Lili Moonflower

He came to Mosswhistle for a dry meal. The village gave him a class, a ledger, and a very smug job board. Oren Vale used to break siege walls for the crown. Now he wants nothing more than a quiet road, a cracked campaign mug, and the freedom to be nobody important.

One clinic, one class that cannot cast a single spell, and one more patient Everwell would rather not look at too closely. Jem Cartwright has paid for three uncursings this year, and none of them took, because a curse was never the problem.

Dr. Nell Hadley died at the end of a double shift, which was rude, because she still had charts to file. She woke up in a fantasy spa town instead. Everwell is the healthiest town in its province. Ask anyone. Especially the sick ones.

Rowan Keel trusts records more than rumors. Then she inherits Tideglass Light, a storm-worn lighthouse whose fog bell preserves the last sound a victim heard.

A tea shop can comfort the grieving. This one can make grief testify. Nell Calder runs The Last Leaf Tea Room on Kettle Lane, where the right blend can return a final trace of what a person, place, or object remembers. The leaves do not name killers. They do not hand her easy answers.