Chapter 03

Elmery’s suitcase was returned only minutes before the call to dinner.

The clothes were still in their neat piles and seemed completely untouched. Her footsteps were light on the chevron tiles of the dining hall, buoyed up by the show of the faith, and she stood happily behind her chair. Only matching Lyona’s careful stillness when her father entered the room.

“Be seated.”

Eli was every inch a great Lord. His ward and daughters bowed their heads and made practised steps around their chairs and into place at the table. His staff lined the hall in neat rows, bearing sterling platters and glass carafes of peated scotch. No ruffle of uniforms or waver in their stance.

Only silence.

“You may serve.”

Elmery watched his finger rise from the table. A subtle command; the show of garnet set in a master’s ring.

It sent the slow dance of dinner moving. A slow and steady rhythm of laid plates, careful strokes of knife and spoon, until every course was served and they faced a single glass of amber.

Smoke curled Elmery’s lip. Not the steady hearth, or lingering cloud from the kitchen servers. The tang that washed through her teeth and scorched its way down to her stomach.

Devin timed his sips with hers, a smile returning as she wrestled the measure down.

“Are you well, father?”

Boldness passed for affection at this table. Only Lyona could afford it.

“Sufficiently.”

“And your work is satisfying?”

“I have tended it to be so.”

“Then, I am pleased.” Lyona set down her emptied glass; eyelashes dark, but her voice unwavering. “The ladies sent their greetings to you.”

“So their letters suggested.”

Lyona paused. Elmery swallowed and stared down the last dregs of bitter water.

A neat suitcase seemed a hollow victory, under his tone.

“It was a boy,” Lyona offered.

“The details are better saved for your maids, daughter. They will not concern me until he comes of age.”

Roundly defeated, Lyona sat back in her chair. She laid her hands flat but Elmery watched them gripping; the pad of her thumb bleaching white.

“Was there trouble on the roads, miss Lyona?” Devin asked her, carefully. “Some of the villagers have sighted wolves.”

“No. Thank you. We had no trouble.”

“Hard to believe it’s the season, all ready.”

“Only a man with no work has slow days,” Eli observed. “You must be making yourself productive.”

“There is a lot to learn,” Devin inclined his head. “I’m grateful for the education.”

“May it soon displace your art of sycophancy.”

Elmery’s glass changed.

She waited for Devin’s eyes and cast the whisky aside for an empty tumbler. The same shape and glisten, the same gentle press from her lower lip. Only, the whisky was gone.

Her father’s words melted from Devin’s face; lips pressing to hold back the questions that were raging.

“Elmery.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Elmery set down her empty glass and turned to the head of the table. The fire burned orange against Eli’s shoulders.

“Yes, father?”

“Stand.”

Lyona was watching a blank space on the opposing wall. Devin dropped his eyes when Elmery obediently got her feet.

The garnet rose and a server came to take her chair. They placed it on the stone slab that raised the heart; close enough for the blaze to add yet more [ELEPHANT details] to the carved legs.

Her father gestured to a different server and their glasses were filled again with the deep amber scotch. Elmery tucked another kernel of guilt away; deep beneath the unsteady waves in her stomach.

“What were we discussing?” Eli asked.

“Wolves,” Lyona answered, reaching for her glass. “It’s still early for them to be travelling. Has the hunting been good, this year?”

Though Eli left a pointed silence to weigh on Devin, he indulged his daughter,

“It would appear so.”

“These will be the same men to raise their guns protecting the village, I expect.”

“I’m sure the other lords will defend their manors and ladies, both. You’ve no reason to fret.”

“I’m not concerned for my safety, father.”

“Then, what is concerning you?”

Lyona swirled the contents of her glass at length before she answered.

“Elmery wasn’t well received while we were away. They don’t consider her to a noble woman nor, I fear, a lady. Clearly marriage will not be enough to make her proper,” her eyes move briefly towards Devin’s chair, “so I am merely asking myself what might be done.”

“And your thoughts are with the village?”

“It is possible Elmery might find a way to ingratiate herself to the community. Offer a serving beyond their future landlady-”

“That role will never fall to her.”

