Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

bawl. She cooed and rocked him to no avail—he worked himself into a tantrum. Buri returned with her blanket.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Alanna cried. “I only joggled him a little—”
    Buri opened the blanket on the ground and put clean diapers on it. “Probably wet,” she said. “Change him.” She left again.
    Alanna looked at the child in horror. “I never—” She was saying that too much lately—surely a proven knight was equal to anything! Trying to remember how Thayet had done it earlier, she put the child down and unwrapped him. A stench rose from the diaper: The baby was more than wet. When Alanna fumbled the knot open, she saw a damp brown mass was responsible. This can’t be worse than mucking out stables, she told herself, fighting her unhappy stomach. I’ve done that hundreds of times.
    Coram knelt beside her. “Take the diaper he fouled and wipe him with the edges,” he explained, his eyes twinkling. When she looked at him pleadingly, Coram shook his head. “It’s not hard. Lift him by his ankles—he’s used to it. That’s the idea—get rid of as much as ye can. Put the dirty oneaside.” He dampened a clean diaper in the stream and gave it to her. “Swab the poor mite down. Think how ye’d feel in that state. Easy, little lad,” he crooned, giving the baby a finger to hold. The infant grinned, showing a bit of ivory. “Teeth, is it? Let me see.” He ran his finger around the baby’s gums. “And two more comin’ in—no wonder ye’re scratchy.”
    Alanna stared at Coram as he gave her a fresh, dry diaper. “Where in the Mother’s Name did you learn all this?”
    â€œFold it like a triangle. I was the oldest, and four more after me. When I governed Trebond, I watched the little ones when their mothers were workin’ in the fields. I like them fine.” He shook the finger the baby clutched; the infant crowed and babbled happily. “A grip like iron: This one’ll be a blacksmith, mark my words. No, no—if ye put it on him so loose, it’ll fall off. And that’s a fair knot.” Coram held the baby in the air and shook him gently, to be answered with a gleeful cackle.
    Alanna felt odd. Coram could’ve had a family years ago, if he hadn’t been working for Trebond.
    Coram looked at her. “Don’t start sayin’ maybe ye should bring me home to Rispah. We’ve somethin’to do before we head back.” He touched her shoulder. “I’ve been raisin’ ye. I’ve no complaints of my life.”

    Buri showed Alanna how to feed the infant from a waterskin filled with goat’s milk. When that was done, Alanna picked up the child as she’d seen Liam do, patting him on the back. Now she had the knack of handling a baby!
    She was shocked by the infant’s burp, unpleasantly surprised when dampness spread over her back. Seeing her face, Buri laughed until she cried. Liam gave Alanna a wet cloth, fighting to keep his face straight. “Put down a clean rag first,” he explained. “They spit up when they’re burped—and they fuss when they aren’t.” Alanna went to change, red with embarrassment.
    When she returned, all the children slept on blankets in the shade. Even Buri dozed, one arm over the baby. Liam, Thayet, and Coram waited by the stream, out of earshot.
    â€œThey need rest,” Liam told her when she joined them. “They won’t make it to sundown, otherwise. We’re used to the road—they aren’t.”
    â€œThayet tells me they’ve no supplies,” said Coram. “Even the food we brought won’t last.”
    â€œWe tried to forage.” The princess cooled her feet in the stream. “The farms in these valleys were rich, and there was game—but not anymore. The land’s picked clean. We ran out of food last night, and Buri