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uncomfortably at her bright smile, he ducked his head and shuffled off, concentrating upon his feet so that he wouldn’t fall.
    Jaddi laughed when he asked her later. “Don’t worry about them. There’re some folks who’d talk even if the world were collapsing beneath their feet.”
    “But what do they say ? ” Lan insisted.
    She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “It’s nothing, Lan, nothing true, at least.”
    When he didn’t look or move away, she finally relented.
    “Some think that he had it coming, is all. Think that he might have had a hidden treasure somewhere.”
    Lan nodded and said quietly, “Somewhere. You mean they think I have it.”
    She shrugged. “It’s probably crossed everyone’s minds, Lan. But you’re the only one who can open those latches of yours, so you keep whatever it was safe from their greedy fingers. That’s obviously what Haigh wanted, after all.” She smiled sadly. He followed her gaze out to Haigh’s house. “He was a pretty impressive man, regardless of what he might have done.” She bowed her head and sighed. “I miss him a whole lot.”
    “But,” she continued with a happy lilt in her voice, “I have you still. So glad they didn’t burn you up like they did with the rest of his things.”
    He almost mentioned how he didn’t think they’d done that, but stopped short, not wanting the questions that might follow.
    With the jars from the potter, he began to truly fill the shelves in the workshop. He didn’t need to label them, not as Haigh had (though his labeling had been mostly haphazard and usually wrong after the jar had been emptied and refilled a few times). Perhaps it came from a life of memorizing what was contained in each part of his own body, but he knew at a glance where everything was upon each shelf.
    Upon the completion of the second order of jars from the potter, Kiag mentioned his wife’s monthly pains, sighing wistfully of the much-too-expensive prices of buying from the random merchant traveling through.
    “They have a tendency to throw their prices at the moon, knowing that if we need it we’ll have to find a way to buy it. My wife grins and bears it though, saying she’d rather not have that kind of money spent just to keep her comfortable. I married right, I know that much, though I wish I could take some of that pain away.”
    “I could take care of that for you,” said Lan. “I didn’t know it was such a problem.”
    “Great!” said Kiag. “I’ll have your payment ready upon delivery; looking forward to seeing you next week.” Then he shouted at one of his sons to be careful as he followed the boy into the back room. Lan left feeling as if he’d had no control during the whole exchange.
    But he still did as he’d promised and brought the man a painkiller for his wife’s tea the following week. And that was just the start.
    A few people caught him on his way back to Jaddi’s house that same afternoon, mentioning their own deliveries that had long ago ceased being brought. And more stopped by and left orders with Jaddi in the evenings during the following weeks.
    “You know you don’t have to stay here during the day,” she said one morning when she was reciting a cosmetic order from one of the young women in town. “You seem to be getting plenty of work, and I’ve no doubt when word spreads the neighboring towns will be sending orders.”
    “Are you sure ? I really don’t mind helping you as well.”
    “I lived alone for quite a few years, Lan, ever since . . .” Her face darkened, but only for a brief moment. “You can come and visit whenever you like. I’m not telling you to leave, but you seem bored here during the day.” She winked.
    Lan nodded, knowing what she didn’t say. Ever since that fire, the one that’d hurt Haigh when he’d gone to put it out. The fire that had covered Jaddi black with ash and done much worse to her parents and older brother. Haigh had carried her out in his arms, the fire