Session Three Gwydion wants to gather all of his forms together and rejoin, but it occurs to him that may be unwise, since one of him stands less of a chance of surviving the assassination attempts on him than 30. He Trumps himself. Gwydion 2 answers from his library. Gwydion 1 tells Gwydion 2 to pull out a Trump of himself and repeat the process. When the fifth Gwydion Trumps himself, the first Gwydion gets the Trump call. Gwydion argues with himself about and loses. They do agree to share information. The first Gwydion Trumps Vivian, but can't get through. He Trumps Amanda, who pulls him through. The celebratory banquet breaks up. As Kara leaves, she notices 100 bears standing in the hallway. She hangs around to watch. When Tybalt leaves with Benedict and Bleys, there are 120 of them. They break into the Barney song when they spot him. Bleys reminds Tybalt about the rule regarding personal armies in Amber. Benedict asks Tybalt where they came from. Tybalt says he thinks they're from Chaos. Benedict tells him to kill them. Tybalt explains that he tried that, but more keep coming. Benedict feels that even though the bears are not doing anything now, that doesn't mean they won't cause trouble in the future. He tells Tybalt that he should leave Amber until the problem is solved. Tybalt disagrees, arguing that he's had them checked out. Benedict insists. Tybalt sarcastically thanks Benedict for his help. Benedict says he'd help if he could. Tybalt takes the bears to the audience chamber. Kara follows secretly. Tybalt tells the bears a fairy tale. They enjoy it and ask for another story. When he refuses, they start singing "Tybalt is a weenie." Then they break into the Barney song again. Gerard walks into the room, looking rather amused. Tybalt asks if Gerard has any idea how the bears could be tracing him. Gerard doesn't know. He eventually tells Tybalt that Fiona once created a cloud of flies that followed Bleys around. Gerard doesn't know how she did it, or how Bleys stopped it. Tybalt wants to ask Bleys about it. Gerard doesn't think that's a good idea. Kara notices a continuous line of bears coming down the hall and into the audience chamber. She follows the bears to see where they're coming from. She traces them to the front entrance. The guards at the front entrance don't seem to notice the bears as they walk by. Kara asks one of the bears where they're from. It says home, but doesn't know how far home is. Dice and Mark Roth get drunk in shadow. At one point Dice makes psychic contact with Mark and discovers that Mark is indeed Bill's son. Apparently Mark suspected that his father was getting involved with the Mob, because he kept disappearing and reappearing with large amounts of money. He followed Bill and Random once and somehow wound up in the computer. Dice gets rooms for the night, along with some "entertainment" for Mark. After a couple of days pass, Dice has Mark concentrate on his Trump of the Great Hall. They see a party winding down. Random is on his drums with Gerard on bass. Kara hears the music and wanders over to observe. Mark spots her through the Trump and says he wants to go there. Apparently he likes tall women. Dice closes the contact. Mark asks Dice what he is. Dice says he's a Prince of Amber. This doesn't mean a whole lot to Mark, but he decides to stick with Dice anyway. Dice brings Mark back to his personal shadow. Gwydion asks Amanda if she'll participate in something that will teach her something about herself. He separates his hands, and a storm brews between them. As the storm grows, Gwydion becomes stiff like a statue. He tells her to look into the eye of the storm. Shelley tells Amanda that she's heard of this being done in Chaos and advises her not to do it. Amanda follows Shelley's advice and refuses. Gwydion sighs and brings his hands back together, causing the storm to disappear. Shelley tells Amanda that looking into the storm is supposed to be a really bad experience. Gwydion overhears this. He mentions he'd like to speak to Rodrigo. Amanda Trumps Rodrigo and tells him that Gwydion would like to talk to him. Rodrigo tells her to send him through. Gwydion asks Amanda if Rodrigo is in a cleanly place. Amanda advises him to wear boots. Gwydion goes through the contact, holding a handkerchief up to his nose for effect. He asks what