Chapter Fifty-eight: "I intend to live through it this time."

	Felix, Foster and Laughter get dressed and head down to breakfast.
Ariana's not there when they arrive so Laughter Trumps her.  Ariana,
getting her fifth Trump call in less than 24 hours, comments to Riftvan
that it's either Sand or Laughter, so if she starts drooling, he should be
concerned.  Riftvan is amused by this.  Ariana takes the call.  Laughter
asks if she's coming to breakfast.  Ariana says she'll be along shortly,
and points out that it's still rather early for breakfast.  She goes into
the kitchen and Trumps Ahab.  She brings him through and asks psychically
if he told Riftvan about his ability.  Ahab says Riftvan already knew.
Ariana tells him what she learned from Riftvan about Sand.  Ahab tells her
his plan, which is basically to squeeze Sand out of her Shadow, then hit
her until she drops.  If he can hold her with his abilities, it should be
a short fight.  Ariana asks if he's planning to invite Foster along and is
relieved to learn that he's not.  She invites him to come along to
breakfast and talk to Laughter.  Riftvan opts to come along as well.

	Ariana, Riftvan and Ahab join the others in the common room 
of the inn where Felix is staying.  Ahab tells Laughter he has a 
proposition for her.  Ariana suggests this might not be the best place 
to discuss the matter.  Ahab says it's not classified.  Then he says 
they shouldn't discuss this in the common room.  Laughter tells them 
of the dreams she's been having.  She thinks one way to end them 
might be to kill Riftvan in the dream.  Riftvan and Ariana don't think 
this is a good idea.  Laughter's other idea involves creating a glamour 
of Riftvan and killing that.  Riftvan shakes his head at her.  They 
exchanging a few notes, then he tells her through Ariana that it won't 
work.  Laughter mentions that Ahab is going after Sand.  Apparently 
Riftvan mentioned it in one of his notes.  Foster says he hopes Ahab 
is bringing along lots of people.

	Laughter recalls that she still has to tell Julian about Shard.  
She explains to Ahab how she wound up treeing Shard.  Ahab and 
Riftvan find the story rather amusing.  Ariana suggests that Laughter 
might want to free Shard before telling Julian about the whole mess.  
Laughter decides this is a good idea.  Given the trouble she had with 
her last spell, she asks Riftvan to come along in case she can't undo 
the spell on Shard.  Everyone winds up following Laughter into 
Arden.  She finds the spot where she treed Shard, but the mark on 
the tree is gone and no sign of Shard can be detected inside of it.  
Ahab brings Pattern to mind and starts looking around.  Foster turns 
into a dog but the newly fallen snow prevents him from finding 
Shard's scent.  Ariana fails to detect any sign of Shard in the tree, so 
she amuses herself by dumping snow down Riftvan's back.  He jumps 
up a tree.  Laughter pegs Ariana with a snowball while she's laughing 
at Riftvan.  They engage in a snowball fight with each other for a 
while.  Felix makes the mistake of attracting their attention and 
receives snowballs from both of them.  He nails Laughter with a 
snowball large enough to knock her off her feet.  Laughter starts 
casting a fireball spell in retaliation.  Ariana suggests that might not 
be wise, given the way Laughter's other spells have performed.  
Ahab explains his plan for attacking Sand and asks for comments.  
Riftvan responds by making a tiny snowman and hanging it by its 
neck from a rope.  Felix asks why Riftvan doesn't say anything.  
Riftvan casts a glamour that gives Felix pointed blue ears.  Laughter 
tells Riftvan that Felix didn't understand what he was saying.  She 
explains to Felix that Riftvan's tongue was cut out.  Riftvan casts the 
same glamour on her.  She sends Sequence to cut the branch he's on.  
Riftvan leaps to another one.  They play this game for a while until 
Riftvan eventually falls.  Felix catches him and says he won't let go 
until Riftvan removes the spell on him.  Riftvan does so.  Felix tells 
him to remove the one on Laughter as well.  When Riftvan does 
nothing, Laughter changes the glamour she cast on him so that he 
now looks like Dworkin.  Felix hangs him upside down.  Riftvan 
dispels the glamour on himself.  He eventually removes the one on 
Laughter, but casts another one that makes Sequence look like a pink 
feather duster.  Sequence does not appreciate this and chases him 
around for a while.  Ariana points out to Sequence that Riftvan can't 
remove the glamour while he's running for his life.  Sequence pauses 
and Riftvan dispels the glamour, then leans against a tree to catch his 
breath.  Ariana decides to cool him off by hitting him with a 
snowball.  Ahab informs the others that Shard has returned to 
Julian's camp, so they head back to Amber.

