Once Upon a time there was a girl. She had a dog, some barn cats, and some farm animals. She lived with her father in a small farmhouse on what she felt was a very nice farm.  The two of them worked very hard to grow food and make a the farm productive. Because even though her mother had owned the farm, when her mother died the farm became Crown property. Because Male’s (and children) couldn’t own land. There was a chance that The Girl could buy the property back when she was old enough but they still had to pay rent until that point in time as well as come up with the money to buy the farm.  Which The Girl knew probably meant she would have to find a nice young boy who had a large enough Dowry that would get them the farm. The biggest problem was that going to events that would let mothers meet her and become interested in her was a lot of effort. Especially after doing everything that was needed on the farm for the day.

     One day she was fixing the tractor,(it had broken down the day before and The Girl and Her father, had to attach the Oxen to it and spend all afternoon pushing to get it back to the house). A group of young boys just happened to walk past the house (just happening to walk past her house was not very easy since she was the last farm down a very empty rode, she was guessing they drove to merry lain and then started walking with the intention to walk past her house. This would have flattened her if she wasn’t covered in oil and so very busy). 

“Hello,” The uninvited guest’s called. One sticking their head under the tractor looking for her.

“Oh, Hello.” The Girl said “One moment,” she managed to tighten the thing she was holding onto and crawl as gracefully as she could out from the machinery. She could hear one of the younger boys giggling at her, she guessed he had caught a glimpse of her underpants or something. Boys liked to giggle at that.  “Master Brooks, How nice to see you. What brings you all the way out here?” She addressed the eldest boy, since it was only proper.

“Father sent us to find out if you had any eggs.” He told her as naturally as he could. “He is making some grand deserts for the party on Friday night. You will be there won’t you?” The Girl was amused by how natural this boy was able to make the deliberate invitation sound. His father was quite the matchmaker she knew, but he had to be with so many boys to find wife’s for.

“Oh, we should have some more. I wasn’t able to make it to town to sell them this morning. Lost a lot of time yesterday to that dame Tractor. Come, I can get them for you.”

     The Girl led the eldest Brooks boy back to her house, to the cold room where she kept the eggs. “How much did your father want?” She asked

“Two dozen if you have them,”

     The Girl nodded and started placing them into the portable cases that he had brought with him.

“You didn’t say if you were coming tomorrow…” He asked again shyly. 

     The Girl hung her head, “I will try, I promise I will try. It’s just there’s this tractor, and the land I was working on when it broke still needs to be tilled so I can get the seed down before it rains next week. We also have a cow about to give birth any day…”

“Do you need some help? I can stay a bit. My brothers can bring my dad the eggs… I don’t know the inner workings of a tractor but I am sure I can help some where…”

     The Girl looked at him, a little unsure then surged. “You really want me to come on Friday don’t you?” She said with a smile.

“I just think you need a bit of fun.”

Once there was a mother. She was a Lady as well as a mother, She had a daughter and a son and some land. She had one hundred some servants’ from some far off province. Which she had paid a trader a good amount of coin to get them here. They had been sold to her as slaves, but slavery was a crime to the gods so even though she had bought them she had been forced to ceremonially announce them free the moment the ship landed. Then they were given a small home and a very small wage. Free didn’t mean much when it meant you had to feed yourself. So it all worked out well enough for her. She had her blue people. They were a cheap workforce, even when you counted for the price to get them here. AND they were the talk of the county. Which was all that really mattered after all.

Her daughters future was set, if the girl found a nice boy that would just be wonderful but she wasn’t worried about her. What she did need now was a Daughter in Law. She honestly didn’t care which one, she just wanted her son to have a place in the world. That was what was important.  Not that she didn’t want a granddaughter or anything. That would just make things so much more enjoyable around here.

She had always liked the idea of children. When she was younger she had hoped for two or three. But the process of having them had just been so horrid that she couldn’t bear to do it more than needed, when her first born had been a son she had been forced to have another. She wasn’t about to let her family’s home and title be given away as some boy’s dowry that was just embracing.

She knew it would be easy to marry off her son, that didn’t worry her. Yet her son… her husband was such a romantic. Now it had been there choice together to get married, and she did admit to being quite stricken with him when she was young but her son wasn’t stricken with anyone and it was time they got his future sorted out. Way beyond time to be honest.

“I believe I have given our son long enough to find a girl he likes.” The Mother told her husband. “It’s time you start talking to the fathers and find out who has been betroved already and who is looking for a good match. No more stalling understand?” She said firmly.

“Yes my dear” he replied “I understand your concern, I will do as you ask.” She had always appreciated how well he listened. He husband gave her a kiss, “One though I did have though.” He  added as he was leaving the room. “The princess Amandina is having a ball in two months… I thought maybe he should attend. It would give him the chance to see more of the world. Meet new people… maybe even meet the princess…”

The Mother smiled at her man. “You are as conniving as ever aren’t you. But you do speak true, If he is so uninterested it all the young ladies of our county he will find someone at the capital. I will arrange the trip. We must leave soon if we are to get there before the change. We will return with his Wife.”

With this her husband left closing the door gently and she returned to her paperwork.