Picture Puzzles Part 25
Title: Picture Puzzles Part 25/26
Rating: NC-17
Grouping: House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Summary: House worried can be both good and bad. In this part: A SCA event.
Warnings: Mention of abuse in the past to more than one character (as if you hadn't already figured that out).
Beta: nightshadow_t2
(Part 24)
****
Chase ignored House and Wilson as they argued about having gotten lost on the way to the event. Looking around, Chase tried to work out where they were supposed to go. There were people everywhere. He blinked as he saw what he thought was a lady changing clothes in the middle of the parking lot.
"Ah, House..."
House turned his head and then grinned at him "Elizabethan's a bitch to get into in a tiny bathroom stall." He waved at the lady that had dropped the sheet they'd been using to block the woman from view. Then he shoved Wilson with the tip of the walking stick he was using as a cane. "Riding in a car dressed in that shit is even worse."
Thinking about the logistics of hoops and car doors, Chase nearly walked into Wilson as they approached the door. House snorted in amusement and they were hit with a mass of sound as they entered the building. Chase stopped just inside the door and stared. He didn't feel bad about it because Wilson was gaping. They were left behind as House was greeted by several people from different directions at once.
Wilson leaned over and spoke just loud enough to be hear over the din. "Think we could run?"
Chase snorted. "Not fast enough." They followed in House's wake and Chase quit feeling like he was an extra in a Robin Hood movie as the people around him were dressed much the same or, in a few cases, far odder than he'd imaged it could get. There was a high squeal that cut through the noise and suddenly he was being hugged by Emma. "Uh. Hi."
She hugged him harder and then switched to Wilson. "You came! Hazzah!" She bounced on the toes of what looked like pointed little leather boots. He blinked and looked down at her simple dress with embroidery at the edges. She smiled up at him and wiggled the hem of his shirt, no, tunic. House had insisted they call it a tunic. "You look great. Has anyone told you about brass hats yet?"
Wilson shook his head, and Chase wanted to kick him for not reading the Handbook. It had a page about the ranks and the way the wider circlets on people's heads meant different things.
"Okay, it's pretty easy." She pointed at a man in what Chase thought might be Viking garb. "He's a duke, see how wide the band is on his head?" They nodded and she pointed to a young woman with a very thin band holding a large square of cloth on her head. "She doesn't have a rank, so hers is really thin." Emma beamed up at them. "Bow to the big brass hats and say good day to the tiny ones."
He blinked, but nodded anyway. It was a really simplified from the way the book explained it, but that'd work.
She started pulling them deeper into the crowd. "Come on, come on. You have to troll in. And then I'll show you around. Don't worry, everybody will know you are newbies so you don't have to try too hard."
They passed House, who was being hugged and slapped on the back by what looked like the whole crowd. He threw a pleading look at Wilson, who smirked at him and shrugged. Chase laughed as House stuck his tongue out at Wilson's back as Emma drug them deeper.
"Mom! I found them!"
Morgan smiled at them, her scars pulling one corner of her mouth. "I see that, honey. Go tell Master Gregory that his troll is paid and give him his token." Morgan handed Emma a little curled spoon and she zipped off in the direction they'd left House. Morgan turned to them. "I need one of you to sign for him." She pushed a sheet towards him and Chase quickly wrote the information down that he knew. She handed them each a spoon with the handle curled into a spiral. "This is your site token. It means you've paid troll. Don't worry, your fees have been taken care of, so you don't actually pay this time."
He turned the spoon over and looked at the little leather lace that was tied to it. "Why a spoon?"
Morgan smiled and showed them how to hold it. "Metalwork is something the Queen likes, so you get a traveler's spoon this event. If you come through the rest of the reign you'll end up with a full set of service for feasting." Someone at Morgan's shoulder went up on tip-toe and whispered in her ear. She listened and then smiled at them. "I must go. I will see you both later in the day."
As she went the crowd parted and everyone bowed to her until she'd gone past. Chase and Wilson exchanged looks. As Emma appeared at Wilson's elbow.
"She's a pretty Duchess isn't she?" Emma didn't wait for an answer as she lead them down another hallway. Chase was trying to keep track of where things were compared to other things as Emma lead them past the fighting field, the 'inn' which was really a kitchen with serving girls Emma's age, the huge room they were putting the Queen's Prize entries in. Emma lead them along a line of various people and their entries to a large man with books and pages of books laid out everywhere.
