Chapter Ninety-three: "As long as I'm not dead, I must be doing OK."

	Bart Trumps back to Amber, is grabbed by the guards, and dragged
out of the castle.  Why?  King's orders.  He shifts to Bacchante and goes
back in again.  Random intercepts her at the audience chamber, and
suggests that it might be better for her health if she didn't see Ahab. 
Why?  He's a bit peeved.  Oberon's been killed, the Jewel's been stolen,
and his people are being disobedient.  So Bart's not welcome in the castle
anymore?  Nope.  Bacchante leaves without relaying her information.

	Random informs Ahab of this.  Ahab figures Lyss can drag the
information out of Bart, then.  He Trumps Lyss and asks if Bart told her
what he was going to say.  No.  He asks her to tell him if Bart does. 
Lyss points out that they did win, after all.

	Ariana tells Usires that his ax blade is not Takaran, and asks how
he found Miranda.  He just saw her work.  No one recommended her to him. 
What did she require of him?  100 pounds of a certain metal.  How did he
find it?  She gave him a sample.  Ariana asks to see the sample.  He'll
get it to her.  She suggests not killing Miranda right away, since she was
probably mind-controlled by Dara.  He agrees.

	Laughter Trumps Usires and rejoins the others.  Foster Trumps her
and comes through from Rath.  Ariana Trumps back to Vetchways.  Felix
gives Gerard his Trump deck back.  Gerard pulls out a place Trump, and
brings the ships through just outside of Amber harbor.  Then he Trumps
Ahab and asks what to do with this new fleet.  Bring them into harbor, for
now.  Ahab wants to sit down and go over patrols.  Gerard figures it would
be better if he was himself when talking to his troops.  Ahab's working on
that.

	Ahab calls his source to see if Lady Reyne is available.  The
Trump doesn't animate.  Ahab Trumps Bleys next, who has a "damn" look on
his face.  What's going on?  Well, he had anticipated having the evening
off.  It was an awful lot of trouble, deprogramming Dara's spies.  Ahab
tells him not to stray too far.  Bleys gives Ahab the notes he took while
doing the deprogramming.

	Laughter asks Felix if he's going to the castle.  Not until he's
sent for.  Laughter and Foster return to the castle, where Laughter
notices the increased guards, but doesn't investigate.  They call it an
early night.  Foster is very amused by the memory of Laughter sliding down
the hill and pitching into the water.

	Felix remains on the boat with Gerard, who's busy getting Ivan's
crew into line.

	Ahab double-checks the castle security arrangements with Ariadne. 
She tells him that everything is good, Eric just got outmaneuvered. 
Deirdre reports that the guards were all tampered with.  From the image
she got from their minds, the assassin was wearing a ninja suit, and was
tall and thin.  It could have been Benedict.  Ahab learns that Delwin was
also killed at this point.  He gets in touch with Driscoll and asks for a
report on how things are going in Chaos.  He also hands through a report
on Amber's progress.  Driscoll says he'll work on it.  Ahab tells Bill
that the urgency has increased, so Bill gives him what notes he has so
far.

	Usires goes back to his ship, and finds his first mate has things
under control.  Good man.

	Bart broods for a while in the water.  He eventually gets Trumped
by Lyss, who looks concerned.  She tells him that everyone's back in
Amber, and she knows about his run-in with Ahab.  He blows her a kiss, and
she breaks the contact.  He goes to Llewella's place in Rebma.  She's
gone, although Florian's there.  Bart MCIs Llewella, but finds that she's
being magically blocked.  Bart explains the situation to Florian, who says
that having the King mad at you is a bad thing.  Bart isn't worried, since
he figures Ahab's crown is crumbling around him.  Florian points out that
Rebma is a reflection of Amber, so he'd better hope that's not the case. 
Florian could try finding Llewella with the Logrus, but that could take
months.  Bart decides to take a walk.  Florian offers to come along.  Bart
plans to walk the Pattern, but Florian can Trump him when he reaches the
center.  First Bart has to rack 12 spells, though.  This could take a
while.

	Ariana discovers that Mirelle is missing, and can't find her in
the Ways.  No luck finding a Takaran blade, either.  She finds a servant
who saw Mirelle leave, and determines that she shifted Shadow, following a
rather meandering path.  She Trumps to Amber, and notices the extra
guards.  She inquires as to why they are there, and page tells her that
the King's been killed.  Gack!  The page adds that he was referring to
Oberon.  Ariana looks a bit relieved, and asks how it happened.  He was
killed with a sword, but that's all the page knows.  Ariana checks the
infirmary, and finds Meander sleeping.  Nicholas and Beauty are gone, as
are the surviving pages, who have gone home.  She writes a note for Ahab,
explaining that Mirelle has gone off into Shadow, and asking what she
should do about it.  She gives this to Random, who looks like he hates his
job.  Ahab swears when he reads it, and tells Random to have Ariana do
nothing.  He also draws up orders telling people to stick around the
castle, and not share information.  Ariana goes into Amber city, and asks
if Kira's heard of Miranda.  Nope.  She finds Usires at the port, and gets
the metal sample from him, then returns to Vetchways and studies it.  It's
high grade metal, and wouldn't need much working to forge, but there
doesn't seem to be anything unusual about it.

