Session 14


Miranda, Bleys and Maevyn ponder their failure to go back to the barrier world. Bleys suggests that maybe it's a one-way trip for himself and Maevyn. Has Miranda tried any other methods, besides Pattern? Yes, with people, not places. Bleys says he's hungry and heads back into his house. Miranda hasn't felt hungry since she got there, so she figures Bleys is just using that as an excuse to try his Trumps. While he's busy, Maevyn brings Miranda up the beach and shows her Finn's house. It's very odd. Part of it looks like a rustic cabin, which is very Finn-like. But attached to it is a tall tower with windows very high up. And spikes with skulls on the end of them. This, along with what Maevyn has said about Finn's periodic odd behavior, causes Miranda to conclude that Finn is sharing his body with another personality - a rather dangerous one, it would seem. Maevyn thinks it's a woman, based on how bitchy and nasty Finn is at times. This earns him a dirty look from Miranda.

Miranda and Maevyn wander back up the beach past Bleys' house, trying to identify some of the other houses. Bleys joins them and tells Miranda that it didn't work. He is able to point out Sand and Despil's houses, which look very similar. There's one that looks just like the Barimen estates that they think is Rinaldo's. Fiona's is a castle. Bleys says it's Castle Amber. Miranda thinks it would be ironic if they could trap Fiona with them, but both she and Bleys think it's unlikely that Fiona hasn't thought of that possibility. Surprisingly, there is no moat around the castle, and the double doors at the entrance are wide open. No one cares to go inside, however.

Bleys asks Maevyn and Miranda again what happened when they tried to use Pattern. They explain. Has Bleys tried using Pattern since he got here? No. He tries, and then the whole world tilts. A crack opens up in the ground and begins widening, and the houses begin to collapse. Maevyn grows wings and takes off, then picks up Miranda. There's no sign of Bleys. After about ten seconds, the shaking stops, and Maevyn lands. Miranda wonders why the environment reacted so differently to Bleys using Pattern. Then it occurs to them that if Bleys' Pattern imprint is still from the Pattern that was in Amber, it's almost certainly broken. Oops. Miranda says that Bleys is a moron, since he, at least, should have known better.

Miranda and Maevyn decide the crevasse bears investigating, reasoning that Broken Pattern is a flawed Pattern, so maybe the crevasse is a flaw in the spell. They toss a couple of rocks down it, and don't hear either of them hit bottom. Half of Bleys' house is still standing, so they check it out for rope. Bleys' house is full of soft, comfortable furniture, many pictures of women, and lots of mirrors. They spot a tool shed in the backyard, and inside find all sorts of adventuring equipment. Helmets with lights, climbing equipment, weapons.... They help themselves, then go back to the crevasse. Miranda stays above to keep an eye out for trouble while Maevyn descends. After about ten minutes, Miranda hears Maevyn shout that he's found a cave. A few minutes later, Miranda hears an odd noise. She looks around and notices that the house beyond Fiona's is reassembling itself. Then Fiona's castle begins to do the same. Miranda shouts to Maevyn, but he's now out of hearing range. She estimates that the wave of repairs will reach the crevasse in about 20 minutes, barely time enough for her to descend to the cave, warn Maevyn, and fly back up. She decides to Trump him instead, since it will be less dangerous, and she was planning to tell him about Trump anyway. She focuses on his Trump, and everything goes black.

Miranda wakes up in a strange room, wearing the clothes she had on before this whole mess started. Her shoes are off. She realizes that she's in a castle of some kind, and looks out the window. The castle is up on a height, with a town and a bay below. It reminds her a bit of the castle and town in Pandemonium, although quite a bit nicer. She finds her Trumps on a table next to the bed, and tries her Trump of Barimen's estates. No luck. Brand's and Jasra's Trumps are equally unresponsive. She tests Pattern next, trying to alter probability so that it's likely there is a mirror in a drawer that she's opening, but no dice.

It is at this point that Miranda notices a thin choker around her neck, consisting of nine small stones set on flat metal pieces that are joined to each other. She tries to unclasp the choker, but can't, so she turns it around and examines the clasp in the mirror. There's a lock on it that she can't open. She also notices that some of the stones appear to have sigils of some kind on them.

