A/N: Still not Tammy, but here we goooooooo

The next month went much the same, until one weekend when a surprise snowstorm hit and Daine was given a Saturday off from Alfred saying if he saw her trying to work he'd tan her hide, he and Jake could handle feeding the horses and would have the day off as well. Daine had no idea what to do with a day of rest, she had the odd down period during her normal routine, so Cloud was uninterested in her company, and she couldn't very well try and work in the kennels because Carter would rat on her. With her options limited she decided to seek out the library, there had to be some good books she had never had access to in there, and likely a good lap cat or two. With this, she walked into the house snagging a few rolls from the kitchen, waving to Frankie (as the woman insisted she call her), and heading the back way to the library, carefully trying to avoid Lord Thomas or any other important person that could be roaming the halls early in the morning.

When Daine reached the library it was quiet and cold, so first, she went to the fireplace and lit it, hoping to melt the early morning cold away, she pulled her sweater closer around herself and started roaming the stacks. There were books of all ages, from dusty old histories, to more modern fairy tales, Daine lingered at a section that was in a language that Daine had never seen before, as well as the section that held information on animals. Daine pulled out a large book that had a dust coating that she blew away to read the title of, Mammalian Anatomy, she tried the words out loud trying to make herself understand them, she set the book on a nearby table, even if she didn't understand it all it might be something she could dissect. Daine moved on, noticing a section with the house name elaborately written on each book, Daine picked up the one that seemed the least coated in dust, 'might as well know everything I can about my employers' Daine thought.

She grabbed a couple other books that seemed to be more specific information about the Beneklans, Daine found a seat near the fire and nestled down in a large chair with the large book about the history of the Beneklans. She looked at the family tree, from Sam, Sarra, and their siblings all the way back to their great-whatever grandparents, to Daines surprise in the tree, was a couple of Veralidaines throughout the tree, although Daine had never met anyone with her name. Daine looked deeper into the book, seeing how the family came to breed horses and hounds for the king, there were many close ties in their family tree with the kings own family, Daine knew they were related but seeing it written down made it much clearer. The back end of the book was empty, Daine assumed it was for new entries for the history of the current or future members. Daine looked at the last pages with writing hoping to get some insight on the family currently alive.

Lady Adela of Rottford married Duke Samuel of Beneklan in the spring of 407 HE. The Duke and Duchess welcomed their first child, Thomas of Beneklan in the following summer of 408 HE. Followed by Ava and Adam of Beneklan, twins born the winter of 424 HE. From the summer of 417 HE little was seen of the Duke and Duchess deciding to remain on their estate and doing little traveling to the capital. The couple worked diligently on their breeding of prized horses and hounds that none could rival…

Daine read on about how the couple were basically recluses citing Lady Adela's dwindling health following an unknown illness from 417 HE, until her death in 430 HE, they only traveled to the capital when requested and never stayed long, often only the Duke attending the summons. The more Daine read the more confused she became, what illness could render the Duchess too sick to travel but not so sick that she could bear twins successfully. Daine moved to the smaller more detailed books, looking for the one about the late Duke and Duchess. The book was difficult to locate and when she found it found little satisfaction.

Duchess Adela was a kind, quiet woman who was a friend to all, both noble and peasant. The lady spent as much time as she could helping those that lived on their lands, giving work to whoever she could. The Lady was often known to help young women who were in need of help or orphans with nowhere to go. In her free time, she was known to spend it healing villagers or training other women to use their gift to heal or to use as a midwife. She was often seen running from the keep in her ballgown when she heard of a struggling mother in the village below the keep. The Duke was of a similar deposition in that he would take in young men and boys to train in arms, helping his people, but was mostly known for his skill at training hounds and horses. The majority of his life was spent working to breed the best animals he could, bringing in a small fortune to his lands. …

Daine was reading and noticing coincidences that troubled her. With more questions now than she had before sitting down to read she headed toward Sarra's room as she was the only Beneklan Daine knew was home. Daine gathered the books up and headed toward the young girl's room.

When Daine arrived at the girl's room she was up and playing with the month-old puppies who were beginning to become fun. Daine entered and was immediately swarmed by 4 puppies who were rapidly growing, even at their young age, they were already about 5-6 lbs, and their head and feet were too big for their bodies, these puppies were going to be very big dogs and when Daine first told Sarra this about 2 weeks prior the girl seemed to not be surprised. Daine was beginning to see even more of their coloring and they were getting more and more playful every day. Sarra had to wear clothes she didn't like when playing because to the puppies she was their mama and therefore something to climb on. Daine couldn't help but smile every time she visited Sarra and her charges. Daine spent the first 15-30 minutes catching up with her younger friend until the need for answers overwhelmed her and she had to speak up.

"Can you tell me more about your family, I was in the library this morning and the more I read about your grandparents the less I feel I know about your family, past breeding horses, and dogs." Daine was comfortable with the girl but still was quite shy, she didn't look at the girl while she talked, continuing to play with the puppies that rolled and romped around the two girls.

Sarra looked up at the girl, slightly shocked that Daine would actually ask something so straightforward, but Sarra didn't say anything on this because she didn't want the girl to shut down. "Well my grandparents died before I was born but Da hates to talk about them so getting any real information about them is hard, but I like snooping so from what I've heard through servants, there's some big secret to them. It obviously has to do with the secret illness that grandma had, from what ive figured out she was sick for a few months, from that summer to late fall give or take, so I'm not completely sure but that isn't all that long. I know that grandfather was away and then had to rush back when he was informed of his wife's illness. Plus she had uncle Adam and Aunt Ava after that, so it couldn't have been that bad, but she didn't travel much after she was sick. But she did work around the estate and the villages and stuff, so I'm not sure what it could be."

