Chapter Eighty-nine: "I'm beginning to think that killing a whole race of
people was easier than subduing a 14-year-old."

	Laughter tries to draw parallels for Beauty between Nicholas and
Foster.  Beauty points out that Laughter wound up marrying Foster.  OK,
maybe not that parallel.  Laughter was just trying to point out that you
can forgive people an awful lot.  Does Laughter still love Driscoll? 
Well, yes, but she loves Foster a lot more.  Beauty considers getting
revenge on Nicholas.  If it makes her feel better, but it will only make
Laughter angrier at Caolan.  Why?  Well, Laughter likes Nicholas.  She
felt badly for him when he was young and had no friends.  Beauty says she
just doesn't have the faith in him that she does.  He used to be a rather
nasty little boy, after all.  True, but he was just getting Ahab's
attention, and if anyone can raise someone morally, it's Ahab.  Whatever. 
Beauty would still feel better if Vivienne beat him up again.  But she'll
think about it later.  She does agree that they should set up a meeting
with Caolan, at some point.  Laughter figures she should rescue Foster
from Iseult, now.  Beauty smiles knowingly, and mentions that Caitt told
her stories about Laughter and her siblings when they were that age. 
Laughter is in denial, and doesn't see the connection.

	Usires checks the log on Gerard's ship, and notes that the first
mate signed out and returned 3-4 hours before the last entry.  He mentions
this to Caine, who starts checking the bodies.  They are being given a
burial at sea.

	Alex talks with Auberon.  He lives.  Damn.

	Ahab speaks with Brand and Bleys.  Bleys arrives first.  Ahab
fills him in.  He wants Bleys to check Gerard's ship out, but they have to
wait for Brand to arrive.  Other than the attack on Gerard, though, things
are fine.  Brand stumbles in ten minutes later, looking rather bleary.  Ah
yes, it's good to be king.  Ahab updates him.  He wants them to figure out
how Dara did it, make sure that the same thing can't happen in the castle,
and see how parties can be made secure in Shadow.  Bleys and Brand both
Trump Caine and go through.

	Pari knocks at Bart's quarters in Amber, very early in the
morning.  Bart answers the door with, "You're not Dara, are you?"  Uh, no. 
Pari says he thought Bart might have use of this, and hands Bart an
amulet.  He warns Bart to pay close attention to it, for it will help
clarify certain events for him in the future.  Bart looks confused.  Pari
explains that there are rules that he is bound by in delivering this
amulet to Bart.  Bart should note that the stone is clear.  It will not
always be so.  Pari leaves.  Bart studies the amulet.  It's a big, silver
medallion, with a clear stone in the center that shows on both sides.  It
has Celtic knot work on both sides, forming a unicorn and a serpent.  He
shows it to Lyss.  She's miffed that Pari gave something to Bart and not
her, and pulls it closer to examine it.  Bart finds this a tad
uncomfortable, since it's still around his neck.  Urk.  Lyss decides that
it's too big and drops it.  Bart figures that since she's already up... 
They engage in their usual pursuits.  In the middle of this, Lyss decides
to mention that Ahab wants to send her after Dara.  Bart wilts.  Oops. 
Why did she tell him this now?  Well, because she thought of it now.  Bart
uses shapeshifting to fake it for a while.

	Ariana spars with Nicholas, who is still upset about the whole
Beauty mess.  Then she seeks out Bart, who Lyss has managed to wear out. 
She asks for a quick favor.  Bart smiles.  No, not that kind of favor. 
She asks if he can put her in touch with Looks Twice, since Meander
recommended him as an instructor.  When?  Whenever it's convenient.  Bart
asks her to return in half an hour.

	Ahab has the day's Pattern lesson with Nimue, and rushes things
along.  Nimue notices this, and, at the end of the lesson, asks what's
going on.  Like Ahab's going to tell her.  She mentions that Jordan
slipped her his Trump while she was in Chaos.  She figures he's a useful
tool, as long as he wants the Pattern.  It's his mother that Ahab is
concerned about.  He explains a bit of their past history, and how they
try to stay out of each other's way now.

