Nocturne (n.)
An elegant creature of the night in the gothic tradition; in this imagining, Lucien is the last of his line in the Vale. Also, a piece of music for the night — which Lucien finds flattering and pretends not to.
Glossary
Words of the Vale — the invented vocabulary of the imagined world.
Fan invention: these terms were coined for this site's fiction.
Vesper (n.)
The first candle after full dark, when every household in the Vale lights its lamps at once. Also the hour of Lucien's daily stillness.
Candle (n., unit)
The Vale's unit of time — roughly an hour — measured by the burning of a standard candle. Appointments are kept "in three candles"; oaths are sworn over unlit ones.
Candlefast (n.)
An oath sworn holding an unlit candle. Breaking it means the candle burns down in the village square — a slow, public shaming.
Moonwine (n.)
The Vale's dark red wine, traditionally drunk only after moonrise. Lucien's cellars are famous for it; the recipe is a secret he has kept for over a century, mostly by changing the subject.
The Exchange of Shadows (n.)
The longest-night custom of trading small dark gifts — ink, black tea, smoked glass — wrapped in grey paper. Nothing that glows, nothing that reflects.
Rookery-warden (n.)
Keeper of a raven rookery; the Vale's messages travel by raven, and the wardens are its most trusted — and most taciturn — civil servants.
Vesper Hour stillness (n.)
Lucien's daily silence at the lighting of the lamps. Not grief, exactly. Attention.