Lynn, as it turned out, would be sharing our meals from now on. I was told this was normal, but I'm rather doubtful. Could, maybe, just maybe, be something to do with how I've never seen mother and father's knights at the dinner table, or the tea table, or...

Honestly, I'm still feeling a bit silly that I hadn't even realised we had knights. I can almost feel Liz smirking, somewhere out there. Somewhere. Likely, in a few days, she'd be smirking in person.

But hey, the sun was shining, things felt safer again, and Lynn... Was surreptiously swapping things I liked for things I didn't. And, equally surreptiously, fending off my attempts to get them back.

Look, just because I don't like things, doesn't mean I hate them. I just... Eat them because it's healthy to, alright?

Eh, I'll have a talk later, I'm more concerned with mother and father's worried gazes. It's been like this all morning, and it needs to stop.

"Mama, Papa, please, I'm doing alright. I'll be staying as safe as I can from now on, and I'm sure I'll be able to take lessons again in a day or two." Mother still looked worried, and I was half afraid she was going to hurry around the table and try to choke me in her cleavage, but father was already holding her hand.

It's nice to have parents who know each other well, isn't it?

"Letty, you're a strong girl, and you make me proud. But it'd be okay to take a break for longer if you think you need it." Father smiled "I remember, when I was laid up from a bad fall, I managed to get out of schooling for a few extra days." I smiled, but he was still looking concerned. "You've been through something quite unforgivable, and we've already started putting up posters and sending the knights on extra patrols." He clenches his other fist, and the concerning way his knife is creaking reminds me how strong he is. "Threatening to string up my daughter in such a shameful... I'm going to..."

He mutters like this for a bit, lost in fantasies of dire vengeance, and I nod. Can't say I blame him. If I meet them in later life, I'll be prepared, I just know I will, and if father doesn't get to them first...

A hand on my shoulder shakes me out of my own dire musings, and Lynn speaks for the first time since we've met.

"Ummm... I'll hold them down for you."

I laugh, and the tension at the table is broken. Lynn gives me a small smile, and I warm up a little to them.

I'm not going to treat her any differently because she's one of the Seven. As much as I'm shaken by that dream last night, I'm going to do my best not to let it affect me. I'm just going to...

...What am I going to do? It's not like there's a one size fits all solution, and it's not like I'm not going to like any of them, even if I feel aggrieved that I've basically been marriage interviewed before I was even born... And for some goddess' idea of harem fiction, at that... Take Lynn, for example. Am I going to be deliberately mean? No! But the very fact that I know she's someone who was pushed in my path is going to affect how I treat her even if I resolve not to, like I'm thinking about right now, and-

"...Are you okay? Do you want some of my sausage? I still have some le-" I almost hold my hand up to Lynn, but manage to stop myself. Instead, I smile, and look at her.

"No no, I'm just thinking... Mama probably told you this, but I've been wanting to learn the sword for a while now, and I was wondering when we could start." Lynn's eyes widened, but I forged onward "It's all very well if you hold them down for me, Lynn, but if I don't know how to hit them, neither of us are going to feel very satisfied, are we?"

At first, Lynn looks at mother and father, then at me, and she seems torn. But father, seeing my face, comes to the rescue.

"There's no harm in helping her with physical training for now. A good jog, practice swings, it would help Letty distract herself from recent events." Mother just nods, although, I notice, her hand's being held pretty firmly by father.

I'll make it up to you later, mother. I'll give you some nice big hugs, and drink tea together. In fact...

"Mama, afterwards, I can share the cake I brought with you and Lynn! Papa said he didn't want any, so... All the more for us!"

Mother's hand relaxes, and father winks, holding his thumb up a little. I love her a lot, and so does father, but we have a tacit agreement that we're weaning her off the hugs. Well, the choking kind, anyway. We never verbally agreed that, but father's understanding in a different way to mother.

The rest of the dinner passes by in the more comfortable sort of quiet.

Father's right, although he wasn't referring to what I'm referring to.

I don't have to get myself worked up over this. I can be annoyed. I can be wary. I can be curious.

But overthinking this isn't going to do anything useful, and certainly won't make me any friends.

Of which, I sadly admit, I need more.