Chapter 2
“How was your week, Mother?” Claudio began with the ritual question.
He was always the one to ask once they’d settled down for supper.
It was, as Sundays always were, a three-course meal.
Rationing could not change some things. Their housekeeper had brought out the soup, roast carrot with a bit of dried dill from the summer gardens.
Mrs Moore had an excellent hand with the food, and this was one of Claudio’s favourite winter soups.
It was just him and Mother tonight. Tiberius was dining with his apprentice masters and family, who were hosting a couple of other connections.
Sunday gave them all more time to relax over the meal.
Claudio was glad for his son, but he rather wished for a bit of company.
He had suspicions Mother had been circling around wanting to have some sort of chat with him, one of her topics with a point or perhaps a sting.
She did not begin with that, though. “Ah, about the usual for January. Everyone’s so sluggish in the aftermath of the solstice events, but that will pass.
There was some discussion about India, of course.
” That country was officially becoming a republic in another eleven days, when the new constitution went into effect.
His mother went on, “Not that most of that directly affects the Council, but of course there are repercussions.”
“Quite. And a range of economic and diplomatic considerations to be going on with.” Claudio was more directly interested in the materia imports than anything else there, but he also thought a great deal about what it meant for India to make all the changes that had been pouring out over the past few years.
It was one of those areas where he knew he didn’t know enough about it, though he’d talked a fair bit to Gabe’s wife about it.
She still had a vast range of extended family in and around Calcutta, and they’d written and shared a number of letters.
There had been tremendous violence there over the past few years because of the partitioning, and everyone in the family remained worried about what the future might hold.
Not that he got into that with Mother. It wouldn’t be a productive conversation.
Instead, he said, “What did you think of that new article by Harry Carlton?”
His mother raised an eyebrow. “A particular reason you’re interested, dear?
” She dipped her spoon into the soup, eating it without hurry before she answered.
“I’m a trifle dubious about his underlying premise, the chemical analysis there.
On the other hand, alchemy is not simply raw chemistry.
I’m thinking about running through the experiment as laid out if I get a moment.
None of the materia is too scarce right now. ”
“I’d be interested in what you think. I was discussing it with someone at work, and neither of us is entirely convinced either.
I wonder if there’s something in his setup or the lab location that makes his results more reliable than they ought to be.
If you run the test and it comes out differently, that would give us some reason to try it in multiple settings when we get a chance.
Not for a few weeks, at least.” That was the acceptable answer, wanting to learn something new.
Claudio could run the test himself, but he’d also be worried that he’d miss some key step.
He was not primarily an alchemist. As Mother reminded him regularly, he spread himself across too many specialities to be a master of any of them.
For all Gabe had argued that was a particular virtue for a Penelope, and for all Gabe was probably right, Mother’s comments about it always stung and likely always would.
“Mmm.” His mother considered. “I’ll let you know. Informal notes, then?”
“Informal is fine, thank you,” Claudio replied.
His mother’s informal notes were vastly more organised than most people’s.
She always recorded a dozen factors, where many people only noted those that seemed relevant at the time.
Time, day, temperature, humidity, weather, what equipment she used, but also half a dozen charms to indicate shifts in magical flows or her own personal magic and vitality.
She argued— and Claudio agreed— that kind of data was essential if doing innovative experimentation, to help identify which factors contributed to a success or failure.
“If you’re short on the pine, I’ll likely be able to collect some in the field this week. ”
“That—” She paused, mentally reviewing her stores. “That would be a help, yes. Thank you, Claudio.”
He inclined his head. There. They’d had a productive conversation.
That was good. Mother was brilliant. He was quite willing to admit that.
It was especially true when it came to her beloved alchemy, but it was true in other areas.
The problem was that she could also be tremendously stubborn, resistant to change in ways that made no sense to Claudio.
Or rather, it made sense given her history, but it was damnably infuriating to deal with.
Understanding where a fair bit of it came from did not actually make it easier to deal with in the moment.
They ate in silence for a minute, until Claudio finished with his soup and Mrs Moore brought out the main course.
Tonight that was a little chicken, more vegetables, and a simple wine sauce.
Once the housekeeper had disappeared again, Mother cleared her throat.
“Your coming week? I should let Mrs Moore know about the meals.”
“Tiberius and I will both be here Wednesday. I’m out tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, I believe. I’ll let her know if that changes. My Friday might reschedule.”
“Anything interesting?” Mother’s question sounded mild, but her inquiries into his calendar always had an edge.
“Work tomorrow. I’ll need to stay late to finish something up.
Thursday, I’m dining at Fairlight with Orion and Hypatia, likely also Cammie and Duncan.
” He was looking forward to that tremendously, a chance to be with his friends and not have to keep up an infinite number of walls and shells.
He’d come to like Duncan a great deal, though they’d not had the intensity of a friendship forged in the fire of war service the way he had with Cammie and Hypatia.
And of course, he and Orion had chosen each other as brothers when Claudio was sixteen, and had each other’s backs ever since.
“I gathered Tiberius is doing quite well?” This too, seemed like a harmless inquiry.
His son was apprenticing as a talisman maker with a pair of men— brothers-in-law— who lived in Schola village.
That connection had been thanks to Thesan in particular.
Mereid and Grisial were the grandchildren of Vitus Deschamps, a well-esteemed talisman maker now largely retired.
Mereid’s husband Ifan Owens had learned to work as a duo with Grisial during their own apprenticeships.
Mereid herself was a Trivium teacher at Schola, which was why, he thought, Thesan had suggested it might be a good fit.
On the other hand, Thesan had dozens of connections that Claudio never saw, given her teaching and the sheer number of her students over the years.
He’d long since given up trying to map why she suggested this person or that, at least unless he needed a distraction and wanted to play with the chains of possible connections from known information like their school year and professional trajectory.
At any rate, while Mother had been disappointed Tiberius hadn’t wanted to go into alchemy, she had not been able to argue with the results.
Tiberius was only halfway through his first year apprenticing, but he was already thriving with it.
When they had supper, Claudio could be certain of a dozen questions about different stones and their magical applications, as well as Tiberius sharing the lore he was learning.
Tiberius, though, found the practical and artistic aspects just as interesting.
And Claudio had been bound and determined that Tiberius should get to have that, the chance to follow his heart as Claudio hadn’t.
Not at that age, certainly. Tiberius was just starting to work with shaping and carving small, less precious stones, mostly the quartzes.
Of course, each stone required some different techniques for setting, inscription, or carving.
Figuring out what to say about that, of course, took a moment.
“He’s doing very well. They asked me to come out for supper with them in a few weeks and see some of what he’s been doing.
The shared interest in the materia, of course, is fascinating, even if I don’t do as much directly with stones as some, outside my working stones. ”
“Mmm.” Again, that was his mother’s neutral noise, and it put Claudio into a more cautious mode.
He was excellent at patterns, that was the thing, and he had extensive experience of Mother’s habits.
Not that he’d ever tell her some of this, knowing at least meant he was not flat-footed about what would come next.
Or rather, not as much. Then she went on.
“I invited Electra to call to speak about arranging a marriage for Tiberius. It’s not at all too soon to begin discussions.
She declined and said I should speak with you about it. ”
His ex-wife was, in fact, a solid ally when it came to their children.
Claudio would never say the first thought that crossed his mind, that arranged marriages had not been kind to anyone at this table.
Or, he was certain, to the previous generations of the family, except in the most mercantile of definitions of success.