Chapter 28

MARCH 30TH IN TRELLECH

A nnice didn't know where to look. The morning had started out smoothly enough, if by smoothly, she meant Charlus turning up with a luggage cart and taking care of her battered suitcase and carpet bag. Then he'd reloaded everything at Griffin's cottage, and gone trotting off to make the last payment to their landlady, while Griffin finished making sure he'd packed everything. Annice had stood there, not sure what to do. Finally, they'd gone out, and along to the ghault with the portal, tucked away a few more alleys east from the White Horse & Griffin.

It was coming through into Trellech that had floored her. She had wanted to stop dead, but she knew she couldn't. There were people coming through behind her. Specifically, Charlus, with that loaded cart. Griffin had wheeled off to one side, out of the way, waiting as Annice looked around. Sheep were coming through one portal, herded into some fencing. As she looked around more, she could see that Portal Square wasn't any such thing. She'd known that it was a triangle, but it definitely felt angular, standing in it. The far point had lines of people.

"That's the international portal. People waiting for customs and such. Those buildings there, on each side, people can wait there. The ones closer to us are for domestic travel. If you've booked a portal and have to wait for it, for example, or you're meeting someone. Not a problem here." Then he looked up behind Annice. "Charlus, can you see about getting our luggage in the proper places? Meet you at the court when you're done. Annice, do you have everything you need for the afternoon? Whatever tools?" Annice nodded. She had several measuring tools and her notes and all with her.

"Certainly, sir. It'll be half an hour, maybe a little longer." Charlus nodded at Annice and then went off with the handcart.

"He's got a carter waiting. It's mostly how busy your inn is. I thought we'd go back through town, let you see a bit of it. I'm glad to go the long way round. Let you have a look at the shops."

Her face did something, she wasn't sure what, but he grinned. There was something joyful about him here, something she definitely didn't understand. He added, encouragingly, "Long way round is fine for me. Stick to the main streets, you might as well get a tour."

"You're sure?" Annice did sort of want a look, even if everything was a whole lot.

"About two miles. I have my chair, and I won't have too far to go home after. It's sunny, it's not market day, and it's all reasonable pavement, the way I'm thinking." He was still smiling, earnest in all the ways she thought he could be. "Tell me if it's too much, but..."

"But you want to show me." Annice swallowed. "All right."

Griffin leaned a little so he could twist the chair around. "This way. We're going up the side of the Temple of Healing so you can see the front. Then we'll turn west, come south down the main high street - glorious things in the windows. And then down toward the Ministry Quarter and the Courts. Not quite three sides of a square."

The street they took got a lot quieter. There were tall stone walls lining one side, with ivy and other plants growing down them, an occasional tree visible from the other side. "That's the Temple of Healing gardens. We can go in, if you like, but I'd need to schedule it. Or the baths, if you want to try that. They have some open for general, what's the word? Renewal, as well as the more specific ones, focused on particular healing. I've done both."

"I. Um. have nothing to wear for that." Annice said, blushing. She hadn't thought about packing swimming gear or even paddling. It was still March, and they weren't terribly near any other water.

"Oh, there are options for that, too. But we can talk about that later, if you like." It wasn't a conversation for a public street, absolutely. Then they came up into another square, this one smaller and less full of sheep. They got part way across when Griffin stopped and turned. "There. That's the Temple of Healing, the front of it."

The front of the building rose up, four, five, six storeys, a massive glorious shape. It was like the Whitby Abbey had been, only not the same at all in other ways. It had all its stained glass, for one thing, and was gleaming white, the way stone was when people took care of it. Though now she thought about that, there was less smoke here.

Griffin was just grinning, ear to ear, but he then said, "Question?"

"The air's better here. Even though we're inland." She waved a hand. "The stone's clean, too."

"They do scrub it regularly. But much less coal here. A lot of the heating in Trellech's magical. Hypocaust systems, some of it - especially the bigger buildings. I know a little about it, but if you're curious, I know a few people who know a lot more."

