Living a life unburdened by bigotry was something that I wanted for all of my daughters. It was still important for people to look around and see the lay of the land around them. People attacking them because they were put in a place to become knights would be bad. I would hate seeing them suffer. After a month of staying at home, it was time to have the conversation. Bowing his head, he said "Thank you for blessing my children with your presence. I hope, one day, they too might swear their own oaths of allegiance to your noble house. If that does not come to pass, I pray that you will look favorably upon them if something ever was to happen to me." Both lords bid me a good night. I saw them to the door and closed it behind them. It was time to have the conversation. I went up to the bedroom and found Grissell in the wooden rocking chair looking over the cribs of Molly and Holly. The nursing maid had fed them and left already. The children were all sleeping. I looked at her and she frowned. "You look upset. What's wrong, Collin?" she asked. I pulled her close and hugged her tight.
It was pretty nice. She was a nice woman. Grissell was faithful and curious about me. I told her so many things and showed her a ton. Her very adventurous nature in the bedroom was a plus. I kissed her on the forehead. "Let's get in the bed. We have a bit to discuss." I said. She was happy to jump in with me. Looking at me, she said "I am so bored waiting around the house and not doing anything. I've been waiting for my belly to heal up. Do you think we can get back to having some... nighttime fun?" I smirked and said "I would love to. But we have to talk about the girls." She tilted her head in confusion. "What about them?" she asked. It was time. I took a deep breath and started. "Have I told you about shield maidens?" I asked her. She shook her head. I told her about mighty women warriors that stood on the field of battle and gained glory and honor alongside their male companions. There was a bit of embellishments to ease her into it. They were mostly just literary figures although some female graves had been found to support the idea. Grissell looked at me with attention.
Making the case as best as I could, I smiled at her. "How about it? What do you think about it?" I asked. She thought it was a nice story. "Your world sounds so amazing. I love how you tell me things." Grissell praised. "You know that we have 3 daughters of our own, right? I was thinking we can train them into being warriors. Nothing too intense. Just some archery and maybe mounted combat." I said slowly. You would have thought that she was slapped in the face. "No!! Not my daughters! You can't take them from me and send them to war. It's not right!" she screamed as she scrambled over to the cribs. The commotion woke all of them up and they began crying. I was not expecting this. I raised my hands in surrender. "Okay. Okay. I understand your feelings and will obey. None of our daughters will be trained for combat. Never ever." I capitulated. She was heaving and it looked like she could go down at any second now. "Good. I'm glad you see reason." she said. "That does raises a question on what I should do. We can't have more children. Should I adopt a boy?" I asked Grissell.
