Location: House Morrow, on the Corran road — the village under the house; the yard; the gate
Date: 29 Emberwane 9943 AZI, Grindday
Realm: Lower Realm
The bar came off the inside of the Ruddocks' door before Anselm had finished his second knock.
He'd knocked on that door twice a year for twenty-six years, at Emberrise and at Cinderfall, for the house's rent, and it had always taken the widow a while to come. First her shoes. Then the money, from behind the loose stone by the hearth that she thought he didn't know about. This morning the bar scraped back as if somebody had been sitting up all night with a hand on it.
Frost had whitened the step and the lips of the ruts. Behind him the two levy men stamped their feet and kept their mouths shut for once, and their breath went up into the gray like smoke off a damp fire.
The widow opened the door the width of herself and stood in it. Day clothes on under the shawl. Hair done. No fire behind her in the room.
"Mistress Ruddock."
