The Peace Weaver — Charles Barnitz

The Peace Weaver is a collection of five stories concerning incidents in the career of Hring, assistant to the advocate Sentwine in the gemót courts of Elmet. The first story, “The Peace Weaver,” centers on an assignment to escort a young woman who has volunteered to become a peace weaver between two feuding kindreds to her wedding and her new home. The second story, “The Bean Spoon,” involves the investigation of an apparent suicide. “Village Geometry,” takes place when Hring is accompanying the commissioners who are taking the census for the Tribal Hidage for Offa of Mercia. The fourth story, “Changeling,” takes place after Hring has left the gemót courts and is working as a spy in Northumbria for Offa's spymaster, Brorda. The final story, “The Swift Flight of a Sparrow,” unfolds in a small church on a rainy afternoon and evening on the 7th anniversary of the death of Hring's wife, Oswith.