Chapter 14

MAY 24TH IN TRELLECH

N iobe had had appointments that morning in London. Vitus had spent the first part of the day in the library going through newspapers and magazines from while he’d been gone. There was an entire list of items that weren’t urgent, but where it would be a help to have notes on them. Vitus had been as methodical about it as he was about any other line of research. He’d put in the request slips with the library two days before, just in case what he wanted was in the off-site storage.

When he’d turned up Friday morning, the librarian on duty had shown him back to a small and bare cubicle, with a stack of bound volumes on a cart, a book stand and snake set up to hold the pages open where he could read it. She wasn’t someone he’d been introduced to by name, a woman of middle age with a steady way of going about things that he didn’t want to interfere with.

It was a degree of effort they hadn’t gone to before for him, and some hint of his confusion must have been visible. “We understand you’re nearly done with your apprenticeship, Mister Deschamps.” The librarian’s voice was mild. “And we are glad to assist with whatever resources we can share.”

“And perhaps like it when I do my best to make it easier?” Vitus asked, risking a little.

“The advance list is not, shall we say, what everyone manages, sir. Let us know if you need anything else? You mentioned you might want another set next week?”

“Yes, Mistress. I don’t know how far I’ll get in these, yet,” Vitus gestured. “And I think I might get to the volumes still stored here. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure that out. And I’ll be done with the room by half-past twelve.”

She nodded and went out without another comment, closing the door behind her. Charms kept the room from being stuffy. The lighting was well positioned. And as it turned out, Vitus was in a good mindset to make serious headway. He’d been away for eighteen months, and he got through a full year of the relevant papers and journals.

It left him confused, though. He’d been focusing on a few specific things in each issue, updated each week. Every week, the Trellech Moon ran a list of updates to apprenticeships. That sort of information was almost always public knowledge, because the results were public. Because, as Papa had explained to him early, it let people know who to watch for, or who to ask when they were early in their career. Mama had added the clipping about Vitus’s apprenticeship to her scrapbook, as she would the longer piece when he completed his apprenticeship later this year.

Along with the beginnings and endings, there were always a handful of other announcements, and those ran once a week, on Wednesdays. Vitus had never been entirely clear if it was because Wednesday reliably had a bit more spare space. It might instead be a nod to Mercury’s association with communication and trade. There was no reason it couldn’t be both.

It was about noon, and that meant he had time to think about it. The numbers of people starting apprenticeships were about what he’d expected, most of them in late August through September. There was always some variation for particular people’s schedules. Occasionally people started at other times of year, or they changed apprenticeships for some reason. Death and illness didn’t skip over someone just because they were a master of a particular magical art or craft, unfortunately. Or sometimes one was postponed or on hiatus for some reason.

For women, that could be because they were expecting, of course. Mama had not gone into the details with him - she wouldn’t until he got serious about marrying - but Niobe had been a lot more pragmatic. Some kinds of magic were known to be inimical to an unborn child - experimental alchemy or a fair number of duelling’s standard approaches. Some, it was a lot less certain. Taking the portal fell into that category, and so did many kinds of talisman or ritual work. Some kinds of magic were generally safe, such as a lot of materia or sympathetic magic work, or those forms of incantation that didn’t rely solely on the body’s own vitality.

And sometimes men had something come up or change. They didn’t suit with their apprentice master or mistress. Some decided to go into a different line of magic. In sadder cases, there was a death or illness in the family that changed the obligations. If someone inherited the land magic, obviously, they might pause their apprenticeship until that was more settled, or might never resume. It depended on why they’d done the apprenticeship.

Now, though, he was fairly sure there was a pattern that confused him. He made a note of the last set of volumes he’d like next week, and brought the card out to the librarian at the desk. “I’m all set for this week. Same time next, if that’s convenient, and this is what I’d like.” He hesitated. “Actually, could I add a handful of the guild annuals?”

“As you like.” The librarian considered, then pulled out a slim bound volume. “Here’s the list, just write down the proper title and that signifier, here. That’s what we need to get it from storage.”

Vitus took the volume and his request card over to the counter nearby and skimmed the list. In the end, he asked for the annuals from the last ten years for alchemy, protective magics, and incantation. Niobe had all the volumes both for the talisman makers and for the gem cutters, of course. When he brought it back, he cleared his throat. “Is this too many?”

The librarian glanced over it. “Ten years. A specific project, then? No, the annuals are fairly short, the public ones. Or they’re bound together. We bind every three years for the protective magic and incantation guilds, I believe. We’ll have them ready for you.”

“Thank you.” He made a slight bow, and then escaped into the late spring, pausing to buy a pasty on the way to Niobe’s to tide him over for lunch. By the time he got back to the shop, Niobe was putting her things away, and he dropped the box of pastries he’d added to his order on the table. “Good outing?”

“Very satisfactory, yes. You might just get to come along next time.” Whatever she’d been doing, it had made her cheerful. “How was your morning?”

“Statistically confusing. I don’t know if what I’m seeing is a fluke or what. Do you have a minute?” Vitus swallowed. “Relevant to, I don’t know, the larger state of the field.”

“All right. I’ll make tea. It seems like a tea sort of conversation. And you brought pastries to sweeten the request.” She gave him a smile, bustling off to sort out the tea, while Vitus sketched out his actual thoughts into something like an organised list. When Niobe came back five minutes later, she settled down, pushing a mug over. “What’s the question?”

