Chapter 41: A New Sinner
The north wing corridor felt colder than the rest of the building. Beorn noticed it immediately and chose to keep walking. He did not reach for the ledger. His hand marked its absence once, then he let the thought drop. Aestrith stayed silent beside him, offering no comment.
They reached the room and knocked. There was a short delay from inside. Something was set down, likely work, then the door opened.
Tam’s older sister, Pam, stood there, looking out at them with suspicion.
She was taller than Tam. The resemblance in the face was clear, but age had changed the features. She had the atmosphere of a woman that had been running a household for years.
A loop of mending thread was still wrapped around her fingers, and she made no move to remove it. Her gaze shifted from Beorn to Aestrith, then returned to Beorn in doubt.
"Is it for Tam? She’s not back from work yet," Pam said.
"We can wait," Beorn replied.
Pam held the doorframe for a moment longer, studying him as if testing why. Then she stepped aside, allowing them in.
The room matched his memory from inspection with a high ceiling and cold felt through the walls rather than the air, which made the space usable but not comfortable.
Two narrow beds stood along the far wall. A small table held Pam’s materials. Needles were lined along one edge. Threads were sorted by color along the other, organized with care.
A candle burned on the windowsill, recently lit. The wax had barely melted. The window itself had been cleaned. The pale afternoon light passed through the old glass and formed a thin strip across the floor.
Pam returned to her chair and picked up her thread, but she did not resume working.
Aestrith moved toward the window, choosing a position with visibility and space. Beorn remained standing.
There was no appropriate seat for him. The beds were not his to use, and taking one would be slightly awkward. He stayed where he was.
The background noise of the citadel filtered in through the stone.
Pam glanced at him once, then spoke.
"Is she in trouble?"
"No," Beorn said.
Pam drew a length of thread from the spool. Her hands worked automatically, but she still did not begin stitching. She was waiting.
Tam arrived roughly fifteen minutes later, when her work shift ended.
She opened the door, stepped inside, and stopped when she saw them. Her body tensed. She was thin, thinner than before.
Her eyes stopped on Beorn. She scanned the rest of the room quickly, then addressed him.
"My lord."
"Tam. Come and sit down."
She checked her sister, likely for context or permission, then moved to sit on the edge of her bed with both hands folded in her lap.
"Pam," Beorn said. "Give us a few minutes, would you."
Pam set the thread aside. She looked at Tam.
Tam glanced down, then gave a small nod.
Pam took her coat from the hook and stepped out. Aestrith crossed the room and closed the door behind her.
Beorn lowered himself into a crouch. He adjusted his height so he would not be speaking down at Tam.
"First thing," he said. "Have you noticed anything weird lately? Something that looks like straight out of a tale."
Tam went completely rigid. She mused over her reply over several seconds.
"Sometimes," she said. She hesitated, then corrected for accuracy. "A few times."
"What kind of thing?"
She looked down at her hands, which were slightly trembling.
"Sewing pins. From my sister’s tin. If I hold it open, they move toward my hands."
A pause as she exhaled lightly.
"I started avoiding touching them."
"For how long?"
She considered the timeline.
"A few weeks? I wasn’t sure at first. I thought I might be imagining it."
Beorn was silent. He calmly considered his next words.
"The exhaustion," he said. "The way you have been feeling, sick. That is not an illness."
She looked up with a glint in her eyes. She figured that long ago, but didn’t have a better answer for it.
"Your body is doing something new," he continued.
He moved to the conclusion without softening it.
"You are Sinbound, Tam."
She shrieked, then blocked her lips with her hands. The emotions that went past her gaze were rejection, denial, fear, then finally resignation.
Beorn waited. The room was silent.
When she focused at him, her voice had cracked.
"I-I need to run away, and h-hide."
"You are going to be safe here," Beorn said. "While you are inside this building, under this roof. You don’t have to fear anything."
Her trembled gaze watched him, hope surrounded by suspicion.
He added nothing further, and simply patted her on the head while standing up.
Her hands tightened on the bedframe as confusion washed over her.
Beorn shifted his attention to Aestrith.
"You are better positioned than I am for the next part," he said. "Handle it."
Aestrith looked at him, then at Tam. She stopped to think what he wanted.
Aestrith exhaled slowly.
"I’m not a teacher," she said.
She moved to the table, selected a single sewing pin from the dish, and returned.
She pulled a chair over and sat directly in front of Tam. Then she extended her free hand.
"Give me yours."
Tam released one hand from the bedframe and held it out, palm up.
Aestrith placed the pin in her palm.
The pin pressed downward. There was no visible force behind it, but the pressure increased in a steady way.
The pin vibrated slightly against her skin.
Tam stared at it, then tried to tilt her hand.
The pin resisted, maintaining position as if pushed down from above by something unseen.
Aestrith released control. The pressure vanished.
The pin rested normally in Tam’s palm again.
Tam kept her focus on her hand.
"Y-You are also a-," she said.
"Yes," Aestrith answered.
"And I will be able to-"
"Not exactly. You have your own power."
Tam closed her fingers slowly around the pin. She watched the pressure, as if testing whether it would respond again.
"What now?" she asked.
Beorn looked to Aestrith. He paused briefly, trying to word it in a way that matched the situation.
"Help her with what comes next," he said. "Whatever works. Start from where she is."
Aestrith tilted her head at him.
"Bodyguard, engineer and now a teacher," she said.
"I will give you a raise if you want," he replied.
She turned away from him with a snort. She didn’t even quite had a salary. Her attention returned to Tam.
The girl sat with her fist closed around the pin, eyes lowered, confused and waiting for a direction.
Aestrith adjusted the chair closer. She extended both hands, palms up.
Tam opened her fist and placed her hand in Aestrith’s. The pin remained between them. Aestrith closed both hands around hers.
"Okay," she said, then began speaking in a low, steady voice.
Beorn stepped back to the far wall.
Across the room, framed by the strip of afternoon light, Aestrith spoke and Tam listened.
He did not interfere.