Arndis and Dryden are wandering in Shadow, looking for a sorcerous school for Dryden. Arndis has Fido keeping his eyes out for possible recruits.

Lucian and Sybella are in Amber. It's the evening, and Emma disappeared in the morning. Timekeeping in the city is very casual, so it's hard to know exactly when she disappeared. Two friends of Sybella, a minstrel (Esther) and blacksmith's apprentice (Rory) also disappeared today as well. They decide to go to the city guard, to make inquiries and look for a pattern in the disappearances. Small 'P'. Probably.

Sybella has gotten herself an apartment; the Castle is nice, but not very real and kind of crowded. "It depends if you mind never knowing which members of the family you're going to run into a breakfast." She confesses to not feeling quite right about the family -- she didn't grow up with them, they don't act like kin. Lucian confesses that he feels the same. Maybe all the half-siblings make for more tenuous connections. Sybella thinks it might be the age differences. She seems to feel rather bad about this. Lucian hugs her to cheer her up and lets her know she's not alone.

"It seems that your brothers and sisters think that Amber is all that matters in the universe." Maybe because they all grew up there and are sentimental about it. "It's really kind of hard to have strong feeling a about a wagon." But she does. They discuss the possibility of a cross-shadow RV.

More seriously, she wonders if disappearances like these are common; after all, the royal family is so powerful that they could grab a pretty girl off the street and no one could protest. She wonders if there was a reason, not for evil in general, but for this in particular. She wonders what makes people targets in Amber.

Lucian thinks neither he nor she have any real enemies among the family. Yet.  Sybella brings up the attempted kidnapping (no one but Wakenda knows who the perp was), but... and Emma was more Lucian's friend then Sybella's. Esther and Rory were friends, but unlikely to have eloped. And yes, Sybella goes armed; Arndis insists. She's just that way.

Sybella leads Lucian from the artisan's quarter to the local guard station. (Lucian lives in a mildly shady area of town -- the kind of place where everyone works to not pay attention to everyone else. Arndis does, too.)  This area is prone to riots, due to cultural and economic factors. The station is a solid, defensible structure. They identify themselves as family members, and are treated with deference, especially Prince Lucian.

Lucian finds a wonderful metaphor: "They've been removed from active circulation."
The guardsman takes notes, and he's very uncomfortable. Nobody has reported Rory missing, which is odd, since he's an apprentice. The guard recognizes Emma's name; there's almost a flinch when her name is mentioned, and his facade goes up even tighter. He wants Lucian to believe he's taking him more seriously.

There haven't been other recent reports of disappearances recently; it's been quiet: disappearances aren't normal for the city. Lucian thinks the first was a lie but the second was true. They'll put men on it immediately, and will send copies of reports to Lucian at the palace. Lucian asks about the usual criminal activities in the city: mostly illegal trade, some domestic disturbances, fights, gambling, especially in the... er... amusement districts. Some of it is organized crime, but certainly not all of it. But these don't sound like ransomable people, unless the ransom was requested of Lucian and Sybella. That would be a foolish thing to do; but the city hasn't taken the measure of the newer family members  Sybella is doing an astounding Llewella impression to intimidate the guard.

Sybella thinks that Lucian will be taken more seriously then she, because she's a girl. At least Julian, Gerard, and Corwin act that way. It's hard to tell with Bleys; he's just weird. The uncles want her to act like Flora, except without the betraying part. Joshua is ok, but Octavian... grrrrr.

Quentin has finished Pandemonium. Donal and Hildegard are all for sending people in as a final exam. Quentin decides he'll have to ensure that nothing ever gets out if anything ever happens to him, as it's bad now and will only evolve. Quentin checks it out himself. Some bits are challenging for him because of the social interaction required to avoid fighting (but he'd be able to win.). The Heart of Gold folks would drive him nuts; they're in there to simulate the Corwin effect. Zaphod might be a shadow of Corwin. There are strange alliances. Wolfram and Hart hire the Blues Brothers. Briefly. Then the Blues Brothers go drinking with the Post Brothers. It just gets worse from there. The Monty Python elements are fully active.  Hildegard's naval background makes her very creeped out by Blue Submarine #6. Misao's shadow first gets involved with the War of the Roses, then checks out the vampires for Professor Moriarty. She decides not to deal with the Berserkers. She tries to stick her enemies into the Cube. It's a smorgasborg of wrong! She eventually catches up with the Blues Brothers and hangs out with them.

