Sun was by the window watching the street below when Eli slipped into the room,
He moved the way he always moved when he was trying not to be noticed, which meant he was very noticeable, and went straight to the drawer by the wall, opened it quietly, and tucked something inside,
Sun did not turn around.
He already knew what it was, Eli kept his bet slips in that drawer, every single one, though there had only ever been losses, neatly folded and stored like they were important documents.
Sun had asked him about it once, why he kept them, and Eli said for analysis, which Sun noted was the answer of a man who had no intention of ever analyzing anything, because in the months since that conversation Eli had not opened that drawer a single time except to add more slips.
He kept them anyway, which was its own kind of interesting, and also a risk, because if Mary found them the resulting conversation would be significantly worse than the bathroom incident, the mere thought of her smile when she discovered something seemed to send a chill through Eli and sun spine even when she was not in the room.
Sun thought about that for a moment, humans had a way of holding onto things that had stopped working, not because they were useful, but because letting go of them meant admitting something they were not ready to admit yet.
Hope, he supposed, did not require results to survive, it just required the possibility that things might still go differently next time.
It was not logical.
It was also, he was finding, very human.
—
The street below had been quieter lately.
People moved faster, stayed closer to their buildings, and the conversations Sun overheard from the window carried a specific kind of tension that had not been there before, six children gone in a single week, the pattern changed , the street was quieter there was hidden tension in the current floor, Eli was also part of them,
the neighborhood finally pushed past the point of waiting and hoping it would stop on its own, a search party was being organized, people were asking questions, someone was going to investigate properly.
Sun filed this alongside everything else he had been collecting.
He had also found something, three days ago, while watching Kael.
It was not dramatic, Kael's movements were still almost unremarkable, lessons in the morning, the bar in the evening, home after that, but on the third day Kael had taken a different route back and stopped at an abandoned building near the edge of the floor, went inside, and stayed for a while before leaving.
There was no obvious reason for it.
Sun had waited until the following day and approached the building on his own.
The moment he got close something shifted, not a sound, not a sight, just a deep unsteady feeling from somewhere inside him, like the ground under his feet was less certain than it should be.
He stepped back and the feeling eased.
He stepped forward and it returned.
He stood there for a moment thinking about it, then turned and walked away.
He would need to be more careful about how he approached that place.
As for how Sun was managing to investigate anything at all in a child's body with no essence and no authority, the answer was something most people would not think to consider, he could not gather essence into himself the way other climbers did, his body or the seed or both simply refused it, but essence existed in the air around him the same way it existed everywhere, and while he could not pull it inside he could shape it around himself, like wearing something rather than swallowing it, strengthening his body from the outside in a way that left no internal trace, it was not much, but it was enough to move faster and notice more than a normal four year old had any right to.
It was during one of these walks back from the abandoned building, still thinking about that unsteady feeling and what it meant, that he noticed the man sitting by the road.
A man sat by the roadside with a small container in front of him, saying please, anything helps to people as they walked past.
Sun stopped.
He looked the man over carefully, no visible injuries, no missing limbs, nothing obviously wrong with him physically.
Sun stepped closer, Are you malfunctioning?
The man blinked, What?
You are asking others for resources, Sun said calmly, but you look capable of getting them yourself.
The man stared at him, I am begging, not malfunctioning.
Sun frowned slightly, Explain the difference.
I do not have work, the man said, so I ask people for help.
Sun thought about this, You are capable of working.
Yes.
But you are not doing it.
It is not that simple.
Sun looked around, people walked past, some dropped coins, most kept moving without looking down.
You have created a system, Sun said slowly, where instead of trading work for resources, you rely on strangers choosing to give you something for nothing.
The man scratched his head, When you put it like that it sounds bad.
It is not efficient, Sun replied.
The man sighed, You think I have not tried? Work is hard to find.
Sun paused.
This was new information.
So the system will not let you in.
Exactly.
Sun nodded once, Then what you are doing now is an adjustment.
Yeah.
Sun looked at the container again, But it depends on people choosing to help, and that is not something you can count on.
Also yeah.
Sun crouched slightly, looking at the coins, Low and unpredictable, not much control.
Welcome to my life, the man said.
Sun went quiet for a moment, then asked, Why do some people give you anything at all?
The man shrugged, Kindness I guess.
Sun tilted his head, Kindness.
He watched as a woman dropped a coin without slowing down and kept walking.
So humans sometimes give resources away without expecting anything back.
Sometimes.
Sun stayed still, That goes against being efficient.
The man laughed quietly, Yeah, humans are not very efficient.
Sun looked at him again, longer this time, Then why do you keep asking?
The man gave a small tired smile, Because sometimes it works.
Silence sat between them for a moment.
Sun looked at the container, then slowly reached into his pocket and dropped something inside.
The man blinked, You just said it was not efficient.
Sun straightened, It is not.
Then why did you do it?
Sun paused, I am testing the system.
The man chuckled, Sure you are.
Sun started walking away then stopped, If it keeps you going, he said without turning back, then it is acceptable for now.
He took a few more steps then added quietly, But it is still a flawed design.
Behind him the man shook his head, still smiling, Weird kid.
Sun did not respond to that.
He already knew.