“Milord, is there a problem with the inheritance from your aunt, is it perhaps not worth as much as you hoped for?”
“That’s not the problem Elias it is considerably more than expected however there are conditions attached to it that I fear may be too hard to satisfy.”
“What kind of conditions are you talking about?”
“Time constraints mainly Elias, you remember that miniature figurine she sent me some years ago.”
“Vaguely, ugly as hell wasn’t it?”
“That’s the one, unfortunately, it has to be presented together with the rest of the parcel to some lawyer in the capital within three months of her death for me to claim the inheritance.”
“You still have it don’t you so what is the problem?”
“I left it in Kver years ago and she has already been dead for twelve days. Today is the 18th of Suptumbur so since she died on the 6th it means it must arrive in the capital no later than the 6th of Duvumbur. As you know there are 32 days in Suptumbur, 33 in Ectebur and 32 in Nevumbur so I have 85 days to get the document and a message to Juan in Kver and then for him to send it and the figurine under guard to the capital. At the same time, I have to send a message to Shere to have him or one of his sons meet up with whomever Juan sends to the capital and then for him and the documents and the figurine to get to the lawyer in time. And I just am not at all sure it can be done in time, it depends on to many variables most of which I do not have any control over.”
“If that’s the case Amondo you’re just going to have to set things in motion, trust everyone involved will try their utmost to carry out their part of it as best they can and hope for the best. And if things do not work in your favour well it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m sure that with or without the money from the inheritance you will be a much more successful baron than your brother ever was.”
“Straight to the point as usual old friend, do me a favour and find a page and get them to summon Mavin and Bagrat for me and the constable, of course, we have work to do.”
The five of us got together soon enough and we worked out a plan that we all felt was responsibly viable. In time a messenger was dispatched with instruction for Shere and another with a document and instructions for Juan and only time would tell how successful these would be carried out.
With that interruption to his schedule over and done with Amondo paid a visit to those he had been about to meet with before his ward and sister showed up. They summarised what had been discussed and he agreed with their conclusions before heading off to the last meeting of the day.
Jendrik Parrish was the elderly and infirm yeoman of Athans Hold and he held 120 acres of land directly from the Barony of Membe. More than half of which he farmed himself and the rest by others. The land had been in his family for the past five generations but just last year his only son Alton had died of a fever. He had no other living relatives and wished to leave his yeomanry to Elmer Winmore who served as Reeve for his lands. Leonid had insisted that this was not possible and that upon Jendrik’ death the land would revert to the barony. The income the barony received from the yeomanry of Athans Hold now belonged to Leonid’s widow Nazma as part of her dower portion. However, she had no real say on the running of the land whose income she would have to live on. Now that Leonid was dead and Amondo was soon to become the new baron of Membe Jendrik who was in no condition to do so himself had sent Elmer to raise the issue with him on his behalf.
“I am sorry Elmer but according to the yeomanry agreement signed by Alton Parrish and all his descendants including Jendrik he cannot pass it on to anyone, not a member of his family and there is nothing I or anyone else can do about it,” Seneschal Gru Meten informed the reeve.
“He can leave everything else he has to you but not that, there’s no way around it. When he dies the yeomanry reverts to the barony and that’s that. When he does so we will have to look for a new yeoman with a new yeomanry agreement and at that time you can put yourself forward for the position and we will no doubt look kindly upon your petition, isn’t that right Amondo,” clarified the constable.
“Actually there should be one way around it at least, you know now that I think about it, he can adopt you as his son. He can do so even if either or both of your parents are still alive, isn’t that right Mavin?”
“I believe so milord, I know of at least two occasions when something similar happened and one of them involved members of the landed gentry. There is, of course, a fee he will have to pay to do so though I can’t remember off the top of my head how much that might be.”
“Two silver I believe is customary,” Bagrat informed everyone.
“Thank you all for your kindness milord, I shall return to Athans hold and inform Jendrik. It is up to him whether to go through with it or not but he will no doubt come to a decision quickly so you should hear back from him soon.”
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