Penþa nods in acknowledgement of the question.

"Kastal specifically said in her record of the judgement that Doneg had not arranged anything like that ahead of time," they answer. "Yes?"

"Well, even if she didn't tell the Organizer, did anyone in the village say whether she expected anyone to get it?" another child asks.

"During the trial þoni claimed that Doneg expected her to inherit everything," Penþa explained. "Nobody else came forward to say one way or the other. Ganemki didn't contest that everything was expected to go to þoni, but he did say that he liked the blanket, and expected to put it to good use."

The children think about this for a moment. Lhemur quietly starts tapping out the beat to a thinking song on his drum.

"Well, did Koralhi say why he gave the blanket to Ganemki?"

A few of the adults around Penþa click in approval.

"An excellent question," they reply. "Koralhi said that he gave the blanket to Ganemki because he figured either of Doneg's children could inherit it, and he didn't want to give the blanket to someone who wouldn't appreciate it."

"But, if þoni didn't think the blanket was valuable, why did she want it?" Daskal asks. 

"Another good question — alright, I think you've asked enough questions to hear the next part of the story," Penþa decides. "So Organizer Kastal asked some of those same questions ..."

... including why þoni wanted the blanket.

þoni was initially reluctant to explain, but eventually she explained to Kastal that she had initially snapped at Koralhi because she was afraid for her mother's health. Everyone knows that older mothers often have more trouble with birth, and that it's important for pregnant people to eat well, so that the baby is born healthy.

þoni blamed the fact that her mother had given up so many eggs over the course of the summer for her poor health, and didn't think that a baby blanket was worth it, when they had þoni's own old baby blanket that could have been used again for Soltanes.

Koralhi pointed out that this meant she had not been truthful with him — she didn't think his work was worthless, but just that her mother should not have bought it.

þoni disagreed, saying that was what she said at the time, and that Koralhi was deliberately misunderstanding her.

Kastal had them both stop, so that she could think.

"So — does that prompt any new questions?" Penþa asks.

"... what does the law say?" one child asks.

Penþa chuckles. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that," they respond. "What does the law say about what?"

"When someone inherits a ... something that's not a thing, does it work just like a thing?" they clarify.

Penþa picks up a different net, and quotes from it.

"'Debts and promises may only ever accrue to the descendants of the dead in their favor; except in this way, their distribution is to be determined according to the same rules as for tangible property. Debts owed by the dead are forgiven.'," they read.

"Um."

The child wrinkles their nose.

"That wasn't really what I wanted to know, I guess. Was the inheritance the blanket, or the deal for a blanket?"

Penþa tilts their head.

"How do you think it would make a difference?"

"Well, if it was this specific blanket, then it's a problem, but if she just inherited the deal for a blanket, then she could get a different blanket and everything would be fine."

"But the deal was specifically for a blanket with a rose on it, remember?" Penþa replies.

"Well, did they have any other rose blankets?" a different child asks.

Penþa thinks for a moment, and spends a moment checking a later section of the trial transcript.

"It's not recorded, so we can't be sure. But I think it was unlikely — there are lots of things that can go on blankets, not just roses. So even if they had plenty of blankets they might not have had other rose ones."

"But do inheritances all go by the household, normally?" one of the adults asks. Their neighbor raises an eyebrow at them. "What, I'm not allowed to get invested in the story too?"

"Well, I'll accept it, since it's another good question," Penþa jokes. "Let me see ... 'And when the deceased does not express a preference, their belongings are to be given to their spouse, and then to their children, and then to their parents, and then to their householders, and then to the village entire, excepting that any of those should be estranged from them.'"