They sat close to the fire. Her maid Cat heated a fire iron then plunged it into a tankard of ale. She offered it to Ragna, who said: “Give it to Edgar—he’s colder than me.”
Cat handed the cup to Edgar with a pleasant smile. Perhaps I should marry a girl like her, he thought. I could feed a wife, now that we have the fishpond, and it would be nice to have someone to sleep with. But as soon as he formed the idea, he knew it was wrong. Cat was a perfectly nice woman, but he did not feel about her the way he had felt about Sungifu. He was momentarily embarrassed, and hid his face by drinking from the cup. The ale warmed his belly.
Ragna said: “I had a nice little farm picked out for you in the Vale of Outhen, but in the end you didn’t need it. Aldred is your landlord now, so you should be safe.”
She seemed a little distracted, and Edgar wondered if she had something on her mind. “I’m grateful to you all the same,” he said. “You gave me the courage to be one of Aldred’s oath helpers.”
She nodded acknowledgment, but clearly was not interested in going back over the events of the trial. Edgar decided to get right to the point; he did not want to make her impatient. “I’m here to ask another favor,” he said.
“Go ahead.”
“The church at Dreng’s Ferry is falling down, but Aldred can’t afford to repair it.”
“How could I help with that?”
“You could let us have the stone free of charge. I could quarry it myself, so it would cost you nothing. And it would be a pious gift.”
“So it would.”
“Will you do it?”
She looked into his eyes with an expression of amusement and something else he could not read. “Of course I will,” she said.
Her ready assent threatened to bring tears to his eyes, and he felt a surge of gratitude that was almost like love. Why were there not more people like this in the world? “Thank you,” he said.
She sat back, breaking the spell, and said briskly: “How much stone will you need?”
He suppressed his emotions and became practical. “About five raftloads of stones and rubble, I think. I’m going to have to build buttresses with deep foundations.”
“I’ll give you a letter to Seric saying you can take as much as you like.”
“You’re so kind.”
She shrugged. “Not really. There’s enough stone in Outhenham to last a hundred years.”
“Well, I’m very thankful.”
“There’s something you could do for me.”
“Name it.” There was nothing he would like better than to perform some service for her.
“I still have Gab as quarrymaster.”
“Why do you keep someone who stole from you?”
“Because I can’t find anyone else. But perhaps you could take over as quarrymaster, and supervise him.”
The idea of working for Ragna thrilled Edgar. But how was it to be managed? He said: “And repair the church at the same time?”
“I’m thinking you could spend half your time at Outhenham and half at Dreng’s Ferry.”
He nodded slowly. That might work. “I’m going to be traveling often to Outhenham for stone.” But he would have to hand over the fishpond to his brothers, so he would lose the income from the fish market.
Ragna solved that problem with her next sentence. “I’ll pay you sixpence a week, plus a farthing per stone sold.”
This would amount to a lot more than the fish brought in. “You’re generous.”
“I want you to make sure Gab doesn’t get up to his old tricks again.”
