From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Thu Feb 10 18:08:33 1994 Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 15:01:48 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: liamr@umich.edu Subject: Ariana's Diary Amber, year 3, day 236 continued Dinner was interrupted when Ahab trumped me asking for medical aid. Surprisingly, he didn't need the aid himself. Rather it was Felix's old flame, Murine, who was injured. I briefly considered bringing Felix along, but then pictured his likely reaction and changed my mind. I'm not at my best when people are getting hysterical around me. Besides, Felix would have either had to leave Foster behind (not a good idea) or bring him along, in which case I'd have two upset people to deal with. No thank you. Murine was a mess. It's lucky she's a shapeshifter or she would have bled to death long before she was brought to Amber. Kimdyl didn't look great either, but she seemed to be healing her injuries. She also looks to be about six months along. I'm sure this makes Ahab happy. Felix sent a page to find me and tell him where I was. I had Ahab intercept him at the door, to avoid problems. Fortunately, he managed to persuade Felix to wait. With this accomplished, I set him to finding another set of medically trained hands. Things were close enough with Murine that I wanted some help. Ahab found Fiona. Who saw fit to once again critique my suturing, but was of great assistance, otherwise. I trumped Felix when Murine was stabilized. He and Foster arrived soon afterwards. I told them that Murine stood a good chance of recovering. Foster wanted to know the odds. I told him I hadn't calculated them. You can't, really. I've seen people who should have died make complete recoveries, and vice versa. How can you put that into a straight set of numbers? Alex walked in and managed to say exactly the wrong thing. What a wonderful ambassador he makes! Felix and Foster look very much alike when they scowl. I took Alex outside of the infirmary and explained the situation to him. Alex claims Vetch is hiding in shadow somewhere. Great! I hate shapeshifters. I could run into Vetch on the street and not know it. What does he really look like, anyway? I asked Alex what other skills Vetch might have. He figures Logrus, and possibly sorcery. I wonder if there's any way to determine if someone is shapeshifted or not? Something to ask Alex, when I see him next. Foster handled Murine's condition much better than Felix. The child is incredibly intelligent. And lonely. I understand how he feels. I still feel lonely here sometimes, and I've been in Amber for a while. Foster believes he's making everyone unhappy. I tried to reassure him that wasn't true. Felix just needs time to adjust. Foster did react rather oddly when I said he was free to leave whenever he wanted. He had been wondering if he could leave Alex and I and go back to his room. What kind of environment was he raised in? Felix, Alex and I had a long talk about Foster. Felix is still struggling with the fact that he suddenly has a ten year old son who's nothing like him. It must be terrible to miss so many years of your son's childhood. We tried to come up with things that they could do together. Felix is willing to try. He just needs to feel more confident about himself. Felix also told us that Murine said certain factions in Chaos want the half-breeds for something. Apparently Murine was sent out to make sure she had an Amberite's child. This does not bode well for Foster or for Ahab's child. We all walked back to Felix's room together. It's a good thing we did, since Foster wasn't there, and I understand that Felix raised quite a fuss the last time that happened. Given Foster's studious nature, I suggested we look in the library. Sure enough, there he was, playing Chess with Ahab. Foster really is quite good at the game. When they were done, Foster asked Felix to play a game with him. He wants so badly to do things with his father. With some encouragement, Felix agreed to do so, and they seemed to be having marvelous time when I left. I hope this is the beginning of better things for them. Amber, year 3, day 237 No sign of Felix and Foster at breakfast. Hopefully this means they've decided to go out and spend some time together. No sign of Ahab or Kimdyl either, but that's hardly surprising. Murine seems to be recovering nicely. The nurses have been instructed to find Fiona, Gerard or myself if she relapses. I think I'll spend the morning doing some sunbathing and catching up on one of the novels I brought back from Maui. Random is a spoilsport. He asked me to move, claiming I was distracting the Castle guards, etc., from getting any work done. Is it my fault that they'd rather watch me? I must admit, it was rather fun. I'll have to do it again, sometime. Felix and Foster are still gone. I think I'll go back to Maui and see if Mark's returned yet. If nothing else, I'll get a better idea of what the time differential is. And maybe this time I'll remember the Pattern walk well enough to duplicate Ahab's trick. Maui, day 237 continued No luck with the Pattern transport, but Mark is back in town. We're going out to dinner tonight. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. Mark seems to have missed me. I let him know I missed him too. Maybe I should go away more often, if this is the homecoming I get.