Aelindra Moonwhisper's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

The buns cooled on the rack while Aelindra wiped down the counter. The boy swept flour from the floor with a short broom. Then a stone hit the shutter. It cracked the wood and fell inside. The boy stopped sweeping. Aelindra picked up the stone and set it on the sill. Outside, voices moved past the door and did not stop. She heard the word fire more than once. She opened the door. Four people stood in the lane, and more waited behind them. A woman held a child against her hip. A man had a rag tied around one hand. They did not come closer. They watched her the way people watch a dog they are not sure about. The woman said her house was two doors down. She said she had two children. She said she wanted Aelindra gone before winter. Aelindra listened. She did not argue. When the woman ran out of words, Aelindra said she would meet them at the square at noon. She would bring bread. Anyone who wanted to speak could speak. Then she closed the door. The boy was watching her from the counter. "They want you burned out," he said. "I know," she said. "Bake with me." She made one pastry. She folded the dough slow and thought about the woman with the child on her hip. She thought about the man's bandaged hand. She glazed it and pressed small flowers into the top. The oven hummed low and steady. Nimbus drifted down from the rafter and hung by her shoulder. "Bad plan," he said. "Better than hiding," she said. "You could burn them," he said. She looked at him. "That's why it's a bad plan," he said. At noon she carried the pastry to the square in a cloth. The boy walked beside her. Nimbus followed above. Thirty people waited by the fountain. Some held stones. The woman from the lane stood in front. Aelindra set the pastry on the fountain's rim and cut it into thirty pieces with a kitchen knife. She held out the first piece to the woman. The woman did not take it. Aelindra waited. A man behind her reached past and took a piece. He ate it. His shoulders dropped. He sat down on a bench and put his face in his hands. One by one, they came forward. The woman was last. She took her piece and chewed it slowly and began to cry. She said her husband had died in the spring. She said she was tired. She said she did not want her children near fire. Aelindra told her the fire was gone. She told her the door would be open in the morning. The woman nodded and walked away with her child. By dusk the stones were gone from the lane. Three of them came back before dark and bought bread. The boy counted the coins on the counter. Aelindra watched the door and knew the rest of the town was still deciding.