Chapter Seventy-five:  "If this castle gets invaded, I'm going to be sad."

	Bacchante speaks to Shard about something, then teleports to the
alleyway outside of Kalevala.  She exits the alleyway and looks around for
the nearest bar.  She draws quite a bit of attention there, being an
unescorted female among many sleazy males.

	In the infirmary, Laughter decides to have the geas reapplied, at
least until the pages find Driscoll or Ariana.  Tamaryn attempts to do
this, but the geas fails this time.  Something about Amber blood and
adapting.  Foster swears and covers his right hand, the one he wears the
serpent ring on.  He says he's been summoned by the House, opens the
window, and disappears.  One of the pages returns, and says that Lady
Ariana is engaged in battle.  Realizing that these are Monty Python pages,
Laughter instructs him to relay the message to Ariana when she's free.
Laughter asks Tamaryn if she knows who Haris' namesake was.  According to
Foster, he made Foster realize there was more to life than being an
assassin.  Not having spent much time with Foster since he was eight,
Tamaryn has no idea.  Laughter asks for her help in finding Fiona.

	Alex watches the fight, which has turned from a minor skirmish
into a full-scale battle.  He is nicked with a crossbow quarrel, and the
tip looks sticky, so he goes to the command center to deal with the
poison.  The command center is deserted.  He hears a small noise in the
hallway behind him, but when he investigates, it looks like a page just
walked out of view.  Alex wraps his cloak around himself and returns to
the battlements, where it's safe.  Random is there with the Jewel, and
there's a nice electrical show going on.

	Laughter sees some nurses come in to the infirmary, pick up Mebd,
and leave.  She thinks this is odd, and sends a page to tell Alex of this. 
Alex whirls around at the page's approach, scaring the shit out of him. 
The message is relayed, and the page leaves to change his underwear.  Alex
decides that pursuing Mebd through a raging battle, while assassins are
trying to kill him, is not on his top ten list of things to do.

	Usires finds himself among the Hendrakes and lays in.  A man in
red armor sees this, and spurs his mount towards Usires.  Usires attempts
to disengage to face him, and does so, with the assistance of a well
placed shot from Ariana.  Usires is knocked back by the man's lance, but
unhurt.  The man laughs and begins slaughtering Amber troops.  Ariana and
Usires like this not at all, and engage him.

	Felix is brought through to Julian and joins him fighting in
Arden.  After a few hours, the Chaosites begin to realize that Felix is a
threat, and send a few demons, two- headed dogs, and small dragons after
him.  One of the dragons reaches him first, but Felix decapitates it after
its first strike.  When he kills the next dragon, a feminine voice from
behind says "Naughty, naughty!"  He lobs the dragon's head at the voice,
and hits the woman in the shins, since she was levitating.  This has the
happy effect of spinning her head over heels, until she slams into the
ground.  Felix rushes towards her, but is hit solidly by the two demons
that he forgot were attacking him.  They land on his back and knock him to
the ground.  He tries to cut them up, and hears chanting behind him.  He
lobs one of the demons at the woman, but it bounces off of her force wall. 
This takes out the demon, however, so he disposes of the second one the
same way.

	Ariana disappears into the melee, so the Hendrake engages Usires. 
Usires uses Weaken Structure to break off the tip of the man's lance, and
gets beat over the head for his troubles.  Fortunately, he has a thick
skull, and is only stunned.  Now that she's out of sight, Ariana has Song
take out the Hendrake's mount, while she attacks from another direction. 
This works splendidly, and Song guts the horse from stern to stem.  Ariana
tries to take the Hendrake out while he's pinned under his horse, but he
blocks her with his sword.  Usires also tries this and fails.  The
Hendrake frees himself, and they continue to team up on him.  He knocks
Ariana back, and begins casting a spell at Usires.  Ariana attempts to
stop this with Dispel Magic, but this fails, since the source of the spell
is a ring that he wears, and not himself.  He completes the spell, which
teleports Usires quite some distance away, then turns his full attention
to Ariana.  Usires begins fighting his way back to them, but realizes that
it will take him hours to reach them.

	Felix is hit by a lighting bolt and knocked back into a tree.  He
plays possum.  The sorceress pokes him with her staff, figures he's out,
and walks away.  He tackles her, knocking the wind out of her, and wraps
his hands around her throat.  She has silver colored hair and bright blue
eyes.  Felix runs into his old problem with killing women, so he knocks
her out instead, Trumps Laughter, and passes the woman through as a
prisoner.  Laughter, who is with Isabeux, suggests he get over his problem
with killing women.  Isabeux calls for the guards.  Laughter searches the
prisoner and finds a Trump deck, three crystalline vials, rings, throwing
knives, a short sword and a dagger.  She doesn't recognize anyone in the
Trumps, nor does she recognize the sorceress' house.

