Time, Curious Time (A Farsight & Morrowseer Fanfiction)

Time, Curious Time

Everything called to the mind of gold.

Sunlight streamed in from the window, causing dust to take on that very color as Farsight wiped it off the mahogany of a well-crafted grandfather clock. But, it didn't take much to notice that subtler things, such as the furniture imported from the continent, the antiques passed down from one set of talons to the next, and perhaps the very flooring itself, all set within a luxury apartment that she could only dream of owning, required no small amount of gold to acquire in the first place.

But, Farsight ignored that as she gazed, her mouth slightly open, at the grandfather clock that stood an entire head above her. It was superb. Every part of it was marvelous. The talon of a master must have polished the casing to reveal the natural beauty of the wood grain, painted the round, pale moon that almost seemed to glow amidst the stars of the night sky, and then engraved, filled with wax, sanded, and then heated the numerals of the chapter ring to a dark sheen.

For a moment, she burned with curiosity to know what was held within the case, the very clockwork itself. But, she set her bag of tools down, stepped back, and turned around, acting as if she hadn't been caught touching a masterpiece.

"You," Morrowseer said, standing by the mantel. He hadn't taken his eyes off her from the moment he let her in, but she forced herself to ignore that. "Have you figured out what's wrong with the clock?"

"Not yet," Farsight said. "Your grandfather clock is–"

Beautiful, she would have said if Morrowseer hadn't cut her off with a dismissive wave of his talon. The word died on her tongue. He gave her a look, neither pleased nor displeased, but something that she couldn't read. "You would admire it better if it worked."

"That's true," she admitted. "Do you have the key to the case?"

Morrowseer moved to a side table, reaching into the drawer and retrieving a small skeleton key. He dropped it into Farsight's talon.

"Be careful with it," he said rather unnecessarily.

"Of course," Farsight said. "I'm a professional."

With the key, she unlocked the case that held the weights and the pendulum before setting it aside. Then, she stooped down to unhook the motionless pendulum from the suspension spring and placed it next to the key. The suspension spring looked to be off-kilter. Ah. She had seen this type of problem before.

Slipping a talon behind the hanging weights, careful to not jostle them, she gently pushed the suspension spring to the right until it started to resist, and then slightly more than that. Then, she let go, hearing the uneven tock-tick— tock-tick of the clock.

Just a smidge more to the right, then. Farsight did just that, and was rewarded with a quick, even ticking. Then, she hooked the pendulum leader back onto the suspension spring, and listened with satisfaction as the grandfather clock resumed its regular rhythm once more. The process had taken less than a minute.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Perhaps." Farsight picked up the key from the bottom of the case and locked it shut. "This problem doesn't require years of training to fix. I'm sure that you could have done it yourself."

"Hm." Morrowseer didn't sound terribly... anything. Mostly bored. "I see."

Farsight bristled, the key growing warm in her palm. All of a sudden, her visit seemed rather unnecessary. She straightened up from her stoop. "I suppose that you didn't know, then?"

"Perhaps," he said, echoing what she had said earlier. "Would you do me the honor of winding the clock back to the regular time? You do know how to do that, don't you?"