After 1950

Claudio joining the Council, fully aware of the kind of shape of work that it needs, is of course significantly transformational. He certainly has arguments with people – and not just his mother – about how to do that, but in general, there is some excellent progress. Part of that is, of course, Claudio’s desire to dive into the history and look at the patterns over time, which is going to take him some time, but keep giving useful results.

Silvia continues as Head until she retires in 1960. I’m not sure who ends up as Head after that, but it’s possibly Maisie Wallace (who made her first Challenge at the same time as Gabe, and was successful the next time). She has a background in administration and business, and honestly, the Council could use some better process structure on several levels.

Leo’s future does follow what Thesan and Isembard mention in A New Landscape when they’re talking with Silvia. Leo reads History at Oxford and apprentices in Ritual magic with Geoffrey Carillon. He resigns himself to a bit of travel and being away from Schola.

He’d have deferred National Service due to his university studies, but probably have served 2 years after that. It’s something Leo would absolutely have struggled with. (Barracks life is extremely hard on people with magic as a rule, due to the number of people around, and Leo is particularly sensitive to the magic of a given space.)

On his return, he comes back to Schola, spends a year or two working with Borea Leonard until her retirement, and then takes over teaching Ritual and helping Isembard with his various aspects of tending to Schola. He has a particular interest in the intersection of place and ritual, with an obvious focus on Schola and Dinas Emrys, given his family, but doing work to look at the other four schools, locations in London, and various of the demesne estates, among other places.

Thesan and Isembard retire in the 1970s, and I suspect Leo does become Head at that point, finally reunifying the roles of Head of the School with Schola’s magical champion in one person rather than two.

Avigail is quite straightforward: she apprentices with the Penelopes, and goes into cheerfully untangling other people’s problems as a life work. I’m not entirely sure who she apprentices to: possibly Gabe’s first apprentice (before Isobel) who we haven’t met on the page (yet, anyway).

As mentioned in A New Landscape, Ros goes up to Oxford with Leo, reads Modern Languages, cuts an absolute swath through a number of assumptions. She does go into the diplomatic side, mostly working in the non-magical community, but doing bits and pieces for Albion as needed. (Hereswith, updated for the 1950s and onwards, more or less: social events, being a perfect guest, and quietly negotiating a number of things in the background to solve problems.)

This does mean she periodically runs into Circe Summers / Cecily Styles, who is never entirely sure what to make of Ros and gives her a wide berth.

Ros and Peter Wallace do try dating at one point for about three months in their fifth year. They get to ‘wow, this isn’t working relatively quickly’, refuse to let it get in the way of their excellent friendship, and treat each other like beloved exes for the rest of their lives.

Jasper’s strength of magic and his interest in infrastructure lead him into exploring engineering. He does a little bit during his own period of National Service right after Schola in 1950, before working with Pen Stirling’s father (also an engineer) to apprentice and get the relevant training. (Still a possible path in the 1950s rather than via university training).

He ends up mostly working within the magical community (so he can use that strength of magic) but focusing on improving roads, bridges, and other communal structures. Over time, they build an additional cottage for him near Ytene, so he can see his family (and the many many horses) and help out with that when he’s got the time.

After a lot of dithering, Peter does not try to go on to University. Instead, via connections in Many Are The Waters, he sets himself up on a trajectory for high-level administration within Albion. He also does National Service right after leaving Schola.

Once he’s back, he spends some time working in the Temple of Healing, in the Ministry, and the administrative arm of the Courts before settling into the first one, and becoming the chief administrator for the Temple of Healing later in life. He finds dealing with the Healers a little easier when it comes to questions of family and status: they care a lot more about skills than background as a rule.

Ursula continues being Ursula to the fullest extent possible, generally amusing everyone around her. She and Jim do settle down to start having children, one born in late 1951, and one in 1953, before Ursula goes back to insisting people do better. She also continues her hobby of being an excellent matchmaker, though she does not do so for her brother or his particular friends.

Garin continues working, possibly excessively, on methods to remove radiation from soil, water, and air via alchemical processes. It’s an extremely slow bit of research, because there are so many variables to consider, but he does steadily produce real innovations that reduce ongoing damage, especially when it comes to the larger ecosystem and magical creatures and plants. He’s also vastly happier doing this than he was earlier in life. Once Silvia retires from the Council, they spend some time collaborating – Silvia’s approaches to innovation and Garin’s precision around testing all variables turn out to work well together.

Artemis and Theo remain extremely close as adults. Besides their regular roles in the Guard, they end up working together on short term assignments that involve a spot of espionage or other hidden activity in both western and eastern Europe as the Cold War gets going. As a team, they are scarily effective.

Kate and Giles are torn between being glad their children have got the best possible support, and wishing they weren’t both in dangerous situations at the same time.

Edmund and Pen marry in the late summer of 1949. He settles down into learning how to manage a large and complex estate, with the help of Benton’s chosen successor. And she delights in her cryptographical work, continuing to work closely with Giles and Cammie once she’s done with her formal apprenticeship.

He also, of course, continues his work for MI6, making regular trips to foreign places to do this or that, often with Pen. (Everyone admits that it is actually quite handy to have a cryptographer on hand sometimes, plus there are places they can get access as a couple that would be harder for someone on their own.) Starting in the mid-1950s, they do have children, for the next generation in the family.

It takes Domitilla a while to figure out what she wants to do with herself after Unknown Depths, but she does settle into a life at Arundel. She rather delights in Garin escorting her at various social events, and the fact that it makes a number of people look at them warily. (She also enjoys Ursula and Jim coming along in the wake of that and dealing with any number of plots she can hear about later.)

She ends up spending some time at the Temple of Healing as a useful reservoir for magical power (usually helping with more complex things like lengthy surgeries, replenishing the vitality of patient and Healers as needed). Otherwise, she settles into reading widely, attending a variety of lectures and events in Trellech, and generally doing what she wants when she wants.

Once Ursula and Jim have children, she also discovers she does enjoy being a perhaps eccentric aunt, and becomes more confident dealing with small children. Or at least those specific small children.