Well, I guess this means Ahab *would* be dangerous, if he had half
a brain.  Chalk one up to my benefactor again; another posse missed,
another kick in the crotch avoided.  And having one of those "holes" in my
neck.  That must certainly be something that one would lose sleep over. 
Why in the world anyone would want to hang around in a high technology
Shadow on a regular basis, is beyond me.

	Anyway, I have reason #1001 to be thankful that I didn't walk the
Pattern.  With all the sleep that Amberites could lose worrying, it's a
wonder the family can function at all.  I wonder if the Elders will allow
Ahab to keep his little surprise, once this is all over.  If they don't
rip it out, it's only because they'll want to learn it from him, or
mentally control him.  *He* may not want to keep it, of course, with such
a big target it makes him... if he stopped to think about it, anyway.

	OK, back to the narrative part...  I get back to Amber, find the
usual infirmary regulars, and everything seems hunky-dory, except that
Ahab's body has happened to have dominated Auntie Fi, who, in turn, has
dominated everyone she has come in contact with (including me, for a
while).  After being freed of her little game, my only task was to find
someone to mentally overpower her, in order to stop her.  Er.  Well, I
went looking for Mebd, and happened to run into Heather.  Surprise,
surprise.  Heather didn't seem to like the idea of her mother being a pawn
of Ahab (I bet that'll be a sore spot), so she fetched her father to help
out with freeing Fiona.  Of course, the whole process didn't work out so
smoothly (with Brand, it never does), so as insurance, I brought dear old
Dad through, with much less trouble than I would have thought.  Of course,
leaving out the part about "cooperating with Brand" and "in order to save
Fiona" expedited the process a little.  Having thereby gained the
firepower, all that was left was to sit back and let them sweat out a
mental battle with Fiona.

	Fiona having been freed, it didn't take long to set the others
free.  Then, of course, it was time to plan Ahab's rescue.  This was made
more difficult because Ahab was not there to volunteer to form a posse. 
His mind was in the Rebmite's pants (eww).  In fact, none of the
"deputies" went in at all.  This was not the actual rescue mission, of
course, but it wasn't exactly a summer vacation, either.  Instead, Martin
and Vetch are going in.  Martin, I think, would have done anything, and
was really just happy to get his body back.  Vetch is better to deal with
by avoidance, rather than analysis.

	So, that brings us to the now; waiting for the reconnaissance team
to report back, soaking up some nice Amber weather, and thinking about all
the personal errands I need to get completed.  Oh, did I mention the
shards of the Jewel in all this?