Alma's shoulders dropped a fraction she tried to hide. "That's fair."
Marta already had them in her book. Liam appeared as if summoned by the possibility of new numbers. The settlement shifted to make a shape that included three more bodies without a speech about it.
---
By afternoon Kasper was on the hall frame with Bjorn, arguing about a cross-brace in the short grammar of men who trusted wood more than charm.
Alma had sorted the lean-to, checked Liv for cold in the hands, and taken a walk with Sofie that ended in her rolling her sleeves at a dens doorway where a pregnant woman had been too proud to ask for help.
Tiril showed Liv how to put hay without getting kicked. Alfred watched Kasper's hands on the timber and then copied a joint without being told.
The eighth and ninth beams went up on the temporary seating Bjorn had cursed into place. The gap in the roof narrowed enough that the sky no longer owned the centre of the hall.