Eli was clear enough that Elmery and Lyona, both, risked turning to him.

When he continued to nurse his drink, Lyona studied the sharp planes of his face.

“She might ingratiate herself to me, then.”

“Through your tenants?” Dark eyes rose, taking the whole room in with a single sweep, “No. Elmery is learning all she needs to be a dutiful sister. Educated on her place for your sake, daughter.”

Fighting a flicker in her eyebrows, Elmery took a deep drink from her glass.

Lyona’s nail found the edge of her glass and traced it as the quiet settled. When they were under its bow again, Devin tried to muse,

“It is an interesting question, miss Lyona. What use a sorcerer may be to the world, outside of philosophy or the academic.”

“He is no use beyond his work as lord and father. Sorcery may be the thinker’s pursuit, but it belongs in a man’s study. Not in his work. Not at his table.”

“Devin wouldn’t mean to suggest otherwise,” Lyona urged, softly.

“Dwell all you like, son, while you may. But, a time fast approaches when you will all assume your rightful place. You will put aside lesser trifles and rise to the work of governance and charity.”

“Of course, sir.”

“And you, daughter,” Eli raised his hand and towards Elmery. “Remember this girl is future aid and company for you. Act now or she will be a shadow on your children, on your marriage, as she has been on your youth.”

When Lyona’s chin wouldn’t rise up from her chest, Elmery looked at her.

Her cheeks burned under her father’s words and Devin’s paling expression. She let the glass rest against her stomach.

“Please excuse me.”

Lyona pushed back her chair but went still when Eli observed, “Your glass is full.”

Slowly, she looked up from the nicked varnish of the table. She took her drink and got to her feet, reaching for Elmery’s hand and guiding it towards her.

Their eyes didn’t meet until every drop of Lyona’s whisky had been poured into Elmery’s glass.

The air was tart; stinging against their eyes.

Lyona let go of Elmery and set down her glass,

“Father?”

“Be excused.”

Devin’s chair scraped as he leaped up onto his feet; formalities dragging him up to mark Lyona’s first steps away from them all.

They watched her retreating back until the door closed behind her.

After a breath, Devin started, “My lord-”

“I leave her to you.”

Eli’s words pricked at their chests, but his dismissal was iron. When reluctance threatened to become disobedience, Elmery held out a hand for Devin’s glass.

His eyes were loud when he passed her the last finger of his drink and watched her pour it into her share. Elmery drank the full measure without stopping; her cheeks wet as she drained the [ELEPHANT mossy drink].

Forcing a grimace into a smile, Elmery dipped a curtsy.

“As you wish, father.” She set both glasses down together and in the flash before she strode away from the table, saw the ghost of Devin’s smile.

It was enough.

Chapter 02

Home was hardly better than the gathering of noble daughters.

Elmery stood in Lyona’s shadow, trying to blend into the painted panels of their father’s hall. Their cases were stacked beside them in the entryway until he sent his staff to pass on his greetings.

She was glad her notebook was in her waistband when Lyona’s case was gathered up but hers stayed sitting. No doubt it would follow her later; after a swift visit to the Grand Study, and her father’s review.

Then, they reached their rooms.

“Welcome back, ladies.” Devin was bright against the window and its dull-grey sky. No books were showing, but the tousled cushions and the wrinkles of his dipped-hem shirt told Elmery he had been there some time.

Lyona barely looked up as she passed him.

“You didn’t come to meet the coach.”

“I thought your Father might greet you.”

“You’ll have to act like his Ward, eventually. He’ll start mistaking you for a scullery maid.”

“I do look good in a mop-cap.” While she put the key in the broad doorway, Devin passed a wink behind her shoulders. When Elmery smiled he asked, “How was confinement?”

“Crowded.”

Lyona pushed through into their rooms. Elmery walked after her, murmuring in her wake, “Sorry.”

While her sister directed the page to set down her cases and went to dress out of her travel clothes, Elmery tossed her jacket to Devin and unwrapped the wool from her waist.

Dropping onto an ottoman, she started unrolling the cuffs of her trousers until they reached ankle, again, “How’s transfiguring?”