Rodrigo has learned about his parentage. Rodrigo replies that he's not a red-head, but he doesn't know much else. Gwydion asks how things are going. Rodrigo says a FAE is about to go off now. Gwydion asks what that means. Rodrigo replies that stands for Fuel Air Explosive and Caine's about to lose a fleet. He asks if Gwydion would like to watch. Gwydion says he'd find it fascinating. They walk to the end of the alley, which ends at a four-story drop to the waterfront. Rodrigo puts on a pair of sunglasses. Gwydion prepares himself in other ways. Rodrigo punches 444 into the remote he is holding. They hear a muted thump, and then there is a bright flash. For a brief moment, Gwydion notices that all 150 odd ships in the harbor are on fire, even inside. Then the concussion blast hits and they are knocked unconscious. The next thing Gwydion knows, Rodrigo is shaking him awake. Rodrigo is bare-footed, one side of his face is burned and it looks like he's dislocated his shoulder. Gwydion offers to help him, but Rodrigo doesn't trust shapeshifting. Rodrigo bashes his dislocated shoulder back into place against the side of a building. Gwydion takes stock and realizes that he is deaf. He also hurts all over. After healing himself and shapeshifting to another form, Gwydion returns to Amber. He goes to the library to check out the family journal. Peter is in the library when Gwydion enters. Noticing that Peter is watching him, Gwydion wonders around the library for a while. Peter asks if he can help Gwydion. Gwydion claims he's just a simple servant with some free time on his hands. Peter finds this hard to believe, since it's two in the morning. He also notices that Gwydion's Thari sounds odd. Kara listens to Random's band play for a while. She decides to go to the library to do a little research. When she walks into the library, Lightbringer tells her it doesn't like this place. Gwydion is still being questioned by Peter. He pretends to cry, hoping Peter will believe he's frightened and leave him alone. Kara notices this. She tells Lightbringer that she hopes it isn't the Teckla in the corner that's bothering it. Lightbringer replies that the Teckla is not what he appears to be. Gwydion overhears this psychic conversation. He starts protesting that he has a disease and was left by his lover. Kara ignores him. Lightbringer tells her the Teckla's not in his proper shape. Kara motions Peter over and relays this information. She tries casting a defensive spell, but it doesn't work. Peter Trumps Random. Gwydion begins to fade out. Kara throws a dagger into his shoulder. As she throws it, she notices that her reflexes have slowed down. Peter throws his sword at Gwydion. It passes through the gateway with Gwydion as he vanishes. As Gwydion appears in Chaos, he is grazed by Peter's sword. The sword then hits the Pantha shield mechanism, causing the shields to drop. Lord Marcuse steps out of his cell and shifts his fingers into six-inch blades. Gwydion remembers with dismay that Marcuse is dangerously psychotic and one of the best fighters in House Chanicut. Marcuse chops off Gwydion's wrist. Gwydion starts spinning a web with the blood. Marcuse's tongue extends, grabs Gwydion's Trump deck and reels it in. Gwydion releases a sedative into the air, but Marcuse disappears before it takes affect. Gwydion contacts Azelle, the head of House Chanicut, and lets him know about the escape. Gwydion claims it's not his problem. Azelle says it's imperative that Marcuse be found, since Azelle signed his confinement papers. He asks how Marcuse escaped. Gwydion grabs his assistant, Jaquenin , and asks why he brought him through at such an angle. Gwydion argues he never would have allowed that to happen. Azelle asks where Jaquenin was bringing Gwydion from. Gwydion interrupts, saying that was an emergency situation. He argues that finding Marcuse is a security problem now, which means it's not his responsibility. Azelle orders Gwydion to find Marcuse and bring him back. Marcuse appears in the Great Hall as Jonathan is walking through it. Marcuse disarms Jonathan with his tongue. Jonathan goes for one of the weapons hanging on the wall, but Marcuse wraps his tongue around Jonathan's ankle and stops him. Marcuse asks where he is. Jonathan tells him he's in Amber. Marcuse asks who Jonathan is. When