As morning makes its way into Rebma, it finds Signy finishing a long vigil at forge in the back of the shop.
She's not quite sure how she ended up there. The last thing she really remembers is the breakup of the Family meeting, with Ambrose's casual, off-hand remark tossed out there to sit out there in full view of everyone. She suppresses yet another momentary flash of irritation at him just tossing that out, as she finishes the last quenching of the dagger that she had spent the night crafting.
She pulls the blade back out and eyes her work. The blade doesn't reflect much light, a dull grey sheen that just seems to kill the light that does reach it. Much in the same way that the glances that she occasionally caught from him over the years as he taught her slowly withered away and stopped, especially after the conflicts between her and Weyland became more overt, more confrontational.
She looks at the edge, razor-sharp, a mean curving expanse that ends abruptly but more than capable of slipping between someone's ribs to reach their heart. She wonders if there was something similar happening those years when she was locked away at her father's whim, that kept Brother Tomat coming by the door to her quarters where she was locked away. He never really spoke, or made any overt noises, but he was out there. Just how she knew when he had come by she wasn't too sure, but she knew he did. She supposed the visits stopped when her father sent him back to the Order.
She rolls her shoulders, stretching muscles cramped from the night at the forge.
An ugly blade, for an ugly mood.
She slips behind a wooden partition, and quickly changes into a fresh set of clothes that she leaves here, and works on putting away the traces of her night. She looks at the dagger, before slipping it into a plain leather sheath and then tucking that into the small of her back, held in place by a plain leather belt.
Both Edan and Tomat should arrive shortly -- she dispatched pages last night to find them both and ask them to meet her here right around now. She quickly grabs some bread and cheese and sets it out on a table. Plain fare, but she also doesn't think that people will much feel like eating, either.
Edan arrives, wearing the trunks and belt that are so common in Rebma. It reinforces just how thin and spare he is, as if all the water were burned out of him long ago. That, and his cinnamon-brown skin, look completely out of place here. He wears no weapons. He inclines his head in greeting, and moves to seat himself at the table. "Cousin. Thank you for arranging this."
A few minutes later, Tomat shows up. He has also adjusted to Rebman clothing: he's wearing shorts and a shirt-like thing that's made mostly of metallic chains in a fine gauge with large opening, so it's light, and looks mostly like a large piece of metallic cloth with a hole in it for Tomat's head. There's a belt holding it around his waist. It drags a bit in air, but Signy and Edan can see how it would drag less than a cloth shirt in the waters of Rebma.
"Am I late?" he asks Signy. "I'm sorry." He looks to Edan, whom he does not appear to recognize. "I'm Tomat," he adds by way of introduction.
Edan stands and extends a hand, though the act is still uncomfortable for him. "I am Edan. Bleysson. I have asked my cousin Signy if I may speak with you."
Signy offers a brief smile of encouragement. "There are some questions that have come up about the Order, and we were hoping you offer some answers based on your time there."
"I'll be glad to help however I can. What questions do you have? I was involved with negotiating with agreed petitioners when I left the Order. I never was raised any higher in the Order's strategic counsels, so there are many things I don't know." Tomat looks from Signy to Edan and back again. "But I will tell you anything I do know, gladly. The Order will have named me an enemy for leaving with Marius; I have no reason to keep their secrets now."
"I am sorry that a powerful organization has named you enemy, but I was kind of hoping it would be like that. There are many things I would like to learn." Edan doesn't know how well Tomat reads people, but he suspects he's about to find out; he deliberately relaxes his own body language, or tries to. "There are things you will not know. There are things you do. There are things you might suspect. I would learn all of them. The Order has attracted our attention, lately, and I will share the circumstances with you, but I think it best if we started at the beginning. How did the Order start? What are its connections to the Paresh, who once dwelt in Amber?"
