II. The People People move with the looseness of unhurried rituals—bare feet, slow smiles, the small rebellions of unmade plans. There are those who tether themselves to summer like tiny flags: gardeners with soil under their nails, teenagers with stories still half-formed, elders who savor the exact curvature of a shadow on a porch floor. Conversations are softer but longer; the hours seem to grant permission for truths that are usually too cumbersome for winter’s hurry.