But at least this time Rose fetched Renée up from Downside first. Renée's been reacquainting herself with life; Charlie has been catching her up. Belle was a small child when her mother died, and her mother has spoken with her a little, but mostly wants to catch up on the past decades from Charlie, who is more or less as she left him.
Today Renée is ready, she says, to meet her son-in-law and grandchildren.
They walk, because why not. Céleste is obliged to leave Rainier at home; creatures more mythical than grandchildren are not for today's revelations for Renée. Renée is living with Charlie, of course, in his cottage that he has allowed Belle to renovate but not expand.
Belle knocks on the door. Charlie opens it, and holds out his arms to solicit hugs from granddaughters. Céleste provides gladly.
Renée is sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea, and she peers with restrained curiosity at Yseult and at Céleste.
"Maman, this is Yseult, and this is Céleste," says Belle, "and of course this is my husband."
"Hello," says Renée with a tentative smile. "Won't you sit down?"
Renée blinks. "It's - good. A lot to get used to."
"So I'm told," laughs Renée. "Which is nice. There are a lot of places and things I hadn't seen yet."
"I can take you anywhere you'd like to go. Kemet is nice; my student Luc manages enchanting there. And of course Yseult is old enough to go places without me or her papa, now."
"I am! There are some beautiful places in the world," says Yseult. (She decides not to mention that she has considered visiting the moon. This isn't the time.)
"I have never heard of them before," remarks Renée.
"They live very far away."
"I acquired their language and spoke with them and then laid enchantments on some of their villages and crops, and made several of them immortal, although not all. They may want to send me a student if they can find someone with the inclination."
"I think it would be nice if you had another student," says Yseult. "If it was a good student."
"It has to be a good student. Luc is good," says Céleste. "Students have to learn the long way around instead of magicking knowing things because Maman has to know they can be trusted."
"Yes," says Yseult. "It would be no good to anyone if they were a bad student and you had to send them back."
"And with Jane broken again, I am even more limited in my ability to recover from particularly malicious choices another enchanter could make," says Belle. "So, the long way. Luc was a lucky find, and of course I have known Yseult her whole life and therefore she did not have to learn the long way, although the books nonetheless seem to interest her."
"I don't very much," says Céleste. "They are technical and long."
"It's very possible," says Yseult. "A few years ago I did not like them as much."
"They are dull," says Céleste firmly. "And badly written. I like stories better."
Belle reaches over the table to pat her mother's hand.