The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (30 page)

“So,
how does this work?” asked Julian, closing the door behind him. Only Alex
could open the work room door from the outside, but anyone inside could get out.

“It’s
non-fatal, I assure you,” said Dr. Chesterfield, smiling. “First a
quick physical exam, then a few magical readings, and you’ll be all done. Are
you hurt anywhere, physically?”

“Nope,
I got to be the damsel so there was no fisticuffs for me,” said Julian. He
took off his dressing gown and laid it over his reading chair, shivering a
little. “I’m getting cold even more easily than usual today, though, Dr.
Tamlinson said I should tell you about the cold thing, he thought it might have
to do with magic.”

“It
could, especially since you were a late bloomer, magically speaking,” said
Dr. Chesterfield. He did the usual poking and prodding, looking into Julian’s
eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; listening to his chest and back; taking his pulse,
temperature, and blood pressure. He did a few strange things, too, checking
Julian’s circulation in his fingers and toes; feeling along the lines of his
body in a few places to check for tension and congestion; and finally having
Julian check on the plants while he observed.

“So
you see magic?” asked Julian idly while he was checking on Alex’s thriving
ingredient garden. One plant wanted some of the liquid fertiliser he kept in
the kitchen, so instead he charged a bit of water with magic for it and
promised he’d get to it later.

“I
do, that was interesting, you put your magic into the water for the plant, is
that correct?” asked Dr. Chesterfield.

“Yeah,
it wants something I don’t have to hand,” said Julian. “So this’ll
help it while it waits.”

“I
see, and it was purposeful, the times you sent your magic into the plant to
diagnose them?” the doctor asked.

“Yes,
Geoff showed me how to look at them without it, but I always get a better
reading when I add energy. I suppose I should conserve it, but I wanted you to
see it both ways.”

“It’s
very little power, you’re fine,” said Dr. Chesterfield. “The normal
expenditure will help my diagnostics, anyway, so that you’ve done some regular
magic after yesterday’s big push.”

He
led Julian over to one of Alex’s lab tables and began to take readings with the
equipment there, which was a little weird but not intrusive. He wrote down all
of Julian’s numbers on a little chart, and took some notes on the back, putting
Julian’s name at the top. “There we are, that’s not so bad, is it?”
said Dr. Chesterfield cheerfully. “I’ll have a nice set of data from the
five of you today.”

“Will
you use it in your research?” asked Julian curiously, getting his dressing
gown back on.

“With
your permission, yes,” said Dr. Chesterfield. “Even if I can’t use it
officially, every interesting case furthers my understanding.”

“You
can use mine,” said Julian. “Just, you know, anonymously.”

“Of
course, of course,” he assured Julian. “Alex gave me permission ages
ago, and I’ll get signatures from anyone willing before I go.”

“Let’s
get you a cup of tea and a Guardian to prod,” said Julian, picking up the
doctor’s forgotten coffee cup.

“Tea
would be great, thanks,” said Chesterfield, with the same rueful look that
Alex got when he realised he’d been quite thoroughly lost in his work.

Julian
went out, leaving the door ajar, and he sent James back in with tea and
biscuits for the doctor. “Do you know what Dr. Chesterfield’s
researching?” he asked Jones, sitting and getting more tea for himself,
too.

“Something
about the balance of magical and physical systems in the body?” said Jones
uncertainly. “He didn’t really explain it.”

“We’ll
ask at lunch,” said Jacques. “I bet he’ll talk enough to let the rest
of us eat in peace.”

“When
is Lapointe coming?” asked Julian, already feeling like his day had held
too many people.

“After
lunch,” said Jacques. “She didn’t want to distract you from the
doctor.”

“Good,”
said Julian, getting himself all cuddled up in his nest. “If I can’t have
a nap, then less crowding will be better.”

“We
can set up one of our pallets in the work room if you want to sleep,” said
Jacques. “They’re going to use the bedroom for purifications, since it’s
attached to the bath already.”

“I
hope everyone’s okay,” said Julian. “I suppose I ought to join
in.”

“We’ll
let Father Stephen and Dr. Chesterfield decide that,” said Jacques.
“Right now we know it’ll be Alex and Jones, and probably not me or
James.”

Julian
sighed again and sipped his tea. “I’m going to be so glad when this is all
over, even if I do like you guys.”

