April 1070

Berkhamsted Castle did not explode over the course of the next two weeks, and Elfleda didn't report any issues, and Tim's still alive, so I think it's safe to assume that Lucille took the news reasonably well.

Reasonably.

Elfleda had been a little peeved at what I told Tim to do, but only a little; she'd acknowledged that, if Tim knew, there wasn't much of a point in keeping Lucille in the dark, and since I hadn't mentioned Elfleda or Eva's magic at all it didn't really change things.

I changed things up in the training with Tim, switching out staff for blasting rod, or just forgoing any foci at all and switching between a two-handed and one-handed grip as necessary. The latter two were definitely more convenient, but none of them solved the main issues: if I wasn't going to hold my staff, where would I keep it when fighting? What would I do if I needed an evocation that didn't involve fire?

And no, I'm not getting a wand. Maybe a carrying strap on my staff would work.

Anyway, the next two weeks were very busy for me. Between brewing potions, helping Eva with her carving, running laps, training with Tim, and sort of, kind of, maybe properly dating Elfleda, I had very little free time. By the time the third week rolled around and Eva and Cuthbert started making preparations to go back home, I felt like a guitar string that had been pulled really, really, really tight.

Then, once Rowena returned, I once more went through the process of renting her a horse, picked up the kids and the guards from the castle, and we all set out towards Dorham.

It took about as long to get to Dorham as it had to get to London, on account of the fact that we had horses for the guards on the way to London, because they were rentals. That wasn't really the case for this trip. As a result, we arrived in the evening, near nightfall, and there was somewhat of a scramble at the manor once we all rode up – the guards elected to just go to the village after getting the go-ahead from Cuthbert.

After the initial period of surprise, benign confusion, staring at the owl and puppy, welcomes, and a quick message to a no doubt soon-to-be-irritated cook to double the portions for dinner, we all ended up in the manor's quaint, cramped dining room. The realization that my townhouse had a bigger dining area even if I cut out the hearth and the shelf-space threw me for a bit of a loop; the amount of space I had just hadn't really hit me up until that point.

God, how had I managed to live in my hut for two years without going insane?

Hilda started off the dinner-table conversation by asking, "You are heading off to France?"

I nodded and lightly sipped at the too-warm watered ale. "Yeah. The earl has some personal business to see to in Mortain, and then there's some rebellion or something he's supposed to look into."

Months apart from Eadric had caused his scowls and expressions to blur together in my memory into one indistinct eadricy blob. Seeing him in person again helped untangle them. There was the regular Eadric-scowl, which doesn't warrant much mention at this point, the "you said something I disagree with" scowl, which is what the term eadric represents, and then there was the "you mentioned Normans" scowl, which I'm not sure how to categorize. Call it neadric? Does it even need a term?

I suppose I can give it a trial run.

Eadric neadriced at the mention of Mortain and France and all that and yeah, you know what, that word just looks off. "And why are you going?"

"Because I want to protect the vampires you really don't like from their somewhat-and-possibly-horribly abusive father because I see some similarities there between me and them," was probably not the right answer in this situation. Instead I said, "I'm part of his court. He pays me. I need his help."

"I think that what Eadric was trying to say is why are you going alone," Hilda said, laying her hand on her husband's.

"I'm not sure how long the whole thing will take," I said. "Could be a few weeks, could be a few months. Either way there won't really be any good opportunities to teach Eva, and after nearly a year apart I figured it would be better to have Eva and Cuthbert spend some time with you rather than carting them off to France."

"I appreciate that," Eadric said, managing to inject sincerity into his tone. It sounded like a great achievement. "What do you need his help with?"

I gestured sideways to Rowena, who was sitting there somewhat awkwardly picking at her bread. "As I mentioned earlier this is Rowena. She's a friend and a partner in a group project." I waited a few seconds to see if Rowena was going to contribute anything, and then added, "Essentially, the two of us and a few others are looking to found an expansive school. Literacy, natural philosophy, medicine, and magic." I drank some more ale, decided it wasn't getting any warmer, and started munching on the bread on my plate. "And for that we need funding and introductions to the rest of the nobility, among other things."

"A school?" Hilda asked. "For who?"

"Well, ideally, I'd like it to be open to everyone, but more realistically it's going to be for those that can pay," I said. "And the nobility. But I repeat myself." I followed bread with ale and wiped my mouth. "And anyone with magic, since that was our original goal. I'd say we're probably closer than we expected to be at this point, but we're still… a year or two off before the most optimistic start date, I'd say."

"You never told me about that," Eva said, her tone curious.

I paused in the middle of breaking more bread and fell back on our partnership's seeming go-to answer: "It just never came up."

"What will that mean for me?" she asked.

"Probably only good things," I said. "I can teach you the basics, the philosophy, and methodology, but when it comes to more advanced magical theory I sort of lag behind. And by that point you would have been my apprentice for about two years, if not three, so you'd be fairly well along and free to explore your own interests. Plus, you'll have more time to learn and apprentice since we won't be having to go through the whole rigmarole we're currently going through with you coming and going from my house."

"Rigmarole?" Hilda asked hesitantly.

