Just because none of our core group were killed during the missions that we undertook for Captain Barinov didn’t mean our time passed without losses. About five years into my service, Mariam died when a plague swept the area. I assumed it was probably influenza or something similar but of course we lacked the medical technology necessary to provide adequate treatment. I was out on a mission when she died and couldn’t make it back for the funeral. That made me very angry. I had promised that I would be there for my people, my friends, my family, and I couldn’t be. I reflected on the things that she had taught me and her compassion for others. I knew I would be a lesser person without her presence in my life. She was buried in a plot on our property. I commissioned a headstone for her. I wasn’t certain exactly how old she was, so I couldn’t include her date of birth. It was a simple engraved block which read “Mariam – The Best of Us”.
When I got back from that mission, I realized that time was slipping away from me and from all of us. I think when people die, it is a natural reaction to try to grasp for permanence, to secure a legacy. When I returned, I realized that Aleyda and I had never really defined our relationship. I also understood that had to change. I asked her to marry me. She accepted. Not really being the churchy type, at least on this world, I asked Captain Barinov who had the power to perform marriage ceremonies. He didn’t, unless we were soldiers out in the field under his command, but Minister Breban did. We had a small ceremony and invited all of our employees and friends. Even though the festivities were not very large, we spared no expense. I couldn’t help it. I teared up when I pledged my life to the woman who had saved it on many occasions. There was music and feasting and dancing. Because we were mostly all from different worlds, the dances wildly diverged from one another. I think I created a moment of solidarity when I taught everyone there the chicken dance. Everyone had so much fun doing it, laughing at each other, that we ended up doing it three times. Even Bowen participated, but he just couldn’t manage to get much swivel in his hips.
The fruits of our marriage are four children – two sons and two daughters. Their personalities are much more similar to their mother’s than their father’s. They are indomitable. She taught them to fight from a young age, even though that decision made them complain vociferously. Of course, I had nothing to add to that training but I made certain they were all well-educated. We hired tutors and I taught them about our business. One of my sons is named after my oldest brother, Stephen, and the other was given Aleyda’s father’s name, Luca. We quickly agreed on the names of our daughters. They are Lapina and Mariam. As I write this, I do so with the certainty that part of me will live on long after I am gone. They are all grown now and each have families of their own. None of them have moved away and they all participate in the family’s business. I am so glad I have them close at hand.
The wonderful thing about life is that it is full of unexpected surprises that one never sees coming. One of those surprises was that Mero did end up getting what he hope for but not in any way that I would have predicted. Mero ended up partnering up with Keti of all people, even though she was a few years older. Maybe I should have seen it coming with all of the time they spent with each other. They ended up marrying and had a daughter six months later. As they used to say where I was from, after marriage babies take nine months but around the time of marriage, babies can come at any time. Mero is now in charge of the day to day operations of our business. After all the training that Aleyda inflicted on him, he is also a stalwart fighter. He seems happy, finally content with his lot in life. The two of them also have another daughter and a son. The babies were born with six fingers and will never know the discrimination that at least one of their parents had to face.
Mariam wasn’t our only loss. Several years later, long after my service was completed, Jahhaf died. I think he had a heart attack but I am not certain. He was his normal self one day and then the next day we couldn’t wake him up. He had died in his sleep. He never found anyone he cared enough about to commit to, but like I told him, he was our soul. I keenly felt his absence in the ensuing years. I would find myself unconsciously looking for him, as if I could not really believe that he was gone. I missed being able to talk to him. I have never found another person who listened with such calm acceptance. I think about him almost every day, We buried him next to Mariam.
Patrick ended up navigating a series of failed relationships and is now, quite happily, a bachelor. He is a few years older than I am, and without the healing granted by an essence crystal is very much starting to show his age. He walks slowly and seems to have little energy, napping quite often. I don’t know how much longer he will be with us but I make certain to talk to him every day. He taught me more about quiet but competent leadership than I ever expected that I would know. If he wasn’t with us, I don’t know how we could have done half as well. But he was with us, and that’s all that matters.
Anxo went hunting one day up in the mountains near Kollavik and never came back. Of course, we searched for him but could never find him. The rational part of my mind knows that he likely perished up on the mountain, either because he ran into something he wasn’t prepared to handle or because he fell off a cliff or into a crevice or something. The irrational part of my mind thinks he is still up on the mountain pursuing his passion.
Sathebeena moved away after a few years. She ended up running into a dwarf who worked the mines in the mountains one day when she was in town. They must have hit it off, because she decided to move closer to where he worked. Dwarves are apparently a long lived race in this world because she doesn’t look much older to me now than the day we met. When she left, I sent a bag of money with her. She apparently runs a very successful forge up in the mining camp. She visits from time to time and I cherish every one of them. Time has not smoothed out the rough edges of her personality and she still insults me in ways that nobody else is courageous enough to do.