	Ariana and the Hendrake fight for several hours, and Ariana begins
to tire.  The Hendrake is definitely better than she is, stronger than she
is, and not as tired as she is.  He also has a good disarming trick to
boot, but Song continues to fly back to her hand.  Handy, that.  Ariana
manages to lull the Hendrake into overconfidence, which allows her to
pierce his armor with Song.  This makes him angry, and he grabs the blade,
so Ariana lets go and backpedals to avoid his fist.  He pulls Song free,
but holds onto it.  Ariana draws Alastor and tries to take advantage of
the opening, but is just too tired to succeed.  She attempts to disengage,
but cannot, and realizes that she has been maneuvered away from Amber's
forces.  She uses a combination of Weaken Structure and a thrown dagger to
hit him in the same spot where she wounded him with Song.  This makes him
even angrier, and he soon disarms her of Alastor, leaving her with nothing
capable of penetrating his armor.  He begins laughing, at which point a
whip wraps around his throat and he is yanked back.  Shard proceeds to
suck the life out of him, a process Ariana can't seem to turn away from. 
It looks like a horrible way to die.  When Shard is done, Ariana retrieves
her swords and beheads the Hendrake, tossing his head into the nearest
group of Hendrakes.  This seems to have a demoralizing effect.  Ariana
thanks Shard for his help.  He notes that she's exhausted, and offers to
bring her to safety.  He picks her up and begins walking back through the
battle.  No one seems to notice them.

	Alex spots Driscoll circling back towards the battlements.  He
gives a signal to Fiona, who is now standing by Random.  She opens a Trump
gate, and dragon-riders pour through.  They engage the approaching Chaos
aerial army.  Ariana recognizes one of the dragons as Mercury, the dragon
who assisted her in Lazarus.

	Shard and Ariana reach the castle and walk right past the guards. 
He tells her that he just focuses on them not seeing him, and they don't. 
He puts her down in a sitting room and seems to relax.  A page tells
Ariana that Laughter is looking for her, so she follows the page back to
Isabeux's quarters.  Laughter explains that the geas has been removed, and
she wants to give Song to Driscoll.  Ariana has no objections, provided
Song does not.  It vibrates as she says good-bye to it and hands it to
Laughter.  Laughter gets stone-cold silence from it, and Sequence is not
happy.  Ariana learns of Felix's prisoner and warns Laughter to be careful
of the vials.  Laughter looks worried, and mentions that Foster left
suddenly.  Ariana closes her eyes for a moment, and tells Laughter that
he's out on the battlefield.  She asks if Laughter has heard from Fiona
yet.  Laughter explains that Tamaryn is looking for her.  At this point,
Tamaryn finds them and tells Laughter that Fiona has returned.  Laughter
goes to see her, while Ariana arranges for Tamaryn to stay with her.

	A tall man dressed in tight-fitting black leather, with intensely
green eyes and long green-black hair, sits down next to Bacchante.  It is,
of course, Arthur.  He points out that she couldn't have been more obvious
if she tried, and asks what she wants.  He seems a bit nervous.  She
points out that Ahab wants to kill him, and he's willing to kill Random to
get the Jewel to do this.  Arthur asks what she wants from him.  Well, he
does have Martin in a jar.  She doesn't want him freed, since he'll
disgrace the Rebman throne.  This confuses Arthur, who didn't want to free
his hostages anyway.  Bacchante offers him information on how to block
Ahab's ability, and some other merchandise.  He wants to know who's child
she is.  She says she's a Rebman.  A child of the Realm.  No shit.  He
doesn't trust her, then.  She tries to encourage him to salvage his plan.
He says he's given up on it, and is more concerned with staying alive.
Bacchante figures he's no longer interested in Laughter, then.  Well...
Is Bacchante offering her up?  No, but she'll give him tips on how to win
her.  Great, like he really wants to go to Amber.  Bacchante offers
herself as an advisor.  Arthur can't figure out why she is doing this.
Well, Arthur is the son of the Queen...  Admittedly, this isn't common
knowledge, but she's close to an information source.  She won't say who,
of course.  Arthur wants to stay far away from Amber for a while, and has
taken precautions in case that doesn't happen.  He tells Bacchante to
prove that she's an ally, by telling him how she'll negate Ahab's
abilities.  By a spell, of course.  Well, Arthur doesn't exactly hang out
in magic-functioning Shadows.  Bacchante tells him to give her regards to
Ahab, then.  Arthur asks again what she wants from him.  Not to release
the hostages when the chips are down.  Arthur is unlikely to do that
anyway.  He figures that Ariana is a better fighter than Ahab, so if Ahab
kills him, he'll have the advantage of knowing that she'll kill Ahab,
since Vetch will be stuck in Kalevala forever.  Arthur claims to have
become sane, just in time to realize what he's done, and that death lies
in his future.  He borrowed a bit of his brother's perspective, you see,
and now he's not thinking with the mind of an eight-year old.  Apparently
he was in Ahab's body long enough that a bit of Ahab rubbed off on him.
Bacchante wishes some of his new-found sanity had rubbed off on Martin,
since she disapproves of his predilection for women.  Arthur assumes this
means Martin did something to her, and Bacchante does not correct this.
Arthur says Martin didn't seem capable of doing that.  Bacchante says
she'll see what she can do about getting him amnesty, if Arthur can turn
Martin around.  Arthur figures that he has nothing to lose.

