Session 2

The inter-dynamics of this group are fascinating to watch. It's obvious that most of those gathered here weren't speaking freely in front of Talia. Nor Cassilda, for that matter. From what I can determine, she's a friend of Konrad's, and a lover of Quynn's. Basically, she gets around. Judging by the way people think of Konrad, though, she could have done a better job of picking her allies. Or at least a more discrete one.

I revealed my background to Talia, figuring I'd learned all I could from her otherwise, at least where Dad is concerned. And I needed someone to introduce me to Dad. She agreed to find an inconvenient moment in which to do so. Inconvenient for Dad, of course. She told me a bit about Dad's universe, which is apparently based on Paris. Ick, couldn't he have picked a less pretentious place? Well, it just goes to verify that Dad's an idiot. I'd like to visit the place, though. I want to walk its Pattern. From the sound of it, only Dad's offspring can do so. That might come in handy, some day.

The discussion got more political once Talia left, which confirms my theory that no one's comfortable discussing things of importance around her. Vialle seems to be trying to make peace with Calypso, and Calypso seems surprisingly agreeable, given that Vialle's husband murdered her daughter. Now, everything I've heard indicates that Ariel was an utter bitch, but still, the murder of child isn't something you forgive easily. At least I wouldn't. Now, maybe Calypso is just pretending to by sympathetic to Vialle's cause, but Aunt Llewella doesn't seem to think so, and she's usually right about these things.

At least Aunt Llewella and I are of one mind about Random. It's time for a new king. Someone more sympathetic to Rebma. The question is, who? The time is ripe to oust Random, but we have to have our replacement in mind when we do so, lest we wind up with someone worse. Jaysen is a possibility, of course, since he is Eric's son. But he's a bit young to rule, and he's only just come to Amber. No, it's too soon for him to be a viable candidate. It's possible that Bleys would want the job, if he gets beyond his current revenge-minded state, but as Llewella stated so succinctly, the red-heads tend to be high-maintenance. Look at Ariel.

One of the good things to come my time here was meeting Merlin's wife. She offered to introduce me to him, saying that we have much in common. Stands to figure, given that we're siblings. The question is, did Isabella say that because she knows were siblings? Hard to say. Not that it matters all that much. Just so long as Dad doesn't find out before I'm ready to tell him, I don't much care who else knows.

I got to meet Merlin's son, too. I guess that makes Xavier my nephew. Cute kid. At least from a distance. I didn't really interact with him much. Thankfully, all the kids pretty much hung out together.

Well what do you know, Dad showed up in Elysium. A coincidence? I don't think so. Aunt Llewella insisted we go to meet him. As if I'd miss this for anything. We found him crouching down in front of Katherine, the daughter of Nicholas and Konrad that Talia mentioned to me. I guess he heard he had a granddaughter and came to take a look. She seems as normal as a girl can be with two fathers and no woman's influence in her life. Although Cassilda seems to be acting as some kind of baby-sitter for her. What's really curious is Aunt Llewella's reaction, though. She said something about not being ready for this, not here. Not ready to see Dad? Or for him to learn of me? What's she planning?

Talia must have told Dad about me. I can't think of any other reason for him to just stop dead, turn around, and stare directly at me. Lyr, did he look pissed at Aunt Llewella. I guess Talia found her inconvenient moment, although I'm kind of pissed that I only got to witness it at a distance. Still, the look on his face was priceless. What I wouldn't give to hear what he's saying to Talia right now.

Vialle is rather easily panicked. All it took was the news of Dad's arrival, and some subtle encouragement from Aunt Llewella, and she decided to flee back to Amber. Interesting, that. Theoretically, Dad is on Random's side. Vialle's reaction makes me suspect that's not necessarily true, anymore.

Aunt Llewella's left it up to me whether I leave when Vialle sails in an hour. I kind of want to hang around long enough to see if Dad has anything to say to me, now that he knows I exist. Llewella's also set up some sort of meeting between Torrence and I, on Caine's ship later this week. At least there'll be poker. Apparently this is all so Torrence will feel less threatened. By what, the fact that I'm not just Llewella's ward, I'm her niece? That he and I are siblings? There are much more threatening things in life than that.

So, Dad's not completely gutless. He came to see me. Said he wants to be friends. I couldn't resist asking if he'd given Talia this speech, too. He admitted he had, but that Talia's "different." No shit. Then he said he wants to correct his mistakes, this time. It was a nice line. I almost believe it. Maybe I do, on some level. Why else would I have agreed to see him again?

So, I showed up on schedule for my meeting with Torrence, looking forward to some cutthroat cards, at least. I was a bit surprised to find Jaysen there, as well. Aunt Llewella hadn't mentioned that he'd be there. Then Caine left us in the room and locked the door behind him. Lovely. Obviously we were supposed to talk, probably while Caine spied on us. Either that, or they planned to sink the boat with us still trapped inside. Jaysen didn't really appreciate it when I pointed out that in that case, Torrence and I would be fine. It was kind of odd talking to both Jaysen and Torrence, since Torrence is half brother to both Jaysen and I, while we are merely cousins to each other. That, and the fact that I know Jaysen much better than I do Torrence, something I think Torrence picked up on. I wonder if that made him feel threatened, too?

Despite knowing that Caine was listening, we did have some general discussion of the state of things in Amber. Caine's hated Random since Patternfall, so it's not likely that he's going to turn us in as traitors to the Crown. Not unless he got something good for it. The problem is, we need to decide who we want to back in the vacuum that's going to open up when Random goes, but we're not sure who that should be. I mean, they have to be someone who has a good chance of winning, since obviously we don't want to back the loser. And from my own point of view, I have to consider their likely attitude towards Rebma. It's a sticky mess, to be sure, but I take comfort in the fact that whatever else may happen, Random won't be king anymore. With any luck, he'll be dead.

Last modified on January 13, 1998 by Kris Fazzari.