Page 51 of Brave Truth

“I have.” Claudio waved a hand. “Told Gabe and Orion what I told you.” Gabe chuckled, because that particular conversation had been while doing a bit of painstaking work taking down a ritual setting that had gone wrong and done increasingly confusing things with the flow of time. “It gave me some thoughts about the variation in mode, and what might work for me.”

He considered how to put this. “I’m quite aware of how I’ve hedged myself around, with limits and expectations and other people’s opinions. I’ve had the excellent good fortune to find people who find the places I ignore those interesting, and Matty’s encouraged me in more of that.” He added, “Boar. Definitely a Boar. Magni and Gil approve, as Gabe said. And Thesan and Isembard, though of course they had him in school.”

“I’ll do some recalibrating. But yes, there are a number of things in what you’ve said Silvia might take issue with. Male, not female. Boar, not Fox. Not from your sort of family.” Of course, Alexander had that information handy. “And working for the Ministry. I assume you’re factoring in that she might find out. Or other people.”

“Oh, yes,” Claudio said it with a bit of weight, and then heard Orion chuckling behind him. “But we both live our lives in Albion. He’s reasonably confident about his position. He walked me through it the other night. Matty knows those dynamics best, but I also think he’s right. He might lose out on the senior sort of promotions, but maybe not, at least in time.” Claudio took a breath. “And well, if I am successful, the Council is in a weight class all its own when it comes to gossip. And honestly, I think it’s rather less scandalous than a number of people who’ve been on in my lifetime.” Saying it felt brash, in a way Claudio never was, but it also had an edge of truth to it.

“I,” Alexander said cheerfully, “am a model of probity, discretion, and commendable behaviour. Well, compared to some.” He did seem amused, though. “All right. In that case, we need to talk about how you’ll navigate the ritual dancing with your mother. We shall set aside for the moment of who might partner you come December. That can wait. You remember my arguments about pairing in and out of the Council? You might consider asking Thesan.”

It made an interesting question. Most of the dances for the rites were not actually reliant on gender, though the later additions had that element. The earlier ones just went pair and pair without particular expectations of who danced which role. But Thesan knew the dances exceedingly well. She would no longer be partnering Alexander, and it would not be the scandalous choice. It would leave Mother wanting a partner, and that was a consideration.

Claudio spread his hands. “Worth talking about, certainly. But the thing about the rites is that they’re about a negotiated agreement. Not fondness, not flirtation, as a social dance might be in some settings. And not relying on a particular flow of emotion to be effective. Which, as you have mentioned, was good design on someone’s part, since the Council is not historically made of the most emotionally congruent people. My parents. Garin and Livia. The Watts brothers. I could reel off another twenty names.”

Alexander started chuckling at that. “Including me, for many years. Quite right. Let’s see. Gabe, can you take the second part with Orion here? I’d rather work it in pairs.”

Gabe pushed himself to stand. “If you’d wanted three pairs, we could have arranged to have Rathna and Hypatia come along. Though Rathna would have made faces at me, she’s busy with the Southampton portal again.”

Orion added, “And Hypatia’s working on an article. Not going to get in her way. I’ve more sense. We’ll manage.” The four of them set up into their places, taking it step by step. Alexander asked Claudio to pay attention to specific angles of step and inclination every other measure. Or so it seemed.

When they finished, a good ninety minutes later, Claudio was dripping with sweat— he’d been running most of the magical work, where the others had just been marking the places. He dried his face with his handkerchief, and looked up to find Alexander grinning impishly. “Come along, then. I want to see Geoffrey’s expression when he realises exactly which books you’re asking for. Can you stay for supper? He hasn’t had nearly enough scope for this particular topic in ages.”

It would at least be tremendously educational now, and likely equally fascinating later, when Claudio and Matty could put some of it into practice.

Chapter 34

Saturday, July 1st

Matty was fussing, and he knew it. In a few minutes, Claudio would turn up, and they would— well. They’d have a night together, whatever that ended up meaning. All day, Matty had been thinking of one more thing that might make the evening better. Clean towels in the bath, flowers in the kitchen and sitting room. Freshly washed sheets on the bed, of course, and a bench for whatever Claudio brought.

The last ten days had been full of the expected sorts of chaos. Midsummer Faire had not changed that much, it turned out. Claudio had been on duty during some of it, just as Matty had been out on solstice day itself to help with overseeing the harvests that had finicky requirements.

