As things settled a bit, I was pretty sad. I was without 2 of my children. Grissell was also bummed out to have Molly gone from the home. She was pretty used to having all 3 of her daughters in the home again. Molly had been a constant presence. Her absence was felt deeply. Even her brothers missed her. She was the one who trained with them on the fields. I loved her. I loved Len. Grissell did not love Len. I was surprised that his mom was still pretty cold at the situation. "How can a male think that mounting another male could lead to anything good?" she grumbled. I just looked at her. "Len was punished for that. No one can control who they find attractive. Do you not care that's he not here anymore?" I asked. She crossed her arms and pouted indignantly. "Why should I care about it? I have 5 other pups that can be perfectly good warriors." she said. I pulled her in my arms. "You know I am sad he's gone. You can be honest and say you miss him." I said. She frowned. "Len is one of my pups. Of course I don't like what happened. But he earned it. Males can't do that. It's wrong."
Bonnie was being honest as least. "Hmm. I think that you should be a bit kinder to your son. The last thing that he needs is for his own parents to abandon him." I said in her right ear. She sucked her teeth as she flicked the ear away from me. I rolled my eyes. "You sent him away, Collin. I have nothing to do with that." she growled. That was new. She was getting really agitated. I took a step back and said "I'm going to make a trip over to see them soon. Len could not stay here with all these people that hate him. Someone might have tried to attack him." I explained. Bonnie just curled her lips back. "I'd like to see someone try to lay a single paw on one of my pups." I just sighed. "Things just are not the same with my children gone." I said as I walked away. I needed my own space now. I went over to the centaur training grounds to sulk for a bit. Petras, Jeran, Casone and Enetes listened to me. I got the sense that they also did not get it. They were willing to just let me vent though. I appreciated it quite a lot. Sometimes, all you needed was someone to listen to you. I was much calmer.
Clarity came with a plan. Len was stripped of his rank of squire by Count Swifthunt of Greene. To get Len to knighthood, we would need him to be knighted by someone of higher rank than a count, or have it done outside of the county. There was one way to get that done easily. We could go to the capital. There were tons of nobles that would love a beastkin-human hybrid knight to protect them or their children. Len was stronger than most adult men as a child. The blessing from the tribe had increased his already incredible speed and agility. Len would be an excellent bodyguard for any nobleman or noblewoman. It was not something that needed to be questioned. Why not leverage that skillset into becoming an attendant knight to some noble lordling milling about in the capital city? Once he showed his martial prowess, people would be begging to have him in their corner. From that point onwards, that noble family would have him serve as a knight. Holly was in the same position. She was a woman who was knighted. She could attend to a big noblewoman and protect her in the streets.
