Katherine had tears streaming down her face when she finally rode into Jessica and Lauren’s camp on the hill west of Aberdeen. Indeed, she’d had tears streaming down her face throughout the whole ride here.

Lauren grabbed the reins while Katherine climbed down. "What's wrong? Did Luag get in a fight? Where is he?"

Katherine fell into Lauren's arms as soon as she dismounted. "No, no, nothing like that. He's still with Donald. Still trying to enact his original plan of getting his MacDonald cousins to defect with those loyal to them. He said he was coming with me and then once I was on the horse, he slapped it."

Jessica came and took Katherine's other hand and together with Lauren led her to a seating area they had created.

Through her tears, Katherine looked out over Aberdeen. They could see the whole city, all of its gates and activity, plus dozens of ships in the harbor.

Still sniffling, Katherine nodded at them in thanks and took a seat. "I didn't want to care about him this much. He kissed me. We shared a tent, and we cuddled. It was wonderful. But now the idea of him among those who hate him so while he's trying to help us hurts me to my core. When I was just going home, I could imagine him here with you, having the life he deserves."

Jessica massaged Katherine's shoulder with one hand and took hold of her hand with the other. "I'm glad you're back, Katherine. We were so worried about you. He’s doing what he can to keep everyone here safe. That’s why you care about him."

Their attempts to console her only made Katherine cry harder.

They put their arms around her and let her cry awhile.

While she cried, she watched the action below. Aberdeen’s people were manning the walls and gates with bows and arrows. Knights in chainmail patrolled outside the wall. Inverurie's militia had shown up. Leif and Taran were with them at the south gate where the action would be, swords and pikes ready, a large pile of stones at hand.

All those people down there were risking their lives to defend their home from something they had no control over, and she was worried about one man who had gone to be with the enemy of his own choice. She needed to pull herself together.

"The defense looks good," she told Jessica with a smile. "Leif and Taran know what they're about, and everyone's busy doing as they say. That's a good sign." She wiped the last tears from her face using the back of her hand and gave Jessica her most reassuring look.

Jessica squeezed her hand. "Aye, those people down there are doing their best to fortify the city, and they’re doing a good job."

Katherine put a hand on Jessica's arm. "You don't sound so sure. Why not?"

Lauren put her arm around Jessica and patted her back. "Alasdair and his knights haven't shown up yet, and they constitute most of the forces at our disposal."

Worry seeped its way back into Katherine's mind. "Where are they?"

One tear escaped down Jessica's cheek. She let it stay, visibly trying to look ladylike. "No one knows." A single sob escaped Jessica's mouth. "Alasdair sounded so supportive. I thought he believed us."

Lauren held her sister-in-law close.

Jessica closed her eyes, visibly fighting the tears and sobs but losing so far.

A tiny bit of anger came to Katherine's rescue, allowing her to at last banish the tears. "I thought Alasdair believed us too." She turned toward her friends. "Do you think we should go down inside the city and help defend the walls? We can throw stones just as well as anybody else—"

"No!" her friends said at the same time.

Katherine raised an eyebrow at Lauren, the stronger of the two. "Why not?"

"Believe me, we've been over and over that with our husbands. They’re both adamant that we stay out of harm's way, else they will worry about us too much and their heads won’t be clear."

Katherine held up her hand, surrendering the point. "You're right. I can see that. Besides, without Galdus you’re as useless in a fight as Jessica and me, right?"

Lauren pressed her lips together and inclined her head. "Right. At times like this, I regret giving him up."

Jessica was still sobbing, but she snapped to attention and grabbed Lauren's hand. "Nonsense. Galdus was taking control of you. Don't even talk like that. You did what you had to do, and we’re all glad."

Leif and Taran were drilling the militia. Over and over, they would throw the stones over the wall in strategic locations, then run out to gather them up again, piling them behind the wall. The city folk drilled as well, even the women with bows, but they didn't shoot their arrows, saving them all for actual combat.

Katherine was ashamed, watching the women prepare to help defend their home. She'd been here a year. She could have learned how to shoot arrows. What had she been up to? Not much, that was what. So what if she knew who Leif’s contacts were in all the cities of Scotland, their names, their families’ names, their likes and dislikes? Who did she think she was, a lady herself? No, she was just a commoner, and all the commoners down there in Aberdeen knew how to defend their home.

Which begged the question in the back of her mind.

"Jessica, where are the other ladies?"

Jessica smiled, but she looked worried. "They all stayed in the Regent’s residence. They said it was the safest place for them."

An unwelcome thought came to Katherine, and she felt like she had to share it, that it would be irresponsible not to. "What are we supposed to do if…"

Jessica took a deep breath and looked off into the distance, away from Aberdeen. "If the city gets overrun, we are to go higher up into the mountains, wait for Kelsey to contact us in her dreams, and ask her to get us home to the 21st Century."

Katherine squeezed Jessica's hand. "I'm sorry I had to ask that, but—"

Jessica squeezed her hand back. "Don't worry about it. It makes sense to have a plan. They don’t want to worry about us. They want us to be safe no matter what, and so they thought of that too. Shows how much they love us." Jessica lost her battle with the sobs then.

As Katherine moved in to comfort her friend, a lot of movement off to the left caught her eye.

"What's that?"

"What?" Lauren asked, turning her head also to the left to look —and opening her eyes wide once she had.

All three women screamed.

A great horde of warriors came running toward the sparsely guarded northern wall and gates of Aberdeen.