The shop was a forgotten comma in the long, run-on sentence of the city. Tucked between a bustling coffee shop and a laundromat that hummed day and night, "Aethelstan's Curiosities" seemed to absorb sound rather than generate it. The window was a mosaic of dust motes dancing in the slanted afternoon light, showcasing a collection of objects with no obvious connection: a single, tarnished silver spoon, a birdcage with a missing door, a porcelain doll with one eye closed in a perpetual wink.

Inside, Elara moved with the slow, deliberate grace of a cat. At seventy-two, she was the latest in a long line of Keepers, though the line had thinned to just her. The air smelled of old paper, lemon polish, and time itself. Her life was a ritual of small, precise actions: dusting the shelves, polishing the brass, and listening.