Chapter One
The Empty Shelf
Nila saw the clean circle before she saw that the bowl was gone. Dust gathered on the shelf whatever she did with her cloth, and the serving bowl had kept one place clear for so long that its absence looked like a hole in the wood.
She lifted the shutter with one hand and pushed her crate beneath it with the other. The market was still making its morning noises. Someone dragged a wooden box across stone. A voice counted coins. A tap ran somewhere beyond the fish stalls. Rina's kitchen answered those sounds with a familiar silence before the first pot went on.
Nila reached above her head, though she could see the shelf was empty. She touched the pale circle with two fingers. The bowl was wide, yellow with a brown rim, and heavier than it looked. Rina had always used it for the last portion of anything generous enough to share. If there were not enough for two proper servings, she filled the bowl and set out two spoons.
It was probably in the cupboard. Her mother disliked leaving useful things where anyone could admire them instead of using them. Nila opened the cupboard. Three white bowls, a chipped green plate, a stack of cups. No yellow.
"Morning," said Jun from the aisle. They had an empty crate tucked under one arm and the earnest expression of someone hoping to be given a task before being told to rest.
