Chapter 11 #2
“Nothing that clear, though I mentioned it to him over solstice hols.” Edmund knew there were concerns about many things, in various forms. Communism, at the moment.
But also other factions unhappy with the current balance of power in the world, and potentially interested in recruiting from the best and the brightest Britain had to offer.
Certainly, it was something to attend to.
“No, it’s subtle. And of course, I come to you for subtle. ”
It made Uncle Alexander chuckle again before he said, “Magical, or not?”
“I don’t know.” Edmund tried to gather his thoughts.
He really was drained. It was taking more effort than it ought.
He’d set aside his planned study tonight for tomorrow.
He could focus on reviewing some of the Roman history he already knew well, thanks to his tutor’s preference for the topic.
“It’s no one thing. But I’ve heard comments from three or four people in the past few weeks— since we came back up— about someone not being able to do the usual things.
Money being an issue, not that anyone comes out and says that.
But you know the way people talk about it. ”
“Sufficiently, yes. Magical folks?”
“The name I heard come up twice is non-magical, but I also heard something about Robert Everby.” Everby came from a respectable but not highly notable magical family.
“And in neither case did it sound like gambling debts or something of the kind. It’s awfully early in term for someone to have hit the limits of their allowance or whatever.
I’d wondered about blackmail with Major Manse, but I’m not sure it’s that, either. People wouldn’t mention that at all.”
“Anything else odd like that?” Uncle Alexander frowned. “I thought I heard something.”
“Jewels?” Edmund offered. “I’ve heard the same thing, well, once.
A house party early in January, but I haven’t been able to track down all the names.
It’s the sort of fleeting gossip that people titter over, and no one admits to having been there.
I gather there was also a spot or three of adultery or near enough the equivalent.
Not the sort of place I get invited.” Edmund didn’t want to be, but also his reputation at Oxford was for being a bit stodgy when it came to women.
“Indeed.” Uncle Alexander set down the tea and tapped his fingers again. “What would you like to be able to do about it?”
“Find out more,” Edmund said a little unevenly.
“But I can’t think of how. I’ve tried a few times to ask.
Deftly enough, I think, for ordinary conversation, though perhaps not.
” He let out a small huff of breath. “I don’t think I can do it by myself, but I can’t think of anyone I’d trust to help me set up a conversation. ”
“Ah.” Uncle Alexander nodded. “I am familiar with that problem, yes, having been rather lacking in trustworthy allies for a large stretch of my life. You are far more naturally gregarious than I am. May I think on that part and see what suggestions I come up with? I do not wish to bother with those you’ve already considered and discarded. ”
“I appreciate that.” Edmund nodded. “I feel like I’m missing something, and I do not care for that.
” He then went on, into what else he’d been considering, since it was relevant.
“I have been thinking a great deal about allies and collaboration— in various modes— as seen in Homer. It keeps coming up in the portions I’m focusing on translating. ”
“Do say more. Also, eat your food, please, so I do not worry.” Uncle Alexander was not normally so direct on that point.
Edmund applied himself to his soup for a moment while Uncle Alexander stood to tend the fire again.
When he came back, Edmund more or less had an idea of how to talk about what he had been pondering.
“I had been thinking that if this were something that came up in Albion— at the Council rites, at the Midsummer Faire, I’d have allies. Ursula, Anthony, several others of my own generation. I kept stopping and staring at some discussions in Homer, the way various people react to Odysseus.”
“The Iliad or the Odyssey, more?” Uncle Alexander settled back down.
“The way people talk about Odysseus when Telemachus goes in search of news.
Menelaus particularly, the way he talks about how close they were.
Certainly allies, but I have to wonder how much that went both ways, for one.
But then I look at, oh, Achilles and Patroclus.
The way they know each other so well. I keep thinking about what Ursula might do in this situation, and— “ He shrugged. “I want that. Anthony’s also excellent, but he has the Guard oath.”
Uncle Alexander raised an eyebrow and had the sort of expression that made it clear it was good he’d not been drinking. After a silence, he said, his voice tighter than usual. “May I ask which of you is Achilles in this metaphor?”
“I’m the better duellist,” Edmund said promptly, but then truth compelled him to add, “A fair bit of that is because Ursula decided not to focus there, however.”
It amused Uncle Alexander, at least. “She has chosen other ground than the salle, yes. Ask her sometime about that, if you haven’t.
She has a dozen interesting arguments about it.
Mostly that it is tricky for a woman to be known as a duellist and also for the social machinations inherent in the rest of it.
She has noted not having your father’s knack for being underestimated in multiple areas at once. ”
Edmund chuckled. “Well, I certainly prefer her to be on my side rather than go against her. But you see what I’m gesturing at, maybe?
And I don’t have that here. Oh, I’m learning a lot at Oxford.
But I miss the collaboration of it, of solving something that needs changing, with other people who care about the same thing. ”
Uncle Alexander nodded. “I know the feeling. Both of doing it myself, because there was no one else to ask, and of finding company. Your father and mother, and then a number of others.” Then he took a deliberate sip of his tea.
Edmund waited because he was fairly sure there would be more coming.
Uncle Alexander set down his cup, then said, “No, that’s out of order.
I learned some of it by teaching Isembard and Perry.
And then Thesan managed to create a space where collaboration was more natural than prickly self-protection, at least on a limited scope of topics.
Your parents followed. And then Cyrus and Mabyn, in far more generous forms than I’d permitted when I was younger.
” He laid out the people like the bright stars they were, the particularly notable constellations of his world.
Uncle Alexander lifted his tea again, but before drinking from it, he added, “I think this is a particular season of your life. What is true here and now will not be the case once you go down from Oxford. But having the skills to work on your own might come in useful in the years to come.”
Edmund could not argue with any of that and did not want to. He nodded. “Will you let me know if you have suggestions?”
“Certainly. Begin by observing, of course. Sometimes the patterns show themselves in unexpected ways. And then— you’ve heard the stories about how your father and I began working together— having a fresh eye for something can help.
Framed properly, it’s amazing what a little genuine interest can get you, or the right turn of phrase.
That part is relevant to both your Ritual and Naming training.
Ursula does it via Incantation. She was reading something— last week?
I forget now. It might be of interest. I’ll get her to forward a copy. ”
“Thank you, Uncle Alexander. I appreciate all of it. Even the additions to my reading list, which is ever growing larger.” Edmund was about to say more, then he suddenly yawned. “I beg pardon.”
“No, no. You exerted yourself substantially this afternoon. I will take my leave, shall I, and we’ll pick up with discussion on Monday. Anything you need to send along with me besides the hamper and dishes?”
Edmund shook his head, standing to see Uncle Alexander out as far as the street.
He came back inside, taking enough time to finish the meal before tidying up the dishes and washing them.
Only then did he permit himself to close up the flat for the night and prepare for bed.
It was still absurdly early, but he was in fact exhausted, and he’d likely wake early. His studies would wait for him.