“Glad to see you still can’t remember my name, old timer.”
“And I’m glad to see you still haven’t learned how far you can carry a single joke.” Adjusting his thick spectacles on one nose, the older man chuckled quietly. “So what brings you in today? I can’t say I’ve ever seen you in here by yourself.”
“I figured that at least one of us should actually buy something from you, as opposed to just always gawking at your handiwork.” Kai walked past the great grandfather clock that sat on one side of the room, and then kept going for a bit. “I’m honestly pretty surprised that she’s never picked up anything in here before.”
“Well, you know your sister better than I do, and even I know how rarely she spends money on anything not directly related to her research. ‘Clocks are only important for people with places to be,’ and all.”
“I don’t know about that first part,” Kai responded, “but the rest doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Then if I may make a suggestion?” The man got a slight twinkle in his eyes. “Perhaps a gift from her brother would solve that issue.”
“Doubtful.” He kept on walking around the store for a bit, before finally stopping at one clock. Built primarily from a wood that was such a deep brown it was nearly black, it held just the slightest hints of what looked to be silver inlay in the pendulum, but was otherwise finely crafted without seeming extravagant or ornate.
“Do you like that one?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. It just sort of jumped out at me.”
The clockmaker took a moment to clean his glasses on his shirttails. “I’ve had it sitting on the wall for a while now, so if you want to take it, I’d be willing to give it to you for one-fifty.”
Kai stood there for a moment or two, and studied the clock. It really was a nice piece of work; nothing too elaborate, so hopefully she wouldn’t give him a tongue-lashing over it. “Hm…I do have some extra on me today. Ah, what the hell, why not?”
The clockmaker laughed a bit again. “Aren’t you an easy sell? Let me get it packed up for you.” It only took a moment for Kai to pay him, and as the man walked over to the wall to lift the clock off, there was a certain unreadable something in his expression. Kai had no idea what it could have been; he just assumed that it was because he hadn’t really haggled much for it. After a moment or two, the man spoke back up again. “Actually, you look like you’ve got a lot to carry, so why don’t I bring it by later on today?”
Looking back towards the wrapped haunch over by the door, Kai glanced to the clockmaker once again. “It’s really no trouble, I mean-“
“No, no,” the older man replied, waving Kai’s objection away. “I insist. We’re talking about a complex and delicate piece of equipment. You’re paying me good money for it, so I won’t allow you to bungle and let it shatter all over the street while you’re playing butcher’s assistant.” Giving a look up at Kai that said he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, the clockmaker went on. “Now, run along. I’ll have one of my assistants stop by later this evening when they return.”
“Okay, okay. I appreciate it.” Hefting the meat back to his shoulder, Kai gave a respectful nod, and then left on his way back home.
Dinner was cooking away over the fire, but Saffi was still working in the shop. Kai didn't really complain; it was usually fun to watch her work, when she wasn't griping about his peering over her shoulder, anyway. And it wasn't like she didn't recruit him to help her from time-to-time, “Move this” or “Fetch that” or “Hold this down for just a second” being the most common examples. So he was pretty content to just hang around and be a fly on the wall as Master Inventor Saffi worked her own form of magic on the various indescribable gizmos she had lying around in her small workshop.
At present, she was actually working on his armor, so he was taking a bit more of an active interest. Not getting in the way, of course – she might not wear the armor herself, but Saffi Naustvik needed no guidance whatsoever when it came to the maintenance of said metal – but just keeping watch and trying to pick up little bits of whatever knowledge she would toss out.
“These wings...I swear, have you been trying to fly through the ground?” she muttered to herself as she examined the suit's flight mechanisms. “My masterpiece, and Big Bro just thinks he can tangle in it like he's in any old street brawl...was fur ein haufen-”
“Y'know, that ain't very ladylike,” Kai said while messing with one of her gadgets on a table across the room. It was barely more than a wedge with a little metallic bar balanced on the tip, but no matter how far he would try and tip the bar, it would always return to level.
