Lamp-Down (Grain Series)

I. Herein Verick considered himself a fortunate man and saw no reason his friends should think otherwise. He had said as much to Whereas that morning in the queue outside the bay, watching the ring fill for the panels. “My wife wants for nothing.” Not a boast. An accounting. “She has her berth, her name in the concordance by marriage, her place at the assembly. I don’t believe I’ve heard her complain of anything past the price of thread.” Whereas laughed, thread being a general grievance that window, and the talk moved on to the Hoffner boy and what his uncle owed at the guest berths. Herein did not think of the remark again. Klára ran the household without complaint, dressed well inside what he drew, was allowed by everyone to be a handsome and gracious woman for her terms. That same morning he worked out what he owed the fabricator and something worse at the bay, and that her accounts would have to be trimmed. The calculation ran alongside the remark to Whereas without either…