Chapter Eighty:  "You're going to have to try harder, my brother was
better than you."

	Oberon establishes a court for himself in Amber, which basically
consists of people that hang around, discuss politics, go hunting with
him, etc.  Kind of like lobbyists.

	Bart goes to Discworld, specifically Tallefellow's, and fails to
determine the cause of Meander's blindness.  This irritates him, since he
figures nothing should be beyond him in his new domain.  He goes on a
power trip, and tries to make a sword, by setting things up such that this
awesome sword was created in the past by one guy, stolen by another, and
now just happens to be in Tallefellow's possession (the owner, not the
inn).  Problem is, Tallefellow won't just give it to Bart.  Now, there's a
shock!  Tallefellow eventually agrees to talk to his "friend," who might
have this sword, and might be willing to part with it, in exchange for its
weight in gold.  Bart decides that this amount of gold just happens to be
buried by the stable, and directs Tallefellow to it.  Tallefellow says he
will confirm this, and get back to Bart.  The painfully prolonged
bargaining at an end, Bart waits for Meander to finish singing.

	Laughter spars with Nicholas, who has obviously been practicing. 
Laughter tells Sequence sneak up behind Nicholas when she gives the proper
cue, to see if he's prepared.  Sequence isn't real happy with this idea,
since it's not allowed to really hurt Nicholas.  Sequence argues with
Return while waiting for Laughter's cue, trying to tell it how it should
act.  Problem is, Return is much smarter than Sequence, and is unconvinced
by Sequence's arguments, such as they are.  Laughter's cue is given,
Sequence attacks, and Nicholas almost gets out of the way.  Even if the
attack had been genuine, he only would have been grazed.  Laughter points
out that an attack can come from an unexpected source.  Nicholas considers
the lesson of the day.

	Ariana wakes up in the forest, and discovers the joy of living in
a place where there are sometimes no obvious means of passing from one
part to another.  Riftvan finds this amusing, and re-enters the Ways
proper by walking between two trees.  Ariana follows, and wants to know
how to spot such openings.  He thinks that telling her would spoil all of
the fun.  She asks if he's spoken with Tamaryn.  No, he needs to take that
one slowly.  Ariana discusses the various weddings with Riftvan, who isn't
really invited to many, being an assassin and all.  She points out that,
at the very least, he's stuck attending the three she's been invited to. 
She asks about getting rid of the gargoyles that are all over the place,
and learns that he collects them.  She can't figure out why, but manages
to convince him to at least remove the gargoyles from their bedroom.  He's
more reluctant to redo the nursery, which is done in a Brother's Grimm
motif, since he thinks it will teach the children life lessons.  Ariana
thinks they are still too young for that.  He asks if she wants to bury
them before her.  She points out that he said the Ways were safe, and
wants them to have the opportunity to be children for a little while
longer.  He decides not to pursue the argument, saying he has business to
attend to, but he'll be back by lunchtime.  Ariana Trumps Laughter, and
asks if she wants to continue their sparring sessions.  Laughter does, so
Ariana goes through and watches Laughter finish up her lesson with
Nicholas.  Then Ariana spars with Laughter for an hour, while Nicholas
observes them.

	Usires finds a blacksmith to make him a javelin.  The blacksmith
is a woman, and her attitude dares him to make something of it.  He opts
not to.  Smart Viking.  The woman tells him that the javelin will be ready
in two weeks.  He decides to visit Rimmersgard, and finds that much time
has apparently passed since the last time he was there.  He comes across a
bard in a tavern, singing of the brave deeds of Usires, which are largely
blown out of proportion.  He also finds a temple dedicated to him, and
notices a few people looking at him kind of strangely.  He leaves town,
and successfully slows the Shadow down, then sits down to deal with what
happened.

	Ahab teleports out into Shadow, and sets to work on Flora's
present, which is jewelry, naturally.  He keeps at it until it's time to
return for Deirdre's wedding.

