From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Wed Mar  9 18:09:28 1994
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 13:32:22 EST
From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu
To: thari@umich.edu
Subject: Ariana's Diary

Amber, year three, day 272 continued
 
        I caught up with Alex, who assured me that he found nothing 
unusual about Mark.  Which reassured me until I remembered that 
he was one of the people who chose to keep the truth about Vetch 
from me.  Why should I assume he was telling the truth this time?  I 
went to Ahab's room to see Nicholas, but apparently Ahab and 
Kimdyl had a spat, and she took off with the baby.  She trumped him 
shortly after I arrived, apparently asking him to call her lord and 
master.  They certainly do make an interesting couple.
 
        Ahab and I discussed what to do about the plot against the 
children.  He agreed that Murine probably had a contact which could 
be investigated.  I said I would look into the matter.  Ahab is 
planning to investigate an odd trump call he got from Fiona.  It 
seems she was asking after the whereabouts of the trump which 
Rygat is trapped in.  Gods above, I hope that woman isn't loose again! 
We were almost killed imprisoning her the last time.  Don't we have 
enough problems already?
 
        I brought breakfast to the study for Mark, but found instead 
several guards.  They wouldn't say what they were doing there and 
decided to leave.  Mark returned shortly after they left, claiming he 
was looking for the bathroom.  Yet another coincidence that seems to 
have a perfectly reasonable explanation.  I don't know what to think. 
Surely, if he was a shapeshifter, I would have noticed something in 
our psychic link.  Even if his mind was stronger than mine, I would 
notice that he was blocking me.  He couldn't fake another personality 
without me knowing, could he?  I decided that I needed to talk with 
a few more people before I left, so I explained to Mark that I was 
waiting for Kimdyl to return with Nicholas.  He didn't like staying in 
Amber, but I need to be sure about him before I go.  If my 
suspicions are unfounded, I'll make it up to him.
 
        I talked with Felix, who admitted that Murine probably had a 
contact person.  He said he would be talking with her later and 
invited me to join him, but I wasn't sure I'd still be here.  Foster 
claimed to have no useful knowledge to aid us, but I'm not sure I 
believe him.  Obviously he'll protect those who raised him.  I asked 
Felix to pass what he learned on to Random and Mandor, since Chaos 
is better suited for some of this investigation than we are.  Felix was 
reluctant to talk to Mandor.  It seems he made a fool of himself in 
front of Alex, telling him of the plot when Alex apparently hadn't 
heard of it.  Because of this, he'd rather avoid dealing with Mandor as 
well.  He suggested that he tell Eric instead, since Eric is currently our 
ambassador to Chaos.  It was a perfect solution.  Every now and then 
Felix surprises me.  Foster informed us that Felix would not be able 
to reach Eric in Chaos.  I agreed, but pointed out that Ahab, Vetch 
and I had done so together.  Foster recognized Vetch's name!  He 
claims he only heard it in passing, but I wonder.  Damn, I wish I 
knew what he was hiding.  For all we know, he could be spying on us 
for the people who raised him.  Foster thinks the motive of the 
plotters is simply revenge.  I hope that's all it is.  He did tell me that 
it is possible for a shapeshifter to fool a psychic scan, if his mind and 
shapeshifting skills are strong enough.  What have I gotten myself 
into?
 
        I found Driscoll in the gardens with Eris.  I was hoping that he 
had some skills in sorcery, but he said his magical training is along 
different lines.  I explained my problem to him.  I mean, nothing 
Mark has done is individually suspicious, but taken as a whole, along 
with what we know about the plot...  He suggested I talk to Benedict. 
I explained that I had, and Benedict had told me to find a sorcerer. 
At which point Driscoll revealed that Benedict is a sorcerer!
 
        Damn him!  Did he think I would have asked for his help if it 
wasn't important?  So instead I've wasted all this time dealing with 
Alex and bringing Mark to Amber.  I expected this sort of attitude 
from my other aunts and uncles, but I thought Benedict was above 
that sort of thing.  I'm sick of suffering through plots aimed against 
me because of the actions of relatives who don't care if I live or die.
 
        To further brighten my day Heather showed up with Rinaldo in 
tow.  Motherhood doesn't seem to have changed her much.  I asked if 
she knew about the plot against the children.  She assured me that 
Mandor was taking care of it.  Apparently Emer was not attacked 
when the others were, no doubt due to Mandor.  I doubt Heather 
would be able to stop them.  She seems content to let Mandor deal 
with the problem.  She trumped him shortly after she arrived, and 
from what I could gather from her end of the conversation, Brand 
dumped Rinaldo on her in a bit of a hurry.  It sounds like he's up to 
something again.  When the shit hits the fan, it certainly arrives in 
quantity.
 
