From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Tue Jan 11 16:58:47 1994 Date: Tue, 11 Jan 94 16:00:32 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Ariana's Diary Amber, day 137 continued It seems that Ahab is incapable of going for more than one day without getting injured in some way. 24 hours have not even passed since Gramble repaired the damage Rygat did to him, and I find myself working over him again. This time he took a crossbow bolt in his lower abdomen. Any lower, and Dworkin would not have to worry about him siring children anymore. His deafness is proving to be a significant disadvantage. I warned him when I heard the click of the crossbow, but there is an obvious delay involved, not to mention that you do not react the same when you hear a noise described by someone else. There is a certain amount of reflexive training involved. I feel somewhat responsible for all of this. After all, I am the one who brought Mirelle here in the first place. But I had no idea that she would try to kill Brand, or attack Ahab. And had she been left in shadow, Eral only knows what Rygat might have done to her. I can understand how upset she is with Brand, and indeed she has reason to be. He destroyed her home shadow. I remember it quite vividly. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. All of those people, just gone. And she never even had a chance to say good-bye. I had almost forgotten about Brand's involvement in that. But things happened so quickly afterwards, that I had no time to reflect on what it must have done to Mirelle. Certainly, if Brand had done that to my homeland, I would want him to suffer horribly for it. But Brand was not in control of his own actions at the time. Or so he claims. Even if that is not true, now is not the proper time to be fighting amongst ourselves. Rygat has attacked enough of the family, without our helping things along. We need Brand's help. If she must kill him, she should at least wait until this war is over. If I have been able to refrain from killing Heather, despite the occasions when it would have been justified, then Mirelle can wait a while to kill Brand. Although she would have been wiser to attempt to talk to Brand first. Mirelle's actions today have reaffirmed my decision to try once more to make peace with Heather. I dare say we will never be friends, but I should like us to no longer be enemies. I just wish I understood why she acts the way she does. I did my best to be polite to her this morning, something which seemed to make her a bit nervous. I was planning on thanking her for helping Kimdyl, but Mirelle's actions interrupted that. I wonder how Heather would have reacted? I must admit I derive some satisfaction from her confusion. In a way, it is more enjoyable than outright hatred. Perhaps Martin was right. We shall see. Mirelle's attack on Brand has revealed a network of tunnels underneath the Castle, whose presence I had not been aware of. Exploring those tunnels is now a goal of mine. It looked as though Mirelle was living down there for some time. Who knows what else I might find? Besides, you never know when such knowledge might come in handy. At least Brand and Ahab will both recover. Although I suspect Ahab will have quite an amusing involuntary reaction to surprise for some time. I wish I could think of some way to speed the healing of his ears, or at least find a substitute. He has on occasion borrowed the ears of the person he was in psychic contact with, so that he could hear what was going on around him. I wonder if a similar function could be served by some sort of animal? It would have process sounds in much the way we do, so that Ahab could interpret them. And it would have to be something he could stay in contact with. I wonder if it would work? I must remember to suggest it to him...when he is feeling better. All this, and it is not even lunch time yet.