Well, I found Sand, my aunt.  She seems quite the egocentric. 
Then again, she seems to know what she's doing.  But before that, I talked
to Mok, the guy with the mecha -- cool Christian killing machines.  Mok
showed me how to use them.  It is quite exciting to fly.  I never knew how
much power birds had.  I went to dinner with Mok after working out in the
training room.  I was eating when this chick, Melanie, who looked like
that bitch, Abigail, walked in.  I mistook her for Abigail, so I tried to
scare her, but Mok and some little guy named Sandr explained that Abigail
must be Melanie's Shadow.  I asked Melanie about the Fire Pattern, but she
didn't know about it, so she tried to pump me for information.  So I
talked to Archimedes, who was busy with his wife, Laughter -- what an odd
name.  He asked me to wait and show him the Pattern, I guess that it was
unknown before I told people about it.  Oh that reminds me -- find the
martial use for virtual reality.  So I wonder who told Abigail?  I got a
Trump of Sand from Melanie and gave it to Archimedes.  I think that should
slow the conniving wench down.  She's Brand's daughter -- who's a big
enemy of Amber.  Of course, so is Sandr -- who seems fairly harmless, but
a good musician.  I found a room from Flora, who like Fiona is an aunt of
mine.  Flora seems to be in charge of domestic help, while Fiona seems to
be the top sorcerer.  I talked to Ulysses about Melanie, he gave me a
Trump of Sandr, and is going to give me one of Melanie.  Oh yeah, he gave
me one of his.  He suggested I talk to Fiona about keeping Melanie from
eavesdropping.  I asked her to, and she did in the morning.  When I went
to breakfast, there was this woman Caitlin there, who seemed to be the
daughter of this big guy, Benedict, I think he could defeat me while he
was asleep -- this man is a skilled fencer.  I decided to give my oath of
fealty and protection to Archimedes.  I don't know if he fully understood,
but I am not going to let him die.  Sand asked me to help her defeat my
father, so I am going to have to do it.  My father is one of the greatest
threats to Amber -- I guess that's something to be proud of.  I am to
learn how to twist Shadows from Archimedes.  Oh, and I found a remarkable
substance called Piano wire, while playing music with Sandr -- he's a Jew,
but other than that, seems to be a nice guy.  After all, he isn't trying
to exterminate my brethren.  Well I gotta see what is going on.  Melanie
disappeared this morning at breakfast -- I tried to grab her but she
slipped away.  She came back right before Sand contacted me.  So I have to
figure out what Melanie is up to.