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Writers: Chelle, Paula
Date Posted: 16th July 2015

Characters: Corowal, Sarban, Zandan
Description: Corowal and Sarban receive bad news from the Captain of the Guard.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 13, day 9 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Delynn, Felyna

Corowal was opening his correspondence, mostly reply letters to his
Turnover Gather invitations. Sarban was making the list of who was coming
for the Headwoman.

"Well, my mother is coming, and she's bringing a number of other family
members with her," Corowal remarked after reading a letter. "Always nice to
see them," he handed the letter to Sarban so he could see who exactly was
coming.

Corowal moved to open the next letter. "Aillor is coming, shards I haven't
seen him since I came here!" he exclaimed with some excitement. Aillor was
an old friend from his youth.
"You might know him, he's a seacrafter like you," Corowal chuckled. "His
hair was already turning grey while rest of us were still learning how to
shave."

Reading over the letter, Sarban made a few mental notes. Always good to see
relatives. "My brother might try to come. Don't know yet though." Trying to
think if he could place the name, Sarban brought his head up and asked
Corowal, "What ship did he serve on?"

"Cerulean Wind, and being member of Blood, he ended up buying it," Corowal
replied.

**Figures** At that point, Sarban did realize who he was talking about and
filed that information away for later use. Writing down names, he made
small notes beside them to indicate the number of guests coming with them.
Family received a star so Delynn knew they received special treatment. "I
always wondered why your mother didn't just move in here and be the dowager
Lady Holder. I mean I know she prefers the coast and probably doesn't want
to move in on Felyna so soon but..."

"Rest of her children live there as well as her husband. And she has some
less than pleasant memories from Emerald Falls hold, thanks to my
father's..." Corowal was interrupted when Zandan suddenly just burst in
without warning. "Zandan, ever heard of knocking?"

"No time for that," Zandan brushed aside the chiding. "There's another
incident. Remember that saddlemaker? His cottage got tagged and manure
spread to his windows."

"The dragonless rider? He made most beautiful training saddle for Corolia.
He's such an obvious target. Wasn't he under special protection?"

"Yes, the guards did rounds around his home on regular intervals. And they
managed to do it when the patrol was in other end of their round. Which
makes me think they have man inside. Cronfur's brother and uncle pops to my
mind as prime suspects. They wrote: dragonriders are killers, to his wall.
Being dragonless, he kind of interpreted in a different way that it was
meant to. Didn't take it well. Boys had to take him to the infirmary so he
wouldn't do anything...drastic." Zandan's fury was barely contained.

"I thought we pruned out all bad seeds when you took over the guard force,"
Corowal's voice was chilly. He did not like these news at all.

"Yes, we booted out everybody who were obviously your cousin's men-whose
loyalty was questionable. But we couldn't fire whole guard force, that
would have left the hold unprotected. So, some rotten fruits remain."

"We've had plenty of time since then though and we've hired others. So I
say dump them." Sarban would rather be short staffed than have bad eggs on
the inside where they could do the most harm. And he didn't mistake
Corowal's tone. Zandan was in big trouble this time. And if it was traced
back to the guards for sure-it would be completely his fault.

"Actually, I would like to keep them under surveillance first. They could
lead us to their comrades. There's couple of guys I would like to hire for
it," Zandan asked with clever look in his face.

"You're taking a big risk here," Corowal warned. They were talking about
hold's security, his family's security.

"Hiring more men means spending more money. Right now with the water
repairs and turnover and everything else...we're a little thin." Not that
they didn't have surplus if there was an emergency but Sarban didn't like
to go too close past the comfortable point. Possible winnings from turnover
were all they would have except for tributes coming in from the minor
holds. There was also tithe to consider until harvest time.

"You already hired extra guards for Turn Over," Corowal pointed out too.
"Whatever you do, do it quickly, I don't want anything to ruin the
celebration."

Wisely, Sarban remained quiet since that meant Corowal had given Zandan
permission and that was the end of that. Still, he hoped this would be the
last he ever heard of this.

Last updated on the July 29th 2015

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