Zunoder bought a coat with Ty's smile and watched the vendor decide how much fear belonged in the price.
The man chose too little. Famous faces did that to people. They saw the poster before the wound, the story before the hand reaching for their throat.
The vendor passed over a hooded coat, two heat-sticks, and an apology folded so neatly it sounded rehearsed.
"Returned one, forgive the delay, the lane has been chewing orders all morning."
Zunoder turned one heat-stick between Ty's fingers. The fingers obeyed better now. Early on, they reached toward pain without permission. They twitched when someone nearby said Jade. They curled when the body heard bone scrape stone under memory.
He had bitten the inside of Ty's cheek until the mouth learned who held it.
"What delay did my face buy before I arrived?"
The vendor's eyes flicked to the scars across his chest and ribs where the sickles had opened him.
"Only the regular kind, sir, the kind that keeps poor men apologizing."