	Alex wakes up as Reeshau.  He goes looking for his hat, and finds
it crumpled up in a drawer, almost as if someone was trying to hide it. 
Who would do such a thing?  He tries to cast a spell to go home to
Discworld, and winds up in contact with Bart.  He says he wants to go
home.  Bart is very confused, since he thinks he's talking to Alex, and
tells him to feel free.  Reeshau says he tried, and wound up talking to
Bart.  He is annoyed that Bart won't bring him home.  Bart can't figure
out why Alex is bothering him with this.  Reeshau eventually says he wants
to go where Bart is.  Bart says no one new comes there but him.  Reeshau
figures that's fine, since he's just returning to his home.  Bart says
Alex's home is in Chaos.  He asks Ariel to start working on a way to cut
the contact, but she can't, since Reeshau has a large source of power,
namely the Spikard on his finger.  Reeshau uses the Spikard to force his
way in to Discworld, and Bart winds up flat on his back.  He asks Ariel to
explain what happened.  She tells him that it's a combination of the fact
that Alex has a Spikard, and that he really does seem to belong there. 
Reeshau goes to his room and takes a nap.

	Bart obtains his sword from Tallefellow.  Next, he tries another
method of determining the cause of Meander's blindness, but fails, because
Meander is too real.  He resigns himself to actually talking to Meander,
who has finally finished singing.  Meander mentions that Bart and his
friends have been gone for a couple of months.  Bart eventually, in a
round-about way, asks what Meander knows of his parentage.  Bits and
pieces.  Bart reveals that one of Meander's parents was probably not from
the Disc.  He's been told that.  Bart says that Ariana is eager to cure
Meander's blindness, and Bart thinks he might be able to do it too, but
he's curious as to how Meander lost his sight.  Meander explains that he's
never had it.  It occurs to Bart that he probably can't cure him after
all.  Oh, well.  He asks how connected Meander is to this world.  Meander
thinks that now is not the time to leave, since things are coming to a
head with Cedric.  Given this, Bart figures that Meander is probably
better off remaining without his sight, rather than trying to adjust to
its return.  Meander agrees, and says he will let Bart know when he
changes his mind.

	Ariana tries to go to the Pattern room, and learns that you now
have to go through Oberon's quarters to get to it.  She decides against
this, and checks on the Pattern-like presence she sensed with her baby. 
She finds that it is noticeably stronger in Amber.  She returns to
Vetchways for lunch, and asks Riftvan about learning sorcery.  He goes
over some possible tutors, and asks who she'd like.  Not knowing any of
them, she asks who he'd recommend.  He suggests Suhuy.  Ariana likes the
idea, so he says he'll arrange it.  Suhuy apparently owes him a favor or
two.  Ariana offers to let the children listen to the baby, but only
Jalana is interested.  Morgan wants to know how the baby got in there,
though.  She tells him his father put it there.  How?  She'll explain when
he's older.  He's relieved to learn that this doesn't happen to men.

	Laughter gets Foster to come with her to look for wedding
presents.  She finds a place where they make fine daggers, and gets eight
sets of them.  You know, for Bleys, Deirdre, and future gifts.  Nothing
makes a better wedding gift than a dagger, after all.  Just in case you
change your mind later on.  Foster is in a good mood, and keeps humming
most of the time.  They return to Foil by late afternoon, and Laughter
Trumps Fiona.  She wants to discuss sorcery lessons.  Fiona figures she
has plenty of time on her hands, and arranges to instruct Laughter once a
week.  She's still on the honeymoon, so she'll contact Laughter later. 
Laughter asks how that's going.  Fiona isn't going to discuss that over
Trump.  Laughter is rather annoyed, since she was asking after *those*
sorts of details, and breaks the contact.  Not wanting to wait, she asks
Foster if he can teach her sorcery for now.  He offers to teach her how to
make a wall of thorns, but she doesn't like the idea of using living
trees.  Foster begins teaching her a spell bounce, instead.  He also
teaches her how to rack spells on Sequence.  Then Laughter practices her
shapeshifting.  She is able to grow claws, fangs, etc. now, which she
thinks is keen.  Ariana's kids are still better than she is, but Foster
wisely doesn't point this out.