	Ahab gets a Trump call at 1 a.m. from Fiona.  She is bloodied and
says she needs him now.  He grabs his sword and armor, and asks how he
knows this isn't a trap.  He suddenly appears next to her, and sees Suhuy
and Dara engaged in some sort of Logrus battle, while Fiona is holding off
about 20 men with magic.  She asks him to take care of Dara.  He puts on
his undies and armor first, then draws Morglyph and slices at Dara.  That
wasn't what Fiona meant.  Ahab connects, but Dara slows him down with
Logrus, so he didn't hurt her nearly as much as he wanted to.  This does
distract her a bit, though, and she emits a bloodcurdling scream as Suhuy
takes advantage of this.  Ahab proceeds to hamstring her.  She gives
another bloodcurdling yell, and falls to her knees.  Ahab decapitates her,
then lays into the guards.  They flame nicely when they come into contact
with Morglyph.  Ahab sees a tall, thin, dark shape to his left move very
quickly.  It cartwheels over to Dara's corpse, sticks something in it, and
cartwheels off.  Ahab brings up Pattern to track the person, then Fiona
yells to get down and there's a large explosion.  Ahab is unable to find
the person when he brings up Pattern again.  Suhuy scoops the remainder of
the guards up with the Logrus, and smashes them to the ground.  Ahab,
Suhuy and Fiona all Trump back to the Great Hall.  Fiona has a lot of fine
cuts all over her body, and has lost a lot of blood.  Suhuy is also a bit
wobbly.  Ahab has Fiona brought to the infirmary, then uses the Pattern to
contact Gerard.  Gerard Trumps to the main hall, then hurries up to the
infirmary and begins stitching Fiona up.  Ahab returns to Kimdyl, and they
pick up where they left off.

	Ariana is woken up in the middle of the night by someone slipping
into bed with her.  It's Riftvan.  She hugs him tightly, then asks if
Dara's dead.  Yes, but he'll talk about that in the morning.  He has other
things on his mind.  She let's him know that he was missed.

	Laughter wakes up early, deposits the kids in bed with Foster,
then prepares to leave for Rath.  She finds Ahab's note requesting that
she stay in Amber, and goes to Ahab's office.  He's not there, but a
secretary is.  Laughter asks the secretary how you supervise an army from
Amber, then makes an appointment to see Ahab.  She takes the kids to
breakfast.  Foster sleeps in.

	Felix stays on the boat.

	Usires gets up, and finds that he's not to leave Amber.  He will,
however, be patrolling the seas around Amber.

	Bart continues to rack his spells.

	Ariana wakes up, finds that Riftvan is still asleep, and decides
to stay in bed for a while.

	Ahab goes down to breakfast at eight, and finds Laughter and
Nicholas still there.  Laughter shows him his note and asks how she's
supposed to check on her army.  Does she need to check on it regularly? 
Well, she'd like to slow the Shadow down, at least.  He tells her to Trump
in, slow it down, and Trump out.  Foster walks in with bed hair.  Laughter
mocks this, then hands him the kids, saying she doesn't want to take them
someplace dangerous.  Foster wakes up more upon hearing this.  Ahab scans
Rath for Logrus and Pattern, then tells her to go through.  Laughter goes
through and slows it down such that only a day passes there for every year
in Amber, then returns.

	A page delivers a message to Ahab.  He is Trumped while he is
reading it.  It's Rinaldo.  He suggests Ahab come up to Brand's room and
take a look at something.  Ahab does so.  He finds the door standing open,
and a lot of blood on the floor, but no body.  Ahab is not pleased.  There
is Trump energy in the room, from someone leaving, not arriving.  More
than the usual amount, as if they didn't need a Trump.  Ahab asks who
could do that.  Brand, Fiona, Heather, and doubtless others in Chaos.

	Ahab goes up to the infirmary and learns that Fiona and Suhuy have
retired to their quarters.  He goes there and asks to see Fiona.  She's
sleeping.  Ahab says things are disintegrating, and he's going to do
something aggressive.  He suggests that Suhuy rest, and they'll do lunch
in private.

	Ahab goes looking for Bleys, to make sure that he's still alive. 
A bleary Viktoria answers the door, and says that Bleys is sleeping.  Ahab
tells her to inform Bleys that he's to attend a private luncheon in
Fiona's quarters this afternoon.

	Ahab interrogates the guards near Brand's quarters, but they heard
nothing.  The window in Brand's room doesn't look like it was forced. 
Pattern lens reveals the Trump energy in the room, and it is very potent.

