| A Letter that Fails to Spontaneously Combust after Reading |
| Summary: | Dmitry sends a confidential report home to Jacsen while staying at Braeburn House. |
| Date: | 7/8/2012 (OOC Date) |
| Related Logs: | Barter Banter, Humility and Other Virtues, etc. |
| Players: |
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| Braeburn House - Guest Quarters |
| July 7, 289 |
The letter is hand-delivered, which means that Dmitry has at least figured out a use for his squire.
Jacsen,
I write because I believe it best you have some news in advance of my return home, as Ser Inigo and I have opted to stay awhile and linger upon the hospitality of House Groves in the interest of friendship and more or less because we have mutually agreed we feel like it. However, there is aught I ought to tell you because there have been a number of developments.
First, as to the task that we were set, House Groves is willing to offer a loan and even a loan at reduced terms in the event that we are willing to make a sale to them of the second of the fiefdoms they lost. The land is not a negotiable term, per Ser Kittridge. I believe we can create a reasonably advantageous deal involving the sale of the land over time and earn ourselves considerable gold as well as, potentially, grain in the form of crop yields from the land. These are terms that can be negotiated. On the subject of the land itself, the Groves will stand firm. Still, it seems an easy marriage if you will forgive the pun: they have gold, we have land. They have the resources to work land. We have need of crop yields. In short, they have us where they want us … but I believe a deal may be brokered, if my Uncle may be persuaded to sell the land at fair and reasonable terms.
The use of what gold we can borrow — or earn through the sale of realty, mind — becomes preternaturally clear. Ere I departed for Kingsgrove with Cousin Inigo, I had a chance encounter with Ser Harlyn Haigh at the Rockcliff. By his word, the Haighs will sell us all the grain we require from their own harvest, which he believes will suit much of our need. Ser Harlyn is a man of business and would even barter grain to us on credit, a course of action I must advise against, as I am reasonably certain he offered it with an eye to usury; still, the Roost needs food, and he has offered his hand in friendship and said he would feed us. The price is in gold, and in friendship. We discussed an alliance in idle terms, but he seemed amenable, should your brother and his cousin be agreeable, to a potential match between Ser Justin and Lady Ilaria. I believe that Lady Lucienne has lent her word to such a match as worthwhile to pursue for Justin in the alternative to the Nayland one … I'd rather a sweet young Haigh than a cagey old Nayland bird for my cousin, any day of the week, but as it happens, the Nayland bird is wholly off the table.
I know that we had discussed alternatives to Lady Roslyn prior to the tourney at Seagard, and I cannot speak to the specifics of what has occurred beyond what I have heard, but it seems common knowledge at Braeburn House that the Naylands have struck a deal by which Lady Roslyn is betrothed to Ser Kittridge; more, everything I have heard strongly suggests that Ser Kittridge has sampled his bride beforetimes. I blame him for neither choice; by this move, he saves his sister, Rosanna, from her courtship with Lord Rutger, whose reputation is unsavory at best, without sacrificing any potential alliance with House Nayland and, of course, earning himself a dowry of— who knows. Neither can I blame him for sampling the lady's charms, since if you were to saddle me with a lady still a supposed maiden at 25, I should certainly wish to be damned certain what I was getting into. Wouldn't you?
But the fact remains that there is no Roslyn for Justin, and that even if there were, I'm fair to certain she'd be coming to him used goods. I should have asked him how well she kissed. Alas for missed opportunities.
At any rate, the friendship of House Terrick seems a popular commodity for all that between the squids and the harpies we are two thirds of the way to paupered, and I have no complaints for all that. Let us ally ourselves with as many as we can. Gold from the Grove, wheat from the Haigh, and as for House Nayland … I suppose there still remain other options. I look forward to discussing them with you later.
Here's to your health, and may the Seven watch over you and your own sweet bride. Mother bless!
Yours sincerely,
Ser Dmitry Terrick
