From Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu Mon Aug 16 13:19:51 1993 Date: Mon, 16 Aug 93 12:41:40 EDT From: Kris.Fazzari@um.cc.umich.edu To: thari@umich.edu Subject: Kris' Campaign Log Chapter Ten Felix and Shard want to leave Ariadne in the infirmary. Heather says that the infirmary isn't safe enough. Felix insults Heather by questioning her manners, so Heather leaves. Shard suggests leaving Battlestar to guard Ariadne, so Ariana, Felix and Shard take Ariadne to the infirmary. Felix arranges for additional guards and leaves to go to bed. Everyone else does likewise. Before he goes to sleep, Felix trumps Eric. Eric answers and asks what's up. Felix says that he was worried about Eric, since he and Corwin disappeared at the same time. Eric finds it interesting that Corwin left when he did, but says it's a coincidence. Felix tells Eric about the encounter with the Corwin guardian. Eric is quite sure that it wasn't really Corwin, since he reasons that Corwin would have been able to kill them all. Felix asks Eric to come to the ball, but Eric says it's too soon for him to return to Amber. He doubts Random has the balls to do anything if he doesn't show up. Felix attempts to convince him to come anyway, but Eric still says no. Felix is able to observe that Eric is in an Evergreen forest and it seems to be rather cold out, but he can't pick up anything else to let him identify Eric's shadow. Alex takes Medb for a walk in the gardens. He asks her if she's having trouble adjusting to the concept of shadow shifting. She points out that she's had two years to get used to it. Alex continues trying to make small talk with Medb. After there walk concludes, they also turn in for the night. A night which actually passes quietly for once. The next morning, Shard wakes up, checks on Ariadne, and takes care of the feeding and walking of Battlestar. He makes the mistake of observing the preparation activities in the Main Hall and gets pressed into service by Flora. Felix goes to breakfast, and notices that most of his cousins are not there. He tells Gerard about his talk with Eric. He also says he suspects Mandor of not being completely honest, because of what happened the night before. Gerard is not happy to hear about this, but he's not surprised either. Gerard asks Felix to talk with Isabeux to get his outfit for the night. He also warns him to avoid Flora, since she is drafting people. Heather realizes that Shard may not know how to dance, so she looks him up. She finds him holding a ladder and asks him if he was ever taught how to dance. He tells her he wasn't. Heather passes this information along to Flora. Flora is quite upset to hear this, and tells Heather to take Shard to a fast time shadow and teach him. She asks that he be brought back by three. Heather takes Shard to Mandorways and spends the next eight hours there teaching him. When they are done, she brings him back to Flora, and goes off to massage her aching feet (Shard stepped on them a lot). Ahab spends a couple of days healing in shadow and then trumps back to the castle. Most of his injuries have healed and the swelling from his nose has diminished to a few bruises under his eyes. He finds Shard standing in the Main Hall, holding a pot for Flora and looking rather forlorn. Flora asks if Ahab is busy, and he tells her he needs to find someone to put some makeup over his remaining bruises. Flora directs him to someone who covers it up with some face makeup. He tries to persuade Ahab to wear some eye makeup as well, but Ahab declines. He starts figuring out how many weapons he can conceal in the toga and sandals (not much). Ariana spends the day avoiding Flora. She and her maid Kira work on getting her ready for the ball. She asks one of the Castle guards if it is customary to attend Balls armed or unarmed. He tells her that it is expected that attendants will come unarmed, so she doesn't wear any weapons openly. There is a dinner before the ball that all the family attends. Everyone shows up in their finery. Heather wears a formal Georgian dress, with a tight corset that enhances her breasts. Alex comes wearing an 18th century tuxedo, with a cape. Ahab attends wearing a toga with a necklace. Ariana wears a toga with longer, layered skirt, lots of jewelry, and an elaborate hairstyle. Martin is subdued for him, wearing only a leather vest and pants, with a blousy white shirt, and a nose earring with a chain stretching from his nose and his ear. Shard and Felix are both wearing typical Amberite formal wear. The diplomats from the Golden Circle are introduced. The ambassadors are Orkuz from Begman, Dormel from Eregnan and Zatif from Kashfa. All but Zatif bring a full entourage with them. Zatif has only a few retainers. The dinner begins. Felix makes a remark to his parents about not knowing Oedipus was a member of the family, and then looks at Ahab. Gerard misses the reference, but Isabeux gets it and chuckles. Deirdre is not happy with Ahab's choice of clothing. Especially when she learns that he's not wearing any underwear under the short toga (for authenticity, of course). Conversation with Deirdre is rather strained. Shard mentions that he spent the day learning how to dance, and Ariana asks him what kind of dancing he learned. He tells her and asks her what celebrations were like in her shadow. Ahab asks Shard where he grew up, but Julian clears his throat to indicate that Shard shouldn't answer. Heather chats with Coral about Begma, which doesn't interest Coral but does interest her sister, Nadia. Nadia proceeds to talk Heather's ear off for a while. Ariana notices that Coral doesn't bear any resemblance to her father at all. Alex flirts shamelessly with Medb again. Ahab, Felix, and Ariana discuss ships. Deirdre approves of this conversation. She's still somewhat cold towards Ahab, which makes him uncomfortable. Deirdre asks if he's sticking to the seat. Felix mentions that in his experience that doesn't happen. This earns him a glare from Deirdre. They talk about the lack of seasons in Ariana's home shadow, and Ahab invites Ariana to come with to see Forest Arden after it snows. They discuss sailing some more. Ahab mentions that it could be fun to go sailing with Random, since he could use the Jewel to increase the wind speed. Ariana asks why not go to a shadow with high winds. This starts a lecture by Ahab on shadow physics. Felix notices that Bleys was paying a great deal of attention to Ariana, so he asks if Bleys is interested in sailing. Bleys