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Ginna's eyes watched Rowenna and Falco bicker and laugh (sometimes at the same time), but her mind wandered elsewhere. Outside the Hall, in the smithy, to be exact. Eodwine had been gone for a while after she left him in the grounds and before he returned to the Hall. That meant that sometime between the two, he had gone to speak with Harreld. Eodwine's face betrayed nothing of what could have become of that talk; he had eyes only for his wife. A small, selfish side of Ginna hoped they would resolve things quickly so she could ask him what Harreld said. A slightly bigger, impatient side of her longed to go to the smithy at that very moment and find out for herself.
She did not even realise that she had risen from her seat when she felt a hand touch her arm. It was Kara. "Are you all right?"
"Y-yes," Ginna answered, smiling tentatively. She looked towards the door, then back at Kara, whose eyes were filled with concern and disapproval. "I just need to clear my head," Ginna reassured her. "I'm not ready to talk to him," she added when Kara's brow lifted. Eventually, she withdrew her hand with a resigned look.
Ginna could not leave the kitchen without being seen by Rowenna and Falco, but both were still too busy debating to pay her any more attention as she walked out the kitchen towards the Hall. She had barely made it out through the door when she glimpsed Harreld coming towards her. A lump formed in her throat. But a moment later she realised that Harreld did not walk with that swagger. The man's face came into clear view.
"Garreth," she greeted him with a nod, her voice gruff. She cleared her throat.
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