	Alex and Mebd enjoy themselves in a boat on the lake for a 
while.  Mebd feeds Alex grapes.  He tells her that he's going after 
Sand and she offers to help.  He Trumps Delwin and explains what 
he's doing.  Delwin figures Alex can't be his son, since he was never 
that crazy.  Alex asks if Delwin has heard from Mary.  Delwin hasn't.  
He warns Alex that Sand had a hand in Mary's upbringing, so he 
should be ready for anything.  He also informs Alex that none of the 
Spikards will work anymore.  Alex mentions that Fiona may not have 
noticed this, what with her daughter and all.  Delwin is interested in 
the information about Laughter.  He says he hopes Alex is bringing 
more people with him.  Alex breaks the contact and asks Mebd if her 
mother has kept in touch with Mary.  Mebd figures Heather has, 
since they were close.  Alex shudders.

	Caine has some errands to run so Usires finds some guards and 
spends the morning sparring with them.

	Ahab and co. reach Amber and come across Kimdyl, who's 
introducing Nicholas to snow.  Ahab tells her he's going after Sand.  
She says she thought Nicholas' arrival had stopped that.  Ariana 
suggests to Ahab that they should meet later.  He asks her to talk to 
Bleys or any other sorcerer she knows of, to try and get their help.  
The group leaves Ahab alone with Kimdyl.  They spend the morning 
having sex.

	Ariana suggests that Laughter would be the better person to 
contact Bleys, since the last time Ariana asked Bleys for help he got 
in trouble with Fiona.  Besides, he's more likely to help if Laughter 
asks, since he'll feel somewhat obligated to protect her.  Laughter 
wants to find her mother.  Ariana lets slip that Ahab knows where 
she is.  Laughter starts to go after Ahab but Ariana stops her.  She 
points out that if Fiona doesn't want to see Laughter, she won't.  She 
and Laughter fence while Riftvan baby-sits and looks bored.  
Laughter asks who's going to watch the children.  Ariana says she's 
leaving Jalana with Riftvan.  Laughter is surprised that Riftvan is not 
coming along.  Ariana says someone has to stay with their child.  
Laughter asks if Riftvan will watch Beauty as well.  Ariana figures it 
won't be a problem.  They continue fencing until lunchtime.

	Foster asks Felix if he's really going after Sand.  Felix admits 
that he is.  Foster asks if that means he has to stay behind.  Felix says 
yes.  Foster points out that Sand is powerful and tells Felix not to be 
first in line.  Felix says Sand will keep coming back if she's not dealt 
with.  Foster warns him to be careful, as Sand hits hard.  He asks if 
Felix has talked to Gerard about this and suggests that he should.  
Foster tries to persuade Felix to let him come along.  He argues that 
he knows Sand better than Felix does, and he can heal.  Felix says 
he's seen what Sand can do and he won't allow Foster to come.  
Foster warns Felix to talk to Gerard before he does and goes off to get 
lunch.

	Felix Trumps Gerard and asks to come through.  Gerard 
complies and Felix explains what he's planning.  Gerard tells him to 
do what he feels he must, but he cannot condone the killing of any of 
his brothers and sisters.  Felix asks what he thinks she tried to do 
with the castle.  Gerard argues that's just the way he is.  Felix asks 
him to watch Foster.  Gerard tells him to be careful and says he 
should make sure Ahab thinks this one through.