“That was almost a hello. Nice to see you.”

“I had a thought about why you were getting chips. Was the rest of the surface dull, or shiny? Because getting flaws is one thing but if the whole thing’s unhealthy then it might be the material you start with.”

Devin shook his head but pulled up another ottoman. “It’s not the material. The cracks stopped once I’d practised for a while.”

“That’s great. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” Sitting down, he folded her jacket onto his lap, “We put pennies on the baby before you left. Was I right?”

“Oh. No, it was a boy,” Elmery put out her hand. As Devin sighed and rooted through his inner jacket, she asked, “Are you off sigils, yet?”

“There’s nothing wrong with using sigils.”

He showed her three copper discs and offered them to her one at a time. The last he held on to; their fingers butting together as she tugged at the coin.

When she stopped pulling and simply watched his face, he told her,

“I’m glad you’re home.”

Lyona’s voice picked up from the door to her room,

“You’re not getting changed, El?”

Devin let go and the coins immediately disappeared into Elmery’s sleeve.

Leaning back, fidgeting with her sleeve cuff, Elmery said, “I’ll wait until dinner.”

“Suit yourself.”

Lyona moved to the tall bureau and started tugging the drawers open. She put her embroidery away and picked out projects ready for their final touches.

Kit in hand, she came to the duet of couches and asked,

“Will you be staying, Devin?”

“If I won’t be troubling you.”

“I want to see you transfigure,” Elmery nodded. “I’ll get the metals.”

His smile was quick but unfinished as she sprang up from the ottoman and went to get the row of vials.

Through the slip of space through the doorway, he could make out the spilling piles of books and papers. Dusty and untouched since she’d been away.

He turned aside to look at Lyona; a red string drawing up with her needle and pulling taut.

“It’s been very quiet without you both,” he said. “Honestly, I’m sure how I filled my days.”

Lyona’s eyes stayed on the cherry knot that she was sewing. “I heard you started riding. Does it suit you?”

“I haven’t fallen yet. Though, it seems inevitable that I will.”

“Are you so careless?”

Devin laughed a breath, “I have my moments, same as the rest.”

“Nothing a decent instructor couldn’t-”

“Silver, iron, and copper,” Elmery held out the wooden tray of vials even before she’d crossed back in the room. “Take your pick.”

Lyona missed the apology on Devin’s face; her lips pursing against the sting when he looked away.

“You have a thumb of copper?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll take that.”

Elmery set the tray on her abandoned ottoman and plucked out the largest red-orange sample. Devin tipped out the pitted length onto his palm and took out his pocket watch. Elmery rolled her eyes as he opened it and tipped out the stub of chalk.

“You don’t need that.”

Devin put his watch away and knelt down on the carpet beside her.

“When you start demonstrating, you can lecture me,” he said, putting chalk to tufted wool.

Though Lyona couldn’t read the blended sigils, she let her sewing rest on her lap and watched them bloom across the carpet.

Devin made short work of three concentric circles, each one brimming with curling lines and flares. He set the copper into their centre and waved Elmery away from it.

“I’m happy here,” she smiled.

“No interfering?”

“Never.”

Devin made a point to study her closely before confronting the copper.

“Hold on to your pins, ladies.”

When he raised his hands, Elmery saw a tremble in his finger tips. The tip of his tongue pushed out through his lips, a shine of pink, before he clapped his hands together.

The copper changed.

A thumb length of pitted metal was now a finished crescent. From one moment to next it lost its dark craters to a polished shine. It curled like a roll of wood under a hand plane and sat, content, atop the sigils.

“Done.”

Devin looked up, all ready beaming. Elmery’s mouth twitched to answer his and she gestured at the circles, “It’s good. It’s a very nice…bracelet?”

There was still pleasure even in the long breath he pushed towards her, “Here we go.”

“Can I touch it?”

“It’s not a bracelet.” Devin picked up the copper and dropped it onto Elmery’s hand, “It’s not anything.”

She checked and tested it; the metal cool to the touch and reluctant to bend.

“No cracks,” she praised.

“May I see?”

