The Right Thing To Do

You knew where I was… for how long? Have you been keeping tabs on me for my father? Has he finally decided to reclaim the prodigal son!

What is it that you said to that couple when they came to see you all those years ago? “The beauty of love is that it can make you feel wretched and enchanted with the same person.” My days of enchantment lasted longer than I had thought they would. 

Ah, so not him then. Just you. What brings you here then? You’ve come to claim your dues I suppose. There is a price to pay for your silence, yes?

Not all things can be bought with the shiny metal you used to favor for creating your trinkets. 

Trinkets! Trinkets you call them? They were magical works of art that bound souls together in happiness for eternity!

You’ve told yourself the lie so often that even you've started to believe it!

Don’t be condescending. It doesn’t matter whether I believed it or not. People believed it. The couples that commissioned me did. Their families and friends believed it. And over time, their collective belief manifested itself into reality. And reality is what matters. 

And I suppose you believe that duping innocent couples into paying you large chunks of their life savings didn’t matter either.

I don’t…

Do you think about the summer I apprenticed with your father? I always thought those were the happiest weeks of my life. I got to witness a master craftsman work alongside a natural genius. We spent hours in that little jewelry workshop, three pairs of hands cutting and carving and creating. Except that two were brilliant. I knew early on that I could be good, I could be better than most. But not better than you.

You were wise beyond your years, then. Because I begrudged the attention that Father gave you. I mistook it for a validation of your talents and the absence of mine. Took me many years to realise that it had been the opposite. 

Yes, your natural skill scared him sometimes; he thought that you had a devil’s spirit within when you worked. But from my eyes, each piece of jewelry you created was so intricately beautiful that it could only be god himself blessing your hands.

Do you think things would’ve been different if I was less adept as a jewelry maker? Perhaps he would’ve paid more attention to me. 

You mean perhaps he would have noticed? Like I did? Realised something was changing and pushing you away from simply crafting beautiful pieces to fabricating falsehoods. Perhaps his attention would have kept you from going over the line.

No. I wanted none of his attention. I wanted none of yours. 

I still loved you. Regardless. Like a brother perhaps, or maybe something more. At least I can take solace in the fact that love drove my actions and not greed. 

Greed?! How convenient is it that you can make such statements from behind the shield of a life spent as the heir apparent for MY family business!? You outed an innocent prank of a teenager who didn't know better, one that you knew my father would never forgive. I was the one who had to walk away and fend for myself. Do you know how long it took me to get away from his shadow…

You could’ve walked away and created an honest business.

You could’ve walked away and left me the hell alone!

Alright. We all made choices that we had to live with. No, don’t scoff at the truth now. You chose to turn your craft into smoke, mirrors, and pixie dust. When that couple came to you claiming, what was it... "a stupid superstition"... that the wedding rings you made were the solution to all their marital problems. You didn't have to create a back-story about actually having a "gift." You didn't have to charge them ten times the going rate to commission another set for her sister. And once your father caught you out on it...

You mean once you rated me out?

...once you were caught, you didn't have to be so rash...

I was 17 years old. Forgive me for not being as wise as the saint that sits before me now.

Irrespective. It's on you - that you decided to go down the path of convincing hundreds of others that you were somehow responsible for creating jewelry that could ensure a marriage stays stable and true for eternity. A ridiculously outrageous claim that only a charlatan can even make up. You chose to make a living out of trickery.

I chose the traditional way of hard work and honesty. I was the second son your father needed. Sure I was only second-best, but at least I was there. I have given my all to your family's business and I'll be the first to acknowledge that it has given me back in equal measure. If you don’t pretend that you had a very hard life, then I won’t have to lie either. 

Yes, I suppose you're right. After a while, I did realise that being on my own was the most liberating experience. I did well for myself. So many people truly believed that the wedding rings I forged were somehow “magical”. Did I perpetuate the belief? Sure, I’ll agree that I liked the idea. Can you imagine if I truly held the power to keep a couple in love with each other and belong together just by the quality of the wedding rings I made? Just imagine…

I’m glad that age has at least made you realise the hubris in that claim. You were nothing more than a con artist. You could have inherited a kingdom and you chose the dark alleyways instead. 

As you said, we made our choices. I had a good run and was smart enough to stay under the radar. I retired years ago and am quite happily settled, as you can see. I don't care anymore that my family disowned me and claimed you for a son. In fact I'm thankful for it. I worked hard to free myself from the shackles of my past. And I can honestly say that I don’t resent you now.

I never did. 

Tell me then my friend, what brings you to me today? I am sure you did not seek me out after all these years in this remote village so that we could wonder about what-ifs and why-nots? What do you want?

I came to tell you that I’m no longer heir apparent to the jeweler of kings. Your father passed away last week and left me as the proprietor of Forthwan's. He went peacefully in his sleep. 

..

Huh? So there is something that can still leave you speechless! I also wanted to let you know that my wife and I have decided to rename the business. Since it's no longer "family owned and operated for more than 250 years" it would be inappropriate to mislead customers. I know that you never thought a little misleading would do any harm. But I am not you. 

We live completely disconnected lives after a brief summer of working together and yet you seek me out to give me the news that I didn't even know I was dreading with my whole being. What should I make of that? That you chose to unravel my illusion of a satisfied life by reminding me that I never reconciled with the person who mattered to me the most. I never can now. And not only that, you are wiping away the legacy my family built for generations. Why? To spite me? Is this the point where your enchantment has finally turned to wretchedness? 

Call it what you will. I said I never resented you, and I meant it. 

Really?! Does that help you sleep at night...

I've always chosen the right thing to do. It felt right for me to break this news to you in person, I owed that much to that 17 year old boy who showed me a glimpse of real magic once upon a time. Goodbye, my friend... I hope you find it within you to make peace with our past, as I have.