Read The Saga Begins [Nuworld 1] for Free Online

be?” He looked Tara over as if she were a side of beef he might purchase.
    “Thelga, it’s good to see you, it is, and Garg, you’re looking well.” Reena nodded her head to the couple. “I’d like you to meet my niece, Tara. She’s come to stay with me just this other day, she has. I daresay she’s quite an aid to an old lady.”
    Tara nodded her head to the couple, but kept quiet just as Reena had instructed before they had left the house.
    “Ah, what a comfort for a woman with no children,” Thelga said, clasping her hands over her large girth. “I daresay you’ll have her claimed before the week is out. She’s quite the looker, she is.”
    Garg grunted and then got up and walked toward the back of the store without a word of goodbye.
    “To be certain, I know she is.” Reena winked, apparently not daunted by Garg’s departure. “Her Papa’s a mite bit picky though, if you ask me. But who asks an old lady? Turned down a claim, he did. She’s his only daughter, you know. So, now she’s with me.” Reena clucked to herself as she moved toward the fresh produce. She took a basket from a stack by the door and handed it to Tara.
    Tara wandered past barrels of produce as she followed Reena, and watched with curiosity as the older woman poked and sniffed, pinched and shook each vegetable before selecting what she wanted. Evidently, it was quite a task for Reena to find produce that suited her needs, but finally she seemed satisfied with her choices, paid for the items, and nodded good day to the Olgoods.
    “Well now, that’s done,” Reena said as she chuckled to herself. “Thelga’ll be quite busy letting the town folk know of your arrival, she will. I swear to you now that half the town’ll come down with some ailment or another just to come see old Reena’s niece.” She laughed out loud and wrapped her arm around Tara’s. “You did mighty fine in the store, you did. Now I need to pick up some more yarn. Sirlah Maken’s shop is just up the street. I’ll be going in alone. It won’t do to have them noticing your lack of seamstress skills. It’ll be there that I tell them you’ll help with the young ones at the quilting. I’ll point out we have enough quilters and too many wee ones. It’ll make sense, it will. You wander around, if you like.”
    Reena left Tara on the sidewalk and hurried down the street.
    Tara was amused by how much Reena seemed to be enjoying herself. Left alone, she walked slowly down the street looking into each store window. She smiled as shyly as she could to anyone who saw her.
    So these were the women she’d wondered so much about? They lived a life of domesticity, completely oblivious to anything outside their daily routine. They grew up, anxiously waiting to be claimed, and then fell into a role of servitude and inconsequential gossip. So far, she wasn’t too impressed. How could these women go through life with no say in matters that involved them? How could they feel complete when they needed a man simply to exist?
    Tara passed a gap between two of the stores. It was wide enough for a vehicle to move between them. The tall buildings cast shadows, and she realized this was not a place where the townsfolk walked. It was full of trashcans and the smell reflected that fact, along with the flying insects hovering over the bins.
    Tara’s keen eye caught the movement of several figures at the other end of the alley, and she stopped to watch them. Young boys obviously hoping not to be detected clung to the shadows. They were probably supposed to be in school. She started to look away, a smile creeping up on her face, when she spotted several other children entering the service road behind the first group.
    “There they are!” one of the boys yelled.
    She slipped easily enough behind a large trashcan and squatted unnoticed as she continued to watch the boys on the dark road.
    “You’ll be dealing with me now.” A large youth of thirteen or fourteen winters walked