After a long day of forging followed by a short dinner, Burgin spoke up from across the table. "Alright boy, go get your shards." Ozlo ran upstairs and grabbed the shards he had placed in a pouch at near his bed and promptly returned.

"Here master, there they are." Burgin took the pouch in his large weathered hands and poured them out on the table. "Hmm. Decent haul, not amazing, but decent. I've been doing some math boy and you're almost payed up." Ozlo started to attempt do to the math in his head. "If you carry the one and add the uh, the uh... Hmmm. This doesn't add up."

Ozlo was about to say something when Burgin held up a hand to stop him. "I know what you're thinking boy, you still owe me a few shards. Course that was with your old pay. Now that you aren't completely worthless around the shop, your wages have gone up. A more unscrupulous man might make you work all the shards you've borrowed off at a considerably lesser rate, but I'm nothing if not fair."

It took Ozlo a few minutes to process Burgin's speech. "I'm free... Well, I wasn't exactly trapped but the feeling is the same." Ozlo gave Burgin a big grin but Burgin slapped his hand on the table.

"Don't be getting complacent boy. You still owe the church, you still have room and board and you still need to upgrade your cards. Unless you want to spend your entire life handing me things and making daggers you still need to shape up and put in the hard work."

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Those sobering words pulled Ozlo out of his momentary glee, but the smile never quite left his face. However a question did start to form. "Burgin... How much do I owe the church?"

A dark look once again crossed Burgins face, the same look he reserved for mentions of Mother Patricia or the church. After a few moments, Burgin finally responded. "I don't know boy, but last I heard it was a shard day. And you were with the church for some years. That probably means a few thousand at least."

Ozlo felt hollow. "A few THOUSAND. Thousands of shards, that... That could take years and..." Sensing Ozlo's growing despair, Burgin clapped his apprentice on the back firmly but gently.

"Straighten up boy. You'll get there. It's not like you're in a hurry to rush off and even if you were as long as you got approval from either me or the church, you would be fine. In fact I th-"

"DING" Glancing up, Burgin noticed a small man hastily entering the shop with a broken blade. "We're closed". Stopping himself, the man glanced around hastily and approached the counter.

Groaning inwardly, Ozlo's master approached the counter and towered over the small man. "I said we're closed. Is it important?"

As Burgin dealt with the late customer Ozlo started to think and think and eventually, he had a thought. "I need shards. If the church ever decides to repossess the card they gave me I'll... I'll." On the verge of panic Ozlo started to breathe slowly, calm himself and decided to head upstairs.

"No sense dwelling on it now, I'll figure something out."