Tarma laughed, and slapped him on the back. “You show a fine grasp of diplomacy in your old age,” she told him. “And since the manners and morals of the nobility often resemble those of children, I predict you are going to go far in your political career. Let's go off to somewhere where we can talk without having to scream at each other. We can leave Warrl in charge of maintaining a pretense of order and let them sort out which animal belongs to who by themselves.”
Tilden's chief Midwinter presents to all of the children consisted of one Brindle Mastiff puppy and one Arborn Hunting Cat kitten for each child old enough to appreciate and care for their pets. With sound judgement, he had left the animals in the nursery and brought in the children, but had not parceled out particular animals for each. Hunting Cats and Mastiffs were about the same size and strength, were often kenneled and trained together and would be perfectly happy paired up together.
“Good idea,” seconded Jadrek, who winced as a particularly piercing shriek split the air.
The adults returned to Kethry's solar, which was just large enough to seat all of them without anyone feeling crowded rather than cozy. The furniture was of good quality, but with the touch of shabby comfort about it that furnishings often acquire in a house where there are many well-loved children. Tilden looked around and noddedâwith satisfaction, Tarma thought.
“You know,” said the Archduke, when they were all settledâand in some cases, sprawledâcomfortably in front of the fire, “this has been such a pleasant Midwinter, I'm tempted to ask you to invite us again next year.”
“In spite of the circumstances?” Tarma asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
“Absolutely.” Tilden nodded his handsome head, and his wife gave silent agreement. “The twins have no real friends at home, and to be brutally frank, I dread Midwinter Courtâit's when every social-climber and bore in the Kingdom shows up to rub elbows with the great and the pretenders, then goes home to drop names to impress his provincial friends. I'd be just as happy to have an excuse to come here instead of bringing the twins home for the holidays every year. It wouldn't be any more difficult to get up a caravan for us to come here. Easier, in some waysâmy guards would only be making one round trip instead of two.”
Unspoken was the clear and obvious fact that no one in his right mind, however bold and fanatic, would attack the Archduke and his retinue. Not with Tilden's reputation as a warrior.
“Tilden!” his wife laughed. “How can you say that about our worthy peers?”
“Our worthy peers are so preoccupied with sucking up to the King that he could set them on fire and they'd thank him for the honor,” Tilden replied brutally. “And I'm glad to be among friends with whom I can speak my mind for a change, instead of mouthing polite idiocy and trying not to feel as if I ought to be scraping them off my boots.” He turned to Tarma, and she shrugged.
“Don't look at me,” she declared. “I'm just a barbarian nomad with no sense of rank or decorum, remember? You can keep your Courts; I don't want any part of them.”
“You're well out of it, and I wish I'd had your sense and declined the damned title,” Tilden grumbled, yet with a smile. “You have no idea what those of us who actually do some work have to put up with from the drones. Listen to this, will youâ”
She sat back and enjoyed Tilden's witty, acerbic commentary on the current crop of Rethwellan nobility, as his wife added sweetly pointed asides and Jadrek commented on the lineage (or lack of it) where each was concerned. It was wonderful to have Tilden and his family here; she'd forgotten how much she enjoyed his sharp tongue and razor wit. And of course, Jadrie was thrilled, for she not only had her best friends here for the holiday, but she had a new friend in the shape of Tilden's eldest daughter Arboli. However scholarly Arboli might be, she was also the daughter of a bodyguard and a Horsemasterâshe rode like a Shinâa'in and could hold her own in rough games and contests. She couldn't match even Kira in swordwork, but she was wickedly accurate with a snowball and was endlessly inventive in coming up with new amusements to act out.
As for Kethry's twins, they were overjoyed at having a whole new set of playmates, even if those playmates were girls. Even the two youngest played happily togetherâinsofar as any two strange toddlers could play together. At least it was with a minimum of squabbles.
There was never any question of Kira and Meri going back to their father after their ordealâthey were still sick from the effects of cold, fear, and the seeds they'd eaten, and the new Healer in the village insisted they remain in bed at the school so that she could make certain there would be no lasting effects from their experience. They ate as if they were hollow, and slept when they weren't eating, for three days straight.
Meanwhile Kethry had gotten messages to their father telling him what had happened. While the twins were recovering, Tilden had made his excuses to the King, packed up the entire family, and headed at top speed for the school, with the baggage train following at an easier pace. And when he and his retinue appeared on the doorstep, Tarma wasn't at all surprised to see them. She'd expected him to do exactly thatâand if he had been hesitant, his wife Diona would have overcome that hesitation.
The first day was spent with Tilden and Diona closeted with the twins, not even coming out for meals. The other children circled each other like wary dogs for half a day, then made up their minds to be friends and went out for snowfights. When Tilden and Diona emerged, they didn't say anything, but they spent part of the second day closeted with Kethry, then joined the rest of the company and acted as if they had come here only for the pure pleasure of the trip.
Today was Midwinter Day, and with it the start of three days of gift-giving and feasting, which thus far had managed to keep everyone off of serious subjects. The one surprise Tilden
had
managed to pull off was the magical production of the litter of kittens and puppies. Tarma
still
had no idea how he'd managed to keep their existence a secret.
Then again, in a baggage-train the size an Archduke has, I suppose you could probably keep just about anything secret for a few days.
Still, the one subject that had not been broached was the kidnapping, and Tarma was waiting. They were just about due for it now.
The same thing seemed to occur to everyone else in the room at about the same moment, for an awkward silence fell, and Tilden cleared his throat carefully.
“I want to thank you,” he began, a bit stiffly, as if he wasn't quite sure what to say. “Although thanks is inadequateâ”
“Tildenâ” Kethry began, but he hushed her rather fiercely.
