The Clocks

As predicted, there was a pouring rain the next morning, and, of course, several of the kids wanted to be outside playing in it.

Genie was trying to block the door to prevent them leaving when Laura walked up, gently but firmly pushed Genie aside, and held the door open for the whooping children. They charged out and began splashing around like lunatics.

"What, how, why...." Genie was sputtering for all she was worth while trying not to yell at Laura for her carelessness.

"Hush child. It's fine. It's not quite as strong as the one in your city, but we also have a hot spring that helps with healing. The bathhouse is right on the other side of those double doors across the room there. Handy, don't you think?"

Several of the other children, who weren't as boisterous as those already splashing around in the puddles, looked at Genie with expectant, puppy-dog eyes.

"Go on you scamps. Have fun. But don't drip on Mrs. Fittipaldi's floor when you come back in to use the baths."

Laura nodded her thanks then gestured for Genie to follow her. She led her to what was likely her private office, where Genie found Tomas and Geoffrey standing politely just inside the door.

Laura spoke first, "You're not blind. I watched you watching us. There's a way such things are usually done, with the adults making the decisions. But there's also a way that they should be done, so I'm going to let the boys speak first."

The boys looked at each other, nodded, and Tomas spoke up, "It's like this. Well, you see, our folks, they had an inn in Metz before they died. It was a lot smaller than the Peddlar, but it was a good place to stay. We had a lot of regulars. So, uh, with them gone, we want to be like them and help travellers just like they did."

He gestured toward Laura. "Mrs. Laura here, she lost her boys just like we lost our folks. The way things are, well, it's like we can both sort of pick up where we left off."

He looked intently at Genie. "She's good people she is. When she gets old, and can't run the inn any more, we want to be here to take care of her, the mister, and it. So, anyway, we want to stay here with her."

He looked to Geoff who said, "That's it. That's what we wanted to say."

Laura smiled fondly at them. "You spoke well younglings. You should be proud of yourselves. Now take yourselves off and play so Mrs. Brown and I can talk. If things fall out as we hope, starting Monday you'll be too busy after school learning about running an inn to spend much time playing."

Huge grins were their only response. They spun around, closed the door quietly behind them, then, based on the sounds of rapidly retreating feet, ran as fast as they could on their way outside.

"You haven't met my husband yet Genie, or at least you wouldn't have known it. He's one of those folks that the fancy talking people in the cities call 'taciturn'. Basically he almost never says anything. He says that it's 'cause when he's said what he has to say, he stops.

"All he's said about the boys is that 'they're getting in my way.'"

Laura let out a short laugh. "He's always like that. Not saying what he really feels. Sometimes I wonder how it is that we fit together so well."

She sat up straighter. "Anyway, that's what he said, but the boys have been following him around nearly as much as they have me this morning. He doesn't say anything, but when he does something, he always moves so the boys can see exactly how he does it."

Laura blotted her suddenly damp eyes. "It's just like how he was with our own twins."

Her voice firmed, "Well, that's how it is. What say you?"

"I don't recall anyone telling me that I have any particular authority when it comes to deciding where they live. Besides, it's obvious. You like them, and they like you. That's already a great deal more than I've seen in some families.

"At least we don't have to unpack. They have nothing. Nothing at all."

Laura handed her a handkerchief. Genie took it then asked, "Thank you I guess. But why?"

"To blot your cheeks child. There are tears dripping off your chin. We can't have you looking like that when I introduce you to our guest."

Genie raised her hand to her face. It came away wet. How odd that she hadn't noticed. Hurriedly she blotted. Laura was right. If there was someone else to meet, she didn't want to be seen until she had herself under better control.

Laura nodded, retrieved the handkerchief, then stood and opened a side door Genie hadn't paid attention to previously. It opened on a covered, outdoors alcove of sorts that the inn wrapped around on three sides. On the other side of the door were Mario and a man with the bearing of someone in the military.

Laura beckoned them in, closed the door, and gestured to chairs. She nodded at the man who'd entered with Mario. "Lieutenant Garavani here needs to talk to you two."

Mario explained, "We've met previously a time or two when business brought me this way. He's quite the conscientious fellow. Searched every single one of my packs, twice, the first few times I passed through when I was coming from the north. I imagine that most of the smugglers have found other routes by now."

The lieutenant smiled in a predatory manner. "That's the idea. There's no way to completely stop smuggling, but we do our best to make it harder."

Cocking his head to the side, as if thinking, he offered, " I heard a bit of your conversation earlier. Your speech pattern is rather distinctive. Might you be from The City of the Bells? I do so love the moonrise there when it lines up with the spires of the Little Cathedral."

