Armand’s First Letter. Amelia’s First Letter.

15 July 1022, 3 Madrigal Court, Yorke

My dearest cousin Armand,

As you can see, my dear Maximilian and I are visiting my parents in Yorke. Or, at least, we are visiting the family home in Yorke whilst calling on your step-father, Grandmaster Netherington-Coates. That my parents are in residence was rather a surprise, as they often spend the hotter months in Wickshire.

“I know, my dear,” my mother said. “But Edward’s brood is at that exhausting age, and Jane will not confine them to the nursery. ‘It grows much too hot there, under the eaves,’ she says.”

“And to do credit to Georgie and the rest of the children, they adore their grandparents,” I said. “If you visited more often, perhaps they would begin to take you for granted and leave you be.” To which she had no rejoinder.

And so we are here and they are here; and our Jane has begun to shriek with delight whenever they appear before her, which warms my heart…and also my mother’s ears, which perhaps serves her right.

Since last month’s demonstration of the Iturian Relay we have been much concerned with planning our next steps. Having learned this much about the oft-spurned Iturians and the downfall of their empire, I am loath to let them go without learning as much as I can, and indeed, without making the story well-known. But to prove it we would need to make the Relay public; and given its propensity for disaster if used incorrectly we therefore need to learn how to make it safe, much as you did with your lifting blocks and sky-sleds.

I beg you to consider: the moment we demonstrate the Relay in public, and its potential for revolutionizing transport in this Land, there will be unscrupulous projectors attempting to prey on avaricious land-owners. “Just think,” they will cry, “you could get
your grain”—or cattle, or pigs, or eggs—”to market in an instant! We just need a little more money, and then your fortune is made!”

You might think I overstate the danger, but Edward tells me he receives a solicitation of this kind—valuable ore found on his land, or a canal—at least once a quarter. He sends them packing, of course. But it will happen, and some of the land-owners will be weak-minded enough to listen. What’s worse, some of them might actual build a Relay big enough to transport goods and people without accounting for the dangers, just as the Iturians did.

But Dr. Tillotson is a wizard and an Edenford don; Maximilian is a rather-less experienced wizard and an ex-soldier; I am a wizard, a mother, and seem to have developed into something like a don myself. (A donna, perhaps?) None of us have any experience in trade or the crafts, and that seems to be what we need at this time. Your step-father can provide that.

And of course we will need to involve the Former’s Guild anyway if we actually wish to build something. Jérôme has been most emphatic. “I am a wizard, moi” he told us, “but I am also a member of the Former’s Guild. If you wish to use my formings for more than demonstrations, you must to involve the Guild.”

Your step-father is cautiously enthusiastic. His first words were, “I wonder if it could be made to work between here and Provençe. That would put one in the eye of the Shipwrights’ Guild!”

But there is much to do before we could even attempt any such thing. Any such spell we deploy must be properly balanced, yes, and must remain so over time with little effort on the part of the users—unless we intend to reduce wizardry to yet another craft, and provide guild members to keep the system in tune. It may come to that, but Dr. Tillotson assures us that we would face strong opposition from his colleagues at Veronica’s. “They regard wizardry as a gentleman’s pursuit,” he told us gravely, “not an occasion for trade.”

I nearly forgot to say: we have also visited your mother, and Aunt Jane is greatly taken with her namesake. I have gone on too long already, but I’ve no doubt you will hear all about our visits (with much grandmotherly cooing) from her.

Your industrious cousin,

Amelia

Next letter.

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