Chapter 10: A Butterfly's Flight

[Livre's Perspective]

I hope that kid Carman will be okay. I thought to myself as I walked down the street to the aquabusses early in the morning. I had told the kid that the shop would be closed for a few days so I could visit my parents. I did feel a twinge of guilt leaving him alone to do so, but that kid is eeriely self-sufficient. I am not sure how long he's been in the streets, as he doesn't really like to open up regarding his past.

Every day I am tempted to report him to the passing guards, but I am not sure of what life I'd be sending him back to. And at some level I feel attached to the kid, he is a mechanical genius, he is always curious about what I am doing and reminds me of myself when I was his age. With his resting deadpan, it is often hard to tell what he is feeling, but the gleam of curiosity and delight he has when tinkering to create or repair a clockwork machine brings a smile to my face.

It's my father's birthday tomorrow, and I should get going in order to make it to village at the outskirts of Fontaine before nightfall. It should take about half a day to walk from the Aquabus station there. Ever since mom passed from the flu a year ago, my brother and I are the only ones he has left.

I admire his strength to keep going, I'm sure if the love of my life passed away I wouldn't have been able to leave my bed.

Shaking myself from my musings, I stepped onto the Aquabus and paid the fair, the Melusine nodded with a soft smile as I turned and sat down. As I sat, looking over the world as it woke up to the new day I mused once more about the runaway boy I had been taking care of.

Despite the determination I could see on his face when we first met, I have not seen many facial expressions from the kid. The most of have ever seen on his face were hints of curiosity and satisfaction when working on Clockwork Mekas, and the slight embarrassment when I supprised him with snacks and a set of fresh clothes.

I am not sure how to say it, but it always feels like there is a wall between us like he is keeping his distance. But from the way he acts, it doesn't seem like he is aware of it. Before I know it it is time to get off the Aquabus.

I check the schedule for the next few days before leaving the station, by the time I make it to my father's place night has started to creep into the sky as the sun sets into the horizon. Thankfully I don't encounter anything except small animals, it seems like a band of adventures or guards have passed by recently and scared away the monsters and Treasure Hoarders.

The sun has set entirely and the moon has gotten a good start on her nightly track though the heavens when I arrive at the village gates, haven taken longer than I initially estimated to reach my destination.

I walk through the small cluster of houses, many of who's lights were still shining from the inside. I reach the door if my father's house. After knocking I am greeted with a familiar face, my brother, Caron.

"Well, well, look who decided to show up? I thought you would be late, then again you barely made it before midnight." He said.

"I was late one time. And you know that I had a legitimate reason to be late for the festival. I recived an emergency commission, and as a new business owner I had to accept it, I'm barely breaking even now." I responded, things have been a bit tense between us since I struck off to start my, what could have been our, workshop.

As boys we had promised to start a toy shop together, but when the time came to strike out on our own, he chickened out and took what he saw as the safer option and took over the small family clock shop. I will admit he has been more stable than me and even got a product recognized by the Hydro Archon herself, but it still feels like a betrayal that he suddenly backed out of our plans like that.

"Now than boys, you should know better than to start picking fights at your age. Don't make your retired old man demonstrate how he can still clean a clock." I heard our father say loudly from around the corner. Caron and I shared a glance and shuddered, our father was very much a tough love kind of parent. The number of nights one of us went to bed with a sore bottom from pulling a prank on him is too many to count.

Walking over into the main room I saw my father sitting on a chair. He was getting in years, but he seemed much brighter than he did in the shop. All the time behind the desk had given him a pale completion. The time he had been spending outside has made itself known in the tan he has now, bringing color to his once pale face.

Looking at me my father chuckled, "looks like your mother wasn't wrong all those years ago when she called you a chip off the old block. Livre, sit your skinny butt down, you look like you haven't slept for a week. You remember the time I almost died from overworking myself?"

With a wry smile on my face I sat down. I am never sure if my father is genuinely happy or just pretending, he talks about our mother quite frequently as though it doesn't bother him that she has passed. I am quite frankly curious but also afraid to ask. I know that he misses her at some level, the neighbors mentioned how often he visits her grave to leave new flowers.

We talk for a bit, spending time with my dad brings up all the memories I have of spending time with him in his worlshop. Me and Caron staring in wonder as he made timepieces for commoners and nobles alike.

Thinking of those times can't help but make me think of my time with Carman once more and I hope that he is doing fine without me and the shop.

My father seems to notice that I am a bit distracted, but thankfully doesn't comment on it. After drinking some tea, we all turn in for the night.

[The next Morning, Livre's POV]

I wake up to the sounds of someone moving pots and pans, for a second it feels like I am a kid again as I smell breakfast. How long has it been since I've worken up in a house with other people? Suddenly the apartment that I have been renting seems like a dark and lonely place.