	Dawn approaches.  The battle still rages.  Random is still on the
battlements, as are Bleys and Fiona, and the dragons are still fighting. 
Alex figures he's safe there, and continues to watch the fun.

	Laughter finds Fiona on the battlements.  Fiona has Bleys fill in
for her and gives Laughter an appraising look.  She seems to have noticed
Laughter's increased bust size.  Laughter fills her in on recent events. 
A scary light begins to ignite behind Fiona's eyes, and she asks for
Laughter's hand.  Her expression goes from concerned to amusement, and she
says that Mandor arranged an object lesson.  He's only forced Laughter to
think about her decision.  Laughter thanks Fiona, who says she'll be
having a small chat with Mandor shortly.  Laughter invites her to stop by
and see Haris.  Fiona wonders if the rumors about Gerard's descendants
were true.  Oh, yes, very much so.  Fiona coos appropriately over her
grandson.  They discuss Chameleon for a bit, then Fiona returns to the
battlements, since she doesn't trust Bleys to handle things for long.

	Usires manages to work his way over to Julian's group, and spots
Felix in the fighting.  He joins in, and continues to slay lots of
Chaosites, especially Hendrakes.

	Laughter puts Haris to bed, and Trumps Felix, but he's not
answering.  Julian is, though, and she asks to come through and do some
damage.  He moves clear and pulls her through.  Laughter climbs a tree,
turns invisible, and starts treeing enemies.  The Chaosites are not
amused.

	Ariana sleeps for four hours, while Tamaryn watches her.  Then she
goes up to the battlements and checks things out.  Julian's force in Arden
has won, but the battle still rages elsewhere.  She leaves a note for
Random, explaining that Kalevala is frozen, so he really shouldn't send
anyone there, and that she's concerned about Mirelle.  Then she rejoins
the battle.

	Bacchante tells Arthur that she'll return to Amber and work on
terms.  He says she can get in touch with him by hanging around the bar.
She Trumps back to the main hall and asks where Random is.  She is
directed to the battlements, and explains that Arthur is ready to make
amends.  Random is willing to accept this, if Fiona will verify Arthur's
sanity.  Bacchante points out the vengeance factor.  Random has made
Corwin aware of this, but Bacchante figures that Ahab will kill Arthur
anyway.  Random figures that Arthur won't get off scot-free.  He did
declare war on Amber, after all, and is partly responsible for Caine being
missing.  Bacchante fails to hide her reaction to this, and Random catches
that she doesn't think this is true.  Random figures that if Corwin can't
convince Ahab, Benedict will.  Bacchante says she'll continue with her
arrangements, then.

	The fighting continues.  Most of the group is fine, although
Ariana has to rest one hour for every two she fights, due to her
pregnancy.  The aerial fight moves over Arden, and Laughter begins treeing
the enemy fliers.  She notices that Driscoll is engaging the enemy leader,
and trees the man he was fighting.  Unfortunately, Driscoll had set
himself up to hit the man, so his disappearance throws Driscoll off
balance, and he falls off of Clytemnestra.  Clytemnestra dives for him,
but Laughter trees him, and explains to Clytemnestra that he's not dead. 
Really.  Laughter untrees Driscoll, and explains what happened.  She
mentions that she needs to speak to him after the battle.  He asks if
she's spoken to her parents, learns that she has, and says he'll speak
with her as soon as he can.  He remounts Clytemnestra and rejoins the
battle.

	Bacchante waits for a free moment of Fiona's time, and gets it
around mid-afternoon.  She updates Fiona on the Arthur situation,
including the need for her verification.  Fiona is more than willing to
help.  Since she'll need to go to Arthur, they decide to wait until things
calm down a bit.

	Usires takes a break in the afternoon, as does Felix.  Gerard
checks in to make sure that Felix is OK, and tells him that things are
calm on the sea.