As Sarra was talking she was slowly drawing connections, Lady Adela was sick for a short period of time, didn't travel, wasn't permanently injured but didn't stray far from home. This had all the makings of a scandal, a child born of a different man would ruin their families reputation, especially if there was no way the Lord could claim the child, such as his being away during the spring, they would have to hide the child's existence, and based on what she knew of the woman, Lady Adela was too caring to not try to keep the child close, them being up in the North, the Duchess could claim lasting effects of her illness making travel down from the mountainous area too difficult. Daine had figured out the secret that the Beneklans held dear, an illegitimate child, out there somewhere was the second child of the Beneklan line. Lord Thomas was likely old enough to remember the birth of this child, and likely knew the child when he was growing up, he had been living with this secret since he was a child, he had to hide it from everyone. Daine sat petting one of the puppies while she thought, what would she tell Sarra who was trying to discreetly watch Daine as she was thinking over the information. Daine looked at the girl, does she tell her, she is so young and Daine being a midwife's daughter understood the complexities of relationships better than most. "Is your brother home, I still have more questions, and he's nearly as nosey as you are, maybe he's heard more?" Daine decided that if Sam was home he was the better bet as someone to confide this knowledge in.

"Sam should be in the library by now, you probably just missed him, he sleeps in but spends most of these cold days in there when he isn't chasing after Sir Gavin." Sarra was curious about what Daine spent so long thinking about but decided she didn't want to push the intriguing girl away. With that the two girls bid each other goodbye, Daine promising to visit her and the puppies later.

Daine walked back to the library, finding Sam in much the same position she was in earlier, curled up by the fireplace with a book and next to him a tray with small snacks, a teapot, and a cup. Daine closed the door slowly but made sure to make some noise so that Sam wasn't completely surprised by her. He smiled and rose, "Hi there Daine, what brings you here?" Daine smiled at the older boy, then looked at her feet and blushed as she remembered she wasn't here on strictly friendly reasons.

"I have something weird to talk to you about." Daine glanced at Sam who waved her over to a seat near his previous chair.

"Hold on one second, it's nearly midday, and based on your face, we'll be here a while, I'll ring someone to bring us some food." Sam walked over to a door off the side of the library, opened it, and had a brief conversation with the man who was standing outside the door, most likely for this very reason. Same walked back over and sat down, "so short stuff, what seems to be the issue?"

Daine gave him a small smile at the nickname, but it was short-lived, "what do you know about your grandparents? I talked to Sarra just before now and she told me about the illness your grandmother seemed to suffer from, she didn't know all that much, I have a guess at what it was, but I want to hear what you know or think first, it is your family." Sam was taken back by the amount the quiet girl had spoken, Daine rarely said that much unless talking about animals, and that wasn't even close to as personal as this topic, she normally stayed far away from subjects like this.

"Well, there are a good amount of guesses that get thrown around, you know our family's estate is up north, so we're quite isolated, but if you're asking my guess, I would say I have a secret aunt or uncle out there." Sam was looking at Daine, and when he finished his statement her head jerked up from looking at her lap, meeting his eyes, something she had done only a few times. "So you came to the same answer then. So here's what else I've got, it was likely a commoner, someone from a nearby village, who likely raised the child there so grandmother could visit, its very likely the child grew up there and could still live there themselves. Strange to think about them growing up not knowing who their family is. Sorry." Sam realized that Daine didn't know most of her family, only her grandfather, and mother, the rest was a big blank for her, she was a bastard as was her mother. He gave her a sympathetic look but thankfully didn't dwell on it, "anyways, the child was probably raised mainly by their father but my grandmother could never just leave her own flesh and blood, she would have visited often, even if it was from a distance to make sure the child was safe." Daine nodded having come to the same conclusion.

"I've just been thinking about it because I'm from the north, Snowsdale, and it's strange to think that your family member could have been my neighbor, there weren't that many bastards around besides me, and my mother that is. But most are looked down on, and your aunt or uncle wouldn't have been able to be claimed so they would have been called that too. I wonder if I knew them, but I would have known if there was, well they could have moved away when they were an adult, and by the time I was born if that time in 417 was the birth, they would have been about 19 when I was born. That's not that young, my ma was that age, so they could very well have left. The da woulda been an outcast, done their own huntin and such, granda said unless ya were useful ta the village they woulda kicked em out altogether but he was a good hand a the bow so ya know." Daine was rambling, she got up and was pacing but Sam couldn't get over the obvious parallels with her family and his, what if they were actually related, Sam blushed remembering the dream he had that involved her, a watering hole, and not many clothes. He shook his head, she couldn't be, could she? Sam was facing the fact that her story was too similar to the one concocted in his head for his imagined family member, he had never had the courage to ask his father outright, but this girl was giving him facts that couldn't be disputed.

xxx

Daine and Sam ate their midday meal while continuing their conversation, it drifted to the family history, and then on to easier subjects, ones that neither found upsetting or confusing. They chatted until the dinner bell rung, at this they parted ways, Daine heading towards the servant's mess and Sam to have dinner and then an important conversation with his dear old dad.