From the Feather Quill Avenue where Miss Luisa lived to the Dawn Square where the Dawn Chapel was located was quite a distance. To prevent being late, Shard Hamilton took a hackney carriage at the intersection. He would first send Mia home, then head to the church.
In the sweltering summer of Tobesk, smog hung heavy in the air, the scorched scent in the atmosphere becoming increasingly unbearable due to the high temperature. On the way to the church, Shard tucked the leaf into the decorative pocket watch cover (note) while looking out the carriage window at the cityscape of the Steam Age.
The rapidly moving street scene, the respectable gentlemen, and the barefooted children, the low walls overgrown with weeds and the stately noble mansions, the densely packed steam pipes, and the porters carrying sacks—all of this illustrated to Shard the balance and imbalance of the era.
