Bit obsessed with the idea that If the ninth wasn’t so disfunctional, Harrow, Ortus, and Gideon might have formed a sort of Freudian Trio….
Ortus genuinely cared about both girls but didn’t seam to ever have enough self confidence to try and mediate between the two….
So instead both girls just had a sort of farmiliar pitying contempt for him….
But if he had been a bit less sad, a bit less smothered by his mother, and a bit braver he could have been a great big bother to both girls….
He clearly understood them better than they understood each other and possibly themselves. And he had the vocabulary ( so much vocabulary) to engage both girls in there special interests…..
Gideon would have loved a synopsis of any research ortus had found on how Matius Nonius fought and how his opponents reacted.
Harrow would have loved to have someone to talk to about the difficulty finding old records in the ninth and the history of her family and the tomb.
And think how wonderful ortus would have felt to have someone to talk to….to joke with…to not be alone….