by Liam Carrack
“How do you plan to present this to Fistall, and when?”
“Bright and early tomorrow morning. I will sit down with him, and lay it all out like a business proposition. I am hoping that Tobbyrn can help me draw up some official contracts to cover all eventualities so that we can come to some kind of compromise concerning all of this tomorrow. This way, he will not feel like he is being handed charity, but making a trade. I have a feeling that Fistall is good and tired of asking for help, of any kind, from my people.”
“What happens when, and indeed if, the Dynaly people ever regain their homeland?” Byrn had chimed in with exactly the issue that I had rounded to in my own mind as an obstacle. No matter what she said about this remaining Phiraien land, if Dynaly owned it, then at some point it would become Dynaly land to the Dynaly who lived there.
“This is what I was thinking. Tell me if this is viable. If Maersyn, or one of his descendants, reclaims the throne, and at least one half the land that was considered Dynaly territory as of five years ago, I have a dated map we can hinge this on, then the land I am trading for will revert to my families ownership, if my family exists at that time, the people who inhabit the land will not be thrown off, simply governed by a different landholder. No one is to be dispossessed. If my family does not exist, then the title will go to someone else… who we will have to designate, and I have an idea who. As to the changeover… the land rents being paid may not change… for at least… what… three years and… must be posted… two seasons in advance, and if anyone is evicted within those three years… for anything other than delinquency… the land goes to,” she hesitated even longer, and then asked the last part, “the head of the mercenary troop leader at the time? That way if neither side is playing nice neither side gets the prize. Right?”
Tobbyrn was shaking his head. I think he was as astonished as I was. That someone could come up with such a scheme, and cover all the bases, and close all the loopholes so quickly and neatly was astonishing. “How do you do it? You cover all the little issues I have with your ideas before I get a chance to bring them up.”
“Well, not all of them. We will have to get our hands on a copy of all the laws and strictures of Phiriel, especially that of the province we are moving Fistall to soon, so that he will have a chance to figure out how to abide by them before someone blows the whistle, and tries to have the Dynaly thrown off this land. Tobbyrn, are you comfortable with all of this? The influential people at the Guild may not like this when they discover it, and they will know you had to be involved. No one can do what we propose without letting the Records Keeper in on it as it’s happening. It could very well leave you holding the bag at some later date.”
Byrn was waving his hands and shaking his head calmly in his chair. “Think nothing of it. I am a silent partner in all of this for the time being. I will take the heat in my turn, and by then perhaps your standing will be such that you can shield me. Besides, if this goes badly I can draw up another version of the contract, and you can just go with Fistall.” He didn’t look very happy with this notion, and I doubted Fistall would like it either, but he had a point. “They can’t strip you of all your land, and certainly not this particular piece. I can have a more thorough list for you by tomorrow evening, and you will still be a very wealthy women even if you don’t have any of your present accounts for income.”
The rest of the evening was spent ironing out the kinks, making lists of what, and who was needed, and drawing up some very official paperwork. I had some very detailed instructions for Scuf and Meni. I wish that my note could be as cryptic as hers had been, but there was nothing to be done about that now.
It was very late when Tobbyrn yawned, and I saw him out. We had decided to leave our lists and piles neatly scattered about the room, and hoped that none of them would be disturbed before they were needed tomorrow. As the door shut behind Tobbyrn I became acutely aware that I was once again alone with Llanalla. She was sitting at the desk, and coughed discreetly. I wanted to kiss her again so badly. It didn’t matter how late it was. I was walking toward her with that intention when the door opened behind me again. I thought maybe it was Tobbyrn with another concern, but it was Llanalla’s housemistress. Scinna I think is her name. I’m going to have to make sure that’s right though. She had a shielded candle in one hand while the other held a corner of a crisp white linen night robe.
“What are you two doing in here this late?” She gave me a harsh look that told me she didn’t like the idea of the two of us alone. She didn’t wait for an answer to the first question before posing the next. “How long ago did Gemsman Tobbyrn leave?”
Llanalla looked across the room at her and smiled. “He just took his leave. We have been very busy this evening.”
“I can see that.” Scinna broke in with a disapproving glance about the once tidy office.
“These are all very important Scinna, please ask Dalla and Yesmena not to disturb them. All will be needed tomorrow, after which they will all find a proper home again, I promise.” She turned to me then, “Aahurn, thank you for all your help in this. Fare well for tonight. I will see you at the appointed time tomorrow morning.” She was walking as she said it. She sketched a curtsy, took the bewildered Scinna’s candle free arm, and walked her out the door. I sat heavily in the first available chair, and decided I needed a brisk walk outside to cool down. I didn’t end up taking one, but after the dreams I had it might have been a wise choice regardless of how little sleep I would have gotten.
Llanalla
All in all it was a very productive meeting, and I felt on top of things, but when Tobbyrn left and I realized I was alone in a room with Aahurn again I began panicking. My body was telling me to do one thing, demanding was more like, and my mind was competing with opposite orders. I felt frozen, and then Scinna walked in. The feeling of disappointment that is also profound relief set in. I excused both of us, and retreated down the hall at the most reasonable pace I could hold myself to. If Scinna thought I was rushing she might jump to conclusions. I still needed to talk some very important things over with her, and debating any possible entanglement with a Dynaly born male houseguest was not among those topics I had in mind.
