Theodore sat upright in a wooden horse-drawn carriage.
He had been painstakingly been trying to remember how he came here.
Nothing.
He knew he was inspecting a building site and the next moment he felt as if his head was splitting in two. Then nothingness. White and black alternated for a while.
He then woke up in this carriage. For some reason, he did not feel shocked. Not even surprised.
He woke up with the memories of Theodore Thompson, sixth son to Viscount Thompson.
He knew where he was. On his way to Fivernely in the Carlile province. He also knew why. To protect him from the infighting. Or perhaps other reasons. His father claimed it was to protect him. But the region he was sent to told another story.
The heir presumptive, his eldest brother Richard, had been competing with his younger brothers for years... In the kingdom of Proxima, strength ruled. So the brothers fought each other and tried to gain the support of the various retainers and the approval of their father.
His father had Theodore with his fourth wife - she was the last addition to the household. It was publicly known that she had married into the family because of the relationship between the Thompson and Carson households.
His father held little love for him and his mother. Yet he decided to protect his youngest offspring and sent him off to the far Fivernely.
At least, according to the man himself, this was the reason for Theodore's exile.
Theodore could still feel the emotions of the 'original' Theodore course through his body as he conjured up these memories. Being cut from the family had been hard on him. He had strived to please for so long and was then tossed aside relentlessly regardless of his pleading.
"It is for your own good. Your brothers will fight for the inheritance. You can have a good life elsewhere. I'll send you to Fivernely." He pointed at a big map. "You will be in charge of this area. You will be safer there." He then dismissed Theodore and he was sent out the next day - everything had already been arranged.
The original Theodore had not been an idiot. He recognised things weren't as dandy as his father had described. Fivernely was a gift of the king, many years ago. It had been a 'white elephant' gift.
It was a great honour to be granted territory by the king, however, Fivernely was far away from their own territory. It was a barren, cold area where little would grow and little commerce existed.
The 'maintenance' for this 'gift' was extremely expensive. Even levying taxes would cost money! The convoy that had to protect the levied taxes was extremely expensive! Due to the distance and barren conditions, it was hardly worth keeping the territory at all. But as it was a gift by the king, they could not part from this territory!
In ancient times, the king would give a white elephant to his vassals in order to knock them down for a bit. The white elephant could not do labour, was hard to keep clean, ate a lot and would live for a very long time! The expenses would literally prevent the vessel from growing any further!
The Fivernely area was much the same. It was an area that would only burn money.
By granting this land to Theodore, a great burden was lifted off the household expenses!
Regardless of the reason, Theodore had to face the music. The reality was that he was going to have to rule this barren territory and make the best of it. But this just fine by post-exile-Theodore!
He came to accept the new situation quickly and was curious and excited to live his second live! Whether it was luck, bad luck, coincidence, divine intervention, it did not matter! He was here now and had to make the best of it!
He recognised that his new memories were dominant to his own memories and that for some reason he had easily accepted his new state of being. He let that thought go easily as well. It was moving on and getting over. It was unnaturally natural to adopt that mindset. Perhaps something else was at work? He didn't know - and didn't care..