Finding the Right Line

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 29th November 2010

Characters: Fymer, Morin
Description: Morin and Fymer have much to discuss.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 6 of Turn 5

Maps were Morin's life. He was constantly pouring over them, marking
them, making notations. All kinds. Topographic, geographic,
thematic... Any time he walked into a room, if there was a map present,
his eyes were automatically drawn to it.

What was a family tree, then, if not a map? Instead of roads and trade
routes, it was lineage. Instead of boundaries, it was alliances. His
grey eyes were following the lines as they wove in and out, connecting
and then diverting only to be reunited later down the line. Morin was
soaking in all the information he could from the different branches
scrawled out in a neat hand across a sheet as long as his arms were
wide. He didn't even look up when he heard the footsteps approaching
behind him.

"What have you found for me, Fymer?"

"Several possibilities, my lord," Fymer replied, bowing his head with
respect he didn't truly feel.

"There's no one in the room but me, Fymer. Don't dip your head in that
ridiculous way." Morin knew he did it only for show, and while he might
expect hollow displays of submission from others, he preferred honest
irreverence from the Harper. He motioned him over. "Show me."

Fymer shrugged his thin shoulders. Everything in him was thin. "As I
said, there's several possibilities," he spread several scrolls to the
table. "Garnet Valley has all but died out, young Aslian is the only
known member, and he's a toddler. Topaz Sea is know it's habit of
spreading it's seed far and wide, if you want an illegitame ancestor..."

"Legitimate is better if at all possible. But let's keep the options
open." Illegitimate might be easier to prove, Morin know. "What about
deaths? Lots of Lord Holders have children that die extremely young.
Can't we erase one of their death records and continue their line?"

"Of course we can," the harper was sure of himself. "But I think this is
our strongest candidate," he pushed a hide forward. "Agate Island Hold.
Nearly whole population was decimated by Plague and the holding was
abandoned. No one lives there nowadays, expect few fishcrafters. The
Blood is generally believed extinct. The holds records are poorly kept
and
incomplete. Result of being first places struck by the Plague."

"Excellent," Morin grinned, nodding approvingly. He picked up the hide.
"What _is_ known of the family? How close to the Lord Holder's direct
line can we easily make a case for?"

"The last Lord holder has been recorded having three children, all
daughters. They are listed among Plague victims. His wife survived
Plague and moved to Far Island, where she suffered stroke 20 Turns ago.
It would easy to pick one of the daughers, create a history for her and
explain her death as an error in records," Fymer answered. He knew this
was exactly what Morin was looking for.

"If their mother survived the Plague, I'm sure she would have _known_ if
any of her daughters had survived, error or not." The decimation of the
Hold did provide cover, but he was worried a relative might object. "I
think we better go further back than living memory. At least a few
generations. We don't want anyone alive who knew any of these people or
was told any stories about them by their grannies."

"We can go father back in the family line. The Agate Island-Blood was
famous of siring daugheters only, so take your pick. It's even been
ruled by women on several points of its history," the harper's voice was
full of sneer.

"Well, they had to have at least a couple sons I can chose from." Morin
obviously didn't find this challenge as funny as his companion. "What
about the last Lord Holder's grandfather? Did he have any brothers?"

"Let's see... Two actually, his Heir and another one who was recorded
dead very young. He was twin. Add ten living daughters to that and you
have large family. The mother was from Topaz Sea's- line which probably
explains her fertility."

"Well, there you go," Morin said, feeling they had hit upon a winner.
"The young dead one. An old death certificate easily changed on Agate
Island. Topaz Seahold lost most of it's records in the hurricane. Not
only would I be linked to Agate Island's line, but Topaz Seahold as
well! I don't think you could find better than that."

Fymer nodded. "We could also swap the twins, so that the boy lived and
his sister died. so if there is some old family legends surviving, we
wouldn't contradict them too much. After all, stories like that get
corroded over the generations."

"And risk _her_ descendants one day finding their ancestor was erased?"
Morin shook his head, standing back up to his full height, which was not
that much taller than the harper. "No, the dead brother is a lot less
messy. It's much easier to just change a death certificate into one of
live birth. Perhaps he could have married someone connected to Amethyst
Cliff... Maybe while fostering there. They've lost their records too,
after all."

"As you wish," Fymer simply said. "How about the name? This boy did live
long enough to have a name in records. Do we change that or do you want
to rename one of your real ancestors?"

"We'll give him a name. Something close to his father's. And we give
him a son or two, and then every member of the line died out in the
Plague, save for a lone male who had been spirited away somewhere to
save him from the Plague. He was forgotten to everyone until his one
surviving descendant, that would be me, came forward to stake his claim
to the family line." Morin looked Fymer square in the eye. "You can
handle this, right?"

"Of course I can. I do have to redraw your family tree though," Fymer
said.

An eyebrow quirked slightly. "Is that a hint that you want to know who
my father really was?"

"One can't help to be a little bit curious," Fymer replied and actually
smiled a bit. Of course he wanted to know, the more he knew about his
employer the better. Knowledge was a weapon.

"My parents are whoever you make them, so you better make them good."
Morin clasped the harper's shoulder in a firm hand, commanding his full
attention. "Figure out what you need to get this job done. Figure out
what information needs to be changed, what documents need to be
replaced, where those documents are located. When it's time, I'll find
someone to do the actual foot work. I don't want you anywhere near
their final destination." Too many people could connect the two of
them.

"I'll get to it," Fymer replied. "This might take months," he warned.

"No." His tone was unyielding. "I don't have months. If I don't have
that kind of time, _you_ don't either. This all has to be in place
before the Conclave meets. Anything less than that is failure. I don't
take failure well. Do you understand me, Fymer?"

"Understood," Fymer said and sighed. There went his free time. And there
would been that dragonpoker tournament he had so wanted to take part of.
Well, good thing was that his children lived in Jade Harbour hold with
his late wife's relatives, so he didn't have family to think about.

"You and I, Fymer, we're in this together. I succeed, you succeed. I
go down, you go down too." Morin placed both hands on his shoulders and
brought his face close to the harpers. "If you get me this, if you help
make me a _real_ Lord Holder, think of the opportunities that will come
our way. _Our_ way, Fymer, for I consider you a partner in this." Not
a full partner to be sure, but sink or swim, they're fates were linked
now.

"You can trust me, " Fymer assured him. He knew what hold the other one
had over him.

Last updated on the January 21st 2011

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Finding the Right Line