"Loren, yes I know." Jade smiled faintly. "I know he is skilled in combat, but I do not want to risk anything." 
"And?" Elizabeth urged her with a crooked smile on her lips. 
"How do you do that, Liz?" Jade laughed quietly. The woman winked kindly at her. "Fine..." She smiled and shot the woman a cordial glance. "It did not feel right to tell him when he was about to leave. That was not how I wanted William to learn that he will become a father. It felt rushed. I would rather wait until I can tell him-" Jade turned silent when she realized  that there would not come a better time to tell William about the child. "I should have told him." She sighed, disheartened when it dawned on her that she might never get the chance to tell him now that he had left. 
"There, there." Elizabeth whispered and placed her hands on Jade's cheeks. She gave them a gently tap with her palms. "Cheer up! You can write him and we will send out a guard, tomorrow at dawn, who will deliver it him." 
-William- 
"You are awfully quiet." His father grunted. William threw him a slow, disinterested glance before turning his eyes back to the map spread out on the table in front of them. "You barely said three words on our way here." 
"What would you have me do, father? Make conversation to ease whatever concerns you?" William muttered without taking his eyes off the map. 
They had made camp to let the infantry rest for a day before they would continue south. They could barely afford a whole day's rest, but his men had to remain strong and in good spirits. They still had a long journey ahead of them and a dip in his men's moral would slow them down.

William's father had advised against a long rest, but William knew how heavy those armors, swords and shields were to wear. To wear and carry them whilst walking on foot, did not make it any easier for those if his men who did not have the luxury of horses or loading their gear on carts. He would much rather have given every man a horse to spare them from walking... but they did not have enough horses for that. 
Outside his tent, the wind was howling and ripping at every corner it could get its hollow claws onto. It seemed like a ferocious storm was coming their way. William glanced to his left when a powerful gust of air slammed into the side of the tent. He watched the fabric of the tent straighten slowly as the wind faltered temporarily. 
Good thing I ordered a night's rest for the men. To walk in this weather would have been nothing but miserable. He thought and viewed this as a victory over his father whom had wanted to keep going. 
"I wish you would let me know what you are thinking." His father answered after a moment of silence. "What you are planning to get out of staring so hard at that map?" 
"You constantly complain about me being silent when we are alone, on our way to or from a battle." William remarked without taking his eyes off of the map. "Why do you need to know everything that is on my mind? It appears as if you have something on your mind father. What it could be about - on the other hand - I do not know." 
William's father always acted like something was wrong with him when it was so very clear that it was he who wanted to talk about something. William had grown used to this over the years, but it did not make it any less annoying. The sound of wine being poured into his father's cup reached William and he took a deep breath to prepare himself. If his father was having a refill, it meant that William was in for it. His father was not going to let him get anything done until he had forced his son to tell him what was on his mind- or shared what was weighing on his. 
"I have always known you to be a man of few words." His father chuckled and took a sip of his wine while he walked back to the table. 
He sat down at the table William was leaning over. The chair protested with a creaking sound as his father simply dropped all of his weight down upon it. The man wasn't fat, far from it , but he was without a doubt a large man and the chair was not as sturdy as the ones in the castle.