	Random delivers a note to Ahab, and says that he has some
appointments.  The first one is with Princess Flavia.  He's five minutes
late for that, actually.  Ahab hurries to his office.  Flavia smiles and
bows.  She tells him that the patrols he asked her and Julian to establish
are set and in working order, as he requested.  Ahab tells her to check in
twice a day, since people have been going missing with distressing
frequency.

	Random enters the office, and tells Ahab that Pari seems to be
keeping a vigil over Oberon's corpse.  No one saw how he got in there,
which disturbs Random.  Ahab goes down there, and finds Pari with a sad
expression on his face.  He says he didn't see this one coming.  Or
rather, he hadn't thought it would get this far.  It was rather
vindictive.  Ahab points out that Oberon gave the Logrus a hard time over
the years.  He's annoyed at the number of people that have gone missing. 
Who, besides Benedict?  Ahab is surprised that Pari doesn't know, and
reveals that Brand is missing.  Pari tells him that Brand still lives. 
Ahab is also annoyed about the rock being missing.  Pari says it's too
late for that.  It's not easily retrievable.  It might take Pari's help to
get it, but things could go very badly if he failed.  Isn't the Logrus
taking someone over against some rule?  Well, there is a penalty that can
be enacted to restore the balance.  And that is?  Pari will only say that
possession isn't the Unicorn's style.  What are the rules?  Well, the
Serpent has broken a major rule, so the Unicorn is free to do something
similar, but it would be bad if she was caught.  Does this mean Pari's
butt would be on the line if she was caught?  Yes.  Would the Serpent's
tail be on the line in a similar fashion?  Not anymore, since Ahab killed
the real Dara.  Ahab wants to get the Jewel back today.  Pari thinks
that's unlikely, and comments that the Serpent is seeing much better these
days.  Any suggestions on getting it back?  It involved quite a bit of
trickery the last time.  According to tradition, there's another source
that played a large part in it the last time.  Ahab wouldn't happen to be
in good standing with the Faeries?  Ahab asks what happens if the Serpent
keeps both eyes.  It has more power.  Ahab says he hates Faeries more than
Chaosites, so maybe he and Gramble can unify the two kingdoms and use them
against the Faeries.  Pari disagrees.  He points out that the Chaosites
hate the Faeries more than anyone, but the Faeries are Amber's allies of
old.  Pari admits that the Jewel was lost through inaction, and he'll look
into how best to retrieve it.

	Ahab summons Felix for a 2 p.m. meeting.  Random tells him that
Felix isn't in the castle, and he can't reach him.  Ahab says he'll take
care of it.  He Pattern lenses to Felix, but can't contact him, because
Felix is wearing his pin.  He contacts Gerard instead, and relays the
meeting information.  He also says he's still working on the shapeshifting
thing.  Gerard relays all this to Felix, whose face falls.  He asks if
Gerard knows any shapeshifters.  Uh, no.  He wishes Felix luck.

	Laughter works on her skills for a while, then goes looking for
Caitt and Beauty.  Knocking on their door brings no response, so she
Trumps Beauty.  It doesn't go through.  She tries Caitt's card, with the
same results.  She Trumps Nicholas and tells him that Beauty is missing. 
He asks if she checked the room.  She knocked.  He tells her to check it
out, and he'll be right there.  Laughter kicks the door in.  The first
room is empty.  In the bedroom, Beauty is sound asleep, but Caitt is
missing.  All of the sheets are in the center of the bed, as if they were
pulled there.  Laughter shakes Beauty, to no avail.  Nicholas walks in at
this point.  Laughter determines that Beauty is under a Faerie sleep spell
and dispels it.  Beauty looks confused, and asks what's going on. 
Laughter checks out Caitt's room, and finds more traces of Faerie magic.

	Nicholas Trumps Ahab and relays the news.  Ahab says he'll look
into it.  He sees Nicholas dodge something Laughter threw, and tells his
son to tell her to calm down.  He figures that if the Faeries were Amber's
ancient ally, either things have changed, or they owe him big, now.  Ahab
presents his idea of allying with Chaos against Faerie.  Nicholas thinks
he's nuts.  Laughter overhears the surrender to Chaos piece, and isn't
happy.

	Laughter wards Beauty's quarters against Faerie spells, then goes
to Ahab's office and asks for permission to kick Faerie butt.  Denied. 
Ahab doesn't want to antagonize the Faeries now, since Amber needs their
help.  If they won't help, then Amber will ally with Chaos and beat the
shit out of them.  Laughter says all right, but doesn't like this.  Ahab
tells her to stay in the castle.

	Laughter returns to Beauty's room and replays the scene.  She sees
a couple of arms reach up from Caitt's bed and pull her into it.  Laughter
kicks over the bed, then knocks on the floor.  A hand reaches out, grabs
her hand, and pulls her in.  After a moment, she is spit back up, high
enough that she lands with an "oof."  Nicholas sticks his head in.  She
tells him to draw his sword and lop off anything that sticks out by her
hand, then begins prying at the floor.  A hand reaches out and grabs her
foot.  Nicholas grabs her, and gets pulled through too.  They fall for a
bit, then there are bright lights, Laughter lands on something soft, and
Nicholas lands on top of her.