"Good Morrow, Lord Thomas."
The man looked up and shoved his glasses further up his nose. "Well...Good Morrow, little Emma." He smiled down at her and then looked up at Wilson and him. "Good Morrow."
Emma pulled out a chair across from Thomas and after a some struggling with her shirt, managed to sit down. "This are Master Gregory's guys." She pulled on Chase's arm to get him to sit next to her. "This is Robert and that's James."
Wilson set down on the other side of Emma and looked carefully at the book in front of him without touching it.
Thomas nudged it towards Wilson. "You can handle it. That's what these books are for, to look at and handle. They range in age." Thomas lifted a tiny book no bigger than Chase's palm. "This was a lady's Palms book. See the clasp?" Thomas flipped a tiny clasp and laid the open book in Emma's hands.
"Aren't they neat?" Emma turned pages and Chase looked at the tiny, tiny writing. It was cramped and he could hardly tell it was handwritten, but he knew it had to be from the way the ink darkened and faded every few words. "This one was a practice book for someone to learn to write books. See the ink?" She turned her face up to Wilson who nodded and smiled.
"Yes, I see." Wilson fingered a oversized sheet with large music score on it. He touched a symbol. "This isn't notation like we use today, right?"
Thomas smiled. "That's correct."
Chase leaned back and settled in to listen to Thomas talk.
****
House smirked as Chase and Wilson were lead across the room by Emma. "She's going to break them."
Richard looked up from the rattan sword he was wrapping with duck-tape. "Nah. She'll let them sit down at some point." Richard turned the weapon and shoved the tip into House's hands. He grabbed hold and watched as Richard worked the metal hilt into place. Richard glanced up from his weapon. "You break yourself?"
"Not exactly." House turned the weapon so that Richard could tape smoothly around the base of the hilt. "Leg tried to kill me. I died for a few minutes. Now it just hurts all the time."
Richard nodded. "That sucks." He turned the weapon again and started working on taping a different color tape along the 'cutting' edge. "Going to kill you now?"
"Probably not anytime soon." House watched Emma try to convince Juli to show Chase how to belly-dance. "She's going to be jail-bait soon."
"Don't I know it. I have Caitlin making the jail-bait belt and mugs." Richard stood and swung the sword to test it. Then he sat back down and started adding more tape to the hilt end. "Morgan seems to think you're involved with both of Emma's boy toys."
House smiled. "Boy toys?"
Richard shrugged. "Morgan has never recovered from her exposure to you." He sat the sword down and picked up a raw pole of rattan.
With a laugh, House repositioned his leg and held the end of the rattan pole Richard was turning into a lance. "She's right."
"Huh." Richard trimmed down the knots along the pole. "You content?"
House watched the slivers of rattan fly. "Yes. I think I am, actually."
Richard smiled at him. "Good." He stood and held out his hand to House. "Want to go watch the newbies get killed?"
House let Richard pull him to his feet. "Sounds good."
****
Chase settled next to House on the end of the wood bench that had appeared from nowhere. From House's scowl, Chase figured that someone had procured it just for House. Wilson settled onto the ground in front of the bench with heaved sigh.
"Oh, God, keep her away from me." He leaned back into Chase's legs.
Chase smirked down at him. "She just likes you." He shared a smile with House as Wilson groaned and covered his face with one hand.
House ruffled Wilson's hair. "Be happy she didn't try to get you to water bear."
He nodded because he'd watched the people lugging water and food out across the field to the various fighters. "She insisted we talk to a Herald."
"You decide on a name?"
"No. I don't even know what era or country I want to be." He'd looked it all over, but nothing had stood out in the way some of the people he'd spoken to him had talked about.
"I say early period. No tights that way." House caught something as it flew at his head. "Hold!"
Everyone echoed House's yell and the fighters in front of them froze. Chase blinked as House threw the metal thing he had at the guy with the black and gold stripped staff. The man went over to the fighters and suddenly Chase could see where the metal thing went. "What do they call that part of armor?"
"Elbow cup." House pointed towards the closer fighter. "They are supposed to only hit above the knee. No hitting the back of the head when the person isn't facing you to see it coming." House gestured to a lady with a sash that had a red blood drop in a circle on it. "She's first aid if something goes wrong."
