Going to Work

The following morning, Ernest remained in his bedroom long after breakfast should have begun.

Sunlight spilled through the tall windows of Oriel Estate, touching the edge of his desk, the folded maps, and the notebook he had filled the previous day at Beryl District. Outside, the estate grounds moved quietly beneath the morning mist, but Ernest barely noticed any of it.

His attention remained fixed on the survey notes spread across the desk.

For once, the problem in front of him was not political, financial, or tied to some minister misunderstanding electricity.

There was a source of water. There was a difference in height. There was a route for a pipe. There was a need for power.

Those were his favorite kinds of problems.

He wrote the first numbers at the top of a fresh page.