Laughter and I spent a delicious night, but there was the
tournament to return to.  I Trumped Ulysses and had him pull us through. 
I wasn't competing, so it was going to be a long day.  A page let us know
that the King was holding a dinner that evening, and we were invited.  I
thought it ought to prove interesting.

	I caught what competitions I could.  Merlin won his three-sword
competition and Cameron won the knives.  I heard that Ulysses won the
Shadow race.

	I missed a good part of the day in chasing the rat-dog.  A page
came and found me and once again informed me that since I had brought the
creature with me, it was my responsibility.  And it was my responsibility
to stop it from trashing the weapons tent.  I argued with it for quite a
while and drew a bit of a crowd.  Thankfully, Melanie was in attendance as
well.  She didn't quite understand why I didn't want the creature killed,
until I took her off to the side and explained to her that the rat-dog had
brought my children to me from the future.  I then sweet-talked her into
catching it in a force field again.  Since the page was still standing
around, and since the creature was from Chaos, I asked if perhaps the page
could find someone who knew something about the creature.  He ran off, and
Melanie and I traded barbs over my current predicament.  Personally, I
thought she had a bit too much fun at my expense.  Eventually a scholarly
type did show up.  He said the rat- dog was more properly called Mala Res,
or some such.  I decided the second alternative, the Fey, was more to my
personal taste.  He also said that it was immature and hadn't developed a
sex yet.  He also said they were rather nasty and not usually this smart. 
He didn't have any practical advice on how to deal with it, so he was less
helpful than I had hoped.  I had to settle with luring it out into Shadow
and Trumping Laughter to get back.

	Claudio found Laughter and I that afternoon.  He had a rather
strange request.  He wanted Laughter to get him some of the 'milky-white
stuff' she had gotten for him once before.  I gave my wife a questioning
look, but she ignored me.  Instead, she lectured Claudio on the topic of
fair play; how it wasn't considered sportsman-like behavior to drug your
opponent.  Claudio then appealed to me.  I stated that it would be rather
poor for me to say yes, and invalidate the lovely speech my wife had just
given him.  Besides, I hadn't the faintest clue of what he spoke.  I had
to ask Laughter, after Claudio left, whether this had anything to do with
what she had done for my trial in Rebma; the stuff that I didn't want to
know about?  She said that they were kissing cousins, yes.

	I found myself seated at the head table at dinner.  There was me,
an empty seat, and then the King of Chaos himself.  He was a dignified
man, though he seemed a bit alone.  I soon found out why, as he was
interested in having a conversation with me.  He asked how we were
enjoying the tournament.  I replied that, between distractions, I liked it
well enough.  I was speaking for myself, of course, but Claudio and
Melanie were well out of earshot.  He gave me a bit of the tournament's
history.  It was held to help a ruler chose an heir, if he didn't have one
handy, and Swayvill didn't.  It was an interesting custom, I must admit.

	I didn't have long to enjoy his company, however, as the rat-dog
had found its way home.  Laughter wanted a crack at it this time, and I
followed along to make sure that no one got hurt.  Fey had found its way
back to the weapons tent.  I told her of its language tendency, and she
asked if I could conjure what she called a 'Speak and Say,' but what was
actually a small computer.  I told her I couldn't do so quickly or easily,
so she bothered Kaedric instead.  Fey did seem rather delighted with its
new toy, and Laughter and I returned to the banquet.

	Caitlin talked to me afterwards.  She wanted me to speak to Random
about striking the Ty Dahl from the books.  I said I would, but that it
wouldn't necessarily assure Sandr's protection.  I also complimented her
on her handiwork against Orrin.

	I suppose I should have realized sleeping through the night would
be a bit much to expect with Fey on the loose.  I heard it before I
actually saw it, and called Song softly to me.  Then it said "Ding, bed"
and Laughter nearly had a heart attack.  The Speak and Say had helped, I
guess.  She conjured it a will-o'-wisp to keep it busy.  I then chided her
on having let the creature get so close to her unaware.  She decided I
needed some schooling, and used her favorite lesson.  I was ready for the
aftermath, if not for actually having my feet kicked out from under me,
and I rolled quickly out of her reach under the bed.  Then she called
Sequence.  I quickly suggested that Sequence would be a good baby-sitter
for Fey, and eliminated the threat.  I pulled the quilt and tossed it over
her while I stood up, just in case she still felt feisty.  She did, but it
wasn't too hard to sidestep her.  She told me that wasn't nice, and that
she was going to bed.  I tucked her in and then snuggled in next to her. 
"I lied," she said.  Thankfully, she had making love on her mind, and not
spousal abuse.  I should have known I wouldn't have been able to do that
uninterrupted, either.  All of a sudden, the racket Fey and Sequence had
been making stopped.  I decided that now was not the time to prolong the
moment, and Sequence came flying through the door a short time later.  Fey
actually knocked before it burst through the door.  They still weren't
making any noise, something I'm sure we owed to a rather pissed
spellcaster.  I yelled at Fey for the umpteenth time and sent it on its
way.  I hung a sheet over the remains of the door and climbed back into
bed.

	Melanie seemed pleased with herself the next morning, so I assumed
that she was the pissed spellcaster.  I spent another day watching the
events.  Claudio won his joust, and found out what the drawbacks were to
defeating a Jezetti.  He asked my advice in handling Sky.  I suggested
honesty, and if he was able to walk away from it, it would probably be
okay.  I also explained artificial insemination to him.  I am such a
bastard, but I had to admit that I hoped no Jezetti were competing in the
one-sword competition.  If you had to impregnate a Jezetti if you bested
her, I would be at a distinct disadvantage, my irate wife aside.

	Laughter won her competition in ten seconds flat, and I had to
chase Fey around again.  The next day I fought Maron, and allowed him to
lose gracefully in about a half an hour.  We suffered our first two
casualties as well, Cameron lost to Roy Halybard and Caitlin lost to
Corliss.

	The next day was ours, and Laughter and I returned to Foil,
leaving Fey behind.  Not for long, though.  I can refuse rather few Trump
calls, and especially not Benedict's.  He deposited Fey in my bed and I
had to chase it out of Laughter's flowers.  Something would have to be
done about this creature sooner or later.