Jonathan identifies himself, Marcuse asks to be taken to the Pattern. Then he asks who's King in Amber. He is surprised to hear it's Random. Jonathan asks who Marcuse was expecting. Marcuse says he thought Oberon was king. He asks to be taken to the kitchen. Once there, he eats an entire ham, including the bone. Then he eats two loaves of bread. His hunger sated, he realizes he is in demon form, which is not socially acceptable in Amber. He shifts to his human form, which is that of a 5'10" tall man, with long black hair pulled back in a pony tail, horizontally slit pupils and silver fingernails. Tybalt gets a couple of the bears to agree to tell any other bears that show up to wait in the audience room. All 200 of them bid him goodnight. He goes back to his room with Jaina, who he asks to wait in the other room. He Trumps Bleys and asks him about the bears. Bleys admits Tybalt has a problem, but says he's not the one who sent them. He suggests Tybalt figure that out. Tybalt reveals that he thinks Dara or House Helgram sent them after him. If it's Dara, he thinks it's due to who he is. He asks if there's a magical way to get rid of the bears or stop them from tracing him. Bleys says he could probably find a shadow that the bears can't reach, but then Tybalt couldn't leave. Tybalt asks what the bears could be using to trace him, since he's walked the Pattern to remove any tracers and he has a ring that eliminates his Trump image. Bleys suggests there may be something apart from Tybalt's psychic identity that they are tracing. Or they could be tracking Greyswandir. Tybalt thanks Bleys for his help. Tybalt Trumps Dara but gets no answer. He logs onto Ghostwheel and finds the Trump Merlin stored there of Isstvan, head of House Helgram. He uses it to contact Isstvan. He explains that there is a nuisance plaguing him that he'd like to be rid of. Isstvan asks what nuisance he refers to. Tybalt tells him about the bears. Isstvan says he's going to do Tybalt a tremendous favor and tell him the truth: he knows nothing about the bears. There not his style, anyway. He'd send Fire Angels. Tybalt mentions his suspicion that Dara is involved. Isstvan tells him that Dara is now affiliated with House Sawall. Tybalt tells Isstvan that he's been considering his actions when he was in Isstvan's Ways, and he's come to realize that his actions probably deeply offended them. Isstvan allows that this is true. Tybalt says he's interested in making amends. Isstvan replies that he'll consider it. Tybalt tries to Trump Dara and still can't get through. He leaves an e-mail message for Dara on Ghostwheel. Marcuse requests asylum in Amber. Jonathan asks if he wants to talk to Random. Marcuse replies that he wants to talk to Fiona. Jonathan asks what name he should give. Marcuse introduces himself as Marcuse of Chanicut. Jonathan Trumps Fiona, but she doesn't answer. He tries Bleys, with the same results. Then he tries Amanda. She wakes up and takes the call. Jonathan tells her that Marcuse is requesting asylum from Fiona. Amanda realizes that Marcuse is a Fiona cultist. She suggests that Jonathan talk to Random. Jonathan breaks the contact and follows her suggestion. Random doesn't answer, so Jonathan finds Marcuse a room for the night. He leaves a message for Benedict to be informed of the situation. Tybalt is woken up an hour before dawn by a Trump call from the Officer of the Watch. The man fills Tybalt in about Marcuse's presence in Amber, and the fact that Marcuse appears to be Jonathan's guest. Since Benedict does not want to be disturbed, Tybalt is next in line to be informed. Tybalt arranges to have a guard keep a visual watch on Marcuse through the window to Marcuse's room. Then he leaves and gets Jonathan's story. Amanda is woken by her maid in time to watch the morning training session with Benedict. While she gets ready, she catches up on the latest gossip from her maid. Gwydion asks Azelle for some Trumps of Amber. Azelle loses his temper, asking why he should lend Trumps to Gwydion so he can lose them again. He tells Gwydion to find Marcuse first, then they'll talk. Gwydion protests that he needs the Trumps to get around. Azelle says he knows Gwydion has his ways. He adds that he wants Marcuse back by that night. Gwydion asks how he's supposed to get to Amber if he has no Trumps. Azelle