Ten days after Mateu's arrival, he receives a written invitation to meet with Lucas de Mercere, who identifies himself as the Herald of the Covenant of Andorra. The time is soon and the place is one of the towers in the outer courtyard that serves as Lucas's home.
When the meeting time arrives, a guard ushers Mateu inside and up a spiral staircase to a small solar with a table and chairs in it. A fire in a hearth next to the table keeps the room relatively warm despite the early winter chill. Seated at the table is a fair-haired man wearing clothes that wouldn't look out of place on a merchant. The man stands and extends his hand.
"My name is Lucas," he says. "Thank you for coming. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please, have a seat." He gestures to one of the chairs and then gives a nod to the guard. "Please tell Stefan that we'd like some mulled wine," he adds as the guard retreats through the door. Lucas then resumes his seat at the table.
"I apologize for not arranging this meeting sooner," he says in a friendly tone. "I'm the Herald of our covenant and responsible for relations with those outside the castle walls - including the church. I understand that you're a member of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and have been sent here to establish some sort of relations with our covenant. Father Gonzoles has spoken in your favor, which means a lot here."
"From the way Roberto describes things it appears as if you'll be taking some role among the castle guard. Is that the case? I'm sure we could use a man of your qualifications, though I'll admit that such things are a bit out of my bailiwick. But if Roberto and the Spider think you're qualified, then I'm not going to second guess them. And the reputation of your order speaks well of your promise."
"But I wanted to share a couple of realities about living in the covenant and ask you a question. The first two things are matters that you'll want to know before settling down here, and the final issue is something that the covenant members will want reassurances about before we accept you on a permanent basis."
"The first reality is something you may or may not know about the magi who make up the heart of this covenant. As you've likely noticed, some of the members of this covenant are hard to work with. You've met Carmen and some of the other magi and I daresay you don't like or trust them very much. I'm afraid that's a byproduct of the Gift that allows magi to perform the wonders they do. It engenders ill will from those around the magi. A few, like Roberto and myself, are fortunate enough to be free of such difficulties. But that's not the case for most magi. You'll find that you'll suffer a feeling of unease and mistrust about the magi, who fill many of the major roles of authority at the covenant. This may well go beyond the feeling of general dislike you might feel for a commander or a colleague. It will make you feel as if the magi are dishonest, unrealiable, and undeserving of their position. It will make you question how and why they're in power and whether they deserve your loyalty. It helps to know, intellectually, that the feelings aren't real. But that won't help on an emotional level. You'll still believe in your guy that they're terrible people. In time you'll get used to the magi of the covenant, which will help. But the feeling of unease will always be there."
"The second reality, and I understand that Father Gonzales has spoken to you about this, is that we have several residents in the castle who are not Christian. Most of the residents of the castle are, in fact, faithful Christians. My wife and I go to services down in Arans every Sunday, as does Pontifex Solomon and many others. And we're happy to see a good Christian soldier like yourself come to live here. But that is not universally true. Some of our residents are less devout than others, and some who are devout are devout in different faiths. In fact, we have several followers of Islam in residence here, which faith I know you and your order has opposed. Can you respect those differences in faith and live here in peace with non-Christians?"
"I say these things not to scare you away, but to let you know about the reality of living in a covenant. You will be forced to interact with, and take orders from, people you have an inherent, if artificial, mistrust for. And you will live side-by-side with people of different faiths. That can be difficult for some newcomers to come to grips with and I wanted to make certain that you'll find such a situation acceptable."
"The question, in turn, is whether we can trust you to keep our secrets. Much of what goes on here in the castle is private and, shall we say, unorthodox. You and your order clearly know who we are and what we can do and it doesn't seem to bother you very much. I can't say that's always been the position that the church has taken. The church has, in the past, caused trouble for our Order. We'd appreciate some assurances that you won't sensationalize what we do here, causing the church to want to interfere. We would also like to know that you would be willing to keep our confidences, even from your superiors. We're not asking you to conceal criminal or sinful behavior. But we would want some discression from you. We understand that you've been sent here to learn about us and I think that's a wonderful idea. We also accept that this will involve you periodically corresponding with your superiors about the covenant. But there will be matters that you may learn in the castle that we'd prefer not be reported directly back to the Hospitaller Order. The same would be true if you were to take a position for a secular lord. Can you keep such private matters secret? Will your order allow that?"
"The African expedition is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It's impossible to hide the fact that a large group of us is going to Africa. You can't move that many people without gaining some attention. But our precise destination remains a secret - I can say that it's a place that a colleague of ours has recently discovered, and one we'd like to keep a secret for a while more. We have no desire for anyone - church or secular - to discover its location, lest they attempt to exploit it before we can properly study it. If you come on this expedition would you agree not to reveal it's location or even details of its exploration to anyone, the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem included? Could you do the same for other matters in the future? I don't wish to cause you a crisis of loyalty, but I think it's best to settle this issue before the point of no return rather than after."
"Now, I've talked enough. I'd like to hear your thoughts on what I've said."
OOC: We so rarely get to address the realities of the Gift and the unorthodox nature of the covenant that I thought it might be nice to say them out loud at least once.
, but nobody has talked THAT openly to him before! He is smarter than that to interrupt the fountain of information. Mateu is not sure he likes everything that he hears, specially what seems to be a fairly misguided (heretic?) vision of what proper religious behaviour implies, but he appreciates the openness and willingness to defend one's way of life, however wrong it might be. He has learned to appreciate this when fighting the Saracens of Valencia.
He was only 15 when he first enlisted. Ask him about it and he will be glad to tallk your ear off.