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"I thought we mentioned yesterday that she had a fourth," Haradhel commented, looking at Kara puzzledly. "Didn't we?"

Elrohir glanced over at Donovan and Lin. "Sir Leith was the official trainer of the unicorns and horses for my great-great-great-great-great-great ... well, Aragost's daughter," he explained. "Then for her granddaughter, my ... again many times great-grandmother. He started working here last summer with Sir Boudwin, who was the personal bodyguard of Aragost's daughter right from the moment she first became queen."

Haradhel glanced sharply over at her husband, her eyes narrowing slightly. They had after all been asked not to mention it ... but she knew he had never been one to think before speaking.

"That's not fair!" Adan protested. "If Nako says she's going to do something to us if we're bad, then we should know what it is! What if it's not very bad? But what if we do something bad by accident, and then Nako does something very very bad to us?"

He gave up on Ryu and turned instead to Feng. "Feng-chan, what does flay mean?"he asked her insistently. "Ryu-kun won't tell me!"

"..... What?" Donovan blinked.

Had he heard right? Did that mean Aragost was related to Elrohir and the others? It took a moment for him to mull over that.

On the other hand, Lin was utterly mortified that Elrohir had told everyone at the table the secret. She made the motion of head to table before muttered aloud.

"Ai-ya! Elrohir!"

Elrohir blinked at Lin. "What? All I said was ..."

He trailed off, and it was amost as if a light had gone on inside his head, one could literally see his expression changing.

"Oh ..."

"Sir Leith used to work for Queen Regan, training the horses and unicorns that were used in the royal army," Haradhel interjected flatly. "End of story."

She spoke harshly to Elrohir in the High Elven tongue, then pointed at his seat and sat down herself.

Adan's eyes grew wide with fear.

"I don't want Nako to take my skin off!" he exclaimed loudly, wrapping his arms around himself.

Amdir sighed. "She didn't mean it literally, Adanedhel," he told his son patiently. "It's a figure of speech. You know she loves you too much to do something like that to you, or any of the other kids."

"Ara-kun would do it, though," Adan protested. "I've seen him do it before!"

"Those were slavers who had kidnapped you," Amdir replied. "He would never ever ever do something like that to anyone else. Besides, he's teaching you the ancient tongue, isn't he? He wouldn't do that unless he loved you, and if he loves you then he would never do anything to hurt you."

"I'm not even going to bother to ask," Donovan murmured.

If there was a reason why his daughter knew to keep it a secret he would leave it at that. There was a slight chance he probably didn't want to know anyhow.

"Can I go see Sir Leith," Lin asked changing the subject to the person in question.

It was a perfectly normal question by Lin standards really.

Once Haradhel was finished lecturing Elrohir, he sat down at the table and looked at Lin, pretending that nothing had happened and hoping that the moment would pass by.

"There's really no reason you can't go see Sir Leith," he said thoughtfully, "but don't you want your breakfast first? I'm sure that after Sir Leith you'll be off to see Sir Boudwin - personal bodyguard of the first two Southland queens - who also joined us last summer, and then Elros until he goes on shift and Aragost once he gets off ..."

Adan was obviously relieved. "Oh good," he murmured. "That makes me feel a lot better. I know Ara-kun could do it if he wanted, but if he doesn't want to then I'll be okay."

He brightened visibly. "Maybe he'll take me up on a mountain today!" he exclaimed. "That would be nice!"

"I'm sure he will," Amdir agreed as everyone started eating. "But you have lessons first this morning. You can go out with Aragost this afternoon. Besides, he's on shift until then, so there really is no choice in the matter."

Adan grinned eagerly and dug into his breakfast.

Jut then, Aliya entered he room, Adonijah cradled in the crook of one arm, and sat at the table. "Good morning," she greeted Feng and Ryu brightly, though she seemed to be lacking in sleep. "I hope you slept well ... I hope Adonijah didn't wake you every time he woke up."

Every hour.