	Ariana keeps checking on Foster's location.  At one point, she
senses that he's under stress, and makes her way to him.  He's fighting
another Hendrake lord, and is in over his head.  Ariana sneaks up on the
lord and beheads him, which seems to surprise Foster.  He mentions that he
hates it when they see him coming.  She tells him that she had been
looking forward to killing one of them.  Foster figures she's killed more
than one.  She admits this is true, but they did try to kill her son,
after all.  She asks if Foster knows who the Hendrake in the red armor
was, and learns it was Lord Hendrake himself.  She is rather pleased.

	Evening, and the battle still rages.  Amber seems to be slowly
winning.  Ariana again senses that Shard is nearby, acting as her
protector.  Driscoll comes to see Laughter, who is feeding Haris.  He
explains that he learned of the proposal through his father.  His
conditions were that she had to agree, or he'd have nothing to do with it. 
She wants to know if the marriage would cause him to stay his hand against
Chaos.  He figures the point is to prevent things from coming to that. 
Laughter explains that Mandor kind of forced her to think about the
proposal, which causes Driscoll's eyes to flash briefly with anger.  He
does wince when she explains that she looked into Mandor's eyes. 
Technically, Mandor didn't break any of Driscoll's stipulations.  Clever
man.  Driscoll says he would not ask her to leave Foster or her child. 
Then why did he agree to the idea?  Because he was almost certain that
she'd refuse.  If she says no, he is to marry Emer.  His fate is sealed
either way, since he feels that the treaty is worth it, and he's kind of
given up on being happy in the area of love.  Why does he like Laughter? 
Well, he has the unfortunate tendency to fall in love with descendants of
Fiona, but everyone he loves tends to die unpleasantly.  Sucks to be him. 
He tells her to marry Foster and be happy.

	Laughter finds Random on the battlements, and mentions that she's
heard about the marriage negotiations.  He tells her that it was all
Mandor's idea.  She suggests that he'd sleep easier at night knowing that
a real Chaosite was married to his son.  Random revels in the irony.  She
proposes Emer as a better choice.  Random tells her to do what she feels
best.  A treaty and marriage will take place.  Whether it's hers is her
decision.

	Laughter Trumps Mandor and goes through.  She pulls her hand away
immediately and won't look him in the eyes.  He notes that the lesson has
been learned.  If she'd done that to anyone else in Chaos...  Speaking of
which, she thinks Emer makes a better choice.  He agrees, but Driscoll
loves her, so he figured he'd give love a chance, having partaken of it
himself.  She asks why he objects to Foster.  He still insists it's his
membership in House Vetch.

	The battle ends the following morning, after a day and two nights. 
Felix and Usires sleep after the battle.  Ariana rests briefly and heals
the wounded.  Bacchante updates Llewella and plays with Darby.  Ahab
sleeps, then spends some quality time with his wife and kid.

	Fiona joins Bacchante at lunch, and asks if she's ready to work on
the Arthur problem.  Bacchante is flustered by her, especially when Fiona
points out that she's Bacchante's aunt.  Ariana joins them and asks about
the status of the Arthur mission.  Bacchante fills her in on what's
happened.  Ariana figures that if she can live with Sand's continued
existence, Ahab can live with Arthur's.  Bacchante smiles, and wonders if
Ariana is still mad at her for the way the Sand affair ended.  No, she
thought that had been settled long ago.  Apparently Bacchante missed that
little detail.  She says that death tends to be so final, when other
options haven't been explored.  Ariana doesn't think many are left with
Sand, and wishes that she wasn't free.  The only thing she's still angry
with Bacchante about is the whole Sequence thing.  Bacchante admits that
she didn't understand the importance of the sword.  Ariana repeats
Bacchante's words to her on finality and options.  Bacchante admits the
irony.  They discuss the perspective that being female gives, and
Bacchante admits that she's a shapeshifter.  They also discuss Bacchante's
arranged marriage to Lilith.  Ariana dislikes the idea of being married to
someone you don't love.  What if you love someone else?  Er.  Bacchante
looks uncomfortable, and says it would dishonor Lilith if she backed out
of it.  Ariana suggests that perhaps Bacchante could find someone better
for Lilith to marry.  Bacchante considers her words.  Ariana asks after
Darby, and learns what's been happening to the lad.  They discuss the
bonding effect that happens when you have a child.  Ariana figures they
should find the remaining Jewel shards, so that Lyss can be freed.  They
also speculate as to whether Arthur's insanity may have rubbed off on
Ahab.

	Laughter is miffed that Foster isn't at lunch.  Ariana checks and
finds that he's with Driscoll.  Laughter Trumps Foster and reminds him
that he is handfasted to her.  He arrives soon afterwards and says he was
speaking with Driscoll, something that he should have done long ago.  They
both want Laughter to be happy, and she should talk with Driscoll.  She
leaves Haris with Foster and does this thing.  She gives him Song, and he
seems to make a good connection with it.  Laughter admits that she won't
be marrying him, but long engagements are a good thing.  Really.

