The Sun slips out of her port and begins the penultimate stage of the journey to Clarissa. While the first night is spent underway, subsequent nights are spent at anchor in small coves. Bleys and Fiona alternate manipulating the shadows to bring the ship along the path to Clarissa.
About 5 days out, The Sun anchors in a circular quay at the bottom of a tall cliff. At the top a huge tree spreads wide branches over the edge. The leaves are a spectacular riot of red and yellow, and the rocky beach has signs that the leaves have been falling here for some time.
Bleys looks up at the tree and the sun setting beside it. "We are deep in shadow, at a point where some of the rules are different. It will be both harder and easier to travel from here, as there is less reality to mold, but that which remains is more malleable."
Fiona nods. "In the morning, we'll contact Reid. Don't be surprised by anything you see here. And don't get separated from the ship."
Paige nods. She tries sketching the tree and the cliffs. She looks to Conner, "You been this far out before?"
"No." Conner replies. "Have you?"
"Perhaps. I walked Merlin a good ways home once, but I don't think it was this far out," Paige decides. "But, Troublemaker's right, there was less of Substance." She rubs at her stomach, absent-mindedly.
Bleys comes up behind them. "If you didn't see this tree, then you didn't get this far out."
"Now, hmm. That trump of Reid..."
Bleys looks at the card, waiting for a stirring.
Paige turns to Conner. "How's this hang on me?" she asks, smoothing her skirt over her hips. It's become obvious over the last week that Paige has put on a few pounds, and not just across her midsection. Her bustline has also increased by noticable proportions. "I've had to make some adjustments for fit," she explains. It's not like she's showing yet, but the increased appetite she's shown is having noticable effect.
"Well I'm no Lucas." Conner smiles. "But I'd say you look wonderful."
Fiona joins them at about this time. "How far along are you again, Paige? There's something about this pregnancy that I find ... worrisome. That is, the speed with which it is advancing. I haven't sensed any time sorceries on you, and yet--something is amiss."
"It's only a month. Most women wouldn't even know yet, at least not those I've known in Shadow or even in Amber City," Paige answers. "But you're right, I do seem to be gaining weight quicker than I expected. That's good with twins, they need a bit more, but this does seem quick.
"I expected to be sick longer. There's really no nausea anymore, and normally that doesn't start until about now. I seem to have passed that in the Lands of Peace."
The petite redhead frowns as she looks up at her niece. "I will have to have Mother examine you."
Paige nods, "You would know better than I, Aunt. I've midwived for over a century, but I've no experience in pregnancies of Substance nor godlings." Her left hand drapes protectively across her stomach, rubbing it slightly.
Bleys speaks aloud. "Ah, Reid. This is Bleys, of course. We're at Ygg and ready to sail on to Clarissa. Are you and Brennan ready? Not that it's really possible to be ready enough for Clarissa."
Fiona casts a look at her brother. To Paige she adds, "There are some things I can do now, before we get to Clarissa. When we get back, someone will definitely need to talk to Julian. Perhaps your father can handle that."
Paige looks a little concerned. "You're telling me that this isn't normal, aren't you?"
After a moment, Bleys replies "If you think it will be moments, then I shall wait, otherwise, I can contact you in a few hours... most likely. Time seems to be running reasonably smoothly at the moment."
Fiona says, "My sample size for pregnancies among the women of Oberon's line is small, but it's large enough to say triple-speed development isn't normal. We've been travelling in shadow, which can distort personal timeflows for lesser initiates, but my presence and your father's should counteract any tendencies in that direction."
Her green eyes narrow. "I think it's the twins. I have a bad feeling about this."
Reid is awakened by a familiar mental stirring. It is subtle but insistent. Someone with a trump of him is contacting him, and possibly from some distance.
Reid answers, with his defenses ready.
"Ah, Reid. This is Bleys, of course. We're at Ygg and ready to sail on to Clarissa. Are you and Brennan ready? Not that it's really possible to be ready enough for Clarissa."
"So I hear. I'll need to wake up or track down Brennan, but we should be almost good to go. Do you want to keep the connection live? or should I call you back when we're together?" Reid inquires.
Bleys replies "If you think it will be moments, then I shall wait, otherwise, I can contact you in a few hours... most likely. Time seems to be running reasonably smoothly at the moment."
"Choice B seems most prudent. Talk to you soon."
WIth that, Reid heads off to track down Brennan.
[Fiona, cont'd]
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"Something about Daeon and Arcadia?" Paige asks.
