Chapter Nineteen
Feather had not made the journey to the Settlement for some weeks, while winter had frozen the skies and iced the trees. Now that the chill had eased its grip, the trade season would begin and a small number of tribal traders would bring their market goods within the walls.
He had made the journey alone. Freya, now settled among the Storm, had refused to accompany him.
‘They don’t want me there,’ she had said. ‘My best friend Charm is dead. The others will stare and laugh. Everyone knows I failed Assessment.’ Feather had mentioned Jana. Freya, hunching a shoulder, replied that if Jana wanted to see her daughter, she knew where she was.
He knew they each longed for the other.
He found Jana sweeping a light dusting of snow from the porch of her new home, a neat, fresh-p
