"I suppose station doesn't matter so much to someone who's been handed a title," said Margot, taking a sip from her mostly-empty teacup as if to shut herself up.
"It does not, and I'm not here for my title anyway, I'm here to see Chudleigh and Dr. Geoff," said Alex easily. "I helped with some of the spells on the place, so I wanted to see it all finished."
"Oh that's right!" said Halliwell excitedly, "You're the Charmer of the Charmer's Way! You actually make things?"
"I do indeed," said Alex. "Julian has a talent with plants, where mine lie with warding and creation of artefacts, for the most part. We both do potions, especially for healing or fertiliser, and Julian grows the best ingredients on the island now."
"I suppose one must do business these days," said Wicket, "whether one wishes to or not. Good on you finding something with upward mobility."
Alex decided not to grace this particular crowd with the real story of how they became Guardians, and instead asked Halliwell, "What brings you to the party?"
"Oh, Chuds knows I'm still looking for a husband, even after the Season," she said with a blushy little giggle. "Not a lot of prospects here, of course, but he likes to help me meet people who might know people, as it were."
"He's very kind, our Chudleigh," said Periwig fondly. "He'd give up the shirt on his back to help a friend."
"That he would," agreed Alex. "I met him during Julian's Courtship, and always rather liked him even back then when we were rivals."
"Chuds is easy to like," said Wicket in a false version of Chudleigh's hail-fellow-well-met tone. "Cheerful as a puppy, that one."
"He has welcomed my wife and I into society quite kindly," allowed Margot. "Not everyone approved of the baronetcy going to a pair of women."
"Sexist," said Alex, wrinkling his nose. "You aren't running the estates with your, uh. Nevermind."
That made them all laugh genuinely, as he flushed and hid his face in his own long-empty teacup. There had been a couple of rounds of refills, but not nearly enough for his caffeine-addicted nature.
"I have to admit, I have really no idea how one climbs or falls in social standing, and always assume I'm in the doghouse," saidAlex, once their laughter had passed. "Ranking or not, I'm still a plebe at heart."
"A good party needs all sorts," assured Halliwell with a grin. "Talkers and lurkers and those who are willing to flout social convention, as well as the sticklers."
"I can tell you're a talker," said Alex, "but a kind one, so I can see why Chudleigh put you at my table."
"Someone had to make you talk, old boy," said Chudleigh, coming up behind him to lay a hand on the backs of two of their chairs. "Everyone doing well? Alex, you need more tea. You only need to wave and someone will refill you."
"Oh, nice," said Alex, as a servant came by to pour for not just him but the whole table. "I'm doing all right, Miss Adelina here is keeping me in line."
"I can't tell if my social standing is improving or plummeting, being seen with him," said Margot, but there was humour there now.
"Oh, don't worry. Alex will make you look like a wonderful alternative," said Chudleigh, giving Alex's shoulder a light, friendly slap.
Alex gave a wry little smirk and said, "You're not wrong. Everything going okay?"
"Fortunately someone put in very thorough wards on this place recently, so although there's a blizzard out there, nothing's getting through, not even a draft." Chudleigh looked pleased aspunch at that, and wandered off before anyone could follow up with questions.
"Friends help friends stay warm in winter," said Alex, sipping his refreshed tea quite happily. Cinnamon found her way into his lap and curled up there, nudging at his free hand for petting until he cooperated for a while.
They pried the tale of how he came to ward Chudleigh's manor house out of him as he finished off every bit of food on the table, and no one even complained about it because the tale involved not just the original charms, but a passel of pippin mice, who were magical pests that got into all the normal places but left behind gemlike cursed droppings instead of the usual mouse pellets.
Fortunately, Alex got them all cleared out before anyone was fooled into getting cursed, and even put up temporary wards while he finished the charms.
Chudleigh had moved on by the end of that tale, and it was clear that tea was breaking up as people finished up and started drifting back to their partners. Alex figured that meant he could absent himself and go find Julian, and figure out where their cats had got to in the bargain — even Cinnamon had already moved on to other mischief.
Chapter 7
Julian found his own place setting and sat with Cinnamon still in his arms.
"I'm not going to be able to eat around you, you ridiculous cat," said Julian fondly, scooting back enough that he could deposit Cinnamon's noodly body into his lap for now. She proceeded to peer around at everything in front of and behind him, and eventually vanished entirely underneath the table to go make whatever mischief had caught her eye.
"You're Julian St. Albans-Benedict, I seem to recall," said the woman to his right.
