Liadan pressed against Aron, feeling comforted by his closeness. But she was still worried about her daughter.

"Sileas, where is Yehudit?"

"She's in my room, she refused to attend. I implored her, I wanted her to come."

Liadan gave Aron a worried look. Yehudit refusing to go to her best friend's dinner was totally unlike her. Something was terribly wrong. She squeezed Aron's hand.

Aron slipped his arm around her.

"Aron, please, talk to her. She won't talk to me." Liadan pleaded.

"I can try. You'll be all right alone here?"

"Most of my family is here, I won't be alone." Liadan kissed Aron's cheek. Liadan wanted to go get Yehudit herself, but her daughter had been shutting her out.

"All right. I'll see what I can do, or find out."

"Thank you." Liadan said softly. She squeezed Aron's hand, then let him go.

Aron gave her a quick kiss and left the hall, heading for the dormitories.

Wulfsen wondered if he should try braving another kiss with Sileas.

Sileas snuggled against him.

"Lia? Why don't you ask Sileas about what's bothering Yehudit?" Shawn said quietly.

"Sileas, what did Bai do to my daughter?" Liadan asked instead.

"What? Bai did nothing to Yehudit," Sileas replied. "Honestly and truly."

"She hasn't acted normal ever since he showed up out of nowhere." Liadan said.

"That's not Bai's fault. He and I were discussing the raid and Pinja, and he mentioned something that I realized was the cause of Yehudit's rages. Wulfsen was getting ready to go after Aalyssa and I was trying to convince him to stay, because I needed support, while we tried to find a way to end the rages." Sileas's eyes teared up. "She overheard us talking, even though we had gone to an unused tower to talk, and she decided to exile herself to my room," Sileas admitted.

Liadan's eyes blazed. "What were you talking about?"

"Do you really want to discuss this in a public place?"

Liadan bristled. "Then let's go someplace else. Now."

Sileas glared at her father. "Fine. I'll be back shortly," she promised Wulfsen and left the hall, heading for the garden.

Liadan followed Sileas.

Sileas returned to hall, trying her best to hide how shaken she was. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life, and somehow, it was going to be. She took a deep breath, her gaze darting around for a place to hide and gather herself.

Wulfsen smiled when he saw Sileas return, but it slipped when he saw her expression. He hurried over.

"Mrs Buckley did not take the news well?" Wulfsen asked.

"She said it's all lies. She doesn't want Bai near Yehudit, she doesn't believe she needs any help." Sileas pressed her face against his chest. "I would like to have a guard when I'm not with you. I intend on keeping my babe safe. I'm not adverse to Oscar spending time with the men training, at least he'd be safe with them." Sileas wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly.