"I was." Alejandre admitted with a wry smile. "Whilst my brothers excelled at the pursuits my father admired, I was considered too... delicate and so swordsmanship was chosen for me as a way to carefully build my constitution. Mind you," he grinned. "they also insisted on a good education in case I was good for nothing else. My father had a notion that I might be of use with the accounts, though I think my mother dreamed of a life in the priesthood for me." He paused for a sip of wine. "Fortunately it was unnecessary, though I am grateful for it. My sword skills proved adequate so I was not subjected to either the office or the tonsure."
He would have liked to ask her why she had not wed and had children of her own as her expression showed her fondness for them, but feared he knew the answer already, if though only through gossip and idle chatter. Hearing it from her own lips would make of him a misery such was his regard for his lady.
"I remember the keep." he told her with a smile of gratitude. It had been in her home by the shore he had woken, grievous sore and badly wounded but already set upon the road to recovery by her tender care. He had rejoiced and mourned in that place as his strength returned and he remembered it well. "It is a healing place. A balm to the soul."