Tcha. All it takes for a youngling of that age is to see the parent doing one thing, and it is certain they will try and do the opposite. How refreshing to have youthful rebellion working for him instead of against him! And perhaps, when Sendar saw his daughter being sensible, he would be shamed into sense as well. Not likely, but he could hope.
"You'll want Heralds Keren and Ylsa," Talamir said thoughtfully. "Neither of them will be in the least impressed with rank and birthright; they saw Selenay as a first-year Trainee and helped me whip her into shape."
"Women there are in the City Guard as well—" And he couldn't help the wry smile. "Locasti Perken, Berda Lunge, and Haydee Dellas." His spirit rose a little at the thought of recruiting those three to his bodyguard. Selenay would have to be a deal older and craftier before she could outwit or overawe them.
Dethor raised an eyebrow. Talamir chuckled. "Oh, I believe I know those names," the King's Own said, matching Alberich's smile. "They have night patrol around the Compass Rose and Virgin and Stars, don't they?"
"And just last week frog-marched young Lord Realard back to his father, then delivered a lecture to the old man that fair pinned his ears back," Dethor said, with a nod. "Or so I heard."
"Correctly, you heard. Impressed with rank, they are not, either." Two Heralds, three City Guards, that made five, and with the addition of a Palace Guardswoman who came to his practices who was called Lotte—if she had a surname, he'd never heard it—that would give him two women at Selenay's side at all times. That would do for close bodyguards; for her battle guards, and Sendar's, he'd want another ten or a dozen. Twenty or twenty-four good fighters; he'd have to think long and hard about who....
"These, I need—" he said, rattling off the names; Talamir nodded. "—those six at once. Special training, will they need. The rest, from Palace and City Guard, I will make a list."
"Have it to me in a candlemark," Talamir said, getting to his feet. "Send it by page. I'll have Sendar sign on it. That will cut through any objections. I'll have your six women report in the morning, and the rest to you within the week."
He would have liked it to be sooner, but that was probably the best that could be done. Replacements would have to be found, schedules juggled, and all of that took time.
Time—which was now working against them.
"Selenay, I want as well," he added. "Best it is, that she learn her guards to work with."
"Right," Dethor agreed. "And if we can get Sendar down here to work with his—" He stopped at the grimace that Talamir gave.
"Ask for the moon, and you're more like to get it," the King's Own said grimly. "If he sees his bed for more than four candlemarks in a night now, I'll be surprised, so don't expect him to come down here for what's 'only' a little arms practice."
"Then his Companion, we shall have!" Alberich said, in a burst of inspiration. "One at least of the pair shall we train with!"
:Done, Chosen,: Kantor said instantly.
"And you'll have Taver to stand in for me, because I must be with Sendar," said Talamir in the same moment. "That way at least one half of the pairs will get some practice in this."
:The sensible ones,: Kantor said.
Alberich was not disposed to argue with that assessment.
«»
Six women—two in Herald's Whites, three in City Guard blue, and one in the darker, near-midnight blue that marked the Palace Guard—stood at attention before Alberich. Three of the six were older than he by three or four years, and were probably at least as tough. But there was not a jot less than honest deference in their expression, and though all six of them looked sober, they did not look anxious. That was good; it meant that they trusted him, his competence, and his orders.
"You six have I selected, as Selenay's bodyguards," he told them. "Two each for each of three watches, day and night. Her side, you will not leave, while on watch, ever."
He saw the two Heralds exchange a glance; noticed a slight frown of concentration on Lotte's face.
"Now will I ask, how paired you wish to be, and which watch you wish to take," he continued. "Sensible you are, and know you that no less honor there is, for the night watch than the day."
"If it's all the same to you, I think Ylsa and I ought to be on day watch," Herald Keren spoke up. "Selenay will have to be in on all of the battle plans and councils and the like, and—well, not to be rude, but Heralds will just blend in with the background."
Meaning, no one will object to Heralds being there, when some of the highborn might complain to see City Guard, particularly women that they might have seen hauling their erring sons home drunk.
"Objections?" Alberich asked, looking at the other four, who shook their heads.
"That splits the night with us," said Berda. "I'll tell you what, if it's all the same to you two, I'm used to the late hours after the taverns close, and I know that Haydee and 'Casti are on—were on—first night watch. Lotte, think you could handle the dawn watch with me?"
The Palace Guardswoman shrugged. "It'll take me a bit to get adjusted, but I'll manage."
Well, that sorted itself out painlessly. "Make it so," he told them. "And once satisfied I am that your business you know, those watches you will take at Selenay's side."
"Whether or not we're still in Haven?" Herald Ylsa asked, looking surprised.
"Whether or not. Used to your presence, I wish her to be. Invisible, I wish you to be."
Nods, no objections. "What do you want us to do that we haven't done before?" asked Lotte.
He proceeded to show them.
They were used to fighting back-to-back, but not when in charge of someone incapacitated, or someone who needed to be kept in cover. They needed to learn how to find safe exit routes, at least two, the moment they entered a room or a situation. They had to practice defensive, rather than offensive, fighting. And later, he would teach them quick rescue techniques, how to dash in and grab the Heir if someone had snatched her, while she was still within reach. Even if that someone had a knife to her throat. The time to get her away was not after she was in enemy territory. He hoped that at least one of each pair was a good shot; one of the best ways to rescue someone who was kidnapped was to shoot her in the leg. Someone who had to be carried became doubly hard to take.
But he thought he would save that lesson for a time when Selenay wasn't with them.
By midmorning, Selenay had joined them. She was not at all happy about having bodyguards all the time, but she was reasonable about it. The same could not be said for her father, according to the terse report he got from Kantor.
But Alberich didn't have to deal with her father. That was Talamir's problem, not his.