	Ariana goes to Amber for her appointment with Bill Roth, and asks
if it's possible for her to adopt Shannon and Vincent, now that Sand is
dead.  He says it is, and sets the appropriate paperwork in motion.  She
asks him how she should go about setting up a fund for Kira, in case
something happens to her.  He says she'll have to set it up in Chaos,
since she is technically a Chaosite, and suggests that she talk to her
husband about it.  Ariana then speaks briefly with Random about Martin's
depression.  Random thinks he knows what this is about, but it's personal
in nature.  Ariana suggests that maybe he should talk to Martin.

	Alex wakes up in Discworld.  He eats breakfast, and is accosted by
Keimo, who is glad that he's back.  Alex glares at him.  Keimo realizes
that Alex is in control, and tries to bring Reeshau out, by mentioning
that the hat is crumpled.  Alex makes him reconsider this, by threatening
his life.  Keimo goes away, and Alex gates back to Amber, where he
receives his invitations to the weddings of Bleys, Delwin and Flora.

	Ahab, Corwin and Benedict gather to be transported to Deirdre's
wedding by the Hendrake representative.  They arrive in the Great Hall of
Hendrakeways, where Bart and Lyss are also present.  Bart has cast a spell
on himself so that the Hendrakes don't notice that he's an Jesby, seeing
as how they hunt Jesbys for sport, and all.  The architecture of
Hendrakeways is rather severe.  The guests are led to the Chapel of the
Serpent, where all of the House is in attendance.  The room still doesn't
seem very full.  Guess Usires and Ariana did a pretty good job of
decimating the House.  Rather than the traditional red, Deirdre is wearing
a black gown trimmed with leather, and carrying her sword.  Oberon escorts
her up to Luther Hendrake, who seems to find Deirdre's dress and dangerous
air exciting.  The ceremony begins, but is quickly interrupted, when a
crossbow quarrel flies right at Deirdre's back.  Without turning around,
she ducks at the last minute, and the quarrel impales itself in the bowels
of the unfortunate Priest of the Serpent.  Luther helps him remove the
quarrel, and suggests that they do the short version of the ceremony.  A
scuffling is heard on the balcony where the shot was fired from.  Bart is
so scared shitless, that he squeezes Lyss' hand too tight.  When he won't
let go, she slaps him.  Ahab glares at Bart when he sees this.

	The ceremony is quickly completed without further incident, and
roasted animals are brought out for the reception.  Benedict chats with
Deirdre, and says something that brings a smile to her face, but then
Oberon speaks with her, and the smile fades.  Corwin leaves with Oberon,
right after going through the receiving line.  Luther receives many toasts
to producing an heir.  The Hendrakes deal with the assassin at the
reception, in a rather sporting, painful manner.  Ahab explains to Deirdre
that his gift to her has been Oberon backing off from the abuse he's
heaped on her, and compensation for what she's lost.  Bart's gift to her
is the crystalline sword he obtained in Discworld.  It is fragile, except
when wielded by Deirdre in Hendrakeways, under which circumstances it and
she are unbeatable.  This gives the Hendrakes some pause.  Bart also
removes his cravat and gives it to Luther, thus baring his throat and
conceding defeat.  Whatever.  Ahab leaves the reception once the wine is
gone.

