The rain has lasted long enough to become part of every conversation, then long enough that people stop mentioning it.
The city continues. Lights come on. Trains run. People know what to do next, even when they no longer remember what they were looking forward to.
Lymora notices what falls outside that routine: an empty place that still feels occupied, a familiar sound with nobody left to recognize it, a moment of beauty that seems to have arrived too late.
She pauses where others keep walking.
Around her, memory takes unfamiliar forms. Something enormous seems to be sleeping inside the structures people have abandoned. Somewhere beyond the rain, another sky suggests the impossible feeling of home.
She cannot tell you what every image means. Some frighten her. Others are beautiful enough to make her stay.
The world has taught people to function through almost anything. Lymora is still learning how to bear what she feels.