	Alex and Random plot what to do with the prisoner Felix brought in
over brandy and cigars.  Don't ask, it's some form of male bonding, I
guess.

	Laughter and Felix discuss what Foster's status will be once he
leaves House Vetch.  It's somewhat uncertain, although if Felix formally
adopts him, he'll probably be considered part of Amber.

	Usires tells Ariana that he's glad to see her alive.  She tells
him the identity of the man they were fighting, and that Shard dealt the
death blow.  They discuss the battle, and Usires inquires about Ariana's
missing husband.  She explains where he is.

	After breakfast, Laughter recalls the Chaosites she treed.  She is
directed to Alex to deal with the situation.  They decide to ransom them
back to Chaos, for lots of money and stuff.

	Fiona takes Bacchante to Arthur's Shadow, where she disguises
herself while they hang out in the bar.  Arthur enters the bar, and
Bacchante says they need to verify his honesty.  He doesn't notice Fiona. 
Bacchante comes clean about her not being molested by Martin, to prove her
honesty so Arthur will trust her.  Don't ask.  Arthur asks what's next. 
Bacchante asks him to submit to a mind scan by Fiona.  He agrees and makes
a motion with his hand.  Then Fiona drops her spell, scaring the shit out
of him.  She scans him, and he passes, with a few adjustments.  Bacchante
blanches when she hears this, but Arthur says it's all right, he's never
thought this clearly before.  He seems to be reveling in it.  He tells
them that they will need to have Ahab release his bodyguard, and waves
Ariadne forward.  Then he goes to the alleyway, concentrates, and walks
through.  He wants Bacchante to come with him, so they don't kill him on
sight.  They come across Martin and Vetch fairly quickly, and Bacchante
hastily assures them that it's all right.  Vetch puts something away and
asks how long they've been there.  Bacchante says it's been a few days. 
This makes sense to Vetch, but Martin misses the significance.  Bacchante
introduces Martin to his uncle.  Martin is overjoyed to be off the hook,
as far as being next in line for the throne of Rebma.  As they proceed out
of the alleyway, Bacchante points out that Martin can no longer embarrass
the throne, which gets her swatted.  She changes back to Bart.  Fiona
brings them all back to the main hall.  Vetch disappears almost
immediately. Bart figures no one will need to inform Ariana, then.

	Ariana asks Tamaryn to bring her to the children.  Tamaryn points
out that it will be a long trip via Logrus, but Ariana doesn't care.  She
is packing when Riftvan Trumps in with the children.  She proceeds to fuss
over them for a while, and is relieved that they've only been in Faerie
for a few days.  She leaves them with Isabeux to play with Vivienne, and
updates Riftvan on everything that's happened while he was gone.  He finds
the news about Shard very interesting indeed, and admits that he's never
been able to do more than a poor imitation of a vampire.  He doesn't think
the condition can be reversed, but agrees that she should keep transfusing
him.  He also thinks Shard should be prevented from returning to the
vampire Shadow at all costs, and wants to learn everything possible about
him.  Ariana asks him to be present when she feeds Shard that evening,
which he agrees to do, although Shard won't know that he's there.  Ariana
also fills him in about the faerie girl she killed.  Riftvan recognizes
her description, and says her name was Uma.  She often ignored her
father's orders, and had been trying to repair the damage done between
Dexter and the Midlands.  She was probably acting as bait to lure out the
people who kidnapped Caitt and Beauty, and it's unlikely that her father
knew she was there.  Riftvan offers to go with her when she meets with the
king, who can either forgive her, ask for her life, or take Jalana to
replace his daughter.  Ariana confirms that if she dies rather than give
Jalana up, the king will be forced to accept this.  Riftvan says he will
not let her go too far to appease the man.  Ariana isn't happy about any
of this, but Riftvan manages to cheer her up in the usual fashion.

	Foster tells Laughter that maintaining a ways without Logrus is
impossible.  She asks what she should do with the money then.  Buy a
title.  Foster suggests Hendrake.  Oh, now there's a brilliant idea!  Alex
tells her that she's nuts, and suggests she talk to her father.  She does
so.  Mandor pulls her through, and she explains what she wants to do with
the ransom.  He figures that for swordplay, Hendrake would be good.  If
real magic, then Helgram.  Having a title would give her freer access in
the Courts than anyone from Amber.  It would also increase her base of
information and give her better standing.  In the end, he recommends House
Bances, the house of the sword.  He's also willing to arrange a ways for
her, but she doesn't want it if she can't maintain it herself.  She
decides to do buy the title in Bances.  He instructs her to make the
arrangements with the ambassador.