	Random lets Beauty into Ahab's office.  She's rather pale, and
relays that Laughter and Nicholas disappeared into the floor.  Ahab
figures the Faeries are getting his attention.

	Usires patrols.  Things actually seem less oppressive.

	Bart finishes his spells, and is really tired, so he decides to
sleep.  Just as he drops off, he gets a Trump call from Lyss, who asks if
he's mad at her, since he stayed away all night.  He tells her that he was
hanging spells, and besides, she's in the castle, and he's been banished,
remember?  Oops.  She asks if the children are with his mother.  He asks
if she checked.  Yes.  Was Llewella there?  No.  Bart explains that she's
missing.  Lyss relays Ahab's orders not to go into Shadow.  Bart points
out that he's exiled, and doesn't seem inclined to listen.  Lyss says he's
pissed off Ahab enough, and she can stop him if she has to.  How?  She
dumps him in a Shadow pocket.  He decides this is cozy, and goes back to
sleep.  Lyss joins him later on.

	Ariana eventually gets up, plays with the children for a while,
then goes to Amber to check on Meander.  She finds him in a cold sweat, in
what appears to be heavy REM sleep.  She touches him, and sees a vision of
children being killed.  Meander wakes up with a scream and asks if she saw
it.  Yes.  He asks her to take him to Ahab.  She does so, then Trumps back
to Vetchways.  Meander tells Ahab that he saw Ahab's daughter, Laughter's
son, Ariana's daughter, and Lyss' son being killed by a tall, thin man in
black.

	Ariana checks on her kids.  They're fine.  She decides to stay
with them for a while.  Riftvan eventually wakes up and wanders in.  He
sees her expression, and asks what's wrong.  She tells him of Meander's
vision.  He offers to watch the children with her, and asks where Mirelle
is.  Ariana explains how Mirelle left, adding that she's been ordered not
to go into Shadow.  Riftvan points out that he doesn't fall under Ahab's
purview, so he can go after Mirelle, if she'd like.  Will the children be
safe?  If they remain in the house.  The Shadows that are attached to the
Ways are also protected, but not as well.  Does he think Mirelle will be
in danger, now that Dara's dead?  Yes.  Her insurrection still exists,
after all, as do her Logrus ghosts.  Gramble doesn't know about the
insurrection yet, since it's too small to be a threat.

	Ariana asks Riftvan for another Takaran blade, and explains what
happened to the last one.  He is amused that she was tagged by Dara's
Trump artist, and gets punched in the arm by Ariana.  This apparently
hurt, and he rubs it for a bit, but still seems rather amused.  Ariana
explains the whole story.  Riftvan thinks Ahab doubtless found giving
Ariana the task rather ironic, given who she's married to.  Ariana says
she isn't an assassin, though.  Or at least she wasn't.  Riftvan observes
that it is a bit of a moral quandary.  She asks if there's a way to
prevent getting tagged again.  Increase the power of her mind.  Easier
said than done.  And the dagger?  He'll consider it.  She points out that
she'll be safer with it.  He suggests that maybe she'll stay safely in the
house if she doesn't have one.  She thinks that's unlikely.  He pulls a
dagger from his sleeve and hands it to her.  She mentions her examination
of his locked cabinet.  He says that some things will remain his, and asks
her to stay away from it.  She agrees to do so.  As he is leaving, she
tells him they need to talk when he gets back.

	Bart wakes up to find Lyss curled up next to him.  He wakes her
up, and they are occupied for a bit.  When they are finished, he asks if
she checked on the kids.  Yes, she brought them to Amber.  Bart wants to
go to the Disc, so Lyss fetches the kids for the trip.  Bart asks what
Lyss would think of his relinquishing his Amber titles and leaving them to
Darby.  Whatever he thinks is best.  Bart's been looking to unload his
connections in Amber, anyway.  Lyss tells him that she visited the
families of the pages, and said how sorry they are.  Bart wants to do
something for them.  They leave the kids with Tallefellow.

	Ahab asks Bill Roth to look into whether the Faeries are official
allies of Amber, and then meets with Bleys, Fiona and Suhuy.  Suhuy wants
to check in with Gramble before divulging much.  Dara's death will have
put him in a good mood, but Chaos isn't going to be much help where the
Jewel is concerned.  True.  The second matter is the man in black.  Ahab
wants him found.  That will prove difficult in Amber.  Ahab shows Suhuy
the man from Meander's vision.  Suhuy thinks that man is subtly different
from the one who killed Dara.  The latter man was probably Vetch, and, as
far as he knows, Vetch hasn't been contracted for anything in Amber. 
Fiona figures that if the other one is Benedict, they're in trouble. 
Suhuy points out that Dara's force is mostly likely mobile, otherwise
they'd know where they were.  Fiona can't Trump Benedict, and they can't
really lay a trap for him.  If they'd managed to take Dara alive, they
could have forced her to bring him out.  Maybe they could use one of the
Logrus ghosts, but they'd be hard to control.  Ahab thinks they could use
live bait to lure Benedict out.  It would be dangerous for the bait, but
if Benedict wants them, they're in danger, anyway.

