Page 10 (1/1)

"You honor ave a very small bow at the compliment They bid each other farewell then We walked to our horses Parth was standing a short distance away, his saddle at his feet and a look of forlorn hope on his face My father didn’t look at him He helped me to mount, for my horse was tall for me He led the horse that Parth had ridden and I rode beside hiates I looked wistfully at the market stalls as we rode past them I would have liked to explore the vendors’ booths with the scout’s pretty daughter We hadn’t even stopped for a meal, and I knew better than to cos and water in our bags A soldier was always prepared to take care of himself A question came to me

"Why did they call her a hinny?"

My father didn’t look over at me "Because she’s a cross, son Half-Plains, half-Gernian, and welcome nowhere Like a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey, but isn’t really one or the other"

"She did ic"

"So you said"

His tone indicated he didn’t really care to talk about that with ain, "Did I do wrong back there?"

"You shouldn’t have left Parth’s side Then none of this would have happened"

I thought about that for a time It didn’t seem quite fair "If I hadn’t been there, they couldn’t have sent et her in the alley even if I wasn’t there"

"Perhaps so," htly "But you wouldn’t have been there to witness it"

"But…" I tried to work it through my mind "If I hadn’t been there, she would have been hurt That would have been bad"

"It would,"of our horse’s hooves had filled the silence for some time My father pulled his horse to a stop, and I halted with hiain Finally, as I squinted up at hi shameful, Nevare You protected a wos I value in , you could have done no different But your witnessing that, and your speaking up, caused, well, difficulties for all the officers there It would have been better if you had obeyed irl would have been hurt"

"Yes That is likely" My father’s voice was tight "But if she had been hurt, it would not have been your fault, or our business at all Likely no one would have questioned her father’s right to punish the offender The scout hurt that soldier’s son over a ht to punish the man was less clear to thecommander He seeks his men’s permission to lead rather than demands their obedience Because you protected her and offered testimony that the threat was real, the situation had to be dealt with That man and his family had to be banished from the fort The coined the sa to them"

"The commander let the soldier hit the scout," I slowly realized

"Yes He did it so he would have a clear reason to banish hihter And that rong of the commander, to take such a coward’s way out It was shameful of hi toI could do about it, for he was the commander If I had questioned his decision, I would only have weakened hiht of his men One officer does not do that to another"

"Then…did Scout Halloran behave honorably?" It suddenly seeht thing

"No" My father’s reply was absolute "He could not Because he behaved dishonorably the day he took a wife fro the Plainspeople And hethe product of that union to the outpost with him The soldier sons reacted to that She displayed herself, with her bright skirts and bare arms She made herself attractive to thehtful wife, and that most Plainspeople will not take her Sooner or later, it is likely she will end up a camp whore And thus they treated her that way today"

"But-"

My father nudged his horse back into motion "I think that is all there is for you to learn froain, and you will not discuss it with your mother or sisters We’ve a lot of road to cover before dusk And I wish you to write an essay forone, on the duty of a son to obey his father I think it an appropriate correction, don’t you?"