responds that Gwydion had the only Amber deck in the House. He adds that Gwydion is always saying how brilliant he is, and suggests he think of something. Gwydion claims his method is not complete yet. Azelle realizes that Gwydion can't Hellride either and says he expects more out of his scientists. Gwydion contacts Dante and asks to be put in touch with Amanda. Dante Trumps Amanda. She gets the call while she's in the shower, so she ignores it. Gwydion asks Dante to try again in a few minutes. Amanda takes the call this time. Gwydion explains that a psychopath may be lose in Amber. Amanda asks if the escapee is a Fiona cultist. Gwydion confirms this is the case Amanda informs him that she's heard of a Chaos lord in the Castle fitting that description. She says she'll tell Tybalt or Benedict about it. Gwydion demands that she call someone immediately. Tybalt talks to Marcuse, who will only say that he's requesting asylum. Tybalt tells Jonathan to stay with Marcuse and watch him. Then he leaves a message for Random explaining the situation. Amanda goes down to breakfast looking for Benedict. The only elder she finds in the dining room is Gerard. She asks him where Benedict is. Gerard assumes he's getting ready for the advanced class. She asks if Gerard's heard about the Chaos lord. He hasn't, so she explains what she knows and what Gwydion's told her. She adds that Jonathan is involved. Gerard Trumps Jonathan, who is showing Marcuse around the Castle. Gerard asks him to come through. Jonathan explains that he's showing Marcuse around. Gerard tells Jonathan to bring him along. Jonathan does so. Marcuse falls to one knee upon seeing Amanda and calls her Lady Fiona. Gerard looks amused. Amanda explains that she's not Fiona. Marcuse asks if she's Fiona's daughter. Amanda admits that she is. Gerard informs Jonathan that they've been told Marcuse is a psychotic killer. Jonathan says Marcuse looked fine to him. Gerard has Marcuse sit down and join them. Amanda learns that Marcuse wants asylum because he's a political opponent of Azelle. She asks if this is a recent development. Marcuse explains that it's been going on for some time. Gwydion does some research about Marcuse's case. He learns that Marcuse has been imprisoned for quite some time. He decides that the political implications of this whole thing are getting sticky. He goes to talk to Azelle. Dice goes to a shadow similar to Mead's, to get a bomb capable of destroying anything within a 50 mile radius. He takes the bomb to a location near the sentient computer in Mead's shadow. He primes it to explode, Trumps Jonathan, and asks him to pull him through. As he goes through, he detonates the bomb. Amanda checks to see if Dice is real and is satisfied that he is. Dice asks her what's new. She replies there's nothing that she can discuss here and glances at Marcuse. Tybalt sends a message to Benedict asking if he's still invited to the practice. The reply states that Tybalt is invited but the bears are not. Tybalt gets the bears to agree to leave him alone for the training by promising to read them a story after he showers. Amanda tells Gerard that she'd be interested in observing Benedict's practice. Gerard isn't interested but he warns her that Benedict usually figures out when people are spying on him. Peter wakes up early and drills with his guards in one of the Castle courtyards. Kara finds another one and runs through some warm-up exercises. Tybalt arrives early as ordered and warms up while Benedict goes through a sword form that Tybalt has never seen before. Tybalt's right hand is still stiff, so he opts to use his left. When Benedict is done warming up, he and Tybalt spar. Tybalt tries out some moves that he's learned from Jaina. Benedict counters them and comments that Tybalt's been learning from his lady. They sweep up the place in preparation for the arrival of the others. Benedict has Tybalt fetch some practice blades. Kara, Peter and Jaina arrive. Benedict suggests they all stretch, but everyone already has. He pairs Tybalt with Kara and Peter with Jaina. Tybalt and Kara both start cautiously. Tybalt sweeps Kara's feet, but at the same time she draws a dagger and hits a nerve cluster in Tybalt's sword arm with the hilt. This causes him to drop his sword, but he is able to grab Kara's sword arm and yank