Chapter 106: "My children can lose (their virginity) with members of the
family, like everybody else."

	Ariana goes up to the battlements and stares out at the ocean. 
Shard approaches her and comments, "Like mother, like daughter."  Ariana
jumps and turns around.  She thanks Shard for keeping an eye on Jalana. 
No problem.  They discuss making him human.  She offers to give him that
piece of her soul back.  He says that he doesn't know how he did it the
first time.  It's a fluke.  Does he still love her, now that he no longer
has her soul?  He can't say.  She's a married woman, after all.  She
thinks he should find someone else.  Shard is amused by her concern. 
Ariana says she's probably keeping him from his duties.  He suggests that
Jalana would feel better if Ariana didn't stay up on the battlements. 
Ariana says that she's asleep.  Shard says that she is one of his duties,
and fades into the shadows.  Ariana returns to her quarters and stays up
reading.

	Ronan requests to see Mandor in the morning.  He talks to Mandor
about having a Middlecourt representative on the King's guard.  Mandor
will think about it.  Ronan makes his way back to Amber, arriving around
lunchtime.

	Laughter spends the day interviewing candidates for her
assistants.

	Ariana and Vixen spar.  Vixen is stronger and has more endurance. 
Ariana's sword has a better edge.  They go over brothel plans.  Vixen
chooses the female interior decorator's choice.  She picks a gay man named
Oscar to run the place.  Benedict gives Oscar his Trump and Vixen's, so he
can contact them.  Vixen wants to find the brothel staff in Shadow. 
Benedict says he'll work on getting her a chaperone.  Eric and Vixen pass
the week playing trust games.  Eric is slowly beginning to trust Vixen,
but not completely.  Vixen tells Ariana of their relationship.  Basically,
Eric is her left-side man, she trusts him to be her shield, he trusts her
to watch his back, etc.  Does Ariana think he'll adapt to this?  She
thinks it might take some time, since Vixen did try to kill him twice.

	Lucien returns from Faerie, unsuccessful.  Ariana is unsurprised. 
Lucien is annoyed by this.  Jalana continues eating only as much as
Ariana.  Ariana spends some time sewing with Bridget, who seems to enjoy
the company, so long as Amber isn't discussed.  Ariana also tells Bleys
that his card didn't work.  He figures Brand must be using the Eye, then. 
Ariana talks with Shard that evening, and says she knows he visited Vixen. 
Why did he do it?  He was hurting.  She points out that people respond
better when they don't wake up in the middle of the night to find a
vampire staring at them.

	Benedict summons Ronan for a status report at the beginning of the
week.  Ronan makes his report, and asks if there will be stipend for his
men.  Benedict names a sum that they'll be able to live comfortably on. 
He seems satisfied with Ronan's report.  Ronan decides to hold his meeting
with the nobles at an inn, and scouts one out.  He also sends a note to
Mandor asking if he's considered Ronan's request.  The reply note says
that Mandor is sending his cousin, Malcolm.  Two days into the week, Ronan
goes looking for Laughter, and finds her with her army.  She's in charge
of Amber's armies, yes?  Her army, at least.  He wants a piper and a
drummer for his guard.  She figures she can spare them.  Actually, he
wants to have auditions.  Ronan is impressed by the size of Laughter's
army (20,000).  Laughter tells him that the last time Amber was attacked,
it was by a force of 100,000.  Ronan wants to audition the pipers. 
Laughter suggests tomorrow, since she's going to Middlecourt the next day
to visit her father.  Ronan says that he's arranged with Mandor for Lord
Malcolm come visit for a few days, and he was wondering if she'd escort
him back.  Since Laughter will be with Mandor anyway, no problem.  She
asks how he knows Malcolm.  He explains how he first met Mandor.  Laughter
looks sympathetic, and says that Dad can be difficult.  She says hi to
Battlestar, who growls and says his name is Bruce, now.

