The argument at the vendor stall below had finally resolved itself, the first-year student apparently having arrived at the market's preferred conclusion. Vane watched the student walk away with less swagger than they'd arrived with, and felt a distant sense of kinship with anyone learning hard lessons about assumptions.
"Korreth," he said after a while.
Ashe looked up at the Academy above them, her expression going thoughtful.
"The first rest day," Vane continued. "The fish vendor and the roof. I spent the first hour looking for the purpose."
"I know," Ashe said simply. "I watched you do it."
Something in his chest tightened at the casual way she said it. Like of course she'd been watching. Like she'd been paying attention to every detail of him even then.
"When did it stop?" he asked.