	Tamaryn and Foster tell Laughter that the house thing is being
taken care of, and then they disappear.

	Alex asks Lucretia to see if she can learn who Heather has sent
after him.  She claims there is no one, currently.  Sure there isn't.

	Felix learns that Tamaryn and Foster have spoken to Murine, so he
visits her.  She looks as though a weight has been lifted from her
shoulders.  She decides to start all over, and introduces herself to him
again.  She tells him that she hated the fact that she had supposedly done
all of these things that she didn't remember.  Felix admits it's kind of
awkward.

	Arthur is put in the dungeons for a while.  He gives Random a
bunch of information about Dara, her troops, and the location of the
remaining Jewel shards.

	Shard arrives in Ariana's quarters that evening for another
feeding.  She takes a blood sample first, the drawing of which seems to
hurt quite a bit.  The blood is rather blue Ariana casts the spell, and
notices that the erotic feelings are even stronger this time.  At the end,
the energy she used for the spell also returns far more quickly than it
normally would.  Another sample is taken at then end, which doesn't really
bother Shard at all.  This sample is a healthy red.  Shard thanks Ariana
for all of her help, and leaves to break the news of his condition to
Julian.  Riftvan seems excited by the opportunity to observe a "tame" 
vampire.  Ariana analyzes the samples, which reveal a very low hemoglobin
count in the before sample, and a higher than average one in the after
sample.  Riftvan didn't notice anything unusual about the transfusion
process, other than the fact that she survived, so she clues him in on the
interesting side effects.  His comment that his wife is having an affair
with a vampire doesn't go over well at all.  The whole thing makes her
nervous, but he promises to keep a close eye on it from now on.  They
discuss their theories on how vampires survive, and what Shard could be
capable of doing.  Riftvan figures he'll be able to levitate and mesmerize
people soon.  Ariana wants Riftvan to promise to kill her if she ever
becomes a vampire, but he's not sure that's a promise he can make.

	Ariana gets another sample from Shard, shortly before dawn.  The
hemoglobin count is lower, and the blood is bluer, as expected.  She
thinks the lowered hemoglobin would account for his lethargy near dawn.

	The following day, Laughter goes to see Swiss Family Ahab, and
asks when Nicholas would like to start his fighting lessons.  Immediately
is the answer.  Nicholas is a rapt, absorbed, attentive student.  The
human sponge makes Laughter a little nervous, so she is on her best
behavior.  She asks him if he understands the seriousness of killing
things.  He says he does, and he's learning to fight so that his parents
won't worry so much about him.  Laughter says that they'll always worry
about him, being his parents and all.  Then she gives him a Trump of
herself, and tells him to use it if he's ever in trouble.  He looks happy
and says he's finally found a friend.  Laughter says he's always had her
as a friend, because she wouldn't give a sword she made to just anyone. 
This seems to endear Return to him.  He asks Laughter what he can do to
restore his good name in Beauty's eyes, or if he can do nothing, since
she's so much older.  Laughter points out that Foster is a much better
person to question on the area of "hopeless crushes on older women." 
Nicholas wants to apologize for "those things" he did.  Laughter asks if
he means the general bad things he did to all the children, or more
specific bad things.  The general ones.  Laughter suggests he apologize
not just to Beauty, but to Vivienne.  She says if he can win Vivienne
over, the other children will most likely follow.  He also seems to want
to make peace with Darby.

	Foster makes his bid to leave the House that night.  He casts a
glamour on Ariana, so that she can't see and can only hear elevator music. 
She Trumps Laughter and has her remove the spell.  Laughter identifies it
as Foster's work.  Ariana checks his location, but he's left the serpent
ring in the room.  Laughter asks her to stay out of the fight.  Ariana
says she has no intention of interfering, but she insists on returning to
her quarters.  Her children are there, after all.  She finds that the
fight has moved outside, and hears the clash of weapons, and metal biting
flesh.  Suddenly, there is a flash, as Tamaryn attacks Riftvan from
behind, with raw faerie magic.  Apparently she's making her bid to leave
the House as well.  Foster is hunched over, so Ariana goes outside to see
how he's doing.  He isn't able to heal his wounds, but Ariana can't help
him, since the fight isn't over yet.  She tells him that Riftvan would
have released him, but he doesn't believe it.  Laughter investigates the
massive use of faerie magic, sees that Foster is injured, and hurries out
to join him.  Foster is still losing blood, so Ariana makes psychic
contact with him, to better monitor his condition.