Quentin's trainees spread tales about how awful this is, but they seem to look forward to it. Once it's in shape, he heads home to arrange funerals. Last time he was home, Tir had disappeared, but he doesn't know why. He swings by to visit his baby brother and stepmother, and is overwhelmed by infant cuteness. He consults with Nadya and Jasra over funerals. "Do you want a funeral, Grandmother?" Dalt needs military honors; ideally they'd burn down a Church of the Unicorn, but it's not Quentin's style. For Rinaldo, there needs to be a formal, strictly planned ceremony followed by a wake. Jasra isn't sure who Quentin should ask for help; Nadya is too busy with the baby to give many suggestions. She seems to act like she has limited time with the baby, as if he might be taken at any time.
 
"Just because I'm one of those wacky paranoid types that Amberites tend to turn into..." Jasra has set up protective spells. Quentin calls in some guards. Nothing has happened yet, really, but... Lots of people on Mom's side of the family are coming to see the baby. Lots of gifts from the Amber side, but fewer visits. Lucky her. Jacob will presumably become some sort of Begman nobility, and a Duke of Eregnor. Nadya's gotten invitations to come to Amber to raise the child; she thinks the family just wants to know who he is. Quentin and Rinaldo were lucky, as Merlin and Vialle liked Rinaldo. But they are still Brand's descendents, and the taint is going to stick. Especially given Rinaldo's little revenge obsession.... Merlin and Vialle talked Random out of repercussions but he wasn't happy. And Rinaldo's presence in Kashfa made it into a Golden Circle shadow. Random might not want Jacob's presence to give Begma more power.

In any case, they want to know that by raising Jacob, he'll be loyal -- or at least they'll know what he's learned. And Jacob's in an interesting position -- 3 betrothal offers for him in the first week of his life. Usually widows of the family have little status, but Random doesn't know what powers Nadya has of her own, and he doesn't want Jacob to be raised by someone else, if Nadya remarries. And Random is also trying to avoid offending Quentin, but he might ask Quentin to take Jacob, on the grounds that Nadya can't protect him. Just what Quentin needed ­ a ward of his own in addition to a universe to save.

Jasra say the guard here are all new to the local service, with a certain smile. They all have impeccable references; none of them from her.  Jasra suggests a small private funeral ceremony for herself; people don't like thinking that she's still around, but she doesn't merit something big, since most of the family doesn't recognize her marriage to Brand. The family wishes they could forget Brand, but while Quentin is around they can't -- and Jacob compounds the problem. Quentin thinks this problem is only going to grow, as there are more of them than ever before.

Jasra wonders how much of a grudge Amber will carry against things known to be close to Brand. In the Courts, Quentin would have assassins after him constantly to make an example out of Brand's family. But here... Quentin thinks he's on probation. He's useful and hasn't seemed to be dangerous, but it's always in the background as an excuse. But none of his uncles seem to hold it against him; his aunts, either, but he's rapidly running out of them. Quentin mentions that he tortured Flora's husband; Jasra wonders if it was a love match. It not, then all Flora would probably do is kill him. If so, then he won't be lucky enough to die. At least, he wouldn't if it was Jasra's husband he'd tortured. She offers to take care of any people he doesn't want to kill himself. She takes care of her family, and may well be interfering in Quentin's life... making sure he doesn't marry the wrong girl and so on.

Misao reads the letter that Lucian trumped her. As Bleys predicted, he has questions. She trumps him. "Did he tuck you in bed with stuffed animals?" "Shut up!"

