The Crossroads Winter

The crossroads on the open moor charges the road nothing. A long table always laid, a candle that never goes out, a place set for every traveller the four roads send. That is the whole worth of the house, and Wren has kept it so for fifteen years.

One hard autumn, the Guild of Roads proposes to make the junction official: a licensed waypoint, a scheduled service, a levy on the house. Wren fights to keep her table open to all, and runs herself into the ground doing it. Then Cade, a wagon-driver who has been coming back through since spring, lets the season's biggest haul go so he can stay and help. And the keeper who sets a place for everyone has no idea how to be looked after herself.

A warm, quietly moving cozy fantasy about worth, being kept, and a light that has never had a price.