Session Three
The conclusion of the funeral was less interesting after Ronin's amusing declarations. Vixen approached me briefly to chat. I believe that the whole point of the conversation was a rather transparent attempt to gauge where I would side in her little conflict with Lucretia and Leto. I made it clear that I did not see Eric as something worth fighting for. Apparently Lucretia tried to poison her. A pity she failed. If the assassin of Nicholas' mother thinks she can arouse pity from me in such a manner, she is quite mistaken. I had best keep an eye on her. Besides, I have no interest in taking action against the mother of one of my dearest friends.
The Golden Circle moved herdlike on to the reception, where inane chit-chat was punctuated by ill-graced attempts to politely cram their respective royal faces. I have seen better manners in Chaosian taverns. Still, Ariana was there, and as often, was a delightful conversational partner. The only pity was that she kept being distracted by her children. Honestly, you'd think the little monsters are ensorcelled to prevent her from ever having a moment's peace.
Glancing over, both Ariana and I noted that Morgan was in the midst of aiming an olive toward some unseen target, no doubt some bishop's chalice of holy wine. Well...if he insisted on misbehaving, perhaps I could do my part to increase his efficacy in the matter, and so I conjured some invisible manacles to mar his aim. He missed his target, and as I watched, the olive sailed gracefully straight towards the ample cleavage of the daughter of the Begman prime minister. Unfortunately, Ariana deflected it somehow. I must admit, that in some ways she clearly rivals Ishmael's skill. As she turned to Morgan, I dispelled the manacles with a thought, and watched as she began to scold him.
Quite naturally, the other two boys were also getting into mischief, and so she loudly commented that they should go to their rooms, to which they replied affirmatively...and perhaps over eagerly. Realizing that she was about to escort them, I decided to offer what assistance I could. After all, she deserves a moment's peace. And so I called out for the boys to wait for their Aunt Whimsy. And the little brats ignored me! So naturally, I replayed my earlier trick, conjuring invisible ankle-chains about them all. Vincent had stopped at my calling, and so he did not stumble. Morgan and Shannon, however, immediately fell to their faces. I dispelled the manacles as Ariana rushed up to see what had transpired. They looked confused and couldn't explain to their mother why they had fallen. I allowed Morgan to note a slight smile on my face, and then turned to head to my room.
Oh bother, the distractions of this place! Reduced to harassing faerie children with minor conjurations...how degrading. Ever since I have come to this wretched castle it has been one disappointment after another. Mother and Caine have suddenly gone conservative on me; Nicholas' dead sister, both unstoppable and unknowable, is apparently undergoing a crusade to convince all those of the blood to walk the Pattern, regardless of their wishes in the matter; Alex has stolen one of my trophies; Flora is tiresome; Ishmael keeps saying that I am growing soft; and I am surrounded by children! I must get out of this place.
In that frame of mind, I decided to send a message for Jack. I miss him...miss his frivolity...miss his knack for cheering me up while encouraging me to do no good at all. And so I conjured a little clockwork bird and sent it with this poem:In castle grey
oe'r squiggle's might
the saddened bloom
sees only night.It is her wont to wait
to tire, sigh, anticipate...
the coming of her handsome Jack
whose laughter now she lacks.Realizing that it would take some time for my creation to make it's way to Faerie, I began working on some minor spell research of mine. I have two spells in mind at present. The first is a kind of meta-magical spell that cloaks another spell from detection. It is kind of like an invisibility spell for other spells. I need something to make my magic more subtle, especially with mother around all the time. I was only really beginning to get to the basic component manipulations when a messenger arrived. Only Jack would send me a pixie. The small winged creature looked very leery of me. I wonder what Jack told it about me. It handed me a message...a poem that stated that Jack would come. Giddy, I offered the pixie some fresh fruit. It took a strawberry, and continued eyeing me suspiciously. I asked it if it wanted some pomegranate, and when it didn't respond, conjured a rather large one to drop on it. It vanished before the fruit struck, however. His poem read as follows:
[Insert poem2]I had Elaine bring me dinner in my room and continued on my spell research. After I had made sufficient progress on the Spellcloak, I turned my attention to another idea. Apparently Alex has a problem with multiple personalities. It shouldn't be hard to make a specialized sleep spell to shut down the psyche which currently dominates. This should cause him to shift into one of his other personalities. On a normal person it would function much like a Sleep or Paralysis spell. Either way, quite useful. I worked on this until bedtime, and then went to sleep early.
The next morning I stumbled out of bed and sat down at my vanity to comb out my hair, but in the reflection was Jack. Almost immediately I triggered my favorite glamour, which gave my appearance a more faerie demeanor, which white flowing robes, and flowers and vines worked into my hair. We talked for a long time; I confessed my dissatisfaction with the situation in Amber, and expressed interest in learning more about the magic of High Compellings. He agreed to teach me, and asked me to bring him into Amber. Naturally I did.
We discussed a number of things. Foremost of my worries was this Nimue. Jack seems to feel that she's still weak and can be taken care of. We also talked about mother and Caine. I put forth the notion that it would be easiest of they were somehow distracted. Perhaps mother and father could be motivated to take a vacation. If only I could convince Laughter to put forth the idea.... Either way, though, mom does need a vacation. And if it's useful to me for her to be gone...all the better. I also asked him if he knew how I might acquire a Spikard, to which he brought up his usual plug for Faerie. Something about giving myself to Faerie...and having access to the Faerie Ring, whatever that is. I was distracted at the time, but I shall have to ask him about that later. We chatted about so many things. He told me of Ariana's body...and that it would soon be returned. He also mentioned that there were allies I might find in Castle Amber...those loyal to Faerie. He had given me much to think about, and then asked if he might take his leave of me. He was curious to examine the 'squiggle in the basement'.
After he left I lay down and thought about his ideas. Conceivably I could 'give myself to Faerie', but not in the way he envisioned. If I were to marry Jack, he would have permanent access to Amber and I would have access to Faerie. Or perhaps I could find another way to access Faerie...as ambassador! Mayhaps it is time for Whimsy to serve some purpose other than as nuisance at suppertime. I've decided then. I must speak with Nicholas about the possibility of becoming an ambassador to Faerie. Perhaps I could talk further to Teresa and Laughter's Unseelie Prince. I also should go see mother today, and recommend the vacation idea to her. Best do it before she learns about Jack; she never did like him. But first, I need to get these spells finished.