Before she can investigate further, there's a knock at the door. When she answers, a serving girl comes in bearing a tray of food. As she sets it up on a table, Miranda asks the girl where she is. Castle Amber. Miranda knows that can't be true. She has the serving girl taste all of the food before she eats any of it. After the girl leaves, Miranda tries shifting to her demon form, which is taller and more slender than her human form. This makes the choker less tight, but she still can't break it, so she shifts back.

While Miranda is pondering how to remove the choker, Fiona speaks up from behind her. She says that she'll try to make Miranda's stay as pleasant as possible, but part of that will depend on Miranda's attitude. Miranda notes that Fiona's trying to kill her Aunt, which doesn't exactly make Miranda favorably inclined towards her. Fiona says she and Sand have worked things out. Then why is she holding Miranda? To keep Brand from interfering in something else she's doing. She suspects that Miranda is possibly the only thing that might stop him. Is she planning to harm someone else in Miranda's family? No. Why did Fiona release her from the spell? She didn't. Miranda found a way to break it, but there was a contingency to bring her here if she did. It isn't the real Castle Amber, of course. So the others must be free. What others? Did she bring others into the spell? Perhaps. Fiona says Miranda shouldn't have been able to do that, and admits that she's surprised Jasra hasn't taught Miranda any sorcery. Miranda says she can't, since there are laws to prevent sorcerers from holding any positions of power. And yet Brand is a Duke and knows sorcery. Miranda hadn't thought about that. Maybe it's one of those things that no one talks about, since he never does it openly. True, which means Miranda could do the same. Miranda admits she's long since given up trying to explain why her mother does what she does.

Fiona tells Miranda that there is a library she's free to take advantage of, but Fiona would rather she didn't leave the castle grounds. There is no Pattern in the basement here, a fact she says Miranda is free to check if she wishes. She's going to be placing a bit of a heavy burden on Miranda - she wants to find out about Thelbane from her. Doesn't she already have some idea what it's like? She didn't get a great deal of exposure. She wants Miranda to explain why Thelbane society deserves to continue, since she finds it to be, well, intrinsically evil. How so? It's a culture that considers love juvenile and poisonings a normal recourse. But love is just a phase you go through when you're young. No, that's acne, dear. Fiona talks a bit about biological warfare, which Miranda has never heard of. There is one disease that Merlin knew of that would kill all shapeshifters, but he never used it. Why not? Because in reality, it wasn't Thelbane he wanted to destroy, just the Emperor so he could rule. Fiona reveals to Miranda that Oberon came from Thelbane but left because he saw his position would be limited there. So he made his own kingdom, but he kept a lot of the ways of Thelbane. Brand and Fiona originally planned to overthrow Oberon and change things, but then Brand sided with Thelbane. Miranda suggests that maybe he saw that Thelbane was not such a bad place after all. Who knows?

Fiona notes that Brand is playing a deep game, so she can't be sure if he'll want to stop her from obtaining her greatest revenge. But she's made her peace with Sand? Yes, because Sand was able to offer her something she wanted even more. What? What does she think? Well, if Mandor wasn't dead, Miranda would have said him. Who says he's dead? Miranda looks surprised. Fiona tells her that Brand knew Merlin was going to attack the Spring Ball. How can she be sure? Because she was warned beforehand that there would be an opportunity to escape. She believes Mandor was warned as well, because he fled before Merlin showed up. She thinks he's important to Brand's plans in some way. Then why would Brand warn Fiona, knowing that she would try to kill Mandor? Fiona admits that she's not completely sure it was Brand. It could have been Bleys, or someone else. Miranda says she sees no reason to stop Fiona from going after Mandor. Fiona didn't think she would.

Fiona says again that Miranda will likely be here for a while. Miranda comments that this isn't how she intended to spend her honeymoon. Fiona is sorry for that. Hmm, that reminds Miranda, why was Fiona interested in Faith? Because she's actually Florimel, but she doesn't know it.

Fiona finally leaves Miranda alone to ponder her new situation. Miranda finds some comfort in the thought that if Fiona got the choker off, then there must be a way for her to do it, too. She just has to figure out how.


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Last modified on May 11, 2002 by Kris Fazzari.