"Why are we going to Gold Lake?"

Rowland looked back at the little girl he had come to think of as his daughter. She was ten, now, and seven, but she was as fierce as ever. He'd once thought it funny, to see how the big lad Coban followed her around, looming protectively over the child, and funnier still that she led him by the nose, but now it brought him a great feeling of peace. He knew the men thought he didn't see when Julius bullied the younger men among the company, but he did, and he did his best to make things difficult for the young man. And keeping Coban with Tyke made things very difficult for him. Coban wasn't a bully, but he was big, and he was a capable fighter who wouldn't shy from a fight, even if he didn't look for them. Tyke was a true fighter, or would be when she got big enough, and of late he'd noticed she had a bit of a nasty streak that made Julius wary of her. Oh, she wasn't a sneaking bully like the bigger boy, and she would never dream of picking on someone littler than her (though she was the smallest by a long ways among the company, there were always younger children in the villages they visited), but if she had an advantage, she wouldn't hesitate to exploit it fully.

"Perhaps I'd like to go home to my family," Rowland told his ward gently. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his squire sneer at the girl, no doubt thinking she was stupid. Well, he would learn soon enough, just as soon as Tyke got truly fed up with him.

"I don't remember you saying you were married. Why haven't we visited them before?"

Rowland hesitated. To tell the child he'd married because it was expedient, and the woman had been a good match, would not teach her the values he hoped to instill in her. Instead, he said only, "The Book was more important at the time."

"Why isn't it more important now?" Tyke wanted to know.

Ah, a child's curiosity could be such a wonderful thing, and at the same time terribly annoying. "It is still more important, but my family refuses to wait for me any longer. They want to see me. And they want to meet you," he added. He didn't mention the angry letter he had received from his wife when she learned that he had taken guardianship of a young girl, even though he'd tried to explain it was for the good of the realm. She was always accusing him of putting his work before his family: the problem was, she was right.

"Then we're going back out to do the Book some more, right?"

"That's right." For how much longer, Rowland wasn't sure. The book was about half finished, and if anything the pace was picking up, as people heard about it and began putting together their censuses before he arrived. It still took a long time to set down properly, especially when he had to see to Julius's training at the same time. Why the Count had thought he needed a squire was quite beyond him; he managed quite well with Tyke and his men.

Tyke was silent for a time, and Rowland was content to let it be that way. It wasn't that Tyke had a tendency to chatter – the girl hardly spoke without a purpose – but she still had a young child's curiosity, and right now he wasn't ready to face that.

"What's your wife's name?"

"Romilda." He hoped this wasn't leading up to another bout of questioning.

It didn't. Tyke dropped back to ride with Coban, and the two talked quietly the rest of the day, though every once in a while Rowland would hear a snort of laughter from the pair of them. They made a comical pair, did those two, with Tyke having to crane her neck to look at Coban when he sat on his horse that towered over her pony, but it did his heart good to see them. If only there was some way to stop Romilda from seeing them.