"Oh... he
did 
," Aliana responded gleefully. "It's true that he was beginning to have second thoughts... but, he was getting late, so he had to leave before he could take the castle away from me!"
However, her smile soon disappeared when she realised the sheer weight of the responsibilities she would have to shoulder. "Thing is, it's gonna be hard work... I might ask you to help with it, if it's not too much trouble..."
Kyle snorted at this. "And what could I even do? You know I can't do much anymore..."
"Well... even if there isn't anything physical you can do, there will be bookkeeping tasks that need doing. You know how bad I am with numbers... it'd be a real help if you could take some of that off my hands. And it's surely better than just lying in bed with nothing to do... heck, it might even stimulate your mind, and be healthy for you..."
Kyle rolled his eyes. “Probably would be horrid at that too...” he grumbled looking away.
"Well, you might as well
try," Aliana urged. "I've expended
tremendous effort and energy over the past few months to try and help you - and I've done it because you
needed my help. So, the moment the situation is reversed, and I need
your help... you're just going to wimp out and not even
try 
? If you're going to be like that, then why should I even continue helping you with anything???"
“I never said I wouldn’t.” Kyle said frowning. “I just said I wouldn’t be much use at doing it.” He said shaking his head.
"I can always start you off with something simple if that would help," Aliana suggested. "Then, once you've succeeded at that, you can move on to something more challenging. It'll be like the walking... in fact, I expect it'll be easier than the walking. If you put your mind to it, then you can do it."
Kyle sighed not looking so sure himself. “Fine, I guess....”
Later that day, Aliana took her place at her father's desk for the first time. It was stacked with neatly-arranged piles of paperwork - which she noticed were firmly clamped down, so as to prevent Nestor from knocking them off if he bumped into the desk by mistake. She snorted at this - although, her amusement faded when she sat down and got to work.
"War strategy meeting, in half an hour?!" she remarked. "But they won't listen to me... I'm not a warrior! What can I do?!"
Fortunately, Aliana soon realised there was a solution - and, immediately, she dashed outside the castle, over to the treehouse.
"Conor... there's a war strategy meeting in half an hour," she panted. "Normally, Dad leads those, but... he's gone, and I'm replacing him... and I can't do that
. Do you think you could do it for me, please? I'll care for Chris and Craig while you're gone..."
Conor blinked then nodded. “Of course...I don’t mind.”