But, I didn`t see anything happen to Elder Hora,` the old woman said.

　　No,` Kala nodded. I know. But someone told me you might know something about Gris.`

　　The woman looked at her, uncertainly.

　　To be honest,` Kala said, I`ve spoken to so many people and not one saw what happened. We`re assuming the chief was murdered by a man we know nothing about. He killed four villagers and my son.` Kala had to be careful to give the right number. It was with a little guilt she was not able to acknowledge Ego`s death as well.

　　The old woman nodded. Who saw him attack your son?`

　　My husband did,` Kala blurted, more angrily than she meant to. Besides, it was a lie. Talon had not seen Gris attack Halo any more than Jode had seen him attack Hora. The woman gave an acquiescent smile. Ah, that`s not what I was told, forgive me.` She took a deep breath. Then I admire your restraint even more. I thought you were asking about Gris so you could find a way to kill him.` The woman sounded disappointed.

　　Wait. What? Sorry, what do you mean?`

　　Someone told you that I know something about Gris. I do.` The woman`s eyes focussed on an empty space between them. When we were your age, Troy was a hearther. He was strong of arm, but not of spirit. Always plagued by ki. He slept poorly, always worried.`

　　About what?`

　　She laughed. Everything. Anything. He wanted to give me children, but it never happened. He worried about that. She wafted her hands at Kala again, And just everything. His mother gave him that. She let the ki into his head and they never left. It`s probably good we never had children. The ki would have plagued them as well, most like.`

　　Kala nodded and thought of Talon`s mother, thankful her affliction had not passed to him. The punishment for some fadi could pass into a family line if the ki were sufficiently offended.

　　Gris came to the village, to the Hearths, and tried to take something from Troy. He was a good man; strong and loyal. He defended his hearth and the metal. He knew the village could ill afford to lose any. He struck Gris, but&` she shook her head sadly. My Troy was a big man and he never turned to violence, but if he was to hit someone, well,` she smiled, they would not mistake it for a breeze.`

　　What did Gris do to him?`

　　Moved him.`

　　Kala frowned. What do you mean?`

　　Just picked him up and moved him like he was nothing. Easier than I`ve seen Dorrel do. He took what he came for and left.` The woman gave a sad smile. Troy was unhurt, but it got into his head. Even with the ki in his head, nothing had ever threatened him physically. But you know how some people can be, especially men.` She shrugged. In a way, Gris killed my husband too.`

　　He died? From that?` Kala didn`t intend such incredulity

　　He never recovered.` The woman tapped the side of her head. The ki ate away at him and in less than a year& I lost him.` She sat very still, her hands on her knees.

　　Kala covered the woman`s hand softly with her own. I`m so sorry.`

　　Her eyes sparkled wet as she spoke. Maybe Jode is right. My husband stood up to him and he died, just like everyone else who has.` Her eyes narrowed. That doesn`t mean I don`t wish awful things on that monster every single day. And now, with your little boy&` she shook her head. I hoped you wanted to know about Gris because someone wanted to do something about him. I know the council won`t, not with Jode back in charge.`

　　The words nearly fell from Kala`s mouth, but she slammed it shut. No one could know what Talon was up to. I don`t just want to chronicle, but to recover some of what we lost in the fire,` something Kala was being obstructed from. I don`t do this because the council has asked me. It is up to people and the council what they do with whatever I find out.` This wasn`t lies, just a cloak for the truth. I always feel it is better to know more, not less.` Kala waited while the woman sat in silence, certain she was working up the courage to say more.

　　Without speaking, the woman rose and walked stiffly, perhaps uncertainly, towards a very old wooden storage box. Pushing aside cooking pots, she lifted something from under folded linen. It came with a heavy metallic scrape on the wooden inside of the box. She stayed with her back to Kala for a moment. You`re not just writing things in the record, not really.` It wasn`t a question, so Kala didn`t answer it.

　　When the woman turned, Kala gasped. The thing in her hand was long, thin, slightly curved, about the length of a forearm with narrow slits near it`s edges. It was covered in layers of grime, but Kala could make out some decorative etchings on the surface. It was not these that made her gasp. It was the colour.

　　It`s been in Troy`s family longer than we know. Passed down, hearthers all. It was said it came from Gris, that someone traded it, but I don`t know what for.` The woman looked frightened. Kala would have told no one about the spear and understood the risk this woman was taking in showing her.

　　From Gris` family?`

　　No.` The woman looked meaningfully at Kala. From Gris.`Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

　　He really isn`t human, is he?`

　　The old woman shook her head. I`d say not. I don`t know if the rumour that he is bodaki is true, but he isn`t human.` The woman already wore regret at having shown Kala. I shouldn`t have&` The woman covered the object as if it was shameful. Please don`t put this in the record, I just thought it might help somehow I know& I know it`s fadi to keep metal, but&`

　　It`s okay.`

　　& but Troy and every hearther in his family has tried to melt it but&`

　　It`s okay,` Kala tried again, but the woman was shaking.

　　&and Troy`s grandfather even tried to throw it in the trees, lose it in the dark but he said the dark rejected it.`

　　I understand, it`s okay, it can`t be fadi, if it can`t be used.` Kala said, But what do you mean, the dark rejected it?`

　　It came back. He never said, and I don`t want to know. I wouldn`t let Troy try. We`re stuck with it like a curse.`

　　Kala stared at it, wondering how long the spear had been in Talon`s family without his knowledge. How many other families were trapped by such cursed secrets?