Genie responded, "Indeed, I am from there. However, I prefer the sunset during the Harvest Festival in late November."

The lieutenant looked back and forth between Mario and Genie several times. "Remarkable, and how very effective. I was sure that Mario here was one of Blair's agents, but it turns out that it's you."

Genie glared at him and looked pointedly at Laura. There were some things you just didn't do in front of the public.

Laura laughed. "You need to control you expression better little one, else you'll give yourself entirely away, no matter how clever you are. It's as your mother and I were taught when we were training together, 'An agent needs to always remember that it doesn't matter how good she is at sneaking about and ferreting out information if her face gives her away.' I trust I won't have to inform Miranda of your error."

The look she followed up with had Genie instantly standing at attention. "Yes ma'am. I mean no ma'am. Ah, I mean, yes, I'll work harder!"

Laura gestured for her to be seated. "That's obviously why you're not doing solo work. You're too young and inexperienced. And don't pout at me child, it just makes my point for me."

She gestured toward the lieutenant. "Benito and I found out about each other, what was it, about 11 years ago?"

He nodded. "About that, yes."

She smiled her thanks. "Anyway, it seems that Blair had arranged for him to be stationed here to report back on smugglers and any other interesting travelers from up north. When she found out that I was coming back to the family inn, Miranda asked me to keep an eye out for anyone who looked suspicious and was heading to The City.

"Benito and I have plenty of time to chat and compare notes once or twice a week when he brings his wife over to have dinner. And that brings us to why he's here today, yes?"

He nodded. "Indeed. After I was posted here, I soon realized what a wonderful place it is. Not so small that everyone knows what everyone else is doing, but not so large that you don't know most of the rest of the people in town. Since someone needs to be here to gather intelligence, Blair managed to get me posted here permanently. I'm happy, and so is she. What she said was: 'Now I won't have to train someone new for your position every two or three years. I'm overworked as it is.'"

Grins were shared all around then he resumed, "Which brings me to the point. It's peaceful here, and folks get along reasonably well. Both of us," he pointed to himself and Laura, "want it to stay that way. We agree that the only way for that to be possible involves you two."

Benito was well pleased when all they did was focus their full attention on him and wait. Both Miranda and Blair hated trivial speech. It looked like the trait had rubbed off on these two as well.

"The situation is this. Three years ago, the miller and his wife died of the plague, leaving behind 10-year-old twin girls. Things went reasonably well for the children even so. Laura here has been watching over them and teaching them about what it's like to be a woman. I've handled their financial affairs thus far, and, well, that's what's becoming a problem.

"About six months after their parents died, another miller moved to town and approached me about renting the mill. I checked his history as best I could. He's reasonably good at what he does, and he doesn't cheat on weights or overcharge. The problem is that he's more than a bit tightfisted when it comes to money.

"Just lately he's come up with what he thinks is a way to save a lot of it. If his sons were to marry the twins, then they'd own the mill and wouldn't have to pay rent any more."

Mario raised his hand. "Wait a minute. The girls were 10 when their parents died, right? That means that they're only 13 now!"

Gerard nodded again. "Indeed. Normally it wouldn't, couldn't, have gone any further, but our priest here...well, the best I can say is that he wants to be liked too much. He's young, and he doesn't realize that, while being liked is not bad, it's more important for a priest to be respected.

"So, he's wavering, but I expect that within a few months that miller will convince him to marry the girls to his sons anyway."

Genie sprang to her feet. "No way, no how! First of all it's illegal! It requires the consent of TWO priests for a girl of fifteen to be married. The only way that a girl of 13 or 14 can be legally married is if either an archbishop or a cardinal approves, and that's only part of the procedure.

"The penalty for a priest performing such a marriage on his own is immediate excommunication without appeal."

Both Gerard and Laura looked to Mario for confirmation. This was not only news, but major news.

Mario nodded. "Indeed she is telling you the truth. There was a matter just over a year ago involving the preparations for the marriage of two 15 year old girls to a 14 year old boy. Fortunately it's turned out well for all concerned. However, as Genie intimated, it's far more complicated than just finding a willing archbishop."

He looked at the lieutenant intently. "I imagine that it might be useful if the priest in question learned about that particular law in the near future from someone or other. That 'someone' might also mention that there are copies of the volume detailing exceptions to the normal marriage procedures that can be found in the library of the Little Cathedral in The City. It also details the penalties for those who don't follow the proper procedures."

Laura smiled thinly. "That takes care of the immediate urgency, but doesn't solve the problem. Not only do the girls not like the miller's sons, but they can no longer bear living here. The memory of their parent's deaths is still with them, almost as if it happened yesterday and not three years ago.