“I'll keep that in mind the next time I get all dolled up to give a lecture on ballistics and the nature of inertia. And don't touch that.” She hadn't even looked over to see what he was doing, but she had apparently known anyway. “It's a very important experiment in-progress.”
“Phooey.” Flopping back down onto his stool, he wheeled it back over to where she was working, and watched as she checked and adjusted bits and pieces of his armor.
“You really should let me get rid of all of these Talon markings, you know. Makes you stick out like a sore thumb, even more than you already do.”
“You know I can't do that yet, Sis.” It hadn't been the first time she had suggested it in the year since he had left the military.
At his quick response, Saffi stopped working very momentarily, peeking over at him out of the corner of her eye, before returning back to what she was doing. “I'll wear you down on it one day. But for now, I suppose it wouldn't do that much good, anyway. That madman's pretty much got a stranglehold on the symbol of a hawk, so I'd have to completely redesign it. And even then, people would probably still equate 'heavy-armored elite soldier' with 'Talon,' so we really wouldn't make any headway.”
“I'd say you have a point.”
She worked in relative silence for a few more minutes, before her voice sounded again, this time with a bit of a sly undertone. “So when were you planning on telling me that you've been secreting money away to Katia for my eventual workshop?”
That nearly made him choke, and he coughed a few times in an attempt to cover it up, failing miserably. “Well, um...you see...the thing is...”
“Save it.” Her words might have been abrupt, but her tone was far from it. “You really never change, do you?” Setting her tools down for a moment, she looked over at him, quite seriously. “That money is supposed to be for the both of us.”
“I take what I need out of it to get by,” he replied stubbornly. “What I've been saving up for you is just extra. I don't have much in the way of expenses, right? So what's the big deal?”
“And have you ever thought of how it might make me feel to build my workshop on the money you're risking your neck for?”
Kai didn't respond at first. He nearly looked down at the floor, but he forced himself to meet her eyes, and kept his expression level. “If a dream isn't worth risking your neck for, then what is?”
“It's not your dream, Kai. It's mine.”
“And it can't be both of ours?” He shook his head a few times. “You know me, Saffi. So long as I get to travel around like a leaf on the breeze, I'm content. A full stomach, some drunken songs and improper dancing here and there, and a dash of justice-bringing adventure; that's what makes me happy. So why can't I have the same dream as you?”
“I sometimes wonder about that.” Her gaze was locked intently in place, never wavering for a second. “And I worry that you just say those things to keep me from worrying.”
“Apparently, that's one mission I can't accomplish.” He sighed, and laughed quietly, finally looking away. “I may not fight for Falkovnia's military anymore, but I'm still a soldier, Sis. At least I'm putting what I know to good use, and helping some people out in the process.” He could tell she still had her eyes on him, and he just sat on that stool, hands resting between his knees.
It was a few moments before she spoke back up. “Are you ever going to tell me what your dreams are? Yours?”
“...”
The chimes she had strung up throughout the house and linked to a rope at the front door suddenly started ringing, which meant they had a visitor. Kai all but jumped up at the sudden sound, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit in embarrassment. “I'll get it. I know you don't like to move when you're in the middle of complicated work.” When she just nodded, he turned and left the workshop, making his way for the front door.
Sure enough, the clockmaker had sent one of his apprentices with Saffi's gift. Paying the young man for his trouble, Kai took the wrapped bundle into the house, and started to make for the workshop, but thought better of it, and instead stashed it in his room. He wanted it to be a surprise, after all.
When he returned to the workshop area of the house, she gave him a questioning look, but he had already come up with his cover story. “Just had some extra cheese brought over for the pantry. I went a little overboard with breakfast this morning.”
“Surprise, surprise.” She didn't look quite so serious anymore, and even rolled her eyes a little. “Well, anyway, this conversation isn't over, mister, but I should concentrate on this work. So you're off the hook for the time being.”
“Hauptmann Saffi is harsh but fair.”