	Two days into the week, Caitt invites Alex to tea.  Did she have a
nice time with Mebd?  Caitt looks like she wants to say something, but
can't bring herself to do so.  Alex nods and says that Mebd's good
company.  Caitt observes that Mebd seems awfully magical, for not being a
spellcaster.  Alex says that she's an unusual demon.  She's a spell
repository, you see.  A witch's familiar?  Something like that.

	Ariana stays awake for two days before nodding off.  She dreams of
Bleys, this time.  He's the best so far.  She wakes up to find that she's
only been asleep for a couple of hours.

	Three days into the week, Laughter sends a note with a page to
Vixen, asking to do lunch in Rebma.  Vixen asks Ariana about Rebma. 
Ariana tells her about it.  Vixen suggests lunch in the city, instead. 
OK.  They meet.  Vixen is wary.  Laughter has trouble reading her. 
Laughter chats casually, which only makes Vixen more wary.  She asks how
Vixen is finding Amber, and if there's any questions she can answer. 
Vixen shows her the brothel.  Laughter tells Vixen about her bachelorette
party, and suggests something like that might liven up the place.  Oscar
likes that idea.  Laughter also suggests that the people working at the
brothel have different skills, like hot wax and ice, for example.

	Alex finishes his trinket, works on the guillotine wall spell,
then goes picnicking with Mebd.  Much sex ensues.  Then he wraps the
trinket and delivers it to Vixen.  She's surprised.  Alex claims he
changed his mind because he felt sorry for her.  Vixen makes sure she
isn't agreeing to anything by accepting it, then asks how it works.  He
explains.  Vixen shows the trinket Ariana, who verifies that it changes
her true form to one of a fox.  Vixen wants to use it.  Ariana recommends
not pissing Nicholas off.  Vixen sees the point in this.  She tests it
out, though, just to make sure it works.

	Ronan returns to Caledon to get a piper.  He finds the going
rather difficult.  It's much harder than when he was with Eric.  Bruce
laughs at him.  Ronan calls him a kibble- munching weasel.  Bruce chases
the horse for a while, until Ronan apologizes.  When they reach Caledon,
they pass a wolfhound breeding area, and Bruce says he'll see Ronan later. 
Bruce rounds up a guy named Jamie try out as his piper.  Jamie misses
having Ronan as warlord.

	Ronan holds the piper tryouts the following day at 10 a.m.  One of
the pipers from Laughter's army wins.  Jamie comes in second.  Felix comes
to listen, wearing his kilt.  Everyone in the castle can hear the noise,
too.  Eric drops by after a while.  Ronan explains that the King's Guard
will be domestic.  Everyone wonders why he needs a piper.  Laughter asks
her man if he wants to be in the King's Guard.  He opts to stay with
Laughter.  This leaves the position to Jamie.  Eric observes that things
seem to be going well.  He just stopped by to see how Ronan is doing. 
Quite well.  Benedict's pleased with him.  Has Eric had anymore fatal
visitors?  Not lately.  Ronan hopes he's settled that matter.  Eric
doesn't think Vixen will be trying to kill him anymore.  Then he winks,
says he's making her work it off, and heads off.  Laughter makes the
connection, and Ronan reads this from her.  Ronan sets the meeting with
the nobles for sometime during the next week.

	Caitt invites Alex to tea several more times during the week.  She
seems to like him.  And in not necessarily a platonic way.  Alex also
notices that Mebd seems to be deteriorating.  Alex switches from
researching the guillotine wall spell to looking into the problem.

