The Affairs of Mortals

Chapter 10

They returned to Jean's pavilion in the camp where the servants had prepared a lavish dinner of lamb with truffle shavings. It was served with a sweet flavored northern white wine. Vero found she was ravenously hungry and set in the moment she had washed her hands.

"Was it your master Aquinas who taught you the healing arts?"

"Of course not. I knew more about medicine than he ever did." The lamb was delicious.

"Oh? Who was it then?"

"It was Mama." Vero reminded herself not to speak with her mouth full. "My mother trained as a priestess of Queen Luna before she married Father. She was the wisewoman and midwife for our village, and I often helped her."

"I see. I heard you reciting prayers to Luna while you worked." Jean skewered two slices of lamb with a truffle between them. "I had just presumed you worshiped the Earth Mother- or..." He put it in his mouth whole.

"Or that I was a sorcerous atheist with a lot of natural-materialist explanations for the divine emanations?" The food had started to restore her good humor.

Jean smiled and shrugged in response.

"Yes, I worship Mother Luna- though not as often as I should. Most of the village I grew up in worshiped the Earth Mother, but the priestess in our village was extremely elderly, which is why they had practical need for a wisewoman. I suppose you must have been trying to decide which I was- the naïve country girl, or the conniving sorceress. If so, I'm glad I was able to evade such easy classification."

Jean swallowed the last of his truffle with a gulp of wine. "It's easy to become abstracted from humanity in my position. Companies of soldiers must be controlled like objects- wooden pieces on a map. It's such a simple thing to forget that when banners on a map meet, individual men begin to kill and die. Each name on a company register is a person with a whole life's journey which has brought them to that point and may well end there... I made presumptions based on your accent and occupation because – until now – you have been disinclined to discuss yourself in any greater detail."

"Ah, well. What does it matter? At the moment I feel too exhausted to care." The effects of digestion and relief of tension after hours of constant careful labor, left her completely drained.

"Oh? Excellent." Jean skewered more slices of lamb and truffle. "Interrogations typically become much easier at this stage." He fed the combination to her and Vero took it without complaint. "Tell me something else about your family now."

"What should I tell you? I can't think of anything that would be of interest to a great lord such as yourself."

Jean became thoughtful a moment, then he began to speak. "My father's given name was Louis; my mother's given name is Catherine. Their courtship was brief and their marriage was political. They never cared for one another, but both were very dear to me. My father had little time for affection, but I felt he showed his love for me in the careful attention he paid to my education. My memories of him were learning at his side when he conducted council meetings or troop inspections. My mother is an imposing presence to strangers, but also unrestrained in her affection towards those close to her. I understand why she left the day after my father's funeral, but I wish she had not."

There was silence for a time, and Vero realized that she must make some reply in kind. She cleared her throat to give herself some time to think. "Mama was called Olivia, and Father was named Niall. He was a mercenary during the civil war- not the war in our time I mean, but the last one."

Jean chuckled lightly. "The Priests' War, I'm familiar. My family stayed out of it, though our Fer-mark steel weapons were certainly to be found in both camps."