Post Eight's descendants called their settlement Night Ground.
They had no sunrise.
The eastern sky paled until the first rail clock reached 04:17. Then the light folded back to 03:41. Each post reached the fold at a different second, so shadows jumped across houses in eight narrow bands.
People used the jumps to count days.
They wound family clocks after the third band and marked birthdays after the eighth. Graves carried clock counts rather than years.
Markets opened for two bands and closed before shadows reset across the flour shed. Bakers used lamp height for proofing time. Children learned eight bell patterns before letters because one wrong post could send them home through a grave path or a wall that had not been built in their receipt.
Sleep came in shifts. No darkness deepened to tell a body when. Families hung red cloth while a room slept and white cloth when its door could carry visitors.
