“Welcome you four, Bagrat what are you doing here, never mind before I go any further, I would just like to formally introduce you to each other…. we will all be working closely with each other and I hope you will all get on well with each other. Now the first order of business is the news that the Barony’s borders are not quite what we thought they were. I have a feeling that this will turn out to be an accurate account of what my brother allowed to occur. Bearing this in mind what if anything can we do about it and how may Eugene seek to further benefit from it?”
Being the first to respond Marke had this to say, “Well until we see the exact wording of this land swap agreement all we can do is see if there are any other agreements that might somehow negate the whole affair, make it no longer valid.”
“What kinds of things are you thinking about?”
“I don’t know, did the agreement required funds to change hands by a certain date, was it legally valid, was the paperwork filed correctly, that kind of thing.”
“Alright, constable please assign a clerk to work together with Bagrat to look for possible loopholes.”
“And if none exist?”, Enquired Bagrat.
“Then I suppose we might have to accept it, what are the possible implications of that?”
Having more in-depth knowledge of the barony it was the constable that responding to that question, “Well that’s hard to say, setting aside the impact of the actual land swap it will no doubt embolden Eugene and who knows what else he might try. He will no doubt question the parentage of yourself and your future niece or nephew. But then again, he was almost certainly going to do that anyway.
Now as to the implications of the actual land swap it is too early to say. The lordship of Hasford will have exchanged a parcel of a forest with all its timber for a larger piece of a lake full of fish. The hamlet of Wagcest is now slightly closer to our border with the barony of Dagleana and the Hamlet of Alanky is slightly further from it than beforehand.”
“Wait a minute constable isn’t the majority of Alanky Lake situated with the Imperial Range and I fear no one bothered to consult the imperial bureaucracy about it”, interrupted Amondo.
“Your right sir, consulting them on such matters is not in any way a legal requirement but it is common courtesy to do so. Perhaps nothing will ever come of it but it is best to not in any way antagonise them especially when you consider that while the barony in its current state may not have nearly as large a border with the Imperial range as it once did if we ever recover the lordship of Antwa we will again. Then we must consider that our border with the crown land is the same as it always was and your sister Lilou is married to the administrator of the imperial fief of Sperberie. By informing the Escheator Eugene has made sure that they will in time learn of the situation. We cannot tell if there will be any kind of a response from them or if so, what form it may take.
“Well said constable, unfortunately, we have no control over what the imperial bureaucracy will do when they find out about the land swap, are there any other possible consequences of it that you have yet to mention?”
“Not that I am aware of, it’s possible that it might negate some other agreement we have in place but none immediately come to mind, I’ll have someone look into that possibility.”
“Can anyone else think of any consequences not already mentioned?”
When after a few moments no one responded Amondo continued, “In that case, there’s nothing else we can do about it, not until we have more information. Is there anything else I should be made aware of constable?
“Well sir there was one other”, was all he was able to say before another knock could be heard coming from the other side of the door.”
“Enter!”, shouted Amondo and moments later the door opened and a page lead three individuals he had never met before into the room before departing.
“Welcome gentlemen which one of you is Fabio Rocha and who else do I have the pleasure of meeting?”
“Milord I am a Fabio Rocha, Marshal sorry retainer of Orlando Scotti, the once and future lord of Antwa, to my left is Ruben Marr his former herald and to my right Andre Triso the former yeoman of Garron Pass you requested our presence, how may we be of service?”
“The Seneschal of Membe has written to inform me about the existence of an agreement between your master when he was the lord of Antwa and the lord of Hasford concerning a land swap and I was wondering if any of the three of you could tell me anything about it?”
“Ah yes I remember hearing of such an agreement in principle at least but I couldn’t tell you if anything ever came if it. Ruben, you would have been in a better position to know something about it.”
“All I can say for sure is that two years ago there were a whole lot of messages passing between the two of them about such an agreement but as to whether or not either of them signed off on it or not I couldn’t say. Andre, you are or should I say we’re friends with Aden Sugut the Yeoman of Vernick which is situated close to Alanky lake did he ever mention to you in passing anything about the agreement?”
“Now that you mention it he did complain about it on quite a few occasions especially when the agreement was finally signed. I couldn’t tell you anything about the agreement itself but it certainly does exist and has been in force for over a year.”
“Unless any of you three can tell me anything else about the land swap or have anything else you wish to inform me of then thanks for coming but I must bid you a good day.”
“No, but Orlando, before he left to visit relatives, did tell me that if I was to see you before he did I was to offer you his best wishes and hopes for the future.”
“Thanks for your kind words now you can go back to whatever you were up to before.”
And with this the three of them began to leave the room but just as they were about to Amondo had one last question for them, “Oh one last thing before you go, when can I expect your master to return.”
“He had originally intended to return in a month but we sent a messenger to inform him of your arrival and so you can expect him to hurry back once it reaches him in the next day or two.”
“Once again thanks for your help.”
Once they had left Amondo was the first to speak.
“Well if Andre Triso is to be believed and I do then the land swap is a reality, constable please find me a record of the agreement as fast as you can, the sooner we know the particulars the better. Now before they arrived you had something to tell me Dusti?”
“Yes I did, what was it, yes as your retainers will no doubt inform you a messenger arrived from you uncle the Count of Presbar welcoming you home and informing you that regrettably, your great aunt Milonia died last week. There was also a private letter from him for your eyes only which I passed on to your secretary.”
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