Chapter 14
Matthew went into the meeting on Tuesday as fully prepared as he could be.
His notes from last week had been fine up until the last few minutes, and Claudio had sent along a note in the journal with the last section of his own notes on Friday, along with the actual proposal he’d written up that went to everyone on the committee.
That was a kindness Matthew didn’t know how to process.
It was kind and it was thoughtful. But he also was sure it was not any particular effort on Claudio’s part.
The meeting itself went well, too. Claudio made a point— Matthew could tell— of easing a couple of points along.
But he did it so deftly that Matthew wasn’t sure anyone else noticed.
There was still energetic debate, of course.
Something would be wrong if they didn’t have that.
It was, however, a productive debate. Better yet, it set things up nicely for a gap in meetings.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Claudio wandered off, with a few friendly comments or promises to pass along that title of the book they’d mentioned.
That felt good, too, that people finished the meeting in an amiable state of mind.
Claudio, however, lingered, taking his time packing up his notes.
Once everyone else had gone, he quietly asked, “Drink? Or do you have somewhere you need to be?”
“Drink, grand.” Matthew said it before he could even think about it. “Same place good for you?”
“I’d love a chance to try a bit more of what they have on offer.” Matthew wasn’t sure how to take that, but Claudio seemed pleased. Matthew shrugged on his jacket, finished putting his notes away, then glanced at his bag. “Mind if I stop up at my office, rather than carting it around?”
“Not at all. Meet you in the foyer? You don’t need me hovering.
” Matthew wouldn’t have minded it, but the foyer was in fact designed to have people wait in it.
He went up to his office, taking a minute or two to leave things ready for the next morning.
When he came down, Claudio was on a bench on the right, looking perfectly poised, reading a small book.
He put it away immediately, so Matthew didn’t get a look at the title.
They walked along quietly. When they went past Aelfdane’s Art and Antiques, Matthew thought about saying something, but then he wasn’t sure how to start the conversation.
Thank you for making sure there was colour in my flat.
I’m sure you didn’t mean to do that. Thank you for reminding me that beautiful things exist, and has anyone mentioned you’re easy on the eyes?
Thank you for treating me the way you did, not like something broken and discarded.
None of that was remotely a thing he could say or imagine saying.
The pub had plenty of space, thankfully.
They put in their orders at the bar— food and drink both, though Claudio was trying a different cider than last time.
Matthew only knew about this because he’d asked about the options.
Matthew had cider instead of beer; he liked both.
But he wasn’t sure if Claudio was intending anything.
Cider was a clearer signal if a signal was actually relevant.
York gestured at a table near the back. “Fine to put up a privacy charm or a sound charm, if you want. Likely to get noisy in here in twenty. Gather the apprentice league match was short, and the third Ministry team will be celebrating once they wash up.” Mid-week, it was the lower-ranked teams, and less of an interesting thing to watch, even if they hadn’t been busy with work.
“Hah.” Claudio claimed his glass. “Let me know if they get too rowdy and you need a hand, yeah? I’ve got training for that.”
York acknowledged it with a smile, and Matthew led the way to the indicated table. Just space for two of them, a half-wall separating them from the next spot. That helped with the charms, Matthew knew. Claudio settled in the chair and asked, “My charms or yours?”
“Yours, please.” Matthew added, taking a minor risk. “You’re trained for that, too, aren’t you?”
It earned him a broad grin. “And I’ve got a particular delight for figuring out which one’s best in a particular place and time.
” He half-closed his eyes for a moment, not rushing the decision.
Then there were a few quick movements of his hands and fingers and a glorious peace and quiet in their bit of space. “Is that good for you?”
“Grand.” All right. Matthew might generalise that he liked watching Claudio be deft with magic. It was not limited to bohort, just that bohort gave the man opportunities. It also suggested a topic of conversation. “Do you still play bohort?”
“Pickup matches with friends sometimes. It is not considered entirely sporting for the Penelopes to play more generally, unless they spread us out on other teams. We know entirely too many odd tricks. And our schedules are horrendous, so it’s also not fair to put us on teams when we can’t make it half the time.
” Claudio did not seem to mind the schedule either. He said it with a bit of a grin.
“Any plans for the equinox break? Or do you get one?” Matthew hesitated. “I suppose the sort of thing you do doesn’t actually take holidays.”
“Or rather, there are different sets of problems more likely to show up. People are a little more likely to take a break from their usual work, so fewer problems with alchemy labs or unstable magic of various kinds. But we’re a little more likely to see a ritual gone wrong, or the sort of problems of putting families that don’t get on together in one place for too long.
Not all the time, but people need to be available to help.
I’m taking a couple of days’ holiday, actually, though they know they can call me in. ” Claudio shrugged amiably.
Before Matthew could figure out what to ask next, he took a sip of his cider and went on.
“We don’t have particular family customs, so I’m spending the time with Thesan and Isembard at Schola.
He wanted a hand trying out a new technique for managing the salle.
And Thesan always does some maintenance on the school telescopes around now.
I can help with some of the charms, and I can certainly stand there and hand her the right tool on demand. ”
“That seems like a working holiday?” Matthew paused, to see if Claudio would be offended, but he got a smile back. “But pleasant?”
“It gives me an excuse to turn down other things I don’t want to be at much, and,” he shrugged, “I like the time with the two of them when it’s quiet and we don’t need to rush.
Ursula— their daughter, obviously— and her husband are hosting something later in the week.
I’ll go to that if I’m not called out. See my other friends.
” That had something a little wistful in it. “You?”