	Usires' first mate misses his morning check-in with Felix, so
Felix Trumps Usires.  Usires sees Felix and briefly hides his head in his
hands.  Felix asks if there's a problem.  Well, yeah, his father is
missing.  Felix cuts the contact, then realizes this was stupid and
contacts Usires again.  Usires pulls him through.  Felix arrives just as
another body is dumped over the side.  It looks like the attack took place
within a day, since nothing's started to stink yet.  Caine, Bleys and
Brand emerge from the hold.  Felix asks Caine why he didn't tell him that
his father is missing.  Because he didn't have enough information to do
anything but worry Felix.  Felix asks how it happened.  Logrus.  The
bodies of Gerard and his first mate are missing.  They weren't due back in
Amber for another week or so, so it's up to Felix how soon he wants to
worry his mother.  The ships will be hard to hide, of course.  Felix asks
why the Logrus would do this.  Well, Dara was doubtless controlling the
Logrus in question.  Duh.  Since there's nothing Felix can do, he heads
home.

	Ariana finds Bart at the appointed time.  He arranges to contact
her in four hours, and sends her to the Disc.  Lyss begins packing things
up.  She has to look for Dara, after all.  Isn't he coming with her?  His
eyes get wide.  What use will he be?  She says he can be a bodyguard. 
Bart begins laughing and falls over on the bed.  Lyss is not amused.  He
claims he has no qualifications.  Right, Mr. Pattern sorcerer.  Bart
argues that he doesn't do offensive spells.  True, but bodyguarding is
defensive.  Bart gives in to the inevitable.  They decide to leave the
kids with Llewella, so Bart Trumps her, brings her through, and explains. 
Sort of.  She sighs and tells him pack the children up.  Right away.  The
children and Llewella depart.

	Felix Trumps Foster and goes through.  Foster sees his expression
and pours him some port.  Then he remembers that Felix is trying not to
drink, so he drinks it himself.  Felix explains what happened to Gerard. 
While Foster is digesting this, Felix visits the new baby.  Iseult is
crying quite furiously, and Laughter is only too happy to hand her to
Felix.  Iseult stops crying due to this change, and Haris is most
surprised to see her quiet.  Laughter notices that something is bothering
Felix.  Foster explains what happened, and wonders who Dara's going to
grab next.  Felix figures it will be one of them, the people who can't
defend against the Logrus.  Laughter looks at the children, and asks where
the safest place is to be.  Foster figures Amber.  Felix wants them to
wait a bit before moving there, since he doesn't want to alarm his mother,
seeing as how she doesn't know about Gerard's disappearance, yet.  Foster
suggests that they can just say they're bringing Iseult to see her.  He
and Laughter discuss finding a house in Amber.  Felix hands Iseult back to
Foster.  Laughter then hands Haris to Felix and goes looking for Beauty.

	Ariana appears outside of Tallefellow's.  Looks Twice is not in
the stable, and the stableboy hasn't seen him for a while.  She goes down
to the dining room and finds Hickory there, so she says hello and explains
that she's looking for Looks Twice.  Hickory hasn't seen him for a while,
but Erryn might be able to help her find him.  Erryn is delighted to see
her, and asks where her friend went.  Which one?  The tall, serious one. 
Oh, her husband.  He's elsewhere.  She explains that she's looking for
Looks Twice, so he escorts her outside and asks what she offers in return
for his assistance.  She asks what he wants.  He could think of several
things that would get him slapped, but he'll settle for getting his bar
tab settled.  Ariana conjures some coins and dumps them in his lap.  He
gathers them up and decides that should cover it.  He uses a spell very
similar to Laughter's talking bones spell to contact Looks Twice, talks
with him briefly, then opens a glowing portal for Ariana to step through. 
She finds Looks Twice in a camp with a bunch of other centaurs.  She
explains that Meander recommended him as an instructor in teaching her
healing that uses magic.  He's surprised that she can use another kind. 
What does she offer in return?  Well, she can show him how her magic
works, but she's not sure he can learn it.  She asks what he needs.  He
explains that, by their custom, she has to make the offer.  She doesn't
really know what they might need.  He suggests that she take a walk around
the camp and think about it.  She does so, and observes that the centaurs'
culture is very much like the Native Americans on Shadow Earth.  She
conjures many items that they seem to be in need of, and offers these to
Looks Twice in exchange for his instruction.  He agrees to teach her, and
begins her first lesson, going over the uses of various plants in magic.

