Shadowsinger

Chapter 40

Lailah was sitting with a group of her healers when Gwyn found her the next morning. The quiet surrounding them doused any leftover heat filling her body, leaving her with only an ache between her thighs to remind her of the previous night. Lailah glanced up, and offered Gwyn a tight smile, she'd been the one who'd taken the lead on support after the battle. Taken the lead while Gwyn was lying in bed, unable to help. She closed her eyes and pushed that though away, she had been unable to do anything, but she could now.

"How are they doing?"

"It's tough for some of them, most who chose to face the front lines are more or less okay, they knew what they were signing up for. It's less of a surprise than a hit from reality, those who were behind the lines are the ones having problems. I think we should split into two units, one to be behind the lines and dealing with the casualties off the field, and one for on the field, we're not all cut out for one or the other." Gwyn nodded her agreement, thoughts of mud and blood and screams filling her mind for a moment,

"If anyone needs time off they are to take it,"

"Says who? We know we're needed,"

"Says me, there's no battles in the next few days or weeks likely, the rebels are going to have to lick their wounds, and if Rhys has a problem he can take it up with me, but I doubt it."

"Thank you." Lailah relaxed visibly, her shoulders sinking slightly from the raised, tense position, "But we want to do all we can. What we've seen and faced is awful, but there is not a female among us who would step back now. We're with you." Her eyes were bright, brighter than Gwyn had realized, the shadows she'd thought were there were simply darker circles under her eyes. She nodded, and squeezed Lailah's shoulder,

"Do get some rest though, I'll let you know what you might be able to help with, I'm sure there'll be something. Do they all share your sentiments?" She must have been speaking louder than she'd realized because one of the females Lailah had been sitting with voiced her agreement, then another, until they were all speaking over one another, their voices blending into one chorus of defiant determination. "Excellent," Gwyn chuckled, "You should all be very proud of yourselves, and of the unit as a whole," she announced. 

"Would you join us? We're practicing the mind-stilling you wrote about in your account of the Valkyries." That explained the silence then, Gwyn nodded, allowing herself to smile, it had been too long since she'd spent any amount of time with some of the females in that group, females she'd once shared the library with.

It was Roslin who grinned when Gwyn sat beside her,

"And maybe you can tell us a little something about that ring on your finger and the gorgeous male you've moved in with."

"You know him," she teased,

"Not well, and not beyond training," Roslin complained, "But you do,"

"I do," Gwyn confirmed, "I love him. And that's all you get, for now at least, let's leave this for later," for when we don't have an audience was the sentence she didn't need to speak, and some part of Roslin instinctively knew it. They'd never been close like Gwyn was with Nesta and Emerie but Roslin was kind and she liked to talk to others, Gwyn had learned to start chatting again with her, and it felt like old times with her. She smiled as Roslin took her hand, and the female on her other side took the other. After a request from Lailah, Gwyn led the group through a mind-stilling exercise, grateful for that chance to practice it herself, the weight lifting from her shoulders with each breath she exhaled.

I am the rock against which the surf crashes.

I cannot be broken.

I am Gwyneth Berdara and I will not be afraid.