Larie from the clothing store walked out as they walked in.
“Needed screws for one of the racks. Ha! I had a screw loose!” Larie announced, holding up the little piece of metal and cackling at her own joke.
“Hey Miss Larie,” Sorven said, and excitedly limped his way inside.
“How are youdoing, Cassia?” Larie asked as Cassia held the door open, awkwardly trapped on her way into the store. The other woman placed a hand on Cassia’s shoulder.
“I’m good, thank you, and you?” she said from habit, feeling uncomfortably pitied.
“Oh, you know. Same old. I’ve been dating by advertisement. It’s a mess. Have you ever tried that?”
“Uh, not really…”
“Evelya told me she met her man through it. Wait until you see him, Cassia, what a catch! His family makes riding equipment sold all over the territory. They must own two dozen saddleries. Did you think a man like that would be answering advertisements in the post?”
“Um, I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess not…?”
“He rented a house in town just to be closer to her. Can you imagine? He already has a house. He rented a whole separate one. Maybe I’ll meet someone like that,” Larie said, and laughed.
“Well, good luck.” She shifted a step to the side to get around Larie, but the older woman kept talking.
“So, hey, how’s it going at the Riveker ranch? Dariek’s been doing well, Sath must be proud, huh? Sath Riveker—nowthere’sa man I’d answer an advertisement for.”
“Yeah, I think they’re all proud,” Cassia said, tightening her hand on the door and wondering how to get out of the conversation.
“It’s so funny running into you,” Larie told her cheerfully. “I was just talking about you the other day. Did you know you’re famous? I had a stranger in the shop the other… was it just yesterday? Saying he heard a story about a woman and asking about it.”
Cassia’s blood ran very, very cold.
“There was a strange man asking about me?”
“Oh, I didn’t meanstrange, I’m sure he was just someone’s new ranch hand. And sure, everyone was talking about it back when it happened, it was big news! Mostly all we get is cattle this and dragons that.”
Cassia didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say, what to ask. Her tongue felt like it was made out of lead.
“You don’t mind me bringing it up in front of you, do you?” Larie asked slowly, seeing the expression on Cassia’s face. “Drat. Damn me and my big mouth, I wasn’t thinking. I should know better than to talk about what happened to you.”
“What did you tell him?” Cassia managed. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight.
“Oh, just that it was a miracle the Rivekers found you and that you were doing just fine.” A man down the street was trying to get into Larie’s shop, which was locked. Seeing her in front of the general store, he started hollering, hands cupped around his mouth.
“What did he—”
“Sorry, I have to go,” Larie said. “Damn it, I was only supposed to be gone five minutes. Me and my mouth… you take care, Cassia, don’t be a stranger!”
“Larie! What did he look like?”
“I’m coming!” Larie called to the man as she ran off.
Cassia slipped inside the shop. She suddenly didn’t feel like being out on the open street any longer.
Aevrin
Cassiaseemedoffalldinner. Aevrin kept sneaking glances, trying to get her to meet his eyes as the worried feeling grew in his gut. She smiled stiffly as Sorven explained that he was cleared to do some light work,ifhe also did the stretches and kept his ankle raised at night, a compromise he was willing to make to get out of the house and back to Cobrid.
“Fire pit tonight?” Mavek asked as they cleared the table, holding a butter knife and pointing it at them all one by one. “Fire pit? Fire pit?”
“It’s cold out,” Gramma Prisca said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if we woke to frost this week. If you want a fire, why don’t you just use the hearth?”
