Hundred Callings

Children chased shadows through the lanes; peddlers rattled drums beneath the eaves. Porters cut through the crowds with the wind at their backs, while idle servants leaned against trees, stealing moments of leisure. Perhaps this city had once truly existed. Perhaps once there had been a traveler, cloaked in mist and rain, strolling unhurried along the long streets, gathering the myriad scenes of fleeting life into a single corner of time.