Ire Taverness's Arc

Chapter 5 of 19

Two days later the new hires started. The second cook was a broad woman from the mill road who worked clean and quiet. The new floor girl was quick on her feet and remembered orders without writing them down. Ire watched them both through the first morning rush and decided they would keep. She closed the door on the last trader and turned the bolt. The main hall was a wreck of mugs and crumbs. The new cook was already scrubbing the boards in the kitchen. The floor girl stacked benches without being told. Ire waved them both toward the back door. "Go home," she said. "I'll finish." They went. The tavern went quiet in a way it had not been quiet in a week. Ire sat down at the bar and opened her ledger. She counted the week's take twice. She counted the new wages out and set them aside in four small stacks. She counted what was left. Her hand stopped on the page. Kael came out of the kitchen with a rag over his shoulder. He saw her face and set the rag down. "How bad," he said. "It's not bad." Her voice caught. She pushed the ledger toward him. "Kael. Look." He looked. He read the column twice, the way she had. His ears came forward. "After the wages," she said. "After the wages," he said. She put her hands flat on the bar and started to cry. She had not cried in front of him in a long time. She cried the way tired people cry, without sound, her shoulders shaking once and then holding still. Kael came around the bar. He did not say anything. He pulled her off the stool and against his chest and set his chin on the top of her head after kissing it. His hand found the base of her tail and stayed there. "We're ahead," she said into his shirt. "For the first time. We're ahead." "I know." "Six weeks of stock still down there. And we're ahead." "I know, love." She cried a little more. Then she was done. She wiped her face on his shirt and laughed once at herself. Kael bent and lifted her. One arm under her knees, one behind her back. She did not argue. He carried her past the cold hearth and up the narrow stairs to their room above the main hall. Her tail curled once around his wrist and settled. Below them, the ledger stayed open on the bar, the numbers waiting for morning.