Tomat has to think about the answers to those questions for a moment before answering. "The Order dates to the ancient of days. Legend has it that the Order was originally sponsored by Oberon of Amber, but I don't know whether that's true, or whether that was an ancestral order of monks of whom Klybes, the founder of our Order, was once a member. The Order is tied to many religious foundations across shadow. I don't know the Paresh in particular, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn the Order had ties to them, or even received reports from them. The Order has wanted eyes and ears in Amber ever since Oberon banned the religious from the city."
Signy silently lets out a breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding.
"If Oberon sponsored the Order originally, what is their take on why they ended up getting caught up in the ban?"
Edan smiles at Signy. "It is almost exactly what I was thinking. An organization, it is not just created from air. It has a dogma. A belief. A goal. A...purpose. What was its purpose, at the beginning? If the man who sponsored them banned them, how did that purpose change?"
"With all due respect, my life is not so long that I could answer that question well, sir." Tomat looks at Edan curiously. "I would think the princes of Amber would know better why their father banned the religious orders, but that was many centuries ago. I do know that members of the royal family were welcome in our company of old. Legend has it that Prince Osric's wife, Princess Pastoral, was among them, and she died long before the banning.
"If I had to guess based on what I do know, the old Orders all have played the Game of Thrones, as the princes were wont to do. Both of you know the rules of that game as well as anyone: you win or you die."
Edan looks like he was about to ask about something else, but now he pinches the bridge of his nose as if he's getting a headache. "Osric was Reid's father," he says for Signy's benefit, "and I am willing to wager Pastoral was his mother. Tomat, the Order has our cousin Reid's body. Was he a member?"
Signy nods slowly at Edan's question, before giving Tomat an encouraging look. "And was there anyone else in the Family that they had ties to?"
Tomat looks back and forth between Signy and Edan, frowning as he picks through the pieces of his memory, rumors and legends.
"I know some of the Princes were in the martial orders. Legend has it that one of the sons of Oberon attempted to become a religious and was removed from the succession for his trouble. That might have been a part of the banning if it's true." He pauses to pick back through what he's been asked. "I don't know Reid, nor do I know a brother by that name. Sometimes people change their names when they join, though. If there's an image, I might recognize him, but--" and his voice is troubled here "--I didn't know everyone. There were many brothers who didn't come to the Chapter House."
Edan clears his throat. "Well, that's one small thing we may can settle. I know what Reid looks like, at least." With a cheese knife and a hunk of cheese, he rapidly whittles a likeness.
Tomat watches Edan work at the cheese sculpture until a likeness is completed. "As best I can say from this, I don't know or recognize him."
Edan nods his acceptance. "Very good. Let me switch, then, to the question of communication. I am under the impression that the Klybesian Order is spread out across shadow, yes? A Chapter here. An army there. A body here. How are they communicating? We are aware that the Order has taken possession of Trumps. I was not aware that such things could be used outside of Family."
"Most of the Order's communication is sorcerous, or messages delivered by the brethren in person, either along the Shadow paths or through place Cards," Tomat explains. "Only the most senior brethren I've ever seen have the Cards--Trumps as you call them--and not many of those. The cards they have are always of places, and not of the Order's sanctuaries. Just places close by. Anyone can use such cards, though I'm told that it's easier for those who have even the slightest touch of Amber blood, no matter how thin it runs."
Signy's eyes narrow slightly, though her voice remains mild. "Were there many who had Amber blood in the Order, do you know?"
Edan nods his agreement. "And these cards- if you were fortunate enough to see one used by someone in the Order, I'd be interested in knowing what the backs of the cards looked like."
"I've seen a couple of them, over time, in the hands of the seniors like Father Sebastian. They weren't consistent. The backs, that is." Tomat looks at Edan, then at Signy, then back to Edan. "They probably were gathered over time. As in, centuries of time."
He turns his full attention back to Signy. "Most of us have some distant Amber blood. It runs thin in most of the brethren, but if you want to ascend to any kind of higher rank, you must have enough to perform sorcery."
Edan nods again, and switches gears. "Do you know of a Klybesian monk known as the Turcopolier?"