"He does that sometimes, uses nonsense words and expects us to know what they mean," Eva said.

I gave her a look, which she ignored and went on to say, "I think he's referring to the way Elfleda comes with me to his house so people think he's courting her rather than doing anything with me."

"Elfleda. Your father mentioned her. She's your… guide, yes?"

"That's a good way to put it," Eva said.

"Can you tell me about her?"

"Well, she's… she's very clever, and helpful. Tall, though not huge like Harry, and pretty. I think she and Harry have been courting for months, but there's… something going on there," Eva said.

I sighed and drank some ale. "We weren't, and now we are. That's all there is to it."

"Oh. Good," Eva said.

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Rowena, who seemed confused by the conversation. "You can tell your mother the rest later. I've got something I need to discuss first." I ate some more bread, followed it with some more ale, and sat back in my chair. "While I'm off in France, Rowena has agreed to continue Eva's education, if traveling arrangements can be worked out."

"Traveling arrangements?" Eadric asked.

"I live in Hogsmeade," Rowena said. "Which is…" She trailed off and looked at me.

"It's a village about three days ride to the northwest," I said. "Maybe four if you're slow. 's got a big stone tower right outside it."

"Yes. I live there," Rowena finished.

"We would be willing to host you," Hilda said slowly.

Rowena shook her head. "Sorry, but I am not willing to leave my home unattended for extended periods of time."

"How do you not know where your home is in relation to Dorham, despite traveling here?" Eadric asked.

"I don't really travel around England in the usual ways. I use the Ways," Rowena said.

"Should we be telling them that?" I asked. "I mean, not that I care much in this instance, but isn't it White Council policy to not mention them?"

Rowena looked at me and blinked. "Is it? I don't really keep track of Council policy."

I considered that for a few moments, then shrugged. "Makes sense, I guess." I turned to Eva. "Eva, explain it."

Eva furrowed her brow in confusion. "Why?"

"Because usually, a good sign that you actually understand what you've learned is if you can clearly explain it to someone who has no clue what you're talking about," I said.

"Alright," she said slowly, then turned to face her parents. "The Ways are… kind of like a road system. Just not in this world, but a reflection of it called the Nevernever." She turned to look at me briefly. "Who named it that, anyway?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said.

She seemed unhappy at that response, but after a second turned back to her parents. "I don't know much more about it, but places in the Nevernever are supposed to connect to places in our world on a symbolic or emotional level. So somewhere dark and cramped will connect to somewhere dark and cramped, but you could go ten feet in either world to a slightly different place and end up somewhere completely different."

"B-plus," I said. "Good explanation, missed a few details."

"B-plus…?" Eva asked.

This time, I ignored her. "To summarize, think of it like taking a shortcut. If you know it's there, and you know how to walk it, you can really cut down on the travel time." I turned to look at Rowena. "What's the Way you took to get to Berkhamsted, anyway? Did you use… the City?"

Rowena shook her head. "The flow of time there is inconsistent. No, there's a Way that comes out in Berkhamsted Forest." She turned to face Eva and the parents. "If it's too difficult to have her come to and from Hogsmeade by horse, I could take her along that particular Way; it's perfectly safe."

"Then why did you never take it?" Eadric asked me.

"Second, because I didn't know it existed until now," I said. "And first, that Way is perfectly safe, and most of the charted Ways are relatively safe for wizards and witches, but in my particular case none of the Ways are safe."

"Why?" Hilda asked, just before her husband asked, "Does this have anything to do with that Queen you're running from?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Eadric, and I let out a long sigh. "Yes. Yes it does."

"When did you tell him?" Eva asked, looking my way.

"On my first trip to Berkhamsted, after we got attacked by redcaps," I said.

"I'm sorry, Queen?" Hilda asked.

I sighed. "Alright, very short summary. You've heard of faeries, right?"

Hilda nodded.

"Well there are three groups: Summer, Winter, and Wyldfae. Forget about the last one for now. The first two are collectively called the Faerie Courts, and they're ruled by Queens. The Winter Queen has been half-heartedly pursuing me for years now."

"Pursuing you?" Hilda asked.

"She wants to have sex with me," I said bluntly. "Among other things. And right now she's barring me from the Ways until I give in."

Hilda looked beyond confused. To be fair, so did Eadric and Cuthbert.

"That's it?" Eadric finally asked.

"You really underestimate the downsides here," I said. "It's never some one-and-done affair with her. Not being able to use the Ways is a pain, but I'll live with it."

"Is Eva in danger?" Hilda asked.

"No," I said. "Whatever else you can say about her, and there's a lot, the Winter Queen is true to her word. I'm barred from the Ways, not everyone involved with me. And more broadly…" I finished the ale. "Well, to be blunt, if she wanted to get to me through anyone else, like Eva or Elfleda, she would've already done so and there is no way I could've stopped her. But she hasn't, so it's not a problem. Especially because she wants me to come to her willingly and not because I was made to, so it's actively counterproductive to try and take hostages."

Awkward silence reigned for an indeterminate period of about thirty seconds, and was finally broken by Rowena asking, "The travel arrangements?"

Author's Note: Inside Rowena's head: Awkwaaaard.