"The money is always put to good use," said James.
"If it's feeding and clothing you guys, of course it is," said Alex. "I never worry about it, because I've met few truly unpleasant priests at the various Temples."
"There was that one Mother who couldn't stand you," said Julian. "She accepted my service in the gardens but just gave him make-work, so we haven't been back."
"Yeah, I didn't say none," said Alex wryly. "She wasn't venal, anyway, just kind of unpleasant."
Father Stephen chuckled. "Well, you do give us your service as well, though I believe we haven't got anything scheduled right now."
"Unless the luck garden needs me, we're waiting until spring," said Julian, eating another asparagus spear immediately afterward.
"No, no, it's doing just fine in our care," said Father Stephen. "If we need Alex sooner, I'll be sure to contact you."
"Even though this was more of a show Guarding," said Alex, "I'm always happy to help out with the Temples. I usually learn something new, which has its own value to me."
They all laughed at him for the mercenary attitude, but Julian didn't mind it. The willing service was better than begrudging, he suspected, especially from someone with a mind as clever as Alex's.
"I do have to schedule another visit with Father Mordecai," said Alex, giving Julian time to cut into his second steak. "We had a couple of cancellations between us and haven't set up a new meeting date."
"Sometimes it happens like that," said Father Stephen. "I am very happy to have a free lunch hour to give to your company."
"We're glad you did, too," said Alex. "Will you join us for purification?"
"Yes, I believe so," said Stephen. "Nothing's come up yet, and no one would interrupt once I've begun, so we'll be safe once we get into the locker rooms."
"Better eat up and get to dessert, then," teased Julian, though they'd all been making steady way through their large lunches. Alex had finished his steak and gone on to the eel pie, and both of the Guardians were on the second half of theirs, too. Even Father Stephen had made headway, so Julian wasn't too worried that they'd take too long.
"Eating well and taking care of one's body is another small good we can do in the world," said Stephen lightly, after which he ate a big bite of steak with an impish little smile.
"It's true," said Alex. "Keeping myself well-fed also keeps others from having to deal with cranky Alex."
There was more laughter, and more banter, but soon enough everyone had a fresh cup of tea, even James, and a dessert of some sort. Alex had gotten a double serving of poached pear bread pudding, Julian had two giant warm fudgey brownies covered in melting vanilla ice cream, both Guardians had gotten trifle, and Father Stephen had a brownie and ice cream of his own.
It was a good day to treat oneself, Julian thought, taking a bite of the dark velvety treat with a hint of cool vanilla cream.
Chapter 40
The purification went about the way it always did, with a Guardian first, then Alex, Father Stephen, Julian, and finally the other Guardian, in this case Jacques. The cold pool was as awful as ever, but Alex practically melted into the bench of the sauna, and revelled in the warm shower afterward.
The meditation room with its grass was kept unseasonably warm to facilitate thinking on things besides how cold it was. Alex noted new plants among the grass, wildflowers he thought might have somehow traveled here from the luck garden, nothing that would have to be pulled but some added colour nonetheless.
He sent his senses down to the deep earth and up to the bleak skies, and then allowed a little wander around this Temple's wards, finding that this time, at least, nothing was trying to get in at them. Not even some nosy kid at a window, for once, just the peace of winter and the resting nature surrounding them even here in the heart of the city.
He brought that peace back into himself, finding another peace already there for once, and meditated on simple gratitude until the gong sounded once again.
The potion he got with his kiss of peace was the inexpensive one for insight, and afterward there was someone available to do a proper massage on his exercise-sore muscles.
By the time he got bundled back up into his winter clothing, Alex was feeling practically mellow.
He turned his phone back on, letting James have some quiet time as he looked through the few messages he'd gotten, mostly Lapointe complaining about rich people and Thomas complaining that rich people were making his girlfriend grumpy.
Alex texted Nat to remind him to re-book Father Mordecai, and got a leaf back in response, which was Nat's way of acknowledging his human while busy. Then he sat up and looked over to where James was poking at his own phone and figured that his quiet time was up.
"So, how are the wards doing at the Guardian Temple?" asked Alex, sliding over to sit next to him, big and warm as he was.
James chuckled. "They're doing fine. Father Mordecai hasn't started making many changes yet, other than layering in a few things you two talked about already. Those haven't clashed with what's there so far, so he's hopeful you can reweave sections together in a way that will hold up better in the future and be more flexible."
"And how's the paparazzi plague?" They'd been having a problem a few months ago with more photographers than usual coming around to try to get shots of the Guardians going about their normal, everyday lives, enough that at least one of the wards they'd talked about was specifically about preventing photography through their windows.
