The Hearth

It goes without saying: Ura’s favorite place to be was curled up on a warm hearth beside a roaring fire.

They had been traveling for months, her and the clan. They very rarely stayed at an inn: most nights had been spent beneath the open sky.

Ura was always closest to the fire. But it wasn’t the same.

The fact that Hezeky remembered she loved a good hearth, after months without one, filled her with thoughts that can’t be mentioned here.

But what we can mention is the hearth, so we’ll skip to that part.

Sure, at first glance it was just like the rest of the tavern: covered in stone and debris. But Ura didn’t see all that.

All she saw was what lay underneath.

Marble.

How did such a humble tavern obtain such a luxurious resource?

Ura would kill for marble. In truth, she nearly had. . . but that’s a story for another time.

For the first time since seeing the tavern, Ura saw the beauty in it that Hezeky had seen when he bought it.

So she caved. She put her past reservations behind her and agreed to keep the tavern. . .

On the condition the kitchen, mainly the hearth, was the first to be repaired.