The King is dead - my daughter may have been his executioner.  All
I know is that she is responsible for Vetch's presence at their wedding. 
I know she means no harm - she's a good woman - but even I know that it's
a bit foolish to ask the Crown Prince of Chaos to require the presence of
the Head of the house of assassins at one's own wedding.  I don't know
quite what to do.  Oberon's wounds aren't healing.  They seem to be the
same kinds of wounds that Foster received during his fight with Vetch. 
Ariana said that she'd a terrible time getting Foster's wounds to close
then.  She passed out when she tried to heal Oberon's.  I'm afraid that
the scenario went something like this...  Laughter had Mandor order Vetch
to attend the wedding.  Vetch is an assassin.  Being an assassin, Vetch
had to kill *somebody.*  Now the King is mortally wounded, and Bleys and
Caine are very hurt.

	I honestly didn't think that this could happen.  The last time
Oberon "died," it was heroic.  He died for the good of Amber.  He saved
the kingdom.  It's what kings do.  Oberon is what all kings should be. 
His Shadows are the basis of monarchies throughout Shadow.  He wasn't
supposed to die this way.  Other kings can be murdered cold blood.  He'd
been back such a short time.  Why this?  Why now?

	It'd been such a nice day, too - yesterday.  The wedding was
pleasant.  Laughter looked beautiful.  She and Foster make a handsome
couple.  I was extremely surprised to see Vetch come through the receiving
line.  I hadn't seen him at all during the ceremony, nor did I see him at
the reception...the advantages of being a shapeshifter, I suppose. 
Foster's patience was straining during the ceremony...as was his
fly...poor guy.  He's lucky I didn't have a camera.  I'm sure Haris would
have loved that wedding photo.  I don't even want to know what Laughter
had to do to keep him in line.  She'd mentioned "making him share her
woman pain"  at the reception.  The thought makes me cringe, but Foster
did a pretty good job at keeping his composure.  He shouldn't have pissed
her off during labor - that's going to be a lasting grudge.  But...I
guess that after 36 hours of labor, just about anything would piss you
off.  She just about broke down when I pointed out how foolish it was to
have had Mandor order Vetch to attend the wedding.  I didn't mean to make
her cry.

	At least I made Eris smile.  She really appreciated the news that
Foster was much older than she thought.  It was like a weight had been
lifted from her.  She'd been embarrassed at first, but word of Laughter's
reaction to the same news made her a bit happier.

	Tamaryn.  She's a mystery.  She seems like a sweet woman.  I think
that we've wronged each other greatly - I admit that freely...but, being
able to admit something, and actually doing anything about it, are vastly
different tasks.  She'd asked me about my long-term plans, now that
Foster was married.  I'm afraid that my cunning evasion wasn't all that
cunning.  I'm pretty sure she caught on.  I think that I may have hurt her
feelings.

	Ahab has asked to see us in a few hours.  I can't help but feel
like we're going to war.  We're not even sure what happened to
Grandfather.  I guess Bleys and Caine probably know, but they weren't
really in any condition to talk when I left the infirmary.  Looks like
Ahab's been away.  His hair is much shorter than it was last night.  With
Corwin missing, Ahab is king.  It's a weird thought, that.  The King is
dead.  Long live the King.

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