Marriage?

"I can see the benefit of greater inclusion, if this is to last a long run. I cannot promise the ability of my house to collect other men already in the arena."

The woman raised her eyebrow, "Reduce the ownership fee to .25 and the debt payment for the month to .75, and I will talk to the other farms that might be interested."

"If you can get five other farms, I will do .5 and 1. If you bring ten I will do .5 and .75." The eldest was angry with me. She thought I was giving too much away. Even if the terms were better then most houses got for boys, we also couldn't be sure they would be fighting, and they would be older. She held her tongue though.

The woman looked me up and down again. "Give me a week and I will have the numbers for you. In that time I want two things to prove you are not tricking me."

That was better terms then I had thought I was going to end up with. Of course I don't know her other conditions yet. "I am listening."

"My boys would already be bloodied fighters as you said, so if you do get them and they want to come talk to me, you will arrange for them to do so."

I nodded, I had expected to do that anyway if she agreed. "Your other term?"

"You will take the two daughters that the priest had been trying to steal anyway. They will meet the terms of the last fight for you, not your men. I know you at least understand enough to say the right thing. That is better then they could hope for if the priest is forced to collect them."

"There is one more thing." She raised her eyebrow at me, "I can understand that you share labor with like minded farmers. I wanted to point out that the messengers might have to do more work to find the law is being met. If you take this offer, my house will become more responsible and I will have a problem if the number of names and their ages don't match the records in the priesthood."

She looked at the messenger and frowned then looked back at me, "There have been some problems with the priesthood locally. I make sure the lord is never shorted and the law is kept to the best of my ability. If the records are incorrect, it will not be my fault. I will be happy to have an extra set of eyes on the records that have more responsibility then the priesthood. I am a loyal servant of the lord and to be otherwise would put everything I live for at risk."

I smile and nodded, "I know, hopefully I will be able to keep you in the labor you need. I accept our terms." I bowed and waited.

"Sister of the house of Estro, does this man speak with your authority, will you honor what he has promised?"

I watched the eldest of Estro frown at me and clearly she did not want to agree, but she thought better of challenging me right then. She knew I knew as well as she did the account of Estro. "Yes, as long as I live, I will meet those terms so long as they don't break the law of the lord."

The woman bowed back to me and we stood together. "Give me a few moments, I have to find where my daughters are working and explain a few things to them. I will try not to keep them too long, we all have much to do."

"Of course, Inlaw." I said it as a name because there was no meaning to mother in law, in the land of our lord. Since our lord made no provisions for or against marriage.

The woman smiled at me as she rushed off. She walked down the stairs and then started running as soon as her feet hit the dirt. Children who had been working all over the farm looked up at her as she started to run by. I stepped off the porch and stood next to the eldest of Estro.

"What are you thinking?"

I looked over at her and smiled, "A few things, first that you are smarter then mother. Second that it is funny how things work out sometimes."

"How has this worked out? The house cannot afford this agreement." She whispered the last part furiously but quiet enough that none of the kids around the farm should be able to hear her.

"I can cover this agreement until it starts to bear fruit. In two winters you will probably find that we couldn't afford not to make this agreement. After that the houses won't be able to afford the terms, and will have to make similar agreements as well, or starve. But beyond that, you wanted advice and support. I didn't give you much choice on taking this advice but by doing so you have guaranteed my support. There is only one more thing before you can count on your sisters not to be able to pry my support from you."

My sister's level of fear skyrocketed, she had not liked my methodes so far. From how she saw the world I was taking another big risk and I was betting her life with my own. If not the whole house, but she was out of choices, even more so if mother did return. "What else do you want?"

"No one is above me with in the branch house, no matter their sex. You will be my equal, and you won't avoid the house, if you really want my advice."

Her eyes moved slowly as she thought about the term, "You will come to the main house, if I need you, but you will be treated as one of my daughters even there. Within the branch house, none will be above you and the main house can only make suggestions unless you are going to break one of the lord's laws. Even should I inherit from our mother."

"We have a deal, sister." I looked out at the farm again. The woman was returning with two other women in tow. 

"We have a deal, brother." My eldest sister was watching me as I looked at the group of three running women. I tried not to watch too closely how the top of their dresses moved while they ran. They were young women, older then most of the woman that worked the farms and did not have a kid. They looked like they were almost 16. Clearly that was the problem the priest had been having.

The woman stopped just a few steps away and her two daughters stopped behind her. They were dirty from work and a little skinny, they had missed a few meals as well. They were beautiful even under the dirt. "This is Isa and this is Bella. They only know of men." The woman paused and looked at the eldest of Estro, "Sorry, but if this boy was raised as I think, he will understand." she looked back at me, "I will skin you myself, Inlaw, if you hurt them."

I smiled at the woman, "I would expect no less, Inlaw." I paused and nodded, "Also if I don't appear before you I am sure their brothers will carry out your will without prompting."

The woman patted me on the shoulder as she started back up the steps, "Your mother must be proud of you, wherever she is." The woman looked up at the darkening clouds, "You should head back before she decides to cry." I knew she wasn't talking about the mother of Estro. She was a member of the cult then, this should be fun, and our lord had known this plan but was letting it happen. Just goes to show he is unpredictable, unless it breaks the lord's law. Then he would be scarily predictable