Sierra Hamilton woke moments before sunrise. Freshening up, she sees her mentor, Cletus, looking wistfully out over the early morning scenery, clutching a warm cup of tea. The old man was prone to waking up earlier than Sierra, though as the town smith, he had nothing to do this early in the day. Since she came to Root River and became Cletus' apprentice, he had given her the one bedroom in his residence, and took to laying out a roll and sleeping by the forge. And although Sierra sees the bedroll tucked away in the corner every day, she had never seen it in use, since Cletus woke earlier than she did and went to sleep later than she did. He had often commented on the irony of old age: that though he felt tired and fatigued more often, he found that he required less sleep. Perhaps his body was taking advantage of every waking moment before the end. And though Sierra protested being given the bedroom, Cletus had insisted for propriety's sake; that a lone woman deserved privacy lest unsavory talk circulated.
Surprisingly, the phone rang, and as if he expected it, Cletus picked it up immediately, congratulating the mayor on a new year and sending his blessings. He turned around, as if just now noticing Sierra was up.
"There's an event today to usher in the New Year at Mayor Eugene's place," Cletus said with a surprisingly serious tone,
"We will need to bring gifts."Cletus got up slowly and wandered over to the forge, picking out a small rosewood box with a hinged lid. Opening it revealed a pink silk cushion, upon which sat a small, stylized gold ingot in a vaguely boat-like shape, inlaid with runes and characters Sierra was unfamiliar with. Sierra had noticed in the previous days the old man was working on something, smelting down gold, using a special mold, and ordering the special box from the General Store.
"You're giving the mayor gold?" Sierra said incredulously, and almost rudely.
Cletus' brow furrowed in disappointment as he reached for a stack of red envelopes,
"That's not all," he added,
"As the eldest member of Root River's community, I am handing these out to all the other villagers as well." He put them within arm's reach so Sierra could inspect them.
Opening the envelopes, Sierra saw that they were filled with varying amounts of money, based on the age of the recipient.
"You can't just give away money!" Sierra said. She had been in Root River for less than a year, so this was her first New Year's celebration, but she was sure that what Cletus was doing was something from his own culture.
"And why not?" Cletus retorted in a huff,
"It's my money. I can do whatever I want with it. What am I going to do with wealth, at my age? I can't eat it, and I can't bring it with me when I..." Cletus sighed.
"You only lose to poverty when you let others see that you are poor, do you understand? What's that saying...'Keep calm and carry on'? It's...it's...the power of perseverance and belief. By pretending that you are wealthy, the spirit of poverty will give up and leave you, and prosperity will return. But poverty latches on and doesn't let go if you make being poor a part of who you are."Sierra couldn't accept the nonsense Cletus was saying, but held her tongue out of respect.
"Anyways, you're still young, so you don't have to give these out," Cletus mentioned the envelopes,
"But you still have to pay tribute to the Mayor.""Tribute?!" Sierra blurted out.
"Yes," Cletus picked out a second cushioned, rosewood box, but it was empty.
"I think a nice gemstone would make a fine pair with my ingot. This is not a request."Sierra was speechless for a moment. Most of her mining efforts had yielded little more than stone for construction projects around the village, though she happened upon the occasional ore vein. One day she had gotten extremely lucky and dug up a small chunk of sapphire. Cletus had already smelted down most of the gold she had discovered to make his ingot, and now he wants her to just give away the one gemstone she had managed to find in the entire time she had spent in Root River. Her incredulous gaze was met with an intense glare that bore the weight of an ancient culture and a lifetime of hardship and sacrifice. Sierra put her hands in front of her in a foreign gesture of salute and said,
"I hear and I obey, Kang ShiFu," turning her face down in deference.
Cletus relaxed,
"Thank you for understanding. The party won't be until the afternoon. So you should have some time to mine before then.""Please excuse me, then," Sierra saluted again, before heading out, and picked up the boxed brunch that Cletus had prepared for her that day.
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