“I
like you, too, but I’ll be happier when you’re out of danger,” said
Jacques.

“I’ll
be happier in my own bed,” said Jones with a chuckle. “Though I do
like driving you around, you go more interesting places than Victor does.”

“Plus
there’s Jenny, who you’ll call later, I trust?” said Julian.

Jones
chuckled. “I’ll call after dinner, when she’ll be off work,” he said,
“if I can manage a bit of privacy for it.”

“We
would never interfere,” said Julian innocently.

“Riiiiight,”
said Jones, shaking his head. “No privacy, no call.”

“Spoilsport,”
said Julian.

The
bedroom door opened, and Alex and Father Stephen came out. “Everything’s
set up; we’re going to wait for the doctor before we get started,” said
Alex.

“Good,
you can come keep me warm,” said Julian, making room in his blanket-cocoon
for Alex.

“Poor
thing, you haven’t had a proper hot shower yet today,” said Alex, getting
tea and then snuggling up with Julian. “You’ll get one after your
purification, anyway.”

“How
will that work?” said Julian dubiously. “The shower’s in the
tub.”

“We
decided on sluicing, rather than immersion in the mineral bath,” said
Father Stephen. “It’s not quite as thorough, but I’ve got my own magic to
help it along.”

“Yes,
Father,” said Julian, shivering again. “I hope it’s quick.”

“I’ll
take good care of you, my boy,” said Father Stephen. “I’ll be
interested to see what the doctor says about your chills, if you let me listen
in.”

“I
don’t mind if everyone listens,” said Julian with a shrug. “It’ll
save me from telling you all after.”

“Probably
easiest if we all hear all the diagnoses,” said Jones, “unless
there’s Guardian secrets to be kept.”

Jacques
chuckled. “It’s not likely, but James and I will check with him before we
all talk.”

The
door to Alex’s work room opened and Julian said, “Speaking of whom.”

“All
good things, I hope,” said James, trading places with Jacques on the
couch.

“Just
wondering if you’d get to hear your medical opinions with the rest of us, or if
you and Jacques need privacy for your mysterious Guardian secrets,” said
Jones teasingly. “What do you think?”

“It
should be fine,” said James. “Nothing seemed to touch on any of our
special Guardian magic, and it’s not as if Alex hasn’t figured a lot of it out
already.”

“I’ll
never tell,” said Alex, saluting James with his teacup.

“That’s
why we let you,” said James, saluting right back.

“At
least you don’t try to recruit him,” said Julian. “I’d be very
annoyed if you tried to make my boyfriend choose a life of celibacy.”

Alex
snickered and kissed him. “I don’t think I’m suited to devotion to
anything but you, love,” he said.

“And
now you see why he puts up with Alex’s grumpiness,” said James with a
chuckle.

Julian
kissed him again. “Alex is worth a little grumpiness.”

“It’s
good someone thinks so,” said Jones. “He’s much less grumpy with you
around, anyway.”

“Love
is good for the soul,” said Father Stephen, looking very amused by them.
“Is this the sort of thing you boys always talk about?”

James
smirked. “Pretty much.”

Julian
chuckled. “It’s this or incomprehensible magic stuff, or Jacques and Alys
talking about food while the rest of us stuff our faces.”

“Or
books sometimes,” added Alex. “Julian’s convinced them to start
reading some of the mysteries he and I like.”

“But
we get behind, what with all the actual Guarding we have to do,” said
James wryly. “So they have to be careful not to spoil the plots when
they’ve read ahead.”

“Oh,
that reminds me,” said Julian, getting up. “I found a new series,
Alex has just finished the first one, too.” He went over to the little
bookshelf that they’d put in the living room, which was stuffed to overflowing
with books, having proved inadequate to the task of keeping even a small
collection for the two voracious readers. He extricated the mystery his sister
had sent him because of the cover, which had charmed him with its theme and
impressed him with its quality of writing. “Here we go, apparently the
series is all themed around herbs both magical and edible, but we’ve only read
this one.”

James
took the book and looked it over while Julian sat back down. “For us to
borrow?” he asked hopefully.

“Of
course,” said Alex. “You always take good care of our books.”

“Well,
except that one you dropped in the bath,” said Julian.

“I
replaced it!” said James, grinning. “It’s not my fault that one was
too good to stop reading.”

