A look around me showed that my children were growing up nicely. Ren and Len were 6. Bruiser, Boxer, Brawler and Battler were 7 years old. The twins were 8. Johna is the eldest and she was almost 11 years old. We had long discussed what would happen when the castle was ready. Count Jeffery Swifthunt and his wife would go there to establish the county seat. Fabien was older, so he would stay behind in the manor as the de facto mayor of the town. Anthony was the youngest, so he would go with his parents to support them. I was Anthony's attendant knight. It was my full time job to support him. Due to that, my family would be following him to Mansfield. Alard and his wife did not fancy having another move. They had been settled here for over a decade. They were going to stay in Huntston. Yon was young with a wife. He was able to move with his sister and our family. That meant Yon was coming. Ottie and Raolin were both assigned as attendant knights to Fabien, so they were staying. The tribe of centaurs were ready to move. It was part of their tradition. They wanted new lands.
Being that they did not worship the same gods, Count Swifthunt had already forbid them from making another place of worship to the Great Spirits in Mansfield. That was fine with them. The tribes were nomadic. If they wanted to commune with the Great Spirts, Enetes or whoever the new shaman would be could simply make the trek to the arches monthly. In all the time that it was up, no foreign centaurs had come to check it out. That was a shame. I would have liked to see this being a spot of spiritual relevance too. We humans could have charged for that. Then again, it also could have gotten us all into big trouble with the human religious authorities. The centaur children were all going to have to leave the county in order to find their own mates at this rate. That would be a bit sad. I liked seeing them scamper around and hang out with my children. Bruiser, Boxer, Brawler, Battler, Ren and Len were doing weapon training. I was great with throwing knives. They were close range weapons for melee and a ranged weapon when thrown. I taught all the hybrids. Ottie taught swordplay.
Calling on the elves of the free folk village, they got to learn some archery. Bruiser, Boxer, Brawler and Battler were old enough to be squires. I taught them about chivalry and etiquette. Anthony had to check me and do a lot of correction for them. I was just going off of books and stories. Ren and Len were my new pages. They learned how to take care of my leather armor. They also knew how to maintain blades and clean them. I cooked just as often as my wife, but it was my pages that served the food to me and Grissell. It was Bruiser, Boxer, Brawler and Battler doing all of that before them. When our food was served, they were dismissed to eat in the guesthouse with their mother. Grissell never cooked for them. It was her right not to acknowledge my mistress or her children. Her meals were only for me and the girls. When I cooked, it was for everyone. Even Lyari got fed. I cooked maybe 2 or 3 days a week. When I did not cook, everyone in the guesthouse had to go to the local tavern for meals. The sauna was a huge draw, so we were doing alright. I was to open one up in Mansfield.