"I'm not acquainted with the brother who holds that office, but I know what he does. He's the seniormost of the brothers who deals with the branches militant. Now they're mostly mercenaries," Tomat explains, "but there was a time centuries ago when we had martial priests among the Klybesians and we were closely associated with knightly orders.”
He’s still mostly looking at Signy.
Edan leans forward. "Now, that's interesting. These militant branches, they would still take direction from the Order, yes? This Turcopolier has Trumps that I need returned. I don't think a polite request will be sufficient incentive."
Signy returns his gaze calmly.
"And what was the relationship between the Turcopolier and the militant arm and my father?"
Tomat is still looking at Signy, so it's her question he answers first. "He did business with your father on behalf of the Order. I don't know all of the terms of the bargain, only that I was sent to train you in Sorcery and anything else you might need to know as part of it." Then he turns his attention back to Edan.
"The militant branches have, as I said, mostly failed, but there are still warriors, mercenaries if nothing else, who follow the Turcopolier and act on the Order's behalf. Sometimes a condotta captain will come to the Order with a request and bind himself for a time as part of his own bargain. In other cases, the Turcopolier hires them outright for a price from the treasury. True Knights militant are rare, though many of the brothers have a little sword or staff training, or a little martial magic. It's too useful not to have some of one or both."
Edan nods his understanding. "They are the place I must go, then. One more question: if this man, this Turcopolier, could be said to have a permanent place of residence, where would I find it?"
Tomat closes his eyes briefly. "The office attends the Father Superior, but our--" he pauses, and then emphasizes 'their'. "...their leaders may never see each other until it's time to elect a replacement for a dead officer.
"If you wish to find him, he is where the Order is fighting." Tomat glances at Edan. "You might do well to consult the Bronze Legion."
Signy frowns slightly. "What is the relationship like between the Order and Chaos?"
Edan smiles. He looks a lot like Bleys when he does so. "I can answer part of that, since I have already been to see the Bronze Legions," he says. "They say the Order wishes to recruit them for their strength and their abilities. The relationship might be somewhat strained, however, since they claim the Order raided a group of them to obtain the deck of Trumps I was looking for. Sent them back to the Mountain, they said. It is a... somewhat... dismal place."
"The Turcopolier conducts 'independent diplomacy'--" a phrase that Tomat doesn't air- or water-quote, but the way he says it suggests something of the same meaning "--so I can't be entirely surprised. A deck of Trumps is a valuable prize. It's exactly the kind of thing all parties--the Bronze Legion, the Order, anyone with cross-Shadow interests--would try to claim by force.
"Not that I'm asking for myself or the Order, but what price do you think such a treasure would fetch? Even if the Order meant to trade it away to a rebel Prince, or someone like your father, Signy, you can both understand the value of the deck."
Edan's smile starts to fade. "More than they anticipated, I am afraid," he says. "because I have been tasked with getting it back. The question then becomes, 'what would they take for it?' or in extremis, 'how much trouble will we be avoiding by returning said item?' I do not think the Order would have wanted to draw the Family's attention this way."
Signy gives a thoughtful frown.
"What would the Order have, though, that would get such a prize as a Deck? Would they be in a position to threaten to take such a thing?"
Tomat considers that, and frowns at what he comes up with. "Depends on who had it. I wouldn't put it past them if they thought they could get away with it. As for what they have--they collect things and knowledge, and have been collecting them for centuries from across Shadow. They're owed a lot of favors. Sometimes they exchange those.
"I helped them make bargains, but only for knowledge. Nothing so rich as a deck. The Order likes to say they bargain fairly, but they come in with an advantage. Anyone who seeks them out has already demonstrated that they'll go to a great deal of effort to obtain what they desire from the Order."
"They had to know we would come after a deck of Trumps," Edan says. "If it's that rich a prize to them, if they're that desperate to keep it, I don't see this ending well." He sits up. "Then again, there are still questions to be answered about cousin Reid."
