[Folwren]

“No, it did not.” That was all. He did not say anything else. Thornden looked at him. He could only see his dark, silhouetted form, and his face was turned away from him. He was intensely still, stiff, even, despite the mechanical motion of his hands polishing.

Thornden looked down and fidgeted with his empty hands. Mildly, he envied Harreld’s pre-occupation. He wanted to say something to ease Harreld’s mind and his distress, but he did not know what to say, and he felt the matter was delicate. Perhaps Saeryn had been right. Maybe it was not his place to approach Harreld without invitation.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” he said slowly. “If Randver just wrote and told Ginna that he did not give her his blessing, she would have told Saeryn. And she didn’t.” What was he trying to say? He stopped for a minute, regrouping his thoughts. He looked again at Harreld. The smith had not responded. “I mean, Randver’s disapproval had never stopped Ginna showing interest in you before. I don’t think a letter will change her for long. Give her time.”

Harreld made little reaction even to that. Thornden again looked down, wondering what was troubling him so intensely. He thought that by now, he would have struck on what the trouble had been, but nothing he had said had seemed right.

“Have you talked to Ginna about it? Are you certain he said no without any exception?”