it up. He forces her to drop her sword, but she goes for his neck with her dagger. He blocks the dagger with his shoulder and punches at her chest. She twists to avoid most of the blow and tries for his neck again. This time Tybalt catches her arm and twists it. Benedict says the fight is concluded. Peter and Jaina square off. She aims a leg sweep at him, which fails. She makes a second sweep which succeeds, mostly because Peter didn't think she could reach that far. As the fight continues, Peter realizes that he's outclassed. Jaina hits Peter on a number of occasions due to the extra reach she gets from her shapeshifting. Eventually Benedict stops the fight. He critiques everyone's fighting style. Then he fights each person individually. During Peter's fight, he chops off Benedict's "arm" (actually the area where Benedict's arm should be) and stops. Benedict hits him soundly and asks why he stopped. Peter explains that he cut off Benedict's arm. He feels Benedict should be training him to fight opponents with two arms. Benedict feels Peter should be learning to fight whoever his opponent happens to be. He points out that he's had Peter spar the others for two-handed practice. When they spar again, Benedict chops behind Peter, and says "I cut your tail off." Peter gets the point. Peter asks if he can bring his men in, to practice group fighting. Benedict doesn't want to do this. Tybalt suggests that they all attack Benedict together. Benedict thinks this is a good idea. The attack goes disastrously. They perform worse together than they did individually. When it's over, Benedict evaluates them as follows: Kara is obviously a loner. She gets in the way in a group fight. He suggests next time she stand back and stay out of the way. He says Peter has obviously fought with a group before and he is quite efficient at staying out of the way, but he never touched Benedict during the attack. About Jaina and Tybalt, he comments "You look like two people who can't decide whether to make love or kill each other. The competition aspect is so obvious." He also says they are hot-doggers, pointing out several occasions where Kara or Peter had a better shot but Tybalt or Jaina had to go for it anyway. He tells them all to practice before coming to him again. The next session will be in a week. After the practice, Amanda seeks out Tybalt and tells him Gwydion's information about Marcuse. Peter spends some time talking to Amanda after she is done with Tybalt. Kara finds a courtyard that is not easily observed and practices alone. Gwydion talks to Azelle. He feels that there may not be enough evidence to hold Marcuse. Azelle tells him to bring back Marcuse and then see if he's crazy. Gwydion asks what he should do if Marcuse is in Amber and doesn't want to leave. Azelle says to bring him back anyway. He points out that Marcuse is dangerous to everyone but could be useful if the House is attacked. Gwydion feels that Marcuse may not want to come back, and therefore would not help the House anyway. Azelle wants Marcuse brought back or killed. If Amber grants Marcuse asylum, Gwydion is to call Azelle for further instructions. Gwydion wants a guarantee that he can offer Marcuse a re-evaluation, and if he is sane, he will be released. Amanda finds Dice and suggests they check out the computer in Mead's shadow again. They begin shifting shadow in that direction. Amanda's cats, Shelley, Juliet and Saline, accompany them. Amanda is Trumped by Dante, who tells her that Gwydion wants to speak to her again. Gwydion asks if she passed his message along. Amanda replies that she talked to Tybalt about it. Gwydion remarks that no one has contacted him. Amanda remembers that she forgot to relay that part of the message. She says she'll call Gwydion back and breaks the contact. She Trumps Tybalt and tells him that Gwydion wants to talk to him. He asks what it's about. She says he'll have to ask Gwydion about it. Jonathan tells Random about Marcuse. Random grants Marcuse asylum for a night and a day and tells Jonathan to keep an eye on him. Peter has breakfast with Random. Random appoints Peter Lord Warder of Amber. Tybalt Trumps Gwydion. The Gwydion who answers is dressed in fatigues with what look like Mujadeen behind him. Tybalt quickly figures out that this is not the Gwydion who wanted to talk to