Chapter 13: A Tall Order

At the crack of dawn, a gentler knock than last night's rapped at my door. Tap, tap, tap. I dragged myself up, shuffled over in slippers on the wrong feet, and pulled the door open. "Who is it, this early?" I grumbled. I had tossed and turned past midnight; heartbroken and jobless, I had only drifted off when the sky was paling. I had finally fallen asleep, only to get woken up again. "Sorry to wake you." Colette Warth stood outside with a plate of steaming dumplings balanced in both hands. At...