Other towns snickered at Emberfield's superstition. They called it quaint or odd, and sometimes their laughter carried exactly the kind of certainty that feels like a lock on a trunk. But Emberfield did not collect locks; it collected offerings and small affirmations that the world could be kinder if you practiced it. And in a world that moved fast and broke things quietly, the 1111customs taught its people how to be steady with one another.