Facets of the Bench (Mysterious Arts #4)

Chapter 43

MAY 16TH IN THE HALLS OF JUSTICE

G riffin was as ready as he was going to be. They’d finished setting the talismans three days ago, giving them enough time to settle into place. He’d laid out the ritual circle markings before anyone was around but Annice, which at least spared his dignity a bit. The angles involved in bending over tended to be particularly tricky for him, and he found it much easier to just sit on the floor and work from there. That did not, however, present an unimpeachably professional appearance to an audience, no matter how much it shouldn’t matter.

Now, he was waiting with Annice on one side and Helios Norton on the other, in a regular chair, one cane leaning up against his hip. He’d need one of his hands free for this. That was part of the challenge. Annice smiled at him, though she was a little nervous as well. On his behalf, mostly, or at least she’d sworn so before lunch. Neither of them had been able to eat much.

Helios was nine months into his apprenticeship, working under Gloriana, and had been deemed simultaneously competent enough to assist, but not skilled enough to affect the outcome. The young man had been pleasant enough, and Griffin had been amiable about laying out what he needed. Besides, he’d be relying on Niobe and Annice’s work with the stones, and his own magic, for this. Helios was mostly present as an extra set of hands.

The room itself looked and felt quite pleasant. They’d pulled some furniture out of storage, creating a conversational seating area with two sofas and two easy chairs in one half, and a table that would seat six at the other end. There was light coming in from the window, and Griffin had done the incantation work that morning that left a lingering scent of vanilla and cedar in the air, and lent a sense of well-being to the room. They were a shopkeep’s tricks, more or less, creating the space that would entice in the right way. Vanilla because so many people responded to it as they did to baked goods, and cedar because it brought a clean and refreshing note. Spices would have gone too far over towards a cosy personal space, and that wasn’t what he needed here.

Far above them, the bell chimed, and then the door opened - Charlus was holding it - and a dozen people filed in. “Welcome, welcome, come in. Along that wall and this one here are best, avoiding the centre.” Griffin pitched his voice to sound cheerful. “If anyone needs a chair, these here are the easiest, given the ritual layout.” He gestured at the other chairs around the table.

Lamont had been first through the door, of course, looking around and nodding. Harriet and Nestor had followed him, then Gloriana and Christopher. The other six besides Charlus were representative of the various departments, including Mistress Henning, who had a notepad ready for shorthand. Antimony slipped in at the end. He hadn’t been sure if she’d be free.

He let them get settled, then cleared his throat again. “As you know, I’ll be setting this work to create a space which facilitates more ease and comfort than most of the spaces in the Courts. It is a judicially neutral space better suited for witnesses who have had difficult experiences or just recounted them. For example, if a flood of grief overcomes someone, or if someone has a health concern and needs a few minutes of rest. We plan for tea service there, on that cart, and there’s a single washroom just across the hall, as you know.”

Now he let his voice get a little more full. The pacing on this was the trick and the challenge in every direction. “It was brought to my attention that some were concerned I might be leaning on my assistants as a crutch to my magic. Now, I consider a crutch a useful tool, but I also understand the desire to be sure you know what is my work and what is not. The full details are in the documentation I provided last week. The talismanic stones for the space were carved and enchanted by Magistra Niobe Hall and by Mistress Annice Matthewman, newly her apprentice.”

His chin came up. “Also newly my fiancee, as you all know, so I admit I might have some bias about her skills. However, while Annice is a skilled crafter already, she does not have formal training in ritual magic of any kind, and particularly not in the judicial magics. Also assisting, of course, Helios Norton, and my thanks to Gloriana for the loan of his time and attention this week.”

Gloriana inclined her head. Nestor lifted his chin. “We know all this, Griffin. Do get on with it.”

There was a slight rustle, because whatever everyone’s opinion of this was, everyone else in the room respected the process. Griffin shrugged a little. “Before I begin, any questions? Now you’ve had time to review the plans.”

Christopher cleared his throat, and Griffin nodded at him. Christopher said, carefully. “Your notes indicated that there is some expected upkeep, magically. May I ask how you’re planning to manage that?”

