It locks eyes with you...
True to his promise, Morrin had deposited Aennin in the workshop as soon as they arrived at the family shop to run the smelter. But the boy didn't mind. Since he had begun to involve himself in the making of his father's clocks five years prior, he had grown to believe in the family business. Business was slow of late, but he would always remember the joy of seeing a customer buy his first fully handmade clock. Charming the fussy old woman into paying for his pride and joy had been nearly as much work as making the clock itself had and that fleeting moment of pride motivated him no matter which corner of the shop he was told to work in.
He had just finished processing the copper that would soon replenish their swiftly dwindling store of gears when he began to reflect on the day that had led him to this moment. A fight with a bully, his mother putting him down over it, and the fight between his father and Kala; all of that had seemed so difficult to process, but simultaneously unsurprising. What he had experienced today felt inevitable in hindsight, and he didn't see it getting better any time soon.
Aennin laid out his first casting tray near the smelter, loaded with his first batch of molds. Before he could pour the molten metal, however, he heard a series of thunderous footsteps pounding the sales floor just outside the workshop. Two--no, three-- men appeared to have barged into the shop. The boy felt a skip in his heartbeat and hastened to the door to eavesdrop.
"What are you doing here, Katim? We agreed that you were not to meet me in my shop!" Morrin hissed urgently.
Aennin heard a violent thud and the clatter of several fallen clocks before the reply, "We agreed, Morrin, that you were going to be making a payment. Every. Damn. Week." Each of the three words with which the intruder had concluded his snarling accusation was punctuated by the crash of another destroyed clock.
The brutality of Katim's response brought an obvious change in Morrin's attitude. All traces of his irritation had given way to a more restrained mercy. "I've been sending your payments as promised! The courier has been robbed twice!"
Another clock shattered. "I'd suggest, Morrin, that you hire a more reliable courier. Why should I have to suffer because you're too cheap to hire competent help?"
"Well, I do apologize for making you take the time out of your day for my sake," Morrin sputtered nervously. "Let me make it up to you by paying the two weeks I'm missing, and I'll make another week's payment in advance!"
"How generous!" Katim said patronizingly. "But how about we call that additional payment the cost of my personal visit and you pay me. On time. Next week."
"Sounds good," Morrin said meekly.
"Your mistakes are becoming expensive," Katim said loudly. "You might want to be careful going forward. You'll never pay off your sizable debt if you can't afford to keep your business afloat!"
Several moments passed in silence, leaving Aennin to wonder if the visitors had left until Katim concluded. "Next week, Morrin! I don't think you want to know what will happen if I have to come back here."
"I'll bring it to you myself," Morrin said shakily. "You have my word."
"Let's go," Katim growled, barely audible through the door. "We wouldn't want to stand in the way of the clean up!"
The footsteps sounded once more as Katim and his men left the shop and Morrin presumably began to clean up the mess they had made. Aennin had returned to work casting his gears. But he had only just set his second batch down to cool before his father barged into the workshop.
"Aennin, take the rest of the night off. I'll close up and finish things here myself," Morrin said, his face clearly sagging with fatigue.
The boy studied his father's face with a look of concern as he tried to argue. "Father, are you sure? I don't mind..."
"Go home," Morrin said, more insistently.
Aennin had heard enough to understand that his father wanted to be alone, but he left with great reluctance. The long walk home that followed this incident were filled with thoughts of worry for his father. Why did his father owe Katim money? What would happen if he missed another payment? What were he and the rest of the family going to do about this?
By the time Aennin crept into the family apartment, he found his mother snoring in the same place everyone had left her. Thankful that he would not have to talk to her about what he had just heard, the boy tiptoed up the stairs and dressed for bed in semi-darkness. With thoughts of dread for what tomorrow would bring, he fell into his pillow and stared into it until he could stop thinking for long enough to fall asleep.
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