Chapter 114: Retirement Draft
Oliver gave up the future of Marian Crowe when I stopped asking the past to belong only to me.
On Friday, the retirement draft appeared between our two solicitors in North Quay's contract room.
Its first section addressed only future use of the shared pen name.
No new novel, story, recording or promotional text could be issued as Marian Crowe.
Neither of us could appoint a successor.
Neither could describe an independent project as `Marian Crowe presents` or its authorised continuation.
The six completed books and fixed existing editions remained governed by their separate schedules.
The audio annex retained its original three-year term and accurate performance credit.
The optional seventh volume remained on the cancellation path rather than becoming a final Marian Crowe work.
My solicitor asked whether the future ban applied symmetrically.
The administrator displayed matching obligations under both names. The prohibition covered contracts, metadata, retailer descriptions and spoken introductions, preventing a narrow licence from recreating the retired brand indirectly.
I could not revive Marian Crowe for Saltmere advertising.
Oliver could not attach it to Larkspur or any later book.
Pippa acquired no successor status, burden or old-series credit through the clause.
Oliver's solicitor approved the symmetry.
He then turned to historical contribution language.
I had written most first drafts and built the series-wide mystery structure.
I had also coordinated the delivery process across the six books.
Oliver had developed dialogue, tested scenes aloud and performed the audio editions.
He had drafted the first version of Book Two, Chapter Eleven before my structural rewrite.
Those facts had been verified months earlier.
They did not make either of us sole author of the completed collaboration.
I removed `SOLE CREATOR` from my side's proposed heading.
Oliver removed language suggesting that performance meant equal drafting of every chapter.
The administrator replaced both claims with a reference to the established contribution matrix.
The matrix would be drafted accurately in short and title-by-title forms.
It would not determine ownership or amend the existing fifty-fifty royalty schedules.
It would explain labour rather than redistribute contract rights. The administrator linked each category to the September evidence index so later publicity could not detach a flattering phrase from its boundary.
I accepted that boundary in writing.
Oliver accepted that his genuine credit stopped where the verified record stopped.
The future-retirement terms then moved to signature.
I signed the prohibition on new works, successors and `presents` branding.
Oliver supplied the matching electronic signature through his solicitor.
The contract system generated certificates for both signatures and one shared version hash. A separate no-interim-use control blocked both creator profiles from displaying the pen name while the remaining historical wording was reviewed.
The term sheet would be incorporated into the final retirement deed after the contribution text passed review.
Until then, the existing freeze remained in place.
Neither party obtained an interim promotional licence from today's agreement.
North Quay retained the signed term sheet and matrix drafting instruction.
Each solicitor received the same certified copy.
No draft contribution wording was approved merely because it appeared in the closing pack.
The cost of my signature was not abstract.
I surrendered any future campaign built on claiming that Marian Crowe had secretly been only me. That concession was permanent even if the detailed contribution copy later required more negotiation.
Oliver surrendered the commercially useful possibility of reviving the recognised name.
What remained was an old catalogue with finite licences and an accurate record of two people's work.
The administrator closed the future-use section at 14:42.
Then the publisher uploaded its first proposed contribution statement.
It called me `principal writer` and Oliver `creative collaborator`.
The labels sounded balanced until I compared them with the verified matrix.
Neither label identified which labour had actually been done.
`Principal writer` said nothing about my structures or majority of first drafts.