	Laughter gives a Trump deck to Hary.  Abraham gets back to
Laughter after two days with her commoner candidate.  He's a 15-year-old
street urchin named Robin, who has a lot of potential.  He might need to
be convinced that this is the path he wants to take, however.  Laughter
gives Robin the spiel about going into Shadow and finding riches.  Why
him?  He was recommended by Abraham.  Robin doesn't know him, and looks
suspicious.  Laughter mentions that she's putting together a diplomatic
staff.  Now he thinks she's nuts.  She bluntly explains the situation to
him, and he eventually gives in, since he doesn't have much else to do. 
He cleans up real well.  Laughter meets with Bart about the wedding, then
goes to Middlecourt and hangs out with Mandor and his family.  Her
half-siblings are all well.  Mandor convinces Iseult to take a cold iron
object that isn't quite a weapon.  She's on her best behavior around
Mandor.  Laughter warns Mandor that she'll be sending Iseult to him
whenever she gets out of hand.  She also learns that House Hendrake came
into exile in Middlecourt, while House Bances stayed in Chaos.

	Felix's kids adapt well to Amber.  They want wooden swords, which
Felix provides.  He spends the week hanging out with his family.  Vivienne
seems to be having a harder time adjusting to Amber than his kids are. 
Felix asks if he can help.  She asks him to convince Gerard to go back to
Bedlam.  She's bored in Amber, since there's nothing to do.  Felix is kind
of at a loss.  He tells her that he went to school in a Shadow less
technologically advanced than Bedlam.  Albion didn't even have telephones. 
Vivienne says that maybe she'll talk to Gerard.  No, Felix will do that. 
Vivienne ignores him, and tries to leave.  Felix grabs her.  She tickles
him.  He resists.  She steals the pin from his kilt.  Felix hears people
coming, so he covers her mouth and ducks into a sitting room.  She glares
and throws the pin behind a couch.  Felix looks hurt that she doesn't like
Amber.  Is he done?  Yes.  She stalks haughtily off.

	Felix picks up the couch, retrieves his pin, then Trumps Gerard
and asks to come through.  Gerard complies.  Felix explains why Vivienne's
unhappy.  Gerard says she is about the age to go to school.  Felix says
that the while reason Ariana wanted to come back to Amber was so that the
kids wouldn't get too used to technology that wasn't always going to be
available, and she does have a point.  Gerard figures they'll wait six or
seven months and see how Vivienne feels then.  Felix is afraid Vivienne
will go off to school in Shadow and come back much older and different. 
Gerard tells Felix that he worries too much.  Felix tells Gerard not tell
Vivienne he was there, and to pay no attention to what the pages say.  It
wasn't as bad as that.  What does he mean?  He had to deal with Vivienne. 
Why?  She was tickling him and stole his pin.  And how did he stop her? 
Felix evades.  Gerard repeats the question.  Felix admits that he picked
Vivienne up.  Gerard says that Felix had better tell Isabeux.  Felix likes
this idea not at all, but does it anyway.  Isabeux says it's fine, then
goes back to unpacking.  Felix spends the rest of the week trying to make
up with Vivienne, who's milking it.  Gerard is planning to go out to the
summer house.  Felix is invited along with his family.  He and Laughter
talk to Haris about getting Vivienne out of her funk.  They get into a
water fight at the beach.

	Laughter has a dream involving foreplay with Sequence.  It lops
her breasts off and she likes it.  The rest progresses as her dreams
usually do.  When Laughter wakes up, she Trumps Mandor and goes through,
saying she wants him there while she does something stupid.  Then she
pulls out Brand's Trump.  The Trump animates, and Brand looks surprised. 
Laughter tells him to stop it, then breaks the contact.  Brand laughs his
ass off, afterwards.  Mandor asks Laughter what that was about.  Laughter
says Brand sent her another fucking dream, and she told him to stop it. 
Mandor snatches the cards away from her, removes Brand's, and hands the
deck back.  She tells him about the dreams.  Mandor looks annoyed, but he
won't give her Brand's Trump back.  Laughter is upset by this.  Mandor
tells her to go home, seek comfort in her loved ones, and he'll look into
it.  Laughter goes back to Amber and draws herself a Trump sketch of
Brand, just to be contrary.

