CHAPTER 76: 76: A NEW BEGINNING PART I

(Chapter Six: A New Beginning.)

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Morning arrived like a hand smoothing the wrinkles out of the night. A thin bar of sun slipped under the shutters, turned the forge smoke to ribbon, and found the chest behind the workbench exactly as John had left it.

He lifted the lid, counted with quiet fingers, and let the math settle his mind: three neat stacks of big coins, five squat piles of small ones, and the lonely clink of a pair that refused to join anything. All present. No pry marks on the lock. No scuff on the sill. No footprint where a footprint should not be.

So. Nobody had come for the money after all.

John closed the chest, turned the key, and tucked it under the ledger in its usual place. He stood a moment longer with his palm on the wood, measuring his own surprise. Some part of him had expected a test in the night. Another part had prepared for it, even welcomed it. But sometimes silence told you more than noise.

"Moran keeps his bargains," he said under his breath. "At least for the first dance."

He opened the shutters. The village breathed. Far off, a rooster declared himself a philosopher. A cart rattled past with sacks of grain and a dog that had decided it was a guard. Frost clung to roof edges where the sun had not yet persuaded it to leave. When he drew in air, it tasted like cold iron and warm yeast; Gael had a loaf going on the ember shelf, which meant the morning might even forgive last night’s sleep.

Fizz was sprawled on the high shelf in a dramatic heap, tail over his nose, muttering, "Hats... romance... onions are liars," in the language of dreams. John left him to fight those important battles and crossed the yard to wash.

By the time he came back, the smell of bread had grown into something you could call a promise. Gael was already at the long table, slicing while steam ghosted up from the loaf.

"Counted?" Gael asked, as if asking about the weather.

"Counted," John said. "They’re all there."

"Good," Gael said, and passed him a slice thick in a generous mood. "Sometimes a man sleeps better when the world forgets to trouble him."

"Or when trouble respects the lock," John said, chewing, and let himself believe for the width of a loaf that today might be easy.

"By the way," Gael added, pouring tea into a cup that had never seen ceremony, "you told me last night you owed someone pancakes."

"I did," John said.

"Then owe big," Gael grinned. "It’s a decent morning for a ridiculous feast."

John looked at the orderly racks, at the clear aisle, at the yard full of cold light, and felt a tightness ease between his ribs. "Call the men," he said. "All ten. Now."

The message went out by boot and by boy. By midmorning they came in twos and threes, the ten who had once been miners and were blacksmiths now — broad-shouldered, scarred by old rock, wearing new habits like coats they had decided to keep. They smelled faintly of ash and stubbornness. They set their hammers down with the care of men who liked where they worked.

Ruel arrived first, all beard and barrel chest, scar over his left eye like a permanent question. Harn came with him, long as a sapling and twice as bendy. Pekk limped, as he always did, the limp that had driven him up from the mines into the light; he treated it like an unruly dog that could be managed with discipline and a bad look. Bren, twins Jem and Jerr, Orna with her sleeves rolled to show forearms the thickness of fenceposts, Kel and Doff who finished each other’s grumbles, and Ludo, who could shoe a horse or fix a hinge with either hand and didn’t brag about either.

They stood around the main room, mugs in hand, waiting for orders as if orders were a kind of breakfast.

"No orders," John said, standing where a good voice could bounce off the rafters. "A debt."

That got every eye. Debts were how you measured men.

"Fizz carried me through mad days and small disasters," John went on. "He earned things with teeth and wit and bad timing. So we pay him in pancakes. And we add meat and beer because I am not a tyrant."

Fizz, who had floated down at the exact moment his name entered the air (he claimed he could smell compliments), gasped and put both paws to his cheeks. "At last. Recognition in the currency of breakfast."

"Also," John said, "we invite the village. Not with flyers. With smell."

That got grins. Orna cracked her knuckles. "You want a line of pans, boss?"

"A line of pans," John confirmed. "Jem, Jerr — you’re a batter. Harn, you’re on ladles. Orna, you get the first flip. Ludo, fire discipline. Gael, you’re on the meat. Pekk, smoke wood. Kel and Doff — beer taps and mugs. Ruel, you count."

"Count what?" Ruel asked, suspicious.

"How many he eats," John said, tipping his chin toward Fizz.

There was a collective glance at the small creature’s very small belly.

Ruel grunted. "I’ll need chalk."

"You’ll need patience," Fizz said. "And a respect for miracles."

Doff cupped his hands. "What do we call this happy day?"

Fizz lifted like a banner. "The First Pancake of Doom."

Gael shook his head. "No doom. Not with syrup."

Fizz considered, then flourished a paw. "The Redemption of Fur Day."

"That one I can live with," John said.

Before the batter could be born, there were errands to run. Gael took Ludo to fetch fresh meat (chicken and beef) and a sack of onions that didn’t lie. Orna and Pekk commandeered a cart and rolled toward the mill for flour while Harn went to the beekeeper for honey and to the market square for a clay jar of berry compote that looked like spilled sunset.