bank the last coals against the wind until morning
bare, it spends · buried, it smothers
a tale of the Long Night · tnaapp
HOW TO PLAY
Hold a coal — the rake banks it under ash. ←/→ choose a coal, hold Space to rake. A banked coal (thin grey blanket) glows soft and gives +1 breath as it holds. Bare coals spend themselves; buried coals smother. Ash thins on its own — keep tending. When the air pales from one side, a gust is coming to strip the ash. Mend the blankets after it passes. A coal that goes dark is gone. When the last one goes, the night ends. M mutes.
THE STORY
The great fire of the waystation has come down to a red handful, and the night is long past asking for flame. You are the one who stays — rake in hand, keeping each coal under its thin grey wool of ash. Bare, a coal spends itself against the dark; buried too deep, it forgets how to burn. Somewhere far off, morning is walking this way, and it will ask what you kept.