Chapter 11: Trade for the Cat

"Mother Liss, do you have some hard drink about? I need to calm the girls down and get them to bed." And I add hopefully, "and maybe a few real beds for the night?"

"Oh for goodness sake girls, you just stop that catawaullin'." Liss chides them. I share a look of exasperation with the Protectors.

"I'll get it." Howle says heading out of the room.

He comes back in a moment, carrying a stone crock and some little bowls. He opens the crock and splashes some clear liquid into the bowls. I grab one and sniff it. Grain alcohol. Corn most likely. I pass the bowl to Alys and tell her it drink. Not the best for a pregnant girl but I can't have her getting hysterical either. I nod to Howle and he passes out the drinks. The girls drink it down with a large amount of gasping and sputtering.

It is a production getting the girls to bed after that. Mother Liss insists that we put them in night gowns. So it is undress them and then redress them. Tuck them in and sit with them for a time, till they fall asleep. When they are asleep, Nev's parents lead us back to the dinning room to talk.

"Oh my poor girl." Mother Liss sniffles into a handkerchief. "What's we gonna do?"

"Well for one thing do not coddle her. That did not work." I say and shake my head at the memory of her huddled in a corner of the women's dormitory. "Treat her like she is your daughter." I smile and take Liss' hand in mine. "She is bright and just wants a chance, but as you can see she is still healing. She will not talk about what happened. I am not even sure if she should." Mother gives my hand a squeeze.

"What I am worried about is how will people around her treat her." says Howle, crossing his arms and frowning out the window.

"Oh." Mother Liss blinks a couple of times, she had not gotten that far.

"I do not know." I say and she looks at her husband who as been sitting quietly listening to me. He gives a quick shake of his head.

"If you think she will be unhappy here." I suggest. "We will take her back with us. I am sure Godiva would love to have her company." Nev's parents are more unhappy with that thought than how the cousins will treat her.

"She is home now. That is where she's staying." Howle says in a clip tone, "that is finial."

"We aren't stranger to hardship Miss Chronos." Mother Liss says bravely. "The children head out into the world all the time. We have men with guns coming though here now." Catherine jumps at the mention of armed men. "We can take care of our own." She gives a final nod that is that.

"Good then." I nod back. I can feel Catherine breathing down my neck, she wants to ask about the armed men. So I move on to the my next set of questions.

"Do you have a lot of travelers through here?" I ask to start with, slowly moving toward the point of Catherine's agitation.