Well, I'm back in Gaia again, writing all this stuff down so I can
stop thinking about it.  Caitlin and I came here via my cool powers!  We
rode 'through Shadow' on these strange animals called horses for most of
the way.  For whatever reason, they seem to be able to exist almost
anywhere.  I used my powers to get a hold of a skybike, but all of a
sudden, the thing just quit working, and crashed!  Good thing I was going
pretty slow to make sure Cait could keep up on her animal, or I might've
been bruised!  We made it back okay, though.  It's pretty easy to get
through the other universes to the one I know.  All I have to do is think
about where (or what) I want, and then go to it.  It's kinda like using
the Life Rings, only a heckuva lot slower.  And you also have to be moving
while you do it (I can't just teleport or anything cool like that). 
Pretty nifty!  Shadow is supposed to be infinite, so I would guess that
any kind of place I can imagine, I can go to.  I'm not sure, since I
haven't tried, but if what they keep telling me is right, then it oughta
be true.

	Anyhow, I spent the last week hanging out with my biological
mother, Ismene.  I think I kinda screwed up with her from the outset.  I
mean, to me, my mom is Veruun, but apparently that isn't true.  Ismene
lives in a nice big place in a 'Golden Circle' Shadow called Assyssla. 
Since my dad died in the Patternfall war, she remarried to the youngest
male in the royal line of that world.  I guess I was kinda insensitive to
her feelings for me at first (I made her cry).  I warmed up, tho, and we
pretty much spent the whole week getting to know each other.  Not to be
mean or anything, but she's a bit stuffy.  And nothing like Veruun.  I've
decided to try and be as nice as possible to her, tho.  She is my mother,
after all.  But Veruun will always be my mom.

	After the veritable cornucopia of good times I had all week, going
to formal dinners and chatting with highly boring royals, Cait and I
decided to have a little sparring match.  This was started when she
mentioned that her father was Benedict (the tall, skinny uncle), and that
he was the greatest fighter around.  Natch, I told her what a badass I am,
and how I pretty much schooled everyone I ever sparred with.  She kinda
gets this cocky grin (dude, I must get pictures of that) and says, "Yeah? 
Wanna try me?"  I agree, and we were gonna hit it right there in the
living room, but I kinda thought Ismene might get mad if we broke a vase
or something, so we went into the courtyard.  She rocks!  I mean, I was
totally defensive, just getting a feel for her, and she actually pressed
me!  I fought her off, and I decided to see how long I could go.  We
fought for like three hours, when she finally disarmed me!!  Needless to
say, my bobos were shriveled.  I complimented her on her great skill.

	I wondered for a bit about what else I could be beaten at, and
then it dawned on me;  I'm not the only god around here!  If these guys
are my family, and it's the Pattern in our blood that makes us this
powerful, then it follows that there are folks who are just as good as (or
better than) me at stuff!  I guess I just got kinda cocky living amongst
the Gaians.  No wonder I impressed all my instructors so much!  I have a
natural ability that far surpasses any of them.  This brings to light an
interesting question, however.  If Shadow is truly infinite, then I should
be able to Hellride (the swanky name the Amberites have for 'shifting fast
through Shadow') to a place where I can find someone who is better at
fencing than Benedict and totally dedicated to Mokism.  I mean, it's
infinite, right?!  This makes me wonder why this guy isn't the greatest
fencer in the universe instead of Benedict.  I'll hafta find out more. 
Maybe Shadow-folks are infinite, with the exception that they can't beat
us Amberites out.  I mean, Ulysses said that there were 'reflections' of
all of us, me included, out there in Shadow somewhere.  Kinda freaky.  I
have an infinite number of nearly-identical twins!  Hey, that could be
cool...

	Anyhow, time to jam with Bandwidth, and then gather some
provisions and head back to Amber.  I have a lot more to learn about the
nature and limits of my powers before I decide what I'm going to do with
them.  Jeez.  I wonder how Heather's gonna take this?  "Well, dear, I've
been gone without Plugging you these past few days because I found out I
was a god."  Yikes.  This must be what they call 'difficulties' in a
relationship...