Outside, the wind forgave hats. Pigeons chose philosophy. The square smelled like pretzels pretending to be sacramental.
Michelle intercepted them with a pamphlet about sweeping ethics. "Sweep in the direction you intend to live," she declared. "Otherwise your corners collect the wrong years."
Patricia bought two copies out of sincerity and a third out of self-defense. Christian asked whether a broom was a vector or a suggestion; Michelle promised a complicated answer later. She inspected Thomas as if he were a room improved by moving the furniture two inches. "You have the look of someone who borrowed a thought and hasn't told its mother."
"Glass," he said.
"Ah. Windows are polite mirrors," she replied. "If a window stares, stare back until it blinks. Then thank it."
They detoured to a glazier's stall—patient hands, scars like punctuation. Christian talked lead cames and thermal stress; the glazier answered in a dialect of measurements and jokes. Thomas watched how the man lifted each pane with reverence and set it down with equality. No favorites; no rush.
A woman bought a cheap mirror and asked if it would make her look older or younger. "Yes," said the glazier, and took her coin. Honest trade on purpose. Two boys swapped marbles for a brass button and defended the rate by claiming the button had seen a parade. Honest enough. In the passage, a vendor tried to pass polished bottle-glass as river glass; Michelle corrected him gently and paid fairly for what it was. Honest by accident.
[SEQ] Daily (Optional) — Observe 3 honest trades.
[SEQ] Reward: +5 XP; Insight Eye — Progress (2/3).
Back home, Thomas sat with the new thread in his finger and practiced moving his wrist so the line the shard wanted matched the line a lamp could give. He didn't practice Lantern Thrust. He practiced not yet.
The pane exhaled, if panes do that.
[SEQ] Umbra Bind — Success (Relic).
[SEQ] Acquired: Vitre Saint Fragment (Relic Umbra)
[SEQ] Socket: Pending (Life-Weapon Link locked).
[SEQ] Art Seed stored: Lantern Thrust.
Patricia watched him carefully not practicing. "Sometimes waiting is a kind of doing," she said, and threaded a needle with the same care.
Evening closed the shutters early—not fear, just rehearsal for being their own light. Christian trimmed a wick; the flame wore its shape like a corrected habit. Thibault wandered through with a broom sideways and demanded to know whether it was a vector or a suggestion; Michelle would have loved him for that.
Thomas stood between lamp and wall and watched how his shadow behaved when he breathed. On the inhale, edges sharpened—want makes lines. On the exhale, edges softened—patience makes rooms. He practiced both until the shadow looked equally convinced.
He placed a coin on the table and angled the lamp so the light traced a clean path to the door, then stepped through the path without disturbing it. The coin did not wobble. He allowed himself the smallest victory.
[SEQ] Lore — Consecrated Glass (Wards & Angles)
[SEQ] Tags: Reverence, Line, Lumen
He slept with the sense that glass was a good neighbor—nosy, yes, but firm in its loyalties, and that the city had noticed him noticing and approved.