Leila has a visitor

“Mama, look who’s here!” eight-​​year-​​old Cedric said proudly.

“Alred!” Leila gasped. She had not had a visitor of any sort since the King and Cenwulf and young Sigefrith had come to see Leofric’s and Eadgith’s new baby weeks before. Alred she had not seen in more than half a year.

“Sir Leila!” he beamed. “Every time I see you, I am forced to admit that human memory is incapable of retaining a tenth part of your beauty.”

“That is why poetry was invented, Alred,” she smiled.

“And why Raegan and Liss were invented,” he said and winked at the girls, but he kissed their little hands with the same gravity he would have held for grown women. “Although each of them got more than a tenth part, I am pleased to observe.”

“Raegan got half and Lissa got the other half,” Cedric said.

“Hmm! That didn’t leave much for the twins, did it?”

“No!” Cedric laughed. “But they’re boys. They don’t need it anyway.”

“Where are they, then? I am accustomed to finding Night between Evening and Dawn,” he said with a slight bow to Leila.

“They were napping,” she said, “and still are, or are with their nurse. But – what is it, Alred? Is anything wrong?”

“I know you must think that only a catastrophe could have brought me to visit you,” he sighed.

“He came here with my father’s nephews,” Cedric said. “My big cousins.”

“Your cousins?” Leila gasped. She knew her husband’s brother had had two sons, but Leofric spoke of them as if they were dead, or he had assumed they were.

“So it would seem,” Alred shrugged wearily. “They look the part. The elder looks for all the world like young Sigefrith, and the younger looks like his father, from what I recall of him. My memory is broad enough to hold the beauty of ordinary men.”

“Come sit with me, Alred,” Leila murmured. She had not seen him in so long that he seemed to have aged visibly. She hoped it was only the passage of time.

“They came from Denmark,” he said, “and had letters of introduction from Magnus and Godwine. They also had a long letter for me from my son, and so, in my gratitude, I am afraid I am become a poor judge of their intentions.”

“How is he?”

Alred smiled sadly. “I miss him more than he misses me, I don’t doubt. But it’s as it should be. He will have the life a boy such as he deserves. And I would just as soon let Magnus wear the gray hairs Yware will no doubt provide his guardian.”

Leila thought Alred already had a fair number of his own, but she said nothing and only watched his face as he stared off at the wall, doubtlessly thinking of his son.

“The fact is,” Alred said suddenly, as if he had decided to put the subject of Yware aside, “before they were in Denmark, they were at the court of Flanders with their mother’s and grandmother’s family. Which would not be a crime, except that Queen Matilda is their grandmother’s niece, making King William’s sons their cousins. And they had spent the last several years in the train of William’s eldest son, though admittedly at the moment when he was at war with his father. So… I simply wish Sigefrith were here,” he shrugged and sighed.

“Perhaps they are simply knights-​​errant, Alred. Have they sworn an oath to the Norman? If they have lost their lands and titles, they will have needed to go where there was fighting.”

“Only your beauty stuns me more than your cleverness, Leila,” he smiled. “It is a pleasure to speak to a woman who understands quickly.”

She smiled. Gentlemen always complimented her beauty, as they did other women less beautiful than she, but only Alred seemed to notice she had a mind of her own. Only Alred ever took the time to talk to her as if she did. Leofric had, but…

“I hope you will give me your impression of them once you have met them,” Alred said. “I am certain it will be worth hearing. Nevertheless, I am come to insist that Leofric keep them here until Sigefrith returns. The elder wishes to return at once to Denmark to fetch his wife and daughters. Apparently they have already made up their mind to stay, which I admit I find surprising, considering they haven’t yet met their erstwhile lord. And their erstwhile lord has not yet met them.”

“But Sigefrith will be delighted to see them, if they are his cousins.”

“I hope he will set that fact aside long enough to consider their intentions. Either young Britmar is eager to bring his family here and start a new life with his old lord, or he is eager to tell William and his sons where we rebels are located, and how we might best be attacked.”

“Sigefrith will know what to do,” Leila assured him.

“God bless Sigefrith! Every time I must play king for a few weeks, I am reminded what a shoddy hand I am at it. We were only ever meant to be a knights-​​errant ourselves, my dear sir.”

Leila smiled at him.

“Wouldn’t you rather be laying a nice siege right now, or pillaging a handsome village?” he asked. “Instead you will be forced to dine with a pompous little Duke, and smile, and laugh at his ridiculous jokes. I’m not saying that the latter requires less courage than the former, mind you…”

Leila laughed. “It will be the greatest pleasure I have had in… ever so long!”

“Well! I’m certain it will be the same for me, for that matter. I don’t often have the occasion to speak to a woman who is as clever as she is beautiful.”

“You might try speaking to particularly ugly women, Alred. I would suppose that great stupidity and great ugliness are united as often as are great beauty and great wit.”

Alred laughed, and for the first time he seemed to have his old look about him. The laugh was real. He still had a wellspring of laughter in him somewhere, and she was relieved for his sake. Perhaps there was hope for her as well.