	Ariana continues trying to avoid sleep, and winds up arguing a lot
with Lucien as a result.  She occasionally runs into Shard at night on the
battlements, where it becomes obvious that he's still interested in her. 
She stays awake for another two days.  Vixen stops by, and Ariana
determines that her baby is a boy.  Ariana and Vixen share some of their
backgrounds.  After Vixen leaves, Ariana nods off.  She dreams about
Brand, this time.  He's kinkier than Bleys, and he really seems to love
her.  When she wakes up, she finds that she's been asleep for five hours
this time.  She's very disturbed by the dream.  Lucien gets rid of all of
the children, draws her a bubble bath, massages her neck, etc.  This
relaxes her to the point where she falls asleep in the bath.  Lucien stays
in contact with her so that she doesn't have any more dreams, and she gets
several hours of sleep.  It's dark when she wakes up.  Lucien towels her
off and gives her a body oil massage, which eventually leads to sex.  She
is able to sleep the rest of the night in his arms, with no more dreams.

	Thor challenges Usires on Thorvold's behalf, and opens a chasm all
the way Nifelheim.  Usires gets a nick in his ax while fighting Thor, then
molds Shadow to create a fog.  Thor makes rain to wash the fog away.  They
glare at each other, then Thor decides to move to a drinking contest. 
Usires is game, once he closes the chasm.  They climb into Thor's chariot,
go to Valhalla, and drink with the dead.  Usires cheats, making his beer
less potent.  They both fall down after the same amount, so Odin declares
it a draw.  When Usires wakes up in the morning, the hall is empty.  Then
Freyja comes in and seems very amused by what happened.  Thor is off
beating up giants.  Freyja says he's been in a bad mood since Baldur was
killed, and Sif, Thor's wife, disappeared a couple of hundred years ago. 
Freyja says that Sif flew away.  Usires returns over the rainbow bridge to
the destroyed village and helps them rebuild.  Word of his exploits
spread.  This all takes place in the spring.  Usires speeds up the Shadow
some more.  By summer, they have a hundred fighting men.

	Ariana has a birthday party for her four oldest kids the following
day.  She invites the Bedlam contingent, Bridget, and Beauty.  The kids
are a bit awkward, except for Morgan, who enjoys the attention.  Ariana
gives them Trump decks as their birthday presents, minus Trumps of Brand
and the Middlecourt contingent.  Iseult almost gets into a fight with
Briana.  Ariana shows her kids how to use their Trump decks.  Ariana
passes the night in peace, but dreams about Caine the next night.  It
involves a riding crop and leather, and that's all anyone wants to know.

	Vixen goes up to the battlements in the middle of the night, and
has a long conversation with Shard.  He changes her into her fox form and
they go hunting in Arden.

	Alex talks to Caitt about Mebd.  Caitt thinks that maybe Mebd has
been away from her place of origin for too long.  They decide to take Mebd
to Heather's Shadow.  Mebd seems to soak up the energy of the Shadow, and
slowly begins recovering.  Alex works on channeling the magic of the
Shadow to his room.

	Two nights after the birthday party, Laughter dreams again, only
it's Brand wielding Sequence this time.  When Laughter wakes up, she puts
on her armor, goes up to the battlements, stands near Clytemnestra, and
Trumps Brand again.  He remarks that the hour is late.  She asks if he's
been sending her dreams, lately.  No.  Well, if he is, she's going to tell
to stop it again, and if not, someone's been framing him up something
fierce.  Oh, is that what that was about before?  Well, it wouldn't be the
first time.  He's been busy with other activities.  He's been researching
Chaos, and managed to capture an image of Zane.  Would she mind passing it
along to Fiona?  Can't he send it courier?  Uh, no.  He gives her the
Trump and wishes her luck.  She tells him that the thing he stole isn't
really his.  He claims he's being framed.  Right.  As soon as Laughter
breaks the contact, she feels compelled to Trump Zane.  She tries to draw
her sword, but can't.  She stares at the card.  Zane asks who she is.  She
says she has four fathers.  She feels a compulsion to tell him the truth,
and says that she's Suhuy's daughter.  He tells her to come through.  She
does, and is immediately enmeshed in spells so that she can't move.  Doh!

