Bits and Pieces

Here you can read brief excerpts from Waves of Life and Death.
Don't worry, there are no major spoilers here.

From “Waves of Life and Death - Bremen”

He stepped forward, trusting the darkness to catch him.
(....)
He stumbled the last step into the cell. The door slammed behind him with a thud that echoed through the stone, followed by the metallic scrape of a bolt sliding into place.

Through a small, rusted grate in the door, he could just make out the silhouettes of the guards, blurred shapes in the dim corridor. They did not speak again. He did not expect them to. No one wanted his explanation. No one cared what had happened.

From “Waves of Life and Death - Bremen”

“Do you know how cruel the world is, Jule? How cruel it really is, all the time?”

“I… we are all… our hearts are weighed, I suppose,” Jule replied, recalling something the priest had once told her. She was trying to match the depth of Eliska’s words, though she did not know where they were leading. Eliska spoke like no one Jule had ever known, educated and mysterious, nothing like the daily chatter of the working class they belonged to.

“Weighed?” Eliska echoed, not with judgment, but with a kind of quiet ache. Jule instantly regretted the word, though Eliska had not meant to shame her. Eliska looked down at the table, at the porridge that was no longer steaming. Her mouth parted slightly. A tear slipped down her cheek.

“I am so sorry if I said something wrong,” Jule said quickly, placing a hand on Eliska’s shoulder.
“I just do not understand. I am sorry.”

From “Waves of Life and Death - Lübeck”

Anna knew he was looking at her, but she deliberately avoided his eyes, fixing her stare instead on the opposite wall. Margarethe observed him, noting the intensity of his gaze on the younger maid and the distant, blank expression Anna held.

For the first time, she allowed herself to see clearly what she had only sensed before: Anna looked sad. She had long written off Konrad’s occasional hostility toward the girl as the erratic behavior of a boy, unpredictable and unchecked.

Tonight, however, was different. Margarethe understood that Konrad’s fixed attention on Anna was tied to what his parents had just informed him of: he would soon be alone, responsible for the household and its affairs. A flicker of unease stirred within her. For the first time, perhaps, she felt genuine worry for her young assistant, though she could not yet name its cause. Having served this family for many years, she recognized the subtle shift in the air.