him. He says he'll try again later. When he Trumps Gwydion two hours later, he gets the same guy. Tybalt asks this Gwydion to refuse the next Trump call. He tries Trumping Gwydion again and gets a Gwydion in a loud factory. He determines this isn't the one he's looking for either and asks this Gwydion to refuse the next couple of Trump calls. Tybalt tries again and gets the first Gwydion, who's had half of his head shot off. He asks for assistance. Tybalt pulls him through. Since he can't do much for the man, he Trumps Gwydion again and gets one of Gwydion's warfare forms. This form appears as a blond youth with horns and a snake twining through holes in his body. Tybalt explains the situation. The warfare form tells him to send the injured Gwydion through. Tybalt asks does so and asks the warfare form to refuse the next series of Trump calls he gets. The warfare form agrees and absorbs the injured Gwydion. Tybalt goes back to Trumping Gwydion. Eventually he gets through to a Gwydion in a lab. He asks what Gwydion wanted. Gwydion reiterates his request for Marcuse. He adds that Marcuse has a fixation on the King and he could go wild if he sees him. Tybalt says he'll pass the information along. Gwydion adds that Marcuse is quite old, which makes him extremely dangerous. He asks to come through. Tybalt refuses. He breaks the contact and Trumps Random. Tybalt relays what he's learned about Marcuse from Gwydion. He adds that he thinks it's a load of shit. Random tends to agree. He does think that perhaps he should assign someone other than Jonathan to guard Gwydion. Tybalt suggests Kara or Peter would be best suited for the task. Random doesn't really trust Kara. Tybalt thinks she'd be perfect for guarding Gwydion because of her sword. He suggests Kara be paired with Peter or Jonathan if Random doesn't trust her alone. Random thinks Amanda might be appropriate, given that Marcuse is a Fiona cultist. They discuss the problem of the multiple Gwydions and what to do with the one in the dungeon. Random asks who'd have a reason to kill Gwydion in the family. Tybalt figures Caine does, since Gwydion nuked one of Caine's fleets. Random mentions that another one of Caine's fleets was destroyed, but it doesn't appear to have been caused by a nuke. Kara returns to her room and finds a basket a fruit outside of her door. There is a note with it from Jonathan apologizing for his earlier behavior. She uses a spell to check the fruit for poison but finds none. Gwydion sends a blood bird to Amber but it is destroyed when it gets there. He gets a Trump call from Random, who wants to talk about Marcuse. Gwydion asks to come through. Random complies and says he has trouble believing that Marcuse would have a vendetta against him. Gwydion replies that he never said that and knows nothing about it. Random asks if Gwydion was responsible for the destruction of Caine's fleet. Gwydion says he isn't, but he knows who is. He can't say of course, unless he gets something in return. Random asks if the Gwydion in the dungeon is causing all the duplicates. Gwydion admits this is the case. Random offers to free the Gwydion in the dungeon in exchange for the name of the individual who attacked Caine's fleet. Gwydion wants Random to turn Marcuse over to him. Random says he won't offer that. Gwydion responds that he won't take less. Random tells Gwydion that he's making the mistake of assuming he's dealing with an equal. Eventually Gwydion agrees to tell Random the name of Caine's attacker in exchange for the lifting of his outlaw status and permission to remain as a guest in Amber. He reveals that the attacker was Rodrigo and that he witnessed the attack. Gwydion goes down to see the Gwydion in the cell. The prisoner Gwydion tells Gwydion that he's finished the treatise on shapeshifting. Gwydion embraces the other in joy and absorbs him. He Trumps Jaquenin and gives him the treatise. Amanda and Dice discover that someone has blown up the area around the complex where the computer was located. Dice goes back to Amber. Amanda goes to shadow Earth and arranges to buy art by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Then she goes to the west coast to visit Julia. Julia wants to know where Merlin is. Amanda says they haven't found him but they're still looking. Julia tells her that another person