	Bart spends the morning racking spells.

	Alex asks Mebd to contact Heather and see if she knows where 
Mary is.  Mebd does so.  Heather says she has seen Mary once since 
the last go-round with Sand.  Mebd mentions that Alex is worried 
about Mary, since she's his sister.  Heather digests this tidbit of 
information.  Alex despairs of ever teaching Mebd subtlety.  Mebd 
asks if Heather knows how to reach Mary.  Heather suggests using 
Trump.  When Mebd relays this to Alex, he sarcastically says he 
hasn't had time to draw one yet.  The sarcasm is lost on Mebd, who 
relays his response back to Heather.  Heather suggests that Alex 
draw one then and ends the contact.  Alex tells Mebd that he's not a 
Trump artist.  Mebd asks why he said he could draw them.  Alex 
gives up and suggests they check in on what's happening in Amber.  
They beach the boat and set off.

	Ahab Trumps Julian and says he needs to conduct an attitude 
check.  Julian asks if he's going to do something stupid.  Ahab asks if 
Julian or Caine have any objections to killing Sand.  Julian responds 
that Gerard might be displeased and Benedict might be unhappy.  
Ahab asks how upset they might be.  Julian says they might have 
need to express their displeasure.  Ahab figures he'll live through it.  
He says that if Julian sees Caine, to "Tell him I'm looking for his boy."

	Riftvan is annoyed at Ariana for dumping snow on him in 
Arden, so she leaves him to his own devices and goes looking for 
Mirelle.  She asks Mirelle what her birth name was.  Mirelle says she 
named her Mercedes, after the car she was conceived in.  Ariana 
decides she likes her current name just fine.

	Ahab Pattern teleports to Laughter and asks if she's talked to 
Bleys yet.  She admits they kind of forgot.  He says she could do so 
now.  She points out that she doesn't have a Trump deck.  Ahab 
hands her his.  Laughter says she'd rather talk to Fiona and attempts 
to do so, but Fiona won't answer her calls.  Ahab says she's better 
suited to talk to Bleys than he is.  Laughter says she can't help while 
her mother's pouting.  Fiona Trumps Ahab and asks when he's 
putting his plan into action.  Ahab says he's thinking things through 
first.  Fiona asks if he's well and breaks the contact.  Laughter learns 
Ahab was talking to her mother and is annoyed that he didn't tell 
Fiona she wanted to talk to her.  Ahab says he won't play her 
message boy.  Laughter asks why she should put her life on hold to 
help him go after a woman who's only sending her nightmares.  Ahab 
points out that he's asking her to do something that involves her, 
whereas she's asking him to possibly get killed over something that 
doesn't involve him.  He's gotten a migraine from Ariana when she 
lost her temper, so he doesn't want to risk losing his forebrain to a 
pissed off Fiona.

	Laughter Trumps Bleys and says they're going after Sand and 
want his help.  Ahab joins in the contact.  Bleys says he's not 
interested.  Ahab claims he'll have to activate his contingency plan 
then.  Bleys is amazed he has one.  Ahab says he'll tell Fiona that 
Bleys won't help protect her daughter.  Laughter insists that's not 
necessary.  Ahab agrees it's not expected, but this is Fiona.  Bleys 
asks if Fiona's involved.  Ahab starts to answer and the contact is 
broken.  Fiona appears and yells at Ahab for being stupid and 
discussing his plan over Trump, when he knows Sand is a better 
Trump artist than she is.  When she's done, she leaves without even 
looking at Laughter.  Laughter is most upset by this and rides off.  
Ahab Trumps Bleys and brings him through.  When Bleys finds out 
that Laughter and Fiona have left, he pulls out a Trump and 
vanishes.