“Oh, no one to do things with, really. We’ve the week off work, of course, standard Ministry schedule.
” They got a week at the spring equinox, a week each for summer and winter solstice.
Plus three solid weeks on their own schedule, not that Matthew had any plans to take any of that.
He wouldn’t know what to do with it. “I did book onto a tour of one of the estates, up in Cumbria. They’ve been doing some interesting things with the gardens and materia. ”
“I should see if Ursula and Jim would host a tour, actually. Though I’m sure she’s thought about it and has a plan for the best time to do it.
” Claudio leaned back. They kept up the conversation about the various enticements and encouragements for the magical estates to grow or not grow certain things for a fair bit.
It was long enough that the bohort players and their supporters filtered in and got established.
York had brought out their food, and both of them ate between bits of conversation, not rushing either.
Finally, Matthew worked up the courage to say, “You’d mentioned friends, but I’m a little curious about who. Besides the professors.”
“I get on well with all the other Penelopes, though we don’t always socialise much together on a regular schedule.
Different times we’re free and all that.
Supper with the Edgartons every fortnight or so.
They make a habit of everyone being there for Friday evening, unless there’s a true emergency.
That’s a grand wrangle. They’ve got an extended household with a wide range of interests. ”
Matthew made a mental note that this was obviously a safe topic to come back to sometime.
Claudio went on, a hair more deliberately.
“I have supper with my son, Tiberius, Wednesdays, when Mother’s busy.
I see Minerva— that’s my daughter— Sundays for tea.
She’s not yet eleven. She’ll be at tutoring school next year.
Mother on Sunday for supper, unless she’s got another invitation. ”
“And friends?” Family was different, obviously. Also, he wasn’t entirely sure how to ask about the divorce, or what seemed a cautious relationship with his mother. Well-defined boundaries, certainly, of a kind Matthew absolutely hadn’t figured out how to have.
“Ah.” That got a warmer smile. “I mentioned Orion. We’ve been friends since Schola.
Claimed each other as brothers after my third year.
He’s loyal to the end of the world, also stubborn and prone to arguments.
Keeps me from getting a stuffed head, among his many other virtues.
” There was absolute fondness there, though Matthew didn’t think it was a more romantic or sexual fondness.
On the other hand, plenty of people had in fact fooled around with their best friend at one point or another.
Claudio went on. “Hypatia Ward, now Hypatia Sisley, and Cammie Gates-Clark were both assigned to the same project Orion and I were, the end of the war. Obviously, that worked out well for Orion, but we all ended up close and with complementary approaches to magical innovation. Hypatia mostly does Materia work. You might have read her articles by now if you’ve caught up. Orion’s on the Council, you knew that?”
Matthew nodded. Claudio gestured with one hand.
“And Cammie does cryptography and codes, you know that bit, but also patterns of information in general. We have supper every Thursday, often with a couple of other people, depending on who’s free.
Cammie’s husband, Orion’s younger brother, people like that.
And sometimes I see one or the other at other times, depending.
An evening out here or there at one of the clubs, being sociable.
We’ve got a monthly poker game, for example. ”
“It—” Might as well say it. “Honestly, I’m envious of that. I get along with people, but no one like that. Steady.” It felt like admitting failure.
“I do not know how I got lucky enough that Orion and I sorted things out like we did. And then Cammie and Hypatia, too. I wish everyone had those kinds of friends. The world would be a much better place.” Claudio lifted his cider bottle.
“Should say, I’m enjoying this. And I— actually, there’s something I wanted to say, but I don’t actually know if it’s relevant? ”
That made Matthew a little wary, but he was fairly sure by now that whatever Claudio said next could be managed.
He nodded. Claudio set down his cider and spoke carefully.
“I had supper with Cammie on Saturday, actually, and asked her a bit about you. Same year and all. She mentioned she hadn’t known you to be closer to anyone like a partner.
I just wanted to say that, um. Whatever the reason for that might be, it doesn’t bother me.
Used to all sorts these days.” He seemed entirely earnest, by any measure Matthew could think of, though someone like Claudio surely knew how to seem earnest when he wasn’t.
It was a survival skill in his sort of social circles.
That was simultaneously wonderful to hear and utterly confusing. Matthew could not figure out, not fast enough, how to ask for clarification. He managed a garbled “Um.” Then he tried again. “Thanks. For saying it. Guessing’s rotten.”
Another man, with a better grasp on his wits, could have put a sentence together about whether that was why Claudio had gone to the bother of getting divorced.
The friends he’d mentioned, the close ones, were all married.
Not that it stopped rather a lot of people having an affair, and certainly people made other arrangements that weren’t actually cheating.
Matthew could not get his mouth to do anything useful, though.
Claudio nodded, hesitated, then said, “Figured it might be easier to have it said.” Then he glanced up, as the bohort crowd was getting louder. “Do you want to stick around, or are they too much now?”
Matthew took a breath. “Thinking I might get home. The charms are great, but I’ll have a headache trying to keep track of what they’re doing if I stay.”
“Can’t have that.” Claudio nodded. “Might drop you a note if I come across something interesting. I often do when I’m raiding the bookshelves in Thesan and Isembard’s rooms.” It seemed entirely friendly and ready to let the awkwardness drop.
“I’d like that. Always looking for something new to read.
” There. Both of them could find a continuing subject, which was good.
Claudio pushed back from the table, and Matthew followed.
They walked out together, except for the bit about getting through the crowd near the front.
Outside, Claudio gave him an amiable wave and set off for Portal Square.
Matthew waited and then took the roundabout route back to his flat.