Shopkeepers were untying their shutters. The baker's apprentice, flour dusted across his nose, was arranging loaves in the window.

Inside the boutique, the air was cool. Lavender sachets hung from the ceiling beams, their scent clinging to the bolts of wool and silk stacked along the walls.

A bell chimed softly over the door.

The customer was a young woman with dark curls pinned beneath a modest hood. She held a torn sleeve between her fingers, frowning as she stepped toward the counter.