King's Bridge Monastery
Cultivator Ogne was doing his cleaning, sweeping the small open area in front of the stables of King's Bridge Monastery. Not far away, outside the courtyard wall, grew a crooked maple tree whose branches always reached into the courtyard, even though it was now almost bare.
Once the ground became damp, the leaves would stick stubbornly to the surface, making them a real pain to clean up. It would take at least an hour to clear them, and few people were willing to spend that much time on such a trivial task.
But Ogne was willing to spend far more than an hour on it.
Head down, he swung the broom, flicking the leaves up one by one and pushing them aside. The ground at his feet became neat and tidy.
He had already been toiling away for three hours today.
The clean ground brought him a little bit of joy.
Even if that tidy patch was limited to the area around his feet.