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"Of course." Gerald spoke gravely, the corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to suppress his amusement. Amusement it was, but of a fond and not derogatory nature. He had not expected her to have awakened so soon after what must have been a lifeforce-draining feat. Excusing himself, he strided to the hallway and shouted his orders before returning to her, helping her to an armchair. Sensing her tired but concerned eyes upon his bloodstained armour, he quickly stopped himself from lowering himself onto the other chair.
"You're worried about the battle, I can see that." He pursed his lips, wondering how much detail he ought to go into; some of the scenes he had taken in were not exactly pretty, and there was no need to be to graphic, especially for a girl young enough to be his daughter and who seemed still in a trance at times.
"No one won." It was true. Had the animals not departed, he doubted that Alesbridge could have claimed a victory. There was no triumph, only relief on this day. Once upon a time, he might have twisted the outcome to his advantage, paraphrased the ending so that it reflected well upon his leadership; but she who had advised him to do so was deceased, and the instructions she had given were no longer palatable, in view of her act of disloyalty to him.
"There have been casualties on both sides, as can be expected from battles of such scale." He fixed his dark green eyes upon her pale complexion. "You need not be overly concerned; the injured are being nursed back to health." That was all she needed to know, really. He heaved a sigh of liberation as he finished his piece.
Watching her, he made no further attempt at heavy conversation topics, apart from finding out her name. I will find out more about her, at another time. In the silence that followed, he perceived that the mannerisms of the stranger were a complete contrast to Robyn. The diversion lasted briefly, however, when his anxiety for his daughter returned.
At any rate, the filly was not sighted at the battle, and the forest seems to have lost some of its power. There is hope, then, that wherever she is, she is relatively unharmed. Striving to rid himself of unnecessarily depressing thoughts, he made small conversation with Esaha.
Before long, a basin of piping hot soup and a basket of freshly baked bread had arrived, followed by several slabs of choice meat. Excusing himself so that Esaha could eat without any reservation, he headed for his own bedroom to clean up and catch up on some rest.
[ 08-05-2006, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: mistral4543 ]
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