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It all started when the emperor and his sister went to view the eclipse. They had had to remove their mittens to make their way up the ladder, and Cala noticed how His Serenity grimaced against the icy-cold of the metal. There ought to be, he thought to himself, a better way, something that could ensure both comfort and safety.
The issue was very simple: a glove provided protection by keeping the warmth in and the cold out, but a barrier thick enough to ensure that was too thick for the fingers to move properly. It was simply not possible to engineer such a thing by ordinary means.
Of course, Cala did not work by ordinary means. But even an enchanted barrier had limits, and try as he might, he could not think of a solution.
The answer came to him one evening, on an off shift that fell on a bitterly cold night. He had wryly suggested to Beshelar that they push their beds together that they might conserve warmth. Beshelar had unexpectedly agreed, and Cala was thinking to himself that it was very fortunate he had voiced that particular whim, pressing against the heat of his partner's body.
"That's it," he said to himself.
Beshelar jerked to alertness with a grumpy half-asleep noise. "What?"
"Oh, sorry," Cala said. "'Tis nothing. I'll explain tomorrow."
The idea was really very simple. A barrier was not, and would never be enough, no matter what sort of material or method it was constructed from. What was needed was another heat source, the same way the heat of another body made the blankets more effective.
Of course, it was far simpler in concept than in practice. The heat source would need to be evenly distributed through the glove, long-lasting, and most importantly, carefully controlled. Not warm enough and it was useless; too warm and it risked burning the delicate skin of the hand.
Cala worked on the spell for several weeks, in the odd hours between shifts and sleep. There was a cantrip used to light fires that drew in heat from the surrounding air—he based the idea on that, but heavily modified, not only for duration and intensity, but so that it might only draw heat from one side, and let it escape to the other.
There was also the matter of embedding it into the fabric—and of sustaining the maz, which Cala had no plan for as of yet. He might make it last a day or two, but he could not think of how to get it to refresh itself.
His first prototype, tested on a rag, lit itself on fire within minutes. Beshelar had not been happy with that, and had banished future attempts to outside of the Alcethmeret.
A month and a half later, the fifty-eighth prototype worked. It was well past midnight, but Cala ran back up the stairs to the nohecharei's quarters to show his partner. This test was on one of Cala's socks. From the outside it was perfectly unremarkable, but when one reached inside it was perfectly toasty warm.
Even Beshelar could not hide a little impressment.
"It's actually warm! Goddesses above, hast really done it."
Cala grinned. "It can be put on anything, although it's best if the material holds warmth. It don't know how long it will stay warm—perhaps forty-eight hours or so, and then I shall have to put more maz into it. So it shan't work for His Serenity, unless I can make it last longer…"
Beshelar hmmph'd. "Why should it need to last longer? Art thou not on duty at least once every forty-eight hours?"
"Well, I suppose so," Cala said. "But I need to touch it to cast the enchantment. It seems… inconvenient."
Beshelar's ears twisted awkwardly. "I think he would not…" He coughed, looking a little pink. "He would not mind, if is thee."
Cala lifted an eyebrow. "Deret Beshelar is advising me I should disregard propriety before the emperor? I never thought I'd see the day."
"Not disregard, exactly… There is a balance…"
Cala smiled. "Between comfort and safety, I know. Perhaps that principle can be applied more broadly than just to gloves."