**
Outside the barred door the settlement settled—forge banked, children claimed, west edge quiet enough that Einar had not put his head in with a warning.
The carved token sat on the beam where I had left it. The east gap still leaked a thread of cold that smelled of pine.
Tuva set her empty bowl aside and looked at the shelf-space Kasper had eyed.
"One shelf. And if you let Bjorn store hammer heads on it, I'm taking the door off the hinges and using it for firewood." She said with a grin.
"You know I cannot make any promises when it comes to Bjorn. He does what he kikes and won't listen to anybody." I laughed into the stew steam.
She looked briefly startled at the sound, then pleased, then annoyed that she had looked pleased. The room held all three without needing a larger audience.