They watched several fights and then they followed House back into the building and wandered through the entries being judged. Chase marveled at how House handled the various nervous people they talked to. How he just listened and encouraged without being too harsh. He'd consider it unlike House, except he'd seen House do this sort of thing before when he thought no one was watching.
They came up on a woman working on calligraphy in a blank page. She was so focused on what she was writing that she missed them completely giving them a chance to look over her entry carefully. It was a beautiful page of writing with a spot blocked out for a picture. The writing was spaced wonderfully and looked almost like a printer had done it.
"You're good."
She started and controlled it so fast that her pen lifted from the paper with barely a squiggle in the last letter. She blinked up at them. "Um. Thank you." She peered at House's clothing for a moment. "You're the one they are fawning over, aren't you?"
House tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Sure."
She snorted and carefully capped her pen. She shook out her hand as she spoke. "I'm Mór." She glanced down at the little bowl with the overflowing with little odds and ends. "Okay, you've been around events before. What's this supposed to be?" She touched a tiny metal item with the tip of her finger.
House picked it up and turned it over. "Nipple pick."
She blinked. "Oh. Okay."
"You pick thread knots out with the tip." House turned and stabbed Wilson in the chest with it. He turned back to her as Wilson yelped and yanked away. "Or you can do that."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." She plucked the nipple pick from House's hand and tucked in her belt pouch. Chase picked up a bead from the bowl. "Oh, isn't that one pretty? The lady said she made it herself." Mór leaned forward and flicked chocolate kisses from the bowl until she uncovered a wooden button. "Someone else said they made this one."
House picked up the button and turned it over. "Nice." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a scrap of cloth. "Here's mine to add to your treasures." He handed over the little square. On it was embordiered a Celtic knotted animal that it took Chase a moment to realize was either a wolf or a lion.
Her eyes lit up as she took it. "Oooh. A wolf! That's wonderful. Oh, and you even did the three dots." She held it out to Chase. "Look, isn't it great?"
He took it and titled it towards House. "How do you tell it's a wolf?"
Mór pointed to the ruff around the neck of the wolf. "They are stylized ruffs. Wolves look like this and lions have a little different shape." She took back the cloth. "Thank you so much."
"You do any scrolls yet?"
Mór leaned over and pulled sheets from a pouch by her foot. "No. I'm copying old reprints while I try to learn to write properly."
Chase touched the margin of the page she's been working on. "This looks pretty good to me."
"It's okay." Mór pointed to a letter on the first line. "See the little bit at the top? It's supposed to be more of a triangle, not a swish like it keeps coming out."
House flipped through the sheets Mór had handed him. "It's your pen. You'd need a quill to get it."
She sighed. "That's what I thought, but that'd require figuring out how to make a quill and I don't have a way to get the feathers."
House levered himself up. "Come on." They started down the row and Mór stayed right with House no matter what speed he tried to go. "Who's your Laurel?"
She pointed out an older lady that was laughing at something a tall thin man was saying. "Her."
"Ah." House turned them down another row. "She's fiber. You find anyone to talk to about the writing?"
"No. The Countess' friend does the illuminations on scrolls. They both keep trying to get me to do that." Mór looked up at House. "I don't want to really. I don't like painting."
He nodded as they stopped in front of Julianna. "Hey."
Chase blinked at Edward's beautiful dress and veil. His persona was flawless and if Chase hadn't known beforehand that Juli was a man he'd never had noticed. Then Juli opened her mouth and Edward's voice came out.
"Hey, Master Gregory. How's the leg?"
House knocked his walking stick against the edge of the table. "How's the knee?"
Juli smiled and waved her hand. "Lovely. What's this pretty creature you've brought me?"
House sat down and handed Juli sheets of paper from Mór's notebook. "She's the Countess Redbrooke's. What do you think?"
Juli looked over the writings and then looked at Mór. "You bitch!"
Wilson started forward, but House grabbed his arm. "That's what I thought. You have a slot?"
Juli snorted delicately and looked at Mór's bewildered expression. "Oh, you've not been told? Being called a bitch is a complement of your work."
"Oh." Mór brightened considerably. "That makes the day make so much better sense." She pulled out another sheet. "Do you know how to make the curl on the 'a' look proper on the fourth line?"
