Night Watch in the Stone Niche

Night fell over the park. It was time to pull back from the open ridge and secure a shelter before marching home. A discarded cardboard hot-cup sleeve lay directly in my vector along the pavilion steps. I did not step around it. My claw pressed down, crushing the corrugated paper flat against the cold flagstone. Tucked into the recessed masonry base, a cast-iron enclosure housed a low-voltage landscape light. The fixture radiated a quiet, steady amber warmth against the sheltered stone alcove. I backed my bulk into the hollow, pressing my dorsal spines against the heated metal housing. Wind passed outside. The niche held. Night post secured.