She took it and turned to the trainer. “Do you think this is a game?”
The other woman was taken aback. “A game? No, of course not!”
“Then why weren’t you showing him the right way?”
“I thought I was. I was letting him make his mistakes and then showing him—"
“After you put a few bruises on him first? Because you didn’t do it right?” She lifted the practice sword. “Let me show you how to do it correctly.”
The trainer grinned and saluted her, lifting her own weapon. Shireen shook her head. The young woman was full of bravado and false confidence.
Moments later, Shireen was standing over her, the trainer rubbing her shoulder in the same spot the young man had.
“Should I tell you your mistake now? Or would you like me to let you keep making it?”
“No, ma’am.” The young woman’s voice held a new tone of respect.
Shireen reached down and helped her to her feet. “Were you there?” It was a common question these days, and one that needed no further explanation.
The trainer shook her head. “No. Lawrence was my commander. He said I wasn’t ready yet.”
“That explains a lot,” Shireen replied. “We need soldiers, and we need them quickly. Not people interested in playing around, or in hurting others to make themselves feel good. Are you either one of those?”
“No, ma’am!” The young woman drew herself up.
“I didn’t think so. Train him well. And if you’re not sure, ask someone who’s been around longer. We all need to work together right now. Got it?”
“Got it. Sorry.”
Shireen nodded once, handed the practice sword back to the young man and returned to where Orlando stood watching, the amusement written plainly on his face.
“You half did that for fun, didn’t you?” he said quietly when she was next to him again.
“No. Well, maybe a little.”
She would have reached out for his hand, but it wouldn’t have been fitting here and now, so she stayed next to him, taking comfort from his presence, and watched over the sparring.
♦ ♦ ♦
Later, when she felt compelled to return to her office, she found very few items waiting for her on her desk. That had become the new normal, ever since Samuel turned up.
She went back to the outer office where her aide sat and looked at his desk. There were more, a lot more, papers here, arranged in neat stacks. Samuel would take one from his left, examine it, write things down, and put it off to his right. He showed none of the stress that she felt when dealing with it all.
“How can you do that?” she asked.
Samuel glanced up at her, then returned his attention to his work.
“Do what?”
“That. Sit there at that desk all day and shuffle papers.” Shireen realized that her question came out sounding like an insult, which wasn’t how she meant it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.”
“It’s fine,” Samuel smiled. “I don’t know. I find peace in organizing things and watching the flow of how the House runs, helping it along. Lord Jediah said I had a gift for it.”
“He was right. You’ve only been here a couple of days and I don’t know what I’d do without you already. But you know you can take a break, right? Go outside, get some air?”
“Thank you, Lady Shireen. Believe me, I get my exercise. When I’m done here, I often walk the compound; occasionally I’ll go out among the trees at twilight. And I have to confess, I’m something of a birder.”
He looked up sheepishly as he said that, as if he had just confessed some shameful secret.
Shireen sat down. “You’re a what now?”
“A birder. You know, one who watches birds.”
“Oh, that. Why?”
“I like them. And I like to see how many different ones I can spot.”
She shifted in her chair. As much as she loved the Greenweald, she couldn’t understand taking your free time to walk around and look at birds.
Samuel noticed her discomfort and laughed. “It’s all right, Lady Shireen. Most Folk don’t quite get it. But it brings me peace as much as the work here does.”
“Eh, I don’t have to get it. If you enjoy it, you deserve to do it. You’ve certainly earned it with the work you’ve done here.”
Samuel smiled at her and she sat until the silence started to feel uncomfortable. “Well,” she said then, “I should get back to it. Orlando is coming in shortly. Just send him in.”
“Certainly.”
Huh. Birds, Shireen thought as she returned to her own office.
♦ ♦ ♦
She was reading over a request to promote a junior officer when Orlando entered. Shireen looked up, always glad to see him and for the excuse to do something other than paperwork for a few minutes.
“How’d the rest of the training go?” she asked as he fell into a chair.
“Good. Especially Gloria, the one you beat up. She had a real change in attitude. Before I left, she was working with three trainees, and they were all starting to get it.”
“Great. And I didn’t beat her up.”
“The one you taught a hard lesson to, then.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” she said.
“But I’m your pain. That’s why you wanted to see me.”
She stood and walked around the desk, taking the chair next to him. “Right on one account, wrong on the other. I’ve got a job for you, my pain.”
“Really?” Orlando straightened in his chair. “Sounds kind of ominous.”
“No, nothing like that. I need to send you out.”
“A scouting mission? I can do that, certainly, although it won’t be the same going without you. But why me? There are still plenty of good scouts you
