Rhys felt the subtle change in air as they moved between buildings. Shade cooled the stone beneath their feet. Sound softened, then sharpened again as they passed open doorways. A conversation about grain prices drifted out, then vanished behind them. Laughter followed, brief and unclaimed.
Caria glanced once at a side street branching off to the right. It led toward quieter space—less noise, fewer people. She didn't suggest it. There was no reason yet. Her attention returned to the road ahead, to the way the crowd thinned and thickened in slow pulses.
Puddle adjusted seamlessly, stepping around a bucket left near a doorway, skirting a tethered mule without startling it. Its presence drew no comment. If anything, it fit the place—another creature moving with purpose, neither wild nor ornamental.
