The Best Revenge

[rix_scaedu]

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."

The grandson spoke up from the far end of the table.  "However many greats he was Uncle Richard dying means that you’re going to get revenge on someone?  Who, why, and how?"  Young Chris, Helen wasn't sure where the time had gone to let him be over twenty, did have the gift of being succinct.

"When I was a girl," she began, "living in the Dombrey Street house with my mother and her parents, my father's parents and his brother's family lived right nearby.  His parents, my grandparents, wanted to treat me like their other grandchildren but his brother's wife said I wasn't a real member of the family because my parents hadn't been married.  My parents had wanted to be married before he went off with the Army to Korea, but my grandmothers had both wanted a big family wedding and that just didn't happen before he had to leave.  Then, of course, he was killed.  My mother was expecting, my grandmothers knew it, and everyone knew that it was my grandmothers' fault.  I remember Mum trying to tell everyone that they'd snuck off to the Registry Office in Sydney and gotten married with a couple of his Army mates as witnesses, but no-one believed her, and she gave up after a while.  My uncle's wife insisted that if the Ashgroves wanted to have anything to do with her daughters, they couldn't have anything to do with me.  Grandfather Ashgrove sent us some money every week, with extra at Christmas and my birthday, but that was all he could do without getting her twisted out of shape.  When I started school, I was in the same class as her twin girls, and she encouraged them and their older sister to bully me."  She paused, drank a mouthful of tea, and went on.  "It lasted all the way through school.  They called me names, wouldn’t sit next to me or do group work with me, and they encouraged the rest of the class to do the same.  Their mother really got her knickers in a knot when I stayed on in high school after the minimum leaving age - said a girl like me shouldn't be allowed a good education.  When my magic came in, she tried to keep me out of the Ashgrove Circle - Richard was the one who pointed out that the Circle's covenants said nothing about legitimate descent."  She took another drink of tea and smiled conspiratorially.  "The thing is, the bossy Ashgrove twin, Peggy Willis as she is now, wants to be the next Master of the Ashgrove Circle.  She and her sisters, and their children are 'encouraging' everyone else to withdraw from the candidature before the conclave.  Essentially, she wants to win without opposition."

One of her granddaughters, Vanessa, said, "When you say 'encouraging' do you mean that they're threatening people?  With magic?  isn't that wrong?  Won't the Circle come down on them like a ton of bricks?"

"The problem is," replied her grandmother, "that at the moment there is no Master to speak up and remind people of the consequences of their actions.  Something like this did happen back in '74 when we last needed an enclave and the rebound effect was...unpleasant.  Richard's first act as Master was to be the disciplinarian and I think that rather took the shine off his elevation for him."

Her daughter, Xanthe, asked, "So, what do you want us to do?"

"Refuse to remove yourself from the candidature, all of you," replied Helen.  "As I see it, Peggy Willis would only win if there was no other possible candidate.”  A murmur of agreement went around the table.  “Secondly, encourage everyone who's eligible to attend the conclave, whether or not they're a practitioner."

Vanessa said, "I thought that only practitioners could be in the Circle."

"That's where words are important," replied her grandmother.  "The way the covenants are written every descendant of George Ashgrove is in the Circle, practitioner or not.  The Circle draws on every descendant's exuded magic, practitioner or not.  Every descendant is vulnerable to the possibility of rebound effects if the shared magic is used to harm.  Every descendant has a vote."  She added, "Every descendant is the potential new Master."

"So, the new Master doesn't have to be a practitioner?"  Chris was obviously rolling the idea over in his mind.

"That's right," agreed Helen.  "Also, the conclave doesn't actually vote.  It's more of a group meditation thing to achieve a subconscious consensus.  I have to wonder whether Cousin Peggy has forgotten that.  It was fifty years ago."

In a thoughtful voice Frances, her foster daughter and cousin on the Ashgrove side, said, “And any of us who are younger than you don’t know that.  She could be banking on it.”  Then she asked, "What are the actual chances that one of us could be chosen?  I mean it would be a tremendous blow to Cousin Peggy, which would be good, but do any of us, would any of us, want to be Master?"