	Alex and Mebd arrive in Amber and find Ahab.  Ahab tells 
them he's planning to go after Sand.  Mebd reveals that Alex was 
thinking of doing the same thing, much to Alex's annoyance.  Caine 
Trumps Ahab.  Ahab says it's a pleasure to see him.  Caine says to cut 
the crap and tells him to take Usires along.  Ahab says he'll do Caine 
the favor of not arguing.  He gets another Trump call, this time from 
Random, who comes through and asks to be filled in.  Ahab tells him 
the plan.  Random says he can't condone killing Sand.  He'd love to 
run her through, but he's had an enlightening experience and... don't 
kill her.  Alex mentions that Sand's favorite toys no longer work.  
Random insists that officially he can't condone killing Sand.  He adds 
that they're going to have one heck of a time explaining it to 
Benedict.  Ahab mentions that when he told Benedict he was going 
after Sand, Benedict said he wouldn't get involved but wouldn't stop 
him.  Random Trumps Benedict and pulls him through.  They talk for 
a while and then Random tells Ahab to go right ahead.  Ahab says 
he's finished with this crap and leaves in a huff.

	Laughter naps in a stable and has more Sand-inspired bad 
dreams.  She wakes up and tries to sleep again.  This time she avoids 
having any bad dreams, but is woken up by Sequence when Beauty 
wanders off.  She catches up with her and follows her back to the 
hotel.

	Felix is rather upset that Gerard raised his voice to him.  He 
gets lunch at Bloody Jake's, and drinks lots of alcohol.

	Alex decides Ariana might be the next best person to talk to 
about attacking Sand, since Ahab appears to no longer be involved.  
Mebd Trumps Heather and asks for Ariana's Trump.  Heather points 
out that Mebd has a deck already.  Mebd tells Alex this and gives 
him Ariana's Trump.  Alex asks if Mary's Trump is in there as well.  
Mebd thinks about it and admit it is.  She hands it to him and he 
tries it but Mary doesn't answer.  Alex tries Ariana next.  She doesn't 
answer at first but eventually gives in when he persists.  He asks if 
she's part of Ahab's plan.  She asks him to come through and says 
she is.  He tells her that Ahab is backing out of the plan because 
Random said to go ahead with it.  This makes no sense to Ariana, so 
she Trumps Ahab and asks him to come through.  He does so and she 
asks if what Alex said is true.  He tells her what happened.  She tries 
to change his mind but is unsuccessful.  Fiona appears and says she'll 
take over.  She asks if Ariana is still in.  She is.  Ahab decides to 
rejoin, since he's no longer in charge.  Fiona Trumps Laughter and 
brings her through.  Laughter walks off.  Bleys arrives and says he's 
coming along.  Fiona insists that he's not.  They argue until Bleys 
foolishly makes eye contact with Fiona and she psychically 
commands him to stay.  Usires arrives on the scene and joins the 
posse.

	Fiona catches up with Laughter.  Laughter is upset that Fiona 
didn't speak to her for two days, since she thinks parent and child 
should love each other.  During the course of the conversation, 
Laughter realizes that Fiona was the one who freed Shard from the 
tree.  She and Fiona patch things up.

	Ariana and Laughter go to leave the children with Riftvan and 
find him sleeping at Ariana's house.  Ariana kisses him on the 
forehead and tells him they're leaving.  He says he's coming with 
them.  Ariana asks why he changed his mind.  He says that if she 
died he'd never forgive himself.  She asks if he's sure he's up to it.  
He says he'll do his best to avoid the bullets.  He changes her back to 
her human form.  Sequence decides it likes her better that way.  
Ariana and Laughter grab armor and weapons and rejoin the group.

	Ahab Trumps Lyss and says it's time.  She says she's found 
another hand.  She contacts Bart, interrupting his concentration and 
causing him to lose the spell he was working on.  They come through.  
Fiona asks if Usires has learned how to use his ax yet.  He says he's 
figured out some of it.  Fiona hands him Caine's Trump and suggests 
he use it.  Usires does so, but Caine doesn't answer.  Bart is dismayed 
at the simplicity of Ahab's plan, but makes no suggestions of his own.  
Fiona reveals that forcing Sand out of her Shadow won't happen as 
quickly as she had implied to Ahab earlier.  Ariana asks if there's a 
way to keep Sand from mind-raping them in the meantime.  Fiona 
says she can probably prevent it.

