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Frederun hadn’t ti out Lord Hrodik’s orders

Anna grabbed a last bit of cake and wolfed it down before getting her ar Helen out of the way The winter wind hit hard as they came out into the courtyard Men called to each other in the stables, and the yard had the look of a hive of bees stirred into action Two outriders stood chatting with the stable master, but they wore no device to indicate to which noble kin they owed allegiance No one paid any ate, nor did she see any war party on the streets as they cut through the town square, past the cathedral, and came back around to the other side of the ate here was a tu or an ar these ruins Beyond the marketplace, quiet in winter except for a flurry of activity around the butchers’ stalls, lay a number of workshops: smaller cos surrounded by a wall

With Helen tagging at her heels, Anna crossed the ate that let her into the place she now called home, the workshop taken over by the woman everyone called her aunt, Suzanne Once known to all of Steleshame as Mistress Gisela’s niece, Suzanne was non in the city of Gent sie as Gent, crammed with fully five thousand people so the biscop claimed, there were other weavers None of them were asked to supply fine cloaks and tunics to the lord who resided in the mayor’s palace

Out in the courtyard, by the trough, a donkey stood patiently, one leg cocked slightly as its ear twitched at each shudder of wind Raiht back with a leather thong He had stripped down to his suht fabric showed off the breadth of his shoulders Flecks of sawdust flew froold dust around his feet on the hard packed earth

Young Autgar held the other end of the saw He was singing in an off-key voice about the pain roasting his heart because it had been three days since he’d caught sight of the beautiful shepherd girl, which was after all a strange song for Autgar to be singing since he’d been married two years before in Steleshame to one of Suzanne’s weavers and had two children already

Rairin at the two girls "Take those into the wool roo after you I see you still have so at your ease at the mayor’s palace!"

Anna s dye pot, this day stewing yarn to a strong tansy yellow

Anna left Helen outside and went into the workshop, a long, low room hazy with smoke Four looms stood in the workshop, and Suzanne’s three assistants worked, each with a girl at her side learning the trade A toddler raced around the rooht, while an infant slept in a cradle set rocking by one of the girls

Anna crossed through the side door that led into the darker chamber, shuttered in, where fleeces, raw and scoured wool, and spun wool stored in skeins as well as unsold cloth were stored The weighty scent of all that wool co at the table, haggling with a farht her

"This just isn’t as good quality as the last lot I can’t give you as much for it"

Anna set down her cloth on the table and got out her spindle so that she could spin while she waited for the negotiations to end In time the farmer took away cloth as payment for his yarn

"You’ve cruh the yarn, setting so to its quality and fineness "I hope they fed you well at the palace, for we’re fasting tonight Rais news from the tannery" She exaotten her into trouble before, just because of the way it made her face turn rosy and sweet "Nay, I’ll let Matthias tell you hiive me a hand with this yarn Move what’s at the back of the shelf forward That lot Prior Hu in a dozen novices on St Euseb&euh cloth for a dozen robes by suhter is to , if you can believe that!"

She chatted on in this companionable way as they tidied up the wool rooot everything in order, Suzanne returned to her looun to fuss, so that her