That was how it went the first few weeks. Phineas weaved several baskets, and was very good at it, but he was getting tired of doing the same thing every day. He had been told that basket weaving would be extremely useful for winter preparation, but he wanted to do something different, and decided that it would be best to talk to Fairy Mary about it. He found her in the back of the workshop one morning.
"Fairy Mary?"
"Yes, Phineas? What can I do for you?" she asked, not looking up from her work.
"I was wondering if I could make something other than baskets today." He explained.
She looked at him curiously. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I'm certain I could make all of the seasonal supplies if I were allowed. It's just my sight that's the problem. I'd like to make something to help me see in my workspace." He said, he was about to ask if she had any ideas what he could use to make such a device, but was cut off by her gasping
"Oh my goodness! How did I manage to forget about that?" she quickly left her workspace and grabbed Phineas by the hand "Come on. There's someone you need to meet."
"Whoa!" Phineas was suddenly being pulled along by Fairy Mary away from Tinker's nook. She brought him to the creek where he could see pale blue figures gliding on the water. One of them noticed their arrival and glided over to them. She got close enough for Phineas to recognize that she had long black hair.
"Hi Fairy Mary!" She greeted. "You never came back last week."
"Sorry about that." Fairy Mary replied. "You know how busy we get. Time got away from me."
"That's alright." She replied with a laugh. She turned to Phineas. "You must be the new guy. Phineas, right?"
"Aye, that's right." He answered.
"Silvermist." She said, giving a tiny curtsey.
"I'll leave you to it then." Fairy Mary said. "I'll see you back at the workshop." She flew off in the direction of Tinker's Nook.
Silvermist waved her off and turned back to Phineas. "So. Shall we get started?"
"I'll be honest." Phineas said, running a hand through his hair and grinning sheepishly, "I have no idea what's going on."
"We're going to use water to help you see better." She explained. She reached into the creek and picked up a large drop of water from it. She held it up in front of Phineas. "Go ahead. Take a look."
He hesitantly peered through the water drop. He let out a gasp. Things looked much sharper through the water. He could see the Rocks, the lilly pads, even the ripples in the creek. He stared at all of it with amazement. He'd never seen anything this clearly before. "Whoa!" he cried when Silvermist's face appeared in the drop.
She let out a laugh, making Phineas blush. "So I guess it works." She said, smiling.
"Aye, it does." He said, smiling wide "Thank you, Miss Silvermist. Now how am I going to make this work at the workshop?" He took a step back and pondered for a moment. "I think I've got it. Mind giving me a hand?" he started grabbing nearby twigs and blades of grass.
Silvermist set down the water drop and helped Phineas. She held the twigs as he tied them together, and wondered what in the world he was doing. He made two identical pieces that stood straight up from the ground. He made a few adjustments on his own as she watched.
"Alright." He said, standing up. "Now I need the water drop." Silvermist nodded and got a new drop of water, the same size and held it for him. He took a long blade of grass and wrapped it around the drop, and with Silvermist's help, attached it to the two posts he had made. He adjusted a few more things and Silvermist watched. He took one last look through the drop and stepped back.
"Perfect!" he said. "This will work just fine."
"Wow," Silvermist said, amazed "You're such a clever Tinker."
"Thank you," he said, blushing again. "Could you help me bring this back to the workshop? I'm afraid I don't know how to get back on my own."
"Of course," Silvermist replied. Picking up one of the posts. Phineas grabbed the other and they carried it back to Tinker's Nook. Phineas watched the ground through the water, enjoying being able to see the ground clearly for the first time. Silvermist smiled at seeing Phineas so pleased, realizing it must have been hard having such weak vision.
They made it back to the workshop and set up Phineas' creation. He looked through the drop once more and made a few final adjustments. When he was finished, he stepped back and turned to Silvermist.
"Thank you so much, Miss Silvermist." He said, holding his hand out to her.
She decided to hug him instead. "You're welcome." She said and let him go. "Oh! If you ever need more water, come and find me, and I'll fix you up."
After his visit with Silvermist, things got steadily easier for Phineas. He was able to do more of the crafting tasks, though was sometimes still slower than the other Tinkers. He often had to maneuver around his lens to make certain attachments, and he couldn't bring it with him to go get the supplies he worked with. That was a bit of a struggle. Sometimes when he got his supplies, they were far away from his work station and he often stumbled or bumped into tables or other fairies on his way back to his area.
Fairy Mary was patient with him though. She had taken quite a liking to him and saw a lot of promise in him despite his disability. She spent more time with him at his station than any other Tinker. She would show him the precise way to tweak different, more challenging crafts, and had even begun to teach him how to build and repair the delivery wagons.
"It's best to get a head start on this." She explained. "We'll be making a lot of deliveries for Spring time before we know it. Oh! Use a seven gage twig for the axel."
"Aye, Fairy Mary. Will do." He said, correcting himself. "But shouldn't we be preparing for Winter? Aren't there a lot of preparations to do for that?"
"We'll begin working on Snowflake baskets in two days." Fairy Mary replied. "From there, the snowy owls will come and take the baskets to the Winter Woods."
"Is that all we do?" Phineas asked.
"Yes," She answered "Winter isn't warm fairy work. It's too dangerous for us." She helped him lift the body of the cart onto the frame.
"So why do we start Spring preparations before we make the snowflake baskets?" Phineas asked.
They fastned the body of the wagon down, and began checking over their work. Phineas was very good at spotting small errors when he got up close to their craftsmanship.
"Well," Fairy Mary started "Spring is probably the most important of all the seasons. It's when new life begins and the cold fades away. The flowers start blooming and everything begins anew."
Phineas smiled wistfully. He couldn't wait for Spring. It sounded better every time he heard about it. "That sounds incredible."
"It most certainly is. Hand me that hammer, would you?"
He gave her the hammer and she began tapping on the axel. "I'm going to head back to my station and work on the pollen pods."
"Alright, go on." Fairy Mary said without looking up.
He began making his way back to his station, keeping his hand on a wall or table to guide him. He noticed whoever he was next to would stop working as he passed, then would hear them begin again as soon as he was gone. He curiously glanced back at the Tinker he'd just passed, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
He turned back around and crashed into one of the other workers, knocking their supplies from his hands.
"I'm so sorry!" Phineas exclaimed. "Let me help you with that!"
"I've got it." The Tinker said with a gruff, frustrated voice. "Get back to your station."
"No, please, let me help. IT was my mistake."
"Phineas! Go back to your station, okay? I don't need your help!" the worker snapped.
Phineas shrunk back a bit. "O-okay." He stammered and flittered past, bumping another table as he went. He caught the basket he'd knocked over before it fell and continued back to his station while two other Tinkers helped the worker he'd bumped into.
"It was only an accident…" he said quietly to himself. He ended up staying late in the workshop that night. He didn't see Fairy Mary since he had helped her with the wagon. He considered telling her about what had happened. He'd never been yelled at by any of the workers before. It wasn't like he'd done it on purpose. And he'd offered to help clean up. Maybe that Tinker was just having a bad day. Phineas decided that must have been the case and focused on making pollen pods.