Bud was a very serious and guarded child. A couple of stable hands helped load up Rory’s trunks on the cart, securing on the flat bed and taking up all of the space. Kieran saddled Liberator himself; the horse was too snappish to let anyone else near him. He loaded up his saddlebags and possessions, alternately focused on what he was doing and on Rory and the two boys as they practiced on the cart. He had to stop and grin as Rory tried to drive the cart in a circle as Bud had; she had the ponies going in opposite directions. Bud swooped in to save the day and got the ponies going in the right direction again. Even though they didn’t exactly speak the same language, Rory and the boys were doing an awful lot of communicating. It was mostly through hand gestures and a few Latin words, but the point was getting across. And Kieran was growing increasingly enamored with his wife, watching her communicated most animatedly with two orphaned boys. He was already madly in love with her, but watching her interact with the two starving children was a sight to behold.
