Thinkingly he stares out of the window. It is a windy day and for a while he watches the colourful autumn leaves swirl through the air, dancing around carried by nothing more than air. Next to him is some ink, in front of him a flawless piece of paper that has yet to be filled with his tiny but clear handwriting. The pen in his hand moves towards the paper and he sighs slightly while he tries to find the right words to begin. As everyone else he has heard the tale about the virtue Sacrifice more than once, but when he had accepted to write it down for the children of a noble to practice their reading skills on it the scribe would not have thought that there is such a huge difference between telling a story and writing it down. He thinks again and listens to the wind, when suddenly he finds a start and quickly the paper begins to be filled with carefully written runes...

In old days, even more than nowadays, Minoc was well known as the centre of all the finest artisans and craftsmen of the realm. Among this illustrious company were two who were even more famed and whose name were spoken with respect by everyone who had only heard of them. Jervaise, the carver, was everywhere claimed as one of the greatest artists Britannia had ever seen. His skills were yet to be topped, and all his work was of a certain beauty and elegance that still searches for comparison. He was able to create items from rock or wood that were not only durable and practical, but also astounding works of fine art. A table, lamp or chair from the hand of Jervaise was often honoured more than a fine and skillful marble statue or a painted portrair in the greatest houses of the realm.

The other, younger one was known by the name Julia. Julia was a tinker, and contrary to Jervaise, who was primarly an artist, she was an artisan. Her timepieces were famous and highly appreciated by all inhabitants of Britannia, and it was said that they would reamin accurate to the very second for a hundred years, if kept wound and properly tended. Not enough, Julia also was a very bright young woman and she invented many cunning devices of the sort to make difficult tasks both simpler and more precise, a fact that was reason enough for many people to love and appreciate her work.

When one of the great nobles of Britannia wished to purchase something that was beautiful and intricate at the same time, he would often commision both, Julia and Jervaise, to work on it together, and these collaborations always were the topic of discussion and rumour and almost instantly the stuff of legends.

Julia and Jervaise, in the meantime, were content with their work as they both loved what they did, and they always charged their customers according to their skills, which were as mentioned, exceptional. Although they could have probably charged more for their fine items and although they did not, the demand for their wares was tremendous and so it was not surprising that soon both of them became two of the most prosperous citizens of the beautiful town of Minoc, in addition to being two of the most celebrated.

So it came to pass that one fine day a messenger from a rich noble of the city of Moonglow arrived in Minoc. Moonglow at that time was a place where cunning objects of extravagant beauty were greatly prized, and I might add that this fact has not greatly changed to these days. The messenger sought Julia and Jervaise, and after thankfully accepting the offered drink and food he reported that his master, the noble, desired a great clock to be made, of unsurpassed beauty and complexity. This very clock should not only show the time, but also the phases of the moons and the progress of the Zodiac, the seasons and the year, and it should be able to predict the weather of the year. Short: the clock should be something that sounded almost impossible, and that certainly had never been seen in the vast lands of Britannia before. All this was to be told through the actions of a troupe of various cunning and amusing automata, and accompanied by lovely music. The messenger took another gulp of ale, and to the questions of the two famous craftsmen he replied that the terms for this comission were to be a rich sum immediately, for material and expenses and, of course, to assure Julia and Jervaise a certain standard of living while they were working on the clock, generous annual payments for the duration of the task, and the proverbial small fortune upon completion.

Julia and Jervaise took council together wether to accept the order or not, and after a short discussion they agreed that the offer indeed was a generous one, maybe too good to let the opportunity pass, and soon agreed that such a thing could be completed in six years olf work. The messenger smiled at their answer and after he had spent the night in Minoc he freshly rested delivered the first payment to Julia and Jervaise without further haggling, and the good news of their acceptance to his patron.

