Figuring he liked Gallowglass better than Winston-Smythe so far, Alex stabbed the sausage with a fork and ate the pastry whole, finding it rich and moist, with sage, garlic, and what he thought might be soy sauce. He refrained from his usual happy noises, hoping Julian would be proud of him, and simply chewed and swallowed, patting his face politely with his napkin. Not a crumb of flaky pastry had marred his suit, at least, so that was one spell working correctly even if he was sure he'd be a mess otherwise.
"Chudleigh's chef is determined to give us the hunt, at least," said Alex, taking a sip of water. He hadn't enough head for wine to drink with every course the way some could.
"It's good venison," agreed McGuinness with a grin. "Too bad we can't take down another in this terrible snow."
"We'd never manage to sneak up on one," agreed Gallowglass. "Might get some half-frozen partridges, though."
The two of them and Leslie laughed, while everyone else gave polite chuckles. At least he had Winterson and Nonami-Finklewick on his side against the hunters.
Alex had the next item, the bite-sized tart, which was savoury and full of sweetness from the onion and umami from the mushrooms and the sauce, which he thought might also be venison-based, plus a soft tangy cheese. Chudleigh must have taken down a deer or two just for the party, and Alex hoped he hadn't been relying on the hunting party to bring in food for the next few days.
That was a thing people did, eat the spoils of the hunt. At least he thought he remembered that from back in the day.
Really, he hoped never to have to find out.
"I enjoy party games, anyway, so hopefully Chudleigh will have planned us something fun," Miss Winterson was saying, fork bobbing for emphasis. "It's been months since the Season ended and I miss the games the most, I think."
"It's a big crowd for games," said Winston-Smythe.
"Nonsense," said McGuinness, taking up the challenge. "This is a good-sized crowd for a number of things, and Chuds knows all the best ones. He'll keep us from getting bored."
Alex realised that it would never occur to a single one of these people to spend a bitterly cold afternoon bundled up reading, or watching one of Thomas' movie recommendations, and he felt a little sad for them. Reading was somewhat acceptable, but not the way he and Julian did, whiling away time with enjoyment over trashy novels or even work-related materials.
He'd actually brought the book on inlay he'd bought an age ago, figuring he might use some of the down time to finally get into the text. It had wonderful diagrams, but the prose was so dense and poorly phrased that it tended to meander from metaphor to simile without actually making its point.
There weren't a lot of texts in the area of magical stone inlay, was the problem, and so far he hadn't any luck getting his hands on the others.
"Do you read?" he asked the Lady Winterson, when he pulled his brain out of his studies and back to the table, where everyone had paused conversation for another bite.
She nibbled and put her hand over her mouth to swallow. "Oh, yes," she said, "avidly. It's not very ladylike, but I do enjoy a good novel."
"Me, too," said Alex. "Maybe Chudleigh will open up the library tomorrow and us bookworms can entertain ourselves."
Gallowglass made a somewhat disapproving noise, but covered it by having a sip of wine.
Alex took a sip, too, finding it complemented the venison well enough and he didn't have many opinions about it beyond that.
Instead, he ate the last treat, finding the herbs laced through the cheese puff reminded him more of home than anything else on the table. These felt like wildness, like someone had picked them in Chudleigh's forest along with the mushrooms, and he had to smile at the thought of some servants foraging for their dinner to make their employer look good to the other snooty peerage. And himself, of course, as he very much appreciated the taste of wild woods and untamed undergrowth.
He sent Julian a little thread of appreciation, getting love back and then a tug that made Alex chuckle as Horace took off to go land on Julian instead.
Sometimes one needed a bird.
Alex turned his attention back to the group, who were laughing about Horace's departure.
"Left over for your husband," said Gallowglass. "He did seem the more charming."
"I can't deny that," said Alex with a shrug. "He's much more used to this sort of thing than I am. I'm used to solving murders and working alone in my basement."
"Oh, you must talk to clients sometimes," said Gallowglass, her smile feeling a bit sharp now.
Alex shrugged. "We do, yes, but it's always by appointment, and there's quite a wait list. I had to rearrange my schedule a bit to get three days off for Chudleigh, but he's a good enough friend to be worth it."
"There's no big planetary events this weekend, anyway," said Winterson unexpectedly.
Alex beamed at her. "That did help," he admitted. "I don't do a ton of things that use the planets, but when there's something big I will try to align my work to the skies. The moon, on the other hand, I'm always beholden to somehow."
"Oh, but the moon phases will always come back around," said Winterson, clearly having hit upon a hobby of hers. "You can't get Pluto back for ages if you miss something."