from work has disappeared, a guy named Mark Roth. Julia asks if there's anything she can do to help. Amanda can't think of anything at the present, since they've tried magic before. Dice walks the Pattern and goes back to Mark Roth. Mark asks where his dad is. Dice says he's in Amber, so Mark asks to be taken there. Dice brings him to Bill. Amanda finds a message on her answering machine from Luke Reynard. She returns the call. He tells her he was in New York last week and wanted to see a show with her. Now he's in Atlanta. She searches Atlanta with a Pattern lens and finds Luke in a hotel room. There's no sign of anything unusual about him. She asks when he'll next be in New York and makes arrangements to pick him up at JFK when he gets in. Kara and Gwydion both go to the library. Lightbringer tells her Gwydion looks familiar and IDs him as the Teckla they saw last night. She approaches Gwydion, who introduces himself as being from the Courts. He asks Kara about the Jhereg on her cape. She tells him it's the symbol of her house. He asks if she's from Chaos. Upon hearing that she's not, he guesses she may be from a shadow near Chaos. He mentions he was looking for a Trump deck. Coincidentally, Kara is looking for the same thing. They walk over to the case where the Trumps are stored. Gwydion shapeshifts his hand through the glass, grabs a deck and pulls it out. Kara asks what brings Gwydion to Amber. He explains that he's a Doctor of shapeshifting. They begin discussing what that means. Peter is talking with Bleys when he is Trumped by Random. Random tells Peter that someone is tampering with the case in the library that contains the spare Trump decks. Peter and his men walk into the library. Kara asks what's wrong. Peter asks if they observed anyone attempting to steal a deck. Kara and Gwydion both deny witnessing any such act. Peter doesn't believe them. Kara states flat out that she has no Trump deck. Gwydion says he has a deck but it was given to him earlier. Peter threatens to search them. Kara asks if he's calling her a liar and puts a hand on her sword. Peter threatens to lock them up. Kara tells him they've done nothing wrong. Peter Trumps Random and explains the situation. Random decides that he has no problem with either Gwydion or Kara having a deck. Peter gets one from the case for Kara, and warns them both that he will severely punish anyone he catches tampering with the case containing the decks. He goes into the hall with his men. Jonathan and Marcuse walk into the library. Gwydion and Marcuse have a heated conversation. They look like they may come to blows. Kara approaches Peter in the hall and tells him things are getting ugly between the two Chaosites. Amanda Trumps Jonathan, and is pulled through. Peter, Amanda and Jonathan attempt to diffuse the situation. Eventually Marcuse agrees to consider allowing Gwydion to examine him for the purpose of determining his sanity. Gwydion promises to leave Marcuse alone if he determines that Marcuse is sane. Peter demands to be present at the examination, if it takes place in Amber. Gwydion says he will allow that if Random OKs it. Amanda, Jonathan, Marcuse and Kara go down the dining room to get some dinner. Tybalt is Trumped by an operative who tells him that Corwin has been spotted in a Golden Circle kingdom. The details are sketchy. Tybalt thanks him and continues trying to find the source of the teddy bears that are plaguing him. He and Jaina have brought some of the bears with them on a cart. They find a shadow inhabited by intelligent bears, but not the teddy bears they are looking for. As they continue shifting shadow, they start coming across shadows with bears carrying automatic weapons and fighting each other. In one of these shadows, a shell takes out half of the bears and injures Jaina. Tybalt shifts shadow to escape. The new shadow has a bright glow on the horizon. Tybalt finds a radiation detector, which is clicking furiously. He subtracts the radiation and looks for some radiation suits. Instead, he finds two decontamination suits. Jaina sneezes. Tybalt notices that his nose is becoming stuffed. He subtracts the biological contaminants and gets the radiation back. And vice-versa. He goes back to an earlier shadow and finds two radiation suits. He and Jaina put them on and resume their trip. The