“Welcome back, that took less time than you expected.” As the group returned to Cliforge castle, they were greeted by Gerald who had seen them off earlier that morning. Since Nela had not come back in so long and the apparent avoidance of her father, Lani had assumed that it would take at least a day to convince her and then she would have to pack her belongings.

The return trip was a bit longer than it had been to go from the castle to the construction site, on account of the carriage Nela took. After all, Nela was among the majority of noble women who did not ride, and there were only so many people who could fit on Lani’s horse.

“Thankfully, I did not exactly bring many things for a long stay.” Lani jested, that decision had been somewhat purposeful. If she had brought enough for a longer stay at the construction site, then had Nela not been preparing to come back as she was, things could have dragged out even longer.

“And it seems that you chose being dragged to Mapjess over going there on your own, too.” Roan said. Gerald was sure that he could see a slight smile on the man, he did not know how but the journey was going to be an uncomfortable one for him.

“I was planning on going back today, I just did not expect you guys to return just after noon.” As he said that he got stared at by everyone but Lani, who did not know him well enough to have the same look.

“What? I truly was this time!” Gerald exclaimed, seeing how little trust people had in his words. Not that it changed the looks that any of them gave, in fact his defence made even Lani look suspiciously at him.

“Then go and get your horse before I make you ride with me, like Mireille is doing.” Roan just rolled his eyes when he saw the frantic look Gerald gave before running off to saddle up his horse.

“So when would he really have gone?” Lani asked curious about the unified attitude that everyone had towards Gerald's claims. It had to take a mighty reputation for even Mireille to hold the same expression as everyone else around her.

“He never planned to leave until we left in the first place.” Roan said with certainty, Gerald was the only person who beat Braydon when it came to a poor work ethic.

“Seriously?” Lani questioned in a mix of amazement and humour.

“He would have stayed here had Roan forgotten about it.” Mireille added, much to the surprise of Lani who had only seen her talk about things or people that took her interest. Everyone else had already somewhat gotten used to her disparaging comments about things she disdained, not that it stopped them from finding it funny.

“So are we heading off now?” It was at this point that Gerald returned, having just missed the critical attack on his character from Mireille. When everyone turned to look at him with the same looks as when he had left, Gerald became speechless. ‘Are they seriously still talking about that?’

“If you do not mind, I will stay here for a while longer. I am in the fortunate position of not having much to do, and now I have some teaching to do.” Lani said as she gestured towards the girl sitting in front of her. And it was true, being a woman, she was not expected to lead an army in normal times. Not to mention now that she had agreed to the King’s proposal of a more centralised command.

“I am sure that will be fine, I would be worried about looking after Mireille with all of the other nobles around.” Nela said. Normally she would not mind bringing Mireille to Mapjess and letting the servants stay with her if she needed to do something else. But Mireille was a beautiful young woman, and while on the young side, she was definitely of marriageable age. And given her connection to both Braydon and herself, Nela did not doubt that there would be a number of barons that tried to court her. It might be uncommon for noble women to marry common men but noble men marrying common women was far more common. She did not want to deal with that hassle.

“Then it is sorted, I will make sure to take good care of her as she learns. Though there might be one or two minor incidents, I can assure you that there will be nothing of note.” Lani knew what Nela was going to ask about next, and assured her before she could ask. If she cared enough to protect her from the courting of the barons then she would definitely care about Mireille’s safety as she learnt to ride.

“Then I am assured.” Nela smiled thankfully at Lani’s assurance.

“Go and make up!” Seeing that she had become the subject of the conversation, Mireille decided to jump in and tell Nela to get on with it. She was somewhat conflicted that she could not come along, but that had been offset by the fact that she would get to learn to ride. Instead, she was more concerned about Nela going back to normal as soon as possible, lest she forget about her for weeks on end once again.

“Errr, yes I do not want to leave this any longer than it has to be either. Oh, and if Steven does not have much to do, I am guessing that Braydon would not mind his assistance. Send him our way if he is free.” Nela found it hard to come up with something to say to Mireille’s bluntness. It was entirely a problem of her own making and it was having an effect on other people. Hence her change of topic, to something that she didn’t feel awkward about.

Given that Braydon had not come personally to see what was wrong, she could tell that he was truly busy. Had he the slightest leeway, he would have come along with Lani. And since there was not much going on at the castle, Nela remembered that Braydon had not taken Steven with him to the north, giving Steven a holiday of sorts. One that would have to come to an end as Braydon was becoming increasingly busy.