The two of them, Julia and Jervaise, were intrigued by the idea of a device just like the wondrous clock, and as both of them did not have any major commissions at that date they started to work on their new masterpiece immediately with all the passion that was possible, and I tell you, that was a lot. They drew intricate plans and sketches, Julia biting her lips when something went wrong, Jerviase cursing loudly when he thought that nobody could hear him, but nevertheless they made progress without a doubt. Never forgetting that they were actually paid for that work they sent all the sketches and plans to their patron to the island of mages, Moonglow, where they were rapturously recieved. At last they had worked out a plan that seemed to make sense, and so eventually Jervaise ordered the rich materials for the case and fittings of the clock, while Julia began to work on the core of the mechanism.

Whenever they could they worked on the clock, setting their hearts and ambitions on this wonderful piece of work. Indeed, two years later, the clock was taking shape nicely, and Julia privately even thought that theymight be able to deliver it early to their patron. Then, one day, the messenger of Moonglow returned, bearing a single curt letter. The two craftsmen immediately broke the seal and it seemed like their fortune had changed, as the letter unfortunately bore no good news. Their patron, it said, had died of a fever, and all his estate had gone to his sister. This lady, in the meantime, did not share her brother's taste and passion for finery, and therefore she had no desire to continue payments for ths ole reason to see the started clock finished. As compensation for the breaking of the contract the heir of their formerly patron allowed the two artisans to keep the rich materials for the unfinished clock as compensation, although, and the lady made that point very clear, there would certainly be no further payments.

Julia and Jervaise were not very pleased, and Julia even swore in a most unladylike fashion, and for a very long time, but in the end she calmed down again and eventually she had to admit that she they had had a good income of the thing for two years, though it was a pity that the wonderful clock would never be finished. It almost broke her heart, but Julia was too much of a rational woman to allow her anger and frustration to take over, and so she went off to draft new replies to other potential commissions that she had been planning to refer to others. Jervaise, in the meantime, just sighed and became very, very silent, and far into the night he sat in front of the clock and stared at it with an unhappy look in his eyes.

A few days passed by and things seemed to fall back into their usual pace, when Jervaise visited Julia and asked her if she minded if he would look for a new buyer for the clock, rather than selling it for the raw materials. She agreed, as on the one hand none of them was in the dire need of money thanks to their wealth, although at that time she was convinced that she had had enough trouble with this clock already and that she would rather not see it again, let alone to continue her work on it.

For the next year and more Julia heard very little of Jervaise, and by herself she might have thought that the carver was not able to find a new buyer for the clock, which was, although beautiful and at that time unique, a very expensive project to maintain. Every now and then Julia asked Jervaise for news, maybe out of curiousity or maybe because privately she had never given up the hope to finished their begun piece of work, but the carver only sadly shook his head and shrugged.

So it came to pass that one day Julia was out near the mines on the outskirts of town on an errand, when she suddenly spotted Jervaise, pulling a handcart of ore in the hot summer sun, with his skin reddened and sweat shimmering on his face and bare arms. Now, the mines of Minoc were always hiring labours - as they still do - but as there were uncounted miners to be had in Minoc this was the lowest and least paid of all tasks in that city. Jervaise was stripped to the waist against the heat, and Julia could see that his weathered old skin was stretched painfully tight against his prominent ribs. As she watched in horror, scarcely believing her eyes, she saw the cart slip from her old friend's frail grasp, as he crumpled to the ground in a faint of hunger and exyhaustion. The foreman began to bellow and shake the fallen craftsman, calling him lazy and worthless, but Julia rounded on the lout with curses and wrath, and he fell back. As she was not strong enough to carry Jervaise she hired two mine workers to pick up the craftsman and bear him back to town, where she brought him to her house.

It is not necessary to mention that Julia was more than worried about the condition of her old friend, and so she gave him her own bed where he lay raving for several days, while the tinker patiently fed him broth and watered wine, and although Julia was fearing that Jervaise would remain like that forever he at last regained consciousness. When Julia felt that her patient was strong enough she sat down on the corner of the bed, and asked her friend what had happened. Jervaise sighed and looked at her sadly, but after hesitating a while he eventually decided to tell Julia his story. With his heart overshadowed by sorrow he confessed that he could not bring himself to stop work on the clock, which he regarded at his masterpiece. As Julia had suspected already there were no new buyers, for nobody wished to spend so much on such an extravagant thing. Jervaise, his thoughts all set only on the completion of the clock, had refused all other commissions, only taking occasional jobs when he was in dire need of money and food. Things got worse and worse, and the last time he could not bring himself to quit the clock until he was so weak with deprivation that he could not complete the work he needed.

Julia was astonished at this, barely believing the amount of dedication and sacrifice that certainly was needed for such a thing, and she spent uncounted hours trying to reason or bully her old friend into abandoning the clock for good and resuming his former practice. Jervaise listened to her patiently, a slight smile on his lips, but in the end he only shook his head sadly and said: "Don't you see, girl, all money is nothing but the clock is all."

At last Julia stopped her efforts and gave up in disgust. Nevertheless she would not let her old friend and collegue suffer any more and so she took good care that meals from her own table were taken to Jervaise every day, and she visited him often to see if he was in need of new tools, clothes or other materials. Jervaise, in the meantime, was happy to be freed of the threat of starvation, and without having to worry about surviving he began some sort of impoverished but busy retirement, and not a second he cared about the fact that he had once been only one step away from being the richest man in Minoc. Every day he worked on the clock, got up before the first sunrays warmed the cobblestones of Minoc, and continued his concentrated work until he could not keep his eyes open anymore. Yet, his work only progressed very slowlly, for he had no money for assistants to hasten the task, let alone that he was rather old and tired at that time already.

About two years later Jervaise did not answer when Julia's servant knocked on the door of his dirty house, and when the maid entered the workshop she found Jervaise lying dead at the foot of the clock, his smallest hammer and chisel still in his hand, and a small, strange smile on his face. Jervaise had died, and he had died as he had spent the last years of his life: working on his beloved clock, his masterpiece he had dedicated his life, his wealth and even himself to.

When the rooms were cleaned up they found a will, which left everything to Julia, and although at that time "everything" consisted only of Jervaise's ancient workshop, his tools and the still unfinished clock Julia could not help but smile sadly.

On the day Jervaise was buried Julia decided to go to his workshop alone, tears streaming down her face and her heart feeling like iron due to the loss of her good old friend. Once arrived she ran her hands over the intricate carving of the case, spotting with her pracitced eye the few areas still awaiting attention and the gentle touch of a crafter. She sniffled a bit and fondled the tiny and colourful figures Jervaise had crafted in uncounted and lonely hours of unpaid work, and for the first time in years she though about the subtle machinery with which she had once planned to give them life.

As she left the workshop, the tears slowly drying on her face, she was accosted by a messenger from Britain, who told her that Lord British himself requested that she created for him a new kind of telescope. "Tell his majesty thank you," she replied. "But I have a previous commission that I must complete first. If Lord British should wish to renew his offer in, say, three year's time, I would be most interested."

For the next three years Julia was only scarcely seen in Minoc. She did not receive visitors, nor did she pay a visit to the local inns, and she dismissed all her servants and apprentices expect for an old neighbour woman who swept her house and cooked her evening meal. Her own workshop stood empty and soon the neighbours missed the sounds of business bringing life to the street. Julia was working in the workshop that had formerly belonged to Jervaise, and she was working on his masterpiece that now was hers again due to a chain of happenings and the will of fate.

The years of Julia's self-chosen exile slowly passed by, and after that time she put a heavy lock onto the door to Jervaise's workshop. With a content smile on her face, which was a bit pale due to the lack of sun and air, she rehired her staff, and let it be known that she was once again receiving commissions. Soon she was busier than ever, as her mysterious absence had not lowered her fame and reputation at all, and maybe it had even fed the legend for her unsurpassed skill. She even built the telescope for Lord British, which job had been kept open awaiting her convenience. And in later years people sometimes spotted her on the way to Jervaise's workshop to stay there for several hours, and passersby could hear faint and sweet music coming out of the old, weathered building. Only a few curious citizens ever captured a look into the building, and those who actually had could only bring the disappointing news that the inside was totally bare, save for a tall box or cabinet in one corner, covered with a heavy, dusty piece of cloth.