“
I
made mistakes. I knew about the fanatics and I didn't take them seriously. I certainly never thought they would dare to strike inside the borders of Rethwellan! I sent green untrained men instead of experienced men, and I gave them the impression that this would be more of an excursion than a serious duty.” He shook his head. “Those were all my mistakes, and if it hadn't been for your quick thinking and quick actionâwell, I don't know what would have happened, but I can't imagine anything good coming out of this disaster.”
“The twins are as much responsible for their rescue as we are,” Tarma pointed out.
“They
were the ones who thought of slowing down their kidnappers, and they were the ones who laid a clear trail for us to follow.”
“Because they were well taught,” Tilden insisted. “Because of that, they didn't panic, and they didn't assume they were helpless because they were children in the hands of adults. You taught them to think that way.”
“You can't teach that,” Kethry replied. “That's something a child learns from the way she is treated, and it begins in infancy. No, Tilden, be as grateful to your own sense in raising and teaching your girls as you are to us.”
“Have you informed Sursha about this yet?” Jadrek asked shrewdly. “I know Kethry has sent off a report to the King, and I expect that you have as well.”
“I was waiting to talk to the girls and get Kethry's description of the leader before I sent word to Sursha,” Tilden replied grimly. “I think now that this should be delivered by someone I can trust completely, but I don't quite know whoâ”
“How about me?” Ikan offered. “I know my way around down there; I could go and be back again before spring thaw. Sooner, with a change of horses. Justin and Tarma can handle the boys without me for that long.”
Tarma laughed. “I might accuse you of trying to get out of some hard work if I didn't already know how miserable winter is in Jkatha; you're going to be in for a cold, soppy ride. Of course we can spare you; this is too important to be left to an ordinary messenger.”
Tilden sighed with relief. “Thank you, and now I'm further in your debt. I suppose I'll have to put up the money to build a dormitory for the school or something of the like.”
“Actuallyâ” Kethry got a thoughtful look on her face. “Why don't you hunt up some mage-gifted children from impoverished families and sponsor them here? There's a limit to the number of charity students a school can afford, even ours.”
Diona's eyes brightened, and Tilden nodded decisively. “Good plan, I'll see to it.” His face clouded a little. “I have a real concern though, about these fanatics. Are there more of them? Would they consider coming
here,
do you think?”
Tarma looked to Kethry, who shook her head. “Not as far as my sources have been able to discover,” she told him. “And believe me, I have been very, very thorough. I intend to fortify the warning systems I've put in place as well; right now nothing larger than a sheep can get onto our property without my knowing it, and when I'm done, nothing larger than a rabbit will.”
Tilden relaxed, and his wife patted his hand. “I told you,” she said in a whisper that was audible to Tarma, at least. Tarma repressed a smile.
“I have to admit that I've learned a lesson or two from this myself,” Tarma said slowly, and traded glances with Kethry and Jadrek. “And maybe not the ones you're thinking.”
“Oh?” Diona said, her tone inviting further elaboration.
“It was a given that Keth and I would go after the kidnappersâthere was never any question of that,” Tarma told them. “But the only reason we brought Jadrie along was because she'd sworn a sisterhood-oath with your twoâit's a Shinâa'in thing, a serious oath, and it meant that if she didn't help, she'd be forsworn. Keth and I were both fit to be tied.”
“I can imagine,” Diona said with sympathy. “There was never any question of you forcing her to that, of course.” She made it a statement, and Tarma felt her own bit of relief that the lady understood what was involved; she'd known Tilden would, but not necessarily his wife.
“Not a chance. Mind you, we were initially afraid that all she thought was that it would be a big adventure and hadn't any notion how serious a situation it wasâand I think there was some of that there, at least until we got to the place where the ambush was sprung. But she didn't have to tell us about the oath; all she would have had to do was keep quiet about it and no one would have known. Certainly your girls had no idea how serious it was.” Tarma paused, and rubbed her eyebrow with a knuckle. “But it's occurred to me that the first thing I've learned from her is that we're bringing the younglings up right. They take their responsibilities as seriously as we could want.”
Kethry nodded emphatically. “I'll admit I was furious that she'd sworn that kind of an oath without asking permissionâ
I
thought that she had no right to do so without asking me firstâand that if she'd asked, I would have told her she was too young to do so, too young to know what she was doing. And there might very well have been a grain of truth to that, but the point is that when she
did
know what she was in for, she didn't try to back out. And as for being too youngâwell, Tarma and I weren't
that
much older when we swore oaths that were just as serious, mine to White Winds as a novice, and hers to her Clan.” She sighed. “I think I've just had a mother's hardest lesson brought homeâno matter how young I
think
they are, they're older than I believe, and they aren't going to do anything
except
keep getting older. And sooner than I think they're ready, they're going to need to make their own lives.”
Diona winced. “I learned that one when Meri announced that she was going to marry her Prince and that it was a lifebond and no one was going to stop her. Granted, that all might very well have been a children's fantasyâbut it wasn't. There are times when they deserve to be taken seriously.”
“When they themselves are serious, yes, they do,” Tarma agreed. “And that's what we all have to watch for, and not just dismiss it out of hand because we don't think they're old enough to understand a serious situation.”
“And when they make a serious decision and want to stand by it, it is our duty to them to help them do so,” Jadrek added softly, a gentle smile on his lips. “I must tell you that I am very proud of my firstborn. I don't care if no one ever writes a song about her, or tells a tale about herâbut I
do
care that she is already honorable and responsible, and I have no fear that she will ever be less so.”
Tarma picked up her mug of mulled ale and raised it in a salute. “Here's to them and to us, then. And may we as parents remember this the next time somebody breaks a window and needs a tanning!”
“Here here!” Tilden seconded, as they all joined her in the toast and the laughter.