After waking up at around noon, a victory against mornings everywhere, Braydon decided to go speak to Nela about talking to the girl he had rescued. She still had not spoken to him since he had found her. He was not including her cries for help in this. She couldn’t remember those anyway, and it would hurt his pride.

He found her resting to the side of the bailey, having just watched Rhydian drilling the men. Something he was glad he was not required to wake up for. As he walked up to her, she nodded her head in greeting.

“Probably not as impressive as your father’s.”

“Maybe not, but then again you’ve had your men for, what, ten days?”

“Five, I arrived five days after the news of my father’s demise.” It did not feel like it had been that long, probably because he had spent so many days in shock after seeing the state of the southern village. But Steven had confirmed with him that it was indeed now the 11th of September. A full ten days since receiving the letter that changed all of his plans.

“They may be small in number but for seven days of drilling they are indeed impressive. I admire Rhydian’s skill.” Now that was something he could agree with, Rhydian was very good at getting people into shape.

“How is the girl doing now? Is she more talkative than when she woke up?” He had left the matter of the girl’s care to Nela and had not pried since. He wanted to trust her, and looking into how the girl is doing all the time would not be a great show of trust.

“She seems to have settled down and is talking more, as I said yesterday. She did also mention remembering you and Rhydian carrying her up the stairway to her room.” ‘No wonder she was staring at me.’

“Do you think that she would be more willing to speak with other people?” Nela giggled.

“You mean you want to speak with her too, and are feeling left out.” She had him there, his face going a slight shade of red.

“I think she might, she should be finished eating by now. Do you want to accompany me whilst I check in on her?” He could only nod and scratch his head, getting a few more giggles from Nela in the process.

Upon entering the room, the pair saw that she had indeed finished eating, Mea was cleaning up her plate. The girl in question was on her feet, standing half a head smaller than Braydon and about the same height as Nela. Not that being a tiny bit shorter than him was hard, unlike his brothers who were quite tall, he stood at about 5’7. ‘She must be around the same age as Steven.’ Steven was 19 and had been serving as his attendant since he was a child.

“I apologise if I am disturbing your recovery.” She shook her head, seemingly more relaxed around him than she was a couple of days ago. It struck him that she could not remember her name and he felt awkward not referring to her by name. Since they found her, they had only referred to her as ‘the girl’.

“Do you have any thoughts on what we should call you? Whilst you may not remember your name, it appears to me, impractical to not have one to call you by.” At this both Nela and Mea listened more intently, they were on rather good terms with the girl, but had not thought of this point.

“Don’t know.” Braydon was stumped and turned to ask if Nela had any ideas before he realised something. ‘She spoke to me!’ Internally over the moon, he struggled to keep his expression straight. Though with one look he knew Nela had noticed his excitement, and the mischief in her eyes told him this would be brought up later. ‘Nela and Gerald would get along swimmingly.’

“Do you have any thoughts Nela?”

“I’m not sure. It is a miracle that she is even alive and with us…” This gave Mea an idea.

“Sire, if I may?” Surprised that she would have the courage to speak up in his presence, he was curious.

“Go on.”

“Nela…” Realising she was speaking to her lord she quickly changed her form of address.

“Lady Nela’s words gave me an idea. Perhaps her name could be Mireille…” Turning his gaze towards the girl to get her opinion, he saw her nodding with a smile.

“It appears she likes it, Mireille it is.”

“Oh and Mea.” He had leant her name from Nela when talking about Mireille’s condition in between meeting with the barons yesterday. She panicked, thinking he was going to call her out on her impolite use of Nela’s name.

“Yes, Sire?”

“There is no need to use strict rules when talking in private, you won't be punished.” With that he thought it was time he bade Mireille farewell. She was still recovering from her wounds. And more importantly, Nela’s stare made him uncomfortable, he felt that she had discovered something he did not know about to use against him later.

Once Braydon left the room, Nela could not help herself from giggling behind her hand. Seeing the confusion in Mea and Mireille’s eyes she decided not to say anything. ‘So Northerners are his type.’ She was going to have fun with this. As Braydon walked down the hall towards his study he felt a shiver down his spine. He turned to Steven, who looked at him with questioning eyes clearly not having felt anything.

“Is it getting cold already?”

“Not due for months yet, Sire.” ‘Maybe it's just me?’