She laughs a little, not exactly sure how to accept a compliment that nice. "Thanks! But it's really just that I keep having to switch jobs. I haven't done anything really difficult, I don't think, just a lot of different things that somebody had to do. Like, it's really cool that you're putting so much effort into making things, because that sort of focus lets you develop skills you wouldn't be able to master in a shorter amount of time, you know?"

"I certainly do have a lot of skill at making clockwork. I don't believe that's any more useful to the world than shelving books and controlling pests. Less, if anything."

"I don't think so! It's good for the world to have lots of beautiful clocks in it, and you're way better than the average person at making them, right? You can probably make things that nobody else would have thought to make. So if you didn't do what you were doing, then the world would be out a bunch of beautiful things entirely, and that would just be a loss. But lots of people can shelve books and kill ants and clean things, so I'm only adding value to the world insofar as I do those things better than whoever would have my job if I didn't, you know?" 

She pauses, slightly self-conscious about having this sort of conversation with someone who's paying her to be doing something else. But it's nice.

Madral smiles.

"So the question becomes, which is of more value to society: useful important work that anyone could do but most people won't, or frivolous work that is genuinely irreplaceable? An interesting conundrum. I'm not at all sure of the answer."

Kairda smiles back. 

"Yeah, it is a good question. I think it probably depends on where the rest of society is. The reason we think of some work as more useful than other work is that it opens up more possibilities. If nobody grew any food for us, then we couldn't begin to think about running libraries or making fancy clocks or mapping the stars. So it is really important that someone grow food and that somebody clean things, because if nobody does, then the rest of society is stuck where it is, and nobody can do anything really amazing. But it'd also be wrong for us to say that the things built on top of other people's work don't also have value, because if they didn't, we wouldn't be working so hard to maintain the resources we need for them, you know?"

"I see what you mean, but I still find myself wishing for a more practical talent."

"That's fair! I think if you really want to do something else, too, then you probably can, even if you don't have a talent for it. Talent's a real thing and all, but you don't need it for everything. I probably have, like, two talents or something, but I have a lot more than two things I can do with any degree of skill."

She steps back and double-checks the bookshelf's organizational scheme, nods decisively, and moves on to dusting.

"If I weren't quite so good at my totally useless skill, I'd consider picking up another trade. But as it is... whenever I turn my hand to a task outside my specialty, I feel like one of those birds that can barely walk, hobbling awkwardly along the ground when instead I could be flying."

"That's a good metaphor. I think I feel sort of like that all the time. But it does mean you can reach more places, if you're willing to try walking, because not every place can be flown to." She frowns. "I mean, I guess most places can be? Maybe if you wanted to like, explore a cave or something. Or the ocean. Or the inside of a building. And like, birds don't do those things and they get along fine, I bet they have a great time, so it totally makes sense if it seems like it's too much effort. But it is nice, being able to go lots of places. So I think if you did decide to pick up another skill as, like, a hobby or something, then you probably wouldn't regret it. I don't think I ever do." 

She picks up a piece of clockwork and inspects it, trying to figure out what it does and where she should move it to make the space more liveable. "On the other hand, it's probably also a really good use of time to capitalize on the skills you already have, and keep honing those? Because what you're doing now actually is really cool."

"An interesting perspective," he says thoughtfully. "I'll keep it in mind in case of future need."

"Hope it helps!"

She scans the room. "I can put all the clockwork in the box, but it'd probably be best if you had another shelf, maybe there or somewhere? Then you could easily access and display all your stuff, without it ending up in a jumble and breaking."

"Yes, I see what you mean."

It really would be better if there was another shelf. Unfortunately, she's terrible at carpentry, and you can't really suggest that the person who hired you to clean should go out and buy a shelf right now.

"Well. We can work with what we have for now."

He smiles. "Yes."

She gets to work carefully moving the clockwork into the box he found earlier, sometimes asking him what particular pieces do. 

He is happy to explain the functions of various items. Most of them are pieces of some larger project, but some are complete in themselves - a pendant watch, a pendulum clock, a small proof-of-concept calculating machine that can only add two numbers each of which must be either zero or one. It ticks along very charmingly in pursuit of its result.

She listens with interest. They make steady progress, and eventually, the entire room is properly clean.

"Thank you very much," he says. "You may have to come back in a few weeks; I'm sure I'll have let the place slide back into disaster by then."

She smiles. "OK! It took a little under two hours, so fifteen noavo? If you give me your everything number I can send you the bill right now, it'll just need you to specify your banking number and sign off on the amount. And then I can leave my contact info here, too, and you can call the next time you need me."

She takes out a pocket notebook, scrawls an everything number, labels it 'Cleaner/Kairda', and then tears out the paper and hands it to him.

He smiles back, writes his own number down, and trades one paper for the other. "Excellent, thank you."

"My pleasure."

She punches in the number and sends him the bill. She then waves goodbye and leaves to take care of Zada, figuring the block letters and underlining in her calendar are not to be taken lightly. 

He overpays her - twenty instead of fifteen - because she seems like she could use a little extra in her life. Calls her back again a few weeks later, having arrayed the boxful of clockworks on a shiny new shelf in the suggested location but allowed several more drifts of books to accumulate in the meantime.

She clears out space on her calendar and arrives the next day, this time with a purple-haired one-month-old baby in a sling. 

He opens the door and—

—smiles at the baby and completely forgets what he was going to say.

"Hi! Alvade's mom has a doctor's appointment and her dad is taking her mom to the doctor, so I said I'd watch Alvade for the day and I hope that's OK?"