	The last matter to discuss is the Faeries.  Ahab explains that
Pari has been hinting that he should make nice with them.  This gets Fiona
and Bleys' attention.  Then Bleys and Suhuy look at each other and figure
there's no reason Ahab shouldn't know this.  Before there was Chaos or
Amber, there was Faerie.  The Faeries worked with Dworkin and the Unicorn
in stealing the eye in the first place.  Does Amber have formal relations
with them?  Oberon did.  It's Ahab's job to reinitiate contact.  Ahab
likes this not at all.  Bleys further explains that Faeries also have
their own power base, different from Amber's or Chaos'.  If it was undone,
it would probably undo everything.  Faeries can be killed, though, as
Laughter has proven, and their power source is weaker.  How does one get
in touch with them?  Suhuy can facilitate this, but it will involve a trip
into Shadow.  Near Ygg.  Actually, Ygg might be able to do this.  Ahab
says the Benedict problem takes priority.  They discuss who Benedict will
be going after, first.  Bleys figures it will be whoever is the largest
threat to him.

	Ariana Trumps Laughter, to warn her of Meander's vision, but the
card doesn't even grow cold.  She Trumps Foster and asks where Laughter
is.  In Amber.  Ariana indicates this isn't true, and comes through. 
Foster looks worried.  Ariana tells him of Meander's vision, and her
attempt to reach Laughter.  He takes her to where Laughter was, in
Beauty's room.  Ariana examines the floor, and finds a slash along it, as
if from a very sharp sword.  Beauty enters the room and explains what
happened to Laughter and Nicholas, and that Caitt was taken as well.  She
doesn't know why Caitt was taken, but knows that Alex spoke to her
recently.  Ariana checks for Faerie magic, and finds remnants.  Does
Foster think the floor is still active?  He's not sure, but Tamaryn might
know.  Ariana borrows his Trump of her and brings her through.  Tamaryn is
filled in, and explains that Faerie use that method to travel, much like
Pattern and Logrus.  Would Laughter and Nicholas have been taken to Tir-na
Nog'th?  They could have been brought to any number of way points, some of
which Tamaryn can't access, being a half-breed.  What will they do to
Laughter?  Hard to say, but it might not be good, given her reputation. 
So, they can follow Laughter through the floor, and possibly be
imprisoned, or go check the way points Tamaryn can access.  Foster uses
the talking bones to replay the scene where Alex found Caitt, and they
learn what he wanted.  Neither Alex nor Mebd are currently in the castle,
of course.

	Laughter realizes that she's landed on a bed, in a room with a
locked door.  She checks for hiding places, then tries to teleport to
Foil, but it doesn't work.  She hears the door being unlocked, so she
hides.  Nicholas doesn't bother.  A Faerie woman enters the room. 
Nicholas tells her that kidnapping the Crown Prince is bad thing. 
Laughter steps out, causing the woman to comment that she doesn't look
like a genocide.  Laughter asks for her mother back.  They don't have her
mother.  Her foster mother, then.  They can't give her back.  Why?  She's
meddled in the affairs of Faerie.  Can Laughter plead for her?  No.  They
won't keep Caitt long, though, just until she cooperates.  Can Laughter
see her?  No, Laughter's public enemy number one in Faerie.  Laugher is
surprised to learn this.  The woman points out that Laughter was provoked
in Foil, but she overreacted.  Laughter asks the woman what she'd do if
her sister and niece were slaughtered.  As she said before, Laughter was
provoked, but overreacted.  When will they release Caitt?  When she
behaves.  Laughter doesn't think Caitt will be cooperating any time soon. 
Can Laughter leave?  Whenever she wishes.  She will give Laughter a
tidbit, though, that would displease the King if he knew it.  The Serpent
is seeing with both eyes.  Nicholas frowns.  Why is she telling them this? 
Because it will displease the King.  He hasn't exactly been cordial, of
late.  Laughter asks them not to damage her mother too much, since they
know how she holds grudges.  The woman assures her that they are not that
barbaric.  Laughter brings up the King of Dexter.  The woman says he has
been, and will always be, a fool, who often disregards the wishes of his
own king.  Not all Faeries are like him.  Laughter says she's ready to go,
so the woman holds her hand out.