says yes, and pretends to be interested. The tables are pushed apart and dancing begins. Ahab walks over to Martin and starts talking to him, asking if he has anything special planned for the dance. Ariana joins them. As they talk, Martin mentions that Ahab's father was killed by Corwin in a duel. Ahab wants to hear more about this, but that's all Martin knows. After the King's dance is over, Ariana and Ahab start to dance. They link psychically to coordinate their dancing, since Ariana is unfamiliar with the ballroom style of dance. Felix asks Coral to dance, and they go on the dance floor as well. Heather tells Shard that he should be dancing. Shard points out that Julian isn't dancing either. Heather heads in Julian's direction. She finds him by the punch bowl and tells him that he should be dancing, to set an example for Shard. Julian glares at Shard, and then dances with her. Felix and Coral trade life stories while dancing. Ahab notices Julian and Heather dancing. When the first dance is over, he tells Ariana that he would like to discomfit Heather, and he proceeds to ask Heather to dance. Heather isn't thrown off by this at all, and accepts. Ahab asks Heather how her stay can in Amber can be improved. Heather mentions that she'd like a good Claret. Ahab promises to try and find her some. Martin takes Ariana out for a spin on the dance floor. For the next dance, Ahab goes back to Ariana. Shard sits out the current dance. Julian finds Shard and tells him that he will dance tonight, or Julian will feed him to the Hellhounds. Felix, Medb, Ahab and Ariana all talk to a different young lady and encourage them to dance with Shard. When the next dance begins, Shard is set upon by all four women. They eventually decide that the only way to be fair is for him to dance with all four of them. Benedict dances with Heather (his first and only dance of the evening). Ariana dances with Felix. He tells her psychically that Bleys was staring at her all night and that he thinks Bleys may be her father. She thanks him for the information. Ahab dances with Coral, and offers to show her the town. She tells him that she has gotten several offers of tours from others. She is worried about maintaining her virtue if she takes them up on their offers. He tells her that if all of them give her a tour, they'll be too busy competing to do much. Or, she can pick the one who best suits her. This suggestion makes her blush. He asks her how long she'll be staying in Amber, which she's been getting asked a lot. She mentions that she feels out of place with her family, and Ahab sympathizes. Ariana dances with Driscoll next, and she asks if she can talk with him at a future date about tracking down her Amber parent. Mandor dances with Heather. Ahab walks over to where Benedict is standing and asks if things are right between them. Benedict says he bears Ahab no ill will. Benedict smiles a bit at Ahab's outfit and mentions that he hasn't seen anyone wearing something like that since Troy. Ahab asks if Benedict knows why Deirdre is so upset about his outfit. Benedict is surprised to hear that she was upset, but before he can offer any suggestions, a fight breaks out on the dance floor. The Begman and Eregnan ambassadors are trading blows when Felix pushes them apart in an attempt to break things up. Dormel draws back his fist to punch Felix, and his elbow hits Caine's lady friend in the face. This gives him pause. Felix and Ahab both lecture the two ambassadors about how rude they are being. Orkuz is apologetic, Dormel less so. Random arrives and takes things in hand. While all the attention is focused on the ambassadors, Ahab slips off and tries to get the band to play "one of Martin's favorites." Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), the band doesn't know what Martin's favorites are. Ariana dances with Ahab again and points out that Brand has left. Se also mentions that she suspects Coral is not really Orkuz's daughter. Ahab is inclined to agree. Ahab leaves the Ball at the end of the dance. He heads up to his room, and tries to trump Corwin, but can't get through. Next he tries Eric, who takes the call. He asks if what Martin told him about Corwin killing his father is true. Eric says that Martin's timing is bad, but it is the truth. Ahab is not happy to hear this. Heather also notices that Brand has left, so she goes to her bedroom to find out what he's up to. She gets no response from his trump, but when she is done, she notices a note stuck under her door that says "Don't worry, I'll be back later." She puts the note back where she found it and returns to the Ball. Ariana dances with Bleys, trying to find some confirmation of Felix's suspicions. She notices that he looks at her only in a polite way, and that he asks her about her childhood in shadow. He also subtly asks her what her opinion is about her birth parents, but in such a way that she doesn't make a note of it. She dances with Shard later on. Even later, Shard dances with Coral, and the two of them hit it off. Heather doesn't get many dancing offers, although Driscoll rescues her when he sees her standing on the side alone. Ahab changes out of his toga and into his Amber finery. He goes down the ballroom and makes an entrance. When he has everyone's attention, he walks over by Deirdre, greets her, and then asks Llewella to dance. Deirdre leaves. Llewella asks what Ahab has gotten her into. Ahab tells her that he was using her to piss off Deirdre, but that Deirdre will take it out on him, not her. As the dance winds down, Ahab asks Heather for her assistance in trumping Corwin. She agrees, and they find a corner just outside the ballroom. Ariana notices them leave and follows. With Heather's help, Ahab gets through to Corwin and asks him about the duel. Heather hears this, and decides to leave. Corwin says that Ramon instigated things by insulting Deirdre when he was drunk. Ahab is more upset that the truth of it was hidden from him for 800 years than by the knowledge that Corwin killed his father. He finishes the contact and asks Ariana what she heard. She tells him she heard all of it, and he asks to be alone for a while. He asks Julian for permission to go hunting in Arden, which Julian grants. Everyone goes to bed. Ariana and Martin sleep together. Ahab comes across a burning shrine of the Unicorn in Arden. Everyone else is woken up (or interrupted) by a commotion in the Castle. It seems that Dormel has been found dead, and Julian and Caine were found with him.