Taking the sheet, Juli looked it over and then carefully set it down. "What period are you trying for?" She leaned over to House as Mór went digging through her pouch for her notebook. "You do realize she's the best this Kingdom's ever seen, right?"
House nodded. "You have a slot don't you?"
Juli tapper her fingers on the sheets on the table. "I have one ready to fly. She's mine." Juli stood and gathered Mór with her and they set off towards the Countess that Mór had pointed out.
They watched them go. Chase helped House steady himself as he stood. "What slot?"
House headed off towards the inn and Chase trailed with Wilson bringing up the rear. "Juli only takes two apprentices at a time. We'll see in Court which one she discharges as having taught them all she can."
****
Late in the afternoon Chase found out that there was a schedule to the event. Not that anyone kept to it. He listened to the guy yell across the room. Wait, that was a Herald, he thought. Like the one that had talked to him about names, but not. The man announced Court in fifteen minutes along with certain people needing to find certain other people. He also reminded everyone to make sure they cleaned up after Court.
Chase followed Emma as she bounced her way down a hall.
"Mom says you can't wear a tabbard because then no one can see all of the tunic." She lead him into a room where Wilson was being accosted by several ladies. They were stripping off the tunic he'd worn all day and were readying the fancy one Morgan had shown him. Chase pulled his tunic off fast so no one felt the need to strip him.
Morgan seemed to float as she moved across the room to Wilson. "Gregory is involved with the fight Juli is having with Redbrooke over that wonderfully shy young lady that does the calligraphy." She tugged down the tunic so that it lay properly. "Which means he won't miss either of you until Court actually starts."
Chase pulled on his fancy tunic and allowed Morgan to fuss over him. "What do we have to do?"
She outlined it as Emma handed them poles and banners. Another person stuck their head in the door to say that Court was starting.
****
It was all a blur as they followed the little kids that were pages or something of the sort. Chase turned and faced the Court as Richard 'helped' House towards the front. Everyone was smiling and clapping. Several people had shouted it was about time. House was stood before the King and Queen. The King made a speech that Chase didn't even bother to follow. He concentrated on not dropping the banner they'd handed him.
Then a large group of people crowded forward and Chase watched as they took turns speaking and then they put a medallion over House's head and everyone was hugging him. Chase leaned over to Emma who was holding a mug and standing behind the Queen.
"What just happened?"
She smiled up at him. "They gave Master Gregory his Pelican. Cool, huh?"
He nodded even though he wasn't sure that the hell that meant. As the hugging died down Master Lynn asked to approach and then they were giving House a full dulcimer. Chase could see House was about to either cry or smack someone. Finally, they were released to sit and he gave the banner to a Herald. who was wearing a tabbard, that held his hand out for it. He sat down next to Mór and squished over as House shoved on him. Once they were settled and the Court had moved on to announcements that didn't make sense to him, Chase lifted the medalion from House's chest.
"What's a Pelican for?"
Mór leaned forward. "Oh. I know that one." She smiled at House. "It is for helping others without thought of reward."
Chase frowned. "I thought that was the Laurel one."
She shook her head. "No. A Laurel if for being a master of a chosen whatever. Like pottery or sewing."
He smirked at House just to annoy him. "Or Embroidery."
****
Wilson dropped to sit on the couch as Chase groaned, yanking at his shoe. House hummed as he headed into the kitchen. "So what do they call you now instead of Master?"
House handed each of them a beer and settled on his spot on the couch. He batted Chase's hands away from his shoe and started unlacing. "Same thing."
"Huh." Wilson leaned his head back. "The feast was weird."
Chase took a pull of his beer. "The cucumber soup was awful."
House snorted. "Be happy it had bread and butter. You can get through any course as long as there's butter."
"Seriously?"
"No." House made a face. "Some period food just can't be eaten."
"I liked the meat though."
"Butter."
Wilson touched the bottom of his beer to House's shoulder. "You were happy. It was nice."
"Whatever." House stood, leaving his empty beer on the coffee table and disappeared into the bedroom.
Chase nudged Wilson with his blue foot. "He liked that thing Lynn gave him."
"Yeah. Saw that." Wilson rubbed his neck. "We need a bigger place. I'll start house hunting tomorrow."
Chase nodded and pulled Wilson up off the couch and they followed House to bed.
