"Should I tell the guards to bring you
something?"

Gabrielle shook her head no, stood up and
walked to a corner, thus ending the conversation.

For the next few candlemarks, the only sound
that could be heard in the hut was the sound of Lila's gentle
breathing. Hecuba sat by the bed, her hands twitching nervously
while Gabrielle stood in the corner, refusing to look at her
mother.

It was then that Hecuba began humming a
lullaby.

Gabrielle recognized the tune for it was the
same tune that Hecuba had sung to her when she was younger. The
memories that the tune invoked were bittersweet. *She would sing
that tune every time I was hurt or afraid.* She watched as Hecuba
wiped Lila's brow with a cloth, *Just like she did with me.*
Before she knew it, Gabrielle made her way to the bed and sat down
in her seat. Without looking at her mother she stated, "You
use to do that all the time."

"Do what?"

"Hum that song. Every time one of us was
hurt, you would come along and hum that tune."

Hecuba glimpsed at her eldest child.
"Yes, I remember. I guess some things never change."

"And some things can never be the
same."

"Gabrielle, I understand…"

"Don't mother. Don't tell me that
you understand or that you know how I feel."

Gabrielle looked away from her mother.
"Just take care of Lila, okay?"

Hecuba returned to her task. Once again, out
of habit, she began humming as she tended to Lila. As she finished
she said, "Gabrielle, I'm going to…" As she looked
up, she saw that her oldest had fallen asleep. *Some things never
change.* Hecuba stood up, grab the blanket from the spare bed and
placed it over the bard. She then quietly left the hut.

Gabrielle woke up and felt the blanket that
covered her. The bard slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room.
As her sight came into focus, she saw her mother standing, with her
back towards her, saying something in a shaky voice.

Gabrielle listened intently to her
mother's words:

"It's been a long time since I prayed
to any of you, but please hear me. I am dead to my oldest, not that
I can blame her. I really messed thing up with her with all my
deceptions and fears. Please, I beg you, don't take away my
youngest too."

"We won't lose her." Hecuba spun
around to the source of the comment. Gabrielle looked at her sister
and then back at her mother. "You won't lose her. And you
haven't lost me. You sprung something on me that I wasn't
expecting and I wasn't ready to handle it; I'm not sure
that I am now."