The Songbird

Chapter 21: Bargaining Chip

Lorenzo shuffled around his cottage in an angry haze, searching for his coat while cursing Mina's name.

"Stupid girl, lazy girl," he grumbled, digging through his closet.

He hadn't seen her in days, which meant there'd been no income from her debts or new jewels for him to show customers. His supply was dwindling, and if it wasn't replenished soon, he'd start losing money.

Lorenzo found his coat among the many hanging fabrics, pulling it on in quick, angry snaps.

If Mina wouldn't come to him, then he'd go to her. Threaten her with jail, if he had to. That usually worked in the past, and he saw no reason why it wouldn't again. Lorenzo didn't understand what sort of new event gave her the confidence to ignore responsibilities, but there was always something else he could threaten her with.

Something she had no knowledge of, something he'd never needed to use before. A bargaining chip he'd gained nearly twenty ago.

* * * * * * *

In the years before the Great Dying, Enid brimmed with life. People milled about in droves, and the Joiner's Square was its own mill of culture and commerce, filled with performers and storytellers and merchants. People still wore their blue or red fabrics, the tax laws were still in place, and Favor Borns were still ordered to be delivered to the King at the time. The only difference was that he killed them rather than turning them into pets.

Despite the grim laws, you could almost call the kingdom happy. Sorrow hadn't touched the land in any real way yet, and everyone had a role to fill. Money wasn't always easy to come by, but it was less cutthroat than what it would become in the years that followed.

Lorenzo had done well for himself in those days, etching out a respectable living selling jewels. The upper echelons of Blue Alley dwellers were always loyal, and a representative of the King and even purchased from him on one occasion. He knew how to find the best jewels, and his business was healthy.

But as he edged further and further into his forties, the brutality of collecting the jewels was beginning to wear on his body. His hands ached, shoulders and back perpetually stiff from having to climb the stone walls of the caves.

He felt that pain keenly at the end of one long day, packing up his merchant stall for the night as the Joiner's Square emptied. The sun was already setting, and the only people left besides himself were a few performers cleaning their stations, and a young woman waiting for her husband near him.

He recognized her as the resident storyteller. Lorenzo had never stopped to listen, caring little for fairy tales, but children always lined up to hear her speak. It was a meager living, but each day she came back, so Lorenzo supposed it must work in some way for her small family.

Eventually the woman's husband did come, apologies falling from his lips as he helped her stand up. A bundle was clutched in his arms, one that squirmed fitfully.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Lorenzo heard the man say. "I couldn't get Mina to calm down."

"It's alright," the woman said, taking her daughter into her arms with a smile. "She's just fussy. Let's go home."

Lorenzo finished packing up his station and began to leave as well. It wasn't his intention to follow the couple, but there was a narrow path out of the Joiner's Square that everyone took before it branched off into the respective alleys. The couple walked a small distance in front of him, but Lorenzo didn't pay them attention.

He was fixated on the soreness of his muscles, rotating his shoulders and squeezing his hands in an effort to relieve the pain. He knew he would eventually need an apprentice, but those were expensive to maintain, and no one ever did anything for free.