****
Rating: NC-17
Grouping: House/Wilson/Chase
Disclaimer: Don't own them, as we all know.
Summary: House worried can be both good and bad. In this part: A SCA event.
Warnings: Mention of abuse in the past to more than one character (as if you hadn't already figured that out).
Beta: nightshadow_t2
(Part 24)
****
Chase ignored House and Wilson as they argued about having gotten lost on the way to the event. Looking around, Chase tried to work out where they were supposed to go. There were people everywhere. He blinked as he saw what he thought was a lady changing clothes in the middle of the parking lot.
"Ah, House..."
House turned his head and then grinned at him "Elizabethan's a bitch to get into in a tiny bathroom stall." He waved at the lady that had dropped the sheet they'd been using to block the woman from view. Then he shoved Wilson with the tip of the walking stick he was using as a cane. "Riding in a car dressed in that shit is even worse."
Thinking about the logistics of hoops and car doors, Chase nearly walked into Wilson as they approached the door. House snorted in amusement and they were hit with a mass of sound as they entered the building. Chase stopped just inside the door and stared. He didn't feel bad about it because Wilson was gaping. They were left behind as House was greeted by several people from different directions at once.
Wilson leaned over and spoke just loud enough to be hear over the din. "Think we could run?"
Chase snorted. "Not fast enough." They followed in House's wake and Chase quit feeling like he was an extra in a Robin Hood movie as the people around him were dressed much the same or, in a few cases, far odder than he'd imaged it could get. There was a high squeal that cut through the noise and suddenly he was being hugged by Emma. "Uh. Hi."
She hugged him harder and then switched to Wilson. "You came! Hazzah!" She bounced on the toes of what looked like pointed little leather boots. He blinked and looked down at her simple dress with embroidery at the edges. She smiled up at him and wiggled the hem of his shirt, no, tunic. House had insisted they call it a tunic. "You look great. Has anyone told you about brass hats yet?"
Wilson shook his head, and Chase wanted to kick him for not reading the Handbook. It had a page about the ranks and the way the wider circlets on people's heads meant different things.
"Okay, it's pretty easy." She pointed at a man in what Chase thought might be Viking garb. "He's a duke, see how wide the band is on his head?" They nodded and she pointed to a young woman with a very thin band holding a large square of cloth on her head. "She doesn't have a rank, so hers is really thin." Emma beamed up at them. "Bow to the big brass hats and say good day to the tiny ones."
He blinked, but nodded anyway. It was a really simplified from the way the book explained it, but that'd work.
She started pulling them deeper into the crowd. "Come on, come on. You have to troll in. And then I'll show you around. Don't worry, everybody will know you are newbies so you don't have to try too hard."
They passed House, who was being hugged and slapped on the back by what looked like the whole crowd. He threw a pleading look at Wilson, who smirked at him and shrugged. Chase laughed as House stuck his tongue out at Wilson's back as Emma drug them deeper.
"Mom! I found them!"
Morgan smiled at them, her scars pulling one corner of her mouth. "I see that, honey. Go tell Master Gregory that his troll is paid and give him his token." Morgan handed Emma a little curled spoon and she zipped off in the direction they'd left House. Morgan turned to them. "I need one of you to sign for him." She pushed a sheet towards him and Chase quickly wrote the information down that he knew. She handed them each a spoon with the handle curled into a spiral. "This is your site token. It means you've paid troll. Don't worry, your fees have been taken care of, so you don't actually pay this time."
He turned the spoon over and looked at the little leather lace that was tied to it. "Why a spoon?"
Morgan smiled and showed them how to hold it. "Metalwork is something the Queen likes, so you get a traveler's spoon this event. If you come through the rest of the reign you'll end up with a full set of service for feasting." Someone at Morgan's shoulder went up on tip-toe and whispered in her ear. She listened and then smiled at them. "I must go. I will see you both later in the day."
As she went the crowd parted and everyone bowed to her until she'd gone past. Chase and Wilson exchanged looks. As Emma appeared at Wilson's elbow.
"She's a pretty Duchess isn't she?" Emma didn't wait for an answer as she lead them down another hallway. Chase was trying to keep track of where things were compared to other things as Emma lead them past the fighting field, the 'inn' which was really a kitchen with serving girls Emma's age, the huge room they were putting the Queen's Prize entries in. Emma lead them along a line of various people and their entries to a large man with books and pages of books laid out everywhere.