	Morning dawns.  Vixen decides not to tell Eric about the amulet. 
They spar for a bit.  He asks if she wants the whole package, or should he
hold back.  Humiliate her.  He does so with a smile, and she loses her
sword a lot.  He claims his reward, afterward.  She works on the brothel
some more.

	Ronan goes to the library looking for a book on Shadows, but can't
find one.  He goes to talk to Malcolm and gives him the King's Guard
spiel.  Of course, they'll be keeping an eye on him.  Malcolm explains how
he used to be the ambassador from Chaos to Amber.  Ronan goes to see
Benedict and explains about Malcolm's presence.  Benedict is dubious about
this whole idea.

	Alex gets Mebd a locket, intending to link it to the magic of her
native Shadow, and begins enchanting it.

	Meanwhile, back in Chaos, Zane stares at Laughter for a while. 
He's fairly short, only about 5'8" tall.  He has black hair, pale green
eyes, and is dressed in silver and gray.  There's something familiar about
him.  He finally begins going on about how often he's dreamt about this
opportunity.  He always thought he'd have an easier time deciding what to
do with it.  Of course, he does have a year to come up with something. 
What did she mean by four fathers?  He can only come up with two, if she's
married, three, if there's a foster father.  Perhaps if she listed all of
them.  He'll help her out.  There's Suhuy, which doesn't make any sense. 
However, Fiona married him, so maybe Fiona is her mother?  Perhaps. 
Laughter says that she has five mothers.  Zane thinks she is Fiona's. 
There's a resemblance to Fiona, a certain impetuousness.  And she smells
of a Sawall.  So that's Suhuy and Mandor.  Was her father-in-law a useful
Amberite, someone he should be afraid of?  She says that he's having so
much fun with his logic puzzle, she'd hate to spoil it.  Actually, he
hates puzzles.  Tell him.  She feels compelled to do so, and lists Random,
Felix, Suhuy and Mandor as her fathers.  And the mothers?  Vialle, Fiona,
Caitt, Tamaryn and Heather, but Heather hates Laughter.  What are the
marks on her hands?  She held hot glass when she shouldn't have.  How long
ago?  Nine years.  He takes out a knife and cuts her hand.  She tries not
to let it heal.  In fact, she tries to make it scar.  He watches it for a
couple of hours, then brings in a man in a robe, who also watches her for
a while, then they both leave.  Zane returns later and says she's
deliberately trying not to heal the wound.  No shit.  She asks if she
knows him from somewhere.  He doubts it.  A year passes in this fashion,
with Zane continuing to give her little tests, etc.  Eventually, he
manages to pick anything useful to him from her mind.  She's allowed to
walk around sometimes, with two or three Hellmaids watching over her. 
Zane is very interested in the marks on her hand.

	Felix is woken up by a Trump call from Foster, who asks if
Laughter is there.  He's tried Trumping her and nothing happens.  How long
has she been gone?  Well, she had a dream in the middle of the night, went
to take a walk, and didn't come back.  Does Foster have a Trump of Mandor? 
Nope.  He'll call Fiona.  Felix gets dressed and comes through.  Driscoll
is pacing.  They go to see Fiona, who is surprised to see them.  Foster
explains the situation.  Fiona tries to Trump Laughter, and fails. 
Sorcery doesn't reach her either.  Felix suggests talking bones.  The
pages say they saw Laughter going up to the battlements.  Felix, Foster,
Driscoll and Fiona head up there, and Foster replays what happened with
talking bones.  Foster and Driscoll turn pale.  Fiona looks thoughtful. 
Felix asks if anyone recognizes the second guy Laughter Trumped.  No one
says anything.  Fiona Trumps Mandor, but his Trump doesn't animate.  They
find Suhuy, and Fiona shows him the image.  Suhuy says the guy was Zane.

