A Walk

The first thing Ernest noticed was how fundamentally different Helmarte appeared when he was not actively attempting to re-engineer it.

Usually, walking through the capital was an exercise in mental auditing. His eyes naturally tracked cracked granite paving flags, clogged drainage gutters, structurally suspect masonry arches, inefficiently spaced streetlight columns, and logistics bottlenecks between warehouse districts and railway sidings. Even when his hands were completely free of drafting pens or ledgers, some analytical corner of his mind remained permanently occupied with identifying structural failure points.

Tonight, however, Eleanor was walking beside him.

And somehow, that single variable caused the entire urban landscape to shift into an entirely different register.