My intention had been to lead her to my rooms for the discussion I had in mind, but somehow or other we ended up in the kitchen, where I found myself facing not just Scinna, but Cook, Dalla, and Yesmena as well. All in their nightclothes, and all looking decidedly tired.
“Okay missy, what’s it to be? What fate have you signed us up for?” Cook’s words were harsh but she didn’t look upset. So why do I feel like I am facing a firing squad?
“Well, everything hinges on tomorrow, I think. My plan is this, and I’m sorry I didn’t consult with you first. I’m not as good at this as I thought, but I got so caught up in seeing if I could make my plans a reality that I didn’t think of the consequences for all of you if they are realized.” Or if I fail in the attempt…
“Get it out girl.” Cook again. I smiled at her, and then at the rest of them. I felt weak for a moment. Suddenly facing the people I loved most I worried that maybe this was all a horrible mistake.
“It’s like this. Not even those two got the whole story. I want to help start up one or more orphanages for all those homeless refugee kids. That’s how this all got started. I want to hire some of those Dynaly women out there to take care of the kids. I want to send every able-bodied Dynaly man in the city with Fistall when he leaves,” I turned to look Scinna square in the eyes, “and I hope that will be very soon. I plan to sell some land I find useless to Fistall so that he has a place to take them. It is a location that I think they will find suitable, and it is out of the way, so it shouldn’t bother many of the neighboring people, as a matter of fact they won’t even have many neighbors. He hasn’t yet agreed to any of this, but I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t.
I will suggest to Fistall that he begin building homes for all of his people and later we will send women and children out to his lo
cation as soon as possible. This will clear the streets of many of the refugees filling it. I can’t imagine that the Council can oppose a plan that will empty our streets of what they think is its most consuming problem. I don’t want anyone to know where they are going though, so even though I trust you all with my life I don’t want to tell you. Don’t take this wrong. I am doing it for your safety as well, if you don’t know, no one can ask it of you. Please don’t mention to anyone that I sold Fistall land. It will be our secret. Tobbyrn is complicit. He knows where, and what the cost will be. We have a contingency plan if everything goes badly at the Meeting tomorrow.
That is where you come in. I want all the carts and jigs we have loaded with necessities, and what valuables can be easily packed before I return from the council tomorrow. If this goes as bad as anyone can imagine I want to be ready to leave town before they know we’re gone. I doubt it will come to that, but just in case I want everyone here ready.
If things go as well as I think they might reasonable be expected to, we will be transforming some of the old servants’ wing into a dormitory of sorts for those two children and a few others like them that I am sure will turn up. Horice will be teaching them. Not for his own self-gain, or even mine, but so that they do not fall into the wrong hands. Those two children are quite powerful, and have little control. They can be a danger to themselves and others if they don’t learn proper shielding and restraint. Even worse, they could fall into the hands of someone who might use them for ill. Such things have not been heard of here in a long time, but considering the current sentiment concerning the Dynaly I fear that some of the less scrupulous members of our society may begin collecting and experimenting on them and others like them. It may sound odd, but there is precedent in our history for such things.
That is everything. My whole scheme laid out before you. I don’t expect that this will completely rid our streets of Dynaly refugees, and I don’t have much hope that it will change the sentiments of our people toward the Dynaly, but it is a start, and it does offer some prospect for the future. Are you all with me, or… or…” I felt so empty, and yet so full of fear and warring hope that I dared not listen to what they would say to all of this.
“I’m in.” Yesmena and Dalla almost spoke on top of each other. Then looked at each other, and I fancied I heard the start of a giggle before they both sobered and looked at Cook and Scinna.
“I’ll follow you wherever you lead. You sound like you know what you’re doing, and I support the ideals you’re upholding, but I can’t say I’m not worried too. I’ll load food and take the everyday cookware and dishes. Then I’ll help one of the girls with linens and valuables if I’ve time. I have to say I’ll miss this kitchen if I have to leave it, and I won’t enjoy putting it all away again, but I’ll be happy doing so none-the-less. What about you, you old busybody?” Cook nudged Scinna in the ribs.
“I think you’ve all gone mad, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll pack clothing and valuables. I know where your mother hid some rather precious, but easily packable items. We are gem traders after all.”
I had tears running down my face by the time they were done. I sniffled once and thanked them. “I hate to add to all of your burdens, but I need everyone up and fed earlier than usual. I am meeting with cleric Raddwyllyn two marks after dawn tomorrow. I need all trace of any child but the heir gone from the nursery by the time he and Gemsman Tobbyrn arrive. Then I need to be opulently dressed for the Council tomorrow. Damn, did Jesemn bring a reply?” All this hinges on actually getting to see the Guild Council tomorrow. If I didn’t get my hearing, most of this wouldn’t matter yet.
