One wrong turn and it has found you again...
Returning to work for Katim after being manipulated into helping him kill his father broke something in Aennin's resigned cooperation. He still kept his head down and did his job for the most part, but he found it harder and harder over the next week to hide his growing contempt for his boss. Katim couldn't have expected Aennin to remain ignorant of his father's fate forever, which might have been the reason for his patience with his push back. When Aennin shrugged off his attempts at conversation, he would smile. When Aennin said something snarky, he would dispense with his usual veiled threats and put him down with his wit. The more Aennin tried to distance himself from Katim, the closer they seemed to get, no matter how baldly he expressed his disdain.
With Katim's increased attention, Aennin began to worry that he would never see Nazan again. The warning of the boy's only friend that Katim's eyes were everywhere seemed to hold true especially in his case. They were even walking home together.
One day, eight days after Morrin's death, Katim had accompanied Aennin home from the pub after a long delivery that had taken him up to the surface, through the Elder district of Bluegold Way. He was tired, and not in the mood to be on his guard. But Katim had made an excuse of picking up Kana for her shift at the bar, so he couldn't excuse himself. As Aennin reached for the front door back home, though, Katim took him by the shoulders and pinned him to the wall.
"I think we need to have a quick chat," he whispered. "Invite me into your home."
That would certainly be a change of pace for the two of them, Aennin thought. He never wanted Katim in his home less than he did then, but there was nothing to be gained from resisting him now but further terror.
"Come in, then," Aennin replied sulkily. He shoved his way past Katim and opened the door. "Try not to trip over some part of my life you've broken on the way in."
"That's what I'm talking about," Katim moaned dramatically once he was past the threshold. "I just did you a huge favor, but I get the feeling you don't appreciate it."
Aennin closed the door with a scoff. "Please, explain to me how killing my father was a favor to me."
"How would letting him live have been?" Katim retorted with a smirk. "You and I both know that Morrin was a piece of trash. All I did was prevent you from dragging you down with him."
"Is that what you think you did?" Aennin wrinkled his nose. "He already pulled that off when you came into our lives!"
Katim chuckled and nodded in good nature. "You got me there. But things can always be so much worse, like they would have been if the fat bastard had followed through on his plan to collect you and your sister and flee the city without squaring his debt to me."
Had they really been that close to escaping their debtor? Aennin gave away this thought with a gulp. His father had spent his final moments plotting his and Kana's rescue and he himself had been involved in squashing that hope.
"Let's be clear, kid," Katim growled, a faint trace of his usual danger glinting in his expression. "Morrin's plan would never have worked. The people he tried to pay off to help you escape work for me and the guards who watch the city gates are on my payroll. And I do mean for every shift. No one that I have a personal interest in can leave this city without my knowledge."
He glanced toward the stairs and added. "Even if everything had gone exactly as Morrin had planned, all three of you would be dead somewhere on the road to Oasis right now."
Aennin lowered his eyes and sighed, knowing that what he was hearing was true immediately. It wasn't as if he had come to trust Katim, but he knew full well that this man's word was as strong as iron. Katim wasn't the sort of man who felt the need to lie often. He dissembled with the authorities who would occasionally call on him at the pub, sure, and he would intentionally omit any details he didn't want others to know, but nothing Katim has ever said to Aennin has proven to be untrue in the past.
"Hey!" Katim said in a more comforting tone. "There's no need for you to bring back the tortured routine! I was starting to get used to the new you!"
"Should I tell you the truth more often?" Aennin grumbled halfheartedly.
"It would help your position a lot more than this meek shit you first came to me with." Katim smirked and ruffled Aennin's hair, causing him to flinch.
"Gods! You're really terrified of me, aren't you?"
Aennin shook his head with barely restrained fury. "I don't like when people touch my hair."
Katim snickered. "If you say so! Keep up the new attitude at work, Aennin. I'll make you one of us yet and, when that day comes, you'll be making more money than you know what to do with!"
"The only money I want is to pay your damned debt so I never have to see your face again!" Aennin snarled, his anger nearing its peak. Who was this bastard to talk so casually, even positively, about murdering his father? Did he really think he and Aennin were ever going to be friends?
Katim didn't get a chance to return as Kana had chosen that moment to come downstairs. If the incredulous expression she aimed toward her sibling was any indication, she had overheard what Aennin had just said. He would have to explain later, but he had the feeling Katim would do the honors when she blanketed the boss with apologies on his behalf on their way to the pub.
"Ah, there you are!" Katim said cheerfully. "We've got a busy night at the pub, tonight? I hope you plan to bring some pep today!"
"As much as I can spare, sir," Kana said quietly once she was at the bottom of the steps.
Katim sighed dramatically and shook his head. "That doesn't sound like much. Come on!"
So, Kana and Katim left the apartment and made for the now-familiar pub, leaving Aennin alone to find his way up to bed. He trudged up the stairs, feeling older somehow as he did so. Is this how his mother felt whenever she had to use the stairs? Perhaps this sensation had something to do with why she spent most of her time in that old chair. The boy shook off his fatigue as well as he could even as he pushed open his bedroom door. He may have been tired, but he was too young to feel that tired.
When he finally put his head to his pillow, though, his thoughts were interrupted by a strange, melodic laugh that sounded like it was coming from a woman. Aennin was quickly able to rule out his sister's sudden return as the voice sounded higher, like the laugh of a teenage girl. He looked around and saw nothing but his shadow cast on a wall by his bedside lamp, a self-made contraption of metal and blue crystals that were formed in the shape of a clock. But still, he stood up to get a closer look. The shadow looked so unlike his own at that moment. He didn't see the boy he was, but a much taller, bulkier man adorned in what appeared to be a horned helmet.
"What vermin!" A girl's voice hissed, although no one was around.
Aennin was startled by the sound, so much so that he dived back into the bed, seeking safety in the comfort of his blanket. The futile gesture only provoked another chuckle from the unseen presence.
"He's trying to change you in a way that suits me," she added in a whisper. "But he is so arrogant that he truly believes he's doing it purely for his own benefit! You should kill him, not only for what he's done to you, but his hubris!"
Aennin folded his pillow around his head, unable to believe what he was hearing. But nothing he did to muffle his hearing made the voice any less audible.
"I guess we'll talk later, then! Stay alive, boy," the girl said in a singsong voice. "You're not allowed to die by anyone's hand but mine!"
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