"Tell me more, boy. I want to know who my competition is."
The young inventor stiffened at once.
Caelum watched the reaction from behind Orven von Halbrecht's face. The boy wanted to answer. That much was obvious. His problem was not reluctance, but the far more inconvenient disease of limited information. He had heard things. Gathered pieces. Stored rumors the way eager young craftsmen stored praise, hoping one day they would become useful.
Now Master von Halbrecht was asking him to turn gossip into a report.
A cruel situation, really.
"I don't know how to answer that properly, Master von Halbrecht," the boy said, clutching the edge of his worktable with ink-stained fingers. "Only a few people know the full details, and I'm not influential enough to hear anything official. Although, now that I think about it, someone like you could probably ask and receive an answer."
Caelum turned the ring once with his thumb, letting Halbrecht's impatience settle over the room.
