My decision to kill Sandr may have been too hasty.  He is proving
to be surprisingly manipulatable, and somewhat useful as well.  The poor
fool insists that all he really wants is the love of a family.  Well, if
that is what it takes, I will provide that.  Of course, this family has
never been noted for its love and compassion...

	All else proceeds as well as could be expected, with the exception
of the Jewel.  Dworkin took it from Finndo during the rescue attempt. 
Cagey old bastard.  No matter.  There will be another opportunity someday,
and I was able to salvage something from it.  I imagine Archimedes is
somewhat grateful to me for finding it.  And I did manage to free Gerard. 
I had hoped to have more elders indebted to me, but Eric was quite dead
and Caine had long since departed, leaving a Shadow in his place.  It was
rather obviously a fake, and I am disappointed Finndo did not see through
it.  Then again, I doubt he cared who he was beating, so long as they
screamed.  I had some fun with Caine, though.  He is probably still
wondering who I am.  It can be fun to tweak the older generation, so long
as one is careful not to go too far.

	I truly do miss Father's Pattern, though.  Sandr brought me to the
Primal one for Amber, since he claimed no other one would do.  As I said,
he has his uses.  Unfortunately, the Pattern here requires far more effort
to walk than what I am used to, and it will take me a while to know all of
its workings as well as I did Father's.  But I have time and I am patient.

	Maron's Trumps have proven to be a remarkable find.  One of them
is either twin to the one Sandr found of Father's study, or the very same
card.  The study provided little beyond what Sandr described, although I
believe most of Father's journals there are actually forgeries.  A fact
Sandr apparently did not catch.  I am not certain if the journal on how
Father became a living Trump is also a forgery, but I can find no flaw in
its theories and have removed it from the study for... safekeeping.  I
left the map of the universe there, however.  It must have been drawn
fairly recently, since it includes the Chaos Patterns.  Perhaps the author
will return to show the changes Dworkin is making.  It is possible that
the author is Dworkin himself.

	For now, I wait impatiently for Maron to wake up.  His recovery
lends credence to Shandril's claim that he has somehow managed to become a
living Trump.  How did he accomplish this so quickly?  I intend to find
out.  Shandril also claims that he is the one who drew the Halybard
Pattern...

	Oh Maron, what has possessed you of late?  I understand more than
anyone the urge to draw your own Pattern, to fill the void that Father's
left.  But given what happened to Father's, I had hoped you would decide
against it, as I did.  Then again, had I been given the opportunity, who's
to say what I would have done?  Now I must figure out a way to set things
right without destroying your Pattern, for doing so would reduce you to
the same state as our father, and I will not lose another part of my
family in this manner.