"Who was the founder of this covenant?" She smiles and give Stultus an direct look.
Stultus frowns, rubbing his forehead. "Give me a second, I'm trying to remember. Zen--something... no, no, I'm sorry, I remember now! Apollodorus of Jerbiton, of course."
"There was no Apollodorus of Jerbiton. He is a phantom." She chuckles at that. "I can presume that by your almost saying something else that you know the correct name and lineage."
Stultus smiles, inclining his head. "You raised a Fool, Mater Cara. You didn't raise an idiot."
"Do you enjoy your Gentle Gift?"
Stultus chuckles quietly. "Whether I enjoy it or it enjoys me is still an open question, but... I couldn't be what I am or do what I do without it. So on balance, I'd say yes." He regards Cumhachd with interest, content for the moment to field her questions as they come -- he's really curious what she's leading up to.
"Don't you wonder why Eskil doesn't have it?"
Stultus blinks. "I can't say that that particular question has ever crossed my mind, no. I've always assumed it is inborn, just like its mirror image. But..." he says slowly, his gaze wandering about the room as he thinks out loud "... I've heard of magical accidents that inflicted the Blatant Gift upon an apprentice." His eyes snap back to Cumhachd. "That's a really interesting implication, Mater Cara." Two interesting implications, actually. No, three. The question is, which one is Cumhachd talking about?
"I gave it to you, because you can handle it. Eskil, I determined early on could never have been able to handle it."
Stultus quirks an eyebrow. "Well, then. I suppose thanks are owed for your... gentle gift of the Gentle Gift." He takes a sip of the wine. "And Tranquillina may yet surprise you with what she can and cannot handle. Although, granted, the Gentle Gift would have been approximately as useful to her as teats on a bullfrog."
(( Peregrine, don't post that image again, that was sick and wrong. 
))
"No thanks are necessary, I did what I did, not for you, but because of you, who you were at the time, and who I expected you to become. You still haven't put it together have you, filus carus? Have the two of you even discussed the proximal timing with which you could have been my apprentice simultaneously? Have you not both discovered the similarity of your time before entering into my tutelage? And the only thing that surprises me is that she continues to think I harass her, when she does a much more efficient job of that to herself."
Stultus smiles. Two out of the three things she said are no news to him -- the only thing that catches his attention is Cumhachd's comment about his background pre-apprenticeship being similar to Eskil's. He makes a note to discuss that with Tranquillina at the earliest opportunity.
"I think you're ... imprecise, mater cara. It is Cumhachd ex Tytalus who hounds Tranquillina mercilessly. It is Cumhachd ex Tytalus who points out her mistakes, real or imagined, on a daily basis. The Cumhachd ex Tytalus who lives in her head." He shrugs. "If Tranquillina knew she was doing it to herself... well. Things would certainly be different."
He smiles again. "As to the rest of it -- perhaps I haven't put it together. As you've pointed out on numerous occasions, I can't pour piss out of a boot without written instructions on the heel. Please, mater cara, I await your wisdom. Enlighten me."
This ought to be good...
"Now who is being imprecise? It is a phantom of Cumhachd that Eskil has created. Instead of owning up to her own problems, she gives this phantom all the power. And when I appear on the scene, it is effortless for me to assume the role she has already prepared for me. She shades all of my actions in the preconceptions she has developed by working with her own phantom."
Cumhachd smiles, when Stultus asks to be enlightened, "You wish to adopt a more teacher/student role? Something we didn't do before? The irony... No, I instead suggest you figure it out yourself, you might even believe it then."
Stultus smiles softly, nodding to himself. He's silent for a few moments. "I've missed this, mater cara. Talking with you... dissecting issues, sharing insight... crossing swords."
(( JL, were you planning to have her bring the conversation back to this proposed 'deal'? I'd like to give Stultus an IC reason to take a back seat in the story, but he wouldn't be able to do that without getting something from Cumhachd in return. ))
((Oh, he'll get it alright. I'm just waiting for something from gerg before I proceed too far.))
Cumhachd doesn't acknowledge the compliment with anything other than a smile, "You understand the concept of a name. And at your Gauntlet, you didn't stumble over your name when you swore the Oath. But you've seen it when a new magus does. And all the magi present laugh it off. I don't know that it has ever happened for a Tytalus, perhaps it has, but when you've wrested your future from the person who was holding it, one typically doesn't look back. But what does that mean when a new magus slips up and uses their old name at Gauntlet? And I'm not talking at all about those who retain their name at gauntlet, that's a different discussion altogether.
Stultus smirks. As he remembers it, he not only didn't stumble over his name, he said it as loudly as he could, just to watch people cringe.
"Not all names are the same. If I go around calling myself Count von Schadenfreude, it doesn't change who I am inside. But the assumption of a Hermetic name is something quite different. It's a rebirth, a reinvention of self. So when a magus stumbles... it means that on some level, at that time, they are not yet ready. A part of them wants to stay in the womb a while longer, where it is warm and safe."
"And this is where we come to it. On the day of her gauntlet I was present, which probably surprised her, but shouldn't have mattered. She stumbled, she started saying her given name. Eskil has never been able to say her chosen name in front of me, without stumbling. Let me ask you to hazard a guess. Do you think the phantom she has concocted calls her by her chosen name? I call her Eskil because she wants me to call her Eskil. Did you notice how she practically begged me to call her Tranquillina?" she smiles as she says the name, "There, I've proven I can say it." And continues on, "She tried to bargain with me to say it, but you can't do that with your name, with your identity if you hold any value to it yourself. She has to take it back from herself, from the phantom, who I promise you never calls her Tranquillina, either."
"I'm sure you can see the danger in sharing any of this with her, you tell her, and she'll think she has the upper hand on me, but she won't. Her phantom will continue to call her Eskil. She has to come to this determination on her own. And it's not going to be easy. But I'll be here for as long as it takes."
She pats him on the cheek, "No do be a dear and run a long, or commune with me to bring my laboratory here."
Stultus gives Cumhachd a look. "Go teach your grandmother to suck eggs, mater cara. I have absolutely no intention of sharing anything we've discussed." Acting on the information received, however, is a different matter, and he very carefully says nothing about that.
The dwarf nods and makes his goodbyes. Exeunt Stultus, stage left.
As Stultus goes out of the villa he can hear Cumhachd say, I told you he wouldn't do it. I left him a small opportunity to get a favor from me, and he left it."
"He's not out of earshot."
"I don't care, and you don't care, either, apparently. I've missed our debates."
Stultus is pushed gently out of the villa, and the door shuts, behind him