	Laughter and Nicholas are tossed up through the floor in Beauty's
bedroom, much to the delight of those present.  Laughter explains what
happened.  Ariana tells Laughter what Caitt did that angered the Faeries. 
She thinks they will simply hold Caitt until she promises not to do that
again, but offers to see if Riftvan can make sure that Caitt's all right. 
Laughter doesn't think that's necessary, since she doesn't think the
Faeries will kill Caitt.  Ariana also asks if she's up to resuming their
sparring.  Maybe.  Not this morning, though.  Ariana and Foster smile,
since it's already afternoon.  Laughter points at Ariana's abdomen, and
asks if the baby isn't getting in the way.  Hardly.  She's not even three
months along, yet.  Laughter figures that whoever shows up in the morning
will get a workout, and looks at Nicholas.  Ariana asks how his hip is. 
Fine.  He landed on Laughter, so at least it was a soft landing.  Laughter
denies that she's soft, and begins to leave.  Ariana reminds Foster to
tell Laughter of Meander's vision.  He does this thing, and Laughter
decides she'll be sticking close to her kids for a while.  Ariana returns
to Vetchways to do the same.

	Bart meets with Moire, and tells her that Llewella's missing.  He
plans to have the Pattern take him to her, so he needs access to the
Pattern room.  Moire disapproves.  It's too dangerous, and losing him and
Llewella would be too much of a blow.  Bart acquiesces, gratified to hear
that he'd be missed.  After the audience is over, Florian yells at Bart
for doing such dangerous things without a plan.  Bart says it's always
worked, thus far.  Until he dies.  Lyss points out that she's going to be
in trouble for disobeying Ahab's orders and going into Shadow.  Then she
doesn't have to go.  She won't let him go alone.  He's got Florian.  He
doesn't count.  Florian is offended.  Bart doesn't want to get Lyss in
trouble with her father.  Lyss says either she comes, or he doesn't go. 
He's got Florian.  Florian looks at Lyss and tells her not to say it. 
Bart tries to convince her that he'll just go after Dara ghosts, but she
doesn't believe him.

	Felix washes up and removes the nipple rings.  Random chuckles
when he sees Felix, and shows him in.  Ahab proceeds to interrogate Felix
as to why he did what he did.  Felix blames his leaving on the fact that
Usires' ship didn't sail in the morning.  So he did something rash and
impetuous.  Like look for his father.  Does he realize that he probably
blew Caine's cover, since he's missing?  No.  He didn't think.  Ahab says
he figured Caine's method of leaving would be believable because Felix
would do something that stupid.  He'll remember not to ask Felix for
anything that burdensome in the future.  Felix leaves, looking dejected.

	Laughter passes Felix on her way in to seeing Ahab.  Ahab's
surprised to see her, given that he'd heard she was missing.  She says she
hates Faeries, and explains her adventures in Faerie.  She also relays the
news about the Serpent's two eyes.  Ahab wants to poke out both eyes to
teach it a lesson.  Laughter's all for that.  Maybe not, though, since the
Serpent and the Unicorn have their own rules, but they have to do
something.  Laughter mentions that she's feared throughout Faerie.  Ahab
tells Laughter that the Faeries used to help out, but he's thinking it
would be fun to unite with Chaos to trash the Faeries.  What does the
Serpent's regaining of its eye mean?  Well, it sucks for Amber.  It's
great for Chaos.

	Tamaryn finds Felix as he shuffles down the hall.  He says that
Ahab's lost all trust in him, and he's not sure he'll get his ships back,
but at least he's still alive.  Tamaryn says she's going to talk to Ahab. 
Felix doesn't think this would be wise.  This doesn't deter Tamaryn, and
she heads for Ahab's office.

	Laughter passes Tamaryn on her way out of the office.  Tamaryn
asks how Ahab's doing.  Laughter says he's plotting against the Faeries. 
Tamaryn says "What!" and hurries into the room.  She asks if Ahab's gone
mad.  Nope, just peevish.  Tamaryn says he can't do this.  Laughter says
they can, since Faeries kill people.  So do humans.  Ahab suggests that
this is best handled as a private conversation, so Laughter leaves.
Tamaryn offers to find Caine, since she doesn't think she's important
enough for Dara's people to go after.  Maybe, but if they're wrong, they'd
have to rescue her.  OK, fine.  Getting back to the Faeries, she'd be
peeved if he went after them.  Ahab points out that he has Gramble and his
people, who are currently their allies, and they now have both eyes,
whereas the Faeries have always annoyed him.  Tamaryn points out that
she's never given him bad advice, and tells him not to make war with
Faerie.  She'd have to oppose him, if he did.  Ahab likes the idea of the
look on her father's face if Gramble ordered him against Faerie.  Tamaryn
says that she considers them family.  Ahab lists what they've done to him. 
Tamaryn says he should look at it from their point of view.  He figures
they see Amberites as invaders.  She points out that Amber would not exist
without them.  He wants to know what they did, exactly.  She tells him
that he's not ready, and Oberon died too soon.  He knows that.  She
leaves.

