A Brother's Price

certificate, which Jerin lingered over to erase the jolt of pain that the death certificate had put through him.
     
    Kai Whistler, male child born to Bliss Whistler and fathered by husband Tullen Beadwater from Bowling Green. Grandchild of Nida Whistler and husband Alannon (ancestry documented but uncertified). Great-grandchild of Kei Whistler & Order of the Sword crib captive named Gerard, #458. Great-great-grandchild of Allysen Whistler & Order of the Sword crib captive Kyle, number unknown. No other lineage known.
     
    A family copy, it was stamped and sealed with reference numbers of where the original was stored. Also indicated was where the marriage records for their mothers and grandmothers could be found.
    Jerin leafed down through the birth certificates, layered youngest to oldest, till he came to his own.
     
    Jerin Whistler, male child born to Mother Elder Whistler and fathered by husband Tullen Bead-water from Bowling Green. Grandchild of Tea Whistler and husband Alannon (ancestry documented but uncertified). Great-grandchild of Jo Whistler & Order of the Sword crib captive named Harrid, number unknown. Great-great-grandchild of Mother Elder Whistler & Order of the Sword crib captive, name and number unknown: tattoo initial of T . No other lineage known.
     
    If not for their father and grandfather, Jerin suddenly realized, he wouldn’t be blood related to Kai at all. He thumbed through the others, noticing for the first time how odd his family was once all the bloodlines were assembled. His ten grandmothers were divided among five crib fathers, and no two shared the same birth mother. None of his great-grandmothers represented by their surviving daughters even shared the same crib fathers; they seemed to be nine strangers sharing a family name.
    Lifting out the records of his mothers’ generation, he studied his grandmothers’ papers underneath. They were dog-eared, much folded, and largely incomplete. One even had an elaborate map inked on its back. The birth certificates recorded birth mother and father, and most had a birth grandmother named. Often for grandfather, the records stated, “Order of the Sword crib captive, initial designation,‘’ and this varied from grandmother to grandmother, and then a general time period of years was noted.
    Among the grandmothers’ papers was one crisp sheet, obviously carefully protected. It declared that the ten Whistler sisters married one Alannon, pedigree lines waived as the groom was war plunder and verbal questioning indicated no crossbreeding.
    Too bad he hadn’t thought to show Princess Rennsel-laer this. She seemed interested in his grandfather. Bit-ing his lip on bitter thoughts that wanted to crowd in, he placed all the documents back into the box, and locked it tight.
     
    Their twelve mothers arrived after lunch, while middle sisters tended the back pasture fence. The youngest reached their mothers first and shouted news at the top of their lungs. Even from the kitchen where he was kneading bread, Jerin could hear cries of ‘“Heria got a rifle from the Queens!” and “Jerin and Eldest are going to Mayfair! Can I go too?” Jerin covered the dough to rise, washed his hands, and went out to welcome them home.
    Mother Elder was sitting up on the buckboard’s seat, stranded there by a wailing Bunny on her lap, trying to listen to all her children at once. “Quiet! Hush! Eldest, what in Mothers’ name is going on?”
    “Princess Rennsellaer’s Captain Tern came to stay yesterday,” Eldest said, reaching up to free Mother Elder of Bunny. Eldest passed the little girl to Mother Dia, and then gave Mother Elder a hand down. Mother Elder had been with their father the night before his accident. When she left for Annaboro, she hadn’t realized that she was pregnant, thinking her weight gain had signaled the start of menopause. Even without her letter from Annaboro, however, there was no missing the pregnancy now. The buttons of her shirt, stretched over her swollen belly, were threatening to pop, and she had a satisfied smile and glow.
    “She’s at Heron Landing today,” Eldest said of Captain Tern. “But she’ll be back for dinner. The Queens sent an expensive custom rifle and pistols for Heria. They also offered to sponsor Jerin’s coming out in May-fair. We’ve accepted. Captain Tern is to escort us back to the palace. We haven’t decided who will all go.”
    “I want to go! I want to go!” the youngest chorused.
    “Hush! None