[The gentry who gossip on the terraces and elsewhere throughout the well-to-do parts of the city make no point of hiding what they think about those whom the Council of Brilliance has bestowed honors, accolades, and titles upon. Their grousing and griping fills the streets and word-of-mouth travels fast.
The nascent Baron of Fincelles has already generated a great deal of controversy over the company he keeps; already he is being labeled by his noble peers as a firebrand and a revolutionary, exactly the sort of person who does not need a noble title or an estate. The fact that his father, the Baron of Duchbourg, is a conservative man valuing tradition above all else, is certainly not lost on anyone; people openly comment on how far the apple has fallen from the tree. There is likewise concern amongst the nobility that House Vaillant is growing too large and influential for its own good... and who is Jean-Guy Vaillant, anyway?
Many bemoan the knighting of Jacques Boucher and his newly-found status as Chavelier d'Avejan. While some speak highly of his work within the Gendarmerie, others point suggestively towards his relationship with the Baronesse d'Estellier, suggesting that he is being used and manipulated by her to exercise control over the Gendarmerie in all but name. For those who remember the Company of the Fox and how they came to dominate and eclipse the Gendarmerie in power and influence, the Company of the Phoenix generates similar anxieties and the Baroness d'Estellier of late gets occasionally referred to as "Justine Marceaux".
The newly knighted Chevalier de Magnoac fares little better, in the court of public opinion. The sewing circles speculate as to what exactly goes on inside L'Occultiste, the club that is owned by the man within Port-a-Lucine. Does he flirt with dangerous, forbidden spells within its walls or is he but a huckster hoping to defraud the masses and delude them, and himself, into thinking his parlor tricks and legerdemain are somehow something more?
Public opinion on the Chavelier de Mouisset is likewise lukewarm, at best. Who is this foreigner from Mordent and what gives him the right to tell Dementlieuse families, some of whom have lived here for generations, what they ought to do with their land? Only a month ago, "Sieur Creighton was seen waiting on the Vaillants, and suddenly he thinks his voice should be measured as being equal to ours?", they argue. In their mind, "L'Observateur ought to stick to reviewing wine".
Last, but certainly not least, is the unorthodox behavior of Maîtresse Michelle Anciaux and her so-called wife. "They openly flout tradition", one noblewoman cries. In their mind, it is the responsibility of nobility to see marriage as a duty, not as the product of love. They scoff and deride their future, remarking that the Anciaux family will more likely as not simply terminate with those two; a dead end, a full stop. It ends as soon as it begins. How is the new custodian of Beauvieres expected to be given a title if there can be no one to inherit it? A few cynically reply that the Duc de Chantres was more than willing to let his sons and daughters be named their heirs...]