With a glance to Devin, Elmery held out the copper towards her sister, “It would probably fit your wrists. You should try it.”

“Except it’s not a bracelet,” Devin started rubbing the sigils into the carpet. “Not everything has, or wants to be, a perfect form.”

“That’s why it needs you.”

“All life is chaos, Elmery,” he recited.

“And all sorcerers are its master,” she returned. “What else are we good for?”

“Fine jewellery?”

Lyona’s voice called back their attention. The copper band was on her wrist; its sheen fading to rose in the light.

Devin sat back on his heels, brushing dust off his fingers, “I’m glad you like it, Lyona, but I can’t take credit.”

“Then, you should try again,” Elmery told him. “Use sigils all you like. Just…coax it, this time. Help it remember the shape you want it to take.”

“Why is it we’ve read all the same books and, yet, I never know what you’re talking about?” Devin asked.

Despite his smile, unease fell on Elmery like a cloak.

“I don’t know…” She looked up, but Leona only sniffed and adjusted her needle.

“Don’t take it to heart, Devin,” she advised. “The rest of us wouldn’t.”

#

Edit: have devin be uncomfortable at Elmery’s ‘we’re masters that’s what we’re here for’ opinion. Lyona makes it about her (you could be fine jewellers, look at me flashy flashy) to distract Dev and help Elmery, despite looking selfish. Also, have Lyona take the skirt back since Elmery borrowed it?

Chapter 01

Bright leather shoes were beginning to pinch. It was a better pain than the Lady was having; knelt atop her bed and groaning like a heifer about to calf. Still, it pricked at Elmery’s attention and stirred the pool of resentment under her ribs.

Who gives birth in a library?

The room had the same dark polished shelves as her Father’s study, but the books had been chased out of their cubbies for the impending child. Sealed out of the room along with men, the lady’s husband, for the long days of her confinement.

As she surveyed the hollowed cases, Elmery reasoned it was to spare their pride. The couple’s home was more of a bloated cottage than a manor, no doubt their books were thin and ancient. But, this was their rightful place. They should never have been cast out.

The Lady screamed. Elmery watched the clutch of admirers sigh and sway with the braying woman, and tucked her arms closer to her chest. She could have been working. If they had only kept their books in their rightful place, she may have salvaged some of her time. But, no. Here she was, in the gloom of another woman’s birthing. Trying not to curse the unborn babe for its parents’ social climbing.

'You’re sighing,' Lyona looked up from the square of silk she was stitching.

‘Pardon?’

‘You’re breathing like a hog,’ she skewered Elmery with a glance, coiffed piles of tilting precariously. ‘I’m trying to concentrate.’

Elmery had hoped the sting would fade out of her voice in the days of tight silence since they’d arrived. It seemed not.

'I’m sorry.'

‘You’re the one who wanted to be here. Saints know why.’

The needle and thread paused between her hands, Lyona’s eyes scoured across the room of older noblewomen; stealing glimpses of the straining woman through the crowd.

Elmery studied her sister’s profile, watching the glower soften into craving. The needle pierced back through silk and Lyona fed her frustrations into another perfect row in another perfect flower.

'If you want to step out-'

'Some of us will be mothers one day, Elmery. This is a necessary education.'

'But, you don’t need it.’ Raising in a smile in the hope she was turn back to her, Elmery said, 'You have me.'

Lyona’s warm arpeggio disrupted the musty air around them. A few skirts twitched as the ladies remembered the looming sisters, but none dared turned to see Lyona smirk.

‘

and Lyona went stiff on the window ledge.

Though nobody met their eyes, Lyona’s lips pressed until they paled. Elmery

Elmery didn’t flinch at the rise in their shoulders, but Lyona went stiff on the window ledge. Her hands flattened on her dress and pressed her lips until they paled.

Slowly, Elmery walked in front of her and disrupted the ladies’ gaze. When she settled on the ledge beside Lyona, wool skirts grating against voluminous silk, they turned back to the bearing.

'I have a theory.'

Lyona whet her lips. 'El,' she warned.

