Background
Filed history
Nora Flint has lit Hollowbell’s streets for thirty-one years. She knows which lamps attract moths, which illuminate lies, and which must never be allowed to go dark at the same time as the bell tower. Her patched oilskin carries more repair than original cloth.
She watched the council accept Dorian Vane’s bargain during the famine and watched relief harden into silence once the cost attached itself to Caro. Nora did not sign the contract, but she helped maintain the town that benefited from it. That distinction stopped comforting her years ago.
When the council erased Caro from its records, Nora began lighting a secret route to the tower and filed the complaint that brought the Bureau to Hollowbell. She distrusts institutions, including the one that finally answered, but recognizes in Nelly the rare official who asks before writing.