### Longhouse Life, Hearth Warmth, and Indoor Craft

Midwinter brought the season's deepest frost across the sound, but Saltmere’s domestic life remained secure and healthy. Families remained consolidated within the primary longhouses, where hearth tenders practiced disciplined fuel conservation. Bundles of thin-split willow and alder laths, brought inside to dry and temper in the warm air beneath the roof rafters, were burned alongside core hardwood billets. This balance protected the settlement's hardwood reserves without filling the living quarters with acrid green smoke. Live embers were religiously banked each evening under deep blankets of fine ash, preserving coals until morning without consuming excess wood.

Working crews with wooden push-boards cleared accumulated snowdrifts from the longhouse thatch eaves following heavy snowfalls, preventing roof sagging and water damming during sunny spells, while roof vents were cleared of frost daily to maintain steady ventilation. Sava’s double-layered reed screens lashed over the doorways held out cutting drafts. To preserve indoor health and keep morale resolute through the short days, dried coastal herbs and pine needles were cast onto the evening coals to freshen the air. During the long evenings, families gathered for storytelling, gear mending, and craft. Sava’s weavers produced sturdy storage hampers and new eel creels to replace seasonal losses, while Nessa’s crew honed knives, adzes, and axes on whetstones, oiling them with rendered fish oil to prevent winter rust.

### Subsistence, Winter Foraging, and Springhead Care

Storehouse reserves were managed under Daro’s steady weekly schedule. Rations drew systematically from stored barley, dried peas, and salt-fish. In the sand clamps, weekly culls caught softening parsnips and turnips before rot could spread to sound roots; these culled tubers were channeled straight into the cooking pots for long-simmered, nourishing communal pottages that provided vital hydration and warmth.

Whenever sunny calms coincided with midday low water, foraging parties wearing Sava’s insulated reed-and-grass overshoes harvested fresh cockles and mussels in the exposed mud pools, strictly adhering to knee-depth safety limits. In the southern reed channels, Orin cracked surface ice with wooden mallets to inspect and empty the submerged wicker eel traps.

At the brine works, Fen kept constant watch over the western pan bank. The thick revetment of reed bundles and turf flaps insulated the clay core against frost heave, holding its shape without slumping or cracking through repeated freezes and brief thaws. Pan boiling remained dormant to safeguard domestic fuel, with the pans greased and concentrated brine safely barreled. At the freshwater spring, Fen used wooden clearing poles to keep the outflow runnel clear of ice and snowdrifts, preventing jams and ensuring unblocked potable water.

### Northern Creek Reconnaissance

On the first clear morning of midwinter, Evi and a companion traveled light along the shingle path under cover of the southern coastal dunes. Adhering strictly to council instructions, the scouts ignited no signals, did not hail, and made no attempt to cross the creek ice.

From their concealed vantage point on the dunes, they observed Keelstrand across the water. The neighboring settlement showed every sign of stable, undisturbed winter shelter: their fishing boats were hauled high and lashed on terrace skids, while dwellings smoked warmly with steady fires. Evi observed no signs of distress, hardship, or defensive hostility. Having confirmed that Keelstrand remains intact and sheltering safely by their hearths, the scouts withdrew unseen and returned safely to Saltmere before dusk.

### Visible Costs and Immediate Pressures

As midwinter draws toward its close, Saltmere faces several immediate conditions and decisions:

- **Finite Food Stocks:** While sand-clamp culls and pottages have prevented spoilage and kept the settlement nourished, Saltmere continues to draw down steadily on its stores of barley, dried peas, and salt-fish. Shallows foraging remains limited to brief, calm midday low tides.
- **Static Salt Reserves:** With boiling suspended to preserve firewood for household warmth, no new salt has been produced, meaning current reserves must be carefully managed between domestic preservation and future trade.
- **Preparations for the Thaw:** Keelstrand's boats are securely beached and their people indoors, confirming that their earlier absence at Marker Beach was routine winter caution rather than hostility. With formal barter postponed until the early spring thaw, decisions will soon be required on when to prepare barter goods and how to re-establish contact at Marker Beach once the creek and sound begin to open.