From her longer hair, Lucian can tell it's been more than 6 months for her. And she still doesn't look quite up to snuff. He catches her up on the fact that it's been 14 hours here, the disappearances in Amber, and his plans if it's the syndicate. She approves and fusses over him to make sure he's armed. He wants to feed her. She flees in terror of more people fussing over her. She continues on, goes into her Shadow through the secret entrance. Maryjane is waiting for her.

Maryjane's news: We'll have to import sake. Zen and Nora's kids became interested in how sake was made. They made some... alterations. Megumi likes it. A cheap and easy poison! Zen brought in some stuff from Jerrick's shadow, thinking it could help him influence people. He's in a difficult stage, and was very frightened to discover that Mama-san is not invulnerable.

Misao is clearly in need of parenting advice. For some reason, she thinks the giant spider is a good person to ask. Maryjane explains that Zen is frightened, and needs Misao to be there for him and still be his Mama. Misao is confused -- when she went through a similar period of fear, realizing that they couldn't necessarily protect her, her people told her she had to become a badass to take care of herself. Maryjane observes that she does not need Zen with Misao's attitude... and Zen doesn't need it. Misao says of course not, he's got the whole gang. Maryjane says of course not, he wasn't abandoned. Misao pouts and wants to know why nobody told her they'd declared it "Mother Misao Year." But point taken, and she hugs Maryjane.

Maryjane says they need to feed her.  Miaso says she needs to talk to Koji first, who will probably hug her, then beat the crap out of her for scaring him like that. Maryjane says that she's not up for that. Misao pouts some more.

They throw a welcome home party and all of them insist that Misao eat well and not drink any alcohol. This is terribly disconcerting. Bleys has apparently been appraising Koji of Misao's status on a regular basis and left strict instructions as to her care and feeding. Koji even puts off beating the crap out of Misao for scaring him.

Arndis and Dryden find a nice slow-time shadow for Dryden to learn in. Arndis scouts out people to hire and finds some candidates. They continue courting. Dryden is taking brochures and being fairly picky about what he wants. As soon as they get back to Amber, they'll have to contact his family and start all that up, so they're taking their time. He does settle on a school eventually, and it's build along the lines of the Law School. Old English feel, squirrels muggers in the quad demanding food, etc. Dryden gets settled in. The tech level is pre-WWI. He makes her promise to come visit -- being seen with a woman as lovely as she will benefit his social standing. He'll miss her -- but not the assassins. But if he needs help, he can call on a score of people. He goes for shabby comfort for the most part, but doesn't skimp on food, alcohol, or a bed. No cheap beer!

Arndis figures out that Dryden picked this college because there's a plethora of used book shops. She anticipates Dryden filling up his apartment with them. She warns that there may be a few more people in their group when he returns. He says "As long as my place is secure." The hug he gives her reveals that he's not too insecure about that.

Arndis rambles home at a comfy pace. Eventually she trumps Misao, from a really nice bar with a lively crowd.

Misao is going nuts. She's been hanging out at home for several weeks, getting back into shape, reassuring kids, catching up with Mina. Misao and Mina manage to work out a reasonable plan for raising Ricardo, which might fall to pieces if Borant does something stupid.

Misao looks better than Arndis expected.  Misao needs to leave; she finds Koji, tells him she's going drinking with Arndis, that he is going on vacation until he unwinds, and to leave someone else in charge. He's cranky but then gets an evil looks in his eyes. She sighs.

The bar is mid-1960ies, and has very good rum drinks. Arndis likes the bar; it has a good band. They drink, dance, then settle down with food and more drinks at a table.  Arndis says that she saw some interesting things. Misao says she sucks at talking around things and hinting. Arndis said her mom left her interesting things; pulls out the glass globe and shows Misao a document.

Lucian and Sybella wander into the nearest slum area. It's a red-light district, with opium den analogues and all. There are a lot of people with money: local powers, Golden Circle nobility, even some VIPs from the Courts. Probably the Courts folks are here on other business; with Sawall in power, ties to Amber are very politically useful. Lucian seems uncomfortable. "This isn't what I had in mind, Sybella, although I suppose it's educational in a way." Sybella says she can see the purely commercial side of it, and can even tell how some of the games are rigged, from her background as a 'travelling person.'

