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As I entered the south pro out to passersby to hawk their wares Not a good sign, that--it h that the sellers had to compete over the out for one another that I was used to at the Row; this would be every seller for herself I could hear three--no, four--other sellers in the vicinity: one with decorative headscarves, another selling "Tree pies" (whatever those were; they did s books and souvenirs I felt the glares of the latter two as I began setting up, and I worried that I ht have to deal with unpleasantness As often happened once they got a good look at me, however, no one bothered me There are times--rare, I’ll admit--when blindness comes in handy

So I set up and waited And waited I didn’t know the area and hadn’t had a chance to fully explore Although I could hear foot traffic passing relatively nearby (pilgri over how dark the city had becoled palace Sky still was), it was possible I’d ed to set myself up in a bad area I had no doubt the other sellers had already laid claim to the best spots, so I resolved to do the best I could hat I had

By midafternoon, however, I kneas in trouble My wares had lured over a few pilgri folk mostly, Amn from less-prosperous towns and lands near Shadow That was part of the probleh Northers and island folk had always been my best customers The faith of Iteht erly But Senmites were mostly Amn, and Amn were mostly Itempan They were less easily impressed by the Tree and Shadow’s other heretical wonders

Which was fine I never begrudged people their beliefs, but I needed to eat My stoun to rumble in a vocal re Lil’s presence deterht the sidewalk chalk I moved around to the front of my tables, crouched, and considered what to sketch

The idea that came to me was so fiercely powerful that I rocked back on es ca, when I painted in my basement I’d meant to sketch only a few silly doodles to draw eyes toward e in my head… I licked erous, I decided No doubt about it I was blind, for the gods’ sake; I shouldn’t have been able to visualize anything, nizably Most people in the city wouldn’t notice the paradox, or care, but to Order-Keepers and others whose job it was to watch for unauthorized ic, it would be suspect I had survived all these years by being careful

But… I picked up a piece of chalk, rubbing its sers Colors meant little to me except as a detail of substance, but I had picked up the habit of na my paints and chalks nevertheless There is more to color than what can be seen, after all The chalk smelled faintly bitter--not the bitterness of food, but the bitterness of air too rarefied to breathe, like when one clih hill I decided it hite, and perfect for the ian

I sketched the bowl of a sky Not Sky, or any part of it--not even the sky that existed somewhere above the Tree, which I had never seen This would be a thin, nearly e color I laid down a thick base of white chalk, using both ofLucky Then I grazed in blue--notfor the sky in ers I used my hands to thin out the blue, then added another color that ht I thickened the yellow, rolling it on, feeling its growing intensity and warht at the center ofabout each other in an eternal dance Perhaps I could--

"Hey"

"Just a minute," I s, thick and dark with i that s I had more blue, or black

Now birds Of course there would be birds flying in this bright, empty sky But they would not have feathers--

"Hey!" So the chalk and blinking out of my daze