Page 27 of Brave Truth

They got through the rest of the meeting, with everyone filtering out amiably enough. Doyle, however, lingered in a way that made Matthew certain she meant to do so. Well, on the whole, certain sorts of people could be trusted to be making deliberate choices. Someone from the Ministry lingering could be purposeful, or it could just be that they didn’t need to hurry on to their next thing. Healers, the Guard, and the Penelopes might all get lost in their own personal particular interests. But on average, if they were somewhere, they meant to be there doing something specific.

“Did you need something, Penelope Doyle? Thank you for sitting in. I’m sure Claudio will appreciate it.” Matthew realised as he said it that he should have used the last name. He’d been careful to do so through the meeting, as he always did. He also was certain she’d realised what he’d done as soon as he’d said it.

“Mostly, I wanted to see if you had amiable company for May Day, after the procession and dancing?” She laid it out without any particular emotion, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Beg pardon?” The question had startled him enough that the next thing out of his mouth was more than a little blunt. “Why offer to me?”

Her shoulder twitched. “Warren— Claudio— speaks well of you. And the Penelopes, you’ll find, take care of our own.” Then Doyle’s expression softened. “Claudio mentioned you’d come back and were still finding your people here. Being gone for a decade isn’t something I understand myself, but I’ve seen other people sorting it out. Open offer, it’s an informal sort of gathering, people come and go.”

“My parents are expecting me in London in the afternoon.” That was a telling answer to anyone with brains, which meant that Doyle would certainly read into it correctly enough. That Matthew would go there, even if he didn’t much want to. He should have handled that better. It wasn’t kind to his parents, and it wasn’t the way Matthew wanted to present himself to the world. But now there it was, sitting there. “I couldn’t come back for so long, I know they feel it if I don’t.”

“True enough.” She tilted her head. “My condolences on your brother’s death. That makes the holidays harder, too. Especially if you’re still settling into patterns.”

Christmas had been utterly suffocating, but Matthew had gritted his teeth and dealt with it. They’d never made much fuss of the equinox as a family, other than enjoying a bit of time off. They didn’t go in for the public processions on May Day, or have any connection to any of the demesne estates outside London, not for generations. But May Day still loomed as a time to be together and celebrate whatever needed celebrating.

“That, yes.” He swallowed slightly. “Thank you for the offer, though. I don’t expect I’ll be able to come, but would you let me know the details by journal, if you get a chance?” That would leave the matter with her. If she didn’t follow up, well, that would give him some information to go on too.

It got him a brief, approving smile. “Glad to. I’ll send along a note when I’m back in my office.” She then glanced at the door, as if estimating something, then did the same combination of gestures Claudio did for the privacy charms. Exactly the same, Matthew realised, which suggested where he’d learned it. She was watching him too, and there was another of those small twitches of her mouth that suggested she’d noticed something else, and she was letting him see she had. “Question?”

Caught out like that, he coughed. “The privacy charm. I was thinking Claudio uses the same one. He must have learned it from you?”

“Technically, he learned that one from Gabe. Gabriel Edgarton, I had the delight of training Gabe officially, though with the Penelopes it’s always a group effort. I was deemed young and energetic enough at the time to keep up with him, and also as standing a chance of getting the finicky detailed work into his head. We try to alternate that in our apprenticing. Someone who is made of impulses apprenticing to someone who can deal with the details. Our work needing quite a bit of both and not doing well for people who insist on one or the other.”

That was an interesting way of putting things, especially given Matthew’s thoughts today about how the Ministry was decidedly prone to favour the somewhat stodgy and slow to change. Matthew had been running into that a bit more too as he’d worked through some of the backlog in the enchantments. He’d started a list of things that could be improved, if certain key people could be talked into it.

That thought made him venture something, “And because that’s a pattern, it’s easier for all of you to maintain, yes? Claudio’s attention to detail has been appreciated, but also, he’s been most helpful in proposing new ways to think about whatever we’re talking about.”

