Chapter 41

MAY 1ST

F or once, Annice had no objections to getting up well before dawn. They'd got up at four in the morning - that was fishing folk time, not crafters, who needed the light to work by. There'd been a quick breakfast, pastries set out the night before. Griffin had spent part of the evening before they went to bed twining decorations through the non-essential parts of his chair, and charming the spokes of the wheels. He hadn't explained what they'd do, just attached a number of small ceramic discs at particular places.

Now, they were waiting outside the Courts, near the head of a forming procession, with people carrying all sorts of decorative staffs, and wearing a fantastical set of clothing. Of course, everyone here knew about magic, knew about May Day, and could bring out their best charms and costumes and illusions. Griffin clearly decided it was time for him to join in, and he brushed one of those little discs he'd attached, and his chair lit up with magical decoration. There were vines twining around the spokes of the chair's wheels. Vibrant new green growth gave way to a rainbow of buds and early blossoms, at least a dozen different flowers.

That same light and magic flowed up the back of the chair, twining around the crutches he'd attached to the back. Annice took a step back, almost bumping into someone, to get a better look. "Can I touch it?" She kept her voice low, though things were about to get loud, apparently.

"They're illusions. Hand goes right through them, but the charmwork keeps them moving as I do." He seemed delighted with the effect. Before he could say anything more, an older man strode into the centre of the street. She was pretty sure this was Lamont Morgan. He was wearing voluminous green silk robes like a judge's robe, with an enormous staff in his hand. It was made of wood, what looked like multiple lengths of different woods, joined together with metalwork twining round, with a great crystal at the top. Maybe quartz, given the size, but she wasn't sure about that in the dim light from torches and lanterns and the way people moved around and cast shadows.

He walked out to the centre of the road, then banged the staff three times. "Hail!"

The crowd - some fifty people, at least, maybe more - roared back, "Hail!"

"We welcome the May!" Once that was echoed again, Lamont thudded the staff three more times, and strode off at an even pace. Immediately, music started picking up. It began simply, a single flute and drum, but block by block, as they went along, more instruments joined in.

By the time they were up by the marketplace, people had begun singing, loud enough that Annice could hear them clearly. She and Griffin were up at the front at the right, near a woman, her husband, and two small children who were entirely unsure about the morning. She thought that might be Harriet. On her other side was a man who was smiling and beaming in a way Annice didn't trust, with a sharp featured woman next to him. If the woman was Harriet, that was Nestor and his wife, then.

The procession picked up a lot more people as they came to the market square, and even more as they wound east, then turned up into the Temple of Healing. Someone flung the doors open, and the entire procession went up and through. Griffin ducked off to the right, where someone stood holding a much smaller door open. Annice followed him, along with a few others who had canes or crutches or chairs. No stairs this way, apparently.

Griffin certainly knew where he was going. Once they had traced along the length of the Temple, they met up with the crowd again in the centre of the gardens. Someone had built a tremendous bonfire in a metal basin, raised up from the ground. It was in the centre where the paths met, a pyramid of wood and tinder that wasn't yet lit.

There were Healers in their bright red robes, nurses in their uniforms and pinafores, patients in a variety of clothing, and then hundreds of people filling the space. Annice saw people in even more finery. Much of it - like her dress - was green. But there were shades of golden yellow and bright red and clear blue, all the elemental colours coming together, and a fair bit of rich earthen brown.

The songs had turned into tumultuous shouts until Lamont said something - it was entirely covered by the singing - and pointed his staff at the bonfire. Light shot out of it, setting the head of the staff aglow as well, golden light spilling out over everything as the tinder caught, and the bonfire began to burn. A cheer went up from the crowd, a delighted sound that rolled on and on, becoming a living thing. The flames licked up to the top of the bonfire. Then the whole thing was dancing with light, as someone tossed in a small pouch of powder that sent illusion birds and flowers cascading out like fireworks.

Once the fire was well and truly going, Griffin nodded at one of the walkways. "There will be dancing. You should dance, if you want! I'll be there." Annice looked from him to the dancing forming up, people taking hands. It was a circle dance, and she might not know the local steps, but she could probably pick them up. He waved her to it, and she found someone taking one of her hands. Harriet on her left, and then a great burly man on her right, who had the hands of a carpenter or blacksmith, all callouses and healed scrapes. The music picked up then, settling into a proper dance and chant, and she found herself twisting and turning around the bonfire, out along one path, circling around the whole of the garden and back.

By the time the dance ended, she was breathless and grinning, and she went to find Griffin and tell him so. Someone had handed him a frame drum in the interim, and he was keeping a respectable beat from his chair. She stood next to him, clapping along. The next dance was a partner dance, though it didn't seem to be romantic. People twisted through different sets, grinning at whoever they partnered briefly, then moving on. About the time that ended, there were carts brought out with vats of something to drink - tea, by the smell - and biscuits.

