Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon [42]
She gathered squires, tutors, and all but one nursemaid together while the children were playing on the lawn outside.
“You know already that I have no children and no experience with them. These children have had a bad start. Leaving aside what they were taught and what was done to them, their parents and elder siblings have all been taken away. Thanks to you—” She nodded at the nursemaids. “—they are better than they were. I have brought Master Feddith from Vérella—tutor to another noble family and recommended by your father, Daryan—to teach the scholarly arts. I have talked to the Marshal-General and Master Feddith at length, but one man and four nursery-maids cannot do it all themselves. Master Feddith has already suggested bringing in older children to provide a more ordinary mix of ages. You squires must understand that you are the only good models of young people these children have ever seen. They will look to you the way you yourselves looked at knights and squires when you were barely out of shortlings. They will copy you—good for good, fault for fault.”
“Will you want us to … to care for them?” Beclan’s lip did not quite curl, but distaste crept into his tone.
“Not as nursery-maids, of course,” Dorrin said. “But as if they were your younger siblings, when you happen upon them, yes. These children are as impoverished as those in the villages: they have never known any other home or anyone but the family that’s now gone.” She paused to let that sink in. “At times, I may ask you to take one or a small group on outings, under your protection. Think—how old were you when you left the confines of your house for the first time?”
“I don’t remember,” Beclan said. “I can’t remember not knowing both of the nearer villages … the house in Vérella, of course, and I was taken to the prince’s birthday party for the first time when I was—maybe—four winters.”
“They have been here their entire lives. None have been so far as Kindle, let alone Harway. That must change. You will be exotic to them, fascinating,” Dorrin said. “So you must be good elders, as I believe you will be.”
In two turns of the glass, they had worked out a preliminary daily schedule and even—Dorrin insisted—outings at least once a tenday to more distant parts of the domain.
“I’m glad you’re including chores,” Master Feddith said. “It’s something I recommend in every house where I serve, if it’s not already done.”
“They’ve never had to do aught,” the nursemaid said. “By the old duke’s orders, they was born to rule, not serve.” She flushed and ducked her head.
“It won’t hurt them,” Dorrin said. “It may take them awhile to learn, but when they see the squires serving, they will understand—we all serve, one way or another. You know them best right now; all of you and Master Feddith can decide which chores. Keep them busy enough they won’t get into mischief.”
Within a tenday, the children were settling into the new routine, even the youngest doing the simple chores assigned. Master Feddith discovered that they were all astonishingly ignorant—only the eldest could read at all—and their general knowledge was less, he swore, than that of Serrostin’s stablehands. Yet they were not stupid, he told Dorrin that tenday night.
“They are clever enough to learn but were never taught. They were told only a few tales of the Verrakai and their exalted place.” From Feddith’s expression, he didn’t think much of it. “And about power and blood magery. That’s all. Not even the proper terms of venery, which every lord’s child I ever taught knew when I came. But they are learning now. And your squires are a good influence. Two of the eldest children have asked when they will be pages.”
“Not for a while yet,” Dorrin said.
“Good,” Feddith said. “Make them earn it—and, if you’ll take my advice, my lord, do not send any of them to other households. Let them learn here. Nor would I hurry them into weapons practice, not