"When I was in Heather Vale and Artemis brought her influence over things, the plants grew at a greatly accelrated rate." Conner comments. "I think the same kind of effect is going here with the children of Arcadian blood."
The auburn-haired sorceress takes a moment and Looks at Paige. "And yet," she says, "I have no impression of the sorceries of Time. But there is---something. I don't like it."
Fiona turns back to her son. "I think you're right, Conner. Perhaps I should contact Corwin instead."
"Why Corwin?" Conner asks a trifle confused.
Bleys, his attention released from the Trump contact, rejoins them in time to reply to that. "Because, nephew mine, Corwin was the Warden of Arden who dealt successfully with the Arcadians. Without any godlings to show for it, either."
Paige nods.
After a time, Bleys contacts Reid again, and is rewarded by the news that Brennan and Reid are ready to join them. Reid hands Brennan through and then Bleys brings him through.
Brennan and Reid find that they are on the deck of a boat anchored in a cove. Looking up from the boat on the landward side, they can see a cliff, atop which is a familiar-looking tree. The last time they were here, a few weeks ago, Ygg was not shedding fall leaves, not was it on the edge of a cliff. Now it is.
When Brennan comes through, he takes a moment to orient, get his bearings, and look around. He turns to Bleys and starts to say something, the first "W" sound formed, but not voiced--
--And he turns back to look at Paige in more detail. "How long has it been in your flow?"
He makes eye contact with Bleys again, briefly.
"I understand why you're single I suppose, if the first thing you comment on is a woman's weight," she answers sarcastically. The smile on her face takes the edge off the response.
"It's been a little over a month relative," she explains. "You?"
"More like two weeks, our side," he says, then adopts a Bleys-like grin and continues: "I asked, dear cousin, because I had not thought you could grow so radiant in only two weeks."
Her smile grows, seemingly happy to see Brennan well. "Ha."
Reid tries, just barely, to suppress a grin. "Nothing otherwise eventful so far in the journey then, I take it?"
Bleys doesn't try; he just grins. "Poor execution, good recovery, nephew. I thought I overheard Fiona saying something ominous sounding about it whilst I was trumping you lads through. Have any of you delivered a baby before? Not that it seems imminently necessary, but in case it becomes so. And I mean in the 'midwife' sense, of course."
Conner nods. "Nothing I've had to do often but I'm sure it will come back to me." Conner smiles.
"How long do we expect to be in Clarissa, Father? I realize this far out time gets... odd... but surely we'll be home before then, no?" Paige asks, no hint of concern leaking into her voice. The tone suggests that she'd be quiet put out by the incovenience of giving birth anyplace other than Sommerset House or the Castle.
Fiona says, "I think we have less time than we expected. I mislike the idea of you giving birth in Clarissa, but it can't be helped. At least we have Merlin's example, so we know a baby can survive. He was born on this side of Ygg, wasn't he?" She looks to Paige for an answer.
Paige nods.
Bleys cuts that line of thought off. "I'm sure we'll be en route home before then," he says hastily. "Even if we have to break up the family reunion a bit early."
Paige looks thoughtfully to her father, but doesn't say anything. "What of Merlin, Father?
"Should I at least try him, so as to not lie to Grandmother?" she asks, having this feeling that Clarissa would know if she did.
The weeks settle into a routine of lessons. Occasionally Clarissa spends an hour or two lecturing about the principles of sorcery, and afterwards Brita feels like she's had days of knowledge poured into her head. Then she and Ambrose practice applying the lesson, sometimes for good and sometimes less successfully.
Ambrose often has tips about the difference between sorcery on the Amber side of Ygg and on the Chaos side. He opines that it's probably better to learn sorcery here than near Amber, because it's easier to force your will on the universe on this side of Ygg.
In addition to sorcery lessons, Brita has access to arts materials. Does she try to create any Trumps?
Yes. Brita works on a trump of Conner and sketche trumps of Ambrose and Clarissa. On one sketch of Clarissa, she utilizes a more chaotic attempt at the trump, creating something that looks Picasso-like (if she new who Picasso was ;). She also wants to work on sketches of Reid and Jerod.
If she would like to spar to keep her hand in, Ambrose will also be willing to partner her.
Brita will practice daily for short periods and every other day for longer. She will willing spar with Ambrose and utilizes a few of the moves that Jerod showed her on her newest Cousin.
