True Holders

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 29th April 2008

Characters: Kelton, Dena
Description: Kelton needs to unburden himself
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 9, day 1 of Turn 4

The cot door latched behind him before the weight of the day settled across Captain Kelton's shoulders like a heavy, wet fleece. He sagged beneath it as he undid his muddy boots and carefully left them on the iron stand by the door. "Dena?"

She was there before her name had passed his lips, and the small woman stood on tip-toe to kiss her husband a gentle hello. "I heard what happened."

"Three men, Dena. _Three_. Shards..." He embraced her and buried his nose in her hair. She smelled like sweet hay and rising bread, like comfort and home. "I don't know what went wrong. Nobody was supposed to die."

Dena stood quietly with her arms wrapped around her husband's waist, listening to his heart. They stood like that for a few moments longer before she gently disentangled herself and took his hands in her work-roughed ones. Kelton looked exhausted, she thought. He had too many worries for one man. "Come into the kitchen. I've made klah."

"Is Denton still awake?" Kelton asked hopefully.

Dena shook her head as she led her husband into the kitchen. "No, and don't you go waking him up, either!"

The Guard Captain smiled. "I promise." He sat at the scarred wooden table in the corner and watched as Dena pulled the kettle from the fire and carefully poured some of the hot liquid within into a mug. The firelight danced on the edges of her skirt and burnished her skin to a ruddy bronze. It hid the silver in her hair and the scar on her neck where she'd been bitten by a herdbeast as a child, and it returned lost years to a frame that had borne him two children to date. He didn't know if he could ever love her as much as he did that moment, watching her with that kettle in their kitchen. Dena put the mug down on the table in front of him after she'd returned the kettle to the fire, and she sat down across from him at the table. Her eyes asked questions that he didn't want to answer, but like Mirahad, he couldn't deny. "There were three men who died."

"Shells... how?" Dena asked sharply. "Nothing should have gone wrong; the plan was failproof. _Is_ failproof."

"I know. I _know_! And I wish I knew... they must have fought back harder than we'd anticipated, or the men we hired..." He wished they'd never hired any travellers at all. It had been a difficult task to begin with, finding someone who'd admit to being criminal to a guard, but there were those who would do anything for a few extra marks. Men without a Hold to take pride in or a family to protect, who had nothing to lose... Kelton reached across the table to take Dena's hands. "But they're dead, and I can't turn back time to change the facts. I wish they weren't, but..."

"But they are. They're all from Amethyst Cliff?" Kelton nodded, and Dena smiled grimly. "Then there is less to worry over, love. Sometimes you need to fight to hold onto what is precious, and fighting for our Hold... there is no reason for you to feel guilty for that!"

"They had wives, Dena. Two of them were married, one with children..."

"Then their children will grow up without fathers," Dena said calmly. "Kelton... they invaded _our_ home. They took what belonged to _us_, and instead of being grateful for our support are instead stripping Amber Hills of its resources in order to rebuild Amethyst Cliff. Lord Benaroy favours them over his true Holders, and if we are going to stand up and declair our soverignty, then they'll need to know without a shadow of a doubt that we are serious and will _not_ tolerate Holdless beggars! You know that as well as I. Amber Hills has no need of so-called refugees taxing our stores, and that's exactly what they're doing. That Steward of theirs... you _know_ what's in those trunks of his!"

Reluctantly Kelton nodded. Tapestries threaded with gold, Masterworks, dead women's jewellry and leather-tooled books. Enough to purchase a minor Holding somewhere _else_ if they were sold, so that he could start over again and take the sharding men and women - theives and pirates - he'd dragged with him out of Amber Hills Hold. They didn't belong - the women were loose and the men didn't appreciate the gift that had been given to them by Lord Benaroy. Perhaps in a turn or two they'd prove to be the economic boom that Lord Benaroy expected, but was it worth losing their identity over? Their ways were strange, and the refugees weren't making any effort to integrate themselves into their benefactors' way of life. "Three men in the grand scheme of things... three men isn't all that bad." Dena stole Kelton's klah and took a sip before passing it back to him. "I feel for their families, I really do, but..."

"But some sacrifices are necessary to make a point," Kelton said quietly. "You're right. Next week, once the fervor has died down, we'll start redistributing the tithe among the outlying cotholders. Benaroy and that sharding Cyrek might be favouring the Amethyst Cliff Holders, but we'll soon even things out."

Dena leaned over the table to kiss Kelton on the cheek. "You're a good man, and I love you."

"And I love you," Kelton said. He stayed up long after Dena had gone to bed, staring into the fire and trying to convince himself that what Dena had said was true.

Last updated on the May 1st 2008

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