Message: 36763431, 55 lines
 Posted: 9:28am EDT, Wed Jul 6/94, imported: 9:31am EDT, Wed Jul 6/94
 Subject: Ahab's diary, session 50
 To: Kris Fazzari, thari@umich.edu
 From: jlarke@us.itd.umich.edu
 
 	Poor Ariana. I never really expected that Vetch was
 good enough to hold off the entire House of Hendrake, but I
 would have expected him to pull it off for a couple of days
 anyway. Those people don't fool around.
 	Which is a warning to me. They aren't going to take
 it kindly if little ol' Ahab steals their target of
 umpteen-hundred years. And I dunno if they're going to
 accept "he kidnapped my son for two hours" as a claim
 equivalent to "He slept with the Duke's wife." Or Prince, or
 whatever a Hendrake leader is called.
 
 	That aspect of it makes it tempting to follow
 Kimbdyl's advice. See if being taken down a bit has
 humanized him at all. It's obvious to anyone that if I
 wanted to kill him now, he'd be dead. If I can remind him of
 that, and make him understand that he's not alive because of
 any personal reluctance of mine to do him in, I *might* be
 able to warn him off and make it stick.
 	It's worth a try, anyway. I can always kill him
 later, if it comes to that. The advantage is that I don't
 actually have to go near the Hendrakes- meaning that they
 can't warn me off, or decide to kill me just on general
 principles. I'm willing to risk getting killed by Vetch in
 this thing; getting posse'd at by the entire House Hendrake
 is probably not an acceptable outcome.
 
 	Ariana will no doubt think I'm horrible for going in
 there and threatening him at this time. She might be right-
 I don't hardly know anymore. All I know is that he's
 vulnerable now, and that might make him listen.
 	Failing that, there are still a few options. I
 wonder how it would look if Ghost happened to move Riftvan's
 bed to, say, the dining hall of House Hendrake? It would be
 a pretty harsh practical joke at the very least. More likely
 it would prove fatal, in Riftvan's current condition.
 
 	Which leads, once again, to the part where Ariana
 tries to kill me. Oops. She can probably do it, too. She's
 one of the few who knows all the resources I have available
 to me; given how seriously she seems to take the threats she
 makes, she obviously thinks she can handle it. If Kimbdyl
 happened to be near when it all went down, that might give
 me a good chance; fighting off sword, Pattern, Logrus, and
 sorcery all at once would be a tricky task at the very
 least. I don't think Ariana can do it. It would certainly
 wear her out quickly. And of course, if Mom decided to take
 a hand, the entire thing would be over. It's only the one on
 one scenario that worries me.
 	And maybe the bloodbath that would ensue; Deirdre
 would have to be very sad with Ariana, and once she was
 taken out there's no guarantee some partisan wouldn't raise
 Jalana with a grudge. Clearly superior to back Vetch down
 without killing him, if I can.
 
 	If not? I guess we all take our chances.