"Good Morrow, Lord Thomas."
The man looked up and shoved his glasses further up his nose. "Well...Good Morrow, little Emma." He smiled down at her and then looked up at Wilson and him. "Good Morrow."
Emma pulled out a chair across from Thomas and after a some struggling with her shirt, managed to sit down. "This are Master Gregory's guys." She pulled on Chase's arm to get him to sit next to her. "This is Robert and that's James."
Wilson set down on the other side of Emma and looked carefully at the book in front of him without touching it.
Thomas nudged it towards Wilson. "You can handle it. That's what these books are for, to look at and handle. They range in age." Thomas lifted a tiny book no bigger than Chase's palm. "This was a lady's Palms book. See the clasp?" Thomas flipped a tiny clasp and laid the open book in Emma's hands.
"Aren't they neat?" Emma turned pages and Chase looked at the tiny, tiny writing. It was cramped and he could hardly tell it was handwritten, but he knew it had to be from the way the ink darkened and faded every few words. "This one was a practice book for someone to learn to write books. See the ink?" She turned her face up to Wilson who nodded and smiled.
"Yes, I see." Wilson fingered a oversized sheet with large music score on it. He touched a symbol. "This isn't notation like we use today, right?"
Thomas smiled. "That's correct."
Chase leaned back and settled in to listen to Thomas talk.
****
House smirked as Chase and Wilson were lead across the room by Emma. "She's going to break them."
Richard looked up from the rattan sword he was wrapping with duck-tape. "Nah. She'll let them sit down at some point." Richard turned the weapon and shoved the tip into House's hands. He grabbed hold and watched as Richard worked the metal hilt into place. Richard glanced up from his weapon. "You break yourself?"
"Not exactly." House turned the weapon so that Richard could tape smoothly around the base of the hilt. "Leg tried to kill me. I died for a few minutes. Now it just hurts all the time."
Richard nodded. "That sucks." He turned the weapon again and started working on taping a different color tape along the 'cutting' edge. "Going to kill you now?"
"Probably not anytime soon." House watched Emma try to convince Juli to show Chase how to belly-dance. "She's going to be jail-bait soon."
"Don't I know it. I have Caitlin making the jail-bait belt and mugs." Richard stood and swung the sword to test it. Then he sat back down and started adding more tape to the hilt end. "Morgan seems to think you're involved with both of Emma's boy toys."
House smiled. "Boy toys?"
Richard shrugged. "Morgan has never recovered from her exposure to you." He sat the sword down and picked up a raw pole of rattan.
With a laugh, House repositioned his leg and held the end of the rattan pole Richard was turning into a lance. "She's right."
"Huh." Richard trimmed down the knots along the pole. "You content?"
House watched the slivers of rattan fly. "Yes. I think I am, actually."
Richard smiled at him. "Good." He stood and held out his hand to House. "Want to go watch the newbies get killed?"
House let Richard pull him to his feet. "Sounds good."
****
Chase settled next to House on the end of the wood bench that had appeared from nowhere. From House's scowl, Chase figured that someone had procured it just for House. Wilson settled onto the ground in front of the bench with heaved sigh.
"Oh, God, keep her away from me." He leaned back into Chase's legs.
Chase smirked down at him. "She just likes you." He shared a smile with House as Wilson groaned and covered his face with one hand.
House ruffled Wilson's hair. "Be happy she didn't try to get you to water bear."
He nodded because he'd watched the people lugging water and food out across the field to the various fighters. "She insisted we talk to a Herald."
"You decide on a name?"
"No. I don't even know what era or country I want to be." He'd looked it all over, but nothing had stood out in the way some of the people he'd spoken to him had talked about.
"I say early period. No tights that way." House caught something as it flew at his head. "Hold!"
Everyone echoed House's yell and the fighters in front of them froze. Chase blinked as House threw the metal thing he had at the guy with the black and gold stripped staff. The man went over to the fighters and suddenly Chase could see where the metal thing went. "What do they call that part of armor?"
"Elbow cup." House pointed towards the closer fighter. "They are supposed to only hit above the knee. No hitting the back of the head when the person isn't facing you to see it coming." House gestured to a lady with a sash that had a red blood drop in a circle on it. "She's first aid if something goes wrong."