Signy pauses, considering both Tomat's reply and Edan's.
"Surely The Order had to know given who they were...interacting with, that there were good odds that they'd get on someone's bad side. What were their plans for when that happened?"
"Wait until Amber's fit of temper blows over?" Tomat shrugs. "Losing one chapter house to a prince's fit of pique isn't that terrible of a blow to the Order at large. If the King wants that deck, he can be brought to the negotiating table for something the Order wants."
"That's a bold plan," Edan says, "but risky. You've described the best case scenario for the Order. Let me describe another one. The King decides the insult is too much to bear. One or more of us are sent to systematically dismantle and destroy the Klybesian Order until it is decided the price of a deck of Trumps is too high." His head tilts. "That is, under the best case scenario for Family. But we have many enemies who have made their appearance, neh? Why waste our strength on the Klybesians when there are so many others ready to take advantage of our distraction? The Order would know this. It might even have been planned that way." He leans forward, and his alien eyes lock with Tomat's. "Especially if the Order had made alliance with one or more of Amber's old enemies."
Tomat is silent for some long moments, in a way that Signy associates with an internal struggle to find the right words to answer one of her own difficult questions. He does not look away from Edan, though, he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "If I understand Amber's history aright, and forgive me if I am wrong, or impertinent, but I speak of things as the Order sees them--the worst enemies Amber has are its own Princes, are they not? I speak not merely of the bitter politics of the court here, though the legends say that would be enough to derail or distract from the sort of effort it would take to get rid of the Order. But also, how many times has a Prince of Amber rebelled outright against the Crown? How many are in exile, or otherwise missing, now? Can you be sure all of them are truly loyal to Amber, and couldn't be swayed by what the Order could offer?"
Signy nods soberly.
"Did the Order have other arrangements with members of our Family, like the one you had with my father?"
Edan nods in agreement with Signy's question.
Tomat shakes his head in the negative. "Not to my knowledge--but given that I was deeply involved in the arrangement with your father, I doubt I would have been told more. I can't imagine that none of your aunts or uncles or cousins had come to the Order before Marius did, though. Especially if they had something that they wanted badly."
Edan nods his understanding of the response, but he doesn't look happy. Rather the opposite, as he internally follows several lines of reasoning to their logical conclusions. "I thank you for your candor," he finally says. "Now you know that the Order has possession of a deck of Trumps, and may or may not still have possession of cousin Reid's body. We're going to be wanting them back, and there will be those of us who will want the Order to answer for it. You already have heard or seen what the Family is capable of, when roused. Knowing this, do you have anything you would like to share, some form of advice, perhaps, along those lines?"
Tomat thinks about this, and looks to Signy for a long time before returning his gaze to Edan. "Consider these things, which I offer as advice, not as threats: the Order is old and deeply rooted in Shadow. It has many chapters, and exterminating several of them will do nothing to destroy the Order itself. Some of the Brothers are old and powerful in their own right, and the Order has allies and debtors that I know I can't begin to list. Not to mention the resources that they've hoarded across the centuries. I pray you, do not underestimate them."
"The wise man does not underestimate his opponent," Edan agrees. "Such a simple thing, but so often forgotten. I thank you, Tomat, and I will bring your words to the King. I thank you, Cousin, for permitting this interview."
Signy gives Tomat and Edan a thoughtful look. "What or who is at the top of the Order?"
Tomat doesn't bother to look at Edan. "I know there is--was--a bishop above my abbott, and there have been archbishops above that, but I don't know who they are, nor how to find them."
Edan simply watches to see if Signy has a followup for that. His expression is politely quizzical, as if thinking the Order sounds more like a collection of spy cells than a quasi-religious bureaucracy.
Signy pauses for a minute, considering what he's said.
"There were never any visits from the higher-ups to check on the Order? All organizations have politics. There were no brothers that would discuss the policies or...foibles of the higher-ups, or who the next bishop or abbot would be?"