	Laughter tells Beauty that they're going to Amber.  Beauty
refuses.  She doesn't think Dara cares about her, she doesn't think Amber
will be safe, and she doesn't want to run into Nicholas there.  Laughter
futilely attempts to convince her otherwise.  Beauty wants to go to
Suhuyways.  Nope, he'll be a target for Dara.  Beauty admits that she'd be
safe from Dara in Amber, but not other things.  Laughter argues that
she'll be safe from being dead, which is the important thing.  She is
carrying the child of the Crown Prince, after all.  Beauty doesn't want to
talk about it.  They glare at each other for a while.

	Foster decides that Laughter and Beauty have been quiet up there
for too long, and talks Felix into checking this out.  Felix foolishly
agrees.  He walks in during their staring contest.  Er.  Felix mentions
that he and Foster were concerned.  Beauty turns her back on him and
Laughter.  Felix walks over to her, while Laughter leaves the room and
beheads a banister with Sequence.  Beauty tells Felix that Laughter always
wants to have her way in everything.  Laughter drove Shard away, does she
want to drive *all* of Beauty's happiness away?  Laughter overhears this,
and shouts back that Beauty can have Shard if it will save her life.  Then
bring him to Foil.  Nope, she has to go to Amber to get him.  Beauty tries
to run out of the room, but Felix blocks her path.  She begins to scream
and hit him.  Felix says he's worried about her safety too, and he's not
related, so it's not just her mom being controlling.  Beauty throws
herself on the bed and sobs.

	Laughter reenters the room, closes the curtains, and tries to
Trump Shard, but he doesn't answer.  Felix tries to reassure Beauty that
she will only be in Amber for a little while.  She tells him he doesn't
understand, no one understands.  Ah, yes, the teenage battle cry.  Felix
says he doesn't think that she wants to compare angst, here.  She wants
him to convince Laughter to let her stay.  Felix points out that Dara's
already stolen his father, and Beauty means a lot to Laughter, so Dara
will try to use her as a pawn.  Beauty says that's a role that she's used
to playing.  Felix points out that Shard's in Amber.  She just doesn't
want to go to Amber.  Nicholas would hear that Foster and Laughter had
returned, and assume she came with him.  Laughter interrupts and says that
Nicholas doesn't want to see Beauty, anyway.  Beauty says she won't go to
Amber now, just because Laugher wants her to.  Fine, they're going to see
the King of Dexter, then.  Laughter wants him to see what he's done to
Beauty.  Beauty backs into a corner and summons Source to her, still
insisting that she won't go to Amber.  Fine.  If she wants Chaos, she can
stay at Suhuyways, or Mandorways.  Or with the Vetches, assuming Ariana
has any spare time between her four children and the coming one.  Beauty
may have to help baby-sit.  Of course, all of those places contain people
who are targets.  So, she can stay in Foil, if she insists.  It's not
Laughter's fault if she dies.  Beauty cries again.  Laughter tries to pick
her up.  She grabs Source.  Laughter has Sequence disarm her and tries to
get Felix to pick her up.  Beauty begs him not to.  Felix looks
uncomfortable.  Laughter says she's sorry that she got him involved, and
he can leave.  Felix hurriedly does this thing.  Source and Sequence
continue to fight.

