When the river learns your name, it keeps it.
Miller Anwen keeps her brother fed, the belts of the mill singing, and the flood where it belongs. The village's lifeline is the ferry bell—old iron on a tar-dark post—answered by a ferryman who arrives when called and charges a price no coin can cover: what the crossing spares you walking... and a story when you can bear to tell it.
A charming guild lord arrives with paper and polished chains to "improve" the channel, and a hired singer turns joy into a weapon. If the bell can be taught to ring for the wrong master, the river's seam will cut the village in two.
Standing at the post with a rope-burned hand is Marlen, the quiet keeper who teaches stone and current to behave by refusing to lie. Between them, Anwen and Marlen must outlast a storm, outwit a prettier bell, and protect a town that survives on chores, not miracles—while guarding the most dangerous thing Anwen could spend: her yes.