	Fiona takes the group to a wild-looking Shadow and tells them 
to relax and be quiet.  She casts a spell on Ahab and Lyss and then 
meditates.  Everyone else stands around in various forms of 
readiness.  Riftvan keeps close to Ariana.  Twenty minutes later, 
Sand takes over Ariana's mind, has her run Riftvan through, and 
then lets her go.  Riftvan looks rather surprised.  Ariana catches 
Riftvan as he collapses and realizes that she's punctured his liver.  
She starts frantically trying to keep him from dying.  Ahab suggests 
that everyone move away from each other.  His advice is hastily 
followed.  Bart casts a spell on himself and Lyss.  Mebd casts one as 
well.  Fiona tells Ariana that she can't save Riftvan and asks her to 
step back.  Ariana asks what she's going to do.  Fiona explains she's 
going to freeze him in time.  Ariana moves away and Fiona does this 
thing.  Then she concentrates again.  Suddenly, hundreds of night 
wolves come pouring out of the forest.  Ahab and Ariana each down 
one with their crossbows.  Ariana kills another one with a Power 
Word and slows down ten more before it loses its effectiveness.  
Laughter slaughters a whole bunch of them with a fireball.  Lyss, 
Bart and Felix form a protective triangle around Fiona.  The wolves 
who approach Bart and Lyss are slowed down so that they are barely 
moving.  Fiona melts a few.  The others wade through the wolves and 
manage to kill half of them.  Laughter and Felix's armor is torn to 
ribbons and they begin taking damage.  Mebd is wounded as well.  
The wolves start massing on those whose armor they can't penetrate.  
Mebd takes out some more with fireballs and lightning bolts.  The 
ground starts to shake.  Fiona breaks into a sweat.  Finally, the 
wolves are disposed of, except for those caught in the spells around 
Bart and Lyss.  Alex tosses them out of the spell's field with the 
Logrus, and they are made short work of by the others.  Ahab brings 
Pattern to mind and realizes that Fiona is causing the shaking.  What 
she's doing to the Sand's Shadow scares him.

	More time passes.  Sand suddenly appears.  She looks to be 
about nine months pregnant.  Ariana shoots her, but the quarrels are 
slowed when they get within three feet of her.  Ariana uses Magic 
Negation to nullify the field, reloads and shoots again.  This time 
Sand blocks the bolts with a shield.  Before anything else can happen, 
Laughter trees Sand, encasing all of her body except for her belly.  
Ariana and Usires run towards her.  Bart gets in Ariana's way.  
Ariana Process Snuffs him, but the field around him prevents her 
from reaching Sand.  By the time she takes down the field, Laughter 
has gotten in front of her.  Usires reaches Sand, but opts not to do 
anything.  Lyss runs over to Bart and teleports out with him and the 
tree.  Ahab tracks them to Rebma and warns Llewella of their 
presence.  Then he Trumps Benedict and updates him.  Benedict says 
he'll take it from here.  Ariana asks Ahab where they went.  He tells 
her they are in Rebma.  She asks if he'll take her there.  He admits he 
wasn't specifically told not to.  Fiona points out that Benedict will 
have taken precautions.  She says she's satisfied her blood lust and 
she's going to do what she can for Riftvan.  Ariana asks if her 
presence will matter in what Fiona is going to do.  Fiona admits it 
might help if Riftvan saw her there.  Ariana asks Fiona if she can 
wait until she returns.  Fiona is willing to do this.  Felix Trumps 
Gerard and goes through to get his wounds treated.

	Ahab takes Alex, Usires, Laughter and Ariana to Rebma and 
then leaves.  He warns Lyss, who tells him that Sand is no longer 
there.  Alex, Usires, Ariana and Laughter are taken in to see Moire.  
Alex says they are pursuing a criminal and that Bart may know her 
whereabouts.  Moire says Sand fell under Random's domain.  
Laughter asks if Sand is no longer in Rebma.  Moire confirms this.  
Ariana Trumps Random and asks where Sand is.  He says she's in a 
Shadow pocket.  Ariana asks how long she'll be there.  He says that 
depends on her temper.  Ariana slams the contact closed and Trumps 
Fiona.

