Maedis wakes to the patter of rain on his window. He makes a face at it and gets up to get dressed.

Bealuen’s side of the bed is cold and empty. She must already be out training. Maedis could use some training. He dresses to go spar.

Bealuen isn’t outside in the rain, however. She’s dozing on the couch. Maedis frowns and tiptoes around to wake her. “Beloved? What are you doing out here?”

“Mmnh?” Bealuen blinks awake. “What time is it?”

“About seven in the morning. Are you getting sick?” Maedis tries to feel her forehead.

Bealuen wrinkles her nose at him, but starts giggling when he leans in to kiss the tip of her nose. “I’m not sick.” She sighs. “I just couldn’t sleep. I was so angry about the way little Irenis was treated.”

“Yes.” It’s sickening. Maedis has half a mind to lead a troop to hold the Casmenocs accountable for their actions. But they are of equal rank and two months’ travel apart without portals. They would get quite a few raised eyebrows, and there’s no guarantee that those of a higher rank would agree with their reasons.

Once Bealuen is more awake, they repair to the study. “More awake” does not necessarily mean “sits in her own chair,” but that’s fine by Maedis. He very much likes having his wife in his lap.

Bealuen cradles her coffee mug in her hands and takes a sip from it. “What do you think we should do about Irenis? I know what decision I came to, but that was at about four last night.”

Maedis winces. No wonder she wasn’t training. “You should make sure to take a nap today.”

Bealuen tucks her head under his chin. “Yes, dear.”

“What was your conclusion?”

“Well…” Bealuen takes a sip of her coffee. “Rudhek has always wanted a little sibling. And while we could see if Jamenoc is still looking to adopt, it would be yet more upheaval for Irenis. She needs stability right now, while she finds her feet.”

“You want to adopt her?”

Bealuen bats her eyelashes up at him. “She’s so cute!”

“You’re cute.” Maedis kisses her forehead and leans his chin on her head to think while Bealuen giggles.

Honestly, he’d like to have had more kids. Rudhek was a difficult birth, however, and he wasn’t willing to risk his beloved wife for the possibility of a daughter. The more he thinks on it, the more attractive the idea seems of adopting little Irenis and giving her all the chances and love that Rudhek has enjoyed.

He leans back to meet Bealuen’s eyes. “So how would you go about telling her?”

Bealuen brightens. “We’ll have to lead with her not being in trouble, of course. I don’t think she associates being called to speak with the margrave with anything good—”

Someone knocks on the study door. Maedis doesn’t have any appointments. He frowns down at Bealuen, who gets out of his lap. “Come in?”

Captain Bernsek pops his head in. “A moment, if you have it?”

“We do.”

“Oh, excellent, you’re both here.” Bernsek steps in, followed by two guards. Eyolyn is holding a flower-shaped gemstone and Montark is pulling a frame with a white cloth stretched tight across it. Bealuen frowns at it and shoots Maedis a confused look. Maedis shrugs. The cloth and projection stone are usually used for teaching new knights and trainees the tenets of the knightage. He doesn’t know what they’re doing here.

Bernsek comes to a stop in front of their desk. “The knightage has a proposal.” Montark snaps a wooden bar out in front of the frame, and Eyolyn sets the stone into a cradle on the bar. Words shimmer onto the cloth: Why Irenis should be kept on as a trainee. And in smaller words underneath, A list of reasons and arguments compiled by the Casmenoc knightage.

Bealuen shivers next to Maedis. He glances over and she’s trying to suppress a smile.

Bernsek pulls himself to his full height. “In the time that she’s been here, the knightage has come to the decision that we should put all possible effort into keeping Irenis with us. After discussion with the whole of the knightage, we have collected these data points.” He turns to the screen and swipes one finger across it. The text fades to rewrite itself as Sections and below it a numbered list reading 1. Honor, 2. Adorable, 3. Morale, 4. Taught by Calon of Druig.

Bealuen sits up slightly when she reads the last item.

Bernsek swipes again, bringing up a slide that reads Reason #1: Honor. Smaller text underneath reads Irenis has expressed concerning sentiments about her family and training.

“Over the past couple of days, Lady Irenis has expected us, adults, to go for cheap shots when sparring with her or push her out of the training grounds. She’s also expressed being anxious about not being sent out to fight monsters immediately because she’s worried she’s ‘useless.’ These are only the most alarming of the several points of concern. From what data we were able to gather from her and from Dame Jacryn, the Casmenoc home is not safe or healthy for her. The knightage unanimously agrees that we cannot claim we have honor and in the same breath send a child back to a home that will harm her. Therefore, we are willing to take her on as a trainee.”

He taps the next point on the slide, reading Trainee status will keep Irenis busy and happy while also keeping her safe. “It is important in rearing a child to keep them enriched as well as safe. You already know this, of course. As a trainee, Irenis will receive care, instruction, and enrichment while she grows up. We will also be able to teach her healthier methods of training, which she will then be able to expect on the ramparts. This will help safeguard her from manipulation or abuse by superiors on power trips.”

Maedis nods along. That’s a good point.

“Second point!” Captain Bernsek swipes to the next slide. “She’s adorable.”

The slide is titled Adorable and has two drawings of Irenis side by side. Bealuen is shaking harder now.

“She’s so cute in her little training uniform. She would be even cuter in one of ours, we think. A visual aid has been provided.”

The drawings are of Irenis in training. The one on the left is her in her current uniform, the ice-blue, silver, and white of the Casmenoc family. Her expression is wide-eyed and worried. On the right is a very similar image, but she’s smiling slightly and has on the royal purple, dark brown, and golden of the Veriths.

She is, in fact, adorable.

“Reason number three, which is closely related to this one…” Captain Bernsek swipes again. The next slide reads Morale. “She’s excellent for morale.”

Bealuen turns her head briefly to muffle laughter into Maedis’s arm. He pats her head.

“First, she has persuaded the cook to give us snacks before training. We believe that her reasoning is to warm us up to her and make sure we like her. Regardless of mildly concerning motives, this has had a positive impact on morale for almost the entire knightage.”

Maedis nods consideringly. “Snacks before training are quite good for morale.”

“Exactly. Secondly, she is a visible reminder of why we fight so hard. As a child who looks up to knights and wants to fight like us, she stands in for all the children and civilians that we protect fighting monsters. This encourages us to fight harder because we can see what we fight for.”

Bealuen has regained control of her facial features. She nods.

“Third, she helps the trainees both by giving them something to strive for and by giving them tips. Which leads into my fourth reason…” The slide comes up. “She was trained by Calon of Druig. Apparently the Casmenocs managed to get him to teach their children and he trained Irenis on the side. She already has down the basics that he taught her. If she stays on and learns to teach, she will be able to teach us the techniques of Calon of Druig. This will raise the quality of our training and allow us to stay alive longer—”

Bealuen’s poker face finally breaks and she melts onto the desk, cackling. Maedis smiles down at her, love swelling in his breast, before he turns to Bernsek. “Your presentation is very good and your points are well made. Fortunately—”

Montark facepalms. “You’d already decided to keep her before we got here, didn’t you.”

“We had literally just come to that conclusion when you knocked.”

“Ah.” Bernsek fidgets with his helmet. “That does explain what you find so funny.”

“Yes, we’re planning to adopt her as our own child. Which does mean she will remain here at the castle and continue to raise morale.”

“Yesss,” hisses Eyolyn.

“Good job on the presentation. Your points were well-argued and concise.”

Bernsek beams.

“Send Irenis up, please.”