"Doctor…" As Darwin recited the name, he felt a sense of déjà vu.
'It must have eluded me beneath my other preoccupations,' He inwardly presumed.
Darwin regarded Benedict with a detached tone. "It bears a curious ring."
Benedict studied Darwin for a moment, then said, "Did it…perhaps awaken a trace of recognition? You seemed rather puzzled for a moment."
Darwin's lips quirked before he lowered his eyes and searched around the ground. "No, merely odd."
Benedict clenched his teeth inwardly. 'Even a fool would've noticed that my mention of the name had struck a chord… Could his ignorance be feigned? But to what end? Wouldn't one normally be curious?'
Suddenly, Darwin shifted the conversation, "By the way, has Gabriel ever been associated with the Nightingales?"
The clandestine House of Nightingales, wrapped in rumors and secrecy, held a stern pull on Benedict's attention.
"None that I recall," He answered, setting aside his previous doubt.
"The only knowledge I have of Mr. Gabriel's past is either from tales passed down by my father or from the margins of our lineage records that I've read. Even so, there was no formal re-engagement."
Darwin's tongue tapped against the roof of his mouth in a silent metronome of thought.
Benedict abruptly resumed, "Do you have cause to ask?"
Darwin inhaled slowly, as though preparing a thought.
However, once more, he remained unspoken.
Benedict acknowledged the four buildings that stood in front of them as he awaited Darwin's answer.
His voice rose again, merely presenting another question.
"Why did Gabriel insist on training me instead of administering a handful of tests? Would that not be more expedient, and perhaps more reliable? You've told me I may act overtly, so why the delay?"
Benedict pondered briefly replying nonetheless, "Testing in the abstract never suffices. You cannot know the precise circumstances you will face. One must engage the situation directly for any measure of veracity. You'd hardly trust a written paper if instinct were your only guide."
He waited a moment before adding mischievously, "Also, there's always the possibility you'd dismantle the apparatus halfway through and attempt to flog it back to the examiner."
Darwin's eyes widened in surprise before he exhaled a hearty laugh.
It was a sound he scarcely remembered issuing from his own lips.
"How can you be so certain of my inclinations? I presume you posed that very question to Gabriel yourself."
Benedict drifted his thumb to the seam of his glove, as though he were smoothing the leather to reinforce his composure.
"Merely an educated supposition, Mr. Darwin."
Meanwhile, Darwin permitted himself the comfort that, since the Hemlocks were not orchestrating this session directly, perhaps the exercise would carry a different intent.
Inwardly reassured, Benedict navigated along the cobblestoned alley, emerging at another façade that mirrored the first in its austere solidity.
He rattled at the doorknob, then withdrew a tarnished metal key from his pocket.
After several ineffectual attempts to insert it into the lock, he gave a frustrated sigh.
He shifted weight onto his 'injured' leg, as he raised the other, and hurled a hard kick at the door.
Darwin started, his gaze fixed upon the back door's stout wooden casing that stood in good condition against the peeling brickwork, hence, unexpectedly steadfast in this ruin.
At once— CRUNCH—BANG!
The door cleaved along its centre, and the hinges protested in vain before collapsing inward.
A pall of dust soared upward, then drifted languidly down the frame.
Darwin remained still, while Benedict recovered, and raked his finger through his dark locks, to dislodge fine ashen powder.
After murmuring an apology, Benedict led the way inside. Darwin huffed, then stepped gingerly over the smashed door.
The dust appeared pale, like bone powder on Darwin's sleeve.
Once he brushed it between his fingers, he mused, 'Chalk dust?'
—Then swept his gaze across the cluttered space before him.
A great chalkboard spread across the front wall; filing cabinets, with a few drawers ajar, clustered in a distant corner.
Littered across the room lay overturned wooden desks and scattered stools, objects strewn in as though they'd been abandoned in a panic.
Darwin spoke the realization aloud: "A schoolroom, by Jove, but why…has it been abandoned?"
Benedict stooped to pick up a stool that was nearest to the board, dusting the seat with a careful swipe of his sleeve.
"I will explain that along with the instructions in a moment," then added, "Few souls are acquainted with this quarter, and those who were once residents have long since departed."
Darwin removed his hat, studying the metal stool curiously. "Most unusual…"
"Isn't it?" Benedict replied. "On inspecting the outside earlier, I noticed that, though derelict, this building seems currently pressed into service for clandestine affairs, beyond what we've assembled to accomplish."
Benedict drifted toward a modest table nestled by the wall, its surface cluttered with neat piles of unmarked ledgers and a locked iron strongbox that seemed out of place.
He paid it little heed.
Instead, he plucked from the papers a diminutive candle stub.
Upon searching a little more. He was unable to find a source at hand to light the wick.
Thus, with a rueful smile, he crossed the room and offered it, unlit, toward Darwin.
"Once the sun sinks beyond the horizon, this room may well become too dark…might you, by chance, possess a match?"
Darwin arched a single brow and assessed the man with a skeptical leer.
"What makes you presume I have one?"
Benedict pursed his lips. "Your flat carried a sharp scent of smoke when you welcomed me in. It may have wafted from neighbours, but the intensity suggests otherwise."
".."
Darwin clicked his tongue in mild vexation before rummaging through his coat pocket and producing a small, battered box of matches.
He tossed it to Benedict, who caught it deftly.