	The group goes to break the news to Nicholas.  First he gets
angry, then, as Fiona and Suhuy talk to him, he gets concerned.  Eric is
summoned.  After a bit, Suhuy gets a Trump call, and his eyes narrow. 
Then he says, "I see.  These are to be the only terms?"  Then, "All right,
I agree, you have my word."  Nicholas asks him what that was about.  Suhuy
says he's not at liberty to discuss this.  Shortly afterwards, Laughter
appears among them.  Her hair is longer, and she is thinner.  She kneels
in front of Nicholas and says she forfeits her life to him.  Nicholas asks
why.  Because she put the realm in danger, and she talked under coercion. 
That's hardly an offense he would demand her life for.  What happened? 
She explains that about a year ago she had another dream sent by Brand. 
Foster and Driscoll look alarmed.  She adds that these dreams were not
making her very sane, so she confronted the person who she believed was
sending them.  Fiona asks if she Trumped Brand.  Yes.  He gave her a Trump
of Zane and made her use it.  So, she basically turned herself over to
him.  That's one way of looking at it.  What happened?  They assume Zane
knows everything she knows?  Everything important to him.  There were
certain things he didn't ask about.  Nicholas walks out from behind his
desk, takes Laughter's hands, and pulls her to her feet.  He tells her
that if she's been gone for a year, she's already been punished enough. 
He'd rather she didn't do that again, however.

	Laughter looks at Fiona and says she'd like to be deprogrammed. 
Fiona looks at Suhuy, then takes Laughter to Random's office and goes
through her mind, looking for anything left behind.  When she's done, she
hugs Laughter and says there are two other people who are worried about
her.  Where's Mandor?  Fiona hasn't been able to reach him, but she tells
Laughter not to panic, since Mandor has a tendency to make himself
impossible to contact when he's working on something.  Laughter Trumps
Heather and asks if she knows the whereabouts of Mandor.  He's down the
hall, researching.  Thanks.  Laughter breaks the contact and tells Fiona
that Mandor is working on something.

	Ariana notices that breakfast is sparsely attended.  She goes to
the battlements again, since it's the only place she can be outdoors.

	Foster sits and stares vacantly.  Driscoll scowls.  Felix waits a
bit, then drags Foster across the hall and knocks.  Fiona opens the door. 
Felix is standing there with Foster.  Driscoll is behind them.  Laughter
isn't saying much.  Foster says he's sorry, squirms out of Felix's grasp,
and runs away.  Laughter doesn't seem to want to touch anyone, but she
wants to be near them.  Driscoll takes her back to their quarters.

	Ronan researches strategy and tactics in the library.  He reads a
lot of Benedict's books.

	Alex works on the locket.  Caitt cancels tea, since Laughter needs
her.

	Felix goes after Foster.  Foster uses Gordon to get away to the
hills.  Laughter thinks Foster ran away because she failed him.  Driscoll
thinks it's because he feels that he failed her.  Felix keeps Trumping
Foster for an hour, until he answers.  Foster is obviously very upset, and
blames himself for not taking the dreams seriously.  Felix comes through. 
Foster explains that Laughter was having disturbing dreams.  First she
thought faeries were behind them, then Brand, but it was possible that it
was just her subconscious.  Did she tell anyone else?  Fiona and Ariana. 
He can't understand why Laughter Trumped Brand.  Felix tells Foster that
if it was just a mental problem, Fiona is more equipped to handle it. 
They should be glad that they got her back at all.  Foster asks to borrow
Felix's Trump deck, since he wants to go back and doesn't have his deck. 
Felix Trumps them back to the main hall and they begin walking to Foster's
quarters.

	Ariana sees Foster run away, pursued by Felix, and asks Tamaryn
what's going on.  She has no idea.  Ariana goes to see Laughter, but
Driscoll says she's busy.  He looks stricken.