Even though she is quite ancient at this point, Helvia is still with us. Though she is quite frail, she still has a sharp mind and still manages the estate. When I first met her, there is no way that I would have predicted that she would still be with us today. Since my children could never meet their real grandmothers, Helvia was their surrogate grandparent. They still call her Grandma Helvia and frankly she probably did as much to raise them into the people they are today as Aleyda or I did. I don’t know how long she will be with us. Every time disease sweeps through our ranks I wonder if this is the last time that I will ever see her. Yet, she never seems to take ill for long. I know she won’t be with us forever but I also value every minute that we get to spend with each other. We are fast friends. That is something I never expected to happen.
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Xeng ended up with one of the women that came to the continent with Segerick. Her name is Seran and while Xeng is a hulking brute she is short and petite. I guess opposites really do attract. What she lacks in stature she more than makes up with the force of her personality. They have two children, a boy and a girl. Their son, Rizgar, is my son Stephen’s best friend. They got into so much trouble when they were younger and stupider. No punishment that Aleyda or I could dole out seemed to make any difference, so we eventually decided to let Seran handle punishments for both boys. She whipped them into shape in short order. I’m not certain how and I am also quite sure that I don’t want to know.
Bowen is still alive and kicking. Like Patrick, he never seemed to find a relationship that would stick. I half expected that he would leave and take over the criminal underworld in Kollavik but he never did. As he aged, his devious mind turned to politics, which I guess is a very similar enterprise. He is viewed as quite the prize among the widowed nobles and merchants in the area and very much enjoys his life, flitting from one relationship to another but never staying long enough to get entangled. He has steered us through so many political messes in the last few years, things that I lacked the capacity to handle. Although at one point I distrusted him, he is absolutely one of my best friends.
Werner is still alive as well. Sadly, though, he is losing his eyesight. Since his ideas are our company’s bread and butter, I hired him a secretary. He spends his days dictating his ideas to the secretary who has filled up several volumes of a journal to provide more ideas and techniques for further products. I imagine that there are enough ideas in those books to ensure the futures of my great grandchildren. He also trained several more engineers and those people have their own ideas as well. The future looks bright. Although it is remarkably cliché, I suspect that Werner and his secretary are also in a personal relationship. As long as everyone consents, I didn’t care, but if I found out there was even the tiniest bit of coercion there would be hell to pay.
Oh, and life had one more surprise for me that I never expected. Goulug and I stayed in contact and he and his wife have actually visited on three occasions. To ensure their safety and comfort on the way to Kollavik, I always dispatch a small unit from our security forces to meet his ship in Restov. That way, nobody makes a big deal about the fact that he is an orc. I have seen other orcs in Kollvaik, but there are not many and they are universally treated poorly, but apparently having a bunch of guards with them makes the trip a lot more palatable. When they visit, they always stay for a couple of months. Those are fine times. His children do not visit with him. They are now fully grown and he uses them to keep up with the chores at his property when he is gone. I never realized how much I missed him, the first real friend that I had made after coming to this place. My heart sinks every time he leaves. I wish he would come to stay permanently but I truly understand his reasons not to.
I did manage to acquire another ring of disguise after many years of searching. That means that Aleyda and I have been able to visit him back at Greynard as well. As I expected, Goulug moved into our old house. Visiting it, and the village, is a bit of a melancholy experience for me. I can’t help but think about what might have been. But my life, and every life, is a series of choices. And I made some choices back on the island that foreclosed staying there as a possibility. In retrospect, I don’t regret those choices. It’s hard to regret decisions that allow my people and my family to be free and prosperous.
Speaking about the plight of the five fingered in this world, we never abandoned our efforts to improve the lot of people like me. Once we got our business on a firm footing, we set aside twenty percent of our profits to fund the endeavor. Given that we had become fairly rich, twenty percent was a lot of money. We invested in schools and civic improvement projects in Kollavik and then started expanding the program to neighboring towns and cities. One of our programs offered vocational training and I am happy to report that we pulled many fine employees out of that track. As the years passed and our nest egg grew, we ended up crossing national boundaries and funding some improvements on the north side of the inner sea. But at the heart of things, I never forgot attending the slave auction in Westfield and wanted to make a difference for others of our kind who were being bought and sold as base chattel.
Every time we visited Goulug, we would detour to the slave market at Westfield and I would buy those slaves that I could, shipping them out of the area to a place where they could be free. Since the island had dried up as a source of newly arrived slaves for Clan Galwick, the numbers on offer were quite diminished. Usually, we walked away with only five people or so. We would treat our visits to Westfield as a holiday, taking along Goulug and his wife and letting them partake in the luxuries that only a certain amount of money could provide. He was the registered owner for the slaves and before long the people at the slave market thought he was quite the wealthy landowner. We didn’t disabuse them of that notion. As time passed, though, I realized that our infrequent visits weren’t enough to really impact the slave population. We hired a local agent who would bid for us. Thankfully, after many interviews, we were able to locate someone who was sympathetic to the mistreatment of the five fingered people. Before long, we had a steady pipeline of slaves being freed. I wasn’t certain how large of a difference we were making, but at least we were making one.
I recently received word that Goulug has died. I mourn for my friend.