	Ariana finds Tamaryn in the Amber library, and asks how things are
going with Felix.  Tamaryn admits that Felix seems more comfortable around
her now.  They discuss how they are each adapting to their new
environments.  Ariana invites Tamaryn to visit her in Vetchways, whenever
she wants to.  Tamaryn mentions that she grew up there, so Ariana asks her
if the nursery's decor ever bothered her.  Tamaryn seems to think it
taught her valuable life lessons.  Ariana says Tamaryn sounds like her
father.  Tamaryn suggests that maybe he's right, this time.  Ariana thinks
the children are too young to grow up so soon.  She asks Tamaryn what it
was like to be in an arranged marriage.  Tamaryn says she was both nervous
and excited.  It never occurred to her that she might not like her
husband, since she likes almost everyone.  It does happen, of course, but
separate rooms and lovers are acceptable, provided you don't get caught. 
She asks why Ariana is interested.  Ariana claims that the many recent
arranged marriages have gotten her thinking about it.  Jalana observes
that Ariana is already married.  Ariana points out that her children
aren't.  Tamaryn admits that she knows about Caine and Jalana, and asks
how Ariana feels about it.  Ariana hesitates, then admits that she hates
it.  She can't stand the idea that Jalana will be condemned to grow up
knowing that she has to marry someone, whether she loves him or not. 
Tamaryn says Ariana is only looking at the negative, and that Jalana might
find it comforting, since it's reassurance that she won't be alone. 
Ariana points out that she didn't require marriage to avoid being alone. 
Tamaryn counters that Ariana's ways are not acceptable in Chaos, and,
because of her position, her actions will reflect on her family.  Ariana
knows this, but can't become something she's not.  Tamaryn points out that
Jalana will grow up in the Courts from now on, and will therefore follow
their ways.  Ariana finds this thought very depressing, and Trumps back to
Vetchways.

	Laughter Trumps Beauty, since she hasn't seen her or Shard for a
while.  Beauty answers from backstage at the theater.  Apparently they're
getting ready to practice "The Tempest."  Shard is playing Prospero,
Beauty is playing Miranda.  Laughter figures Beauty is safe with the
actors, and spends the night in Foil.

	Usires speeds up Rimmersgard again, and looks for Shadow-storm
flotsam.  He fails to find any, but realizes that he can't get Rimmersgard
going as fast as it was before.  He eventually slows Rimmersgard down
again, then returns to Amber and hangs out, waiting for Llewella's
wedding, which is the next day.

	Ariana asks Riftvan to set up the trust for Kira, which is easily
accomplished.  She also sends a notice to Fiona, asking to see her at her
earliest convenience.  She spends the rest of the evening just being
generally depressed.

	Ahab notices that Kimdyl looks rather thoughtful, and asks what's
on her mind.  She has to admit that, despite what's happened, it was worth
it.  Ahab decides to bring Nicholas along while he works on his
modifications to Morglyph.  Nicholas is more than happy to tag along,
since he's very interested in learning the rudiments of smithing.  He also
loves the Pattern teleport that Ahab uses to get to the smithy.  Ahab
spends all night working silver and cold iron into the metal of Morglyph. 
He asks Nicholas to keep the changes he's made their little secret, for
now.

	Morning in Foil.  Laughter asks Foster how to return to Discworld. 
He shows her how to create the spell that will teleport them there, but
they wind up in Trump contact with Bart, who out and out refuses to let
them in.  He won't say why, despite continued questioning by Laughter, and
eventually breaks the contact.  Annoyed by this, Laughter Trumps him, and
they argue back and forth for a while.  Bart refuses to even deliver a
message to Meander, arguing that he doesn't want to disturb the Disc's
inhabitants.  Laughter points out that they already did that when they
went after the Jewel, to no avail.  Even Lyss thinks Bart is being
incredibly rude, and tells him so, but he still won't budge.  Laughter
eventually gives up and breaks the contact.

	Lyss asks Bart to explain why he was so rude.  He tells her that
Laughter has proven herself capable of causing trouble in the Disc.  Lyss
thinks he could have been more politic.  She says he wasn't acting like
himself, and wants to know if he intends to speak to her that way as well. 
She's not real bright either, after all, and she finds that she has much
in common with Laughter.  She doesn't want him to be like that around her.

