Page 52 of Claiming the Tower
“Yes?” It came out a little uncertain again. Hereswith really was a little off her best tonight. A moment later, there was a firmer, “Yes. If you’d like.”
“Absolutely. When’s the person coming?”
“Also Friday. The staff will supervise all of that. It involves resetting a couple of bricks or stones in the fireplace, placing the charms, and then making everything work. But it should also make the heat steadier. Some quite new technique, but Herbert Remmington was telling me about it, and made the introduction.” She flicked her fingers. “Hence why we’re getting such rapid attention. But I gather it also helps ensure a more consistent heat, and Papa will like that, particularly.”
“I am fairly certain this means you are now helping set trends, you know.” Bess had to tease about that. The women’s circulars had been going on about Hereswith’s clothing choices for the last month. They probably would for several more, at least through the winter social season. “Oh, you had three more invitations come in. None of them is terribly worth your time, but you might want to consider picking one of that calibre?”
Hereswith wrinkled her nose. “Can we talk about that in the morning, too? Do you have a list of all the ones that seem plausible in the next month or two?”
“I do. I’ll have a fresh copy for you by the time you wake up.” Bess promised it almost automatically. She looked up to find Hereswith raising an eyebrow. “You know I’ll be up before you in the morning.”
“Don’t stay up, no. Not for this.” Hereswith sounded insistent.
“I won’t. I’ll save it for greater needs.” Bess kept her voice light, but Hereswith looked at her intently now.
“Would you like— I mean, I could tell the staff not to come up here unless we ring. Now Papa’s moved. We could have a bit more privacy. If you liked.”
“Would they feel insulted?” Bess honestly liked the staff here. Certainly, she didn’t want to disrupt the smooth way everything ran. It would affect Hereswith’s father, and Hereswith herself, and neither of those would do.
“No, I don’t think so. And they know that there are things I can’t talk about, papers I need to bring home, and all that. I’d want to talk to them about it, be clear that it’s nothing about their service or discretion, just a, apparently it’s a fairly standard protocol?”
“Saying that might help, yes. I’m certain not everyone’s staff is as loyal as yours is. But even here, there are people coming in for events, or your brothers and their families, and all that.” Bess thought it through aloud.
“Exactly.” Hereswith nodded once. “I’ll talk to them. Saturday, probably, I’ll be here all day, and by then we should have more information from Friday’s visits.”
One of many things Bess appreciated about Hereswith was how careful she was about the household arrangements. Juggling all of them, even for a quiet household that did little entertaining, was rather a lot on top of the Council and learning about the Council. Of course, Bess had taken on a lot of the ordinary matters, choosing meals and such, when Hereswith didn’t care which of the foods she liked was served. But someone still had to see to the payments and bills and such, and to the actual decisions about the house and grounds.
Hereswith sighed and applied herself to her food for a minute or two. Bess did the same. But when she set down her chocolate, Hereswith had hers cupped in her hands. “Can I try talking something through with you, and see how far I get?”
“Of course.” Bess positioned herself to listen more comfortably, adjusting one of the small pillows behind her back.
Hereswith cleared her throat, obviously going slowly to see if her oaths stopped her. “I’ve been asked if I’d assist with smoothing something over. No one wants me to fail, obviously, but it’s a way to see how I go about the sort of problems the Council gets. You remember I said there was an odd question that came in on Saturday?”
Hereswith had been the one at the Keep to assist with such questions. Bess thought it was good that they had a rota for it, but apparently they got many questions. And they ranged from those entirely about the Council’s duties to a great number of things that weren’t. “You’d mentioned that there was something that struck as odd. You said it sounded like it was gossip, a play for status, only it didn’t?” Bess remembered that much.
“That one, yes. The question at hand is what to do about a particular area of land. It’s on the borders, more or less with one of the—” Her voice cut off. “Let me see how far I get in the explanation. We talk about the Fatae, and how the Pact was about an agreement, good for both sides, about them leaving humans alone, and us leaving the Fatae alone. Except, of course, there are places that have overlap.”
“Like certain mines, or materia,” Bess said. This was part of a standard education in Albion. “Yes. So one of those spaces?”
“Also, some of those people. The descendants of the Fatae. Known as Cousins, generally. They have family lines, with particular estates.” Hereswith looked up, her eyes gleaming. “All right, that much I can say. That’s very good to know. I guess it’s one of those things that people don’t usually talk about, but we can?”
“I certainly won’t tell anyone else. Not without your permission. So a bit of land that runs along one of those estates.” Bess was delighted she could hear this much, honestly.
“Yes. There’s a betrothal arrangement being negotiated, and it affects land along there. Only, as they’ve redone some of the surveying, there are signs of greater magical flow than there ought to be. Someone— the Council— needs to figure out how to manage that.” Hereswith shrugged. “Some of it, I don’t fully understand yet. But I’m trying to figure out what questions need to be asked.”
“What do you have so far? I’m guessing that it’s not as easy as you saying something and people agreeing.” Bess could be fairly confident of that. People were rather consistent that way.
“Exactly. So, if there is some outflow of magic that shouldn’t be there, then we have to go to the relevant Cousins and see if they can adjust it. Sometimes that happens, based on, oh, planting a field a certain way, and then those plants spread more than they ought.”
“Plants will do that. They are not very good at boundaries.” Bess agreed with that. “Is this a mint sort of problem or a, I don’t know, rosemary sort of problem?” Mint notoriously spread anywhere it could.
“Possibly mint-like,” Hereswith agreed. “There’s someone who can consult a few years behind me in school, also in Horse, Oscar Willet. Asphodel recommended talking to him. Of course I can’t explain the full problem there, but how the magical plants are responding, certainly.”
Asphodel was one of the more senior Council members, nearly eighty, which did not suggest tromping around in unknown fields at length, no. Bess nodded. “And the families?”
“The Herricks and the Wallaces. It’s one of the secondary Herrick properties, not the demesne estate, of course. The two wouldn’t abut like that. I gather that causes quite a few problems, actually. Also, it makes some of the history of the demesne estates in the immediate aftermath of the Pact make more sense.”
“Could you show me a map sometime?” Bess asked. “Now I’m curious.” She considered. “Would it help to have a rundown on both families, and who might be easiest to talk sense into?”