	Meanwhile, Riftvan shifts to faerie form, and a massive battle
ensures between him and Tamaryn.  Eventually, he says something to Tamaryn
that enrages her.  She responds with a spell that drains faerie magic from
Laughter and Foster, which causes Foster to pass out.  Tamaryn uses the
energy to make a modified treeing spell, that binds Riftvan to the outside
of a tree.  Then she holds a cold iron dagger to his throat, and they
converse.  Laughter suggests that Ariana may want to interfere to save
Riftvan.  Ariana doesn't believe that Tamaryn will kill him, and continues
monitoring Foster, who is fading fast.  Finally, Tamaryn drops the dagger,
which has burned her hand, and asks Ariana to save her son.  Ariana heals
him, but passes out in the process of giving him a transfusion.  Laughter
takes a look at Riftvan, but can't figure out how to go about freeing him. 
He is of the opinion that he can free himself, eventually.  He also seems
to be very angry, so Laughter hurries away.  Tamaryn offers to watch
Ariana if Laughter will watch Foster.  They bring the unconscious duo
inside.

	Ariana wakes up to find Tamaryn sitting beside her.  She
congratulates Tamaryn on winning her freedom, and asks if Riftvan can free
himself.  Tamaryn isn't sure, never having done anything quite like that
before.  Tamaryn has decided, for Ariana's sake, to make Riftvan the man
he used to be.

	Ariana gives Foster another transfusion, and he wakes up.  She
notices that her magic wasn't able to remove the scars left by his
injuries.  Foster tells her that Riftvan used a weapon that prevents
shapeshifting from healing its wounds.  Ariana leaves.  Laughter
congratulates him on his freedom, and asks if he's certain that Riftvan
wouldn't let him go.  Foster reveals that Riftvan said as much during the
fight.  Laughter figures that now that he's free of the House...  Foster
produces her engagement ring and proposes again.  She is very impressed
that he was able to find the ring.

	Foster and Laughter go and tell Felix the good news about their
engagement.  Again.  Foster mentions his leaving House Vetch as an
afterthought, which causes Laughter to elbow him in the ribs.  Felix wants
to adopt Foster, so he Trumps Mandor and asks if he can do this legally in
Chaos.  Mandor agrees to acknowledge this.  All Felix has to do is
publicly acknowledge Foster as his son.

	Ariana spends the rest of the night sitting by the tree that
Riftvan is bound to.  Riftvan continues to be very angry, but his
attention seems to be focused far away, and he doesn't speak to her.  Come
morning, he frees himself and fades out.  Ariana is unable to trace him
with the serpent ring.

	Felix acknowledges Foster at breakfast.  Laughter's wedding is
discussed.  Foster would rather wait until Haris is weaned, but Laughter
doesn't think this will be all that far off.

	Ariana offers to heal the burn on Tamaryn's hand.  Tamaryn is
surprised that Ariana can do this, and thinks it is an incredible ability. 
Ariana offers to teach it to her.  She asks if Tamaryn thinks Riftvan will
return.  She does, but warns he may be rather cranky.  Ariana introduces
Tamaryn to the children, and she takes to them quite well.

	Laughter talks to Fiona about what Mandor did to her.  Fiona
points out that, while she understands that Laughter's looking into
Mandor's eyes was a trust thing, she understands Mandor's point in
teaching Laughter not to ever do that with anyone.  It is a very bad habit
after all, and he only did it because he cares about her.  Laughter sighs
and Trumps to see Mandor.  While skirting the issue of the eye problem,
Laughter brings up her up and coming marriage to Foster.  Mandor gives his
blessing.  Laughter asks about Driscoll and Emer.  Mandor says he believes
in long engagements.  This relieves Laughter, who says that if Mandor had
not had another option, she would have done as he had asked to seal the
treaty.  This seems to chagrin Mandor.  Laughter tells him about her
enemy, Chameleon.  Mandor does not look pleased, and says that Chameleon
is the Head of House Bances.  Laughter is also not pleased.  Mandor says
he can get a humiliating apology out of Chameleon, but probably can't have
him killed.  Laughter asks him to wait on any action, then.  She asks
Mandor if he'd like to see his grandson.  He would, so Laughter Trumps
Fiona and has her pass Haris through.  Mandor seems to be in a state of
shock when he sees the child, and Laughter can't figure out why.  She asks
if he passes inspection.  Mandor says that he does, but continues staring. 
Laughter asks if Haris resembles someone, but Mandor says he looks like
Foster and Laughter both.  Laughter gives up and goes home with the baby.

	Ariana asks Driscoll to transfer the enchantment on her armor to
something a little more concealable.  She also mentions that she's
interested in learning conjuration.  Driscoll seems to be sad about
something, but he completes the transfer, and is more than happy to teach
her about conjuration.  Ariana is able to conjure a rose, and is surprised
that she could do it so quickly.  Driscoll says it's in her blood.  They
discuss Song for a little while.