Tomat shook his head. "The only time I ever saw the bishop, and that briefly, was when I was sent to your father. Sometimes we thought he must have come, because the abbott was not at dinner. I know there were other abbotts because I saw the abbott's volumes of letters from them and was told what they were, and of the possibility that I would be sent to another House of the Order when I completed my duties on the Plain.
"Now as for speculation about the next abbott, that was constant, but only among ourselves. The abbott had been in charge for many years, though he didn't seem to age as quickly as some of the other Brothers did. And some of the more--accomplished?--Brothers seemed as if they might be likely candidates to take his place if he were elevated."
Edan bows his head; when he lifts it again, he is using the Third Eye, something he wasn't willing to do before. He's mostly checking to see if Tomat has some form of geas upon him to prevent talking. He also will be looking to see if Tomat already has his own Third Eye open.
"The Order sounds less and less like a sacred organization and more and more like a spy group," he says. "No central dogma? No one knows who's in charge? The Chapters are far removed and half-hidden in Shadow? The problem with this cell structure is that they're not very effective unless someone has good communication with the boss. Or bosses. Otherwise, they're all off doing their own thing and working against one another."
He leans forward. "Perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions. Let's start simply. What was the name of your local Abbott? Where in Shadow is your Chapter located? A detailed description of the place and the environs would be sufficient."
Signy lets Edan speak, though she doesn't seem happy with what she's gotten in reply from Tomat.
"Did anyone in the Order remember Abbots other than the one you had? Was he promoted from the Order, or did he just arrive one day?"
Tomat is, Edan is certain, a sorceror of some power in his own right. He has some minor enchantments on his person, but they're all protective or of some miscellaneous use (for instance, one of his carrying pouches is larger on the inside). He does not appear to have any imposed sorcery or enchantment on his person. Nor does he appear to be using his own Third Eye at the moment.
He considers this round of questions. "Our purpose, our dogma if you will, is that we must gather knowledge. Because the order of the universe must be known, to perfect ourselves and make ourselves as the Unicorn would have us be. The Order itself must bargain for knowledge because some of it is deliberately hidden and obscured, not least by the scions of Amber. To the extent that they keep the secrets of the universe to themselves, they are inherently enemies of the Order. Do you see?" He pauses there for an answer before going on to the other matters Edan and Signy have questioned him about.
Edan nods. "I understand. In many ways, the Order are like marids."
Signy's eyes blink twice, before narrowing slightly in thought.
"Does the Order believe in Fate?" She asks him this quietly, but still stresses the word, makes it more of a real thing than an abstract concept.
"The Order believes in the Unicorn's power," Tomat says, looking at Signy. "But it also believes that there are those who oppose it. There's no guarantee that the Unicorn's way will prevail. It's why, or at least one reason why, the Order struggles as it does." He doesn't ask if that's what she means, but his voice is a little uncertain.
It takes him a moment to pull his eyes away from Signy and turn his attention back to Edan. "Why do you say the Order is like the marids?" It's a simple question; Tomat doesn't seem insulted by the comparison, nor unclear on what marids are.
"The marids I know are information brokers," Edan says. "They will go to great lengths, sometimes offering themselves into long service, in order to procure knowledge. Of all the djann, they are the most patient, and the most open to barter. The djinn are too capricious, the dao too secretive, and the afriti," he smiles a little at this, "too full of pride."
"The Order has dealt with the marids," Tomat says, nodding his agreement with Edan's assessment. "I can see the likeness when you put it that way."
Signy maintains a thoughtful look at Tomat's last couple of answers.
"If the Order is concerned about perfecting ourselves according to the Unicorn's wishes, how do they view the Unicorn's children and grandchildren?"
Tomat doesn't hesitate on this answer. "There are things you and yours know--or that the Order thinks you know--that you're withholding from the rest of the universe. The Order wants to know what they are. Once, sorcery was known only to the princes of Amber, but the Order learned it from your family in ages long past. The Order means to do the same with the rest of your secrets."
