Errands and Editors, by Charles Matthias

Story name: Errands and Editors
Author: Charles Matthias

Date: Holy Wednesday, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep

Overview

Matthias sorts through the stories for the festival with the headmasters, visits the bakery, and presses the Steward for a dinner invitation.

+ Story info (Spoilers!)

Summary

The three Writer's Guild headmasters sort through the story submissions for the story contest in the upcoming Equinox—Easter festival. It is approaching noon. Matthias decides to take a break to get some errands done.

He stops by Gregor's bakery to buy some bread, where he learns the baker has taken a new apprentice. He then visits Thalberg the Steward to get an invitation for Kimberly to the Duke's dinner on Saturday. Thalberg says that there is no room, but Matthias convinces him that the two of them are small enough to fit in one space.

Matthias returns to the Writer's Guild, where they finally select the winners. Exhausted, the three headmasters head to the Deaf Mule, where Copernicus and Michael are playing pool, and Tallis, Zhypar, and Nahum are watching. Matthias wishes that Father Hough, the Follower Priest from the nearest diocese, had arrived. He also realizes he needs to buy Kimberly a dress.

Characters

Main Characters:

• Charles Matthias: The Headmaster of the Writer's Guild, a rat morph.

Supporting:

• Phil: A headmaster of the Writer's Guild, a rabbit morph.
• Channing: A headmaster of the Writer's Guild, a goose morph.
  • Channing does not usually go to the Deaf Mule, so his acceptance surprises Matthias.
• Gregor: The Keep baker, a capybara morph. Charles loves his bread, and Gregor sometimes takes advantage of it by making him pay extra.
  • Gregor overcharges Charles in return for his "charity cases", in particular with a tiger friend a few days ago. This is a reference to From the Shadows, where Charles gives the newly arrived Scratch some bread from Gregor.
• Thalberg: The Duke's Steward. His command of the staff and their services is second only to the Duke's.
  • He is a crocodile morph with green scales and a pale yellow underbelly. He often goes without clothes, except for a steward's bandoleer. He also eats fish whole, picking the bones out.
  • It is usually very hard to get him to change his mind. He capitulates to Charles quite easily, though.

Minor Characters:

• Brennar: Gregor's apprentice.
  • Brennar is a black-and-white tabby cat morph. He only started working for Gregor last week. His bread is far too hard to eat, but Gregor is fascinated by a carnivore morph with an interest in baking.
• Zhypar: A kangaroo morph and a writer.
  • He is one of the best writers in the Keep, but he rarely finishes stories.
• Nahum: A fox morph and a writer.
  • Nahum was close to winning, but his manuscript had been written too carelessly, letting the wet ink stick the pages together.
• Tallis: A rat morph and a writer.
  • He is not usually the best writer of the contestants, but his story is clearly the best submission this year. Tallis already believes that he lost.
• Michael: A newcomer to the Keep, slowly changing into an animal.
  • Michael is noncommittal towards Charles's invitation to attend Follower service.

Cameo:

• Copernicus: A lizard morph who enjoys playing pool.

Important Mention:

• Longman: A writer who continually ignores Phil's critique, and does not put any character development in his stories.
• Hough: An Ecclesian priest from the nearest diocese to the Keep. He often visits during festivals to give proper services to other Followers.
• Kimberly: Charles's beloved, a rat morph. Charles remembers that he needs to get her a nice dress for dinner on Saturday night.

Referenced:

• Scratch: A newcomer to the Keep, a recently changed tiger morph and an acquaintance of Charles.
• Fox: The Keep librarian.
• Vernon: The Keep's candlestick maker.
• Posti: The Prime Minister. Charles does not like having to deal with him.

Locations

• On the western side of the castle is a beautiful garden. A promenade hangs above it, linking the castle gate to the inner towers.

Points of Interest

• The Yahvice-Winter Solstice festival is a 12-day celebration at the end of the year. It is the most popular holiday celebration at the Keep.

Matthias's First Cycle
Stories	Stories in yellow are not part of the cycle proper, but give important context for other stories.
	Metamor Keep · Writer's Guild · The Fight That Never Happened · Support Group · Facing Knight · Confession · Evening Stroll · Especially Disappointed · Escaping · Escalation · Errands and Editors · The Secrets in Truth · A Small Repair · Equinox Arriveth · Entertaining Thoughts of Eucharist · The Effects of Rising Too Early · Eating at the Duke's Table · Easter Endeth · Early to Sleep
Characters	Charles Matthias · Kimberly · Channing · Elliot · Goldmark · Hector · Father Hough · Julian · Loriod · Michael · Nahum · Phil · Saulius · Tallis · Thalberg · Duke Thomas · Zhypar Habakkuk