The Sun leaves Ygg's autumnal colors behind and sails beyond, towards the heart of Chaos, or at least the heart of Clarissa. The chill of fall creeps into the winds, and heavier clothes are unpacked, or conjured as the case may be.
Paige continues to have a phenomenal appetite. Her belly swells far more quickly than seems right, causing quite a bit of concern. Conner's examinations reveal that nothing seems to be wrong other than the accelerated rate at which the pregnancy is advancing.
One day, the boat turns into a deep river. Fiona calls a wind to keep the sails full. After some time, a castle is visible on the horizon. It is non-Euclidean in its geometry. Staring at it too long makes people's heads hurt.
"Mother's castle," Bleys confirms.
The landscape of Castle Clarissa has changed quite a bit since Brita arrived. The lake has vanished, and there has been no chance for her to swim again. Just as well; it has grown wintry and cold, though not so bad as the Fimbulwinter that she recalls from before her departure from Asgard.
One day, there is a river beside the castle. The legions are on the far side, Ambrose says, and it would not be wise to try to venture there. On the next day, Clarissa advises them to dress in their best, because her servants have spotted Bleys' boat. Fiona and Bleys will be there on the morrow.
On the appointed day, Clarissa brings Brita and Ambrose down to a quay that was not there the night before. Clarissa is dressed in a full-length white fur coat; her dark red hair blazes like a flame above it. Ambrose is dressed in a short shearling coat, heavy trousers and boots. His blade hangs loose at his side.
Brita stands on the other side of Ambrose. She wears her formal reds with a hip length white ermine cloak over it. Thigh high black boots are also trimmed with ermine.
The Sun noses up to the quay and extends her gangplank. Bleys bounds down it, dressed formally in an orange doublet and hose, of which the onlookers have glimpses beneath his heavy red cloak. He lets Brennan or Reid escort Paige down the gangplank.
Similarly, it is left to Conner to escort his mother. Fiona is dressed in deep green that sets off her coloring. Her cloak is lined in ermine; when she pushes the hood back, Brita can see that her hair is caught up in a golden snood spotted with emeralds. The red-headed sorceress smiles excitedly on seeing her daughter and whispers something to her son.
[...something along the lines of "how well she looks!"]
Conner is dressed in doublet and hose of a deep blue with a heavy cloak of a lighter blue trimmed in silver fox fur over it. His hair is held back by a slim silver circlet. His smile is wide and genuine and all for Brita.
Reid's muted colors look dead among the winter tones and preponderance of red hair surrounding him.
Brennan is dressed in more or less his standard colors, this time with the black predominating over the red by a large measure. Black boots, black trousers, black shirt with relatively spare red needlework. A black cloak with red edges and very dark red internal linings. Brennan's hair has always been a darker shade than Brand's, and if he stood next to Clarissa in like-colored raiment, their hair would be similar. But Clarissa is in white, making hers appear darker, while Brennan is in black, making his appear lighter by contrast.
Brennan takes his cue from Bleys as far as weapons are concerned, not that he expects weapons to do him much good, here. If Bleys (as I suspect) is bearing, then Brennan has a sword, in a black scabbard, at his hip. If Bleys is not, he still has a few knives about him. Knives aren't weapons, they're tools.
[Bleys is carrying his blade.]
The only jewelry he wears is his KCOR signet.
Paige wears a gown in emerald green, the empire waistline patterened with gold embroidery of a simple grapevine. The embroidery matches at the hem and eventually apparent at the cuffs. Currently much of it is hidden by a heavy full length mink. He hair is coiled atop her head, with curls falling from the back to her shoulders.
When the travellers have all left the Sun, Bleys comes over to his mother and gives her a kiss. "Mother! You look lovely. Winter always has suited you. You recall Paige and Conner from our last discussion, and of course you remember Brennan. The other gentleman is Reid, Osric's son, and Brita's tutor."
Clarissa is looking over the redheaded brood with evident pleasure. "Welcome to Castle Clarissa," she says.
Reid stands alone, silent until spoken to. Clearly, he is the outsider here, but if he is uncomfortable with the situation, he does not let it show. In fact, comfort is not a factor that has any reading on him right now. He is relieved to be assured of his ward's welfare, but beyond that he's waiting things out.
Bleys says, "We're all very pleased to be here. Aren't we, Reid?"
Reid smiles, with the slightest hint of irony. "Yes, like I always say, while there's nothing like a long journey through shadow, it's always nice to arrive at your destination."
[OOC: "Because wherever you go, there you are."]
Clarissa beams at him as if he's said something particularly clever.
