"But you can't help it," Aurich said bluntly.  He had a lot he wanted to say right now about everything, the words she picked and the way she steeled up just now trying to keep up an image.  If mercenaries didn't want a woman for a leader, they would desert.  Many of them did it seems.  But that doesn't mean those who remained wanted her to be a man for them.  That's how fathers think, and she did seem to think of her men as family.  But they weren't children.  "So there's no point in blaming yourself, right?"<br/><br/>He offered her a drink from his jug of ale now, wondering if she'd remain uptight and prickly once her men had passed them by and she didn't need to act.  "Still, if these deserters can leave this family of yours, could someone join it as well?  You're going to tomorrow to take the fort, aren't you?  What do you think will happen if you only have 16 mercenaries with you versus however many these bandits and renegades will have?"