From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Wed Mar 2 13:19:31 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Mar 94 12:14:20 EST From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Ariana's diary Maui, year 3, day 271 continued Benedict says there are certain spells which would help me determine whether Mark is a Chaosite. He suggested I talk to one of the family members who dabbles in magic. Which I tried to do, but neither Fiona nor Bleys could be bothered to answer my calls. So I reluctantly tried Random. I figured he might know, and I wanted to make sure Ahab had talked to him about the Chaos plot involving the children. Well, either Ahab never got around to talking to Random (understandable given Kimdyl's kidnapping) or Random was playing dumb to see if I could tell him anything new (hardly unusual in this family). Whatever the reason, he seemed interested to hear my report. I then explained that I needed to determine if someone I knew was a Chaosite. Of course, I neglected to mention I was pregnant with that individual's child. It's none of Random's business anyway. I'm still mad about the whole affair with Vetch. Random suggested I talk to Alex. I pointed out that I have no way to trump Alex, and my attempts to pass a message to him have been unsuccessful. He asked me to call him back. When I did, he had Alex with him, so I brought him through. I explained what I wanted to Alex. I didn't tell him about my pregnancy either. He's nosy enough as it is. He has a spell or power word (I'm not certain which) that can cause a shapeshifter to revert to their true form. The plan was for him to use it on Mark when he came home. Then Mark called and said he had a late night flight, so he wouldn't be home until tomorrow. Alex didn't want to stay that long. We went to the airport to see if Mark was telling the truth. It seemed a little coincidental that he managed to be gone when I finally had someone with me who could determine the truth. But his plane was checked out, and the flight plan he filed backed up his story. About the only thing I accomplished was to give Alex an opportunity to make a fool out of himself. Apparently he decided that loud shirts must indicate loud personalities. I got him out of there as fast as I could. When we got back to the house, I asked if Alex could search to see if there were other Logrus users in the shadow. He didn't want to search the whole shadow, so I asked him to just search the area, especially where Mark was. He wanted a picture so he could locate Mark more easily, but all of my pictures of Mark are gone! I looked everywhere for them. Needless to say, this did not put my mind at ease. I gave Alex a mental image instead, which seemed to be adequate for his needs. He didn't recognize Mark, but then again, if Mark is a shapeshifter he's probably not using his true form. After a searching for a while, he told me that he had detected the presence of Logrus, but then it vanished. He was unable to find any Logrus in Mark. He was anxious to return to Amber at this point, so I thanked him for his help and let him leave. So now the question is what do I do? In a way I almost wish Alex had found Logrus in Mark. At least then I wouldn't be left with this uncertainty. If only Alex had been able to cast that spell on him. That way I'd know if I was dealing with a shapeshifter or not. I want to believe that Mark is just a shadow dweller. But then what was the source of the Logrus that Alex detected? And what happened to the pictures I took of Mark? I've decided to bring Mark to Amber. I need to tell him the truth about me anyway, and if he is a Chaosite, maybe he'll give something away. If nothing else, Alex should be able to determine if he's a shapeshifter. The only thing I'm worried about is that if Mark is a Chaosite, he may attack me as soon as he realizes that I want to bring him to Amber. I've packed some suitcases for us both. I'm going to ask Ahab to trump me shortly before Mark comes home. I'll tell Mark that we're going to visit my relatives and see how he takes it. If he likes the idea, I'll warn him that the travel method will be a bit unorthodox before we go through. If he attacks me, well at least Ahab will be able to get me out of there. This is probably unnecessary, but Kimdyl's kidnapping has unnerved me. I don't want to lose my child the way Felix did. Amber, year three, day 272 I can't believe Ahab did that! Mark walked in the door with a big bouquet of flowers. While I was kissing him, Ahab decided told me to lean in and pulled us through! I never even had a chance to prepare Mark for it! Damn it, I didn't want it to happen like this! Mark was understandably confused. I introduced him to Ahab and then found the nearest sitting room to explain things to him. I decided to do so psychically, because it's quicker and more convincing. It also gave the opportunity to see if he was a shapeshifter in disguise. As far as I can tell, he's exactly what he appears to be. Which is a relief to me. He took the news about my background about as well as could be expected, given the circumstances. I asked if he wanted to meet my relatives, but he understandably wanted to return home. I can't say I blame him. If only Ahab hadn't been so hasty. I sent a page to find Alex, supposedly to see if he could get us home any faster than riding through shadow. In reality I wanted him to meet Mark so he could determine if he was a shapeshifter or not. Just to be sure. Nothing happened, but I need to ask Alex if he remembered to cast the spell. It's what we had been planning to do when Alex met Mark in shadow, but maybe Alex forgot or needed time to prepare. I told Mark I wanted to look in on Ahab and Kimdyl's baby (its a boy) and asked if he wanted to come along. He didn't. I hope I don't lose him over this. Before I look in on Nicholas, though, I'm going to find Alex first. If his spell found nothing, then that's it. I found nothing wrong psychically, and Alex will have confirmed that Mark doesn't have Logrus and isn't a shapeshifter. I don't know what more I can do. Every test I can think of shows he's just a shadow dweller. I guess I have my proof. I just hope it was worth the cost. I do want to say hello to Felix and Foster before I go. And Driscoll, if I can find him. Then I'll have to teach Mark to ride. I'm going to try to psychically show him what I know about riding in hopes that will make it easier. We won't have to ride for too long. Just long enough for me to get us to a shadow where we can find a car. I think I'm going to stay with Mark in shadow, assuming he still wants anything to do with me. The Chaos plot seems to only involve children that are half Amberite and half Chaosite. Since Mark is not from Chaos, I should be safe. After all, they didn't try to kidnap Eris when they went after Kimdyl and Foster. Or me, for that matter. I don't want to leave Mark alone to deal with everything he's just learned. This would be so much easier if I didn't love him.