“Are more people than expected not finishing their apprenticeships?” Vitus watched her, and he saw her eyes widen, like he’d hit on something he shouldn’t have spotted.

“Why do you say that?” Niobe’s voice was calm, the sort of calm that she put on for consultations with new potential clients. It was utterly pleasant, just the right notes of warmth. If he hadn’t heard her don it like a cloak a score of times by now, he might have missed the shift.

“Because I was looking at the announcements. There’s fewer people completing. Fewer announcements of it. More notices about someone on hiatus or who’s getting married or something, without finishing.” Vitus tapped his notes from that morning, which had the names. “I left Schola in 1881. Guard apprentices who were in school with me finished up last year. Alchemists, within a year on either side, usually.” Talisman crafting was one of the longer apprenticeships, about as long as Healers or the Guard, because it required the gem cutting skills first, and those weren’t fast to learn.

Niobe nodded, but she said nothing further.

“I noticed it with the Guard. There’s what, forty people a year who go into Guard apprenticeship overall, perhaps five to eight of those from Schola. Not all of them intended for the Guard proper, some want to be analysts or focus on warding, or whatever. And not all of them finish, for whatever reason.” But he tapped the notes again. “Last year, while I was gone, there are announcements of three not finishing. Four the year before. And that’s not normal. And two alchemists, and usually it’s only one. Both of the ones this year, and both last year, were men, so it’s not because of marriage or the fact they’re expecting a child, either. Besides, the notices imply most of them aren’t intending to come back.”

“No.” Niobe took a deep breath. “Do you remember Montgomery Allen? Two years behind you in Salmon, he was apprenticing with Theseus Whitsun.”

Not someone either of them was close to - Master Whitsun favoured the posh crowd, though often the ones with more money than sense. But he was a deft gem cutter. Vitus nodded. “I don’t know Montgomery well, other than through the House. Different interests when we were in school.” More to the point, Allen hadn’t been in Four Metals, and that had taken a lot of Vitus’s time and been the heart of his social circle.

“Theseus gave him every chance. Allen’s a deft gem cutter. He’ll make a good living at that. But the enchantment work for the talismans itself? Something went wrong every time. Anything beyond, oh, Porthos second rank.” Which was, in fact, a degree of enchantment most people could manage their fifth year at Schola if they’d been focusing on the skills. Vitus had succeeded at all but the last two exercises in his fourth year. And he’d comfortably learned the fourth and fifth rank enchantments in the first two years of his apprenticeship, though some people took three years at it.

“Anyone else like that?” Vitus asked.

“I’ve heard a couple of other stories, but other fields, mostly. But Allen was supposed to be very gifted. He’d been working with Theseus on and off from the time he started Schola. Poor man’s been rather upset about it. Allen’s his sister’s son. Allen, too, of course, but at least he can focus on the gem cutting.”

Vitus nodded slowly. “And the Guard and such?”

“There’s more of them. I think the numbers show more. Was that also your impression?”

“Going through the lists, yes. I asked the library to pull the annuals going back ten years for alchemy, protective magics, and incantation. I know you’ve got the talisman makers and gem cutters both.” Vitus spread his hands. “Is that why you were worried about me?”

“Yes, and no? I didn’t see any signs of anything being wrong with you. Feel any signs, more so, really, given our work. Very tactile, our profession.” Niobe let out a puff of breath. “But I didn’t want to say anything. People get suggestible. And I wondered if it were something in Albion, if something would change while you were away. But you seem to have done well with the travel, but also done well now you’re home and settled in.”

Vitus nodded. “There’s a difference out there, of course. The Pact’s not in play. But in my work? I can feel some of the variations of location. Austria has that lovely ley to work with, Magister Lenz’s workshop, outside Leipzig. And then Vienna felt entirely different, of course.”

Niobe chuckled. “It does.” She leaned back. “There’s been a little conversation among masters of the guilds, but nothing conclusive. It seems to be less of a concern more recently, the last couple of years, but it’s terribly hard to tell. In some cases we’re sure of, it only seems to become relevant once people get into more advanced work, more that draws directly on their skill and vitality, both.”

“And that leaves gaps in apprenticeships, doesn’t it? Not only, um. Individual ones.”

“Some people rely on the apprentice fees. And some people, honestly, do their best work when they’re teaching. And we need a certain number of new folks - especially Healers and the Guard and so on - but apothecaries and whatnot, too.”

Vitus frowned. “I didn’t check the numbers for that. Or the people who might reasonably have gone to Alethorpe or straight into apprenticeship.”

“I won’t ask you to do that. For one thing, I can do that myself, or we can get someone to do it, more likely. I don’t think anyone actually looked at that, in terms of the specifics. At least not that I’ve heard about. But I’d not mind your notes on the annuals when you read them, to pass along.”

“Of course.” Vitus let out a puff of breath. “You were worried it might be me, too? Whatever it is?”

“I was. I’m a little less worried now. Sunlight dispels ghosts. Isn’t that what they say?” She leaned over, patted the top of his hand. “Right. Why don’t you set up the signet you wanted to work on? I think I have an idea for how to do what you want with the different depths without a risk of fouling it.”

Vitus offered a little smile. “I’d like that.” It was a lovely bit of topaz, and he didn’t want to spoil it or have to cut it down further.