“The notes, of course, couldn’t include the setting of the stones we did on Thursday. I’m now confident that - once the enchantments are laid - anyone past second year apprenticeship should be able to lend a bit of magic. In practice, I made the commitment as Yew Primus that I, or someone else directly involved in the Inheritance Court, will check and see to it on a scheduled basis. While the room is open to all seven Courts, and we’d be glad of additional volunteers, this is my project and my responsibility. Anyone interested in helping should leave their name, and Charlus will be setting up a rota.”

Christopher nodded. Nestor opened his mouth, then thought better of it, apparently. When there were no other questions, Griffin pushed himself upright, murmuring, “Places, please.” Annice went to the right and Helios went to the left, each of them standing at the centre of one of the long walls. That had been one of the tricks with the space. For this kind of magic, a long rectangle was harder than a square. A ritualist could pretend a square was a circle, but once things got into ovals, what might be best translated as odd orbits of energy turned up, and it took longer to pass some distances than others. That was something they’d had to solve with the stones.

He was proud of the solution. The actual talisman pieces were amber, washed up on the Norfolk coast a few years ago. They were near perfect matches in colour and clarity, a warm honey gold that glowed when lit by magic. The stones were held at about chest height, set into the top of the panelling. Part of what made this work was the amber and jet, both formed from ancient trees, the light and dark echoing and anchoring each other in a particularly potent cycle.

Unbroken copper wire ran in a channel set along the top of the wainscoting, then up over each door, with smaller pieces of jet set at the corners. More copper wire ran up the corners overhead to an additional talisman set in the centre of the ceiling. The last set ran down to the floor, all of it dotted with alternating jet and amber.

Once Helios and Annice were in place, Griffin smiled and took his steps to under that centre point. Normally, there’d be a charmlight there, but they’d taken the fixture down for this work. He began the incantation with six pure tones, pitching them perfectly and holding them as they echoed, building one on the other. Then he chanted the whole thing into being.

It wasn’t the words that mattered here. All the detail of the work had been done in the talismans. What he was doing now was waking the magic, bringing it into a living, breathing clarity of purpose. Of course, having some words worked better. He’d given some thought to whether one of St Hildegard of Bingen’s chants might suit. But this was a space for people of all beliefs and practices, and even the less overt choices like “O Virtus Sapientie” had seemed a bit too much.

Instead, he’d chosen a chant from about the same time, written by one of the Schola professors - though interestingly not the Ritual Mistress of that era. It was really properly designed for a formal work room and to echo off the walls without furniture softening it, but it had beautiful arcs to the melody, and the words called out the four elements as well as the mystery of what came before and what came after.

The fact that it suited his voice well didn’t hurt one bit. He was in good voice, and once the first line or two was sung, he picked up the magical work. Not everyone could do both simultaneously. He knew several of the people in the room preferred not, for one thing. For him, it was about trusting his magic, trusting the music to bring movement and enforce the need to breathe. He was trained in Incantation, and while he wasn’t the most competent singer in Trellech, he knew this deep into his bones and the depth of his lungs.

At their cue, perfectly on beat, both Annice and Helios pressed their hands against the amber, sending their own smaller pulse of magic into the system. Griffin felt it catch, a bit like a fish biting, delicate but absolutely there. Then they moved to circle to the short walls of the room, and the other talismans. Again, on the proper beat, they repeated it, and then Griffin could let the whole thing flow.

He knew he’d done it, even before there was a wordless gasp. His eyes were closed, but he could see the glow through his lids. The amber had flared into light, and he could smell the faint scent of it added to the vanilla and cedar as the magic warmed it. It would not be like this again, at least not until they had to do refurbishment, but he basked in the glow. Another line or two of song, and then he felt everything click into place with a sensation that was felt and heard, both. The last few lines of the chant brought him to the end, finishing the thing properly and ensuring that the magic would continue to flow.