	Laughter asks Beauty if she'd rather be teleported to Amber or
taken bodily.  Beauty says she'll fight her.  Sequence asks with what? 
Beauty calls it a worthless hunk of metal, causing Sequence to pause and
sulk, which allows Source to return to her.  Laughter Trumps Ahab.  Beauty
tries to knock the Trump out of her hand with Source, causing Sequence to
knock Source out of her hand by rapping her hard across the knuckles. 
Ouch!

	Laughter reaches Ahab as he's finishing talking to Eric and
Deirdre about recent developments.  Laughter asks him to come through to
settle a domestic dispute.  He does so, along with his guards, who eye the
sparring swords nervously.  Laughter calls Sequence off, and Source
returns to Beauty.  Beauty is unhappy about this turn of events.  Ahab
offers her the chance to talk alone.  Oh, yes.  Laughter takes Lander and
the guards downstairs for food and fighting talk.  Ahab stares at Beauty,
who's hanging her head and hugging a pillow on her lap.  Ahab points out
that there really isn't any protection from Dara in Foil.  She nods.  So
what's the problem?  She just didn't want to go.  She won't say why unless
he commands her to.  Ahab sees two roads ahead of her: she tells him
what's wrong, and they see what they can do to keep her safe, or he knocks
her unconscious and takes her to Amber.  Why use his kingly authority when
he's bigger than she is?  She sobs for a couple of minutes before she
whispers that she's pregnant.  Ahab hides a frown and says he'd guessed. 
She cries on his shoulder for about ten more minutes.  When she stops, she
points out that she spent three months in Rath with Laughter, and she'll
be showing soon, so she really doesn't want to go to Amber.  Ahab figures
that Nicholas knows anyway, and he can tell him to stay away from her. 
So, is she willing to go to Amber?  Yes.

	Caine brings the ships back to Amber, and docks them in a
sheltered cove outside of the main harbor, where they can't be seen by the
populace.  Usires asks if he's going to look into where the first mate
went.  Yep, and he wants Usires to come with him, to watch his back.  They
Hellride out from Amber, eventually coming across the body of the first
mate, who was a noble's son.  He's been dead for a while, too long to
easily identify the cause of death.  Caine thinks Dara got to Gerard by
killing the first mate, assuming his form, then taking Gerard over by
psychic contact.  Why did the first mate leave the ship in the first
place?  Good question.  Caine sends Usires out for a plastic bag and a
shovel.  When he returns, they shovel the remains into the bag.  Caine is
looking forward to dumping this on the red-heads and telling them to
figure out what happened.  It's been a while since he made Brand throw up. 
Apparently, Brand got beat up a lot as a kid.  They begin the return trip. 
Once they reach the edge of Amber, Caine pulls out a Trump, brings Bleys
through, and dumps the body on him.  Bleys goes "oogh."  Caine explains
where they found the body, and says to be sure to have Brand take a look
at it.  Bleys leaves with the body, while Caine and Usires head for a bar
in the rougher section of town.  Caine does a lot of drinking and
thinking.  After he gets a few drinks into him, he asks how Usires
stumbled across that mess.  Random patrol.  Nice try, but Caine isn't
buying it.  OK, he had some business to do.  Business that he used one of
the ships in the royal fleet for?  Was he born stupid, or did he have to
learn it?  Usires asks who's fault that is.  His mother's, obviously. 
Don't do that again.  If he's got to go to sea, find a boat in Shadow.