Fiona starts towards Brita to greet her.
But not before Brita gives a not so subtle jab at Ambrose and practically jumps over the distance to grab Fiona and Conner in a combined bear hug.
Conner laughs delightedly and hugs her back as much as matter of survival as joy.
Fiona holds Brita close with surprising strength. "Oh, my baby. I've been so worried about you. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Mother," Brita says with that standard 'kid enduring maternal hovering' tone and a big grin. "Nanna Clarissa and Cousin Ambrose have been very accommodating. Look what I can do!" and she attempts to call a filmy.
[or some other small sorcerous act; we never went into detail beyond the filmies...]
A long ribbon-like road made of something like dark cheesecloth appears before Brita.
[also, GMs, can I get a ruling on the sketches/trumps that Brita was creating? thanks.]
[OOC: that'll also come under separate cover.]
Fiona's mouth opens into a pleased 'o'. "I see you've been attending to your lessons. You'll have to teach your brother now that you've run ahead," she says teasingly.
Brita grins as she turns to the filmy, says a brief thank you [Ambrose had said something once that implied to Brita that these things were somewhat sentient, like a puppy trying to please the user], and dismisses it.
"I'm sure we have many tricks to teach each other." Conner smiles.
"I don't know how good I will be as a laboratory partner. Cousin Ambrose has been very helpful in that regard." Brita nods towards the Paige, Ambrose, and Brennan group. "I would introduce you directly, but a Family reunion should have some privacy."
"Yes," Fiona agrees. "They have a lot to talk about. And so do we. What happened? We've been so worried about you, your brother and I."
Brita gives her mother a disgusted look. "Cleph beat me as if I was a weak child. I don't remember much beyond the beating until I woke up in Uxmal. Cousin Ambrose and his mother were very hospitable although I could not contact you because they had blocked the Trumps. In talking to our new cousin, I feel that he is not the enemy that Cleph and Dara are...." Brita trails off as she glances back at Brennan, Paige and Ambrose. "Cousin Ambrose brought me to Nanna Clarissa and I think you know most of the rest...."
"Remind me to thank Ambrose then." Conner murmurs.
"Yes," says Fiona. "I'm very much looking forward to making his acquaintance."
The three of them see Paige leading Ambrose and Brennan over to Clarissa.
"It appears that Cousins Paige and Brennan are going to speak with Nanna Clarissa now," Brita notes. "Come, I will introduce you to Cousin Ambrose." She then moves towards Ambrose and party, converging on Clarissa, Bleys, and Reid.
Ambrose is eyeing Brennan with a flat expression. He hasn't said anything yet.
Brennan offers to escort Paige to Ambrose if she will introduce him, whispering quietly, "This ought to be interesting," in exchange for which, Brennan will happily introduce her to Grandmother.
Paige releases Brennan's arm as they approach. She embraces Ambrose and kisses him on the cheek if he'll allow.
Ambrose permits this. He seems a bit surprised, but not entirely displeased, by the familiarity. Paige can feel the tension in him.
She keeps one hand on his arm, lending him some of her strength, or at least her support for a moment.
Turning back to Brennan, she smiles, "Lord Brennan, your brother, Ambrose."
Ambrose meets Brennan's gaze squarely. He offers his hand to Brennan to shake. It's not exactly an aggressive hand-thrust, but it's firm. "Welcome to Clarissa, Brennan. Is this your first time here?"
Brennan takes the handshake [And God help Ambrose if he ries any of that Sorcery stuff....] and returns it firmly but not crushingly (at least, not intentionally.) "As a matter of fact, it is. Brother." Brennan is clearly trying the sound of the foreign word in his mouth. "Yours?"
He toys with asking Ambrose whether that was his first time in Amber, but doesn't feel like getting Paige's elbow in his ribs. He holds that jibe in reserve.
Paige smiles as she watches the interactions, remembering the handshake for later sketching.
"I've been here a few times before," Ambrose replies. "I spend most of my time in Uxmal. Is there any message you'd like me to deliver to our mother when I see her next? She thinks of you often and has wondered how you're doing; she'll be pleased to hear how well you look."
Ambrose is pretty clearly trying on the whole "brother" thing too.
Brennan stops to think about that for a moment. He covers by asking Ambrose, somewhat hesitatingly, "How long, exactly, have I been gone from that place?"
Paige notes the deflection, but smiles broader when Brennan continues.
