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Brenda Hakalaal rose early.
After washing up, she went to her desk and pulled out a blank page from a thick stack of design drawings. Using a drafting pen from her pen holder, she elegantly wrote a line in ornate script: [Closed Today].
She blinked, a little worried that not everyone would be able to read her sweeping calligraphy. After thinking for a moment, she simply switched colors and wrote the same thing below in standard handwriting, adding a simple smiling face.
As a "ten-year-old establishment" in Freljord City, Hakalaal Tailor Shop rarely closed, but today was different. Brenda had a reason she couldn't avoid suspending business.
Once she finished, she found a few thumbtacks and pinned the notice to the wooden sign hanging on the front door of her shop.
After carefully confirming that the door was locked and that anyone who came knocking would see her notice at once, Brenda hurried away.
March in Freljord City was nowhere near warm and springlike. Even calling it "warm one moment and cold the next" would have been too mild. Whenever the wind rose, it could send people straight back to the frigid winter of the Breath of Anivia.
Even so, Brenda, wearing only a light coat, was still full of energy, looking every bit like a beautiful woman freezing in the cold.
She was going to a party, one that would determine the focus of her work for a long time to come.
"I hope there'll be something eye-catching at the exchange." Brenda quickened her pace, secretly filled with anticipation. "Getting an invitation wasn't easy."
That was right. Brenda wasn't attending a ball or a salon, but a highly formal industry exchange—in precise terms, an internal exchange held