	Tamaryn finds Felix and says that she needs to leave for a while. 
Ahab's planning great mischief, and she has to warn the right people. 
Felix asks her to fix his father.  She'll come back later.  Ahab finds
them and asks to speak privately with Tamaryn again.  She agrees.  He asks
what he's missing.  She thinks he's viewing Faeries badly.  He says he
bases his opinion on the actions of the Dexterians, and the habits Vetch
picked up from them.  She explains that Dexter is on the fringe, and their
king is wont to ignore the orders of Auberon.  Faeries have a whole
different outlook on life.  What do they value?  Family, most of all.  Why
did they help Dworkin?  Chaos dealt with them harshly for thousands of
years.  They saw Dworkin's band as a means of countering that.  Why
haven't they kept in touch during Ahab's lifetime?  Oberon did.  Why
didn't they interfere in the various wars?  Well, as long as Chaos was
preoccupied with Amber, they weren't hunting Faeries.  Ahab asks if she'd
like to play ambassador.  She points out that her loyalties lie mostly
with Faerie.  She cannot participate in Ahab's earlier plan, and says that
she takes talk of war very seriously.  Ahab says that, all things
considered, he'd rather rule a sovereign nation, but Amber's relationship
with Faerie will have to change.  Was he serious earlier, or just blowing
off steam?  A little of both.  He will cut a deal before allowing Amber to
be destroyed.  Tamaryn assures him that if he is civil with the Faeries,
they will do anything in their power to keep Amber alive.  Ahab doesn't
like the current arrangement where Amber draws the brunt of Chaos'
attention, though.  He wants her to be ambassador because he doesn't think
his semi-jocular threatening manner would work very well.  Tamaryn says
that she is King's niece, which will help.  Ahab must deal with them
openly, though, since she won't double-cross them.  She tells him that in
1500 years, she's never lied.  He wants her to find out what the Faeries
think of the current situation.  And hurry.  She leaves.

	Felix heads back to the ship, and finds Tamaryn changing Gerard
back.  Gerard puts Felix in charge, so he can go see Isabeux.  Tamaryn
tells Felix that she's now the ambassador to Faerie, so she'll be gone for
a while.  Trump won't reach her there, so she'll just have to visit him in
person.

	Bart pouts for a while, then asks Lyss to deliver some messages
for him to Amber.  She asks if he's going to take off while she's there. 
Wouldn't dream of it.  She points out that if he leaves, she'll never
trust him again.  She takes off, after making him promise not to leave
Llewella's house until she gets back.  Bart changes to Bacchante, much to
Florian's dismay, and they return to Llewella's to plan.  Does Bacchante
know where Llewella was, or what she was planning to do.  No.  Florian
suggests that she determine what is causing the blocks to Llewella, and
work her way around it.  Bacchante begins working on this.  Florian also
mentions that if Llewella was physically moved through Shadow, he can find
her if they can find where she left from.  He offers to ask Ahab where she
went after speaking with him.  Bacchante accepts the offer, and gives
Florian her insignia ring.

	Ariana spends the evening watching her children and being
generally stressed and jumpy.

	Usires checks his ax out, and finds that it seems to be unaltered.

	Ahab hears Random yell, then say he wishes Lyss wouldn't do that. 
Lyss comes into Ahab's office and tells him that Bart would like the pages
who died to be buried in the family plot, and a monument erected to them,
since they died in the service of Amber.  OK.  He'd also like to pass his
titles along to Darby, since he's not using them.  Ahab doesn't see why,
but OK.  And Llewella's missing.  Ahab's knows.  He asks if Bart's going
after her.  Lyss' face gives the answer away, but she assures him that
they're still arguing over this.  Ahab figures Bart's giving up his titles
so he doesn't have to obey Ahab, so Ahab won't transfer the titles until
after the current mess has been resolved.  Lyss realizes that the Jewel is
missing, and asks where it is.  Um, back where it came from.  Lyss' eyes
widen.  Ahab makes her promise not to tell anyone, then brings Pattern to
mind to make sure.  Lyss teleports out.

	Lyss appears in Rebma saying that Ahab's after her, and hides
under the bed.  Ahab finds her with a Pattern lens, at which point Lyss
screams that he's found her.  Ahab makes psychic contact with her.  She
says that this is morally wrong.  Ahab points out that she didn't feel
that way before.  That's before it was her.  She mentions that the Jewel
is missing, at which point Ahab commands her not to discuss that any more. 
She pouts.  He asks who's with her.  Bart.  Ahab teleports there, causing
Lyss to get between him and Bart.  Bart looks a bit confused, having only
heard Lyss' end of the conversation.  Ahab tells Bart his decision about
Bart's title transfer.  Lyss insists that they stay apart, and continues
pouting about what he did to her.  Ahab tells Bart that he's welcome in
the castle as soon as he completes his punishment.  He also makes Bart
promise not to repeat what he heard Lyss say about the Jewel.