"You always know someone." She said this fondly, and he smiled even bigger. She hadn't known that was possible. Annice had thought Griffin cheerful in Whitby, but this was something else. "And you - you like being back?"

"Oh, yes. Coming home. And showing you the city, that's a grand thing too. Let's keep going. The inside is worth its own trip. And I admit, I'm probably not entirely up to that today." It made her realise he must have spent a fair bit of time there. He'd gestured at it, now and again in conversations. Of course, it probably wasn't an entirely comfortable memory.

"Please. You said there were shops?" She more or less understood shops.

Griffin nodded and set off again. "Now, we're going to be starting at the exceedingly posh end. A couple of the extravagant sorts of jewellers, for one thing, and the most elite fashion and such. But then it will get more ordinary, all right?"

She was glad he'd warned her. The first few shops as they turned south weren't overwhelming - a cigar shop, somewhere that sold paper goods. But then they came to somewhere with clothing in the windows. One was far more a costume than a frock, made of layers of near translucent fabric, building up shades of blues and greens and ocean greys like an undine out of legend. The neckline and cuffs of the long sleeves glittered with tiny shimmering beads. It was hours of work - hundreds, maybe more - and she couldn't stop looking at it. Not that she wanted to wear it - she was sure she'd ruin it first thing. But she hadn't known that was a thing people really did.

Griffin had stopped, waiting. "There are other places further down. This is - well. I said high end." He tilted his head, considering it. "That's the sort of thing someone protective of her person would wear to a gala ball. The skin that's covered, you see? Protection charms against potions or dusts or whatever that might influence her."

"Ugh." Annice didn't like the thought of that. "Do you go to things like that ever? Though I suppose the clothing is easier for men."

"Sometimes. Not very often at the moment, maybe more later. Which is another conversation to have when we're not standing on the street." This time, unusually for him, he was definitely ducking something. Annice made a note of that, but just nodded for now.

"What next?" They kept going. He did give her a good ten minutes to stand staring at the jeweller's windows. She took in not just the flash and glow of the gems there, but how they were set. He didn't suggest they go in - for one thing, she could see there were several steps leading into the shop proper. But she couldn't have had a conversation about it. There were rubies there, glowing a deep red, and gorgeous emeralds, no shadows to the colour, and a sapphire in the shade of the ocean on a perfect summer day. The settings were all brilliant, too, making the stones shimmer without overwhelming them.

Once she was able to tear herself away, they continued down past the market square. She lost another ten minutes staring at the toy shop nearly opposite the market space. One side of the shop window had a vast play set, wooden blocks that shone in different colours, with a scene of a castle. Dolls, big enough to be interesting, too small to cuddle at night - dotted the space. There was a princess in a flowing dress, a knight in armour, a village down below, with people doing all sorts of things. A king and queen stood on the ramparts of the castle. And of course there was a dragon, who twisted its head back and forth, very nearly like it was going to breathe fire at any moment. It wasn't just the way it moved that fascinated her. It was the shine on the scales, a prismatic flow of colour that must have been hard to manage, even with magical paints.

Again, Griffin let her take her time. "They also make excellent dolls and stuffed animals, mind." He nodded at the door. "And it's where I get some things for making furniture for my nieces. Their dolls, in their doll house, are about that size. Big enough to have fun dressing."

"I was thinking they weren't much to cuddle with, but they're lovely to look at." He was right, the further window - once she got there - was nearly as compelling, with dolls with glowing porcelain faces and plush velvet frocks and cloaks. There were a set all in historical clothing, others in the latest fashion, and if she'd been younger, she would never have taken her nose away from the glass.

Finally, though, she had to move on. Griffin kept an easy pace - she was finding that what he was choosing was comfortable for her to walk with, more than she'd expected. When they were waiting to cross one street, she was distracted by a notice, or rather a series of notices. They were posters for upcoming performances. Most of them had some sort of illusion work, so that the figures moved - some waved, some went through five seconds of some scene. On the vaudeville posters, there were acrobats or dancers kicking up their skirts in a flurry of ruffles.

