Atia began to chop vegetables without comment, putting them into an iron pot over a clay stove built against the wall. Even the knife she held had a blade as thin as a fingernail, worn down but still used for want of anything better.

Outside in the street, a chorus of high-pitched yelling broke out and a grubby figure skidded through the open doorway, running straight into Alexandria.

“Whoa, lad! You almost had me over, then!” Alexandria said, smiling.

He looked at her with a quizzical expression in his blue eyes. His face was as dusty as the rest of him, but Alexandria could see his nose was dark and swollen, with a trace of blood at the end, smeared over his cheek as he wiped it, sniffing.

The woman threw down the knife and gathered him into her arms. “What have you been up to now?” she demanded, touching his nose.

The boy grinned and squirmed to get away from her embrace.

“Just a fight, Mam. The boys who work at the butcher’s chased me all the way home. I tripped one of them when he went for me, and he landed one on my nose.” The boy beamed at his mother and reached under his tunic, pulling out two bare chops, dripping blood. His mother groaned and snatched them with a quick dart of her hand.

“No, Mam. They’re mine! I didn’t steal them. They were just lying in the street.”

His mother’s face went white with anger, but he still clutched at her as she moved to the door, jumping as high as he could to retrieve his prizes from her grasp.

“I’ve told you not to steal and not to lie. Take your hands off me. These must go back to where they came from.”

Alexandria was between Atia and the door, so she stepped out into the street to let her out. A group of boys stood around with a vaguely threatening air. They laughed to see the little boy jumping around his mother, and one of them held out a hand for the chops, which were slapped into his palm without a word.

“He’s fast, missus. I’ll give him that. Old Tedus told me to say he will summon the guard if your lad steals anything else.”

“There’s no call for that,” Atia snapped in irritation, wiping the blood from her hands on a piece of cloth she pulled out of a sleeve. “Tell Tedus he’s never lost anything he hasn’t had back and I’ll spread the word not to use his shop if he tries it. I will discipline my son, thank you.”

“Fine job you’re doing,” the older boy sneered.

Atia raised her hand swiftly and he backed away, guffawing and pointing at the humiliated figure that still clung to her skirt.