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thoughts. She had never really thought about her role as a soldier. It was simple, you went where you were told and fought who you were supposed to. She knew that the Ablaian soldiers weren’t evil but she never thought about trying to change things so that war might be avoided. If she was a normal soldier it might not bother her as much, but she wasn’t. One day she would be a duchess and in charge of a large section of land as well as other members of the lesser peerage. If it wasn’t her job to try and fix things whose was it?
    The thoughts bothered her. How often has she just looked past things that needed changed. She knew Thad was a slave but instead of evaluating if slavery needed changed she simply looked past it and tried to find ways around the fact. She knew that slaves were treated well in Farlan but slavery had started off by people who willingly gave themselves to their master for protection. Even the brand was a token of the people to their master to show that they were proud to be under their protection. Now slaves didn’t have a choice?
    Her mind flooded Eloen drifted off into a fitful slumber. Things she had overlooked in her life that she knew were wrong haunted her dreams. The men she had seen begging on the roadside because they couldn’t find work. The young boys she had seen at the slave auctions. Most of all, what she had done to Thad, the man she was supposed to love. When the Queendom was in trouble they didn’t seek him out and ask him. No they got together and tried to find the best way to manipulate him into doing what they wanted. Thad’s face was in the background of her nightmares his face looking at her in disgust.
     

CHAPTER IV
    Eloen woke very early the next morning, still feeling rested despite her troubled sleep. Outside she could see that an early-morning fog still hung low in the air. For a while she stared at the sky though the window of the small house. Simply looking at how the whips of white blended into the light blue of the sky comforted her frayed nerves.
    Ballard and Darryl were still fast sleep. She thought of waking them but decided against it. The past few days had been hard on everyone and they deserved what little rest could be afforded them.
    Rene was the first one down the stairs. When she saw the two men still sleeping she waved Eloen to follow her into the kitchen. The kitchen was much colder than the common room had been but it warmed up quickly once the fire in the small stove was started. After their fire was started Eloen followed Rene into the basement of the hose where the air was so cold that she could see her breath hanging in the air. Large blocks of ice lined the walls of the small room. Rene began to cut slabs of meet off of a large animal that hung on a hook in the center of the room.
    “Do y’all have enough food to last you?” Rene asked looking over her shoulder at Eloen.
    “Yes, we have enough food to last us a fortnight, if not longer.”
    Once back in the kitchen the two women went to work. Eloen had always enjoyed cooking. Growing up her mother had fumed anytime she did anything that was considered below her station. That included cleaning, cooking, and fighting. At first she had done it merely out of spite for her mother but she began to enjoy the activities. While her mother disproved of her life her aunt had taken a special interest in her and named her the heir to the duchy.
    Glenn and Tim came to the table before the meal had finished cooking, while Ballard and Darryl were still sleeping the day away. Laughing to herself Eloen grabbed two cups and filled them with water from a bucket in the corner of the room. Standing over her two friends she started pouring the water while the rest watched. The two men jumped up yelling to the laughter and amusement of everyone else. Ballard took it in stride while Darryl spent a good amount time sputtering about the indecency of being awoken in such a manner.
    Rene and her family saw them off after