"What are you dragging me into the kitchen for?" Aelgifu was quite annoyed at Anya. "I was just going to--"

"I know what you were 'just going to do'," replied Anya dryly. "But if you had been paying attention you MIGHT have noticed that Princessy Pie over there has refused to help avert a disaster." Anya nodded her head toward the Lady Elstred. "I wonder how she's going to like it when somebody accidentally breaks a bench on her head."

Aelgifu shrugged. "If these guys are going to play wargames in here, I'm all for heading on out."

"And where exactly would you be going?" Anya put her hands on her hips in a gesture of both irritation and challenge. "We have to stay in the Schildhof."

"Why?" Aelgifu was genuinely puzzled.

Anya thought for a moment. "Because that's how it is. People come in here. They might get to leave but we don't."

"Oh." Aelgifu thought about this for a moment. "All right. If you say so. I didn't understand."

"Well, make yourself useful here. Go see what those two newcomers want."

"I don't see that it matters what they want. All we have is bread and pork and mead and ale. That's all I can give them."

Anya greeted this comment with an irritated sniff. "Then go and take them some bread and pork and mead and ale!" She studied the newcomers for a minute. "They look tired. Give them a couple of apples too."

It was Aelgifu's turn to sniff. "And who made you the boss of me?" she muttered under her breath as she loaded the items onto a large wooden tray.

Approaching the newcomers with a smile, Aelgifu handed each man a horn of mead. They thanked her and then settled down to eat their meal. Aelgifu whispered, "Eat quickly! The fyrd might arrive at any moment!"