A novice monk's brutal life - and his role in worsening his own sufferings

As Garran prepares to resume the journey, Tobin notices a notched stick wedged beneath the shelter’s broken threshold. Two halves lie fitted together, one marked with the same tally symbols Garran remembers from his promised payment.

Garran crouches and takes the tally from the dust without disturbing its broken edges. The matching notch shows that someone deliberately separated and reunited the pieces.

Garran turns the halves toward the weak morning light. Several cuts resemble payment marks, but the final sign is unfamiliar, leaving the tally open to more than one reading.

Timothy bends over the tally in Garran’s hand, tracing the paired notches and the final unfamiliar sign. The wood passes between them for close inspection.

Timothy guides Tobin’s attention from the broken edges to the matching cuts, presenting the marks as proof rather than a question. Garran watches without interrupting.

Tobin nods and accepts the tally’s meaning aloud. Garran closes his fingers around both halves, then leaves the chain slack as the boy rises to continue the journey.

The words settle over the broken shelter with quiet certainty. Tobin looks down at the tally in Garran’s hand, then at the chain still lying slack between them.

Tobin’s fear does not vanish, but his uncertainty does. He bows his head toward the paired notches, treating the tally and Timothy’s counsel as reasons to obey.

The reassurance succeeds, but its cost is plain: Tobin’s trust shifts toward Timothy’s doctrine of submission, while Garran gains a stronger claim that the boy accepts his control. The journey resumes.

Garran gathers the tally pieces and checks Tobin’s restraints before the road resumes. The chain stays slack enough for walking, but his grip becomes deliberate and watchful.

Garran shortens the chain by one careful loop and positions himself between Tobin and the open road. He leaves the boy room to walk, but no easy angle to bolt.

With Tobin walking under close control, Garran leads him toward the river road. The delivery arrangement now proceeds exactly as Garran’s payment requires, while the tally remains in his possession.

Garran studies Timothy beneath the gray morning sky, then unhooks the leather halter from his travel roll. His grip stays on Tobin’s chain while he weighs the request.

Garran places the folded leather strap in Timothy’s hands. The permission is real, but so is the burden: any punishment now stains Timothy’s standing with Garran and the master beyond the river.

The strap rests across Timothy’s palm as Garran resumes the river road. Tobin walks ahead under the slack chain, watching the leather without breaking his pace.

The road narrows between thorn hedges, but Tobin keeps pace without hesitation. The leather strap hangs unused from Timothy’s hand, offering no excuse to raise it.

A buckle catches on a thorn as Garran leads them past. The leather twists, exposing a small stamped mark near the fold, something neither boy noticed at the toll shelter.

Garran frees the buckle and keeps walking, leaving the mark visible on the folded strap. Tobin’s conduct denies Timothy any immediate pretext, but the sign offers a tangible trail toward the arrangement’s source.

The road bends beneath the thorn hedges. Timothy keeps the leather strap folded in his hand while Tobin walks ahead, his chain still slack and his eyes lowered.

Garran slows. His scarred face turns from Tobin to the leather strap, and then toward the road ahead, measuring the claim against the promise of extra coin.

Garran gathers the chain nearer his hand, though he does not pull it. His calculation settles into agreement: Tobin’s submission will be presented as added value, not merely expected conduct.