"That's fine," said Alex. "Friends can stop by for friend reasons."
They all walked to the big French doors instead, coming in off the conservatory and through the wards. Alex whistled so that Con was allowed into the first floor but not upstairs, though Julian had a feeling the sprite could find ways around that once he was in the wards if he wanted to. Con had always been clever but harmless, and he wouldn't risk his friend status for nosiness.
Con just really liked to know things.
"Have you been upstairs since we finished decorating?" asked Julian casually.
Con's attention grew very focused. "Nah, I ain't gone snoopin' and I ain't been invited."
"We could give you a tour," said Alex, getting what Julian sent him through the bond and sending agreement. "No gossiping about it, though."
"Friends only," promised Con, as close to agreement as he'd likely give.
They just wouldn't show him the secret upstairs nook, is all, and that would be just fine.
"I'll see if the kitchen people need help," said James affably. "No need for us all to troop around."
"Nothing out in your room you don't want Con seeing?" asked Alex.
James shook his head. "We're neat guests."
"All right, go on," said Julian, shooing him toward the kitchen as he mounted the stairs, trusting that Con could figure it out once Alex let him through the wards. The stairs had their own strange set of wards that would dump you on your ass if you weren't in them, but they were looser than the bookcase door at the top of the stairs, which wouldn't let anyone in but a very few select people. Their regular guests were in there, like James and Jacques, Murielle and Thomas, and even Geoff and Chudleigh, but not occasional friends like Con or Father Stephen, who could almost never spend the night.
The tighter the wards, everyone agreed, the better.
"So, we're slowly populating our bookcases, but we have a lifetime for that," said Julian, pointing out how many of the upper shelves were entirely empty.
"Plus we're still smoothing out our organisational system," said Alex, lips twitching.
Julian huffed. "Just because you want to organise your books like a madman," he shot back, feeling warm at the well-worn argument. They'd spent a couple of months shamelessly moving each other's books around and were finally at a detente about what went where.
Well, mostly.
Julian still thought the rune history books should go with Alex's weird magic books, where he wanted them with the rest of the history stuff.
"Ye'll have many years to put books in all these shelves," agreed Con. "And reorganise them a dozen times over."
"Oh, don't tempt him," said Alex with a laugh. "Anyway, through here we've added a little bit of art to the walls, but we're still hoping for a few nice pieces to make the little hallway less bare."
They'd put Julian's trio of tiny paintings up on a slender console table, the art a wonderful memory for both of them of the otherwise disastrous Courtship that Julian had been forced to go through. The little grumpy cat, mushrooms, and apple were all still as wonderfully painted as ever, and Julian caught Alex smiling at the blue butterfly on the cat's forehead.
"Another task for a lifetime," said Con, "though I'm given to understand you posh gits often change out art over time."
"Maybe," said Alex. "We just like colour in our lives." The hallway was painted a soft lavender-grey, with warm woodenfloors and a long rug in blues and purples with pops of red and turquoise. The doors were a darker wood than the floor, one on each side of the hall, with Alex and Julian's farther back while the guest room was set closer.
"This is the guest room, which James and Jacques are using, so no poking in their things," said Alex. "They aren't officially Guarding us now, but they're being allowed to stick around and be nosy about our business just as you are."
Con laughed at that. "Everyone wants t'know how the Charmers are doin', that's all."
"We're doing well," said Julian.
"I survived being poisoned, even," said Alex.
"Oh?" said Con, turning to look up at him. "I'll have to hear some of this tale over dinner, perhaps?"
"Some of it," said Julian. "We're pretty tired of telling it."
"But friends are allowed to know about friends. In here you can see there's a little art from the decorator, but it's nothing special. So, even though there's nowhere much for art downstairs, we really do want things for the walls." Alex gestured to the abstract art they'd all decided was fine as place holders.
