Seventeen Stones (24 page)

The
evening ended in the music room.  Mia was horrified to discover that she was
expected to begin the music.  It was so much worse than the school concert,
because she could see each of the people she was playing for.  Once again, the
endless hours of practice saved her.  After a single song she gratefully
abandoned the instrument to the other girls.  Mrs. Stubbs later attributed it
to an attractive sort of modesty, rather than bone-chilling fear.  If Mia had
known, she would have laughed at the lady’s kind misimpression.    

Sarah
and Ella took the floor next, performing an outstanding duet for harp and
soprano.  Vivian and Adeline courteously declined the opportunity to play, and
then Lizzy and Beth took their turn.  They played a nocturne, modified for two
players, deceptively simple but requiring as much skill as the duet they’d
written for the mid-winter concert.  Mia wasn’t alone in dashing tears from her
eyes after the final notes died away. 

They
played chess and cards for a few hours after the music ended, and the Stubbs
called for their carriage about ten o’clock.  Mr. Dempsey and the Smiths were
gone soon after.  Lady Anne laughingly told the girls to enjoy the early night:
they wouldn’t have many opportunities to do so during the house party. 

***

There
had been little time, in between planning the party and schoolwork to research
her family tree.  She understood from chance comments from Emma and Mr. Smith
that her family was multi-generational wand wielders and she had left it at
that.  But there was a leather bound book in the library that contained a
family history, and Mia picked it up for a bit of late night reading.  The
script was modern and neat, written in the precise strokes of a wanded historian. 
According to a note on the flyleaf, it was written some twenty years before,
and so must have been commissioned by her mother.

She
was surprised to learn that some of her ancestors had been involved in setting
up the City’s government and in the formation of the College.  The first
Greatlord in the family was given the title for inventing the process to make
wands fit the wielder instead of the other way around.  It was
his
fault
they’d harpooned her finger at testing!  Twenty-six of her family members had
sat on council at one time or another, fifteen had been Guild Masters, and two
had gone on the hold the title of Magus.  There were many second sons and
daughters who became Professors at the college, many more distant ancestors who
were awarded estates of their own.  There were a few less satisfying entries. 
Some of her family members sounded like petty tyrants, and she suspected that
their characters might have been whitewashed in the grand tradition of family
historians everywhere.

The
book ended with her grandparent’s deaths, without any mention of her mother’s
being proclaimed a Greatlady.  Mia put the book down and sighed.  Two hundred
pages of family history and all she’d found out about her mother was that she
was born in the spring.

She had
inquired and was informed that the family picture gallery remained intact,
though many of the early family portraits were lost with the original manor
house.  Mia made a mental note to ask Mrs. Wallace to show it to her at some
point.   

The
next morning, the stable master met them at the stables, with five horses
saddled and ready.  All of the girls were looking forward to visiting the local
village, which Mrs. Wallace had assured them was a pretty sort of place. 

Mia
was seated on a grey unicorn cross-breed who nudged her with his soft nose in
an attempt to solicit another round of petting.   He was sweet natured and
affectionate, so Mia couldn’t understand why he was named Temper.  Ella was
seated on another cross-breed, a lazy roan conversely named Uppity.  He looked
like he was in danger of falling asleep with Ella on his back.  Mia wondered
who had been naming the stock for the past fifteen years, and made a mental
note to stay away from any creature called Sweetness.

The
groom helped Sarah onto the monster her father had brought for her to ride:  he
was seventeen hands, with a wicked eye and a seemingly nasty disposition, but
he settled as soon as Sarah was firmly on his back.  He made an odd sort of
sound as he smelled her leg to be sure it was
her
, and then he stood
like the Knight he was named for. 

The
others mounted up and they set out for the village by simply following the
road.  It only led two places: to the City and to the village.  The rest of the
paths that intersected were nothing but dirt trails from one farmstead to
another.  The trails themselves were so seldom used that Mia was surprised that
they remained at all. 

The
village was well built, mostly using the local dark gray slate.  The streets
were paved with it, the shops made of it, and the houses used it for everything
from floor to roof.  There were open gutters on the side of the street, with
only a bit of debris to catch the eye, indicating a well-run little hamlet. 
There was the typical butcher shop and blacksmith, a baker, seamstress and
cobbler in the same shop, and a dry goods store.  A little cottage sat on one
side of the street with a cracked sign indicating that it was the local tea
shop.  The market square would be open on rest days, allowing the locals to
bring their fresh eggs and butter, candles and honey for sale.  The estate
produced most of what they needed on the home farm, but did barter with some of
the local farmers and the butcher for produce, especially with so many guests. 

It
wasn’t difficult for the shopkeepers to guess who was visiting their village in
the middle of the day.  Who else would it be but the local wanded?  They were
greeted with courteous nods and thinly veiled curiosity.  The girls stopped
first at the dry goods store and made their purchases, and then they rode
around the hamlet for a few moments, long enough to be very sure that there was
little to see on a normal business day.  Mia informed the others that the best
goods would be brought out on market days.  The girls agreed that they’d like
to visit and see the local handicrafts during the house party.

Lizzy
stared at Beth for a few minutes while the others talked.  Beth looked up and
mentioned to Mia that it was time they returned to the estate.  Mia didn’t
notice the twins hanging back at first.  When she looked they were horse
lengths behind the others, whispering furiously.  “Lizzy?  Beth?  Are you
coming?”  Lizzy pinned her sister with a look and said “We’re coming, don’t wait
on us.”  Mia laughed a little to herself.  Lizzy was the more outgoing twin,
but she was in for a fight if she was trying to strong-arm Beth.        

