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case, we should go see how Sadie’s doing and I can fetch my things back here.”
    Amber led the way out into the morning light and Tanyth felt something stirring in the wind that made the hairs on the back of her arms stand up.
    “Foolish old woman,” she muttered.

 
    Chapter 4
Settling In
    Sadie slept comfortably, rousing briefly at Tanyth’s touch but sinking back into a healing slumber almost immediately. Tanyth turned to Megan. “I’ll be in Mother Alderton’s hut if you need me, dear. She should be fine now although I suspect she’ll need one more dose of tea before she’s ready to get up and about.”
    Megan, a spare woman with luxurious chestnut hair and a constellation of freckles across her nose, nodded hesitantly and then her eyes widened as the import of what she’d heard sunk in.
    Tanyth shouldered her pack and took up staff and hat before heading out of the hut. When she returned to Mother Alderton’s, she found the ox and cart standing in the path and William coming down a ladder from the top of the chimney. He disappeared behind the roof line and emerged around the corner of the house, Amber and a chunk of oiled canvas in tow.
    “The chimney should be clear, mum.” He smiled shyly. “If you have any problems with it, I’ll be back around sunset and I’ll look into it.” He tossed the canvas into the back of the ox cart and with a quick kiss to his wife, led the lumbering beast off down the track and onto the Pike.
    Tanyth eyed the position of the sun. “He’ll not get in a full day’s cutting today, I wager.”
    Amber shook her head with a smile. “No, he won’t, but he’ll get enough done today and there’s always tomorrow.” She eyed the sun’s position herself. “If we’re going to get some work done, though, we should be at it.”
    Tanyth nodded and entered the hut, ducking down to clear the lintel. She stood her staff beside the door and hung her pack from a handy peg, her hat going on the same peg. She was pleased to see that someone had put an armload of wood in the woodbox already.
    Amber followed her into the hut. “We’ll get you a tick for the bed, mum, and a bucket of water. I’ve already sent Riley for one. You feel free to send him on any errands like that you need.” She smiled happily.
    “We have two pressing bits of business, my dear.” Tanyth pointed to the rafters covered with dried vegetation. “We need to clear that away before anybody thinks it’s useful. A summer in the heat of this hut has robbed it of any goodness and the dust won’t help any.”
    Amber looked up in dismay. “All of it is ruined?”
    Tanyth relented a bit and shrugged. “Well, perhaps not all, but most of it is less than useful at this point. There may be some useful bits in it, but at the moment, its most valuable function is as tinder.”
    The younger woman looked subdued. “And the other?”
    “We need to show you some basics. Who else in the village would you like to have trained?”
    “Who else?”
    “Yes, it would be a waste to go through all this and then have something happen to you and leave the village without the knowledge again, don’t you think?”
    Amber looked startled by the thought but nodded almost unconsciously in agreement. “Of course. That would make most sense. And we could check each other as well after you’re gone to make sure we’ve remembered correctly.”
    Tanyth smiled. “Indeed you could, my dear. Excellent thinkin’.”
    Amber’s gaze turned inward. “Sadie would be the most likely. She’s the most knowledgeable of plants and growing things, but she’s also rather sick.”
    Tanyth pursed her lips in contemplation. “She’ll be movin’ about by mornin’, I’d guess. Who else might have the interest and potential to do a good job?”
    A voice piped up from the doorway. “What about me, mum?” Riley stood there with a bucket of water and an anxious look on his face.
    Amber turned to her son in surprise. “You, Riley?”
    He