	Alex tries contacting Mebd with his Spikard, but this is blocked
and probed.  He decides to try the hard way, and goes to Mandorways.  He
asks to see Mebd, and is shown to a drawing room.  A servant notifies
Heather of his presence.  Heather inquires after Mandor, and learns that
he's in the laboratory.  She opts not to disturb him.  The servant
suggests that perhaps Alex will go away if he's allowed to speak to Mebd. 
Heather doesn't like this idea, but decides that it's up to Mebd.  Mebd is
informed of Alex's presence, and enters the drawing room 15 minutes later. 
She says it took Alex long enough to contact her.  He explains that he was
kind of a prisoner for a while, and invites her to his mother's wedding. 
Mebd is more than happy to accept, and insists on going shopping with him
for gifts.

	Ariana asks Riftvan what sort of gifts she should get for the
Chaosites in the weddings she's been invited to.  He tells her that gifts
aren't generally exchanged in Chaos.  She figures that makes sense, since
everything else in Chaos is emotionless.  He doesn't want to argue about
it.  She leaves to get the wedding gifts for her relatives.  Since she
still hasn't found the actual entrance to Vetchways, she has to Trump to
Amber, and ride out into Shadow from there.  She winds up choosing a
pretty dress with lots of flounces for Mirelle, a necklace and earrings
for Flora, and a bottle of the best wine she can find for Bleys.  She also
acquires a psi-stone.  All this takes a good part of the day to
accomplish.

	Random, Vialle, Driscoll, Eris, Martin, Usires, Arthur, Caine,
Bart and Lyss attend Llewella's wedding.  The ceremony is a rather tame
affair, but the music and food are, of course, exquisite, and there's a
lot of poetry.  Llewella is rather cool towards Barnabas, but he's doing
his best to ignore it.  The food consists primarily of hors d'oeuvres. 
Usires takes one look at these small bits of food with toothpicks stuck
through them, and takes an entire tray from one of the servants.  Bart
recites a poem about the happy couple being in love with each other, which
seems to have Llewella contemplating a retroactive abortion.  Usires
notices that Martin seems to be doing a little better, although he's still
walking a bit stiffly from his injury.  Usires also notices that Caine
seems to have brought his own supply of hard liquor.  Not liking the wine
that the Jesby's are serving, he asks if Martin can get him some of what
Caine brought.  Martin proceeds to spike the entire liquor supply, and the
Jesby's all get smashed.  It's not a pretty sight.

	Alex has a very nice picnic with Mebd.

	Felix works on his gift for Flora, which is a jewelry box.

	Ariana returns her horse to Amber, and decides to eat dinner
there.  Apparently the fact that she's there without her husband is
considered a bit scandalous by some.  Random is still stuck announcing
everyone as they enter, and definitely wishes he was elsewhere.  Most of
the dinner conversation is at a very high, subtle level, full of layered
and hidden meanings.  Ahab participates in this, just to show he can,
which Oberon notes.  Ariana just listens, to get an idea of what's
happening in Amber.  Felix discusses the navy with Caine.

	After dinner, Ariana asks Ahab if she can speak to him for a
moment.  They find a sitting room, and discuss what's been happening in
Amber and Chaos.  Ariana asks if Ahab has told Corwin about Meander.  He
hasn't, and thinks they should hold off until Corwin is done moping about
the Crown Prince job.  Ariana agrees, but thinks he must be told
eventually, since others know of Meander's existence.  She asks who will
get the job if Corwin refuses.  Ahab grins.  Ariana's eyes widen, and she
comments that she'd better stay on his good side.  He figures his power
had something to do with it.  She asks if this means they're going public
with his parentage.  He explains how Deirdre will now be considered his
aunt.  Ariana feels badly for Deirdre.  They discuss Ahab's plan to make
it up to her, and whether Oberon will be able to offer the compensation
that Ahab would like.  Ariana asks if Ahab knows about the compulsion
Arthur placed on Ariadne while he was inhabiting Ahab's body.  Nope.  He'd
be happy to remove it, if they can find her.  They decide to try Trumping
her, so Ariana leaves to borrow Driscoll's Trump of her, while Ahab goes
to explain what's going on to Kimdyl.

	Ariana finds Driscoll in his quarters with Eris.  She explains the
situation, and promises to return the Trump as soon as they are done.  She
also offers to assist Driscoll when he returns to Lazarus to try to speak
with his daughter there.

