Chapter 35
With nothing to occupy him otherwise, Jacques let himself be co-opted into the kitchen while James, Julian, and even Alex went out into the chilly conservatory to check over all of the plants in their wintering state.
And the bees, of course, who were hibernating and hopefully would survive the winter without having to repopulate the box in the spring.
It was lovely for Julian to realise how connected he was becoming to the seasons, to the nature in their lives and the ways it intersected.
"We'll have to visit the Source tomorrow when we go out to practice," said Julian thoughtfully, sending a little energy in to keep the bees healthy as they slept away in their hive box.
"I suspect it will insist," said James. "It usually does, once you two get close."
"That's a tomorrow problem," said Alex, looking at the wintering stems of another plant curiously. "It's weird to kind of feel and hear the sleeping plants."
"It's weird," agreed Julian, "but it's a good weird." Not just learning to listen to those feelings, to understand what they meant and how to interpret them, but the music that came along whenever magic was involved now, a gift from his bond with Alex.
"You're a good weird," said Alex childishly, pulling him in for a teasing kiss.
"You two are gross," said James in the same sort of tone.
They laughed and went through the rest of the slumbering conservatory, only to find Con at the fairy door when they got around to the side of the house again. "Why hello! Are you here for a meal?" asked Julian cheerfully.
"I won't say no if I'm invited," said Con, looking pleased. "I ain't got news or nothin', though."
"That's fine," said Alex. "Friends can stop by for friend reasons."
They all walked to the big French doors instead, coming in off the conservatory and through the wards.
Alex whistled so that Con was allowed into the first floor but not upstairs, though Julian had a feeling the sprite could find ways around that once he was in the wards if he wanted to.
Con had always been clever but harmless, and he wouldn't risk his friend status for nosiness.
Con just really liked to know things.
"Have you been upstairs since we finished decorating?" asked Julian casually.
Con's attention grew very focused. "Nah, I ain't gone snoopin' and I ain't been invited."
"We could give you a tour," said Alex, getting what Julian sent him through the bond and sending agreement. "No gossiping about it, though."
"Friends only," promised Con, as close to agreement as he'd likely give.
They just wouldn't show him the secret upstairs nook, is all, and that would be just fine.
"I'll see if the kitchen people need help," said James affably. "No need for us all to troop around."
"Nothing out in your room you don't want Con seeing?" asked Alex.
James shook his head. "We're neat guests."
"All right, go on," said Julian, shooing him toward the kitchen as he mounted the stairs, trusting that Con could figure it out once Alex let him through the wards.
The stairs had their own strange set of wards that would dump you on your ass if you weren't in them, but they were looser than the bookcase door at the top of the stairs, which wouldn't let anyone in but a very few select people.
Their regular guests were in there, like James and Jacques, Murielle and Thomas, and even Geoff and Chudleigh, but not occasional friends like Con or Father Stephen, who could almost never spend the night.
The tighter the wards, everyone agreed, the better.
"So, we're slowly populating our bookcases, but we have a lifetime for that," said Julian, pointing out how many of the upper shelves were entirely empty.
"Plus we're still smoothing out our organisational system," said Alex, lips twitching.
Julian huffed. "Just because you want to organise your books like a madman," he shot back, feeling warm at the well-worn argument. They'd spent a couple of months shamelessly moving each other's books around and were finally at a detente about what went where.
Well, mostly.
Julian still thought the rune history books should go with Alex's weird magic books, where he wanted them with the rest of the history stuff.
"Ye'll have many years to put books in all these shelves," agreed Con. "And reorganise them a dozen times over."
"Oh, don't tempt him," said Alex with a laugh. "Anyway, through here we've added a little bit of art to the walls, but we're still hoping for a few nice pieces to make the little hallway less bare."
They'd put Julian's trio of tiny paintings up on a slender console table, the art a wonderful memory for both of them of the otherwise disastrous Courtship that Julian had been forced to go through.
The little grumpy cat, mushrooms, and apple were all still as wonderfully painted as ever, and Julian caught Alex smiling at the blue butterfly on the cat's forehead.