	Bart tells Ahab that he's come up with a modification to his
communication spell that might be able to determine what's causing the
block around Llewella.  Lyss asks them to move apart.  Nope.  Lyss leaves. 
Ahab points out that he's alone with Bart now, so Lyss pops Bart into the
pocket Shadow.  Ahab tells her that he wasn't done talking to Bart, so she
reluctantly brings him back.  Bart says he's come up with a better means
of tracking Dara's Logrus ghosts.  Ahab mentions that he beheaded the real
thing.  Ariadne comes out of the shadows and says, "You did?"  Ahab
confirms this, and asks if that will be a problem.  No, but it teaches her
to take the night off.  Ahab figures he's bothered Lyss enough.  Bart asks
where Llewella went when she left.  Back to Rebma.  Lyss makes eyes at
Bart, but he's not sure why.  Then figures it out, and tells Ahab that
he's not going after Llewella.  Right.  Ahab tells Bart to check in before
going after Llewella.  Bart has no problem with this.  Bart recalls
Florian, since his task is no longer necessary.  Florian bows to Ahab,
then gives Bart a dirty look.  Ahab points out to Lyss that he's a
rational man, and so he isn't going to just begin beating on her fiance
for the hell of it.  Lyss asks him to promise this.  Ahab won't, since if
she doesn't know him well enough by now to know he means it, to hell with
her.  He and Ariadne go back to Amber.  Lyss begins to cry.  Bart comforts
her.

	Random informs Ahab that there will have to be funerals for Oberon
and Delwin.  It gets pushed off onto the minister of protocol.

	Ahab finds Nimue in the library, and asks what she's been up to. 
Working on her new skills.  What does he want?  Nothing, just a nagging
sense of worry.  Someone's already tried to kill her pseudo-generation
once, so they're likely to try it again.

	Laughter interrupts Ahab, and says the Faerie porthole in her
mother's bedroom is worrying her, since it means that Faerie magic still
works in Amber.  Fuck.  Nimue observes that this wasn't expected.  Uh, no. 
Laughter's point is that if it works, he probably shouldn't go to war with
Faerie.  Can she create some sort of monitoring spell for Nimue, Haris,
etc., plus scatter the place with glamours so that the children don't look
like themselves?  Yes.  Laughter mentions that Foster, Beauty, Tamaryn and
Ariana have some skill with Faerie magic as well.  Ahab tells her that
Tamaryn is busy, but he does have to chastise Ariana, and he should do it
soon, since he has a favor to ask of her.  Nimue says he should ask the
favor, then chastise her.

	Ahab Trumps Ariana and asks to speak to her in Amber.  She agrees
to come through, so long as it's brief, since she doesn't want to leave
the children for long.  He tells her that he has Laughter working on
glamours to protect the Pattern children, but he doubts Laughter can reach
all the way out to Vetchways.  He asks if she knows Faerie culture.  She's
familiar with it, as well as the language.  Can she dump this in his brain
fairly quickly?  Some of it.  Why?  He wants to talk to them, and he
doesn't want to accidentally offend them.  She agrees to do this.  He
explains that her trip into Shadow may have compromised Caine, who is now
missing.  She apologizes, and assures him that she wasn't looking for
Felix at the time.  Ahab says he was going to tear into her for it, but he
needs this favor from her, so he won't.  Ariana asks who could have Caine,
since she's heard that Dara's dead.  Ahab confirms that he beheaded her,
and he's pretty sure Vetch is the one who blew up her body, but there are
still her Logrus ghosts out there.  Ariana downloads the information on
Faerie culture into his mind, and teaches him a few key phrases of the
language.  Then she returns home to Vetchways, where she winds up spending
the night in a chair in the nursery.

	Laughter and Foster attempt to use Faerie magic to create
thunderstorms in Amber, just to see if it can be done.  They are rather
successful.  Laughter reports her success to Ahab, who finds this
interesting, but he'd appreciate it if she stopped it, now.


Quotables:

"I don't know exactly how to start this." -- Martin
"Start at the beginning, go to the end, stop." -- Ahab

"And all they managed to do was kill Oberon?" -- Ahab to Random

"As long as I'm not dead, I must be doing OK." -- Laughter to the group at
large

"People would stop harassing you nearly as much if you were dead." --
Laughter to Ahab

"I shrug into my undies, and then my chainmail, because getting pinched
there would just hurt." -- Ahab to GM

"There's a lot of people I need to kill." -- Ahab to GM

"I suppose I could always get in trouble and have the sword take us back."
-- Nicholas
"It takes us back to me!" -- Laughter

"What's 'dead,' Mommy?" -- Haris
"That's when you don't breathe." -- Laughter
"I don't think I can hold my breath that long." -- Haris
"That's why you're dead." -- Laughter

"I assume you like to be shown some modicum of respect?" -- Tamaryn
"Why should you be any different?" -- Ahab

"Ahab is not that psycho, just almost that psycho." -- Jason to the group
at large

"Why do you think you have that power in the first place?  Because you can
only affect a few people with it." -- GM to Ahab

"Have you ever seen me start hitting people for no reason?" -- Ahab
"Well, if anyone could make you do it, (Bart) could." -- Lyss

"Brew some coffee, I'm using you." -- Ahab to Laughter