The door was partially open, as it usually was, and Gerry walked into the kitchen. He noted the tidy state of the place. Mother looked up from the chair by the fire with a quizzical expression. "Lady smile on you," Gerry said as Mother rose. "Conn, come and see Gerry," Mother called. He waved Gerry to sit at the table. "I'll pour us some mead." Conn came out of the bedroom, dressed in loose linen pants and a light tunic, looking around as he spoke. "Hello, Gerry. Where's Ghost? He still in the village?" Gerry's throat tightened. The last thing he wanted to do was to tell Mother how he had left things with Ghost. "He's home. He wanted to check some things. He asked the elders today for a place to use as an infirmary, and they gave him the old warehouse at the edge of the market." "With the red doors?" Mother poured mead into three cups. "The building is hardly used these days anyway." "Exactly. It'll be easier for Ghost to have all the worst cases in one place, and he thinks isolating the sick may slow the spread of the disease.
