Phillip had always been an early riser, and this first morning in Echo Valley would be no different.  He slipped a robe over his thick, woolen pajamas and pulled aside the opening of his tent to find the mountains to the east dark as night with the sky above showing the first signs of the dawn.

His tent looked south upon the river and upon the village beyond that.  And his first thought upon eying the community was of the young beauty with whom he'd had such a hopeful conversation the night before.  Phillip turned to look at his bed, specifically at the woman still sleeping within it.  Ellora was beautiful and highly skilled in her [I]Art[/I], and Phillip had very much enjoyed her company and service -- both in and out of bed -- during these first months as a Noble.

But the two of them would part soon.  It wasn't that Phillip was tiring of her, and it wasn't even the fact that she was only servicing him for the coin that had been and would continue to come her way.  The choice to end their relationship was actually Ellora's.  She hadn't traveled north from the Capital to Echo Valley simply to fill her purse with Phillip's silver; Ellora had business in the northernmost of Phillip's pledged Counties, that of Black Rock, the home of Count Karl of the House of Blynne.  

Phillip had attempted to learn more about this [I]business[/I] of Ellora's, but the woman had begged off questions, [I]with respect, m'lord[/I] she would always add.  Unlike many men who treated whores little better than they treated stock animals, Phillip had respected Ellora's desire for privacy regarding Black Rock.

He looked away from the bed to the village again, then stepped out to look to the mountains that were the northern boundary of Echo Valley and the southern boundary of the County of Black Rock.  Phillip had known nothing of this Count Karl of the House of Blynne until near the end of the war.  The man's loyalties had been in question during the fighting and -- according to Terrano's spies -- remained so even to this day.  

There were rumors that the Count had switched allegiances several times, that he'd invaded and pillaged neighboring lands, including this very village laid out before Phillip now.  But for every person of note who spoke against Karl of Blynne, there was another who spoke for him, spoke of his bravery and loyalty to the Crown during the bloody years.  

Terrano's [I]eyes and ears[/I] in the Capital and throughout this region claimed it had cost Karl nearly his entire fortune to buy such a grand tale of duty to the King.  It was likely that no one would ever know what the truth was.  Phillip recalled something his captain had told him about the truth: [I]Often, it can be found on both sides of the same gold coin.[/I]

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The sun was high in the sky before Terrano finally located the home of the peasant girl, Marina.  The Captain could have found her sooner, but his Lord had wanted the search to be done -- in Phillip's words -- [I]without it seeming as if the village was once again being invaded by foreign troops[/I].

So rather than simply going house to house, business to business, field to field asking Echo Valley's residents [I]Do you know the identity of the beautiful young peasant girl who spoke to the Earl last night as he ogled her delicious body[/I], Terrano dispatched the 6 Guards who had been accompanying him and Phillip through the feast the night before to wander the town and simply look around for the girl or her father, both of whom most of the Guards could easily identify.

It would be the latter that one pair of the Guards would come across after a few hours of searching.  Bill was resting in the shade of a huge oak tree on the edge of the communal plot of land his and eight other families farmed.  Once upon a time, a 20 acre portion of this field had belonged to Bill and Bill alone.  But his status as a Landed Peasant had been revoked when -- after three straight years of drought -- he couldn't pay his Earl's taxes.  Since then, he'd worked the land with other simple peasants, surrendering half of the harvest to whatever Lord was in control at the time and splitting what remained with far too many other residents.

Bill had spent much of the morning conflicted about the night before.  He had treated his daughter like a whore.  He'd put Marina out before the new Earl and essentially told him [I]For a bit of coin, m'lord, you can have her virtue.[/I]  He was ashamed of himself, as was his wife and -- he presumed, as they hadn't discussed it yet -- as was his daughter.  

And yet at the same time, Bill knew that what he'd done was likely the best he could have done for his daughter.  Oh, no father wants his daughter to be some man's play thing.  But, if that man is a Noble and [I]not just[/I] a Noble but the [I]Earl[/I] of Echo Valley … well, what better man to be the one in whose care -- and in whose bed -- Marina ends up?

What other options did Marina have?  She had been a poor peasant girl all her life, she was a poor peasant girl this day, and she would continue to be a poor peasant girl the rest of her life.  Oh yes, she might get lucky and marry a Landed Peasant or perhaps a merchant or Smithy who owned a home and a soft, stuffed bed that didn't lay on a hovel's packed dirt floor.  

Bill had always wanted more for his daughter than that, and -- as despicable as it might seem -- this was the only way he saw Marina getting what she deserved, a comfortable life in clean clothes with a table full of food and wine.

"You are the father of the girl Marina?"

Bill flinched at the unexpected question coming from one of the Guardsmen who'd approached him during his daydreaming.  He rose quickly, grimacing at the pain in his leg, then bowing slightly without knowing whether or not he was supposed to do so or not.  He murmured, "I'm sorry...?"

The Guardsman repeated, "You are the father of the girl Marina … with whom our lord, Earl Phillip, had a conversation at the feast last evening."

Bill's eyes widened as he realized that his drunken hopes of the night before, as well as his more sober ones of this following morning, were coming to pass.  He stared at the two soldiers for a long moment as the conflicting thoughts waged war inside the confines of his skull.  Then … he spun away from the two men and retched all about the trunk of the ancient oak.

The Guardsmen stared at the old farmer and glanced between themselves, intrigued by the reaction but remaining quiet while the man suffered through his body's actions.  Finally, Bill rose, wiped his chin, turned to the Guardmen, and answered with his most confident tone, "Yes, I am the father of Marina of Echo Valley."

"You are to bring your daughter to the tent of the Lord of Coin before day's end to discuss her service as a member of my Lord's household staff," the Soldier who'd spoken before informed the farmer with a commanding voice.  "Failure to appear will result in--"

"[I]No, no![/I]" Bill cut in, again half-bowing to the Guard, not just once but twice.  "We will be there.  [I]Please...![/I]  Inform your Lord … my Lord, I mean … inform him we will be there."

He bowed again, teetering a bit and trying to hide the fact that he felt as though he was going to retch once more.  The Guard confirmed Bill's commitment before he and his partner departed; they separated to find the other two pairs of Guardsmen to let them know that their mission was complete.

Behind them, Bill simply stared for a long moment … before turning to once again pollute the base of the tree with his stomach's contents.  Once he had regained himself, Bill ran off to find Marina to tell her the good news.  Or … was it bad news?  The conflict was still raging in his brain.  He located her, pulled her off away from the others, and took both of her hands tightly in his, both to signify the importance of his words and to keep her from possibly running away screaming.

He stumbled through a rambling explanation of what had just happened at the old oak.  Then, after looking to the ground for a moment to contemplate what he was about to say, he looked into his daughter's eyes and told her, "You do not have to do this, Marina."

He might as well have said [I]You don't have to part your thighs for this Nobleman you only just met, simply to bring coin into your family's home.[/I]  For that was, in fact, exactly what Bill was saying.  He knew that; Marina knew that; his wife, her mother knew that.  

But they were beyond that now.  In a drunken haze, Bill had essentially offered up his virtuous daughter to his new Lord; now, sober and thinking straight, Bill knew there was nothing he could do now to correct what he'd done.

Ironically … he wasn't entirely sure he [I]would[/I] do anything to change what he'd done if he could.