Merain and Imri hung around while I finished the milking, and then Merain said “we’re going now, we can’t risk the doctors meddling again”. He’d gathered all the leftover food, and Imri had a purse full of money, I don’t know whether she’d run home to get it or had…

I sat on the wall for a bit after the doctors had gone back to the Stone House with Imri and my brother and sister to our house, just to be alone. But I wasn’t alone for long! Merain sat down next to me. He didn’t speak right away, though,…

When I looked up from my pail Aine was gone, and instead the shorter preacher was leaning against the fence, chewing a stalk of grass. “Hi,” I said, “where did you leave your babies?” “At the Stone House, with Arni, asleep,” she said. “Can you show me around the village?”…

I’m Venlei Halla and I’m going to tell you about my life. It’s a good life! I can’t remember ever going to bed hungry except the times that I’ve been sent to bed without my dinner, and that hasn’t happened for a long time now. It’s so much better in…