Not long after that, the two sat down for dinner. Kai insisted that she get out of the workshop more often and go to a party once in a while, to which she looked at him very flatly and inquired as to exactly which parties in Lamordia he was referring. It was no small degree of satisfying to her when she suggested he get married to some placid lady and settle down in Ludendorf, maybe have a child or two to rein him in, and start wearing those pointed caps of which nobles were fond. He very nearly choked on his food; she was fairly certain he actually believed she would try and play matchmaker, as he had a harried look about him the remainder of dinner that was absolutely hilarious.
He finished first, and got up from the table, carrying his dishes to the kitchen. “I'm heading out for a bit,” he said after he emerged once more. “Probably catch a drink down...well, wherever I happen to wander into.”
“Alright. Just behave yourself, as much of a lost cause as that is.” She smiled a bit, and waved as he left the house.
Before much longer, she finished her food as well, and headed back into her workshop area. Her faithful goggles hung on their peg by the door, as did her working gloves; donning them both, she had very nearly gotten back to his armor when she noticed something out of place. There was a wrapped bundle on the table where Kai had been fiddling with her devices earlier. Sliding her gloves off, and lifting her goggles up on top of her kerchiefed hair, she saw a note on the package:
I would say that I hope this keeps you from working all day and night,
but I already know better than that. So instead, I'll just say “Thanks.”
but I already know better than that. So instead, I'll just say “Thanks.”
Her curiosity piqued, Saffi opened the bundle carefully, and was surprised to see...a wall clock. And not just any wall clock; she had actually eyed this very one inside Jurgen's store! It reminded her very much of the first clock she had ever been proud of building, though she had to admit that Jurgen's handiwork in that field was far superior to her own. In fact, he had only recently completed this particular clock, and said that it was one of his finest works to date. That, combined with the bit of mithral inlay on the pendulum – there wasn't much, just enough to catch the eye, but it was still there, mithral! – made her jaw drop a bit in wonder. It was a beautiful clock, but she just knew Kai had spent an arm and a leg on it, so she would tell him to promptly return it in the morning. Yes, in the morning; for now, she could sit and admire it for a while. As she further examined it, turning it over in her hands carefully, she noticed that there was an inscription on the back, in a flowing script that she recognized as Jurgen's handwriting:
To my incomparably brilliant sister, Saffi.
May time never dull the clarity of your dreams.
- Kai
May time never dull the clarity of your dreams.
- Kai
She wasn't quite sure how long she stood there. In fact, what shook her out of her daze was that she noticed her eyes tearing up, and quickly wiped them dry. He would never change, her brother, not if he lived to be a thousand years and a day old. His carefree attitude drove her absolutely batty sometimes – often, really – but occasionally, he managed to baffle her in a good way. One day, she would get him to open up to her about his thoughts, hopes, and dreams, if she had to beat them out of him. But, for now at least, she thought she got him, if only a little. Wiping her eyes again, she laughed at herself quietly, and shook her head again.
“...Idiot.”
Kai sat in one of the taverns – he didn't know which one, to be honest, as he had just picked at random – and gazed out at the night sky through one of the nearby windows. He sorely missed the wild revelry he might have found elsewhere, but occasionally it was good to have a quiet night like this one, with just himself, the beer, and maybe a wink or two at that barmaid who delivered the beer, with hair like spun chocolate. Yeah, nights like these were good ones, after all.
In-between his third and fourth drinks, he thought back on the clock. He had checked it to make sure the right one had been delivered, but had then hurriedly re-packaged it, not taking the time to even flip it over as he had not wanted Saffi to wonder what was keeping him from the dinner table. The thought suddenly struck that he should've asked Old Jurgen to personalize it somehow – maybe with something witty or touching inscribed somewhere, or at least her name. After all, while not a particularly large clock, it still had plenty of room on the back for such a thing to be done. It was true that probably would have added to the cost, but he would have been willing to pay the man for it.
“Aw, kacke,” he said under his breath as he downed the remainder of his drink. “Oh well. Hindsight is always perfect, I suppose...”
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