~Thorne~
The ewes broke a section of the lower scrub fence before dawn, and by the time Tiril's voice carried up to the hall the mean ones had already decided the winter kale beyond the trough was theirs by right of teeth.
I went down with Tuva and Alfred while the light was still more intention than fact. The fence posts had heaved in the freeze and the woven withy had snapped where the ground had split. Two ewes were in the kale. The third, the one Hedvig had warned us about, stood on the path as if she were collecting tolls.
Tiril had already gotten a rope on the toll-collector. She did not look grateful for the help so much as impatient that it had taken the hall this long to hear her.
"Posts lifted," she said. "Not chewed. Freeze did it. If we only tie the withy back they'll lift again after the next hard night."