Edan sits back. "The Order deals in information, neh? If someone wants something the Order has, they must go to the Order and offer something in return. Has the Order not tried this tack with Family?"
Signy takes a deep breath.
"Take my Father -- was I the price for the Order, or the prize?"
Tomat shakes his head, rejecting the implications of Signy's question. "My service as your tutor in sorcery was the price he claimed for some service your father did for the Order, or something he created for them. I don't know what the other part of the exchange was. Nobody ever told me. But I was the one sent in exchange. Never you."
Edan sits and listens and politely waits.
Signy shakes her head. "It seems like the opportunity to get in close to one of the Family, especially one that was young, and teach them would not be something that the Order would have that much of a problem with. I don't see my father considering that to be a good price for one of his favors."
She leaves unsaid the thought that the Order would not have just sent someone out to such a role without any supervision or...other orders.
Tomat shakes his head again. "The price of tutoring in true sorcery is not cheap. Apart from the other work a sorceror could do for the Order over the time that it takes to train a young woman to learn the skills and disciplines. There aren't so many of us out there, save in the royal family of Amber, who can teach it. And your father was either unwilling or unable to go back to them.
"The Order wouldn't have been sorry to use me against you, one way or another, in due time." Tomat looks Signy straight in the eye. "But I was given no order with respect to you other than to teach, to learn about you, and to earn your trust. That I was spied upon to the extent the Order could manage is something of a given. But I obeyed the charge I was given, and did no more. I didn't understand until afterwards how they might use you, not until I saw how they meant to use Marius, and then when I had the chance, I fled from the Order."
"How they were going to use him when he came to the Order with Dierdre's ring?" She doesn't disguise the surprise in her voice. "What were their plans?"
"And how did they manage to spy on you in a place where a Sorcerous method could so easily be circumvented?" Edan asks.
"I don't know. I don't know the answer to either of those questions." Tomat stretches his hand across his face for a moment in a long gesture that ends with his fingers and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. "But your father is a smith and a maker of items of power." That term seemed almost to merit a spoken capitalization. "Even apart from commissions of their own, there are many ways they could use him, and the knowledge he must have, to their benefit.
"As for spying--I assume there are secrets I was not privy to. One of them would be how to spy on people like me. Sorcery is one of the Order's skills, but not the only one."
"I am pretty much out of questions," Edan says, "but one thing caught my attention. The Order believes in, well, Order. And the Unicorn's power, as you said. Did that come directly from the Unicorn, some time in the past? Or, perhaps, translated from some individual, some prophet, who claimed to speak the Unicorn's will?"
Signy's eyes harden slightly at Tomat's immediate contradiction of what he had just said, but holds for his answer to Edan.
"The original texts were taken from the Church of the Unicorn. The one in Amber that was suppressed. The inner secrets of the Church live on in the Order, expanded." Tomat is still watching Signy, and his tone grows uncertain.
Edan was expecting some weird vibe between Tomat and Signy here, considering what he heard yesterday, but Tomat sounds nervous at times Edan doesn't expect. He looks back and forth between the two, trying to figure it out.
Signy's voice hardens slightly, and Weyland starts to creep into her voice ever so slightly.
"So you had no choice but to flee the Order because of how they were going to use Marius, but you don't actually know how they were going to use him?"
She locks Tomats eyes with her own and crosses her arms, waiting on his reply.
Stung, Tomat leans forward, not dropping his gaze from Signy's. "I didn't need to know exactly what they were going to do with him to know it was going to be terrible. They didn't mean to recruit him. They meant to use him, and he didn't bring much other than himself to offer. If he'd brought an army, or a blade of power, or some special skill or power like your father's, it might have been different. They might have been afraid of him. But he came as a suppliant, alone, and he’s not one of the princes of legend. You've traveled with him. You know what I mean."