"In short, they need to leave and build new lives elsewhere. Of course 13 year old children can't do that on their own. BUT, if they had help, say from two people who were already helping other orphans, and who now have two empty saddles that could be filled when they leave..."

Mario and Genie exchanged a wordless glance as Laura added, "Fortunately they're on the small side, and they haven't yet started their monthlys. If they were to wear travel cloaks when they left and were to hunch over a bit, they'd look like boys to anyone who might be watching when you ride out in the morning."

Genie grinned at Laura and Girard. "And the fact that the miller would forever be stuck paying rent unless he coughs up enough to buy the mill wouldn't give you two any satisfaction at all."

Their faces both had just a hint of evil grins at that point.

Mario interjected, "That's all well and good, but if these girls simply disappear, and the lieutenant continues collecting rent, there will be some who will figure that he got rid of them somehow so he could pocket the money."

Dismay washed over Laura and Gerard. That was something they hadn't thought of.

However, Mario wasn't finished. "I'm a representative of the Bank of the Griffon. I'm also a notary, and I just happen to have my seals with me. That being the case, I wonder how folks here would react if you could produce a notarized document showing that the Bank had assumed guardianship of the twins, and that in the future all rental fees were to be paid directly to the local representative of the bank instead of the lieutenant.

He looked at Laura. "I've known you for several years now, and I know that you have an eye for business opportunities. How would you like to be that representative? Given time, and if you're willing, having a branch of the bank here would be profitable for both of you, seeing as how so many travelers from the north pass through. Your profits from the inn would rise as well as you'd have more customers since they'd be able to avoid riding an extra three or four days east along the north road to reach a bank."

Genie felt comfortable enough to try a small sally. "Didn't you just tell me that an agent needs to have excellent control of her expressions at all times? Right now, with your mouth hanging open like that, you look like a fish."

Laura's glare was intense enough to freeze a glass of water. Then she laughed, long and loud. "So I did child. So I did."

Looking at Benito she almost whispered, "That plan is devious enough that Miranda or Blair might have come up with it themselves. I LIKE it. How about you?"

"Indeed. It covers all the bases nicely. The only thing we need now is the approval of the girls."

Benito feigned surprise and whispered, "And what do you know. I just happened to have brought them here with me. Who'd have thought that you'd be needing to talk to them?"

He crept to the door and jerked it open. Two girls, who had obviously had their ears to the door, fell in, one on top of the other.

The lieutenant pointed. "The one on top is Gertie. She's the eldest. The one on the bottom is Feliz."

Without moving they said in unison, "Pleased to meet you, Sir, Madame."

Laura walked over, helped them up, brushed them off, and then sighed, "Well, at least we don't have to explain things all over again. So, tell me. What do you think."

Gertie began, "We've been talking about it while we were listening, and"

Feliz finished, "we like the idea. A lot."

Then both of them said, "Especially the part about that Mr. Rogers being stuck with paying for what he was trying to steal."

Genie and Mario looked at each other and nodded. It seemed that the spring here also let at least some of the local twins speak "twin."

Gertie wasn't quite finished. "We don't have much, so we brought it with us. Our packs are outside the door."

Genie stood. "Well. Well. Imagine that. Why don't I take you girls upstairs and introduce you to the others. That way you can get acquainted before we leave tomorrow morning. It'll also let me tell them not to talk to anyone about you before then."

She looked at Mario. He'd never mentioned that he was a notary. They'd have a little discussion about that later. For now though, she asked, "How many signatures do you need as witnesses?"

"Actually none. My signature and appropriate seal are all that will be needed. I have a few sheets of quality paper in a waterproof package in one of our packs. I'll go get that and my seals. Then, if Mrs. Fittipaldi can provide some sealing wax?"

"Of course. You never know when you might need some, yes? It's right here in my desk."

Genie smiled. "Well there you go. You three play with your documents and your scheme. I'll be upstairs playing with the children."

Mario looked puzzled. "Documents? Plural?"

"Well duh! One for the guardianship, one for the rental agreement, which will now need to be formalized in writing what with a bank being involved, and one appointing Mrs. Fittipaldi as the local representative of the bank. You certainly shouldn't put all three on the same paper. Besides it will look better and be more impressive if there are more than one and they can be spread out on a table should anyone want to see them.

"You'd also probably best date them as from about two months ago. That would explain nicely why we weren't travelling on the main roads on this part of our way back from Metz. We needed to come here to deliver the documents as well as to pick up the girls. That way there won't be so many people thinking that this was a spur of the moment thing designed to embarrass the miller."

"I knew there was a good reason why I married you. I'll get right on it."