The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (12 page)

Julian leaned over and offered him another sweet.
“It’s not my fault you spend all your time hiding down in the infirmary
instead of up flirting with handsome men.”

“Or women,” said Alex. “I think
Geoff likes both, right?”

Geoff actually blushed. “I do, though I’ve
been thinking I want to date a man for a while now. I blame Alex’s creamy
mounds.”

“They are very pale and pert,” agreed
Julian, though he couldn’t keep a straight face while doing it.

They all cracked up laughing, which took away some
of the shadow from Geoff’s face. Julian made a mental note for them to have
another party sometime, and invite some people who might not know each other.
He also made a mental note to write to Emmy, and probably call her, too, before
she killed him for not telling her about his latest adventures.

Alex’s phone pinged to inform them that MacLean and
Lapointe were on the way to his place, and they were welcome to join them any
time.

“Let me eat a few more of these, and we can
go,” Alex said, alternating huge bites of cookie with sips of tea to wash
it down.

“Alys, did you make dessert for us to take to
Thomas’ house?” asked Julian. By way of an answer, a lovely cake box
appeared, presumably with some sort of sweet treat inside. “You’re
wonderful as always,” said Julian with a grin.

“Ooh, I wonder what she made?” said Alex,
reaching toward it.

Julian smacked his hand lightly. “Stop it,
that’s for later.”

Alex harrumphed, but he went back to devouring
biscuits. “Are you ready to go, then?” he asked.

“Well, I’ll need shoes, and I was thinking of
taking a sweater in case Thomas has his AC turned up,” said Julian.

“Go get those, then, I’m almost ready,” said
Alex, giving Julian a slightly sugary kiss.

Julian licked the sugar and spice off his lips and
grinned. “Be good, now,” he said, and got up to go finish getting
ready.

“Does he really get that cold?” he heard
Geoff asking as he vanished into the bedroom for his favourite lightweight
sweater. It was made of wool off their estate, dyed a lovely golden brown and
knitted up by one of the older aunties as a holiday gift. He traded his
slippers for socks and shoes, then came out to find Geoff and Alex still
talking about him.

“I’m not dying, I had it checked out, I just
get cold easily,” said Julian. “You examined me half an hour ago, you
can tell I’m not sick or anything.”

Geoff flushed and laughed. “You’re not, sorry,
it’s just one of those interesting anomalies.”

“I was trying to remember if it’s been worse
since you started using your talent,” said Alex, a little sheepish.

“I don’t think so,” said Julian with a
shrug. “I’ve been this way a long time, anyway, since I was a teenager at
least. I remember when I was fourteen all the aunties got together and made me
sweaters and scarves and things from some St. Albans wool, this is one of
them.” Julian held up the sweater. “They had it all custom dyed and
everything, it was a whole production. The next year I got a quilt they’d all
worked on, too.”

“You’ve got aunties like that, too?” said
Alex. “Mine mostly spoil the babies now, and leave me be.”

“I do, they went through a couple of quilts,
and I’m sure I’ve still got at least one other sweater, though Mother
disapproved of anything that wasn’t designer, of course.” Julian turned to
Geoff. “How about you, do you have any family that gives you
knitwear?”

“Oh, yes, and whenever a new woman marries
into the family, they all teach her to knit. So I’ve got this one sweater
that’s like a masterwork of fancy stitching and subtle colour, and a hat so
ugly even a blind man wouldn’t wear it,” said Geoff with a laugh.
“They do a rota and swap around who knits for who, everyone hopes they’ll
be Nan’s pick that year.”

Alex finished off his second cup of tea and stood;
there was nothing but crumbs left on the plate. “I’ll bring this,” he
said, grabbing the cake box with a proprietary air.

Geoff chuckled. “I’ll make sure you don’t eat
it on the way,” he said, standing and stretching, watching as the dishes
floated into the kitchen and began washing themselves. “Damn, how do you
get a house-brownie again?”

Alex chuckled. “I’ve no idea, mine arrived by
recommendation.”

