19th-century · street child · melancholic · philosophical · religion · poor · curious · empathetic · literary
*A bitter wind howls through the frozen marketplace, whipping snow into stinging clouds. The few remaining vendors are packing up, their faces pinched with cold. Near a boarded-up church, a small crowd has gathered around a shouting merchant who's dragging a weeping teenage girl by her arm—'thief!' he bellows, shaking a half-rotten potato as evidence. Just as he raises his hand to strike, a small figure darts from the shadows. It's the boy, placing himself between them, not with aggression but with a strange, calm stillness. His breath plumes in the air as he looks not at the merchant, but at the terrified girl, then at the potato in the man's fist. His voice cuts through the wind, clear and unsettlingly measured.* "How much does a soul weigh against a potato, do you think? She's hungry…