Chapter 4
A fortnight later, Matthew was deep in a pile of paperwork by mid-afternoon, and finding it soothing.
For one thing, there were piles more waiting for him, enough to keep him occupied for months.
At that point, he’d likely be able to suggest improvements to the current system in half a dozen ways, with experience to back him.
His office was tiny, but it was entirely his, with no one able to circle around behind his desk. The occasional bits of commentary in their quiet hallway were always in English, or now and then a few sentences in Welsh. He’d missed the range of Albion’s accents more than he’d realised.
Best of all, he’d navigated the initial pleasantries successfully.
He’d gone out for a drink on his first Friday on the floor.
He appeared out of his office to join in the general ten minutes of chat when the tea cart came round at eleven and two.
But he brought his lunch and ate at his desk without seeking out more social commentary than that.
He got the impression that Miss Harlow had been surprised by that, but also perhaps a tad pleased. The rest of the department were settled, his age or older, partnered up with wives or husbands and some number of children. He had notes about that. No use offending people because he got it wrong.
He was about to consider changing out his piles of paper and filing the current one when there was a knock on his door. “Got a minute, Lawson?”
Ambrose Hall was an excellent exemplar of the larger department.
Getting on for fifty, he’d worked in the same office for twenty years, handling the materia licensing.
Not the materia itself, but managing the records about who was authorised to sell it, grow the pieces that had specific required permissions, and coordinating some of the harvesting documentation.
Solid man, as far as Matthew had been able to tell.
“Of course.” It was the expected answer.
“Come in? Not much of a chair, I’m afraid. ”
“Oh, this should be quick as a question, though not the task itself. Could you take over the Tuesday weekly? Talking through the materia distribution. I know you’ve enough experience for it, even if you’re doing enchantments right now.” Hall leaned against the door frame, not quite casually.
Matthew blinked. That meeting was notoriously difficult or had been a decade ago.
He was fairly sure it hadn’t improved. It involved someone from the Ministry administration, two people from the Ministry of Materia, and then one each from the Guard, the Courts, the Schools, the Temple of Healing, and the Penelopes.
The Ministry of Materia folks could be too set in their assumptions.
The Schools and Temple of Healing kept having expansive ideas.
And the Penelopes both had innovative demands and, to a person, tended to be horrific at dealing with meetings.
Particularly ones that could, Matthew had to admit, be more tedious than his own preference. And he liked a well-run meeting.
Now he considered his answer. “Shoving it off on the new bloke?” Back then, taking it on had often more or less been a punishment duty. He knew that. Hall knew that. But of course he couldn’t say it straight out. That wasn’t how the game was played.
Hall spread his hands, laughing. “No, no. It’s a lot better the last eighteen months, I swear.
The Penelopes have been sending someone who’s actually good at dealing with meetings.
And it’s Professor Murray from Alethorpe this year.
She’s grand at making sure we get through all the business.
You’d chair the thing. Will you do it this week, see what you think?
I’ve been called in on a project about enticements for some of the more fiddly materia growth, and for some reason Tuesday afternoons are the only time everyone else can get together. ”
Matthew weighed it out. “I can do this week, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow?
Do you have notes?” Giving it a try showed the right spirit, and that mattered right now.
And while he knew that one meeting could actually be entirely horrible, far out of proportion to the length of it, that was admittedly less likely with this one.
If he handled it right, he could enjoy the idea of observing specialists in a strange habitat and how they interacted, like a birder might.
“Grand. I’ll bring round the notes, just a minute. Give you a few to go over them.” He disappeared with a nod, coming back with a manila folder. Matthew just had time to look through the actual materia questions before it was time to take himself down to the meeting room on the second floor.
He was there three minutes early. There had been a bit of a slowdown on the stairs.
He was still learning the best routes. And it had been no use going down before that.
He knew the meeting room had been booked solid all day.
When Matthew came into the room, there was the expected tea cart.
But down at the end of the table, to the right of the head, wearing what was absolutely a Penelope uniform, was Claudio Warren.
Well, a uniform inasmuch as Penelopes had uniforms, black suit, in this case with a sharp grey pinstripe, a plain green tie, pinned with the seal of the Penelopes, set with a pale purple amethyst ring around the central tower.
Matthew did not halt out of confusion, but he nodded.
There were three other people— the two Materia folks and someone in a Guard uniform.
“Afternoon, everyone. I’m filling in for Hall today.
Has he usually taken the end of the table?
” Several heads nodded in unison, and Matthew sidled his way down there.
He settled into the chair, not looking at Warren to his left, focused on setting out his notes so he could keep things in good order.
As the last few people filed in and took their places with some amiable chatter, Matthew took a deep breath.
Most of them were older than he was. Warren, though.
Warren had been four years ahead of him at Schola, shining star of both the Fox House bohort team and the school team for his last two years.
Handsome, the sort of handsome Matthew had always liked.
Maybe because Warren had been one of the first boys who’d caught his eye that way.
Now he took a breath and began. He knew how to do this.
Glance around the table and acknowledge everyone.
Start with Warren, but keep moving, a second or two with each.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Matthew Lawson, Ministry administration, recently returned to this work from abroad.
I’m here for Master Hall, who was needed elsewhere.
Would you mind going around and introducing yourselves briefly, just so I can be sure of the names and roles? ”
Albion’s professionals still tended to label themselves by dress.
The Healer had a dark red overrobe, the Alethorpe professor had an academic gown, though with a beautifully dyed stole in shades of green over it.
The Guard uniform hadn’t changed, and the woman from the Courts had on a dark suit, not that different from what Matthew was wearing.
He got the names down, making quick notes, his pen flying over the pages.
Matthew was glad he’d decided to bring the fountain pen down.
He’d just refilled it, and there was no risk he’d run out of ink. A pencil would have worn down.
Once they’d gone through the introductions, he launched into the work of the meeting.
They had, it appeared, three key topics today: saffron, Eirene’s Phlox, and hops.
Matthew wasn’t sure which would be most contentious, so he began by asking.
“Is there a topic on the agenda you’d prefer to start with?
Hall indicated twenty minutes for each, and another twenty for any additional necessary discussion not already noted. ”
Professor Rowland lifted her fingers, just enough to be recognised, and he nodded at her.
“I’d like to discuss the vervain situation if we get a minute, or make sure it’s on next week’s agenda.
” Matthew made a note of that, then glanced around to see if anyone else had additions. Not yet, apparently.
Next to him, Warren said, “I suspect the saffron is the most complex. We’ve left those for last on the agenda and got through the others faster. Perhaps we might start with the phlox?”
There were nods all round, which made it easy.
Matthew was, on the whole, not unhappy with having someone speak up.
He was running the meeting, yes, but he didn’t know the ground here at all well enough to be a force for moving in a particular direction.
However, if he were going to take this on regularly, he’d have to show leadership.
“Right. Eirene’s Phlox, the hops, and then the saffron, saving some time for the vervain if we can. I see from Hall’s notes that the harvest was better than expected last year, and the question is what might be planned for this year? Healer Lovel, you had a particular interest, I see?”
It got the table a well-presented summary of the reasons the Temple of Healing would like dibs on whatever surplus might be available.
The schools had a little interest, but it was rare enough a plant that their curricula were not predicated on it.
Matthew inquired, after that, “Is it the sort of thing where having a student or two from Snap assist in the spring might be worth doing? Or are there limits I’m not aware of? ”