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understand?'' And then, to Alinor, "I don't know what else to do, my lady. I cannot take you aboard before the horses are settled." |
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Alinor glanced at him rather blankly. "Never mind, Beorn. I am warm enough." |
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In fact, she was so numb that she did not feel cold, but she was suddenly aware of a different kind of chill. The other women were looking at her. Alinor flushed with shame. The men were hers, but they were more or less in the Queen's service now and, thus, for the protection of all the ladies. She told Beorn softly to send more men so that the windbreak, such as it was, would shield the whole group. A larger group of men-at-arms hurried back off the ship and formed a semicircle. It did not occur to Alinor that the women in their fur-lined cloaks were already better protected from the wind and cold than the men in their steel and leather armor and sodden wool mantles. The men's purpose was to serve their betters in any way that was necessary, whether by helping to transport furniture, push mud-bogged carts, fighting and dying to protect them, or by shivering in the wind so that they should be a degree or two warmer. |
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The condition of the men-at-arms did not cross Alinor's mind. She did her duty to them, and better than most masters, she prided herself. They ate well, they had sound armor and good horses; when they were sick, she saw they had medical attention and, if she had time, even came herself to be sure they were well cared for. Their wives and children, if they had any, were protected as long as they served and, should they die in service, would be life-settled, the sons to be trained in arms if they were suitable and the daughters to be married or taken as servants in the keep. |
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What troubled Alinor was her momentary neglect of a proper courtesy to women less fortunate than herself. The ladies who were traveling with the Queen were not the wives and daughters of great magnates |
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