In Which Nora Meets a Certain Standard of Honesty

July 2, 1184

Falidor had not lied. There was a girl waiting in the front room, a girl surely no older than ten or eleven, dressed in boys' mail and wanting a word with Nora's husband. But Severin was in the royal shire, putting a stop to some royal bullshit Ietrin wanted to pull, so the task of dealing with her had been left to Nora herself.

It would be easier once she had a chance to get a read of the kid. "Can I help you?"

"My lady." The girl practically leaped from the couch, grinning. Unsure, Nora tilted her head a couple degrees; usually, any business lone children came to present was bound to be unpleasant, but this child seemed much too eager to be here for that. "I heard that Lord Severin is in need of a new squire?"

That explained the armor. "That is true, yes." Interesting. Nora took a few seconds to look the girl over again. Her mail and leathers were of good quality, comparable to what the local knights and noblemen wore on excursions, but she wasn't a recognizable face--and she lacked the look of any Dovian family Nora knew. Carvallon, perhaps? No, there would have been a hint of an accent. "What is your name?"

"Ah, sorry." The girl raised her arm and rubbed at the back of her neck, like many did when they were embarrassed, but any reservation was short-lived. She didn't even show a hint of a blush. "I'm Renata Mokonri. You've met my grandmother and my father, I think."

"Renata Sadiel and Abrich Mokonri?" A nod. So Renata must have been a child of Abrich's second wife, the French noblewoman. If she took after her mother, then that explained the lack of resemblance to the rest of the Dovian families. "Yes, I see your grandmother quite often, and your father and I have met." And while Abrich had never struck her as too narrow-minded, she struggled to see him allowing his young daughter to pursue a post as a squire. "Um. Does he know that you're here?"

"He should by now. I did leave a note." She shrugged, as if she failed to see why it mattered beyond common courtesy. "Anyway, I was never allowed to be a page, but I've been training with them ever since I could hold a wooden practice sword, and I'm really good. I'm also a decent shot, and while I'm not the best rider you'll ever meet, I can hold my own in a race. I've even jousted a couple times, though my mother would have an apoplexy if she knew."

A ten-year-old jousting? What mother wouldn't? But Nora thought she could guess the other issue there. "She probably would have preferred you working on your embroidery?"

Not without a certain force, Renata laughed. "Even embroidery is too exciting as far as my mother is concerned. How could she live with herself if I was poked with a needle?"

"Ah, yes. I've come across the type." Though for good measure, she allowed herself another study of the girl. Renata was tall for her age, and she did look to have some muscle on her. Scrawnier boys had been sufficient squires. Ietrin would be pissed, of course, but no one cared and it wasn't his decision besides. Abrich and Odette might not approve, but if the elder Renata had no objections as the nearest relative in the country, perhaps there was no harm in giving her a chance before her father showed up looking for her. "Well, you'll have to speak with my husband when he returns, but I can't see him objecting."

"That's what I was told." Renata smiled--and this time, there was no conscious effort behind it. "Thank you, my lady."

"Please, call me Nora." She nudged a few strands of hair behind her ear before getting to the other half of what she'd just heard. "By the way, who is it who told--?"

"Renata? Oh my God, you actually came!"

A blue-clad blur bounded from the door and sprang upon the newcomer with a friendly embrace. Though her eyes widened, Renata didn't seem to mind too much. "You must be CeeCee."

"In the flesh." A pat to the apparent contact's back later and the pair of them broke apart. That answered that. "Mother, this is Renata. Remember? The baroness thought we might enjoy corresponding?"

"Well, now I do." And if Severin wouldn't have taken Renata on before, surely he had to now. CeeCee was by no means a shy girl, but she nonetheless struggled to find common ground with her peers. It would be good for her to have a friend who wasn't the much older Farilon, especially now that Lorn and Ovrean were hinting about a betrothal there--never mind that CeeCee was probably still a few years shy of a first course, much less marriage.

"CeeCee, your mother agrees that your father will probably consider me. Isn't that great?"

"It is, though you'll learn soon enough to trust my word on its own. I'm not much of a liar, am I, Mother?"

Nora shook her head, though she doubted that was so much due to lack of talent as it was to sheer lack of bother. "Indeed, sometimes, my daughter could stand to be a little less honest."

CeeCee smirked. Of course she'd take that as a compliment. "But the important thing is that you're here, and you'll get a fair shot--and now that you know my mother agrees, that's got to be even more reassuring. Father will absolutely let you squire for him."

Renata looked to Nora again, a hopeful gleam in her eye. Nora nodded. It wasn't up to CeeCee's standard of honesty, but a simple 'yes' answer was not a lie. Severin--CeeCee's father--would absolutely let Renata squire for him.

She didn't have the heart to point out that Renata's own father might be a different story.

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