"Our father discouraged the discussion of dead or vanished gods. You've been gone long enough for the people of Uxmal to forget your name, but not for our mother to," Ambrose says.
Brennan voicelessly mouths the words, 'dead or vanquished,' then says slowly, "I'm a god, now?" He turns to Paige for her reaction, his face perfectly straight, calm, and composed. But inside, Brennan finds the whole notion deeply, darkly funny. If Daeon could see him now....
"Well, after my last encounter with a godling, keep your distance," Paige offers with a smile.
After Ambrose answers that, Brennan gives his answer. "Tell [mother]... Send her my condolences. And tell her it had to be as it was-- I could not remain; I could not return. I hope she understands."
That being a fairly gloomy topic, he changes it slightly to, "How fares Uxmal?" Uxmal includes Tayanna and the priesthood of the Smoking Mirror, of course.
Through this, he is watching Ambrose carefully. Not aggressively as he would with Ossian, but... intently, studying the face, the body language, the mannerisms, the inflections, for signs of kinship.
Brennan still resembles Bleys more than anyone else in the family, in nearly all respects.
Which Paige tries to ignore as she watches him and Ambrose, lest it lead her to false conclusions. She seems pleased that things are civil, not that she expected any differently. Brennan might be a bit stubborn on some issues, but he wasn't stupid.
Ambrose shrugs a little in response to Brennan's question. "Things are--a little difficult right now. Mother worries about the gods that will come after Smoking Mirror, and how they will dispose of his priesthood. There is much uncertainty." He looks at Brennan, as if gauging something about him, and adds, "Old bindings may be weakening with our father's death."
Brennan nods. "I am not surprised. I was never high in Brand's counsel," he says drily, "but I saw that he ran the Uxmali gods... not unlike a man might run a crime syndicate. Harshly. Not without rewards, but always with punishments. Unless she has grown considerably in power from my fourteen years old's memories, her options may be limited. Severely. It cannot be a pleasant time."
Ambrose nods soberly at that.
Brennan pauses, and gives a long exhalation of a sigh. "We are going to have a long and complicated talk, brother mine, but perhaps this quay is not the best of places. And," he says, with a wary air not unlike someone whose task it is to put a twinkie in a tiger's mouth, "I promised to introduce Paige to our Grandmother. Shall we?"
Sure, the tiger is going to enjoy the twinkie. He might enjoy the man's hand up to the elbow, too.
"That'd be lovely," Paige agrees linking her arm through Ambrose's and offering the other to Brennan.
Ambrose accepts the offer, and together they move towards Clarissa.
Brennan, likewise, links his arm to Paige's and moves toward Clarissa.
Bleys and his mother chat for a bit about inconsequential nothings, mostly seeming to observe the reunion between Fiona and Brita on one hand and the meeting of Brand's sons on the other.
Then Brennan, Paige, and Ambrose come towards Clarissa.
Brita's gesture catches Ambrose's eye. "If you'll excuse me," he says.
Brennan quietly catches Ambrose's eye and says, "Later, brother."
Paige affords her cousin a soft smile and lowered lashes, a promise of speaking later.
When [Brennan] and Paige arrive at Clarissa Proper, the tiger-feeding expression will have vanished, replaced with a much brighter game face. Embracing inevitability, Brennan opens his arms to embrace Clarissa. "Grandmother...." he says. "It's been a long time."
"Too long," says Clarissa, drawing him in. To Reid and Paige, Brennan looks a bit like a four-year-old tolerating the ancient relative who smells of baby powder and perfume long since gone to alcohol covering the smell of false teeth.
It is not unlikely that Paige and Reid know Brennan well enough or are intuitive enough, respectively, to realize that Brennan is really one part that described four-year-old; two parts youth who has, for what it's worth, missed the grand old mother; and three parts man looking now at an older relative of immense power through the eyes of an adult.
Perhaps not unlike a man seeing his grandfather the crime boss for the first time in twenty five years.
Paige watches quietly, expectations and questions bubbling beneath the surface.
When she's done with the inevitable hugging, he will release, straighten up, and, "May I present your grandaughter, Paige, the apple of Bleys' eye."
Bleys gives both of them a wide grin.
Paige bows, a tad bit unbalanced with her new weight, but passable enough. "Grandmother, I've heard so much. I'm thrilled to be here."
Clarissa takes both Paige's hands and draws her in for a hug of her own. "Granddaughter," she says. Then she pulls away to look at Paige's belly. "And the little ones. They're so cute at this age." The Queen bends towards the twins and waves. "Hel-loooo! Hel-looo!"