“That, yes. Though Claudio’s real gift, once he’s got the context, is institutional memory. Understanding how a thing was done, how it is currently being handled, but also being able to work through what might be options in the future. Gabe does it intuitively, a good half the time, but Claudio’s systematic about it.” Doyle tilted her head slightly. “One thing we think about a lot— in part because none of us are good at actually retiring from our work unless there’s some calamitous injury that requires it— is how to leave space for people to come up behind us and improve things more than we could.”

It was a fascinating statement, given the problems of ossification. Matthew hesitated, then took a risk and said what he was thinking out loud. “Like the Ministry, only we’re not so reliably good at it.”

“Like the Ministry. Like the Council can be if it’s not careful, or the schools, or the Temple of Healing, or the Guard. Though I will say the schools have been making a solid attempt to keep growing for what their students need, since my own school days. And the Council keeps getting dragged into the twentieth century, whether they like it or not. That’s one of Gabe’s ongoing projects, so I hear a certain amount about it when he needs someone to complain to.”

Matthew nodded. “You’re—” He hesitated. “You’re fond of him, beyond the training of him.”

“Oh, yes. That’s tricky to navigate too, of course, because he’s not right all the time. Neither am I. Figuring out how to disagree, and still care for and about each other, and trust each other. That’s actually a fairly big part of our training. Because we have to rely on each other, sometimes in situations where a lack of trust could be dangerous or even fatal. And most of Albion— or Britain, to be fair— doesn’t get much help learning how to have fair fights or solve problems before they’re a fight.”

She said nothing specific about how Claudio fit into that, though Matthew could assume that he’d had that sort of training too. Then she shrugged agreeably. “Anyway. If you want help figuring out the problem of an ossified layer above you, I am sure Claudio would have some ideas about how to go about it. I hope you have a pleasant week, and I’ll send round a bit about May Day. If you can come, that's wonderful. If not, I’m sure I’ll see you at some point.”

That was certainly her drawing the conversation to a close. “A pleasure, Penelope Doyle, and thank you for your—” He fumbled for a word for a second. “Your goodwill and advice. Offering to share it, I mean.” That was clumsy, but she gave him a broader smile.

“Have a good afternoon.” She’d somehow pulled together her notes without him noticing she was doing it. Now she smoothly tucked them into her satchel, crooked her fingers at the privacy warding and undid it, and went out. It left Matthew staring after her for a minute before he packed up his own things. He went off to his office to write up a summary and leave his notes in good order for tomorrow’s work.

Chapter 19

Saturday, April 29th

Claudio let out a long sigh of relief as soon as they came through the portal at Veritas. It had been a long and exhausting week. Nothing had actually been terribly difficult in the end, but the general wear and tear of being out in the field had a price. He was getting old enough that being the one sleeping in the tent and keeping an eye out was more exhausting than it used to be. And it had been three days since he’d been able to have more than a wash with a cloth and a pot of water. Charms helped, but were not remotely the same.

Ahead of him, Gabe dismounted, more cautiously than usual. Claudio was now certain he was favouring his bad ankle, and equally wondering what it meant that Gabe was letting him see it now. Gabe turned over his shoulder. “I propose we see to the horses and then have the conversation that needs having in the baths.”

“The baths?” Claudio swung off his horse, landing smoothly. The Veritas baths were a delightful bit of restorative decadence, modelled on the ancient Roman mode with more hot water than anyone might possibly want. His bath at home was excellent, but here he’d be able to go in fully to his shoulders and have room to stretch as the various tight muscles released. After a week sleeping on a bedroll, he certainly didn’t have the willpower to say no.

“Entirely private, I wrote ahead about food and space. Besides, you don’t want to go home until we’ve talked. Silvia knows Alexander’s retiring now. He told her Wednesday.”

Claudio snorted. “Figures.” Other men— or Claudio himself, a few years ago— would have argued. There was no point to it, and besides, Gabe was proposing the sensible thing. He added after a moment. “Glad to take your tack, too.”

Gabe nodded once, which was another sign about his ankle. The process of putting the horses away took half an hour. Gabe went ahead to see about the food and get the water warm while Claudio did an initial bit of tending the tack.