His expression shifted—surprise, then recognition, then something complicated and sad.
"This is good," he said quietly. "Really good. Simple ingredients, traditional preparation, nothing revolutionary. But it works. It's satisfying in a way fancy food often isn't."
"That's the point," Marron said. "This soup has been made for three hundred years. It's been preserved through continuation—cooks teaching cooks, families passing recipes down, the tradition staying alive because people keep making it."
"You're suggesting my preservation method is wrong."
"I'm suggesting there are different kinds of preservation," Marron said. "And maybe the one you've chosen—storage without use—isn't the only valid option."
Edmund ate more soup, his expression thoughtful. "What if you're wrong? What if using tools daily does risk destroying them? What if your idealism leads to loss?"
