"...Hal is... a strange one," she says contemplatively. "Maybe because Duke Halzane asks so much of him, I don't know. But whenever he doesn't have to act the ducal heir, he does the oddest things in the oddest ways. He'll come down and cook with me, or get one of the girls to teach him how to sew or braid cord or weave baskets or wipe floors. He cleans his own rooms - not on much of a schedule, mind you, but often enough. When the Duke wanted to get him a personal servant, Hal told me he didn't want some poor soul to get beaten when he ruins his clothes, and I managed to persuade the Duke it would be a waste of money since he doesn't write letters and he looks after himself."