        I suppose it's fortunate that Kimdyl and Murine chose to fight 
when they did.  I was going to trump Benedict and ask for his help 
again, but in the mood I was in, who knows how the conversation 
would have gone?  We all heard this awful screeching noise, so I 
went to check it out, while Heather and Driscoll hustled the children 
inside.  As I arrived, Alex was leaving in a huff.  Apparently he had 
separated Murine and Kimdyl, but Ahab had told him butt out. 
Sometimes Ahab's pride causes him to do the stupidest things.  As 
soon as Alex let them go, the sisters went at it again, so Ahab and 
Felix had to drag them apart.  I don't know why he objected to Alex 
pulling them apart, when he was going to do the same thing.  I 
noticed Nicholas lying on the ground, so I picked him up, lest he get 
trampled.  Ahab didn't look like he was happy about this.  What did 
he think I was going to do?  Eat the child?  What was Ahab doing just 
putting the baby on the ground in the first place?  He could have 
been injured or killed.  Or kidnapped again.
 
        Once they were separated, Murine seemed to calm down 
slightly.  Apparently Murine dumped a load of manure in Ahab's 
quarters.  No wonder he looked so mad!  I can understand how 
Murine might have grudge against Kimdyl, but it was stupid of her to 
attack Kimdyl in a way that involved Ahab as well.  Now Ahab is 
going to feel obligated to return the favor.  What amazes me is the 
violence of their fight.  If I didn't know better, I would have thought 
they were lifelong enemies, not sisters.  Why do they hate each other 
so much?  Whatever the reason, I hope they leave the rest of us out 
of it.  If they must attack each other, they should have the good 
grace to do it elsewhere.
 
        Murine wasn't badly injured, but Kimdyl was another story. 
Murine gashed her deeply, and she was still covered with shit to top 
things off.  Ahab cleaned her off and brought her to the infirmary. 
I'd feel better if I had some real antibiotics, but I don't even know if 
they'd work in Amber.  I must remember to ask Gerard about that.  I 
used what was there and cleaned out the wound before stitching her 
up.  I think she has a good chance of avoiding infection, but you 
never know.  She and Ahab are certainly a matched pair, though.  I 
knew I wouldn't get through a day in Amber without having to patch 
one of them up.
 
        I sent a page to let Mark know I'd been delayed by a medical 
emergency.  I'm sure he won't be happy, but there's nothing I can do 
about it.  I also told the page to let me know if Mark wasn't there. 
Just in case.
 
        It wasn't long after I finished sewing Kimdyl up that Nicholas 
began to fuss.  Obviously Kimdyl couldn't feed him, so we went down 
to the kitchen to get him some milk.  Unfortunately he wouldn't suck 
it off of Ahab's finger, or through any other method we could devise 
with the materials at hand.  I suppose we could've just dripped it 
into his mouth, but there were better solutions available.  I offered 
to give Ahab an image of a grocery store in my shadow, where he 
could get a bottle and some formula.  Then he got trumped by 
Deirdre, who came through and offered to do the same thing, except 
she had a trump of the place she wanted to go.  What I wouldn't give 
to be able to draw trumps!  Surprisingly, Deirdre had no snide 
remarks for me.  She must have been in a hurry.  The three of them 
left almost immediately.
 
        With no more crises to deal with, I went to check on Mark.  At 
this point I'd decided to put some guards in the room to make sure 
he didn't leave, and then try Benedict again.  Mark wasn't there, but 
a page was.  He told me that Random wished to see me.  I think that's 
when I began to feel this dull ache in my stomach.  Somehow I knew 
Mark wouldn't be coming back this time.  I walked to Random's 
quarters, but fortunately he wasn't there, so I was taken to see 
Vialle.  I don't think I could have taken the news from Random, but 
Vialle was so kind.  What does she see in Random anyway?  As I 
suspected, Mark could not be found in the Castle.  I guess I have my 
answer.  Why does this keep happening to me?  What did I do that 
warrants such punishment?  I don't remember much more of our 
conversation.  I asked to be kept apprised of the investigation into 
the plot.  And I seem to recall Vialle mentioning that several items 
had turned up missing recently.  I'm sure Rygat's trump trap is one 
of them, but at the moment I don't care.  I just wish this pain would 
end.  How could Mark do this to me?  Didn't our time together mean 
anything at all?  How could I have been so wrong about him?  What 
am I going to do?