	Felix talks with Tamaryn about her fight to leave the House.  She
seems upset about what she had to do, but is determined to turn Vetch into
the man he used to be.  She claims that her relationship with him used to
be very similar to the one Felix has with Gerard.  Felix has trouble
believing this.

	Ariana visits Arthur in the dungeons, and talks with him for a
while.  He says that he split from Dara after the sea battle, when he
discovered his distaste for the whole affair.  He also tells her that the
Jewel shards are in the primal Shadow for magic, and that Mirelle is there
as well.  She was sent there to guard them, but she's undergone another
personality shift, and can't remember why she's there.  Ariadne was
working for him originally in Kalevala because there's still enough
Hellmaid in her that she can be bound, if you know the proper ritual.  He
admits that he spent about 100 years in Ahab's body, figuring out the
optimal way to use his power.  He feels rather badly for what he did, and
he figures that it's only a matter of time until Ahab kills him.  Ariana
says she'll talk to Ahab about it, and asks if she can get anything for
him.  He wouldn't mind something with alcohol in it, so she conjures him a
bottle of wine.  He is most grateful.  Ariana promises to stop by again.

	Felix speaks with Isabeux about his perceived drinking problem. 
Isabeux assures him that she and Gerard will be there for him, should he
need them. Felix is grateful for this, but wants to try to handle it on
his own.

	Ariana asks Laughter about Mandor, and learns what he actually did
to her. They discuss Nicholas' loneliness, and ways to combat this. 
Ariana mentions that she doesn't think Arthur should be killed, which
surprises Laughter. Ariana explains that he was insane, and he did nothing
that warrants death.  She suggests that Laughter talk to him, and Laughter
decides to do so.  They both agree that the cycle of vengeance that would
be set off with Arthur's death is something to be avoided.  In the
process, Ariana accidentally lets slip that Ahab and Arthur are siblings. 
She won't say any more on the subject, but Laughter comes to the
appropriate conclusion.  Ariana is not happy with herself.

	Shard comes by for another feeding, and begins to notice the same
feelings that Ariana has.  Ariana thinks it would be wise for him to stay
away from the vampire Shadow, and asks if he has any urge to return there. 
Yep, but it's not a problem with the Pattern turned off.  He's not sure if
he can resist it once the Pattern is back.  He suggests teaching the
transfusion spell to Beauty, since she might be able to wield power over
him, due to her being a Shadow of Belle, the vampire who made him.  Or
Belle being a Shadow of Beauty.  Whichever.  He still hasn't told Julian
about his condition, but intends to tonight.

	Everyone goes to sleep, except for Ariana, who spends the night on
the battlements, contemplating her pain.


Quotables:

"(Bart's) theory is that everyone Ariana sleeps with is Vetch.  So if she
sleeps with him, Vetch will be free." -- Liam to the group

"I don't like this being left alone, since there's Oreos in the game." --
Mer to the group

"I'm going to keep an eye on this, to help if (the Hendrake) looks like
he's going to wax Usires.  To help Usires, not the (Hendrake)." -- Ariana
to GM

"I'm thinking, if this castle gets invaded, I'm going to be sad." --
Laughter to the group

"I'm not going after Mebd through this." -- Alex, as he watches the battle

"Would you like to take a bath?  I won't be joining you." -- Laughter to
Ariana

"I don't think (Laughter) cares much for me." -- Arthur
"Did you ever consider that it might be because of your approach?" -- Bart

"If (Arthur) kills (Laughter's) dad, she'll marry (him)." -- Mer to the
group

"I've told you on more than one occasion that your father is a bastard."
-- Fiona
"Yeah, but you slept with him." -- Laughter

"I believe that Arthur is ready to make amends." -- Bart
"And how do you know this?" -- Random
"He told me." -- Bart

"(Driscoll) shouldn't be dead." -- Laughter to Clytemnestra

"If (Tamaryn's) son won't lactate, then she'd better not." -- Laughter to GM

"If I ask you a question, will you tell me the truth?" -- Laughter
"I'll try." -- Mandor

"You are an open book." -- GM
"And there's not much to read." -- Bart

"I'll gladly take your father any day of the week." -- Laughter to Foster

"You could always buy a title." -- Foster
"I already have a title." -- Laughter
"Bastard to the King." -- Liam

"Perhaps you should tell me of (what you are planning) now, so that I can
refuse to speak to you now rather than later." -- Laughter to Mandor

"Foster suggested I buy a title.  The Chaos ambassador suggested I buy a
title within one of the allied houses." -- Laughter to Mandor