Sherlen Miller & Lady Morwen
Marshal Sherlen stood white-knuckled on the tower over River Gate. Her eyes reflected the fires of the cottages burning on the far bank and she squinted in vain to make out any individual persons in the back-lit shadows running up and down the bank. Lady Morwen came up beside her and she bowed her head in an show of respect and waited for the lady to speak first.
"My nephew is over there trying to drive them off." said the lady, "Like we all should be. Do you have anyone over there?"
"A... friend." Sherlen replied, "He joined your nephew, I think."
They were silent a moment and then both said at once, "I should be over there."
It was bold of Sherlen to say, and inappropriate for Morwen. The Duke had ordered them to stay, afraid as he was that an army was following close behind the raid. In a perfect world, Morwen would have been in charge over her younger brother, but Daggerford's tradition was for rulership to fall to the eldest son.
No, Maldwyn was the Duke, and it was true he was better at the social intrigues of noble society than was Morwen. She was a soldier: brave but taciturn, bold but stoic. Still, Marshal Sherlen found herself wishing that Morwen had the power to overrule the vain and cowardly duke.
Maybe then Tommi wouldn't be over there getting himself killed...