It watches with severe intent...
Aennin woke up earlier the next morning than he needed to; his clock reading two hours before dawn. He worried that if he didn't go back to sleep, the grueling school day ahead of him would only be made worse by his exhaustion. But with his eyes shut, all he could manage to do was study the inside of his eyelids in the dark. Worry gripped him like a pair of icy hands around his throat, replacing exhaustion with an instinctual urge to get up and move.
He lay there in the darkness for over an hour before he had exhausted all of his thoughts of the previous evening and lost his fear to boredom. He couldn't think of anything to do for his father that was worth the risk. Everyone knew that Katim was not a man to be crossed and any solution to their family's problem had to start with pacifying him lest they all fall victim to his vaunted collection of foreign blades. By elven standards, he and his thugs collectively wore a legion's worth of weapons, and even Orion's City Council was reticent around him. Katim was a reasonable man with those who showed every scrap of respect he demanded, but the thought of provoking his ire was the most terrifying one Aennin could imagine. With no ideas, and the prospect of his own problems waiting for him, Aennin arose early to get ready for school in earnest.
Without even turning on a light, he fished his school uniform out of the wardrobe and dressed in silence. Once he had donned his shoes, he crept carefully from the room so as not to awaken Kana or his parents. Out in the hall, however, he could hear the whispered voices of his father and someone else he dimly recognized sharing a pointed conversation in the master bedroom. Certain this had something to do with Katim, Aennin could not help creeping closer to the door to eavesdrop.
"...not going to let it happen again!" the visitor hissed desperately. "These are just some punk kids from Bronze Academy. I can keep your money safe if I can see them coming!"
"They have managed to rob you. Twice," Morrin growled impatiently. "No amount of vigilance is going to protect you from an entire gang alone and I can't afford to pay more men just to move my money!'
"I know who they are, though!" the visitor insisted. "If they come at me again, I can run them off!"
"You're done," Morrin replied with a clear tone of finality. "I don't have the money to pay you either."
"I will get your money back, then!" the visitor hissed. "Even if I have to pluck it from their cold, dead hands!"
There was a small pause before Morrin replied, more gently. "You're a good man, Nazan. But I can't ask you to do that. If you fail, I could never compensate you for the risk. If you know something, you should tell a guard."
"You know they won't do anything!" Nazan snapped, loudly enough for Morrin to shush him. "Listen. You don't have to fire me. If I get your money back, will you let me keep my position?"
"The money I've lost could pay your wages for half a year," Morrin said quietly. "But if you're foolish enough to try, and honest enough to bring every shade of it back, the answer is yes."
"You won't regret this!" Nazan whispered excitedly. "We'll save your shop! I swear it!"
"You'll want to be careful what you stake your word on," Morrin said in a normal tone of voice. "If this does not go the way you want it to, no one can know I was aware of it."
"I'll keep this quiet. You won't see me again until I have your money," Nazan whispered in a more controlled tone.
"That sounds fine. Now, you should go before my son wakes up for school," Morrin said.
With that, Aennin decided to slip downstairs for breakfast. He chopped up a pair of apples, and a pair of sweet potatoes. Then, he loaded his potatoes in a steamer just as Morrin and Nazan descended the stairs. The elder men did a double take as they heard Aennin pulling down a skillet from a rack which hung above the stove.
"Aennin? What are you doing up so early?" Morrin said jovially, seemingly unconcerned for Anera, who was still sleeping on the chair near the breakfast bar, by the volume of his voice.
Aennin poured some coconut oil into the skillet as he set it on the stove. In a more quiet voice, he replied. "I woke up a while ago and couldn't fall back asleep."
Morrin strode casually up to the breakfast bar with Nazan bringing up the rear. "You're making an apple and sweet potato hash, are you? I remember when your mother was still functional enough to make that!"
Aennin did not respond as he pulled his potatoes out of the flash oven, but Anera mumbled drunkenly in response, "Fuck you."
The boy sighed and as he ignited the burner beneath his skillet. As he checked the steamer, Nazan sidled up to him. "How've you been, anyway? I haven't been around the store very much and..."
"I'm fine, Uncle," Aennin said shortly. "I'm just worried about the shop."
"Hey, you let me worry about the shop, boy," Morrin said with a frown. "You can fret over its future when it becomes yours."
Nazan clapped the boy on the shoulder. "Your father's right, Aennin. The store's going to be fine and nothing you can do is going to affect that."
Aennin nodded halfheartedly as he emptied his potatoes from the steamer into the skillet and piled the apples onto them. Nazan watched him for a moment before asking, "Hey, your father told me that you go to Bronze Academy. Do you get along well with the kids there?"
Aennin's blood ran cold at the mention of his school. "Not really. I have a few friends and we mostly keep to ourselves."
Nazan nodded jovially as Aennin fished a bundle of sage out of the pantry and began to chop some of it. "That's unfortunate. So, do you happen to know a student there by the name of Samiel?"
Aennin glanced curiously at Nazan, who seemed to be looking intently at him for his answer. "I do, but we're not friends."
Morrin beamed at Aennin as he added, "That'd be the one he fought yesterday. I'm still proud that my boy knows how to stand his ground."
Nazan smirked as he walked out of the kitchen. "It's good that you aren't friendly with that boy. You should stay away from him. He's nothing but trouble."
Aennin watched Nazan and Morrin leave the house, stunned with what he had just heard. With all the reasons he had to watch out for Samiel today, he now knew that Nazan was interested in him. Could the same boy who had always bullied Aennin in class be one of the people who had robbed Nazan of his family's money? This possibility set the boy's mind ablaze with anger. For all of the times Samiel had seemed intent on ruining his daily life, it was quite another thing to hear that the bully might also be attacking his future.
After breakfast, he decided he was going to get an early start towards school.
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