"The Leonard kid has been moving."
"So I've heard."
Andre tilted his head.
"That why ye came?"
"Partly. Came to see what's happening with that."
"What's happening is every other damn clan and guild is doing their best to fuck him over."
The Fist King sighed.
"It has always been that way in the Tower."
"Aye."
Andre filled both cups again.
"No one likes seein' someone else move up."
"Especially when they think that person might reach somewhere they couldn't."
"Or somewhere their old men couldn't."
The Fist King gave him a look.
Andre shrugged.
"I'm a smith. Climbers gossip around me all day while I fix the shit they broke. I hear things."
"You encourage them."
"Course I do. Gossip gets better when folk are drunk."
"A respectable trade."
"I have standards."
The Fist King looked around at the cluttered workshop.
"No evidence of them."
"Fuck off."
That earned another laugh.
Andre leaned back farther, balancing the chair on two legs.
"What a shame, though."
