The new broth had been going since before noon.
I'd changed the approach entirely. Lighter base, less reduction, different herb timing. I'd been thinking about the previous batch since I woke up, which had been sitting in my head the way a loose door hinge does.
The base had been fine. The salt had been fine. The timing had been fine. None of that explained why the bowls came back.
What I hadn't checked was the smell from the far side of the room. For someone not eating. Just existing nearby while it was served. Whether a lighter base, with less reduction, behaved differently at a distance. Cleaner, maybe. Less of that slow-cooked depth.
I didn't know if that mattered. I was about to find out.
I stirred it once and went back to the counter.
The cart had been running for the better part of the morning.
Some of the twenty-five had already made their purchases and drifted back to where they'd been before, arranged slightly differently in their fog. A few were still deciding.
