well as some socks. The only footwear you could probably make with jus cloth would be slippers. I'll take my design's to the tailor when I can leave my room.

After getting my own clothes line designs finished, I eyed the other bag. I slowly unraveled the drawstring and took a look inside. Imagine my surprise as coins of yellow graced thine eyes. It was so much money! As I dug through the sack, I felt something else. I pulled this object to the surface and gasped. It was an emerald. That means mom has the same amount as I do. We agreed back in those mining days, she would take half of what I earn.

As I was feeling the gold, a thought entered my mind. I wonder what this could do with vis. My experiments were thorough, and it was definitely better than iron in its vis conductivity. It was practically one to one. This could be useful.

First I knew roughly how to get my lens to properly measure in theory now. I looked at the naturally alined concentration of crystal dust, and how it subtly glows while looking at things.

In my opinion, it needs a counterbalance.

I could form a frame of gold. Then I could pair a crystal with its opposing line. The lines would usually glow brighter, the more vis in an object. I'm hoping I could make the lines glow gradually. It would start from the center and spread out, so I could actually measure it.

The gold also means I could make better caps for a wand. There were just so many possibilities, and relatively little gold. It sure was a pity.

Well, no use doing anything now. I'm still grounded. I just have to bide my time in overreactive misery.

That was my life for a few weeks. It seemed like a lifetime in my youth, but is only the blink of an eye now…