nny | Random head popping

Shayla tugged the fabric tighter, brisk hands hooking the dress together at the back.

"It is for distraction only," she said, her voice low and reassuring, and Kaia nodded tightly as she pulled long hair away from the dress's fastenings. Shayla sighed and settled her hands on the younger girl's shoulders, placing a kiss carefully against the crown of her head. "I would not lie to you, dear."

Kaia started as the door creaked open and Medram bustled in, cloth in one hand and wax in the other. She tutted when she saw the look on Kaia's face, the dress they'd levered her into, and scowled up at Shayla with the same look she'd used years ago at mud pies in the nursery.

"Their colonel?" And, at Shayla's nod, "he still insists that he looks favourably on women?" Medram shook her head and let out a high grating chuckle. "Men. I've married six of the louts but I'll never understand a one of them."

"He is not - ?"

"You needn't fear for your honour," Shayla answered Kaia's soft question, and turned the girl to face her. "There, now." She reached forward to cup Kaia's cheek, tilted her mouth into something like a smile with her thumb. "He may kiss you - for who could resist that? - but you are at no risk from him."