Tamsin rescued the breakfast plate from beneath Felix’s inventory sheet.
He looked at the cleared space, pleased for half a moment.
Then he looked for his breakfast.
“It hasn’t become available stock,” she said, handing it back.
The table held three account books, two jars, the district map, the delivery ledger, and a man trying to arrange every object inside the perimeter into one complete reassuring number.
The kettle made tea without requiring their permission.
Tamsin moved the map to the dry end of the table and opened the blue household book. She placed the brown customer book beside it where Felix could see the distinction before he developed another excellent system.
“Household first. Then what other people offer.”
