He went inside that small, comfort-rich house. They were both there, by good fortune. His mother was preparing the evening meal early. Ambroise was sitting at the table, leaning on an elbow, and they were talking quietly, easily. He paused in the doorway a moment, taking that in. The pleasure it gave. Then his mother saw him, and cried out, and he became…he became a part of the pleasure as they embraced.

He cried. He mocked himself for doing so, but he wept, holding them.

Eventually they released him and stepped back. Ambroise went across the way—he was moving well enough, Thierry thought, watching him—and returned with a flask of the pale golden wine used for the rites. Thierry raised an eyebrow, and his stepfather laughed. His mother set out three cups. They toasted his return.

“Orane is safe for you now?” Ambroise asked.

“I think it must be. The new provost would not have sent me word if he didn’t think it was.”

“You trust him?” his mother asked.

“I do. He’s a friend.”

Medor was. He really was. Thierry was looking forward to seeing him. Likely in the morning.

Over the chicken and the beans he asked the question he needed to. “Did you receive an offer?” He was looking at Ambroise, who flushed crimson, amusingly.

“The…new post? That ridiculous thing? Oh, Jad, Thierry. You knew about that?”

“I did. Didn’t seem ridiculous to me,” he said.

“Nor to me,” his mother said, very seriously.

“High cleric of Orane? Please!”

“You said no?”

“Of course I did! Me? In the Great Sanctuary? At this stage of my life? The managing of everyone there? Of…of everything? Please!” Ambroise said again. “I am an old man and I like where I am.”

“You are not an old man,” Adelie said.

Ambroise sighed. “But I do like where I am. Allow me that?”

“Did they not also offer you high cleric of the university?”

Ambroise glared at him, trying for outrage and failing. “You seem very well informed about this, for a man who has been hiding in the countryside.”

Thierry grinned.

His stepfather’s expression changed. “Wait! Did…did you suggest it? Thierry!”

“I might have taken note that, with what happened to Hutin Peyre, there were two positions that needed filling, not one, and they didn’t have to be merged as they’d been with him.”

“And you…proposed this to…?”

Thierry cleared his throat. “A woman of the court who has the ear of the queen, who had already decided Peyre was too obviously a servant of the Barratins to remain. Ambroise, you wouldn’t even have to change sanctuaries, yours is part of the university. And the students need a man like you.”

“A man like me.” Ambroise tried to make a jest of it. “And what is that?”

“Decent. Honourable. Wise. For starters.”