Iven heard the wagons before he saw Neri.
He had told himself he was at the receiving yard because the morning’s materials needed checking. The materials had been checked. The receiver had thanked him and then asked, with impressive kindness, whether he wanted to stand somewhere that did not obstruct her desk.
He stood beside the upper landing instead.
The first wagon came around the bend beneath the reed poles. Its driver called to the yard keeper. Behind the forward load, a woman in a dark green jacket turned her head toward the sound of Orret’s paddle against the landing.
Neri saw him.
Her expression changed before she moved.
For a moment the last forty days disappeared so completely that he almost stepped into the wagon’s path.
The driver stopped it for him.
