Chapter 23 #2
“How did you know her, then? May I ask that?” Claudio thought that was the interesting way forward.
Both what Cyrus said, but how he said it.
Or what he didn’t say, which was just as likely.
Every single person on the Council had skills at ducking any question they didn’t want to answer.
Including Orion, to whom it did not come naturally.
“Oh, I miss her a great deal. The more as I get older. She’d have laughed and laughed at my life these days, and at how long it took Mabyn and I to notice each other that way.
” There was a fleeting pause, the sort most people wouldn’t notice.
Then Claudio realised Cyrus had made some sort of decision as he went on.
His voice was even, rather gentle, as if he were paying attention to things Claudio hadn’t ever said.
“What wasn’t public about her was her relationships.
Or rather, she was entirely public about them, and few people knew the underlying truth.
Hereswith married late, in her forties. She and Galahad made the deliberate decision not to try for children, and that’s something of a pity.
She doted on her nieces and nephews, and their children and grandchildren.
But she’d have had to give up much of the Council work for the duration, for one thing.
There’s no good way to Dinas Emrys except by portal. ”
“Excellent defensive strategy, difficult for women of childbearing age.” There were reasons Mother hadn’t Challenged until it had been clear Claudio would be an only child.
He could run the numbers on the other women, too— they’d all been older at their Challenge or had not had children.
Then the careful plural hit him. “Relationships?”
“She was also in a long-term relationship with Bess Marley. You’ll have seen her referenced as Hereswith’s companion.
An entirely suitable role for a woman of her class.
Certainly it was a great help to have someone of Bess’s skills keeping track of her diary.
And the many and various notes and conversations that were part of her life, especially after she was Head.
” Cyrus leaned forward slightly. “I spent a fair bit of time with the three of them at their home. Others, too.”
He flicked his fingers slightly. “This was Hereswith’s desk, actually. She left it to me in her will. Perhaps to make sure I’d keep thinking about her. That wasn’t necessary.”
Claudio felt his eyes widen. That suggested an entire line of interactions and hopes and wishes for the future that he’d never seen hints of. They weren’t the sort of thing that would have been in public documents or even the private sorts of collections Claudio had knowledge of.
Cyrus went on. “She wasn’t the only one to prefer the sort of relationships society wishes to disapprove of.
My own predecessor, Metaia Powell. Her cousin, Owain.
” He lifted an eyebrow. “Others.” He didn’t name them, which Claudio wouldn’t push about.
Gabe, for another. And whatever Alexander’s preferences were in private, Claudio knew the shape of his closest relationships didn’t fit into the tidy pairing of matrimony and never had.
“You’re bringing that up for a specific reason, sir?” Might as well ask it. He might actually get at least a hint.
“What you should know about Hereswith was that she argued it gave her a better perspective on what to do. Questioning the underlying assumptions. Adding a touch of illusion to it. People seeing what they expected— as she and Bess were, in public— would miss all the other layers and shifts. People underestimated her regularly, and she made use of that to change how things were done for the better. And she was the better for having people who cared about her, the way they did.” He paused for a second.
“She died first. They both followed fairly quickly after that.” It was obvious, even in the utter understatement of British men of their class and station, how much Cyrus had been fond of all of them.
Claudio sucked in a breath, then coughed to at least partially hide it. “Is there anything about the more personal parts? A memoir or anything like that?”
“Mmm. I have some notes for one. I’ve been toying with publishing it, at least as a private volume for people who’d appreciate it.
Or the rare sort, like you, who have a particular interest in the Council history.
I can make a copy of my notes and send them round?
” Claudio nodded eagerly, and Cyrus pulled out a small notebook to make a note.
“End of next week, probably, to give me time to duplicate it.” Then he focused on Claudio again.
“My question for you, then, is what you think the Council needs right now. Given your unusually nuanced perspective.”
“That’s an impossible question, isn’t it?
” Claudio said it with good humour. “There are two things I’ve been thinking about.
One is that, well, I’ve certainly got a reputation for stodginess, rather than whatever it is Alexander does.
Control, obviously, but he has never been afraid of doing what’s necessary. ”
Something crossed Cyrus’s face, something long since settled, but that had been painful at the time.
“He was far more cautious in the past. The last decade and a half, he’s opened up to it.
We’ve been the better for it. And that is the encompassing we— not just the Council or those who know him, but Albion as a whole.
I could count up several dozen times it’s made a difference without thinking hard.
He pushed me to be my best, too, and that’s no small thing. ”
Claudio sucked in a breath at that, because that was one of the problems he was facing. “Different relationship, though, than the ones I’d be looking at.” Mother, but not just Mother. Gabe. Orion. People he’d known and known about his whole life, their foibles and strengths.
Then he went on to his other point. “With Alexander gone, there’s only one ritualist remaining.
Lucas Holder, who is competent, certainly, but not particularly innovative.
Or at least, if he is innovative, it’s not in anything he’s made public this century.
Did you read, what was it, Illuminations of Incantation, where he’s been revisiting the same thing for twenty years? ”
Cyrus chuckled, which was not the response Claudio had expected.
“You’ve actually just proved my point. You are not primarily a ritualist, no.
But you have— three times this conversation, now— demonstrated a fluency with the literature and practice of ritual beyond any reasonable expectations of someone who is not a specialist. You do not know all of it, but none of us do.
You do, however, have an excellent sense of what the current lines of thought and experimentation are, where you might make further connections.
I’m certain if I asked you to find someone to consult on any of those points, you’d have a short list handy without needing time to consider. ”
Claudio felt his mouth open and closed it firmly.
He forgot, sometimes, just how deftly competent Cyrus was, had been, always would be.
He wanted to read the memoir even more now, to see if he could trace some of those patterns better, the confidence in it he could see, burbling along like a free-flowing river.
“Sir.” He managed the deferential comment and got a smile at it.
“I won’t waste your time arguing, but you’ve given me a great deal to think about. ”
“Good. That’s a fine day, then. For my part, I do hope you will go ahead with the Challenge.
The Lady decides, you know that, but I would like to see what she makes of you and you of her.
If I can be of any particular assistance as you make specific plans, I am delighted to do so.
Now, I gather you and the others were working on something about the water?
Could you walk me through what you were testing and see if I understand it? ”
Cyrus certainly had a reason to ask, and it was a simple enough request. Claudio nodded, moved to pull out his working notes.
He’d done the research about the components long enough ago the details were not immediately easy to recall with the quality of detail he wanted.
Cyrus refreshed their tea, and then settled in to listen, asking specific questions as they went through what Claudio had found and figured out since.