Someone had to certify that this plant was harvested before the dew was dry solstice morning, or that this one was harvested before the sunlight lit it. Since, of course, the various materia was grown in dozens of different places, everyone in the Ministry who had the skills to certify got sent off to one place or another. And Claudio, besides whatever he did with the Penelopes, had been busy with the Council rites.

They had managed two afternoons and evenings at the Faire together. One to explore the various exhibits and people hawking goods and a concert. Matty had picked up several canisters for the kitchen, deep, cheerfully red ones suitable for tea and a place to hoard his sugar ration. They’d spent the other day at the Fairlight pavilion, with prime seats for the bohort finals for the apprentice league.

That, it turned out, had kept Matty thinking. The bohort play had been top-notch, but the company had been fantastic. Orion and Claudio were obviously familiar not only with the players and their styles, but with the various tactics being used. Isembard and Thesan had joined them, with other people coming and going, including Claudio’s son. And if Hypatia and Cammie weren’t exactly as expert, they were well-informed viewers, asking interesting questions and obviously enjoying the whole thing.

It had been one of the meal breaks that had brought it home. Hypatia and Orion had gone off to make their proper social nods to a couple of people, and so had a number of others. Matty and Claudio had been chatting idly when Claudio excused himself for a moment. Matty had watched him walk ten feet away, the way his body language shifted entirely. It was as if he’d been spreading out, and suddenly he’d furled himself up, like pulling a cloak or maybe wings around him.

The reason became obvious when he paused, because he was speaking with his mother. They had a conversation of perhaps three or four minutes, before Council Head Warren got a look at Matty properly. He saw her react, but he did not know what her expression meant, and he’d not had a chance to ask Claudio since. It wasn’t a thing to write in the journals. He wanted to hear Claudio’s voice, feel his magic, if they ever talked about it. Claudio had come back, putting on a smile that became real and solid again as soon as the play started.

The bohort had led to a conversation over supper— a late supper, the match had run long— and the six of them tossing about half a dozen approaches. Matty had said something in passing about old habits, and Claudio had fastened on it, like a hunting dog going after prey. He’d made half a dozen furious notes about things to look up. By the time they’d come around to Tuesday’s meeting, he’d had the beginnings of an idea. He’d put it to Matty that morning, by note, enough that Matty could encourage along the idea of a systematic review of procedures.

It was, after all, an expansion of something they’d already done once or twice. This, though, was vastly more ambitious. And— Matty agreed with this— absolutely necessary.

Many of the current procedures had been bodged together at the beginning of the war to deal with changes in staff availability or materia shortages, but now they’d been continued, even when the original reason didn’t apply. And of course, there was an entire stack of practices that people had been doing for decades that could certainly use a good looking at.

It would take a proper proposal, of course, and likely staffing as well, but the rest of the committee had at least not shouted the idea down outright. That part felt amazing, as if things were beginning to move out of a sluggish torpor. Not that he and Claudio were going to get into that tonight.

Matty had just done one more round of making sure everything was perfect— down to the couple of bottles of cider, in case they wanted them— when Claudio knocked. It was the light rapping, a patterned rhythm, that somehow didn’t startle Matty. He opened the door, and Claudio stepped in. His bag went down as soon as Matty closed the door. He held out a tin, and then grinned. “Gods, can’t believe it’s finally tonight.”

“What’s this?” It was a slightly battered tin, from before the war, the sort you put biscuits or perhaps sewing supplies in. Mum kept some of her supplies in one, anyway.

“Honey cakes, courtesy of Thesan. She made a point of getting them to me, and I’m not sure how she did that. I did not tell her anything about my plans.” It seemed to amuse Claudio, and Matty certainly wouldn’t turn down honey cake.

“Who did you tell?” Matty could figure out the answer, though, because Claudio was grinning. “Orion, at least. Come through, then.” Now he was suddenly shy. Matty put the tin on the kitchen counter and then followed Claudio. Who, surprisingly, went straight through the sitting room to the bedroom. “Eager, are you?”

Claudio glanced around, set his bag on the bench Matty had put out, then held out his arms. “Very. We have both been very diligent professionals, with occasional time off for good behaviour and bohort. I have absolutely earned an entire sixteen hours not on call. Gabe even promised he’d fling himself at anything that came up.”