Lucian wonders how hard it would be to use Pattern to cheat a slots machine.   Sybella says yes, you don't even need Pattern. She learned a lot hanging out with Wakenda in his shadow. She tells him about the way they trapped the first assassin after Wakenda: the burnt dormitory, going to the roaring 2020s, getting into disguise and trapping her. But the assassin died in questioning before she or Wakenda had a chance to question the assassin; there had been another assassination attempt on Wakenda, and while he was recovering, the guards went ahead and began questioning her and tripped a compulsion in her head. Still... it seems suspicious. Why didn't they check for that first?

It's a very big district. It's not for the family, as there aren't many family members and they could set up entire Shadows of whim. They decide to go check out Emma's, since the guard seemed to be lying about her. "I got the impression he was scared to death of you. Why would he lie?" Only if there's somebody he's more scared to death of -- like any of his brothers.

Sybella says she wishes she could use the Pattern to teleport to her missing friends, but Tir is gone. Lucian explains that he, Arndis, and Misao fixed the Pattern, although it hasn't been checked. But faster than walking the Pattern is asking an Adept to mentally walk it and teleport.  Arndis, Misao, and Quentin can do it -- but Arndis may be busy, and Misao may be recovering, so they ask Quentin. Quentin finally gets to Amber and is getting ready for bed when Lucian trumps him.

He explains that some of their city contacts are missing, and he and Sybella were trying to do some detecting. Quentin looks at Lucian's armor, and says "Let me guess, you didn't have any luck?" Yes, and they need help. Why from Quentin? Well..

"Misao is still recovering from her efforts..."
"Which efforts were these and why didn't anyone call me?"
Lucian decides they need to talk in person.
Lucian tells the story very slowly. Quentin keeps repeating his question.
He tells the tale in a very edited fashion, neglecting to mention the strange man who overlay Misao's appearance.

Then Quentin asks, "So why didn't anyone tell me?"
Lucian first explains that they needed this to look spur of the moment, in order to justify not telling Random first. Quentin says they needed to tell someone just in case everything blows up. Lucian answers that they called in Bleys. Quentin says why couldn't have called in him, too? Lucian says they knew he was busy.
Quentin makes it clear that he'd like to be informed next time people fiddle with half of reality. Since he'd been in on the cabal, it would only have been polite to at least update him before this happened.
He'll yell at Arndis and Misao later.

Lucian and Sybella update Quentin on the disappearances. Quentin brings up the Pattern, sends the lens out looking for big oddities. Emma's bar feels funny -- there's more there then there should be. It has a sold feeling to it, not particularly Pattern or Logrus. Instead, this is a place where something with some innate strength lives, but it's not there now. There's a feeling around the area that something bad happened, but nobody can do anything about it and they don't want to think about it. There's a spot they all know is there, they don't want to look at, and they hope it won't bite them.

Quentin updates Lucian and Sybella. Whatever is around the bar has been around for a while; more than years. Quentin suggests Lucian change, since the armor screams royal family' which can make it hard to get people to talk to you.  Sybella thinks they would have gotten a very different reaction from the guard had they not i.d.'d themselves as royalty. Quentin wants to know what the guard wasn't telling.
Quentin: "I want to know who exactly they're more afraid of then you two."
Sybella: "Nobody's afraid of me."
Quentin: "Give it time."
Lucian: "Or sit down and play cards with them."

Why have there been such activities in non-aristocratic areas?
Lucian remembers a certain device that had the imperative of don't get caught and messed up. They don't think it's Darren, though. It can't be to insert duplicates, since the absences have been noticed. Spying just doesn't make sense and there's no ransom demands.

Quentin is amused that Sybella has moved out of the Castle into town. "Right now it's got the feel of a bad hotel. The service is good, but you never know who you're going to run into."