They watched several fights and then they followed House back into the building and wandered through the entries being judged. Chase marveled at how House handled the various nervous people they talked to. How he just listened and encouraged without being too harsh. He'd consider it unlike House, except he'd seen House do this sort of thing before when he thought no one was watching.
They came up on a woman working on calligraphy in a blank page. She was so focused on what she was writing that she missed them completely giving them a chance to look over her entry carefully. It was a beautiful page of writing with a spot blocked out for a picture. The writing was spaced wonderfully and looked almost like a printer had done it.
"You're good."
She started and controlled it so fast that her pen lifted from the paper with barely a squiggle in the last letter. She blinked up at them. "Um. Thank you." She peered at House's clothing for a moment. "You're the one they are fawning over, aren't you?"
House tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Sure."
She snorted and carefully capped her pen. She shook out her hand as she spoke. "I'm Mór." She glanced down at the little bowl with the overflowing with little odds and ends. "Okay, you've been around events before. What's this supposed to be?" She touched a tiny metal item with the tip of her finger.
House picked it up and turned it over. "Nipple pick."
She blinked. "Oh. Okay."
"You pick thread knots out with the tip." House turned and stabbed Wilson in the chest with it. He turned back to her as Wilson yelped and yanked away. "Or you can do that."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." She plucked the nipple pick from House's hand and tucked in her belt pouch. Chase picked up a bead from the bowl. "Oh, isn't that one pretty? The lady said she made it herself." Mór leaned forward and flicked chocolate kisses from the bowl until she uncovered a wooden button. "Someone else said they made this one."
House picked up the button and turned it over. "Nice." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a scrap of cloth. "Here's mine to add to your treasures." He handed over the little square. On it was embordiered a Celtic knotted animal that it took Chase a moment to realize was either a wolf or a lion.
Her eyes lit up as she took it. "Oooh. A wolf! That's wonderful. Oh, and you even did the three dots." She held it out to Chase. "Look, isn't it great?"
He took it and titled it towards House. "How do you tell it's a wolf?"
Mór pointed to the ruff around the neck of the wolf. "They are stylized ruffs. Wolves look like this and lions have a little different shape." She took back the cloth. "Thank you so much."
"You do any scrolls yet?"
Mór leaned over and pulled sheets from a pouch by her foot. "No. I'm copying old reprints while I try to learn to write properly."
Chase touched the margin of the page she's been working on. "This looks pretty good to me."
"It's okay." Mór pointed to a letter on the first line. "See the little bit at the top? It's supposed to be more of a triangle, not a swish like it keeps coming out."
House flipped through the sheets Mór had handed him. "It's your pen. You'd need a quill to get it."
She sighed. "That's what I thought, but that'd require figuring out how to make a quill and I don't have a way to get the feathers."
House levered himself up. "Come on." They started down the row and Mór stayed right with House no matter what speed he tried to go. "Who's your Laurel?"
She pointed out an older lady that was laughing at something a tall thin man was saying. "Her."
"Ah." House turned them down another row. "She's fiber. You find anyone to talk to about the writing?"
"No. The Countess' friend does the illuminations on scrolls. They both keep trying to get me to do that." Mór looked up at House. "I don't want to really. I don't like painting."
He nodded as they stopped in front of Julianna. "Hey."
Chase blinked at Edward's beautiful dress and veil. His persona was flawless and if Chase hadn't known beforehand that Juli was a man he'd never had noticed. Then Juli opened her mouth and Edward's voice came out.
"Hey, Master Gregory. How's the leg?"
House knocked his walking stick against the edge of the table. "How's the knee?"
Juli smiled and waved her hand. "Lovely. What's this pretty creature you've brought me?"
House sat down and handed Juli sheets of paper from Mór's notebook. "She's the Countess Redbrooke's. What do you think?"
Juli looked over the writings and then looked at Mór. "You bitch!"
Wilson started forward, but House grabbed his arm. "That's what I thought. You have a slot?"
Juli snorted delicately and looked at Mór's bewildered expression. "Oh, you've not been told? Being called a bitch is a complement of your work."
"Oh." Mór brightened considerably. "That makes the day make so much better sense." She pulled out another sheet. "Do you know how to make the curl on the 'a' look proper on the fourth line?"