"Another task for a lifetime," said Con, "though I'm given to understand you posh gits often change out art over time."
"Maybe," said Alex. "We just like colour in our lives.
" The hallway was painted a soft lavender-grey, with warm wooden floors and a long rug in blues and purples with pops of red and turquoise.
The doors were a darker wood than the floor, one on each side of the hall, with Alex and Julian's farther back while the guest room was set closer.
"This is the guest room, which James and Jacques are using, so no poking in their things," said Alex. "They aren't officially Guarding us now, but they're being allowed to stick around and be nosy about our business just as you are."
Con laughed at that. "Everyone wants t'know how the Charmers are doin', that's all."
"We're doing well," said Julian.
"I survived being poisoned, even," said Alex.
"Oh?" said Con, turning to look up at him. "I'll have to hear some of this tale over dinner, perhaps?"
"Some of it," said Julian. "We're pretty tired of telling it."
"But friends are allowed to know about friends.
In here you can see there's a little art from the decorator, but it's nothing special.
So, even though there's nowhere much for art downstairs, we really do want things for the walls.
" Alex gestured to the abstract art they'd all decided was fine as place holders.
"And of course there's plants," said Julian, going over to check the giant monstera in its pot. It was flourishing hugely, but kept to its promise not to overhang the bed and potentially get damaged in someone's sleep.
The cats' basket also lived in this room, including today since they loved James and Jacques to bits.
It was empty now, as they still had a lot of their own energy to work off, but Nat had put it in its usual spot between two big pots under the window, where they could open it and bask in sunlight if they so chose.
"Who do the cats sleep with?" asked Con curiously, poking around at the plants in the way of an earth sprite.
"Whoever they want," said Julian with a laugh. "Usually us, but they nap during the day a lot in here, or in a sunbeam, or wherever. They make mischief half the night, too."
"As cats are wont to do," said Con with a wise nod. "It's good they trust ye enough t'sleep wi' ye."
"Yeah," said Alex with a fond little smile, "It is. Though it'll be less good when they're fully grown and crowding us out of the bed."
"Shoulda bought a bigger bed," said Con wickedly.
"This suite has a nice bathroom, lots of sunlight and plants," said Julian. "We wanted our guests to have the big tub to soak in the way we do, so the two suites aren't as different as you might think."
"We don't need our own suite to be too elaborate, since we mostly do sleep there," said Julian, showing off the hanging plants by lifting Con up to see them, which looked absurd but Alex would never mock, it was such a kindness.
"Ye've taken good care of yer plants here, too, at least," said Con, as he was put down. "Show me your own space, then."
They went into their room, which had pulled-back green curtains and shelves and dark wood, with the quilt of colourful velvet patchwork atop their nice big bed.
There were plants here, too, things that didn't love sunlight so much, but got a little when Nat opened the curtains for the day.
It really wasn't much bigger of a room than the guest room, although it had a walk-in closet rather than the little wardrobe that they'd put in for guests.
That was the real difference between the two, and of course the secret nook with its hidden stairs.
"There's more plants in our bathroom, many of the same sort as the other suite, and the things in here are more shade-loving," explained Julian.
He could feel all those plants radiating happiness, too, just as the other ones had, everything up here getting plenty of energy from them both these days, not to mention sunlight and water and all the goodness a plant needed.
Con paced around, examining all the plants here and then in the bathroom, and giving them a Look that suggested he knew there was a secret but he wasn't going to call them on it.
"Ye've done well for yerselves, that's fer sure," he said, tapping at the jewel safe that contained all their most valuable heirlooms. "This's warded a mite better than your side table once was. "
Alex laughed. "Yeah, well, I have heirlooms to care about, now," he said, "and those wards were sabotaged. You couldn't get through them once I fixed it."
"Ye do good work now," said Con, emphasis on the last word in a teasing, friendly way.
"I think that concludes our tour," said Julian with a snort. "Come on, let's see if there's at least tea for us, or if we're to be left to wilt."