Geli, the spicer's assistant, returns Marcon's wave with a polite smile. She is well-endowed with, as Olgalla put it in his travelogues, "those Bounties which warm the Northman in their long, desolate Winters," and so he has attempted repeatedly to engage her. His lack of success is regrettable, but he knows there will be other opportunities in Nightstone.

Turning a corner, he finds himself walking beside one known to him in passing.

"Well-met, Master Wormwood," the youth says, his tone friendly for all its formality. "I hope the day finds you well."