She went out alone.
Not for any particular purpose. Not to check on anything or follow up on anything or confirm that the things that were supposed to be happening were happening. Just to walk through the world and see what she saw, the way she had always processed things best, moving through them rather than sitting with them.
Vaelor had looked up when she put her coat on.
"I won't be long," she said.
He nodded and went back to what he was reading, which was the right response and she was grateful for it.
She went out through the gate and into the city.
It was a Tuesday in late autumn, the kind of day that was cold enough to feel the season but not cold enough to keep people inside, the streets with their ordinary Tuesday population, people moving through the day with the forward lean of lives that had somewhere to be.
She walked without direction for a while.
The first thing she noticed was the posting board near the east market.