	Beauty says that she's not sure whether she wants to see Nicholas
or not, while she's like this.  She supposes that, if she has a boy, she's
under a certain obligation.  Ahab figures Nicholas will want contact with
his child either way.  Would it help if she knew him better?  She doesn't
know.  Ahab points out that this wasn't what Nicholas wanted.  He's been
horribly depressed because he thinks this ruined his chances with her. 
Beauty can't understand why he's interested in her.  Surely he had other
women in Shadow?  Ahab smiles.  Beauty thinks that's unnatural.  What if
he gets her and finds that he doesn't like her?  It's a lot of pressure. 
Ahab says that Nicholas has never been the sort to give up chasing what he
wants.  What will he think about her pregnancy?  Well, if she holds it
against him, he'll probably go off and hide somewhere.  If they try to
raise the child together, he'll treat her as she wants to be treated.  She
points out that she is to be Queen in Foil, and if she's in Amber, Foil
won't have a ruler.  Besides, it isn't fair to him to reject him.  Ahab
disagrees.  Shit happens.  If she doesn't want Nicholas, she doesn't want
him.  Some people aren't meant to be together.  Beauty just wants to take
things slow, right now.  Ahab relays a comforting story about Nicholas to
reassure her.  He also explains his mistaken attempt to instill Nicholas
with some ruthlessness when he was small, and the unexpected results. 
He's grown up quite well, so don't judge him by when he was a boy.  Beauty
asks if he could just spirit her to Amber without telling Laughter.  He's
willing, if she leaves a note.  No, she thinks she's made Laughter mad
enough as it is.  Smart girl.

	Beauty comes downstairs on Ahab's arm.  Ahab hugs Laughter and
says that she has a wonderful daughter, then Trumps the hell out with his
guards.  Laughter stares after the rainbow image for a while.  Beauty
squeezes out a tear and says that she's sorry.  Laughter hugs her and says
that a mother's job is not to hold a grudge.  She asks if Beauty will be
more reasonable, now that she knows Laugher will call Ahab in.  Well, yes. 
Beauty suggests that they stay in the castle in Amber, it being the safest
place from Dara.  Laughter is glad to hear this.  She's even happier to
hear that Beauty's going to give Nicholas another chance, but she still
wants revenge on him at some point.  Like mother, like daughter.

	Bart contacts Ariana after four hours, and asks if things are
going well.  She says they are, and asks if he can delay her return until
evening.  He can.  She also mentions that she will need to return in the
future, since her training will take a week.  Bart says that he's thinking
of returning to the Disc when the trouble with Dara is over, so maybe he
can arrange something then.

	Alex arrives in the main hall of Amber with a one-horned,
unconscious Mebd.  The pages choose not to comment.  They've doubtless
seen stranger things.  Alex takes Mebd to his quarters and puts her to
bed.  She is snoring loudly.  He rolls her onto her side at the edge of
the bed, in case she throws up, and sets up his candle spell for his room. 
The Pattern candle keeps going out.  This doesn't make him as uneasy as it
used to, but his hand aches.  He notices that there are a larger number of
guards around than usual.  He does some investigation of his Spikard, and
determines that it's being tapped at an almost continual level.  It seems
to be the nature of the ring.  He tries to determine where the energy is
going, and notes that is seems to be powering some ambient magic.

	Swiss Family Laughter arrives in Amber.  Laughter arranges a
separate room in the castle for Beauty.  The two of them seem to be
getting along much better now, which confuses Foster to no end.  Beauty
apologizes to Sequence for hurting its feelings.

	Bart spends the day listening to people talk strategy in the
Courts of Chaos.  After four hours, he contacts Ariana, who asks him to
delay her return until the evening.  He agrees to do so.

	Alex contacts Teresa and asks how her quest is going.  She comes
through and says that she's found someone who can meet his needs.  But
first, payment.  He offers to discuss it over tea.  What is she interested
in?  Power.  Be more specific.  She wants to know what he's up to, and the
maiming of his ring.  Whatever did he do to fuse it to his hand?  Walk the
Pattern?  Er...  She thinks he's an idiot, and asks if he's aware of what
he's done.  He figures it was a calculated risk.  She tells him that
removing his hand at the wrist would save him much trouble, at the end. 
He'll worry about it.  Well, if he ever goes completely insane, she'll lop
it off to save him.  Which Pattern did he walk?  Not the boring one.  So
he's playing with the Faeries?  Reeshau briefly cringes at this.  Teresa
observes this, and figures the multiple people now inhabiting his body
explains the increased depth that she sees behind his eyes.  She warns
that the Faeries are kind of dangerous.  He figures he'd rather be on the
more dangerous side.  So he's sold himself out to them?  Not precisely. 
More like a lease.  She's not sure even she wants to be involved with that
sort of power.  On the other hand, she can't mess him up more than he
already has.  She does have a Trump artist for him, who'll be more
cooperative than Heather would have been.  He'd like to meet them, but
there is the difficulty of traveling with Dara around.  Ah, yes.  She
tells him to let her know when he's ready to be introduced.  Does she want
to stick around?  Nah, she'd rather not be hanging around the place that's
going to blow up.