further they go, the higher the radiation. After a while, the radiation detector goes off the scale and Tybalt's compressor fails. He shifts shadow to fix it and is confronted by a cartoon character named Ronny Radsafety. Ronny wants to know if Tybalt's registered his REMs and warns that Tybalt is gazorching his gonads. Tybalt leads Jaina and the bears back to an earlier shadow and asks if Jaina can use the Logrus to find the bears' home. She tries, but doesn't find anything. Tybalt asks if there's anyone in Chaos who could help. Jaina asks what she'd get for such a big favor. Tybalt asks what she wants. Jaina wants him to agree to the marriage. He offers to finalize their engagement. She says that's not good enough. While they are talking, a row of tanks advance towards them and begin firing. They shift shadow to escape and are rushed by a horde of machine gun carrying grizzlies. They shift again. When he's satisfied that no more menaces are going to appear, Tybalt Trumps Dara. Dara answers Tybalt's call. Tybalt explains that he'd like to exchange favors and tells her about his problem. He shows her the bears, which are huddling in the center of the cart looking frightened. Dara asks why he thinks she could help. He makes a diplomatic answer. She tells him to cut the bullshit and asks if he thinks she did it. He admits this is true. She tells him that it's not her style because he person who set the bears on him gives warnings. If Tybalt ever pisses her off, he'll be dead. She adds that he's an egocentric little shit and that she hasn't really thought of him at all, having better things to do with her time. The world does not revolve around him. Tybalt asks if she's heard from Merlin. She says that's one of things she's been occupying herself with. Amanda and Kara are talking when Amanda gets a Trump call from Tybalt. The fact that he's wearing a radiation suit does not make Amanda's day. Tybalt explains his situation and recalls that Amanda once created a safe pocket of shadow. He asks if she can help him. She tells him that she has an assignment from Random. He asks if she'll help him if Random releases her. She agrees, providing it doesn't take long. Tybalt Trumps Random and asks for Amanda's help. Random says she's working on something more important right now. He asks what Tybalt's running into. When Tybalt explains, Random suggests that Tybalt try coming at it from another angle. He notes that when things start getting worse like that, they usually don't get better. He suggests tracking down the people who might be responsible and asking them. Tybalt thinks he's talked to anyone who he might have offended. Random points out that Chaos law is very tricky and Tybalt might have offended someone without realizing it. He suggests Tybalt talk to Gwydion. Tybalt plans to Trump Gramble of House Sawall and ask if he's offended them. Jaina points out that this is not the proper way to contact Gramble. She adds that once their engagement is official, he'll have status in House Hendrake, at which point they can request the audience through the proper channels. Tybalt agrees to the engagement but won't set a date. Jaina wants to go back to Amber and pick up some things. They take off the radiation suits and Trump back to the Great Hall. Tybalt and Jaina run into Kara, Amanda, Jonathan and Marcuse in the main hall. Gwydion comes down the stairs and asks Tybalt what the bears are for. Tybalt says he keeps them for defense. He claims if he is ever imprisoned, the bears can help him. He also tells the group about his engagement. Kara asks Jaina for information about what rules make up a marriage contract in Chaos. Jaina tells her and invites all of them to the engagement ceremony. At Court at 1:00, Random announces that Peter has been appointed Lord Warder of Amber. Kara questions Amanda about the laws of Amber. Bill Roth walks in with his son and joins the conversation. Amanda tells Mark that someone on Earth was looking for him. Mark realizes that he's been gone from Earth for several weeks. Jonathan reports the exchange between Gwydion and Marcuse to Random. He points out that if it ever comes down to a fight, he's not sure he'll do much good. Random tells him to try and hold down the property damage. Besides, if they do fight, Random figures Marcuse will kill Gwydion.