	Ariana and Ahab try Ariadne's Trump, but can't get through. 
Ariana is able to determine that it's blocked, somehow.  She figures that
Ariadne is probably close to Arthur, given her compulsion to guard him,
and Arthur is most likely in Rebma.  Ahab brings up Pattern, intending to
search Rebma for Ariadne with a lens.  He finds the presence of the Amber
and Rebman Patterns to be too blinding to do this easily, and tells Ariana
that this will take a while.  She asks him what he sees when he looks at
her with the lens.  He detects the presence of Pattern in her womb, and
shows this to her.  Then he begins searching Rebma with the lens, using a
very narrow focus.  After four hours, he eventually locates Ariadne, near
the throne room in Rebma.  She is hiding in a corner, lost in Shadow.  He
contacts her via the Pattern, and releases her from her compulsion.  Then
he explains what happened to her, and tells her where Lyss is.  She leaves
to find Lyss, while Ahab fills Ariana in.  They decide to call it a night. 
Ariana opts not to return the Trump to Driscoll, since it's two in the
morning.  She Trumps back to Vetchways and slips into bed.

	Ahab drags his tired ass off to bed, as well.  He and Kimdyl
proceed to engage in their usual form of foreplay, namely battering each
other.  Kimdyl is annoyed that she can't take the Logrus for a while, due
to her probable pregnancy.  Ahab figures this is just as well, since he
isn't eager to deal with her Logrus madness, despite her assurances that
there are professionals who can do that.

	Bart occupies himself in the morning with picking out a new suit
for Flora's wedding, his fourth in as many days.  No one feels much
sympathy for him.

	Ahab wakes up to the sounds of Kimdyl throwing up repeatedly, and
finds her some Alka-Seltzer.  Nicholas asks what's wrong with Kimdyl. 
Ahab explains that she's pregnant.  Nicholas figures he'll do his best as
the older brother.  That's the spirit.  Kimdyl eventually stops throwing
up by lunchtime.

	Felix asks Isabeux and Tamaryn's advice on what to wear to Flora's
wedding.  They make sure he's appropriately attired.  Isabeux turns away
while he dresses, but Tamaryn watches, something Isabeux makes a note. 
Felix eats lunch with the family.

	Ariana spars with Laughter in the morning, then returns Driscoll's
Trump of Ariadne to him.  She tells him how it went, and mentions that
she's ready for her next conjuration lesson, whenever he has time.  Then
she returns to Vetchways and considers what to wear to the wedding. 
Riftvan suggests a faerie-style gown, which appeals to her.  She tells him
that she's decided not to bring the children along.  He asks why, and
points out that it's not often that the children will have a chance to
witness a state wedding.  Ariana explains that the boys have no interest
in that sort of thing, plus Caine will most likely be there...  Riftvan
doesn't argue with her decision, but makes note of the reasons behind it.

	While Swiss Family Ahab are dressing for the wedding, Ahab hides a
strangling cord on Nicholas, in part to see if he'll notice.  Nicholas
doesn't quite catch it, but he touches the pocket and looks puzzled
shortly afterwards.

	Flora's wedding takes place at Redsky, which is about 3:00 in the
afternoon, and it is huge.  Everyone who's anyone is there.  Fiona seems
to be taking her marriage well, and even Llewella is attempting to put a
good face on things.  Kimdyl still looks quite ill.  Mirelle harasses
Ariana, by calling her Mercedes.  Naturally, Ahab makes a snide remark
about this.  Felix is quite dismayed to find that Irene is there.  Ahab
chats with Deirdre, who tells him that her new husband is passable in bed,
but his sense of humor irritates her.  Ahab observes Luther, and notices
that he doesn't act like your stereotypical Hendrake.  Ariana notices
Kimdyl's condition, and comments to Ahab that she supposes congratulations
are in order.  Much mingling ensues.  Riftvan introduces Ariana to Fenar
Borge, who seems rather seedy, and Suhuy, who is exceedingly
well-mannered.  He kisses her hand without actually touching it with his
lips, which means he recognizes her station.  Whatever.  Ariana finds Bart
and asks if he's spoken to Meander.  He tells her the results of the
conversation.