They go identify those bad spots. On the way, Quentin asks if anyone can help with funeral planning. Arndis did one recently, and Lucian has training in etiquette. Quentin explains it's for Rinaldo, Dalt, and Jasra, now that Jacob's been born and his stepmom is better. Sybella wants details on the baby beyond "He's cute."

Emma's bar is open but not very busy tonight. The bar apparently doesn't feel like fun tonight. Quentin investigates. The building is very old, with a tangible sense of history. There's a strong sense of ownership by a strong personality. Is the owner really Emma? Whoever it is isn't here now. No one is permanently living here now; there is a crash space, though. Lucian remembers Emma was alive in his Tir vision. Emma's about as old as Fiona. If you trust Tir. This is not normal.

They go to Emma's house; Sybella knows the way. It has the same feeling. Is Emma family? She looks 45, while Fiona looked to be in her 20s... but Emma had a harder life. Emma recognized Lucian and Sybella as royals at first sight, too. They call in backup.

Meanwhile, back at the bar: "Irish green tea?"

Arndis and Misao are very, very drunk and in dancing clothes when Quentin trumps Misao and Lucian trumps Arndis. They come through, drunk and friendly. Misao hops into Quentin's arms, since he's too tall to hug well.

Misao explains that They were driving her nuts.
"Who? Bleys or your bandits?"
"Both!"

Quentin is less than thrilled by toting around a drunk cousin.  Misao explains that she was mostly dead but is better now. Quentin says they have to talk about that later. They try and find out from Arndis just how long the ladies have been drinking. Probably not more than a few days. Quentin says "I need some help planning a funeral."
"Who are we killing?" inquires Misao. Quentin decides to trump them into the entry hall rather than continue to make a scene outside of Emma's bar.

Misao sings Gilbert and Sullivan, very, very loudly as Quentin carries her to Arndis's quarters. Drunk as all hell, she still gets the patter right. Then Lucian asks her to sing "For My Darling," and runs off to get coffee and food, abandoning them. She tells Quentin he's good at this carrying people thing, and offers to sing something for him. He picks some tunes she doesn't know, and she decides to sing a blues piece that Martin wrote.

Sybella helps Misao shower, saving Quentin from an embarrassment worse than death.
Somewhat sobered up, Misao trumps home to get some clothes that are less sweaty than her dancing clothes. Little goth nyan-nyans, and Mike in black. Mike sends entirely pink clothes through the trump. She's a bit ticked that Koji left Jerrick in charge, since Misao pissed him off. Mike won't explain what Koji is pissed off about. Misao wonders, and Quentin asks if Koji had been around for the Pattern scrubbing. Yes, he had.
"I don't do anything that mind-numbingly dumb without bringing Koji along."
"From anybody else, I'd say they misspoke."

While people fetch food, Quentin dyes Misao's clothes black. They talk privately a bit.

Reunited, the group updates Arndis and Misao, who want to peek at the bar with Pattern lenses of their own. They see much the same -- someone of power, possibly unfocused, has lived there long enough to leak into her surroundings. So they decide to teleport to Emma. They link -- Misao has a distinct feeling of flame to her -- and teleport  to somewhere lightless, without sensory input. Pattern lens reveals that we are in a buffer zone, and a Pattern-impermeable barrier is there... somewhere. It's a Pattern-powered barrier. Quentin thinks that he could enter it with shapeshift traveling, but it's hard to travel when it's impossible to get bearings. The barrier is part physical, part conceptual -- Miaso thinks she might be able to burn it.

Fido tells Arndis privately that the barrier seems official, and would require considerably more strength to create than most people would have. Fiona has tools that could probably get through it, but... Is she sure this is worth interfering in?

Arndis shares this. Misao looks to i.d. it as if it were a person; she doesn't know who made the barrier, but it was done with the Jewel.  They need to talk, and this isn't a good place. They decide to go to Shi Jen Ten Chi Sho... Misao needed to take Jerrick out of power anyway.