Sitting around the campfire one evening, Uda asked me about the family treasure.
“Here’s the story as it was retold to me.
“Grandberry Leeta, Grandtwig Goodwin and his brother, Grand Nuncle Tosh, were at camp after they’d won the main battle of the Spring War. Leeta and Goodwin had not married yet. In fact, I think they’d just met. The commanders declaired a celebration and the entire camp got drunk. Leeta, a captain, and some of her command got the bright idea to go to the enemy camp – of which there were only a few soldiers left and a handful of supporters – and see if the enemy had any goods they could take home as souviners.
“Leeta ran into Goodwin and Tosh there, who had the same idea evidently. Tosh had found a stash of particularly good whiskey in some enemy commander’s tent. So they’d started to pass the bottle, although none of them – and this is according to Grandberry Leeta’s recollection – needed any additional alcohol.
“Tosh kept pulling out bottles from this elaborately decorated trunk. And so they kept drinking. Finally Tosh pulled out an old, dusty bottle, wrapped in the crusty remains of a leather satchel. It’s top had been sealed with wax and stamped with some unknown sigil.
“Just as Tosh was about to attempt to open it, the King’s guards came through the enemy camp to dispurse the looters. Leeta, being a captain and all, shouldn’t have been there. If the guards caught her, she’d be courtmarshalled and probably hanged. She grabbed Goodwin and Tosh and another – a corporal named…”
I paused and tried to remember the name. It had been something unique. Uda watched me expectantly and Regit smirked, saying, “Don’t you let your Anie Cly tell you false. This family ain’t got no treasure. It’s a curse.”
I frowned and shook my head at him. He rolled his eyes and drank his beer.
“The corporal’s name was Idigara. Anyway, the four of them slipped out the back of the tent just as the royal guards came in through the front of the tent. They were chased all the way across the battleground. Leeta tripped on a corpse and Goodwin stopped to help her. The royal guard ran past and continued to chase the corporal and Tosh – completely missing your grandtrees.
“When Leeta and Goodwin walked into her camp, some time later Grandberry Leeta told me with a wink, the royal guard was waiting for them. She claimed she’d been with Goodwin in his tent. The guards said they’d captured the corporal and asked her what she wanted done with her. She told the guard she’d deal with her corporal for being drunk and disorderly and breaking the treaty. The royal guard saluted and left.
“Goodwin asked the corporal where Tosh was, but the corporal was too drunk to answer. They went into Leeta’s tent and found Tosh hiding up in the spokes of the tent. It was amazing the whole thing hadn’t collapsed. He dropped down and broke his nose–”
“Served him right,” Regit said.
“and broke the dusty bottle underneath him. And do you know what was in the bottle?” I asked Uri, whose eyes had grown large with my tale.
She shook her head no.
“A Ginnyan. It granted three wishes. That’s how your Grand Nuncle Tosh became Prince of Palmra and how your Grandtwig became a successful business man.”
“But what did Grandberry Leeta ask for?”
“She’s smart, our Grandberry. She asked for the Ginnyan to serve her. And that is the family treasure.”