"So the Order made Marius a sacrifice for Huon's benefit. Or gave him to Gateway to do the same. You can be damned sure Marius will have an army now. And he won't be looking to trade the Order information with it. Are you aware of what was done to him?" It is decidedly warmer around Edan now.
Signy leans towards Edan slightly but continues to hold Tomat's gaze. "It sounds like the Order is nothing so much as a threat in the Shadows, and our choices are to either hunt them down like rabid dogs, or always have to worry that they'll be around every corner looking to pick us off one by one."
She shifts her attention back to Tomat. "You may not have known exactly, but it sounds like you may have a bit of an idea as to what they may have been capable of." Her voice is quiet, but Weyland is still lurking in her tone.
"I don't know what you want me to say." Tomat still hasn't dropped his gaze. "I know I don't know all the secrets of the Order, any more than you know all the secrets of Amber. Do you have to know everything your elders can do to know when they mean to do something terrible? You know the legends of your father--how true are they? Would you trust him not to abuse someone who had something he wanted very much? If not, why do you tax me for doing the same?"
Signy sighs slowly and looks away for a moment, thinking, before turning back to Tomat. "I may not know what he is going to do, but I can make some guesses, at least as to what he is looking to get."
She sighs again.
"What was the Order afraid of?"
To Edan, it seems that this conversation is equally exhausting for Tomat.
Tomat's reply, when it comes, is halting; he's pondering his words carefully. "As the Order? Very little in the short term. In the longer term, that the house of Amber would do as you've suggested and hunt them down, before they obtain the mystical knowledge that will perfect them. As individuals--the Order breaks all ties of family, precisely so no one can be influenced by threats. But every man, every sorcerer, has desires and dreams, and equally fears that can be exploited. No man wants to die. No man wants to see his dreams destroyed. No man wants to have his chance at perfection destroyed."
"Some of the Family believed enough in it to join, if Pastoral is among them," Edan says. He looks over to Signy to see if she has anything to add about Weyland's plans.
Signy shakes her head in the negative in response to Edan's unspoken query. "I thought I had a handle on him, but after finding out about Dierdre and the Family and the Pattern, I'm at a loss for the moment as to what his goals were."
Especially with her is left unsaid.
"How many in the Order know of Amber, and of the Order's designs?"
"Everyone knows of Amber, and everyone knows that we strive to become perfect. The details of how we will perfect ourself are inner secrets of the Order, and we learn more as we increase in power and usefulness. And loyalty." Which part Tomat explains with resignation, finally dropping his gaze from Signy. "This is why I only know so much. After my time with your father, my loyalty was--not exactly in question, but considered to require confirmation and refreshment. I would still be in the Order's chapterhouse, with no hope of moving onward, had I not fled with Marius."
"Seems wasteful that the Order would send you on such a task, and then shelve you after it was finished," Edan says. "You never did tell me where this Chapterhouse was located."
Signy still seems genuinely surprised at Tomat's words. "And what happened that caused the Order to view you this way?"
"I don't know exactly. They made it out to be a standard procedure, but I knew it was a punishment. Or--if not a punishment, an unusual method of handling matters." Resentment colors his tone. "I might have expected to be sent on another assignment, or even to a different chapter house. But I was not, and was given no sign that I should expect a change."
Tomat stops there and turns his attention back to Edan. "But you asked where the Chapter House was located." He gives a description of the paths he used to go to the Plain of Towers--natural paths, apparently--a description that rings true to Signy.
Signy looks at Edan and nods in agreement to Tomat's directions.
She pauses then as the implications of his response to her sinks in. "Does this mean you know where other Chapterhouses are, or that there's couriers that move between the Chapterhouses?"
"I know some names, though I don't have accurate rutter directions to all of them. I do know the Abbott sent messengers to them through secret means that were kept in the depths of the mountain." Tomat seems uncertain of something about that last answer; not as though he's lying, just as if he doesn't understand the means that he's discussing.
Edan rises. "Again, thank you, Tomat," he says. "And you, cousin, for allowing me to ask questions. I will pass along what I have heard to Random. If you think of more, please send it along to him."