When Griffin opened his eyes, everyone was looking around - and more importantly, everyone had shifted how they were standing to something a little more relaxed and open. Even Nestor had uncrossed his arms. The glow was still visible, like standing in a sunny meadow on a summer day, but it was beginning to slowly fade.

Lamont smiled at him. It was a thing of warmth and deliberate information, letting everyone see it. “There is no doubt of your success, Griffin. Thank you for your work on this, and for being willing to make the demonstration of your skill and workmanship public. We’ll discuss further at our meeting tomorrow afternoon, three hours, we’ve a fair bit of business to cover. I believe that’s all, unless there are any questions?” It was the tone he used when dismissing a meeting, one they all knew well.

For a moment no one moved. Then there were murmurs from everyone else, congratulations, mentions of having an idea for the use, or a desire to talk about an aspect. Niobe exchanged glances with Lamont, and then said cheerfully, “Annice, my dear, and Charlus. How about we go along to Griffin’s office and give him a minute?” Griffin could hear Charlus complimenting Helios’s work, and encouraging him along as well, mentioning some biscuits.

Griffin very much wanted one of those, and he was leaning on the cane hard enough to aggravate his wrist now. He managed to hold everything together long enough for the door to close, leaving him alone with Lamont.

“Here. A chair.” Lamont went and fetched one of the wooden chairs from the table himself, setting it so Griffin could sit. “Do you need a moment?”

“I know what your diary is like this afternoon.” Griffin tried to make it a joke, and it came out flat. The sitting wasn’t a moment too soon. He’d unbalanced himself a bit, and not falling over was seizing a lot more attention.

Lamont pulled another chair over, settling down on it. “They were all out the door before it was obvious how much exertion that involved. Would it have been easier with Charlus helping?”

Griffin twitched a shoulder. “If I hadn’t had to make a show of it, I’d have done more of the setup over multiple days. Or sat down for this part. But the show was part of it, so.” He shrugged. “A bit of food and drink in a few minutes when I can manage them.” Right now there was the undeniable thread of nausea that made that a bad idea. “And a little care tonight, but I planned for that.”

Lamont nodded. “And right now? Up for a little more conversation?” His tone had turned amused, and Griffin blinked at him once or twice, focusing on his face. “Pleasant for you, at least.”

It made Griffin a little more sure of what the topic must be. “Of course, sir.”

“I assume you are still both willing and interested, or you wouldn’t have gone through this with the conditions you agreed to,” Lamont said. “My plan is to have a quiet word with Nestor and Harriet this afternoon. They’re both booked for meetings with me at the end of the day. And tomorrow, I will let everyone know I have chosen you as Heir.”

Griffin couldn’t breathe for a second, and then he made himself, playing lines of the chant through his memory to remind him. When he met Lamont’s eyes again, he managed not to stammer. “Thank you, sir. For the advance warning on all counts.”

“I do not expect Nestor to be happy about it. If he gives you any trouble at all, tell me. I know you can deal with it, but managing it is my duty.” Then he broke into a smile. “And perhaps a dinner out somewhere in public, later in the week, once the formal announcement goes out. Thursday or Friday? Discuss it with Mistress Matthewman. Any of the places that allow one to see and be seen are fine. Let me know what’s to your taste and ease.” He made a slight gesture at Griffin’s knees. “How about we meet on Wednesday morning, to sort out an ongoing schedule. You can get a good look at your new office and decide what you want to move and what you don’t. There’s a budget for redecorating, of course.”

“Of course.” Griffin managed a breathy response, then took a moment to gather himself. “I’m sure it’ll be hitting me every few minutes for the rest of the day. Thank you for your trust in me, sir.”

“You’ve more than earned it. Not just in what you did today, either, but how you’ve gone about it. Generative, collaborative, not combative.” Now he waved a hand. “I’d suggest getting out of the building promptly. Go tell the people in your office and make whatever celebration you like. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Griffin felt he could just about manage the walk back to his office now. He stood, and let Lamont go out first. The older man disappeared off toward his own office at the front of the building. Griffin did his best to keep from calling out from joy as he went back to the office that would soon be someone else’s.