Sorting the Mosaic

Night had settled over the stone boundary, yet the terrace pathway presented an unacceptable irregularity. Scattered across the joints between the red bricks lay several ceramic mosaic tesserae left behind from previous repairs—some glazed cobalt, others terracotta, displaced by wind. I knelt upon the chilled masonry, planting my polearm firmly against a mortar groove to secure my center of gravity. Utilizing the fine tip of the weapon, I shifted each fragment along the brick face into a strict ascending gradient, aligning the square tiles along the mortar seam until order replaced arbitrary distribution.