At the house, he got his youngest sisters to unlock and open the kitchen door for him to carry in the woman.

“Blush, have someone go help Heria saddle up one of the horses. Have them stable the red mare, but don’t take time to unsaddle it or anything. Kettie, lock the door behind them, and stay here to let them back in. We didn’t see any raiders, but they might still be close by.”

Out of spite, he carried the soldier up to the middle sisters’ room, to put her in Corelle’s bed.

Chaperoned by a dozen curious children, he stripped off the woman’s wet clothing.

“Emma and Celain,” Jerin said to the ten-year-olds, oldest of the girls around him, “bring up tea and whatever sugar biscuits are left over from yesterday. You will have some when you get back, so please, don’t eat any beforehand. Ask Kettie to help you while you’re down there. Have Blush or Leia carry up the teapot when the water is hot.”

So it became a tea party after he dried the soldier’s hair, bandaged two of the wounds that bled still, and slipped one of Corelle’s sleeping shirts on her. She opened her eyes from time to time, to watch him groggily, still apparently unable to move. When the tea arrived, he made hers heavy with honey and cream, coaxing the warm drink into her. His baby sisters gathered around the bed, wide-eyed, sipping tea and munching on sugar biscuits, watching every move the soldier made.

“Jerin! Jerin! Corelle and the others are home!”

Somehow his middle sisters had missed the soldier’s horse in the barn. They didn’t notice that the youngest weren’t out to play. They hadn’t seen that the windows were shuttered and the doors were locked. They couldn’t have-because they strolled lazily across the barnyard toward the kitchen door, arguing again about Balin Brindle and whether to take him as a husband or not.

Neither family had the cash to buy a husband; both could afford a husband only by selling or swapping their brothers. Where the Whistler family had the wealth of four sons, Balin Brindle was an only boy. If Jerin’s sisters took Balin as a husband, Jerin would most likely marry the Brindle sisters as payment.