Nico sat still in his chair, pallid and mute.

Kathleen, he thought. How can this be?

It seemed an age he sat there before shouting from outside broke him free from the shackles of his utter stupefaction. He looked to the window and saw a whisp of grey smoke trailing along on the winter breeze.

"No," he said, as though he might command a crisis to stand down through sheer force of will.

Nico ran to the door and burst into the lane where dozens of his neighbours passed buckets to splash water upon dozens of small fires.

He leapt into action.