“You
just wanted to keep that copy for yourself,” said Alex teasingly.

Father
Stephen chuckled. “I hardly remember what it was like to have time for
leisure reading, I think this is the longest break I’ve had in weeks. Though I
tended to read biographies even when I did read for pleasure.”

“Oh,
I’ll have to get you that new one that’s so popular for Midwinter,” said
Julian. “Who was it, Alex?”

“Father
Jeremiah,” said Alex. “It might even count as work, as you’ll
undoubtedly be asked what you think repeatedly.”

“It
might, at that,” said Father Stephen, relaxing back in his seat. “I
can see why you all got along so well the first time, Alex isn’t like some of
your other Charges.”

“Even
if he is largely self-rescuing,” said James wryly. “Julian seems to
be learning that from him, too, not that we really mind.”

“We
do follow instructions when told to hide,” Julian pointed out. “I
even let Jacques carry me.”

“You
were practically asleep the second time,” said Jacques as he and Dr.
Chesterfield came out of Alex’s work room. They were carrying Chesterfield’s
instrument cases, which they stashed by the door before taking the remaining
seats.

“So,
does anyone object to the present company hearing their diagnoses?” asked
Dr. Chesterfield. When they all shook their heads, he got out his notes.
“Well, the Guardians are both very healthy, and I’m given to understand
the robustness of certain stats is to be expected. Neither of them carried any
shadow of the unwanted magic, though they’re both quite mixed up in one
another’s magics.”

“Good,”
said Julian firmly, when Jacques started to look a bit guilty. “If anyone
needs to stay free of influence, it’s the people Guarding us.”

“Very
true,” agreed Father Stephen.

Jacques
looked sheepish. “We’re recovering okay from last night’s
exhaustion?”

“Yes,
you’re both a little depleted as we discussed, but another day or two without
any more excitement should see you back to normal,” said Dr. Chesterfield.
“Now, Alex, you, on the other hand, are a mess. You’ve got spikes and
troughs all over the place, I can see why Dr. Tamlinson referred you.”

“Of
course I do,” said Alex with a sigh. “The troughs are from yesterday,
though?”

“And
all the work you’ve been putting into protection amulets, I think,” said
Dr. Chesterfield. “You don’t heal as fast as a Guardian, but the herbs
they’ve been feeding you do help. I’ll also have the apothecary do up a potion
as soon as you’re free to come donate ingredients.”

“We
won’t let him take any personal ingredients out of the flat right now,”
said James firmly. “It’s too risky.”

“Agreed,”
said Alex. “What about the spikes?”

“Well,
those are very interesting, and I think they’re actually from Julian,” said
Dr. Chesterfield. “You’ve got spikes in areas related to physical and
mental health, empathy, and what we call magical potency. It’s the same range
that Julian was enhancing in the plants he cared for, and it means you’ll
probably recover faster than you would have otherwise.”

“So
I’ve been, what, magically fertilising Alex?” said Julian with a laugh.

“A
decent analogy,” said Dr. Chesterfield, sounding amused himself.
“None of the spikes are really bad for you, but I can see why they’d cause
concern. I’d be interested in exploring your talent more fully when you’re out
of danger, Julian.”

“Maybe,”
said Julian, feeling a little dubious about being a lab rat. “I’d like to
know more about my magic, but I’m learning every time I use it.”

“It
works on things, too,” said Alex. “Or at least I think it does. Your
first amulet, and Horace, too, though he’s more complex than just a
thing.”

“Horace?”
said Dr. Chesterfield curiously.

“Horace!”
said Julian, calling the bird. Horace flew out from where he’d been resting in
the bedroom, perching on Julian’s outstretched hand and bending down to rub his
head against Julian’s fingers before hopping up his arm to his shoulder, where
he started preening Julian’s hair. “Alex made him a long time ago, but he
didn’t use him much until my Courtship, and now he’s more like a pet than a
construct.”

“He’s
very complex,” said Alex, “and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his
current personality is because of Julian’s magic enhancing him.”

“That’s
fascinating,” said Dr. Chesterfield. “Julian, you don’t have any
spikes, and in fact were depleted across the board, with a larger trough in
empathy, healing, and protection magics. I think you’re going to need potions
and continued attention to your output even after this crisis is over, I saw
evidence of long-term depletion.”