Getting up and dressed, I double check the wrapping of the present I packed for my father. The screwdriver that Carman had sold to me a few weeks ago and some supplies to tinker with. I know that he has been longing to get into clockworking again, but his joints are no longer strong enough to use the standard tools. Hopefully this new screwdriver will let him get back into it for a bit.

Making sure that the package was completely sealed and didn't rattle by putting layers of cloth around the contents, I walked out to the dining table and greeted the family.

"A good morning and a happy birthday to you father, may Focalors ensure nothing unjust happens on you special day." I said as I placed my present in front of him next to Caron's.

Opening Caron's gift, my father and I were surprised to see a clock similar to the one that used to sit on a shelf back in our family home, what was more, there was a glass frame containing a small portrait of our family together, including our mother.

"I know some details are a bit of, since I didn't have access to the original, this was the best I could do, but this way we have something in the house to talk to when we are reaching out to mom. Sorry if that's a bit weird, it's just something I heard from an adventurer from Inazuma, and how they honor their dead there, figured it was worth a try."

In my opinion it was a beautiful gesture, even though it was probably not entirely accurate to how Inazumans honor their dead. But I could see in the small tears in his eyes that our father liked it. After setting it on a shelf above the fireplace, giving my brother a hug and wiping the mist from his eyes father say back down at the table to open his gift from me.

I felt a bit nervous as he opened the box, compared to Caron's, mine was not anything overly sentimental. When he had removed the lid, and saw the cloth, he initially raised an eyebrow at me for giving him a cloth for a present before he noticed something gleaming from underneath the fabric. Pulling it out and unwrapping it, he was initially puzzled over the unfamiliar device until I showed him how to use it. Caron was just as surprised as our father.

"What an interesting little gadget, it does seem like I would make getting screws in and out much easier. Eh, Caron, seems like if your gift needs any repairs I won't have to mail it to one of you, I can fix it here!" Our father said with a toothy grin on his face. I could see a spark of his younger self in his eyes as he looked at all the little gears and do-dads that I packed with the ratchet driver.

After he calmed down my father asked me where I had gotten it, I explained that it was something I had happened on, and the inventor had been selling it for a pittance compared to its actual value. I ended up getting stared down by my father until I explained that I had paid a fair price for it. He was a man who was eccentric but held fast to his principles, one of which was proper compensation.

After finishing breakfast and helping him sort out everything, we went outside. I couldn't help but look in the direction of the city for a bit as I pondered what Carman was doing fo the day. Caron was waling on ahead, but father noticed that I had been spacing out and tapped me on the shoulder.

"You alright son? You've been staring out into space for time to time. From the way you've been looking towards the city, is your business doing alright? Do you need any help? I might not be what I used to in the workshop, but I can sure as heck balance a book. Or is it something else, did you go and get yourself a girl while I wasn't looking?" He said with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows at the end.

I couldn't help but snort at his accusation at the end, "no father, it's just that..." And I told him about Carman, a runaway boy that I had been taking care of and allowing to work at my shop. I told him about my conflicted feelings regarding weather or not to report him to the guards, I am sure that they would find a good place for him, but he has brought some life to my shop that I am not sure how to describe, and how he reminded me of the time I used wor spend with my dad in his shop when I was little.

By the time I had finished, my father had already wrapped his arm around my shoulder and started walking with me. "That is quite that predicament you've found yourself in. It sounds like you got attached, I doubt the guards are going to give you much trouble, seeing as it's partially their fault from not catching the boy for so long, and what you are doing is technically still on the right side of the law. Honestly if you are this attached to the boy, offer to foster or adopt him. The way you describe him reminds me of you as a child, I can see where the bond started. You've always been compassionate to those in need. I honestly didn't expect it to take it this long for either you or Caron to give me and your mother a grandchild."

He said looking off into the distance before turning his head back to face me, "my best advice is, if this kid means this much to you, go get some legal advice, do some digging on his background, and proceed from there. And if you do end up fostering and/or adopting him, bring the kid round here next time, I'm getting closer to being with your mom every day, I'd like to have the experience of sitting a grandchild on my lap and tell them embarrassing stories about their parents, or parent in this case, but no pressure. Now go, it was irresponsible for you to leave a kid that small on the streets alone for that long, I've heard there have been disappearances going on within the city recently. I'll explain things to Caron so he knows you didn't ditch us."

He gave me a gentile push towards where the Aquabus station was located. And I started making my way towards it. Say what you want about old people going senile, but my old man always seems to know what to say, and how to end things on a light note.

Moving as fast as I can towards the station, with my mind clear of the confusion, the semblance of a plan starts to form in my mind.

To be continued.