Chapter 7

　　Present Time

　　In the kitchen, she moved between the women and children that worked at the table. Their household had been torn apart between the warring Fae and humans, the men folk and older boys being taken to the armies, leaving behind only the young, the old and the women.

　　The workload of a keep did not diminish with their inhabitants, however. The people within it still needed to be fed, the animals tended to, the gardens watered, linen laundered… Everyone turned their hands to whatever task needed to be done, and mealtimes more so than anything, the large, heavy wooden table framed with people hip-to-hip and elbow to elbow as they washed, peeled, chopped…

　　“I hope you washed your hands,” Yelena said to the children. “Playing knuckles in the courtyard amongst the animals and bringing the dirt into our food. Tsk. Go on, now, and scrub your nails,” she scolded them. The women laughed as the children retreated complaining about the unfairness of needing clean hands.