Tova Wick-Bright hasn't spoken more than twelve words in a row since her grandmother died. She runs The Kindled Flame — a candle shop in Wick-Hollow's famous Glow Market, where thousands of candles light an underground cavern every Third-Day and traders from across the northern range come to buy, sell, and belong.

When a runaway apprentice named Oddi tries to steal one of Tova's resonance-infused candles, she doesn't turn them in. She feeds them, offers a corner to sleep in, and accidentally becomes the kind of person who takes care of someone again.

Then Vargrim Coin-Scale arrives. He represents the Stone-Thorn Trading Guild, and he has a proposal: dissolve the independent stalls, centralize distribution, and bring Wick-Hollow into the modern era. He's not wrong that the market is inefficient. He's wrong that efficiency is the point.

A cozy fantasy about stubborn people, warm places, and the communities worth fighting for. Companion to A Hearth in the Deep.