“Hm, well, at the very least I’ll have to
start putting bread and honey out again, I used to but I broke my bowl and then
there were ants,” said Geoff with a sigh. “You’ve got a set of
charmed bowls, right?”

They went outside to show him the bowl, and a full
one even appeared by the door inside to be swapped on their way out, which gave
Geoff a chance to admire them. “These are nice, were they expensive?”

“I don’t know, Flora gave them to me as a
housewarming gift, so I expect so,” said Alex. “But I know there’s
less expensive versions, what’s your price range?”

They locked up and talked about fairy bowls and
other such practices on the way to MacLean’s house, snuggled up in a cab with
Julian in the middle. Geoff was big and warm and tried to leave a polite
distance, but Alex put one long arm across the back of the seat and poked him
in the shoulder. “It’s fine, I know you’re not trying to steal my
Julian,” he said.

Geoff flushed and laughed awkwardly, but he relaxed
enough to make the rest of the ride more comfortable. “How did you get to
be so confident?” said Geoff.

It was Julian’s turn to look smug. “I make
sure he knows I appreciate him,” he said, snuggling up to Alex. “We
fit.”

Alex grinned. “Plus, Horace is still
technically mine.”

That set them to laughing, and the conversation
went back to magic, and Geoff even coaxed Julian into talking about his new job
a little. “I don’t like to bring it up, you know, in case people think
it’s boring,” he said.

“Well, I’m interested,” said Geoff.
“What exactly does your talent do?”

“Well, the first thing it does is make plants
grow better,” said Julian. “I have this sense that tells me what they
need, plus I give them energy so they end up more healthy than they would
otherwise.”

“And magical plants are more magical, so they
give potions and amulets more oomph,” said Alex. “Which is really
useful to have around, let me tell you.”

“Oh, that’s really neat. Maybe once you’re
allowed, we can get you in to work on the infirmary greenhouse. It’s up on the
roof, and I’m terrible about keeping it up,” said Geoff.

“I might be able to do it for free now,
depending on what Master Stone says,” said Julian. “She thinks I need
more diverse experience, and most of the stuff at her nursery is non-magical
things like flowers and houseplants.”

“Well, once the case is done, I’ll give her a
call, then,” said Geoff. “If we get them used to you while you’re an
apprentice, maybe you can get an Agency contract like Alex once you’re a
journeyman.”

“Making it a family business,” teased
Alex. “Not that I want murder to be our thing,” he added, making a
cutely distraught face. “I hate that you got dragged into this one.”

“It’s not like you did it on purpose,”
Julian reassured him, giving Alex a kiss.

“I’ll get this,” said Alex, as the cab
pulled up, and he handed off the cake so he could get out and pay. There was a
bit of juggling with everything, but soon enough they were in the elevator on
the way up to MacLean’s flat.

“Why do you still use that cane, anyway?”
asked Geoff, as they stepped into the hall.

“It’s proven its worth,” said Alex.

“It’s a wand-cane,” said Julian, poking
him for being vague. “He uses it for his magic, he’s got all sorts of neat
toys.”

“I do, and I’ve been researching how to make a
few more. I had totally forgotten how much I enjoyed making things while I was
living off consulting the past few years, so I’m keeping it up,” said
Alex.

“It makes him happy,” said Julian,
“and I can sit and read in his lab unless he’s doing dangerous
stuff.”

Alex knocked, and MacLean opened the door with a
huge grin on his face. “You brought cake!”

Julian giggled. “It’s from Alys, we don’t know
what it is yet,” he said, “but she likes you, so it’s bound to be
good.”

“She’s not even mad at me for anything,”
said Alex, going in when MacLean stepped back.

“She doesn’t like me that much, but she did
give me biscuits with tea,” said Geoff, handing the box off to Thomas.

Lapointe laughed. “You must’ve thanked her for
something, that always makes them grumpy.”

“Maybe,” said Geoff with a sigh.