	Fiona brings Ariana through and tells her she can remove the 
spell that prevents Riftvan from shapeshifting.  She also says that 
she may be able to use doses of Pattern to cure his cancer.  Ariana 
asks how Pattern can be used on him without killing him.  Fiona says 
the doses will have to be carefully applied.  She removes the spell, 
and Riftvan reverts to his true form as he shapeshifts to fix the 
damage.  Once he has healed, Fiona moves him to Ariana's house and 
begins the first treatment.  He screams in agony, although Ariana 
tries to block the pain, and is utterly exhausted when Fiona is 
finished.  Fiona figures she'll have to treat him at least twice a day 
until some progress is made.

	Alex, Laughter and Usires Trump back to Amber and look up 
Random.  Laughter introduces herself and explains that she cast the 
spell that treed Sand.  She warns that the exposed parts of Sand's 
body are not in stasis like the rest of her is.  Random says Fiona took 
care of that.  Laughter asks what he's going to do.  Random says he'll 
attempt to satisfy everyone by holding a trial.  Laughter joins Felix in 
getting some medical attention.

	Ahab explains what happened to Kimdyl.  He's most annoyed at 
Lyss, but admits she's a lot like him.

	Alex Trumps Mary, who asks if he's trying to kill her.  She asks 
him to give her some warning next time.  He points out that he tried 
and asks what she was doing in Sand's Shadow.  She tells him his 
timing was good.  It seems Sand caught her while she was distracted.  
Alex asks who the father of Sand's child is.  Mary assumes it's Vetch, 
since he was the last person Sand slept with.  He asks if she wants to 
come to the trial.  She says to expect her later and warns him not to 
lose his Trump deck this time.  He cuts the contact in annoyance.  She 
Trumps him back and says she'll keep his Trump if he's going to be 
that way.

	Lyss comes by to comfort Bart.  She says she's in a lot of 
trouble.  It felt like the right thing at the time, but now she's not 
sure.  Ahab's really angry with her, and she's going to hide from 
Ariana for a while.  She's considering moving to Rebma.  Bart finds 
this last idea not entirely unpleasant.

	Laughter and Felix spend the night in the infirmary.  The next 
morning, Sequence asks why they didn't kill Sand and wants to do it 
again.  Laughter updates Felix on what happened after he left.  They 
discuss what will happen to Sand's child.  Laughter wants to raise it.  
Felix thinks his mother might be better.  Gerard checks on them and 
is willing to let Laughter leave, but not Felix.  Laughter stays and 
keeps Felix company for a while.

	Usires asks Caine when the trial will be.  Caine asks what trial.  
Usires enjoys the unusual experience of knowing something before 
Caine and explains.  Caine thinks that will be interesting.  Usires asks 
what experiments Caine was referring to the other day with regard 
to his ax.  Caine reveals that he's the one who made the ax available.  
He knew Usires was in that Shadow, but he seemed happy where he 
was and wasn't getting restless yet.  Naturally, the minute he took 
his eye off of the Shadow, Sand showed up.  Caine spends the 
morning explaining to Usires how the ax's magic works.

