(2025-07-26) Map Mystery Answers

Details

Author:	inkie
Summary:	Siamus replies to Natalyah's various questions re: the Map Mystery.
Rating:	T for Teen

Arc: Apex Investigations

26 July
Fallon House

Miss Kensington-Whit -

I am obliged to you, Mrs. Hazan, and Miss Sunstrike for your remarkable work in so short a time.

I can of course look into civic records for relevant arrivals and immigrations. I will tell you now that I very much doubt the involvement of a warlock in any capacity, although naturally one should not entirely rule out any hypothesis without due examination. A warlock would, however, be somewhat conspicuous in Kul Tiras, which does not have any native examples of the profession.

The barrel-drop method is a reasonable consideration. It is, however, neither random nor anonymous, but an exchange performed between particular ships and by agreement of signals; when the inbound ship signals agreement to same, the outbound ship will drop a barrel over for the other to collect. The ship which collected the barrel, then, should be aware of the identity — and therefore origin — of the ship from whence it came. It is conceivable, if unusual, that an item might be the product of a few such exchanges, so that the ship which carried it to its final destination was at no point acquainted with the ship on which it originated.

While it is an intriguing possibility and one I had not myself considered, I am inclined to discount it on the basis that any ship delivering such items of barrel-mail to Stormwind Harbor would have no reason to conceal any of the items or its own hand in their delivery; most such captains are only too happy to claim credit for having united desired correspondence with its waiting recipient.

You and Miss Sunstrike are astute in observation, as well, that the ‘ecosystem of the docks’ is an orderly one. A false note would be easily spotted, but similarly it would not be difficult with some acquaintance and study to learn its patterns.

As to the matter of central interest: H. Parrish would be Hywel Parrish, a paternal great-great-etc. grandfather and celebrated cartographer. One of his maps hangs in my library. I am enclosing herewith a cheque in the amount G1,000 and Miss Curran’s card. Kindly return to Mr. Parson as soon as possible and acquire both of the H. Parrish maps in addition to the peculiar third; bargain him down as low as he will go, and your agency may keep whatever of the sum remains as a finder’s fee. Inform Mr. Parson that if he has other items of Kul Tiran historical significance my agent would be interested to review his collection personally, and give him Miss Curran’s card.

(If he has somehow become aware of the maps’ true value in the intervening time, I request urgently that you acquire at least the Shrine of the Storm, and apply to me for whatever additional funds you may need for the other two.)

I do not know of any K. Parrish, but the Stormsong side of our family is prolific; my paternal grandmother, Fianna Fallon née Parrish, had two brothers and a sister. She alone bore ten children in her lifetime (to four husbands), and so the network of various uncles-aunts-cousins by full or half blood is a tangled one in her line of descent alone, quite without getting into the descendants of her siblings. There will be detailed records kept somewhere, as geneaologies like ours are held significant in Kul Tiras, but I cannot claim possession of any such record myself.

Under no circumstances would Sintha have sold any Hywel Parrish work to a Stormwind bookseller’s shop. If the man insists it was a ‘Miss Fallon’ who provided the items, then it was either a bizarre coincidence — and therefore a possibility I am strongly inclined to discount — or an impostor of some sort trading on the name. To the best of my knowledge, the Stormsong Fallons count only three other Misses Fallon among their number. One of them does not fit the given description; I have no recollection of the other two, having seen neither since early childhood, but the likelihood of either of them finding her way across to the mainland is slim to nil.

As nothing is impossible, however, I suggest you might speak with Sintha herself. She is better-acquainted with the younger generation of our family than I am. As she is not at present deployed, she may be contacted at her city flat, the address of which I have written below.

If Lady Priscilla might be of any aid in the resolution of this matter, then I would be very glad of her expertise.

Please give my warm regards to Dinnsfield and to his parents, and convey my regards also to Mrs. Hazan and her husband, as well as my hope that their infant is thriving.

Warmest regards,
Yr. obdt. svt.,
S. Fallon

P.S. I am nothing if not a sporting gentleman, but a week from Tuesday last is extraordinarily ambitious, if I may say so. I did mention the matter was not one of extreme urgency; the work you have accomplished already is sufficiently remarkable that I would not be surprised if the three of you should manage it, but I will be no less pleased by a result at any later date.

P.P.S. The only ‘Captain Fairweather’ with whom I am acquainted is a pirate and a smuggler, and if she has ceased to deal goods in Stormwind I am inclined to hope it is not because of the embargo but because she was justly hanged.