Armand’s First Letter. Amelia’s First Letter.
16 July 1021, L’Ecole du Sorciers
My dearest cousin Armand,
I am glad to hear that your Amelie is doing well, and that your daughters are eager to greet their new sibling. I have been told, often, how excited my brothers were to be receiving a new playmate—and I have also been told that dear George’s response to my arrival was, “But I wanted a little brother!“.
Little Jane continues to grow, and to require much love and attention; and she has been showing a distressing tendency to pull herself into a standing position. I fear her first steps cannot be far off, and I am glad that I did not succumb to the temptation to go off in the caravan this summer.
I remain busy with my studies, and though I have no remarkable discoveries to report this month I will note that Dr. L’Auberge is pleased with my progress at learning to read and understand Old Provençese in all of its archaic sprawling glory.
King Charles’ man de Marigny continues to visit us from time to time, and from him and from Maximilian’s embassy contacts we hear intriguing things about the constitution of the new Provençese government. Charles remains at the top, as monarch; but he seems to have given over much of his power to the new parliament, which is quite unlike the old parliament, and entirely unlike the ancien regime.
Members are elected by locality, as in Cumbria, but also by station. That is to say, each province or departement elects a certain number of members, but these members must be divided across the landowners, the merchants, the professions, the craft guilds, and the working men. Charles seeks to ensure that every segment of the population can have its say. Surprisingly for a royalist regime, no special provision is made for the old Provençese nobility—no distinction is made between them and other landowners.
Lord Ellesmere believes that this will lead to disaster, for, as he says, “it gives the rabble the powers of the purse.” Maximilian is not so sure, for these are among the powers King Charles has retained: he must approve every bit of legislation passed by the parliament, and he can dissolve the parliament and call for new elections as he chooses. Moreover, he has pledged to do so “if His Parliament fails to seek the good of the Land of Provençe.” It is almost as if the Parliament is a royal council writ large, meant to advise the monarch, rather than the kind of governing body we have in Cumbria.
I do have one interesting bit of personal news. Dr. D’Estaing called me to his study today—he of the verbal attack and the following gracious apology. He received me with a smile, which was a comfort, bade me sit down, and summoned a servant to bring us tea and pastries.
“Mme. Archer,” he began, “I had to acquaint myself with your progress and your research in order to carry out my part in the unfortunate but necessary charade of last spring. And I have recently learned that young Claude has begun to assist you in your ley line survey—for I may tell you that Dr. Peyronnet is my great friend.”
“Oh! I hope you are not much discommoded by Dr. Peyronnet’s absence with Claude!”
He smiled. “It reminds me of my student days, when Alain spent his summers on similar excursions. No, I have not summoned you about that.”
He stirred his tea, frowning slightly. I waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts.
“Mme. Archer,” he said at last, “there are ley lines in all the Old Lands: in Cumbria and Provençe, in Hanondorf and Malague, and in all the lands roundabout, east, north, and south. As I understand your concerns, you will need to survey all of them before you can complete your studies.”
“Yes, I suppose you are right,” I said.
He gave me a quite piercing look over his teacup. “Mme. Archer, how do you propose to do that? Is it not a vast area to cover?”
I must have looked quite blank, and then horrified, for he nodded after a moment. “You have not considered this. Just so. And yet, you have the seeds of the solution in your hands.”
I blinked. “I do?”
“You do. You have sent Claude out to do some of the work for you. It will not be enough; but then, he is but one student, n’est-ce pas? There will be others following in his trail. Meanwhile, I presume that your colleagues at Edenford also have students?”
I had to pause a moment, Armand, to encompass the thrill of being termed a “colleague” of Dr. Tillotson and the other dons at Veronica’s College.
“I know that Dr. Tillotson does,” I said. “I imagine the others do as well.”
“Then you must write to your Dr. Tillotson, and ask for his help. It will give his students something useful to do.”
“What a fine idea,” I exclaimed. “I shall certainly do so.” I frowned. “That will help with Cumbria. But what of the rest of the Old Lands?”
“Many of us here at L’École correspond with scholars of wizardry in other lands; and those scholars naturally have students. You must speak with the Masters of L’École and ask for their assistance in writing to these scholars.”
“Must I?”
“Bien sur.” He waited patiently.
I pursed my lips. “Dr. D’Estaing,” I said, “do you suppose you could write to your colleagues abroad and ask for their help?”
“Mais oui!” He smiled. “I shall explain that you are studying the ley lines, but I shall not attempt to explain your theories—and I advise you to keep them to yourself, until you have more evidence.”
“To avoid looking foolish if I am proved wrong?”
“If one can avoid that, one is not doing research,” he said. “But”—and here he gave me a stern look—”you wish to make the discoveries yourself, n’est-ce pas? Do not lightly hand the keys of the kingdom over to your rivals.”
I nodded, and finished my tea. “Dr. D’Estaing, why are you taking so much care over this?”
He blushed adorably. “I still feel regret for my role last April; I was most rude. And also, here at L’École we study and pass on what our forebears passed down to us. You are doing something new. It is most exciting.”
I thanked him warmly; and tomorrow I shall put my thoughts in order and write to Dr. Tillotson.
Your exciting cousin,
Amelia
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Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
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