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

19 February 1025, Bois-de-Bas

My dear Doctor Amelia,

I congratulate you and I salute you! You have been a great surprise to me all my life long, and you bid fair to continue to do so.

I am fascinated by what you tell me about the new direction at L’École du Sorciers, and most especially by the collaboration between L’École and the Provençese Former’s Guild. I should not have thought that at all likely, but I suppose King Charles’ displeasure at Queen Beatrice’s near drowning—when was that, two years ago now?

Yes, looking through your letters it was almost exactly two years ago that the carriage formed by the Provençese guild without recourse to my grimoire came apart and ducked the pair of you in the river. It seems that King Charles’ ire has brought not only a cleansing wind but also lasting change. I am delighted to hear it. We formers have grown too insular.

It occurs to me that by your new lights I have myself been dabbling in Cumbrian wizardry for some time. If forming is the lost Stream of Belazel, as Jérôme assures me it must be, then my mathematical work on effort as passed between greedy and generous formings is surely an example of applying the spirit of Cumbrian wizardry to that stream; and I am increasingly certain that what I have been calling effort is more or less what Cumbrian wizards call magic.

I do wish we had another person trained in Cumbrian wizardry here in Armorica. John Gamble’s work is beginning to prove useful, but he focuses so intently on his current hobbyhorse that it is quite impossible to consult him on other matters. One can ask, of course; but he either answers in monosyllables or is struck by a thought and rides off on a new hobbyhorse, leaving the old one to starve. Should Dr. Tillotson find that he must leave Edenford we would be delighted to receive him here. Please tell him so.

I have some notions of my own to share with you as you and yours work on ways to make the Iturian Relay fit for practical use.

First, it seems clear that the greater the weight of material or persons moved, the greater the magic required, and therefore the greater the chance of catastrophe. Perhaps you should start by transporting not people, nor freight, but letters: light of weight, and perhaps written on special paper so as to be even lighter. 

Second, would it possible, do you think, to set up a relay across the Abyss? Between L’École and Bois-de-Bas, for example. At present I must wait two months for a response to any letter I send you, and of course it is the same for you. How it would change things if we could respond to each other daily or weekly!

But failing a relay across the vast deeps between the Old Lands and Armorica, consider the value of a relay between Yorke and Toulouse: between, say, Yorke and the Cumbrian Embassy, or between the Former’s Guild houses in those two cities.

Third, rather than the ancient’s vast network of ley lines, if so I may call it, I picture something much simpler: two relays, one from point A to point B, with a whirligig or what have you at point B; and one from point B to point A, with a whirligig at point A. This would enable sending letters between point A and point B, with little chance of disaster.

It occurs to me that such lightweight nodes could even be movable, which would make them vastly more useful—for purposes both peaceful and warlike, alas. I have done with using my craft for war, and though I chafe on occasion at the Guild’s protection of guild secrets I confess that it can be a useful thing.

I don’t say that you should do your work on the relay solely under the aegis of the Provençese Former’s Guild; but perhaps you will decide to make the relay’s nodes so large as to be effectively fixed in place.

What news do I have from Bois-de-Bas? Annie and Margie continue to grow apace, and have become quite fond of their Aunt Cathy. The Two Sloops, under the canny direction of Jack and Cathy, is drawing an increasing number of visitors from Mont-Havre, and has become a popular place to dine for those here in Bois-de-Bas. 

The town itself town continues to grow; we now have something like a high street, stretching from the old village square towards the wagonworks, with many different shops. My Amelie’s shop remains the primary supplier of staple goods from Mont Havre, but we have a variety of craftsmen on the high street, and I have hopes of attracting a bookseller, perhaps one of Leon Suprenant’s young sons, working with M. Fourier in Mont-Havre. 

The Courier’s Guild is considering opening an office here, so I am told, and running their own wagon between Bois-de-Bas and their office and packet dock in Mont-Havre.

I am beginning to think that that the Former’s Guild needs an actual guild house here in Bois-de-Bas. The guild house in Mont-Havre is a useful base on those occasions when I am in the city over night, but no formers live there; and while all formers here in Bois-de-Bas work for Tuppenny Wagons at present, that is not healthy for the guild.

The winds of change have come to L’École, so you have told me; perhaps they must also come to Bois-de-Bas!

Your perhaps too complacent cousin,

Armand

Next letter

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Note: Zymurgia House does not use AI generated or edited text in any of its material. Any errors, mistakes, or hallucinations are hand-crafted and the author’s own fault, as are any well-turned phrases.