Location: Hearthwell — the bunk room, the long hall, the warm-spring room
Date: 23 Emberwane 9943 AZI, Grindday
Realm: Lower Realm
Bread was the first thing every morning, before the light. The smell came up the stairs from the kitchen with the three hearths and got in under the blankets, and it was the smell that woke Tilla, not the cold or the noise, because there wasn't any noise yet.
This morning there was somebody already up.
Maud was sitting on the edge of her bunk across the room, the bottom one under the window that didn't shut properly. Dressed. Not just her shift: all of it, the gray wool over the top and her stockings and her boots, laced, and the laces tied double. Her hair was done. Hands on her knees, back straight, she was looking at the door.
Tilla knew why. It was Grindday. Maud had done the same last Grindday, and the one before that. Tilla had worked it out on the third time and had never said anything, because you didn't.