“So, movie first, or me getting to see Thomas’
new game?” asked Julian, settling on the couch next to Lapointe.

“Cake,” said Thomas and Alex in unison.

Lapointe laughed and stood. “I will take Alex
in to make tea and explore the cake, you show Julian your game.”

“I’ll go with the boys,” teased Geoff.

“Yes, the adults will make your snack,”
Alex shot back, claiming the cake box from Thomas.

Julian got up, too, and he and Geoff crowded around
Thomas’ gaming computer, with its giant monitor and specialised keyboard setup.
Thomas didn’t talk about the hobby much at work, but once you got him started
and showed some interest he lit up from the inside, and Julian could see how
much he loved it. “All right, what’s this new game again?”

Thomas launched into an explanation, showing them
his character and some of its different gear, and the beautiful castles he was
building in the virtual landscape. He’d decorated them inside and out, and he
explained which quests got him what stuff, and told Julian all about how they
used a mix of real and made-up plants for the magic in the game.

At some point during his enthusiastic monologue,
Alex handed out cups of tea and Lapointe followed with slices of a rich
chocolate cake with hints of some floral flavour, enough for Lapointe and
Julian to adore it, and the other boys not to mind. They all joined in the
conversation around Thomas’ computer.

“Okay, I admit it, that is really cool,”
said Alex, heading over to flop in one of the chairs once Thomas had sheepishly
realised they’d spent an hour there.

“I’m glad you guys weren’t bored,” said
Thomas, shutting everything down carefully.

“It was interesting,” said Murielle;
she’d been mostly quiet, but Julian could see she was more fascinated than she
let on.

“But now there needs to be movie, beer, and
pizza,” said Geoff, flopping on the other chair, leaving the big sofa for
the other three. Julian curled up in a corner, shoes off and sweater on,
forcing Thomas and Murielle to sit together.

“Beer’s in the fridge, what does everyone want
on their pizza?” asked Thomas, pulling out his phone.

The resultant negotiations took another twenty
minutes, but their bickering was good-natured, and everyone was happy in the
end. They all got started on a beer while they waited for it to show up, and
Julian solved the issue of who had how much cash by paying with his card and
making Murielle get the tip.

After that, they started the movie and relaxed, and
Alex even scooted his chair close enough to hold hands after the food was gone.
The movie was especially interesting to Julian because it explained a lot of
little things people said that he never quite understood except from context.

“Can we watch another?” asked Julian when
it was over, which made everyone laugh.

“I wouldn’t mind, if Thomas isn’t tired of us
all yet,” said Alex. “I want more food, though, that pizza wasn’t
enough for a working mage.”

“I demand Padma’s,” said Geoff. “You
guys talk about it all the time, but never take me there.”

“Ooh, so do I,” said Julian, uncurling.
“We can eat there and then come back here?”

“Two cabs, though,” said Alex, making a
face.

“Nah, we can all fit in Thomas’ giant monster
truck,” said Murielle teasingly. “I get shotgun, though.”

That got protests, both from Thomas about the
perfectly reasonable size of his vehicle and everyone else about shotgun, but
Thomas agreed to drive them. They spent a few moments straightening up, making
sure pizza was in the fridge and bottles in the right bins, and then they all
filed out and climbed into the car.
 

“This isn’t that big, at least it’s easier to
park than a limo,” said Julian, taking the middle again as the shortest.
Alex was on his left behind Murielle, with poor Geoff squished in behind
Thomas.

“The limo would have more leg room,
though,” said Geoff.

“Yeah, but there’s nowhere in Thomas’ flat for
Jones to sit, too,” said Alex cheerfully, “and he’d want to join in
the fun.”

“That’s true, how’s he doing?” asked
Murielle, and that started a round of asking after each others’ acquaintances,
which turned into a game of annoying the single people about their lack of
dates, making Murielle grump good-naturedly that it was none of their business,
Thomas blush a truly impressive shade of red, and Geoff lament the lack of
commitment-minded men in the world.