	Ahab lets the Navy know about the incident, then puts them in
charge of finding a better place to put Gerard's ships.  He also picks a
few out of the way shipyards and nationalizes them for the military.

	Ahab tells Nicholas that Laughter's family is moving back to
Amber, because of the danger from Dara.  Beauty still hasn't made up her
mind about him, yet, so he'll just have to make it up for her.  Does Ahab
know if she's pregnant?  She is.  Nicholas sits down and is quiet for a
while.  So, what would Ahab think of having Beauty as a daughter-in-law? 
Like his opinion matters.  Nicholas figures he'll give her some time to
settle in before approaching her.  Ahab warns him that Nimue will be
walking the Pattern tomorrow.

	Bart transports Ariana back to Amber in the evening.  She runs
into Shard, and asks how he's doing.  He still seems rather sad, so she
gives him a hug.  This turns out to be a mistake.  Their close proximity
to each other causes the desire they feel to increase to an unbearable
level, and they are overwhelmed.  Shard brings her to a cottage he keeps
in Arden and sleeps with her.  While they are having sex, he bites her
inner thigh and begins sucking blood from her, but stops when he's drained
her to the point where her ring begins to warn her that she's in danger. 
They are able to break out of it soon afterwards, and both of them are
upset about what happened.  Ariana is very dizzy from the blood loss, and
her bite wound throbs in time with her heartbeat.  She asks why this
happened.  Shard thinks it was caused by the piece of her soul that he
possesses wanting to be close to her.  He admits that now that he's tasted
her, he wants more.  He also thinks that the desire they feel for each
other will never fade, now that he has blood to match the soul.  However,
he may have more control over it, once he gets older.  Unlike Ariana, who
only feels the attraction when she sees him, he apparently feels it all
the time.  He is glad, though, since he'd be utterly empty without it.  He
tells her he would do almost anything for her.  She gets up to leave, and
meets his eyes for a moment, causing her to almost be overwhelmed again. 
She is able to resist only by closing her eyes and fighting the feeling
for all she's worth.  When she opens her eyes again, Shard is gone.  She
Trumps back to Vetchways, locks herself in her bedroom, and cries herself
to sleep.


Quotables:

"Dara attacked, killed all of Gerard's men, and took off with Gerard. 
Presumably he wasn't willing." -- Ahab to Brand

"I go pick up my good child." -- Laughter to GM

"Ahab doesn't think he's the king of Amber, he thinks he's the sheriff of
Amber." -- Mer to GM

"You've said time and time again that I'm an adult, and I can make my own
decisions." -- Beauty
"Not when they're the wrong ones!" -- Laughter

"I try to arrange my cloak so that she doesn't cry on the chainmail.  I'm
so sensitive, I could die." -- Ahab to GM
"He's the Alan Alda of Amber." -- Mer

"I'm beginning to think that killing a whole race of people was easier
than subduing a 14-year-old." -- Laughter to GM

"What happened to my perfect Celtic existence?" -- Laughter
"What perfect existence?" -- Sean
"I killed people, I took their heads, I put them over my doorframe.  It
was a perfect existence." -- Laughter

"(Teresa's) not stupid, like the rest of us.  She's an NPC." -- Jason to
the group at large