Tavi stood on the warm metal walkway of Lantern Docks, checking the harbor lamps one by one. He liked their soft peach glow. He liked the way a steady light told every boat, “This way. You are safe here.”
Below him, the long dawn shimmered over Comet Harbor. Tiny ships waited with their sails furled. An urgent delivery sat on a cart by the nearest hatch, wrapped in canvas and tied tight with orange cord. Tavi had promised the lamp keeper he would keep the lights steady until it could be sent through.
Then came a clang.
The cargo crane at the end of the dock gave a hard shudder and stopped. Its long arm hung out over two docks at once, like a giant pointer stuck in the middle of the harbor. One arriving boat could not pass under it. Another had to slow and bob in place. The delivery path was blocked, too.
A bell rang somewhere in the ice wall. The dock lamps flickered.
Tavi lifted his chin toward the nearest lamp and touched its copper ring, but the glow trembled anyway. Pip darted in with her blue coat flashing and her orange boots skidding. “If that arm slips again, everything will be stuck!” she cried.
Nori hurried up behind her, goggles shining. “Stuck, yes—but maybe not for long,” he said, peering at the crane’s gears like they were a puzzle he already loved.
Tavi looked from the flickering lamps to the crane, and then to the waiting boats below. He was no longer only guarding the lights. Now he was being asked to help lower the crane safely, right here, where one wrong move could shake the whole harbor. He tightened his paws on the lamp rail and had to choose how to help without making the arm or the blocked docks more dangerous.
What happens next?
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