　　Your husband was a hearther, did your husband recognise the metal?`

　　The woman shook her head. He said bronze is soft and melts easily, this does neither.` The woman turned it over. We had no choice&`

　　I promise you`ve nothing to fear from me. Do you have any idea what it is?`

　　The woman shook her head, but more secrets strained to be released. This is not to go in the record.`

　　We both know I`m here as more than just chronicler.` It was only fair to reciprocate a little.

　　I will not say who, but a friend once visited Troy with something he`d found in his wife`s things, afraid she was breaking fadi. He hoped Troy could melt it quietly.`

　　Something like this? I suppose it wouldn`t melt either?`

　　Troy returned it. I suppose like us they`re stuck with it too.`

　　Did this happen much? Did other`s come to the Hearths with things like this?` The woman shook her head, but looked down avoiding Kala`s eyes.

　　Kala touched her hand gently. I too have a piece like this.` She admitted. She expected to feel anxious, but relief came with the admission. It was reflected on the woman`s face. I don`t believe it can be fadi to keep this metal if it cannot be melted. I cannot believe the ki would think so either.`

　　Troy did show this other piece to someone.`

　　Who?`

　　The hearthmaster. Troy was so afraid he`d get into trouble, but&` The old woman laughed. He was shaking the day he took it. The hearthmaster just laughed and told him to give it back because she couldn`t melt the damn things either.`

　　Kala raised a hand to her mouth. Things? You`re sure she said things?`

　　She nodded. Is this what you`re really after? Are you trying to collect the pieces?`

　　Kala stared at her. Yes, she wanted to say. No, she thought. Why? Why should she want to collect them?

　　Because when Talon returns he`s going to need them.

　　Kala frowned. She didn`t even know what they were for, why would she think Talon would need them? The spear had some effect on the dark, who was to say what these pieces would do?

　　I`m only just learning about them,` she answered finally, You`ve no idea what it is?`

　　The old woman shrugged, then rummaged through her box and found two old strips of leather. Troy thought it might be like&` she slipped the straps through the slots and then slid it onto Kala`s forearm. Troy thought it was like that, like something protective. Like armour from the stories. He said the other part was similar, but I never saw it.`

　　Kala slid it from her arm and stared at it.

　　What if this had similar power to the spear of Talons?

　　The dark rejected it.

　　Can I take this?`

　　The relief on the woman`s face was all the answer Kala needed.

　　I only hope the ki that plagued my husband do not follow it.`

　　Kala invited the woman to eat with her family once things settled and left for the Hearths. It was usual to keep a single hearth lit, but today there were two. A small group of sweating youngsters stared with orange glints in their eyes while an aproned woman let them feed scraps into a glowing crucible. Kala remembered her own time spent at the hearth as a child. She had never been back. These young ones seemed keen, some might take up the trade. It was one of the few trades not all villagers mastered, unlike fishing or fieldwork which most were taught.

　　The hearther lifted the crucible from the furnace and poured the bright contents into a sand mould. One of the young ones reached out with a finger and there was a loud shout that made them all shrink back. The moulded metal was dropped hissing into water and the girl who had reached out shrank back. It wasn`t the heat that had bothered Kala. She never liked how the right glow made the rest of the world seem darker.

　　Kala gave them plenty of room and approached the second hearth which was only just kindling. While the hearthers came and went as needed, the master always maintained at least one hearth alight. A pile of broken tools waited as she fed the beast that would give them rebirth.

　　Roo? Can I interrupt you before you start?` Kala shouted, not wanting to approach uninvited. A lesson from her childhood.

　　The master gave a sharp nod, but held her head down a moment, indicating Kala should stay where she was. Roo checked the furnace then stepped away from the heat. The village was hot and humid, but in the Hearths, the temperature was far higher and was the only place workers routinely wore more than just the skirt. The aprons protected against burns, but still Roo`s forearms showed past scars. Roo`s apron was stiff, thick and ancient. Leather was treated with similar respect to metal as animals were only slaughtered near their live`s end.

　　The sweat lining the hearthmaster`s skin glistened with the glow from the fire. Roo had the broad shoulders and arms of a woman who had worked a hearth every day she`d been tall enough to reach one. The only person in the village bigger than Roo was Dorrel, but the Hearths was one place Dorrel was not allowed, unless she was just moving scrap metal around. Roo would be the granddaughter of the Hearthmaster the old lady had talked about.

　　From the fields?` Kala asked, nodding at a broken scythe. She wasn`t aware they`d broken anything.

　　This morning,` Roo said. Field`s full of amateurs at the moment, isn`t it?`

　　Kala nodded. They`d barely been back to the fields since Halo`s death and she felt guilty at using her son as the excuse now. No, she reminded herself, she was doing something and Halo was the reason for it.

　　Kala`s advantage of age did not make Roo less intimidating. Roo`s impatient expression didn`t help. The woman had to keep the hearthers in line, in itself not a role for the meek.

　　She clutched the wrapped metal and hesitated, her lip clamped between her teeth. If she did this, she was opening up to a woman she barely knew. What if Roo dragged Kala to the Elders? She might be useful, but the whole thing could escalate too fast for Kala to control, too fast for her to stop. And what if Roo wasn`t helpful? Then someone else in the village would know what she was about&

　　Officially, she was here to investigate Hora`s death, but if caught with metal, it might be all the excuse Jode needed to put her to the trees. No amount of leverage would help if he claimed she`d broken fadi.

　　Kala gripped the wrapped bundle tightly and her tooth sank into her lip until she could taste blood.