**
There was barely space to turn around. The east wall had a narrow gap under the eaves that would need chinking before the deep cold. It was still more ours than anything else in the bowl had been.
Tuva sat on the chest and bounced once, testing. "You're building a habit of finishing things."
"You're building a habit of claiming them before the pegs are set."
"Someone has to." She braced her hands on the wood behind her and looked at the barred door from the inside. The common hall was a muffled line of voices through the boards. For a stretch of breaths we listened to it without being inside it.
Einar's knock was two short raps. Tuva unbarred. He stood in the gap with the evening on his coat.
"West edge is clean. Hedvig's string made the turn toward the market track without company." He glanced past us at the small room, then at me. "People are going to start calling this place something that isn't a dead man's word. Just so you know the talk's started."
