'Oh?' Diona said, her tone inviting further elaboration.
'It was a given that Keth and I would go after the kidnappers -- there was never any question of that,' Tarma told them. 'But the only reason we brought Jadrie along was because she'd sworn a sisterhood-oath with your two -- it's a Shin'a'in thing, a serious oath, and it meant that if she didn't help, she'd be forsworn. Keth and I were both fit to be tied.'
'I can imagine,' Diona said with sympathy. 'There was never any question of you forcing her to that, of course.' She made it a statement, and Tarma felt her own bit of relief that the lady understood what was involved; she'd known Tilden would, but not necessarily his wife.
'Not a chance. Mind you, we were initially afraid that all she thought was that it would be a big adventure and hadn't any notion how serious a situation it was -- and I think there was some of that there, at least until we got to the place where the ambush was sprung. But she didn't have to tell us about the oath; all she would have had to do was keep quiet about it and no one would have known. Certainly your girls had no idea how serious it was.' Tarma paused, and rubbed her eyebrow with a knuckle. 'But it's occurred to me that the first thing I've learned from her is that we're bringing the younglings up right. They take their responsibilities as seriously as we could want.'
Kethry nodded emphatically. 'I'll admit I was furious that she'd sworn that kind of an oath without asking permission -- I thought that she had no right to do so without asking me first -- and that if she'd asked, I would have told her she was too young to do so, too young to know what she was doing. And there might very well have been a grain of truth to that, but the point is that when she did know what she was in for, she didn't try to back out. And as for being too young -- well, Tarma and I weren't that much older when we swore oaths that were just as serious, mine to White Winds as a novice, and hers to her Clan.' She sighed. 'I think I've just had a mother's hardest lesson brought home -- no matter how young I think they are, they're older than I believe, and they aren't going to do anything except keep getting older. And sooner than I think they're ready, they're going to need to make their own lives.'
Diona winced. 'I learned that one when Meri announced that she was going to marry her Prince and that it was a lifebond and no one was going to stop her. Granted, that all might very well have been a children's fantasy -- but it wasn't. There are times when they deserve to be taken seriously.'
'When they themselves are serious, yes, they do,' Tarma agreed. 'And that's what we all have to watch for, and not just dismiss it out of hand because we don't think they're old enough to understand a serious situation.'
'And when they make a serious decision and want to stand by it, it is our duty to them to help them do so,' Jadrek added softly, a gentle smile on his lips. 'I must tell you that I am very proud of my firstborn. I don't care if no one ever writes a song about her, or tells a tale about her -- but I do care that she is already honorable and responsible, and I have no fear that she will ever be less so.'
Tarma picked up her mug of mulled ale and raised it in a salute. 'Here's to them and to us, then. And may we as parents remember this the next time somebody breaks a window and needs a tanning!'
'Here here!' Tilden seconded, as they all joined her in the toast and the laughter.
