The Residency, Refugio, concerns…
Tuban Morales was troubled. “Francos, I hope we have a secondary plan for Megal. So far none of the family Pesch has indicated they have women of the right age. Broker Stein did get a strange message from Alam that Anthony Pesch might know of someone. But he has no daughters of the correct age. I can’t tell if he means there are no daughters in his house or in Alam’s. It made no sense at all.”
“I am surprised the message from Alam was even that coherent,” Francos said as he shook his head. “He got drunk just after we first contacted him and has stayed that way. I have other issues with that man. Sometimes, I think assigning him to handle the trade office was a serious mistake. From what I have surmised, Tony does most of the work and Alam holds his card games with his friends.”
“There wasn’t enough trade to even justify having an envoy there. It seemed to your father and Ser Emiliano to the safest place to exile him. It has improved since Tony Pesch arrived. Pity it had to be a junior Pesch that handled it so well.”
“Has the broker heard from Tony about daughters?”
“Tony has no daughters who are not bonded, and several of his wives have been listed as ‘lost’ whatever that means.”
“Our intelligence says many women cannot bear to give up a child condemned by the Keepers of the Blood. So, they take the child to a place set up by the Utopians called the Temple of New Life. Some women even take the child and stay in Utopia. That may have been what Tony permitted and then listed the women as lost. It is like those who send children to the southern ports and offer them to the pirates.”
“The women leave the harem and live among the Pins?” Tuban was shocked.
“The Utopians are more willing to support the mutated and defective than we are, Uncle,” Francos said softly, stressing the proper term for the residents of the planet’s other settlement. “They have homes for them, and I would suppose the women become residents of those homes. They must be cared for like children, after all.”
Tuban was incredulous. “Surely they do not have the resources to support these brain-damaged women as well as their defective offspring.”
“The intelligence reports indicate they welcome them. They do not attempt to keep their gene pool pure as we strive to do.”
“Disgusting.”
“Perhaps, but you know as well as I do that, we often find children in the Unspoken sector who would have been judged defective by the Keepers, had they been presented. Often, they are of extreme talent in some area. I think of that girl who sang at the Resurrection Fair. She could not walk, but her voice was of an angel. I wonder how many others like her we lose because the Keepers order them destroyed.”
“Francos, even the Overlord is not exempt from the Keepers. Such statements could get you condemned and exiled.”
“Perhaps not. I have had similar sentiments expressed to me by clergy, especially those whose families lose most of their children to the Keepers. There is suspicion the decrees of the Keepers may have very little science behind them, mostly politics. Male infants are much more likely to be found defective than females. The more powerful the house, the fewer infants are certified. Sentiment may be changing, and our people might just welcome a less harsh enforcement of the rules.”
“Well, none of that will solve the problem of finding a wife for Megal,” Tuban said.
“No, it won’t. But it may be that those left at the Temple of New Life in Utopia are our last hope for a daughter of Pesch.”
Tuban was aghast. “You would not allow that, would you?”
“Why not, if she is truly of Pesch?”
“Why? By the Three Francos, have you lost your mind? A woman of Utopia as First Wife? Their women run free, without supervision or a harem to protect them! How can you expect one of those barbarians to become the First Wife?”
“We do not know yet if it is a woman of Utopia that they are speaking about. If I have to take a love child in order to get a grandson, I’ll do it. A child is not controlled by its genetic makeup, Uncle. We can train any child she bears to be a proper True Human. Right now, we have to wait until Tony or Alam can produce a woman to be tested.”
“I grow too old,” Tuban growled. “Sons make demands on their fathers. Families refuse to present children to the Keepers — and last week, I saw one of the women of my harem writing something! She did not know I was watching her, but she was busily writing on paper, and had books on the table near her. I thought the room was a sewing room. It looks more like a library! Too much change for one old man.”
“Remember, a society that does not grow and change, dies.”
“Give me the Refugio of my youth, thank you. I don’t like all these surprises. Will you be joining us at Hacienda Morales for the summer hunt?”
“No, I think not this year. I want to stay here in the city until we get this bonding arrangement settled.”
“I’ll stay in touch with Carlos for news. I think I’ll just retire to the hacienda and raise sitter cats or hunting dogs. Bah.”
Francos laughed. “How often have I heard that? Have a safe journey.”
Should you want to read the whole story…
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