She completely missed the cart pulling away and the street clearing, and Griffin must have realised she hadn't moved, because he came around to her right side. "We could go to the theatre, if you like. I know people at the New Ricardian, and a couple of their boxes are accessible by their wheelchair lift."

"Of course you know someone." She glanced down at him, and he spread his hands, then she tilted her head. "Someone else with a chair?"

"I mentioned Seth made mine? And a friend of his. The friend who lives with them, he's paralysed. Different thing. I met the New Ricardian folks because of a case, and then they introduced me to Golshan and to Seth, and my life got a lot easier. Vastly better design, easier to move. I would not have suggested taking the long way in the chair I started with. Bulky thing, and a lot heavier over distance. Golshan used to work for the New Ricardian, before the War, they wanted him to be able to come visit. Anyway. Tickets for Friday or maybe Saturday? Do you want to think about it?"

She ought to think about it. That presumed she'd still be here. But then she glanced at the playbills again. "Are they good? The actors?"

"I think so. And this play's got excellent reviews. I've not had a chance to see it. Opened while I was in Whitby."

Annice took a breath. He wanted to show her things. And she suspected that whatever needed work in the Courts was going to be more than a day. Maybe she could end her visit with the theatre and go away on Saturday, and consider it all an exceptionally dizzying dream. "If you'd like."

"Grand. I'll sort that once I've got my journal out. Here we go. It's about to get less interesting." Griffin set off again, across the street, through one last section of shops, then angled down a street. "The right side is Club Row. The Schola houses all have a club there, a couple of posh ones, various of the societies, a couple of particular interests."

"Solicitors or Ministry, or anything like that?" Annice wasn't sure she entirely understood how clubs worked.

"Oh, no. We have a pub, though. Well, two pubs. People take sides about it. I stop in at the Stream - that's the Salmon House club - sometimes. And more often in the Veterans than the Arthur, which is the officer's club." He said it easily, unlike whatever that had been outside the Temple of Healing. "Ah, here we are. I wanted you to see the front first, but we'll need to go round the back for the ramp."

The front of the building was immensely imposing, broad steps leading up to an arched front, with great stone pillars on either side. Above were the scales of justice, and a dozen other symbols, only some of which made sense to her. The white rose, of course, though the entire building was white stone, but there was a sword, there were scrolls rather than books, a feather.

"Where I spend most of my time." Griffin said it fondly. Like Da had talked about Mam, the way a person might talk about someone he loved. Even if it was a building. Annice had no idea how to answer that.

After a moment, she asked, "Where's your flat from here? And, um, we didn't pass your da's store? Where it is, was?"

"Is and was. No, it's on the corner on the other side of the market. Nice big corner shop, plenty of windows to display dry goods and all. And my flat's, well. Roughly four blocks that way, if you cut through the smaller streets in Club Row and across into the residential streets."

Annice glanced around. "Huh. Thank you for taking me the long way. It's— it's a lot more than I expected. All the different things going on, the magic?" Seeing it out in the open, the way everyone here could be out in the open, would take some getting used to.

"There will probably be some performers out this evening, if you want to ask the inn. Musicians, illusionists, all that. There are usually a couple on Club Row in good weather and often not as good. Oh, right. The inn is just over there, up toward the market again. Not very far. Mostly Ministry folks and consultants. Other people stay up north of the market, there's a cluster of inns and restaurants. But you have to go through all the chaos to get here, and on market days that can be a bother if you've somewhere to be on time."

"Market day everywhere, I suppose. Though probably fewer fish here?" Annice offered it, hoping he'd find it amusing.

"Fewer fish, yes. A lot of sheep. Anyway, shall we go around? This way, to the left." When she nodded, he took off down a narrow but reasonably clean alley to the left of the massive building.