Sileas closed her eyes, hiding the tears that were forming. "Right now, I want everyone to leave me alone. I'm going to my room. Do. Not. Follow. Me." She turned on her heel and fled the bailey.

That never worked. Yehudit hobbled after Sileas.

Sileas heard the distinctive sound of Yehudit's walking stick striking the stone floor. She took off at a run, leaving Yehudit far behind her. She ducked outside and barred the door from the outside.

Yehudit's bad ankle was killing her and she could not keep up.

"Sileas!"

"We're there," Xavier replied, pointing out the obvious.

Yehudit flopped off the horse and on top of Xavier.

Not expecting it, Xavier toppled over. Ever the gentleman, he made certain Yehudit landed on top.

Yehudit sat on Xavier's throat. "You're not very good at catching people."

"Two seconds. You needed to wait two seconds for me to get you off safely," Xavier gasped it out.

"You waste a lot of time too." Yehudit rolled off of Xavier and unsteadily stood up, leaning on her stick. Her ankle throbbed.

"If you're all right from here, I'll go back out to look for Sileas."

"I can crawl to the hall from here." Yehudit said bravely.

"All right. I'll find her." DeVale swung himself up on Warrior and rode off.

"I was thinking that Pinja would feel safer if she knew how to defend herself... You should learn how to defend yourself too." Lek said. "I'm going to be going away with Wulfsen, and I'll probably be traveling with him a lot so I won't be around to protect her or you... what little protection I can offer." Lek patted his sword hilt which was more for show than for fighting with, he still had a lot of training to do.

"I wouldn't mind learning to defend myself," Millie admitted. "Difyr had mentioned that Sileas would be traveling with Wulfsen a lot, and someone would need to travel with her for clothing repair and the like, and she possibly could choose me to be her seamstress. Which would mean I would be traveling as well. And anything can happen out on the roads."

Lek nodded. "Pinja is probably too weak now, but you should find someone to teach you right away... Pinja would probably be more comfortable being taught by a woman."

"Oh, I know she would. Maybe Sileas when she returns from her honeymoon." Then her shoulder slumped. "I don't know of anyone to ask. Uncle Shawn is busy setting up the farm, and Papa and Uncle Aron wouldn't know any more than we do about defense."

"There are knights staying behind.... And maybe Aunt Lia." Lek said. "She grew up on the streets, she must have known how to defend herself to survive before she got to Buckley Village."

"But I don't know any of them, I wouldn't feel comfortable asking. I've never even been to the training area like the other girls in the keep."

Millie considered the other. "I don't know, I think Aunt Lia might frighten her."

"I'd rather Sileas taught Pinja... But you'r not afraid of Aunt Lia, are you?" Lek asked with a grin. "I know the knights, I usually train with Bruce, but he might get too rough." Lek thought of the colorful bruises hidden by his clothes.

"Not normally, no," Millie admitted. So much for her going to the training ground to watch Lek train. He obviously didn't want her there. "I suppose I can ask her."

"It might be good to train with the knights too." Lek said. "Anyone who attacks you will probably be bigger and stronger than Aunt Lia."

"Oooh, don't let her hear you say that," Millie giggled.

"I mean, I'm more worried about a man attacking you than I'm afraid of you being attacked by another woman." Lek said. "It would be better for you to practice fighting men... I don't know if Pinja would ever feel comfortable practice fighting a man."

"A woman could probably be stopped fairly easily with a pair of shears," Millie replied. "I suppose I could ask Uncle Shawn for an hour each day. Perhaps he'd be willing to give me that amount of time away from his work."