Yet, feeling the need to clarify, Darwin proceeded by saying, "I smoke only within my own chambers. You needn't worry about it while on assignment, I'm not indulging for pleasure."
As Benedict briefly tucked the stub into his waistcoat, he hauled another stool from across the floor and set the candle upon it.
With a brisk strike, the flame kindled, sending feeble, trembling shadows to dance upon the walls.
Benedict pressed his bottom lip in perplexity, before asking quietly, "Then why indulge at all, if it brings you no pleasure?"
For a long moment, Darwin remained motionless, as though Benedict's enquiry had roused a disquieting tension.
However, as Benedict set another stool chair on the opposite end, Darwin offered a vague answer,
"When novelty dries up, one clutches at any diversion. Even the most trivial are merely picked up to soothe the reality of what cannot be changed."
Benedict considered his reply in silence, but all he yielded was a deeper puzzlement.
He knew as little of Darwin Asrael as the file implied, which was merely bare facts: birth, residence, orphanage, occupation, and a vague note on his condition.
These scant details hinted easily at a life lived distant from society's reach.
Yet from Gabriel's requests, Benedict felt he might've gleaned more of Darwin than any other acquaintance.
Benedict's hands settled on the table, and he leaned forward, exasperation shadowing his composure.
'How utterly singular you are, Darwin Asrael.'
. . .
By the time Benedict cleared his mind, he knew they'd already frittered away precious minutes on trivial preparations.
Their training would begin, and time was not an ally.
He cast off his coat and draped it over the corner of the desk, adopting a brisk, businesslike posture.
"This is how we shall proceed," he began. "Across our sessions, you will undergo a series of assessments. Consider the first an introductory gauge, purely to assess your capabilities."
Darwin's expression remained unreadable as he scrutinized the room, as though seeking distraction.
"Very well," he replied, pinching his nasal bridge. "But I trust you'll furnish more specifics than that."
"Of course," Benedict said. "The initial exercise is straightforward. I've enlisted a third party to guide you through it."
Darwin tilted his head with his palm and remained unfazed as he admitted to himself, 'I suspected as much, especially after it characterized a den of secret dealings. I just presumed, of course, that uninterested parties would keep their distance.
He cleared his throat before inquiring with cautious poise: "You've arranged for me to be watched already?"
Benedict inclined his head gravely. "No, quite the contrary, you both shall observe. This woman knows Gabriel intimately, perhaps better than I do. She accompanied him for nine solid months during a covert operation last spring."
Darwin's mind raced ahead several steps.
"So she belongs to the Hemlocks, then?"
"In a manner of speaking," Benedict replied. "But she serves a separate branch. You must not acknowledge any affiliation with those organizations. Your sole imperative is to persuade her wholeheartedly that you are Gabriel. I've constructed a contingency plan should you fumble. But should you be uncovered, my capacity to intervene will be limited. Trust that she belongs to a branch, albeit one I've been ill-informed of."
Darwin's lip twitched. His voice turned cold, tightening the desolate tension in the sparse room. "Pardon?? You never once warned me I might be arrested before even beginning! Can you not grasp how recklessly impulsive such an undertaking is?"
"Perhaps one might argue," Benedict said with languid formality, "that the peril commenced the moment you accepted the charge. Nevertheless, you engage with a perilous station, did you not anticipate such risks, given the company you are to keep?"
"!..."
Darwin glanced down and clasped his hands briefly before he raised his eyes to Benedict.
Leaning forward ever so slightly, he crossed his arms, and he pressed one final query:
"And how certain are you that what you've spun for her defence will shield me should I appear… discomposed?"
Benedict pressed all five fingers flat upon the worn surface of the desk, his tone deliberate as he began to elucidate the delicate matter. "For now, she believes this to be little more than a routine conversational exercise, essentially a deliberate probe into the 'intentional provocations' of one suspected of clandestine intent. Thus, she, too, is under the illusion that this is merely performance, though for reasons unlike your own."
He swallowed, then continued stoically, "Yet the caution I urge arises from her training. She is schooled not merely in manipulation or deceit, but in command of power. Whereas our branch imitates power through study, hers, by contrast, has been drilled in interrogation: the art of piercing pretense and exposing truth beneath layers of guile."
"Therefore, your charge is to embody a man of power, but one she would least expect. You needn't purposefully show oddity or strangeness, just inhabit Gabriel as you know him. Even in our brief exchange, Ms. Marian remarked upon Gabriel's elusive nature; he is a man difficult to pin down or comprehend fully. Thus, should she see through your guise, even with the understanding that your conduct is deliberate, an instinctual alarm may arise."
Darwin lingered in contemplation, folding his slender fingers before him and rubbing his jaw with a gentleman's deliberation.
Even at this early juncture, this circumstance had begun to weigh more heavily than he dared admit, for he stood on the verge of that which he most wished to elude.
"The particulars of this appointment are maddeningly opaque," Darwin noted. "Gabriel and I have met but once. How is one to assert authority while preserving the veil of anonymity?"
"You present yourself as an arbiter of judgment. One who discerns, rather than inquires. Your authority must not rest on regalia, but upon subtlety by deflecting improper scrutiny, and assuming two separate asks apart from 'Darwin.'"
At that moment, hearing his name spoken, resounded like a harrowing reminder that even in the guise of a persona, Darwin remained tethered to himself.
Benedict continued as he raised his posture from the desk. "You will remain in character the moment I depart."