In Ink and Wine

What Happened After

Clarille and Keridel

Clarille and Keridel lived in West Draulin for about a year, before being able to afford a small villa just outside of the city. Here, Clarille started up a vineyard again, although much smaller than the one in Lakeside. She didn't make enough wine to bother selling, but she loved experimenting with new flavours, and her wines became very popular for nobles in West Draulin.

Keridel managed the Olyandos Barges from a distance, starting up a new office in the West Draulin port and communicating mainly with the crews on his barques. He would occasionally travel on the barques, but never went back on the Adymuss River. On the island of New Teltar, he started up a team of trading caravans, with special attention put towards visiting the smaller villages that other traders often avoided. Clarille often helped out in the office, after having quit from Donic's Mercantile.

Despite Clarille quitting, she kept ties with Donic and the two trading companies had an amicable relationship. Years later, when Donic retired, the Olyandos Merchant Company absorbed Donic's Mercantile. Alfie wasn't pleased.

***

Hessa and Jorji

Hessa and Jorji stayed with Clarille and Keridel. Hessa helped Clarille, but as a friend and companion instead of a handmaiden. About a year later when Toni was born, she and Clarille raised the girls together. Hessa was happy to stay home and look after the girls while Clarille worked in the port office or vineyard.

Keridel trained Jorji to become a partner in the business, which soon meant that he was often away with the barques and barges. He took over as the flagship barge's Skipper, and continue working with the crew who had helped Clarille escape Riode so many years earlier. He made frequent trips back to West Draulin.

***

Toni

Clairia and Toni were both trained to inherit the Olyandos Merchant Company. Clairia took more to the bookkeeping side of things, while Toni enjoyed being out on the boats and working with the goods. When Toni was given her own ship, the Heiress, she began to travel farther out to find different, exciting goods to bring back for trading.

After Clairia and Tandrael officially start courting, Toni and Roland found themselves together very often. They never officially courted, but maintain a friends with benefits sort of relationship.

By the time of the Greatest Thief books, Toni has completely taken over running the company. Clairia is more of a silent partner, although she will occasionally check in on the office or help out if Toni asks her for something. The two don't see each other very often, but keep in touch with letters.

***

Brylow and Jeksen

Brylow cut all ties to her family and remained in Zianna City for the rest of her life, gaining popularity and standing in the king's court. Although her dreams of changing laws and old traditions didn't quite work out, her fame inspired many young ladies from the Greater Adeno Area to strive for the lives they wanted, as opposed to the lives their families planned for them. About fifteen years later, one of these young ladies was named Florinne, from one of the wealthiest families in Adeno. Florinne moved to Zianna City, seeking Brylow as a sort of mentor. The two quickly became friends. Florinne would eventually marry Prince Edarius and become Queen Florinne, with Brylow as one of her closest friends.

Brylow and Jeksen married in secret, because Jeksen wasn't comfortable with all the attention that would come along with marrying her, and Brylow respected his privacy. He eventually trained as a soldier, so he could plausibly follow Brylow around as her bodyguard. Luckily, bodyguards tend to blend into the background. Jeksen was perfectly happy doing so, while watching his wife thrive in the spotlight.

***

Lakeside Villa

After Berver and his men left Lakeside, the staff remained at the villa. They lost the vineyard, as Berver's men had torched it, but Kahl and Dion were determined to restore it and within a few years had a thriving vineyard. They started making small batches of wine, and carted it out to Husil to sell to the Olyandos Barges. Roughly four years after the events with Berver, a sickness ran through the area, killing many people in Lakeside. When the staff heard of three children who had been left orphaned, they quickly invited the children to the villa. Kahl and Dion adopted the three, an eight-year-old Teltan boy and three-year-old Zian twins. Salah proudly declared herself the children's grandmother, and the six of them became a very happy family.

About a year after the kids are welcomed to the villa, Alavi left for Kitsi, to start her own seamstress shop. She did very well there, eventually growing her shop and employing other women. She did very good business with the Olyandos Barges whenever they visited the city, and kept in regular contact with the rest of the Lakeside staff. About once a year, she sent them a bundle of new clothes she had made, and they sent her a few bottles of wine.

***

The Cabernels and the Bervols

The Cabernels had no idea where Clarille had gone, and didn't bother searching, until one day nearly twenty-three years after they had last heard from her, news reached the Greater Adeno Area about a woman named Clairia in West Draulin. They immediately knew she was Clarille's daughter, and reached out. With Clairia in line to become Lady West Daulin, and therefore one of the most powerful women in the kingdom, Clarille felt quite secure in replying to her family's message. She publically acknowledged that she was a Cabernel (which many people suspected anyway), but refused to be involved in the family beyond writing letters back and forth with her mother (with occasional postscripts for Cabero).

The Bervols very quickly learned that Brylow was in Zianna City, and their public attitude towards their daughter shifted quickly when it became clear how well she was doing in the king's court. They tried to claim that they sent her to Zianna City, and many other lies to make themselves look good. Unfortunately for them, Brylow was very outspoken about how her family treated her, and not many nobles in the Greater Adeno Area believed the family's claims. Even the Cabernels distanced themselves a bit. Although the older generations still supported the Bervols, by the time Berver inherited his family's properties and duties, many of his peers had broken ties. The Bervols' famous parties became a thing of the past.

***

Clairia and Tandrael

Clairia and Tandrael get married, making her Lady West Draulin. They have three children—Tandrin, Tandrix and Tairia. But that's an entirely different story.