	The ceremony begins.  Flora is wearing a elegant, pale-blue dress,
that sets off her eyes.  Gramble looks like he thinks he's coming out of
this quite well.  The ceremony is performed by the High Priest of the
Serpent, followed by a seven-course meal.  Ahab, of course, gets the band
to play a tango.  Once Gramble and Flora join in, most of the Chaosites
deign to participate.  Kimdyl and Ahab do a gentle version, so she won't
lose her dinner.  Ariana and Riftvan opt for a more savage version.  Alex
even manages to teach the tango to Mebd.  Well, sort of.  Later on in the
evening, Felix dances with Irene, which is awkward, to say the least.  He
learns that she's been betrothed to Lord Chantris again, and she's not
particularly happy about it.  Felix feels much guilt.  Ahab notices this,
and tells several ladies that Felix is as eligible as it gets.  His dance
card is rather full for the rest of the evening.  Outside of Lyss, Bart
dances with Deirdre and Fiona.  Mirelle dances with many people, but is
very quiet when she dances with Fenar.  Ariana dances primarily with
Riftvan, although Driscoll takes her for a spin on the dance floor at one
point.  She speaks briefly with Arthur and Martin, and then dances with
Arthur as well.  While they are dancing, she tells him that Ahab has freed
Ariadne, so he might want to find a new bodyguard.  He hopes that Ahab
gives him time to set Rebma's affairs in order, before coming after him.
Ariana thinks that Ahab will be rather busy with other things in the near
future, but offers her assistance, if Ahab does attack him.  She spends
much of the evening watching Fenar and Caine.  She notes that Caine seems
to pick his allies carefully, but always appears to have Amber's interests
at heart.  Alex tries to convince Teresa to dance with Delwin, but she
wants no part of that death culture.  Ahab talks with Lyss in private,
about how he doesn't want to be her father figure anymore.


Quotables:

"The moral of the story is that if you don't know the rules of the Shadow,
don't go widening any assholes." -- Laughter to Nicholas

"Oh great, Usires is the Amelia Earhart of barbarianism." -- Jason to the
group at large

"I am a wizard, I am known to the Great World Turtle." -- Reeshau to Bart
and Ariel

"If I can learn regular sorcery, maybe I'll be a better daughter." --
Laughter to Fiona

"You know what I'm saying." -- Laughter
"Yes, unfortunately, I do." -- Fiona

"(Real magic) is basically the same concept (as faerie magic), just with a
different method and different results." -- Foster to Laughter

"I couldn't think of anything I could get you (for your wedding present)
that you couldn't have just killed someone and taken." -- Ahab to Deirdre

"If you ever want to learn how to really use that sword, you know who to
ask." -- Deirdre to Ahab
"Benedict." -- Sean

"You actually have some control over your body now." -- GM to Laughter
"Which means you're no longer wetting the bed." -- Sean

"I'm going to try to access the Disc." -- Laughter
"How are you going to do this?" -- GM
"I'm going to wake Foster up and ask him how to do it." -- Laughter

"Oh, I'd love to see (Bart) get vicious against Oberon!" -- Kris
"Short piece of entertainment." -- George

"Even with your endurance, you're beginning to feel the effects of this."
-- GM
"Oh, good." -- Ahab

"Who knows, someday you might get tired of Kimdyl." -- Ariadne
"I might get tired of living, too, it amounts to the same thing." -- Ahab

"Yes, I suppose you're only a sorceress, shapeshifter and assassin, I can
see how you would feel impotent." -- Ahab to Kimdyl

"You'll let me beat you up now, or no sex later." -- Kimdyl
"Can we combine the two?" -- Ahab

"You're going to have to try harder, my brother was better than you." --
Liam, speaking for Deirdre to Luther