“Traill’s students study at St. Andrews by invitation. He chooses mostly younger sons of powerful nobles and clansmen, as well as other lads who show promise in their studies, or with weapons, or in other ways.”
“What other ways?”
Ivor smiled again. “One friend of ours had already gained much expertise in sailing ships and galleys when he joined us.”
“I can see how ships might help the bishop spread understanding, if that is what he was to do. But why would a man of the Kirk teach you skill with weapons?”
“Because, in our world, such skill earns respect,” Fin told her. “And when a man commands respect, others listen to him. If he doesn’t, they don’t.”
“Why younger sons, then?” To Ivor, she added quickly, “In troth, sir, I’d think that James would command respect more easily because he will inherit Rothiemurchus. He might even inherit the captaincy of Clan Chattan.”
“Aye, sure,” Ivor said. “But Traill prefers to teach men more likely to go into the world. Sithee, lass, although some eldest sons do achieve knighthood, all who survive long enough eventually have to tend to their estates and their people.”
“Bishop Traill told us much of this over the years,” Fin said. “He also seeks lads who are less likely than eldest sons to be thoroughly steeped in their clan’s rivalries. The reason that your brother and I did not know each other’s names is that as soon as we arrived at St. Andrews, we received our student names—”
“Hawk and Lion,” she said, remembering that Ivor had called him Lion.
“Aye,” Fin said. “And the others had similar ones. We had to swear by our honor not to seek information about other students, their clans, or their homes. Our world whilst we lived at St. Andrews had to be St. Andrews, because we came from all over Scotland and his reverence did not want clan war to erupt at the castle.”
“I fear that I would have tried to find out, anyway,” Catriona said.
Fin’s smile warmed her. “The bishop made it a matter of honor, my lady, and all of us yearned to seek knighthood. We knew that if we sacrificed our honor to satisfy mere curiosity, that goal would fly beyond our grasp. Traill also believes in chivalry. And he had a strong right arm with a switch or a tawse.”
“So you and Ivor have not seen each other since then, until now?”
The two men looked at each other.
“You have!” she exclaimed. “Did you not learn each other’s names then?”
Understanding from Ivor’s expressionless face that he’d leave it to him to answer that question, Fin said, “We have seen each other once since then. But only once and in circumstances that allowed for only brief conversation.”
She met his gaze and seemed to study him for a long moment before she said, “You are not going to tell me more than that, are you?”
“Not yet,” he said. “Your brother and I must talk more before we do.”
“So, despite all our talks together, you still do not trust me to keep silent.”
He hesitated and, by the look on her face, knew that he had hesitated too long. A glance at Hawk… Ivor… told him that he would get no help there, so Fin caught and held Catriona’s gaze as he said, “I told you that I would reveal what I could, and I have done that. By my troth, although there is more to tell, my not telling you has little to do with my trust in you and much to do with the fact that we do not yet know whether the information may endanger you or even ourselves.”
“But—”
“That will do, Cat,” Hawk said. “You have known the man for little more than a sennight, so you cannot expect him to trust you all in all. Such trust does not bloom so quickly but must grow over time. Moreover, if you expect him to trust you, you need to exert yourself first to trust him. Think, lass! This matter is one about which he—and I, too—know much more than you do. If we tell you that it may be dangerous for you to know too much, you should trust us.”
Fin could tell that she was reluctant to accept Hawk’s argument. So, when she shifted her gaze to himself, he met it and held it until she quirked her mouth wryly and sighed. He knew then that she would yield.
Tempted as he was to promise that he would tell her everything as soon as he could,