Perhaps half an hour later, the dancing had settled down into watching teams of dancers, first with handkerchiefs waving, then the sticks came out. Annice had heard about that - Da had known some, though she thought maybe a different style. After they danced three dances, they picked up a different tune, and led a procession snaking out of the grounds. Griffin watched them go. "A small contingent goes down to the Severn to make an offering at the river, a few of the Guard and the Healers and the Crafters. But it's a fair walk, five miles each way, even if they have carts for people who need them. And an offering at the Wye, too. All the rivers we can reach."

"Oh, I'll stay. Is there more here?" Annice felt a bit breathless and lightheaded, and she was fairly sure it wasn't just the dancing. There was magic all over the place. She could feel it dancing around her.

"In a little, we'll break off and see about breakfast somewhere." He was about to say more when Lamont came up, bowing generously. "Excellent omens for the year, I think. Mistress Matthewman, also glad to have a chance to meet you at last. A delight, I do hope Griffin has conveyed that while I've been too busy to enjoy your company."

"Annice, this is Lamont Morgan. Lord of Trellech's Justice, to give him the proper title of the day. Lamont, this is Annice. I agree, it went wonderfully this year."

Annice bobbed her head in turn. "A pleasure, sure." She wasn't actually sure what you called someone who was Lord in this situation, and it didn't help that Griffin had a particular relationship here. Instead, Annice peered at the staff. She couldn't stop herself from looking.

Lamont rested it on his hands to let her have a better look, rolling it slightly. "The seven woods of the Courts, bound by the seven metals of the planets. Or at least, bound by six, and there's a heart of mercury thoroughly encased in the middle there."

Now he said it, she could see the different woods and the metals. There was the warm glow of copper, the shine of silver and gold, the dark solidness of iron, and then the duller silver grey that must be tin and lead. "And the stone, please?"

"Quartz. A grand specimen, found at Caerphilly, maybe two dozen miles from here." He grinned, and Annice suddenly liked him a lot more than she had. She'd been resentful that this man had been keeping Griffin in limbo for years. But the way Griffin was smiling, the way Lamont was smiling, she couldn't keep up that feeling right now. "And it has dozens of charms set into it, of course. Some for show and effect, like just now. Some for one or the other." Then someone called his name behind him, and he bowed again, murmuring an apology before disappearing into the crowd.

Before Annice could say something, Harriet had appeared again, one small boy held firmly by the hand, the other on her hip. Annice immediately said, "Do you need a hand for a minute?" and held out her arms.

The other woman blinked at her and then said. "Please, do you mind? Someone found some jam. I have no idea how." The standing boy was, in fact, smeared with something red and sticky. Annice took the younger one, bouncing him on her hip comfortably enough. Harriet blinked. "Oh, you do know what you're doing. Right." She bent down to do a cleaning charm and added a handkerchief to the process before straightening up. "Give him back when you're ready? And, erm."

"Harriet, this is Annice, Annice, this is Harriet. As I think you've both figured out. And that's Daniel you've got, and Samuel. Hello!" Griffin wriggled his fingers at both of the children cheerfully. "Blessed May, too!"

"Blessed May." Harriet was a little less exuberant. "Look. We should talk about something. Not at the Courts. Do you have plans for breakfast, or time tomorrow?" By now, most of the crowds had moved away. They were, perhaps deliberately on Griffin's part, not terribly near the refreshments. Before Griffin could ask more, she jerked her chin, indicating Nestor, who was in a knot of people who looked very posh indeed.

"Oh." Griffin's voice had changed in tone. "When's good for you?"

"Tea, today? Do you have somewhere that works for you?" Now Harriet sounded less sure. "This afternoon, our nanny will have the children. Less chaos."

"Four, at the Stream? We can have a bit more privacy there. They won't bother us once we're settled. And do you want Annice along, or just me?"

"Oh, both of you, if you like." Harriet's chin came up. "I will not make that decision for you. Not enough idea of the agreements and precedent." Griffin chuckled at that. She'd obviously meant it as a bit of a joke, even if it wasn't a very good one.

"Four, then. Annice, come along? You don't have a lot of prep to do for tomorrow, right?"

"Not much that will take time." She'd decided yesterday what she wanted to do in Whitby, and she had to pick up some more raw jet, anyway.

Harriet nodded. "Four. The Stream. Whatever room they tell me." Then the boy at her feet was tugging her hand, and Annice handed back the toddler she was holding. She'd even managed it without him messing up her frock and cloak, which was rather impressive, given the nature of toddlers. Harriet turned, heading off into the crowd with both children firmly in hand.

"Well. Breakfast, then? I know a place." Griffin glanced up at Annice, as if weighing if she'd had enough.

"You always know a place. Lead on. And tell me about the other traditions here." By now the crowds had thinned enough they could comfortably go side by side, as Griffin settled in to telling her about the local land lore.