Excerpt: The Bounty of Grace

It was her eyes that convinced him that he'd found her. He'd wandered around the square earlier in the morning as the theater troupe was setting up their wagons to set the stage. Seeing nothing of interest at the time, he'd moved away to find food and make arrangements. Now he stood at the side as people started to fill the board benches pulled out of the nearest pub. The city didn't have a designated theater, and they were making due with the center square, with room enough for the wagons to sit and hang curtains between. The dark fabric served as a back drop and as a divider between the audience and the behind the scenes goings on of costume changes and lining up of the cast.
Reed leaned against one of the four trees that marked the four corners of the square. He was behind the stage watching the goings on. People milled about him and paid him no attention. Four Corners was a way point for many travelers. Two direct roads intersected in the city and the townsfolk were used to the all sorts of people and, things, passing through. Many of them had learned to judge strangers at an instant. Sometimes they were wrong, but mostly they were right. Many people judged Reed quickly as dangerous but not a careless threat as some would be.
He could see wariness in their eyes as they eyed him quickly and kept going. He looked like he'd just walked out of the wilderness and he didn't care as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched the preparations for the performance. It was the second time she glanced that he knew he'd found her.
He had spied her earlier, scurrying around as her name was called, it didn't prove he had found her. A lot of women carried the name of Grace. He was patient and he waited. She had seen him in the morning because he let her by walking through the square. He had wanted to see her closer. She fit the description he had been given, but he could find several even now as he leaned on the tree that would match her description.
She was given the job of lighting the lanterns that would illuminate the stage and as she came back through the curtains, she glanced at him again as she had when she'd come from the wagon with a arm full of material. No one else in the troupe was paying him much mind. He wasn't the only person standing and watching with curiosity. Nor did he stand at the front of the group.
Someone called her name again and she scurried back to the wagon where the actors were readying themselves. The minstrel was strumming his guitar when she came back out and ran across to the other wagon and disappeared inside it running back across to the second wagon.
The minstrel laughed at her as she came back out, blowing air toward the hair in her face but she grinned and then another glance his way. The Minstrel looked up at the sky as it continued to darken. Already, a crowd and massed on the other side of the curtain. The minstrel started strumming and started singing. Grace pulled the curtain aside for him and followed him through. They would sing and get the audience to join with them until the sky darkened further, to allow for time to get the full effectual use of the night's back drop against the tragic tale waiting to unfold.
Reed was patient. He would wait.