The Lantern Bearers

chapter 35: Sullivan

I am Sullivan Von Rüssenburg.

The capital entitled me to haven 38 to both run, maintain, and keep money flowing through it.

I used to be, what was referred as, a slum child.

Papa was part of the guard, but was lower rank, which meant lower pay.

Momma had to work herself to the bone in the market place just to put food on the table.

One made money to keep a roof over our heads. One made money just to keep us fed and alive.

Once i became a teen, i would work with my mother, expressing intrigue in the marketplace. I would be a natural marketer and would help bring in customers with my words and persuasion.

A businessman would later take me under it's wing. He worked in the more integral parts of marketing, such as money management, stock pricing, and other business practices that keep things going. He would tell me that he and his fellow workers of the same trade, were regarded as the heart and nervous system of the marketing plaza.

I would climb the ranks, until i gained the attention of the higher ups and would grant me the title of "haven master" and gave me a haven to manage and maintain.

Haven 38.

I never been to a haven, and have only heard stories, but i thought i was big shot enough to be able to run it and make it an incredible place to be......

Oh how wrong i was and how humbled i became quickly.....

The place was a dump, it was incredibly dangerous, and it had unsavory folk, unlike the cushy place that i was used to and would think of as a palace in comparison.

However, a job was a job and i was the one that said "yes" and signed the paperwork.

As an haven master, the capital officials expect a lot out of me. Meeting quotas, recording gains, meeting supply and demand, and so on.

Though the havens are meant as a place of hope and refuge, it's also a place for lantern bearers to work and make money, a place for shop and trade, and a place that brings in traders which pay to use our haven as a place to make business.

Nathan would pull himself into our haven by his finger nails and teeth. He was worse for wear and was crippled from an explosion.

He told me his story and i gave him a job and purpose as a handler of his own shop at haven 38.

We were the best of drinking buddies, as well as friends over time. Often drinking ourselves to being drunk as a skunk.

San would walk into our camp and by the look of his face, he looked like he went through a life changing experience, but much like Nathan, i didn't ask his personal business. He would actually come to me for jobs and would net in a lot of business by taking on jobs and bringing in artifacts for trade.

Over time, i started to not see this as a business, but an actual haven for people to live and thrive in. It wasn't about the money anymore, it was about the people that came in and the stories they had about them, the bonds they make, the challenges they conquer.

Though my papa and momma has long passed away, I had a family here with everyone.

San....
Zeus....
Willow.....
Yui.....
And even little Cyrus....

Stay strong and keep going....