Session 7

The excitement of being at sea has begun to wear off after spending two months doing nothing but traveling from port to port to port. And not even interesting ports where we're needed, or where Rebma has never visited. No, we've stuck to known waters with safe ports that Rebma already had agreements with. Boring. The only consolation has been that if the reports of Amber ships following us are true, they have to be just as bored as we are.

The person who's taken our situation hardest is Stefan, especially once we figured out that someone else is guiding the ship from one Shadow to another. It isn't hard to guess that this someone is probably Aunt Llewella. It chafes to be given command of a ship and then have your face rubbed in the fact that you aren't allowed to determine your course. I've tried my best to convince him to be patient, even though it annoys me as well. Mostly because I don't want to risk him pissing Aunt Llewella off. She doesn't have much patience for men when they go against her wishes.

There was a brief moment when I entertained the idiotic notion of the captain going down with the ship, but thankfully the insanity didn't last. Besides which, it was Stefan's command, not mine, and I certainly didn't want him going down with the 'Nestra. Although, if we go by who was actually controlling things, I suppose it was really Aunt Llewella's command. Not that she's likely to acknowledge that.

Aunt Llewella's really made a mess of things, this time. If Arthur's still looking for an excuse to get her off of Rebma's throne, getting caught allying herself with Bleys is a good one. Lyr, I thought she was smarter than that! Not that I have any intrinsic objection to her making a deal with Bleys. I mean, I'm hardly going to condemn the man for killing Random. What happened to Random's children is another story, but that was Caliban's doing. We don't yet have any proof that Bleys ordered it, although I'll admit it seems pretty likely. At any rate, it isn't the deal with Bleys that makes me so angry, it's how sloppily she handled it. What did she think we were going to do when it became obvious that something was taking us out of our way to avoid Baroq Nor? Shrug and ignore the matter? We had no way of being certain that she was the one controlling us. Of course we'd investigate. If she'd just left us alone, we would have skirted the outer edge of the Shadow and gone on our way. Baroq Nor had nothing of interest to us until she interfered. And then, when it became obvious we were going in, she could have just warned Bleys to get his ships out of there or to strike their colors. Or, she could have ordered us to turn back before we spotted Bleys' ships. We wouldn't have liked that order, and she would have tipped us off to the fact that she was hiding something there, but we would have obeyed. And the 'Nestra would still be afloat.

But no, all she did was throw enough obstacles in our path to make us determined to break through, then wait until we'd sunk one of Bleys' ships and damaged another before she showed up and asked what we're doing. Well gee, Aunt Llewella, what did it look like we were doing? Bleys is still wanted by both Amber and Rebma. You issued the order yourself. Once we saw his colors flying, what choice did we have but to go after those ships? Things might have ended once Bleys appeared and you Trumped over to talk to him, since I wasn't going to fire while you were on his ship. Hell, I wasn't going to fire while he was on his ship. I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with Bleys directly if I can help it. But then he decided he wasn't going to let matters stop there, and all we could do was try to escape. And when he prevented that, we put up what fight we could before he unleashed that spell on us. I don't know what deal you had with Bleys, dear Aunt, but it wasn't enough to make him spare your precious ship.

But, of course this couldn't possibly be her fault. Oh no, never that. So instead she exiles Stefan for disobeying an order. What order? There was never an order given. If we'd been ordered to stay out of Baroq Nor, we could have avoided all of this. Shit, she should have expected this outcome. You can't send a big, new fancy ship sailing around on boring diplomatic duties for weeks and not expect the crew to leap at anything that might prove more interesting.

So, Rebma's lost its main ship, Llewella's given Arthur the means to her defeat, and Stefan can never return to Rebma while she remains on the throne. Which means I can't, either. This isn't exactly encouraging me to fight to keep her on the throne. The funny thing is, right now I'm freer than I've been since I sailed with Caine. Free to leave Amber altogether and return to Antilles. Free to sail my own ship again. It was my obligation to Llewella that was keeping me in Amber, on the off chance that I could help in the struggle I knew would eventually take place between her and Arthur. That obligation is now ended, thanks to Stefan's exile.

Unfortunately, this is much harder on Stefan than it is on me. For all of his talk with Arthur about replacing the monarchy with a council, I don't think it ever occurred to him that he could be betrayed by the Queen like this. She gave him all that he ever wanted, a command and the respect that went with it, and then yanked it away when all he did was his job. I see disillusionment in his eyes now, disillusionment that I do not share. I've known what Aunt Llewella is capable of for years. Little she does would surprise me. To be honest, the only thing about this that surprised me is that she bungled it so badly. For all of her disgust with Mother for the mess she made of things, Aunt Llewella isn't doing much better.

I was sure that when Arthur returned, he'd move against Aunt Llewella, but instead he's acting as if she played no part in what happened. For that matter, Bleys' name hasn't come up, either. Gérard's been publicly thanked for rescuing the 'Nestra's crew, but they made it sound like we ran into an accident of some sort. That really sticks in my craw, but I see no point in making a fuss over it. I may not like Amber all that much, but it would be foolish to do something that would make us as unwelcome here as we are in Rebma, right now.

Other than the reference to the 'Nestra's demise, I rather enjoyed the rest of the evening. I got to watch Torrence get strung along by Caine for a while about who Deirdre was, until Martin messed things up. As paranoid as my nephew is, he sometimes misses the most obvious of clues. Then Dana continued to work her way through the family, putting on quite a show on the dance floor with Chadwick. I'm not sure what she sees in him. Caine and Jaysen I could at least conceive of sleeping with if they weren't relatives, but Chadwick is such an insufferable prick that I just don't see the attraction. I guess Jaysen couldn't either, since he left at some point during the dance. Jealous, maybe? That could be interesting.

The most fun of the evening was Caine's card game, of course. Stefan just doesn't understand why I enjoy these sessions so. He complains that Caine cheats. Of course he does. Who does he think taught me? Half the fun in playing is seeing if I can catch Caine at it, or better yet, thwart him. Plus, Caine's card games often have the most interesting interactions going on at them. Like the way Deirdre was tormenting Caine tonight. I've never seen anyone get to him the way she did. I wonder if it's because he slept with her daughter, or does it go back further than that?

Speaking of Dana, she turns out not to be that bad a card player. I almost think I'd like her, if I could just figure out where her attraction to family members comes from. Caine made an interesting observation about her dance partner during the game, but it doesn't make any sense if it's true. If Chadwick is only interested in men, then why have he and Dana been spending so much with each other? That dance they had sure didn't look platonic to me.

It's good to be back in Antilles. I finally got to introduce Stefan to my foster parents, and they love him. It was a far warmer reaction than Aunt Llewella's half-hearted congratulations back before the 'Nestra set sail. I think we'll stay here for a while. Mom and Dad have plenty of business for my ship, and Stefan and I could both use a break. May as well take advantage of the calm, since I'm sure the storm isn't over.

Last modified on July 24, 1998 by Kris Fazzari.