“That certainly would have gotten you in trouble. It would probably have involved a trial, at least by the Bruderschaft, to prove it had been self-defense. So it is probably just as well that you didn’t.”
“I—ah—” Giselle stammered.
“As a Hunt Master of the Bruderschaft, and an Earth Master, I assure you that it is my opinion that this was, at worst, death by misadventure, and that the wretch had probably been a heartbeat away from death by apoplexy for years,” Rosamund concluded. “You certainly may go right on feeling as guilty as you like, but I’m telling you it’s not necessary.” She held up her cup. “Now, if you would be so kind, might I have a little more of this truly excellent tea while you tell me about the other Air Master here?”
8
ROSAMUND declined to allow Giselle to send a sylph for Leading Fox. “I would not be in the least surprised if you were exhausted,” she said. “Just give me a little bit of information about him, and the others here who know about magic, so I will know whom I can speak freely in front of.”
“There is not a great deal to tell, in that case,” Giselle admitted, and quickly summed up the two others, Captain Cody with his Fire Magic, and Fox with his strange Air Mastery. “The others who know about magic are Herr Kellermann, the announcer and also the business manager of the show, and the true Pawnee. Some of the people playing Pawnee are Mexicans; they know nothing of magic, so far as I am aware.”
“Good, much simpler that way.” Rosamund stood up. “I’m going to wish to speak with Captain Cody, Kellermann and Leading Fox at some length. You are in the territory governed and protected by the Brotherhood. We really do have a right to know what’s walking about in our house, after all.”
She raised an elegant eyebrow, as if she expected Giselle to dispute with her, but frankly, Giselle felt simply too intimidated. It was very clear that although Rosamund was only a couple of years older, she was vastly Giselle’s senior in experience. Worldly and magical!
“I could go—” she began, but Rosamund shook her head.
“Please, don’t bother them now. Let them know over breakfast. Send a message to me at the Golden Sheep Inn. I am at my leisure right now, you folks have a show to run.” She smiled; it quite lit up her face, and Giselle felt herself relaxing a little. “Shall I let myself out?” the Earth Master continued. “It seems silly for you to try and squeeze past me just to open the door in such a small space.”
“Please do,” she said, trying not to sound as intimidated as she felt.
Rosamund chuckled a little, and bade her a good night and good rest.
Giselle sat back down again and poured herself a second cup of tea, feeling even more exhausted than before. Rosamund had to be the most forceful personality she had met since Mother died! And it wasn’t as if she had tried to be intimidating, either, she merely exuded sublime self-confidence and an aura of being in charge.
I doubt anyone has ever dismissed her as being “just a girl,” she thought, with more admiration than resentment. If she had been in my shoes, Cody wouldn’t have tried to pass her ideas off as his own. He wouldn’t have needed to. She had no doubt at all that when Rosamund spoke, people listened.
Was that an aspect of Earth Magic? It might be. Certainly Tante Gretchen had commanded the respect of all those young army lads.
At any rate, after dealing with such a formidable personality, on top of the exhausting day she’d had already, she felt a bit limp. She had a quick wash, and crawled, rather than jumped, into bed.
In the morning, it might have seemed like a dream, if it had not been for the two unwashed teacups on her little table. No matter how tired she had been, there was no chance she would have been so addled as to pour herself two cups of tea.
She closed her eyes and called a sylph. One flitted in through the window over the bed almost immediately; this was a tiny little thing, with brown wings with orange spots. It hovered expectantly, orange hair floating about its naked little body.
“Would you be so kind,” she said aloud, “As to tell Chief Leading Fox that I will need to speak with him urgently over breakfast? And if