A Brother's Price

of the youngest will go!” Mother Elder said firmly. “Marriage is business only for elder and middle sisters. They’ll be the only ones going.”
    This was greeted with groans of disappointment.
    “Now, now, we’ve been riding for hours to see you, so no long faces, or no one gets their presents from Annaboro.”
    The horses were cared for, the supplies carried into the house, and the presents distributed, all in record time. With the youngest shooed out into the play yard with their new treasures, Jerin, his elder sisters, and their mothers settled down to discuss who would go with Eldest to Mayfair.
    “It says ‘with as many sisters you wish to also attend.’ ” Eldest tapped the Queens’ letter, folded stiff, on the table. “Harvest will start soon; we’ll need almost everyone here. With Captain Tern escorting us downriver, and then us staying at the palace proper, I can’t see needing to take more than two others. Which two?”
    “I think we should take Summer,” Jerin said quietly.
    “Summer?” Eldest looked and sounded surprised. “Why?”
    Jerin blushed, ducking his head from his elder sisters’ confused scrutiny. “We’re not going just to get me wives, but you a husband too. It’d be a shame to pass up the chance to make an influential marriage both ways. And, well, I don’t mean to slight anyone, but Summer’s the prettiest.”
    “What does that have to do with anything?” Birdie asked.
    “Well,” Jerin said, “if your husband has any say in who he marries, then we should take the prettiest sister with us. Right?”
    There was reluctant agreement from his sisters.
    “Then we’ll take Summer,” Eldest stated. “And who else?”
    “Corelle,” Mother Elder stated.
    “Corelle?” Jerin yelped in surprise as the others mur-mured their agreement with Mother Elder. “She’s been taking favors from Balin Brindle and she left the farm unprotected. Take her? After the way she’s been?”
    “Especially after the way she’s been.” Mother Elder said quietly. “She hasn’t seen enough of the world, what she’s giving up if she settles for Balin Brindle.”
    “But Mother Elder!” Jerin cried. “It would be like rewarding her for being bad! 1 don’t know why you let Corelle get away with things.”
    “Jerin, we have four sons,” Mother Elder said, taking his hands. “We could easily split the family four ways, though we probably won’t, but we certainly will be splitting at least once. Either Corelle, Heria, or Blush will be Mother Elder for the younger sisters. You can’t make good decisions as an adult if you were never allowed to make any decisions while you were a child. Now is the time for Corelle to learn from her mistakes.”
    “Couldn’t you split the family so Summer is Mother Elder?” Jerin grumbled.
    “Summer isn’t strong enough. Where Corelle leads, the others follow. We only need to teach her to lead wisely.”
     
    The middle sisters rode in shortly before dinner. Eldest met them at the paddock, pulled Summer and Corelle aside, and told them that they would be going to May-fair. The others could hear Corelle scream from all the way in the kitchen, sounding like someone was murdering her with a rusty knife.
    “What did Corelle do this time?” Blush asked.
    “What’s Eldest doing to her?” Leia peered out the kitchen window. From there they could see Corelle, leaping up and down in the paddock, still screaming.
    Heria glanced out the window and made a noise of disgust. “Corelle’s going with Jerin and Eldest to May-fair. Eldest just told her.”
    “Lucky dog,” Blush muttered.
    After a sleepless night that seemed to go on forever, dawn came. Jerin dressed in his loose, dun-colored walking robe, folded up his quilt, placed it in his wedding chest, and locked it tight shut. When he came down to breakfast. Eldest and Birdie went up to carry his chest out to the buckboard. Eldest. Corelle, and Summer stacked their bags on top of it.
    Breakfast was quiet and solemn. Afterward, he hugged and kissed his mothers, sisters, and brothers good-bye. He gazed one last time at the solid stone farmhouse, the well-kept barns, the sprawling fields. Then he left home, forever.
----
    Chapter 7

     
    They planned on being early to Heron Landing so there’d be no chance of missing the packet that arrived at noon. Three-quarters of a mile from the house, the Whistlers’ lane joined the common road; there, Eldest was able to whip the horses into a smooth trot.