Signy rises as well. "Thank you, cousin. If the King has other questions he wants to ask, please let us know."
She doesn't look at Tomat, but also doesn't seem like she's quite ready to leave the shop yet, either.
Tomat rises with Edan, as the interview appears to be over—but then Signy does not immediately dismiss him and he’s left awkwardly standing as Edan departs.
As the door closes behind Edan, Signy finally allows herself to exhale deeply, her shoulders slumpling slightly.
"Thank you for doing this," she says as she turns back to Tomat. "That couldn't have been easy."
Tomat is still standing, a bit at sea after the length and depth (and breadth) of the discussion, or really, the interrogation. "It was necessary," he says after a moment. "If I am to prove my trustworthiness. The Order is opposed to your family, so I must prove that I have no more loyalty to them. Which is difficult to do when so much has been concealed from me, so that I cannot divulge it to you." His expression is tight.
"I am sorry about the death of your kinsman."
Signy nods distractedly.
"Thank you, though I never met him. His death did hit some of the others in the Family hard, though."
Her cheeks puff out slightly as she exhales.
"I have to leave Rebma briefly, to attend to something in Shadow, so I hope that this answered any questions that there were at least about where you stand in all of this."
She looks at him soberly.
"I do want to ask with Edan not here, though, if the reason you fell into disfavor with the Order had anything to do with me," she asks, not unkindly.
Tomat has an impulse to look away from Signy, which he visibly quells, so he's looking in the eye when he answers her. "I believe the Abbott may have decided I was likely to act in your interest if a conflict arose with the Order. I had spent long enough in the Plain of Towers, away from the brethren, that it was a concern." He shouldn't have to swallow thickly in Rebma, but Tomat does.
Signy swallows the question on the tip of her tongue for the moment.
"For you to leave with Marius makes it seem like there was no way to repair that bridge."
She pauses for a second, before continuing the thought she does voice.
"And was the Abbot expecting there to be a conflict?"
"Not that I know of. But I wouldn't, would I?" Tomat's smile is a little bitter. "So I must assume that they expected one, in the future, in the near enough term that my loyalty would be an issue. Or that I would tell you something that would redound to their discredit, or make life otherwise difficult for them. A prophecy that turned out to be self-fulfilling."
Signy shakes her head in confusion. "And they did nothing to try and bring you back into the fold?"
Tomat shifts restlessly. "They brought me back to the Chapter House and immersed me in the work, in the company of my brethren. I could obtain and use all the knowledge that I had lost--had missed--in my time on the Plain of Towers. I was given responsibility and access instead of freedom."
Signy sighs.
"I don't like having to leave now, but I have to go with Ambrose to look at something for him and unfortunately I won't be able to bring you or Red Fox Claws."
She pinches the bridge of her nose briefly, thinking that she might just be ready to see if she can go back into her father's Tower.
"Maybe it would be helpful if you could start writing down details about the Abbey and life in the Order, in case the details mean something to others," she suggests. "I should be back soon, and then we can see where things are at."
She looks at Tomat to try and gauge how he takes being left behind.
Not well, but not terribly. "If you think that wise. Obviously you must go where you will, or are bid by the Queen. If you wish a diary of my time there, as best I can remember, I will write one.
"As your sworn man, in your absence, I am under the protection of the Queen, am I not?" Tomat sounds a little worried about this. Apparently being questioned has rattled him more than he was willing to let on. "And Fox Claws as well?" he asks, not entirely as an afterthought.
Signy nods to the last.
"I will be making sure to remind her as well before I leave. She is a good person, and I trust her wisdom."
She gives him a reassuring smile.
"Besides, you can always point to your tutelage of the kids here at the smithy as your pennance for any misdeeds," she offers up drily.
The reassurance seems to do some good for Tomat; at least he's not as nervous about the idea as he had seemed. Or at least he's putting on a good front.
"I will continue to work with them, then, and await your return."
