Gilly sat down on Rose’s bed and put her arms round her friend for comfort. She offered her the hanky she always had tucked in her breeches pocket and waited until Rose had collected herself before she answered her question.
‘Well,’ said Gilly drawing back a little to look the sniffling Rose in the face, ‘we could take either of two paths. We could stay here, and sort of stand in for Mithadan – make sure Mistress Piosenniel has us around to rely on, since Mithadan will be gone. The twin’s birth is only five days away, we can do things for her that she might have asked Mithadan to do or to help her with. Keep her company. And try to keep her mind off the danger Mithadan has gone into.’
Rose shook her head negatively as she wiped the old tears from her cheeks and blew her nose. ‘Pio likes company, but not that much and that close. She would be shooing us out of the room before an hour had passed. If we decided to do that, we would have to be very subtle in our approach. And even now, I can see Pio raising her eyebrows at one or the other of us - telling us she knows what we are doing and would we mind not crowding her so much.’
Gilly sighed, looking down at the rumpled coverlet on the bed as if for inspiration. A few moments later, she looked up, an impish gleam in her eyes. ‘We could help from the other end of the problem.’
‘How’s that?’ asked Rose, her interest piqued by the look on her friend’s face.
‘We could follow after Mithadan! Make sure he’s safe.’ Gilly stood up her hands on her hips, looking resolutely at Rose. ‘I’m sure you and I could find some way to help him. What do you think?’
[ April 19, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]
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Eldest, that’s what I am . . . I knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.
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