Deleted Scene: Settlers of Talrega, chapter 7
Shiharam had taken it upon himself to teach Jill the ways of weapons maintenance. When Haar entered the fort following a shift, Jill was sitting beside her father at the pockmarked table, a rust-colored javelin in front of them. She rolled it lightly under her hand, nodding as Shiharam pointed out the grain of the wood.
Haar settled across the table, fully-armored, tossing an apple from hand to hand. Neither seemed to notice him, focused on their work. Shiharam was sitting sideways to face his daughter, in only his underdress, one elbow propped on the table. Jill held a small bottle of oil close to her face, slowly tilting it onto a clean rag.
Haar smiled when it spilled a little, a dab of oil sliding off the rag and onto the tabletop. Jill froze, staring at her father, but he simply nodded for her to go on. It wasn’t the first stain on the unpolished table from a clumsy hand, and wouldn’t be the last. Shiharam automatically rubbed the spot with his forearm.
Jill smoothed the oiled rag over the blood-stained javelin as Shiharam lightly held her wrist, guiding her hand. She stretched her arm farther, pushing the rag as far as she could reach.
“That’s good,” Shiharam said. “Now give it some muscle.”
Jill looked up suddenly, like she’d only just noticed Haar was there, staring with both hands still on the javelin. He was pleased to note they were a good distance apart, like she was ready to take up the weapon. Her fingers were stained with oil, for lack of gloves, with dirt under her nails like usual.
“Did you need me, Captain?”
He glanced at Shiharam, who was adjusting his collar. Jill looked, too, because her captain’s attention had shifted, watching him smooth down the front of his underdress. In that moment, Haar wondered if Shiharam had ever told her—of what lay beneath, or of its meaning—as he propped an elbow on the table again.
Haar shook his head. “No,” he replied. “Just observing.”