	Driscoll asks Laughter if she wants to see the kids.  She shrugs. 
When he brings them in, it appears that he's talked to the older ones,
since Hary and Isaac seem to know that something's wrong.  Laughter hugs
them briefly.  Isaac asks if she had a bad morning.  She bursts into tears
and hugs him.  He tells her not to cry.  She gets herself under control,
hugs the other kids, and leaves.  She passes Felix and Foster in the hall. 
Foster follows Laughter.  Laughter asks Nicholas to let walk the Pattern. 
Why?  She just needs to.  Where will she go afterwards?  Back to her
quarters.  OK.  Laughter walks the Pattern twice, then teleports to her
room and sleeps.

	Felix finds Tamaryn and spills his guts to her, since he needs
someone to talk to.  She asks how Laughter is.  She's in quite a state, as
is Foster.  Tamaryn says that these things don't fix themselves easily or
quickly.  How did they get her back?  Felix explains.  He thinks they
should get all of the big brains together and Trump Zane.  Foster was
pretty upset.  Tamaryn observes that Foster tends to carry too much on his
shoulders.  For once, Tamaryn has no advice.  Maybe they should take the
kids to the beach.

	  Tamaryn contacts Ariana and says she's taking the kids to the
beach.  Do hers want to come along?  Yes.  Ariana packs them up and sends
them off.

	Eric drops by the brothel after lunch, to see how things are
going.  Fine.  Benedict mentioned that she needs to go out into Shadow,
and Eric is to play chaperone.  OK.  She needs to go home, but a lot of
people there are going to want to kill her.  All Shadow?  Assassins. 
Don't worry about it.  They go to Maree, a town with a brothel and,
unfortunately, an assassins guild.  There are some sisters at the brothel
who are trained as spies and had a brother in the assassins guild who's
dead.  She says Eric will have to go in and talk to them.  Their names are
Mona and Lisa.  Mona is a pain specialist.  Lisa is an oral submissive. 
Eric should go in and ask for Mona, then when he's with her, tell her that
Shadowfox said she was the best game in town, and if Mona can talk, she
will.  If not, he's stuck with her.  And the message?  Relocation.  Try to
get her outside, and tell Mona she wants both of them.  He kisses her and
tells her not to wait up for him.  She goes to a chemist and purchases a
strong abortifacient.  She also kills several people before she hooks up
with Eric again.  He tells her that Mona and her sister have agreed to
come to Amber.  They retire to a pub and have sex while waiting for them.


Quotables:

"I have done nothing." -- Eric
"That's why it's sedition.  Otherwise, it would be treason." -- Mer

"I didn't know anyone was going to read my diary.  It's a diary!" -- Eric
to the group at large

"Who has the even pages of this?  Oh God, they're on the back!" -- Jen
"I am not alone in the universe!" -- Mer

"My children can lose (their virginity) with members of the family, like
everybody else." -- Laughter to the group at large

"You find Vixen hard to read." -- GM to Laughter
"Laughter finds books hard to read." -- Liam

"Laughter is ultimately friendly, even when she's trying to kill you." --
Mer to the group at large

"(Jamie) misses (Ronan) in the position." -- GM to Eric (one Scot to
another) 

"Are you on drugs?" -- Robin
"Why?" -- Laughter
"You make no sense." -- Robin
"You'll get used to it." -- Laughter

"I like having Mandor as my dad.  It's like having Mr. Burns as my dad. 
But slightly different." -- Laughter to the group at large

"(Vivienne's) my sister, I'm allowed to do things like that." -- Felix to
Gerard

"Do I die?" -- Laughter
"No." -- GM
"OK." -- Laughter

"So, how much do (the Hellmaids) watch me at night?  Can I carve (a Trump)
in the wall with my blood?" -- Laughter to GM

"Rice-a-Ronan." -- Mer
"Wearing that skirt, he would be a San Francisco treat." -- Sean