	Ahab pays Deirdre a visit.  She's eating her breakfast.  He 
points out that he doesn't have a scratch on him.  Deirdre asks what 
he did wrong.  He says he brought Lyss along, and she brought Bart 
along, and then he contacted Benedict.  So they didn't lose, but they 
didn't win.  Ahab explains that Sand will be brought to trial.  He also 
tells Deirdre that Random is running around saying he had an 
enlightening experience and he no longer believes in killing people.  
Deirdre tells him that, according to rumor, the Jewel brought Random 
to a place no one has been before.  Ahab asks what her opinion is.  
She says that she wouldn't rush into killing Sand, although if she 
couldn't be reformed...  She did kill many people when she destroyed 
the castle.  Deirdre says that killing an Amberite is a serious thing.  
Ahab asks if there's more to it than the death curse.  Deirdre thinks 
Amber is having labor pains.  That originally they were supposed to 
be different from Chaosites, but they're not, so now they're trying to 
move in that direction.  She thinks Amber was supposed to be a little 
less stressful than the Courts.  She notes that he's never been 
interested in playing the family game.  He admits this is true.  She 
observes that Ahab's generation seems to be less power-hungry.  
Unlike the Courts, they're not running around offing people to get 
ahead.  He says he just wants to know the rules.  She tells him she 
doesn't intend on hurting him physically again.  Ahab says he's 
getting sick of leading these parties, since no one seems to be 
impressed with his efforts.  He's going to let Random deal with 
defending Amber from now on.  Deirdre says she thinks Random will 
really try this time.  Ahab points out that it's pretty easy when 
there's no castle to defend and his main enemy has been gift-
wrapped.  Deirdre has no reply to that.  Ahab is surprised that 
people with longer grudges haven't been campaigning to off Random.  
Deirdre figures they're still impressed that the Unicorn picked him.

	Alex spends some time with Mebd and then Trumps Delwin.  
He tells Delwin what happened in the attack.  He finds the idea of a 
trial rather novel and asks if Delwin's up to attending.  Delwin says 
he's content to observe from afar.  Alex goes back to Mebd.

	Bart wakes up in Rebma.  He goes to the library and does some 
research on his father, but finds nothing.  He goes to Amber and 
looks for Benedict.  Benedict has a "What next?" expression on his 
face.  Bart introduces himself and says there's something he needs 
Benedict's help in learning.  He asks about House Jesby and explains 
that he's following up on some allegations about his ancestry.  
Benedict says members of House Jesby are usually poets, actors or 
minstrels.  They tend to act first and think later, are non-military, 
into Logrus and sorcery, and tend to die in great numbers.  Benedict 
asks where Bart heard these allegations.  Bart says it came from 
Lyss' sister in the Courts.  Benedict looks like this means something 
to him, but he doesn't share it.  Bart thanks him for his help and 
returns to Rebma.

	Foster arrives when Gerard brings up the breakfast and 
comments that the object is not to be the chew toy.  He asks why 
Ahab came out unscathed.  Felix points out that Ahab has magical 
armor.  Foster asks how well he guards it.  Felix says he wouldn't fit 
into it.  Foster suggests he learn shapeshifting.  Felix says he was 
under the impression that it was too late for that.  Foster says he's 
sure they could find someone to rip the Pattern from his mind.  Felix 
doesn't like this line of thought.

	Fiona Trumps Laughter and gives her a Trump deck as a peace 
offering.  Laughter asks if there's any she should be careful about 
using.  Fiona figures Sand's won't be functional for a while and 
suggests she not bother Delwin, or if she does, to tell him she's 
Fiona's.  Laughter mentions that she'd like to go to Foil.  Fiona says 
the appropriate Trumps should be in there.  She adds that she's 
staying at Ariana's house, if Laughter feels inclined to visit.  Laughter 
wants to go shopping.  Fiona says that can be arranged.

	Usires spars with the guards some more.  This time they take 
him on in groups.

	Alex leaves Amber, recharges his spells, and returns.

	Bart hangs out with Lyss in Rebma.


Quotables:

"News flash!  Felix hugs Faerie." -- Matt

"You mean Kimdyl won't peel you grapes and feed them to you?" -- 
Kris
"Only if I shattered my pelvis.  There's a thought." -- Jason

"I intend to live through it this time." -- Ahab to Kimdyl

"It's not red yet, that means I can hit you more." -- GM to her 
battered spouse

"I didn't eat her." -- Heather to Mebd about Mary

"Perhaps you've never fought with your mother and she's a good and 
kind person." -- Laughter to Ahab