Mia
exchanged a quick glance with the rest of the girls.  Sarah shrugged and urged
her horse forward.  The others followed her polite withdraw reluctantly.  Mia
could tell it was almost a physical battle for Vivian.  She took a second to
consider that it was just as well that her nosiest friend didn’t have sight;
she’d probably sink into visions and never return to her body.  Mia’s raging
curiosity about the twin’s conversation was put on hold by the unexpected
arrival of Ethan Fain on a dusty black gelding.  He looked shocked when he saw
them riding around the corner, but he quickly schooled his features into a
courteous mask.  “Was I expected?” he asked Mia archly. 

She
overlooked the acid in his tone and responded gleefully: “Not until tomorrow! 
We were just coming back from the village.”  He seemed mollified, either by her
response or her obvious delight.  “Well, I knew that you wouldn’t mind if I
showed up early, though that steward of yours might not be as kind…”  Mia
laughed.  “His staff might have an issue, but mine is larger and better
prepared.  We’ll find you a bed somewhere.  Let’s go.  You look thirsty,
hungry, and tired, in that order.”  Ethan chuckled wearily.  “It’s only a two
hour ride from the City.”  Mia glanced at the dark circles under his eyes. 
“But what were you doing for two days before that?”

She
didn’t get an answer to that question until that evening.  After tea, a bath,
and a nap Ethan looked more like himself, even with dark circles under his eyes. 
They were playing a quiet game of cards while most of the others engaged in a
louder game of lottery tickets at the other end of the room.  He eyed Mr.
Dempsey over her shoulder when he thought she wasn’t looking.  It wasn’t a
friendly look, and not one she’d want directed at her unprotected back.  She’d
hoped that the two of them would get along.  “So what
have
you been
doing?” she asked as she dealt the cards.  His eyes slid again to the other
table as Vivian loudly placed a bet against Sarah’s father.  “I’ve been working
with Professor Patrick on a few things, putting together a revised Creation
lesson plan with the Headmistress…this and that.”  Mia gave up.  He wasn’t
going to tell her more. 

Professor
Fain lost three hands of cards before he asked “If you’ll excuse me for a
moment, I think I’d better go outside and let the cool air clear my head.”  Mia
decided to go out with him, secretly a little worried that he might fall asleep
on the veranda and freeze to death.  Lady Anne followed them out before Mia had
the chance to feel the chill.

“My
daughter has informed me that you will be giving Mia additional lessons in
Creation over the break.  It’s my understanding that the headmistress wants
these lessons to be kept quiet?”  Mia nodded, hoping that Professor Fain’s
opened-mouthed expression wouldn’t erupt into a fit until they were alone.  The
lady smiled as her eyes flicked to the professor’s face.  “We’ll arrange
something then, to make sure that you have time and space.  I’ll cast the
protective barrier myself so you won’t have to waste energy on that.”  With
that, she returned to the game room.

“Did
you tell the whole world you were taking private lessons?”  He whispered as
they shivered on the terrace.  Mia turned her back to the windows so the others
couldn’t see her face.  “Of course not!  But you must admit that it would
appear odd if you and I were to continually escape the woman who has agreed to
chaperone my house party.  I had to tell her something or she would have leapt
to the wrong conclusion for why a young man and a girl might want to wander off
by themselves.  I assure you that I don’t have any intention of being a
blushing bride before my fifteenth birthday.”  He turned a paler shade of white. 
Lady Anne had the social clout to force the issue if they compromised the
strict code of honor expected out of a wand wielder.  Professor Fain knew, of
course.  Proper behavior was bred into the old bloods along with their hair and
eye color.       

“It
was much simpler to tell her part of the truth and enlist her help than to try
to sneak around.  She’ll find a way to let us have time for the lessons and
protect both of our reputations at the same time.”  He looked down at his
shoes.  “I understand why you told her, but I wish you would have discussed it
with me.  I had a horrible moment where I thought that our task was doomed to
failure, and that I had bought a rather dapper new swallowtail coat for
nothing.”  Mia grinned at his playful tone, and accepted it for the apology he
didn’t want to make.  “You could always wear it to the wedding.  Mr. Dempsey
and Adeline Stubbs are getting married after the ball.  I’m sorry Lady Anne
announced her intentions before I had the chance to discuss it with you.  I
didn’t know that she wanted to join us.”  He nodded thoughtfully.  “If she’s
casting the protective spells, I’ll have more energy to teach.  That’s not a
bad thing.”  Mia smiled at his conciliatory tone, and they returned to the warm
rooms to finish their hand of cards.  

***

Professor
Fain left that night with Mr. Dempsey, despite Mia’s protests that she didn’t
want to overburden his staff.  “They’re green with envy about not being here,
where all the action is.  They’ve had Professor Fain’s bed made and ready since
last week when my bride-to-be finally received the last of the linens from the
seamstress’.”  Professor Fain rose to occasion:  “I heard that congratulations
were in order…”   Mr. Dempsey grinned.  “We’re going to be married the week
after mid-winter, so that Miss Mia can join us.”  Professor Fain asked all the
right questions in exactly the right tone to make his host comfortable, and
winked at Mia as he walked out.  She started, surprised at his sudden warmth
toward the steward.  He’d seemed less than friendly before.  She mentally
shrugged and went upstairs to get ready for bed.  She was happy he was here,
and willing enough to leave it at that.

Sir
Kendrick, Sarah’s father, was up and reading the
City Times
when Mia
came down to breakfast the next morning.  He was an unprepossessing man,
neither small nor large, with regular features and a lean frame.  Mia was
familiar enough with him to know to leave him to his paper.  She shoveled eggs
on her plate as he turned the pages.  She was adding sugar to her tea when he
put the paper down.