Ailsa felt a pang in her chest at this. She never wanted her sweet sister to feel unsafe.
“Dav,” she began.
“I know we have the Buchanans as allies,” Davina interrupted. “Especially now that you’re married into the family. But still. It’s a skill worth having.”
“I’ve only been telling you all that foryears,” Vaila grumbled.
“Wait,” said Eilidh, never one to be left out. “I want to learn, too, then!”
Vaila, suddenly finding herself with far more students than she’d reckoned on having, turned to Ailsa.
“I suppose you too, then?”
Ailsa grinned and shrugged. “Why not?”
Davina was right, after all; it was a good skill to have, no matter the circumstances. And she loved spending time with her sisters.
They all trudged down together to the training yard after summoning Mairi from her bedchamber to join them. There were a few men working in the yard when they arrived, but most of the space was clear for them to work.
Eilidh looked at the container of practice swords that waited nearby.
“Let’s hit things!” she exclaimed, taking a step toward the small wooden hutch.
“No,” Vaila said quickly, holding up a hand and stepping to physically block Eilidh’s progress. “Before you put your finger on a sword, you need to learn how to stand properly.”
Eilidh looked pointedly down at her legs.
Vaila closed her eyes and breathed in deep, as if summoning her patience.
“Sisters are not at all like brothers,” Mairi observed from where she stood at Ailsa’s side.
“Welcome to the family, darling,” Davina said with uncharacteristic tartness. Mairi laughed, and Davina looked highly pleased with herself.
In the end, Vaila made them practice standing “properly” for a quarter of an hour before she relented and allowed them to stand properlywhile holding a sword. As soon as she had the heavy heft of steel in her hands, Ailsa allowed that Vaila’s attention to proper posture was likely warranted. Swords were made for men, not shorter, slighter women, and so those women had to work harder to wield them effectively.
“Which meansnottoppling over on your rear,” Vaila pointed out dryly when Eilidh did just that.
Vaila proved to be an extremely effective teacher, however, and soon she set the girls up to practice very basic, slow motion swings and blocks. By the time Ailsa spotted her husband and Captain McGregor approaching the training yard, her arms weretrembling with every motion, so she excused herself to greet them. Vaila took over partnering with Eilidh.
“Good day, my lord, Captain,” she said, bobbing a curtsey to each.
“Wife,” Ewan said, a curling tendril of warmth in his voice that she felt settle in her lower stomach. She darted a glance at Captain McGregor, worried he might have heard the suggestiveness in Ewan’s voice, but he was already fixed on Vaila.
“Good day, my lady,” he returned absently. “What is that sister of yours up to today?”
“Did you know that I can hear you?” Vaila called in response to this, not looking back from where she was guiding Mairi to adjust her stance. “Using my eyes and my arms to fight does not actually render my ears deaf. Shocking, I know.”
Ailsa focused very hard on not smiling as the captain scowled. Ewan had no such compunctions, grinning broadly as he thumped his friend between the shoulderblades.
“She’s got ye there,” he said cheerfully.
“I dinnae like this good cheer of yours,” James observed acidly. “My lady, could ye nae needle him a bit? I’m afraid I cannae work with a man who is happily wed.”
Ailsa couldn’t help herself. “Did ye ken that Vaila said almost exactly the same thing to me this morning?”
James opened his mouth, closed it again, and then stalked off toward Vaila. He interrupted her teaching, and soon the two were arguing about the finer points of sword bearing stances. This devolved, just as quickly, into a sparring match.
“Does this seem like a bad idea?” Ailsa asked Ewan as they settled in near the edge of the training yard to watch. Eilidh, Davina, and Mairi had taken up posts on the other side of the yard and were observing with equal intensity. “Should we intervene?”
