“I’ll pass the word then, and you can work out the details with them direct.”Jerrold said.
“Dayva’s a good girl,” Wethe said.“And she’s cared for her younger siblings.”She pulled her hair from the child’s grasp.“Now, into a proper bedroom and not the kitchen, thank you.”She leveled her gaze at Orval.“Off you go,” she commanded.
“This way,” Orval said to Jerrold, leading the way to a small pantry and closing the door behind them.
“This is your office?”Jerrold asked as Orval gestured him to a bench.
“It’s close in case Amari needs me,” Orval said.“Look at these,” he said, pulling a couple of rolls of old parchment from one of the shelves and unrolling one to reveal a colored map, and not just of the Black Hills.All the old baronies were drawn there, landmarks clearly indicated in old, crabbed handwriting.
Jerrold sat on the bench, letting his fingers brush the edge of the map.“This is calfskin,” he said.
“Vellum,” Orval sat next to him.“The art is almost lost, although it’s still used for religious texts.Or at least, it was, before the conflicts.Is it accurate?”
“I can only really speak to the Hills,” Jerrold said.“But it looks right.All the major trade roads, and the smaller villages.Here’s Waerington, at the center, where the roads meet.”
“Here’s another,” Orval unrolled a smaller map, just as colorful.“This is just the Black Hills, with rivers and streams and other landmarks.The quarries are marked,” Orval leaned over, folding his arms on the table.
“They are, but they are bigger now,” Jerrold circled them with his finger, not touching the map.“The river has shifted as well, causing some boundary headaches.”
Orval’s hand twitched to the side but he pulled it back.“There is more territory here than I realized.”He looked up at Jerrold.“How long does it take to get a message to Edenrich?”
“In the old days, with good roads and relays, it was quick, five days, if the weather held.Now?”Jerrold leaned back.“Call it a dozen days, maybe more.”
Orval nodded.“And for transporting marble?”
“There’s a difference between a road for travel and a road for hauling marble.”Jerrold said.“Marble is not a forgiving stone, it doesn’t take to rough handling like granite does.”Orval’s hand twitched again as Jerrold continued.“Until we know more of the road conditions, it will be hard to say.No one’s been down that way since the last of the battles.”
“And that was before the Blood went to war,” Orval mused, sounding oddly unemotional as he spoke.Jerrold eyed the man, who was staring at the map intently.“TheEpic of Xysontalks about roads and their importance in the troop movements.Did you know that the sizes and borders of the baronies were decided so that a Lord High Baron could get troops to Edenrich or another barony within two weeks if needed for defense?”
“Truly?”Jerrold asked.He leaned forward.“So that is why the border of Athelbryght and Swift’s Port are equal distant from ours?”
“Road care was considered a critical part of the duties of the office.”Orval nodded and his hand twitched again, in what Jerrold realized was an aborted writing gesture.“There is much I can learn from this,” Orval said.“Are the names of the towns and villages correct?And their relative sizes?”
“Aye, for the most part,” Jerrold leaned over and went through the settlements one by one, answering the questions that Orval asked with a patience he didn’t know he had.The man was clearly interested, and not just in roads.Crops, farmers, relative populations.
“So the towns by the border took the brunt of the fighting?”Orval asked.
“Some people moved back once the fighting stopped and are trying to get reestablished.”Jerrold said gruffly.“Some were wiped out entirely.”
Orval’s hand twitched again, but this time he pulled it back with a snort, then leaned back, stretching his back.“I want to take notes, but I dare not.Paper is too scarce.Once I got started, I’d use all of our parchment and ink writing about my Aunt and Uncle’s history here.”He shook his head as if at his own folly.“I need to save that for messages to Edenrich.”He grimaced.“We’ve one pigeon left.A cat followed us from the Keep and ate the others.”
Jerrold huffed.“Cats.”
Orval flashed a smile.“Cats.But she is a good mouser.So I will send the bird off, and tell them a messenger is coming with more details.”He paused.“And maybe the messenger could bring a few things back with him?”
“Paper and ink?”Jerrold asked.
Orval shook his head with a smile.“No, no, as much as I want it.Amari’s people have a traditional gift of a bracelet to the Hearth Mother after the birth of a child.I need a copper bracelet, engraved, hopefully.”
“We have people here who used to work in copper,” Jerrold said.“I can ask about, see if any are interested in taking it back up.”
Orval lit up.“That would be wonderful.Then I could get paper—” he broke off with an embarrassed look.“You think me a fool, I am sure.”
“No,” Jerrold said slowly.“I don’t.It is well, that you honor her traditions.”
Orval looked at the door and a twinge of concern crossed his face.
“Wethe knows her trade,” Jerrold said.“She’s brought many into the world.And your wife has borne before.I am sure all will be well.”But his own mouth was dry.He knew full well the risk to women in childbirth.
