The Passing of Richard Ashgrove

Of course, the best way to get yourself up-to-date on your writing and typing up is to add another thing to write and/or type to the rotation....

Richard Ashgrove's death was an easy one, for him.  He slipped loose from this mortal coil at the age of a hundred and six while sitting in dappled shade on the verandah of his house, just after finishing his mid-morning cup of tea with two biscuits.  He had been counting the native bees visiting the roses in the garden bed beyond the railing, and the only sign that his housekeeper had that anything was happening was his soft sound of surprise as his life ended.

Having been a prudent and thoughtful man, Richard's will was up-to-date and the expectations of his family and loved ones had been managed so that no-one was surprised or upset by the disposition of his goods, assets and real estate.  The only messiness that ensued was in matters that he could not control.

At the time of his death Richard had been Master of the Ashgrove Circle for fifty years, Keeper and Guardian of the Gneiss Linking Stone for sixty-two years, and Grand Master of the Most Far and Further Diaspora Circle for forty-seven years.  He was, as previously stated, a prudent and thoughtful man.  He was also mentally stable with a strong sense of justice and fair play.  Most current magical practitioners in the imported tradition he practiced had never known a time when he was not all three of those things, so they had no understanding of how much he had influenced the magic they used and the practice of those around them.  Older practitioners did, and many took protective steps.

The active attempts to influence the decision of who would take up Richard’s vacated positions became blatant.  It is, perhaps, a pity that some of those self-nominated candidates really didn't understand what they were trying to get themselves into. 

Enter Some Characters

This whole adding something to the writing and typing cycle thing might be working.

The Master of the Circle of Shadows was pontificating.  There was no other word for it - he was sitting in a throne-like chair and was lit from above by an angled light that left most of his face shadowed by the hood that hung low over his forehead.  The rest of the Circle were facing him in an arc, the seven Initiates seated on their padded footstools and the five Acolytes kneeling on cushions behind them.  All of them wore black robes made on the same pattern as the Master's, with the Acolytes' unadorned, and the Initiates' illuminated with silver embroidery.  The Master's robe, of course, was picked out in gold and silver thread.  Laurence Boyle, one of the Acolytes, privately thought that the Master had taken the Emperor Palpatine aesthetic rather too much to heart.  He'd also come to the conclusion that the Circle of Shadows was as much a personality cult as an arcane society, and was trying to plan a gentle exit on his own terms.  At the moment though, the Master was saying something interesting and perhaps useful.

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The Best Revenge

Here we are, back with piece number three in this series.

Helen Congrove was sitting at her kitchen table with her daughter, foster daughter, two granddaughters and a grandson.  "Richard Ashgrove was one of the best of us," she said, "and he will be missed.  He was a hundred and six so he didn’t have his life cut short, but his passing does mean that there are now...opportunities."  She smiled, it wasn't a particularly nice smile, and went on, "One of the best pieces of advice that Richard ever gave me, and he gave me a lot of advice when we were both younger, was that the best revenge is a life lived full and well.  I've followed that advice for years, and now I'm going to take it a little harder."

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