Taking the sheet, Juli looked it over and then carefully set it down. "What period are you trying for?" She leaned over to House as Mór went digging through her pouch for her notebook. "You do realize she's the best this Kingdom's ever seen, right?"
House nodded. "You have a slot don't you?"
Juli tapper her fingers on the sheets on the table. "I have one ready to fly. She's mine." Juli stood and gathered Mór with her and they set off towards the Countess that Mór had pointed out.
They watched them go. Chase helped House steady himself as he stood. "What slot?"
House headed off towards the inn and Chase trailed with Wilson bringing up the rear. "Juli only takes two apprentices at a time. We'll see in Court which one she discharges as having taught them all she can."
****
Late in the afternoon Chase found out that there was a schedule to the event. Not that anyone kept to it. He listened to the guy yell across the room. Wait, that was a Herald, he thought. Like the one that had talked to him about names, but not. The man announced Court in fifteen minutes along with certain people needing to find certain other people. He also reminded everyone to make sure they cleaned up after Court.
Chase followed Emma as she bounced her way down a hall.
"Mom says you can't wear a tabbard because then no one can see all of the tunic." She lead him into a room where Wilson was being accosted by several ladies. They were stripping off the tunic he'd worn all day and were readying the fancy one Morgan had shown him. Chase pulled his tunic off fast so no one felt the need to strip him.
Morgan seemed to float as she moved across the room to Wilson. "Gregory is involved with the fight Juli is having with Redbrooke over that wonderfully shy young lady that does the calligraphy." She tugged down the tunic so that it lay properly. "Which means he won't miss either of you until Court actually starts."
Chase pulled on his fancy tunic and allowed Morgan to fuss over him. "What do we have to do?"
She outlined it as Emma handed them poles and banners. Another person stuck their head in the door to say that Court was starting.
****
It was all a blur as they followed the little kids that were pages or something of the sort. Chase turned and faced the Court as Richard 'helped' House towards the front. Everyone was smiling and clapping. Several people had shouted it was about time. House was stood before the King and Queen. The King made a speech that Chase didn't even bother to follow. He concentrated on not dropping the banner they'd handed him.
Then a large group of people crowded forward and Chase watched as they took turns speaking and then they put a medallion over House's head and everyone was hugging him. Chase leaned over to Emma who was holding a mug and standing behind the Queen.
"What just happened?"
She smiled up at him. "They gave Master Gregory his Pelican. Cool, huh?"
He nodded even though he wasn't sure that the hell that meant. As the hugging died down Master Lynn asked to approach and then they were giving House a full dulcimer. Chase could see House was about to either cry or smack someone. Finally, they were released to sit and he gave the banner to a Herald. who was wearing a tabbard, that held his hand out for it. He sat down next to Mór and squished over as House shoved on him. Once they were settled and the Court had moved on to announcements that didn't make sense to him, Chase lifted the medalion from House's chest.
"What's a Pelican for?"
Mór leaned forward. "Oh. I know that one." She smiled at House. "It is for helping others without thought of reward."
Chase frowned. "I thought that was the Laurel one."
She shook her head. "No. A Laurel if for being a master of a chosen whatever. Like pottery or sewing."
He smirked at House just to annoy him. "Or Embroidery."
****
Wilson dropped to sit on the couch as Chase groaned, yanking at his shoe. House hummed as he headed into the kitchen. "So what do they call you now instead of Master?"
House handed each of them a beer and settled on his spot on the couch. He batted Chase's hands away from his shoe and started unlacing. "Same thing."
"Huh." Wilson leaned his head back. "The feast was weird."
Chase took a pull of his beer. "The cucumber soup was awful."
House snorted. "Be happy it had bread and butter. You can get through any course as long as there's butter."
"Seriously?"
"No." House made a face. "Some period food just can't be eaten."
"I liked the meat though."
"Butter."
Wilson touched the bottom of his beer to House's shoulder. "You were happy. It was nice."
"Whatever." House stood, leaving his empty beer on the coffee table and disappeared into the bedroom.
Chase nudged Wilson with his blue foot. "He liked that thing Lynn gave him."
"Yeah. Saw that." Wilson rubbed his neck. "We need a bigger place. I'll start house hunting tomorrow."
Chase nodded and pulled Wilson up off the couch and they followed House to bed.
****