When I finished bathing, I found a towel and the clean clothes that Looking-Glass had set out for me. They were simple garments, light and comfortable: A modest silvery frock tied with a thin white belt, and a new pair of sandals that fit just right.

I rifled through my muddy satchel and found the Memories I’d picked up underground. They were a filthy mess from the tunnel, but I rinsed them off in the waterfall and hoped they might still be good for later. Any message from Bag Man, however trivial, would be a great comfort to me now.

I strolled back into the hallway, observing everything with fresh eyes. I’d never actually been inside a house before. Of course, I’d heard the stories of the ancients and their enormous konkreet homes with ten rooms or more, but those were all destroyed in the Checkmate at the End of the World…

Weren’t they? Everything here was so foreign. The Checkmate must have been centuries ago; could Generatia have survived?

On an impulse, I pulled aside a windowshade and peeked out.