The Meccans in the Holy Land teach their children to appreciate
what they are given by the parable of the magic well.  Gazing into the
well grants the petitioner what he yearns for most at the moment of the
wish.  Parents caution that the god of the prophet grants blessings and
curses with equal favor, and only a truly wise man knows the difference.
However, his heart never will.  In the words of Caledon's own St. Eamon:
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.  Apparently, I need
to be more careful.

	After days of doing nothing in particular, mostly waiting to hear
from our Feya... - sorry, force of habit - Faerie neighbors, and helping
to repair and relieve the damage and suffering from the flood, my life
seems to be back on the rockiest of courses.

	Vixen continues to ply her damnable trade with impunity, most
recently flying into a rage at the center of town to destroy what was
apparently the world's most dangerous collection of steam!

	In fairness to the Regent's consort, however, she did manage to
kill another devil spawn rather spectacularly.  She doesn't appear to be
totally mad.

	Speaking of Eric, it seems that he is intent on stopping any
further political upheaval, at least on my part, by marrying me off to the
fair Meyrem of House Karm.  I wonder if Eric knows how hard it is to kill
ideas once they've seen the light of day?

	My marriage will occur in three months.  Enough time for me to
learn the ways of Amber's "Church of the Unicorn."  I wonder how the
priest might feel learning that his unicorn is only a lower messenger for
the One Above All?

	At one point in my life, I thought that Arrakis was the site of my
most difficult battle.  Little did I know that the fiercest opponent I
have met would be not some stranger on a storm-tossed sea of sand, but
rather a bewitching comrade-in-arms who ambushed me in my own tent!

	Iseult.  If only you had been a day earlier!  Then who is to say
what might have been?  I have never in my life wanted so badly what I
could not have, though it was freely (happily?), thankfully offered.  At
this point, I can take some solace in the fact that I did the right thing,
and hopefully Iseult will not be far from my side as an able soldier and
true confidant.

	I must also be wary of getting involved with another fellow
warrior.  Though Jamie assures me otherwise, I remain convinced that
concern for me cost my dear Arrakean flower her life.

	Does Chenard know how I loved his daughter?  Does he know how I
miss Dey'ris?

	I need to go home!  I need Caledon's cold morning winds and rich
green forests to remind me what it is to be alive.  I need to see the mist
on the great loch, the rugged peaks of Phaeton's Teeth.  If I am going to
have a family, then it must be in Caledon, where they know the meaning of
the word.  But there will be enough time for that once Nicholas is brought
back to Amber.

Ronan

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