'I’ve been thinking on it since I knew we would be coming here,' Elmery insisted. 'You’ve been curious about what Devin and I have been discussing, haven’t you?'

'I don’t dwell on your fits of interests. They pass soon enough.'

There was enough truth in the accusation to flare Elmery’s hands, 'I know you were surprised when I told father I would come-'

'If you can confuse embarrassment with surprise.'

Her words stuffed the narrow space between them until it was bursting.

Elmery ran her hands over her borrowed skirts and let her nails stubble over the rough grey. She knew now that the invitation didn’t extend to both daughters. Their father read the invitation over dinner but only his reaction told her it had been a courtesy and not a kindness.

But, some good might come of her lapse in attention.

'Happily…' Elmery rallied herself to persist, 'it has posed a new question. We could both consider it, to pass the time.'

It was Lyona’s turn to sigh.

Elmery turned her knees towards her sister’s and focused on the polished skin of her hands. She settled the words in her mind until they were sturdy enough to speak aloud.

'If nothing makes us into sorcerers we must be made that way,' she said.

'Well done.'

'That isn’t…' Elmery’s eyes flit up to Lyona’s face, but she was still intent on the swarming frock coats and carefully rigged curls of the women. 'I suppose my theory, in its entirety, is that the power comes at birth. Perhaps we take it with us from the place we’re first made.'

'You think sorcery lurks under every woman’s petticoat?'

'There’s something in us that creates. Something inexplicable and powerful enough to forge a body and a soul. A destiny.'

Lyona’s hooded eyes finally turned to her.

'And what part do men play in all of this?'

'Base material.' Elmery’s hands flared once more before they threaded together. 'Sorcery can’t affect what doesn’t exist. Women can’t forge life without that initial…source of life.'

Lyona raised that infuriating smile. Pink and full, close to hand ever since she had abandoned Elmery at the festival and crept in at dawn. Her hair loose; her new ribbons missing.

'Poor Devin.'

Elmery wasn’t sure how to respond. She waited until the humour wore out of Lyona’s face, gently nudging the floorboards with her heels. Soon, she was keeping a rhythm with the grunts and groaning from the bed.

As the woman sat back and roared, Elmery picked up her voice again.

'If I’m right, if all things were equal and we all had a choice to become…what I am,' she glanced back to her sister, 'it poses a question.'

'It poses several.'

'Well, my first question would be…what stopped you?'

'What stopped me?'

'If you could have taken that source of life and magic, why didn’t you? Why come out the way you are, instead of like me?'

Lyona set out her feet until the toes peeked out from her silks. She crossed her ankles and considered her answer; her smile brightening with every thought.

All at once she drew her feet back and turned to Elmery, their knees pressing together.

'It’s hot in here, don’t you think?'

'I suppose so,' Elmery agreed.

'Do you see that woman? The one who can’t keep her four-strand braids steady?' Elmery looked across the women until she saw the strips of uneven hair. 'I’m concerned about her. She seems pale.' When she looked back, Lyona’s eyes were ready to seize hers, 'I’d hate to see her fall and disrupt the midwife. Wouldn’t you?'

There was another screech from the bed and they winced at the sound.

The pale woman was withdrawing from the sudden scurry of activity. When she turned, Elmery saw fear staining through her jacket; sweat pinning navy blue wings to her back.

'Is she starting to sway-'

Lyona’s wondering was interrupted.

Like the hard snap of linen to shake out a crease, or the moment pressure became a sneeze, things changed.

The woman still stood before them, but in the space of a blink she was different. She turned, hair un-mussed, her clothes dry and pressed as the moment she’d bought them. The heat was out of her body but she flushed a deep red; a furious crimson at the sudden, all consuming, touch.

As a baby was gathered up into eager arms and its thin wail began to wind about them, all, Lyona joined the woman in staring at Elmery.

Her mouth twitched at the corners, 'In answer to your question…' she waited as the woman balled her anger into her fists and pushed her way through the crowd. 'See her reaction?'

Elmery turned so they were eye to eye, 'Yes?'

With a fresh smile, Lyona tipped her head until her braid swung down beside her cheek,

'That’s why.'