Myfanwy Thomas—Norman Goblet

Myfanwy Thomas and Norman Goblet are brought into direct conflict during a fungal emergency in Bath: Goblet, a senior Checquy official, has secretly tried to manage an out-of-control manifestation, while Myfanwy arrives with the response team and discovers that he is part of the crisis. The encounter shifts from apparent rescue to confrontation when Goblet realizes she is not Gestalt, then attacks her and Shantay. Myfanwy ultimately restrains him, removes him from the scene, and keeps his role out of public view.

An emergency and a mistaken assumption

Goblet first appears to be addressing Myfanwy and her team as though they are the help he has been expecting. He says the congregation began its activity without warning and that the growth manifested; he had come to check on its progress, then found the invocation growing louder and the situation becoming critical. Unable to contact Myfanwy after his phone was overgrown, he says he remained at the site and allowed the congregation to run through its self-defense routines once the Checquy arrived. By then, he says, two teams had been consumed. He claims to have prevented the Barghests from becoming the next casualties, but admits that he had no reliable way to stop the spread and that the emergency codes were failing.

The account initially leaves Myfanwy unsure whether Goblet is acting for the Checquy or against it. His regret over the lost teams and his apparent efforts to intervene make his position difficult to read; his unexplained expectation that the group will know what is happening makes it harder still. The decisive clue comes when he turns, sees Myfanwy, and exclaims that she is not Gestalt. His expectation of Gestalt reveals that he has mistaken the identity of the person or group arriving, and Myfanwy recognizes that his confusion changes how the encounter should be understood.

From restraint to open conflict

Myfanwy responds to the uncertainty by cutting Goblet off from the world with her power, rather than giving him the opportunity to act while she is still assessing his abilities. The restraint proves temporary. Goblet pulls himself out of her control and strikes Shantay, prompting Myfanwy to identify him as Goblet. His body then develops extensive defensive spines, and he continues to resist as Shantay confronts him with her pistol.

Myfanwy probes the structure of Goblet’s altered body and discovers why her initial control did not hold: he has seven supplementary spines woven together in a lattice, with impulses strobing among them. She cannot take control of all of them at once. Goblet uses the opening to taunt her as Rook Thomas, mocking her supposed inexperience and contrasting her appointment with the American presence in the Barghests. His contempt makes the conflict personal, but it also underscores the institutional stakes: the senior official who has acted outside the Court’s oversight dismisses the Rook now confronting him as unfit for her position.

Goblet rejects Myfanwy’s accusation of treason. He insists that his undertaking is for the good of the Checquy and the nation, while also conceding that he did not inform the Court because, in his view, it was not ready. The contradiction is central to their confrontation: Goblet presents secrecy and unilateral action as protection, whereas Myfanwy’s question about why the Court was excluded exposes the breach of trust at the heart of his claim.

Capture and removal from the scene

After the encounter, Myfanwy spends several minutes working out how to make Goblet’s spines retract. She covers his head with his coat and leads him out by the hand, taking care that the people at the site do not see who he is. She then arranges for him to be transported to the Rookery and placed somewhere he will not interfere. His removal resolves the immediate personal confrontation, but the account does not describe a trial or establish what punishment follows.

Myfanwy’s concealment is a deliberate response to Goblet’s position. She is unwilling to let the wider organization learn that a high-ranking Checquy member was responsible for the crisis, so the public-facing story can remain focused on the emergency rather than his involvement. Meanwhile, the incident threatens to become a legend among the Pawns: the Barghests were reputed to have handled every threat for four decades, yet Myfanwy entered after a strike team had been swallowed and emerged with Goblet in custody.

The encounter’s significance

The relationship between Myfanwy and Goblet is defined by an abrupt reversal in authority. He begins as a regional head apparently seeking help and assumes that Myfanwy belongs to the response he expected; once he recognizes her, he becomes an adversary who openly disparages her. Myfanwy, whom Goblet treats as a timid administrator, makes the crucial decisions in the field: she restrains him, diagnoses why that restraint fails, helps contain the danger, and ensures that he is taken back to the Rookery.

Their conflict also exposes the difference between institutional rank and practical control. Goblet’s seniority does not give him command of the emergency, while Myfanwy’s title as Rook does not prevent her from taking responsibility when she discovers his involvement. By keeping his identity from those outside the operation while securing his removal, she ends the immediate confrontation without resolving the larger question of how the Checquy should respond to a senior official’s unauthorized undertaking.