Page 56 of Brave Truth

“Oh, yes. All of them.” That was well-considered, and still kind. “They approve. Both Matty as a person, and what it means for me. Could mean for me. Us. Not many people beyond that, though I’m sure a couple of the Penelopes have guesses. Doyle knows, and Mason and Witt. Check about anyone else, please.” He was pretty sure half the Penelopes knew, but as he’d told Matty, most of them found it made things easier. Hetherington and Potts had included him in chats, a different way than before, and he was still contemplating that.

“And Mother and Minerva tomorrow.” Tiberius contemplated that.

Claudio felt his fingers shift on the table. He was wary of that conversation, though differently than he had been about this one. Electra would take it as she took it, and Minerva was still at an age where all sorts of adult relationships were perhaps equally baffling. “How do you think they’ll take it? Or how do you think I ought to tell them?”

“Straightforward as you can. Would you tell Minerva I’ll come see her Saturday, and we can talk it out? I’ll write her too as soon as you’ve talked.” Tiberius was insistent, leaning forward a hair.

“Ah, thank you.” That was a tremendous relief. He could never have asked Tiberius to change his schedule, but the two of them talking about it would almost certainly be reassuring. And Minerva would love the treat of seeing her brother unexpectedly. “I’m sure that will be a help. You— let’s see. Don’t feel you have to try to explain me or my decisions. That’s not your job or your burden. But being there to listen, that makes me feel better.”

“Glad to.” Tiberius considered, then added, “Mother will care about the gossip, what it means for her projects, but I don’t think she’ll be upset. And the divorce means she can just sort of wave her hand and say, well, apparently there was more reason than she realised at the time, and change the subject.” He got Electra’s pitch and pacing just about dead on, enough to startle Claudio into a laugh.

“I can hear her say that, just so. I hope you’re right. I expect it’s the sort of thing I tell them and then I go away again promptly and come back in a week or so when they’re ready to talk more about it. That’s fine. It’s a significant change to think about,” Claudio added more earnestly. “You can decide we stop talking about it whenever you like, too.”

Tiberius shook his head, then he said, “May I venture an observation?” Claudio nodded once. “You have seemed...” Tiberius considered his words. “Better. I want to say happier, but I’m not sure that’s the right word. A container for something. Like a talisman is, an object and a container both. Since about when— when you say you decided on what you’re doing.”

“Have I?” Maybe it had shown far more than he’d realised, at least to anyone who bothered to look. Gabe hadn’t commented about it, or Doyle, but they might not have. He might work up to asking sometime. In private. He let out a slow breath, feeling something loosen in him that had been stiff and tense. “Thank you for that. It’s hard to tell from the inside what it looks like. Orion swears my duelling’s better, but there can be other reasons for that.”

“I’d— I keep thinking you ought to have a talisman to help. Can I ask them when we get back? Mistress Mereid and Master Ifan, and Master Glisial?” That burst out like a river coming into flood. His son, eager for that kind of help, reaching for it. “Would you, I mean, I’m not qualified to make it yet, but I have ideas.”

“If you think they’d be open to the question, absolutely. I can’t swear when I’ll be able to get free again for a bit for a consultation with any warning, but—” Claudio spread both hands out. “The resources aren’t a problem, you know that. If you’ve an idea, I’d like to see what comes of it, if it’s a manageable one in their eyes. There’s none too much time for that sort of work.”

Tiberius nodded, and Claudio could see how his mind was now spinning off into ideas. He was curious about what Tiberius thought up, but the gift of Tiberius wanting to, turning his knowledge on something for Claudio, that felt like the most precious treasure. Then Tiberius paused, coming back to another question. “Can I meet him? I mean, properly, to have a conversation. I know you introduced him at the Faire.”

“Matty?” They had met, but briefly, when Tiberius came by the Fairlight tent. “You want to?”

“Please,” Tiberius met Claudio’s eyes now, deliberately. “I’d like to know who makes you smile like that. Talk like that. Take this sort of risk. Seems like he’s got to be an interesting person, with plenty of merits of his own.”

“Well. I think we can certainly find a chance. Wednesday, maybe, when Mother’s out, though not at the house? Somewhere private. He likes fiddly administrative things, even more than I do. Matty had a complicated time after the war. He was doing that sort of work, the kind that mattered tremendously but had a lot of sharp edges, at Nuremberg.” That was probably as much as Claudio ought to say, but at least there was something easy to follow. “But bohort’s a grand topic to start. He pays attention to a lot of the matches.”

“I think that’s all I want to talk about right now. And you must need to get on, right? Uncle Orion and the duelling salle there?” Tiberius half stood, gesturing.

“I admit I could use a bit of taking out my frustration on Orion, where none of it will connect.” Claudio stood as well, feeling something in his shoulder pop softly. “But that conversation about a talisman first, at least the idea of it.”

That last part was a quick conversation, working out the scheduling. But Tiberius’s apprentice masters seemed quite pleased by the idea and promptly went about pulling out more reading material for him. When Claudio left, ten minutes later, he promised to update as there was more.

It had gone so differently than he’d expected, far better than he ought to deserve. And now, at least, it was out in the open, and it would be at least a hair easier to talk about further. Assuming, of course, that further was relevant.

Chapter 37

Monday, July 17th

There were a number of problems with gossip. Or so Matty was coming to think. He had a list now, tucked on a sheet in the back of his journal. He was still adding two or three items a day. Now, he added the points that it was impossible to know whether someone’s attitude had to do with the gossip or not.

He’d been in this meeting for two hours this morning. It was not as well-run as he’d prefer. In this particular case, it meant there were several points where people began whispering to their nearby neighbours about whatever topic amused them while Greaves, who was running it, clarified specific points with his particular favourites.

Granted, few people were really superb at handling a large meeting. This one had twenty people in it. That size made it far too easy for people to break off into smaller chats. A larger meeting needed force of personality, a deep understanding of the actual goals, and enough embedded goodwill that people didn’t make the entire process difficult. Greaves had none of those. He was relying solely on rank.

It made Matty want to bring the question to supper with Orion, actually. He’d been impressed already by how Orion did not necessarily understand individual motivations for what people were doing, but he saw the patterns they made clearly. Especially when it came to anything that involved a focused strategy. Matty thought whatever was going on today was not focused, rather just the ambient small-mindedness some people persisted in continuing.

Matty himself was seated next to Mirabel Wright. Lucy Harlow, the department secretary was up by Greaves as the note-taker. The rest of the people here came from across the relevant departments with an interest in licensing. Greaves, to his credit, had been interested in the proposal Matty and Claudio had begun working on.

This was an initial gathering to see what pieces might be better aligned. Matty felt all of them needed review. But of course half the people there had their own ideas. And Matty himself did not have enough rank to press the conversation forward. Also, several of them were clearly terrified of what a streamlined approach might do to their rank, status, and power to be petty bureaucrats to those they disliked.

The trick here was that no one— including Matty— was entirely sure how much gossip was actually happening right now. Claudio’s mother had apparently said absolutely nothing to him about it, not even when they had their usual supper on Sunday. The various sources at people’s disposal hadn’t heard much. And those were wide-ranging enough that someone probably would have seen a glimmer. There had been no blind items in the Trellech Moon or the gossip papers, not yet, at least, but this point in the summer was one of the regular lulls for gossip reporting.

As Matty leaned over to pass a paper to the person on the other side of Mirabel, there was a little snort from his left. “Figures.”

“Pardon?” The thing about having spent five years at Nuremberg was that he could be coldly polite in five languages.