We stared at each other until I got annoyed, which wasn’t long. “You go first.”
The woman swallowed. “This is unlikely.”
“Oh?” I hung my thumbs in my belt, one hand close to my sword.
“The last time I saw you, you stood on those same steps. You must be a very boring person.”
I tried to match her displeased expression. “What do you want? Lin burned your spare cloak. It was full of bugs.”
The woman hesitated. “I heard that a crazy man was killing the whole town of Bindle. I thought it must be you.”
“I may let a few live. What do you want?”
She looked me up and down. “I don’t like what I hear about you.”
“You’ll make me bawl. I haven’t heard shit about you.”
“That was . . . ” She gave a tiny shrug.
With no warning, rage shattered my insides. I marched halfway to her, but she didn’t flinch. “Do you remember the last thing you said before you disappeared for ten goddamn years with no explanation?”
She squinted up at the low gray clouds rushing along.
“No? Well, sure, I’ll be happy to remind you since you asked nicely, you farting cow! You said, ‘There’s rust on your belt buckle.’ Then you walked away. Hell, I thought maybe you were headed off to buy me a new belt buckle!”
Still gazing up, she said, “Were you too poor to buy your own?”
“Not the point! The point is I spent a month searching for you and whoever captured you! Then I spent two months searching for your dead body. Halla, I kept that up until I found the fellow who sold you some new boots on your way south. That is the point!”
She stared at me, blank-faced. “You were a good friend.” She said it the way she might have said, “You have a nose.”
I drew back a fist but didn’t run up and punch her. “Krak pound it smaller than worm shit!” I roared at the sky.
“Bib, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Well, I can die a goddamn happy man then, can’t I?” I bent over with my hands on my knees and realized I might be angrier than the situation merited. Besides, yelling at Halla wouldn’t hurt her feelings any more than it would a fence rail’s. I smiled at her. “I’m late for scaring the shit out of some people. It was nice to reminisce. Go away.”
With no warning, hard rain slammed down on us. I trotted back to get my cloak, but the blue door slammed shut. I shoved it, but it held fast. I kicked it twice, which didn’t help.
Halla had pulled up her hood. “Do you have a problem with your house?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh, no, I trained the son of a bitch to do that!” I kicked the door five more times and shouted an oath about an improbable thing Harik had done with an otter.
“I doubt that Lin will accept that for very long,” Halla said.
I snapped, “She died eight years ago. Almost nine.”
I turned and saw Halla’s face melt like it had been crusted with ice. “I’m very sorry, Bib.” She squinted at me. “Bett too, then?”
“Yes . . . her too.”
From out in the yard, she said, “Come here.”
I kicked the door twice more before stalking over to stare up at her. She stood more than a head taller than me, the tallest woman I’d ever met.
Halla examined my face through the heavy rain. “Did you remarry?”
“No. I adopted a daughter, but . . .” I licked my lips. “She died too.” I stomped back to the door and shoved it as hard as I could. The creaking sounded almost like laughter. “To hell with the cloak! I’m already as wet as a turtle’s toes!”
“Bib, look at me.”
I waved her away and stomped off the porch, making a point of not looking at her. “Don’t bother. Trust me, I’m more beautiful than I was the last time you saw me.”
“Bib, if Lin is dead, why are you in her house?”
“Look at it. It’s a damn palace.” I strode past her up the lane but didn’t rush. If Paul and the others didn’t want to wait on me, they could go on with their normal day, cheating their neighbors and sleeping with each other’s husbands and wives.
Halla called after me, “Why are you here? Lin is not here.”
I yelled over my shoulder, “Hell, I know that for sure! I might have been the worst husband in creation, but she never slammed the door on my foot.”
Halla caught me with her huge strides. “You should be sure. I will find out who is in your house.”
“Slap my mother and her dog too! Don’t bother! It’s not your concern! Go help somebody else!”
Halla closed her eyes as she paced beside me.
“You’re a horrible stick of a woman!” I felt I might be ranting a little and took a breath.
“Yes,” she muttered. “I am horrible. It is well-known.”
The rain had begun slowing. Halla was engaged in sorcery now, but I couldn’t guess what. Maybe she was torturing the ghost until it talked or was throwing a party for other gossipy ghosts. Perhaps she was disguising herself as a fetching ghost companion and whispering secrets. I figured she wouldn’t be so imposing facedown in the mud, so I tried to trip her. She skipped over my foot, eyes still closed.
Halfway to the town square, Halla opened her eyes and said, “Domov.”
I rubbed my chilly arms and said, “What?”
“It is a type of minor spirit.”
“I know what it is! Why are you talking about it?”
Halla peered at me sideways. “A domov is inhabiting Lin’s house.”
“The hell you say! You can’t know that.”
“I do know that. In fact, every home in this town is inhabited by a spirit. Domovs, kikivs, gegs. Even a haggit.”
All of those tricky creatures did inhabit buildings, mostly homes. They didn’t intend ill, but some were feistier