Scinna held it out for me. I took it tentatively and opened it carefully, well as carefully as I could considering my overwhelming giddiness. My hands were shaking. I was holding my breath. I took one look and let it out with a long sigh of relief. I was being permitted a hearing. I had one hour to make my case. “All plans are a go. I will see you all earlier than I care to think about. Please get some sleep. I’m counting on you all.” I turned to go, and turned back again. “Don’t forget to use whatever help our visiting ladies will give.”
Yesmena smiled. “No worries there Llanalla. They all but shooed me out earlier, and they look like they’re no strangers to hard labor either. One of them told me she didn’t know why her queen had chosen them, they weren’t considered fine ladies in Dynal. She said she thought it had to do with how outspoken they all were, and they have to have some spine to have made it here in that condition with that piece of work leading the way.” And that was all it took. We were all giggling, then chuckling, and then outright laughing at the thought. My generals knew their orders, and looked like they were prepared to carry them out.
I made my way back to my rooms, and shrugged out of my dress. Then slid it back on and headed to the nursery. I would at least kiss Maersyn’s sleeping head tonight. I hadn’t seen him since this morning.
He was awake and eating, as was the Heir. The maid on duty with them and was a bit shocked to see me, but when I took one of the little monsters who were both making their needs known, she smiled. I walked him up and down the length of the room and cooed at him while she changed the heir’s dirty nappy. She finished and laid him down in the cradle. I came over and handed my little man to her and got a good look at the heir for the first time. It was uncanny. They looked so much alike. I knew Aunt Trefalla said all babies were of a kind, but this was just so surreal. I reached out to touch him and just as I did the maid spoke, breaking my revelry.
“The Heir to the Dynally Throne is in the cradle My Lady.”
“Oh, I know,” she looked at me incredulously, as if to say even she was having a hard time herself. “I can tell them apart,” I said. I could, Maersyn practically screamed gifted and the babe in the cradle, though he had a wiff of talent, was not the powerhouse Maersyn was. I Knew just looking at them which was which.
She raised a still skeptical eye brow at me as I left, and walked back to my room. I don’t remember making it there. I don’t remember climbing into bed either…
Tobbyrn
Year 482, Phase of the 2nd, Pure and Decayed, 45th day
“Wah?”
“You wanted a wakeup after the first church bells rang, so get up.”
“Yes, yes, thank you.” My old nanny had aged considerably since my childhood, but as my family had had children running around this compound until only five or six years ago she was never let go. She was one of my few confidants, and the only one who knew where I’d gone last night, how late I’d been up, and what it meant to me. It seemed she never slept anymore. She said it was because she didn’t want death to catch her unaware. She said she would ward death off with a stick if she had to, and I believed it.
Why am I getting up this early again? I was already dressed, and walking downstairs by the time I asked myself, but my pace quickened considerably as I remembered. I took a quick detour by the kitchen, and stole a couple of sausage rolls that my mother’s new psychotically organized chef would miss instantly, but I didn’t care. I was off out the side entrance, and on my way to the High Temple in no time at all.
“May I help you?” It was some young under-cleric who had not yet noticed my badge of office.
“Yes, I’m here to see Celebrant Raddwyllyn. He is not expecting me, but I have urgent business with him.” I was doing my best Guild Head Jespyrn impression, but my voice didn’t sound quite nasal enough. I then put my hands to my breast pocket as if looking for something in an obvious attempt to display my badge of office.
The under-cleric did not look impressed, but he did head off in a direction that I hoped would lead to Raddwyllyn. I did not sit. I was too antsy. My hands passed over that breast pocket again, and I realized there was something in it. Thank the gods I had grabbed the right coat this morning! The letter from Llanalla was with me. If I had come all this way without it… but I had it, and everything was fine.
“Uh-hum.” It was that same under-cleric aga
in. “Celebrant Raddwyllyn is busy until this evening. He says that he can attend to your needs then if you wish or…”
“But I must speak with him this morning. It is very important.” I dropped the act and tried to level with the man.
“If you would like me to give him a note I will see that he gets it, but he is quite busy today.”
I reached in my pocket, and pulled out the letter from Llanalla. It wouldn’t make as much sense if I didn’t speak to him first, but perhaps it would get me in to see him. Then an idea sparked.
“Do you recognize the seal on this letter?”
The under-cleric pulled some spectacles from a hidden pocket, and studied the seal for a moment. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do.”
“Good, I have business in her name as well, as my own, and it really is imperative that I see Celebrant Raddwyllyn this morning. We have met before. Please ask him again if he will not see Gemsman Tobbyrn, at the behest of the Lady Llanalla of Gellisarn this morning. It will only take but a few moments of his time.” The volume of my voice had gone down to not but a whisper before I was done with the statement. The under-cleric looked confused or concerned, I couldn’t tell which, and then nodded once before scuttling away in a different direction from the one he had first taken.
I guess that I had looked or sounded desperate enough because Raddwyllyn came scuttling up alongside the under-cleric this time.
“What is this I hear? You here at the behest of a lady, and that particular Lady at that?” He had taken hold of my arm, and was confidently steering me back toward what I hoped would be a quiet, safe place to talk.