Bleys is stifling some expression that seems like a cross between amused and appalled.
Brennan is one part bemused, two parts disappointed, and three parts relieved that the Twins didn't answer back...!
If they did, Brennan did not perceive it.
This is perhaps not an entirely bad thing.
Paige chuckles, the idea that Clarissa might actually be speaking with the godlings-in-residence pushed from thought for the moment. "Somehow Father never got across what a wonderful place this is, Grandmother." He gaze encompasses their surroundings only hesitating shortly on Ambrose and Aunt Fiona's group.
Brennan's got nothing to say for the moment while Paige and Clarissa are making acquaintance, so he steps back a pace, gives a brief glance to the other family members at the quay, then spends a little time looking about the area. Anyone watching him watch the area will note that he doesn't let his eys linger in any one place too long, instead darting back and forth, picking details and more details. It's as though he's approaching the geometry of the place from a glancing angle, sneaking up on it in his mind.
If there are obviously living things in sight, besides the redheads and Reid, they're added to Brennan's mental model of this place.
On the far side of the river, Brennan catches sight of the tents of an army. The beings that compose it he sees little of, but they are bronze, and move in ways that are not entirely human.
These would be the infamous Bronze Legions, then. Brennan gives them some visual attention, trying as best he can to evaluate them, as either enemies or allies.
There's not a lot of detail that Brennan can see at this distance. There is something wrong with how far they are from the group, as if space has been warped somehow between here and there.
The geometry of the castle is best described as non-Euclidean. While it appears to stand on the ground where the family now stands, its vertical planes are not all perpendicular to the ground. There are people of sorts--mostly other beings--that occasionally appear on the walkways.
Brennan does not let the non-euclidean nature of the place disturb him any more than absolutely necessary. Instead, given enough time, he will make less glancing approaches to the geometry, trying to observe and accept without forcing it into a geometry he might otherwise prefer. If he reaches a limit, at least he will know how much of the place he can comprehend at a glance. For now.
There is an honor guard of grackleflints waiting to escort the queen and her guests back to the castle.
The 'Flints receive a cool stare, at best. How many?
The 'flints ignore it. There are a half-dozen of them.
"Tell me," Clarissa says to Paige, "When do you plan to give birth? And when can I expect to meet their father?"
"It all depends on Uncle Julian's war in Arden, I fear, meeting Daeon that is," Paige explains. A thought occurs and she comments, "You may have already met him, Grandmother. He's the son of Uncle Julian, and had the honor of attending Grandfather's funeral.
"As to when, well, it's something that Aunt Fiona had wished to speak with you on. The only answer I can give you truthfully is that it will be much sooner than I expected."
Clarissa gives Paige a look, as if this were a strange answer to her, and starts to speak, but Bleys cuts her off. "I'm sure you'll have time for all that feminine chatter late in our visit. But let's wait until after dinner. Don't want to put Brennan off his feed, you know."
A beaming smile from the hostess lights on the aforementioned grandson. "Of course. Shall we walk up now?"
Paige smiles, more than happy to continue inside.
Brennan answers by offering his arm to Clarissa as escort. (Whether Paige wants to take the other side of Clarissa or the other side of Brennan, or the other side of no one, is all fine. If the other side of Brennan, he offers her the other arm.)
Ambrose breaks off from the group and comes to meet them. He waits for Brita to make the introductions.
"Cousin Ambrose, my Mother, the Princess Fiona, and my Brother, Lord Conner." Brita smiles with the introductions, but the tilt of her head may indicate that she is smiling at Clarissa's greetings to the littlest redheads.
Ambrose takes Fiona's hand and bows over it. "It is my pleasure to meet you at last, Aunt. My father spoke highly of you."
Fiona smiles at Ambrose, her gaze measuring him. "And I am pleased to meet his son. We have many things to discuss, nephew."
Ambrose then turns to Conner, offering his hand. "I'm also pleased to meet you, cousin."
"And I you." Conner grins taking his hand. "Our first brief encounter left no time for conversation."
"No, it didn't. Something we'll have to rectify," Ambrose says. He offers Conner a smile of his own. To Brita it seems that dealing with Fiona and Conner is much less nerve-wracking than dealing with Brennan for Ambrose.
Fiona catches her daughter's eye, as if she knows what Brita is thinking and is amused by it.
Brita winks back at her mother [and is ready for the thread to move forward]
Last modified: 7 January 2004