Heather Vale

Passing the wounded through from the dragonrider camp, such as it is, to Arden, is a tiring and unpleasant business. All of them, including Marius, are incapable of walking on their own and must be carried through by others.

Aisling, who I'm supposing got shunted all the way through, helping to carry the wounded, does her best to look around at Ygg, and smiles at the various members of the family who have collected there, before vanishing again in a rainbow shimmer.

Paige'll help carry if needs be. [They haven't made the man yet that Paige can't carry off to bed...]

On Arden side, the wounded are distributed as necessary to the field hospital tents by the Rangers in attendence.

Once it is through, unless Brita has any last words, Cambina says goodbye and breaks the connection.

As the last wounded come through, Brita notes to Cambina "For future need, Ossian and Paige are also here in Arden now if you have any difficulty getting to me. Vere stayed behind at the castle to coordinate from there. I do not have a trump of him, but believe Ossian will have a sketch or two."

Paige will help in the hospital again. It's where she was on Sundering Day, she did this during the War of Northern Aggression, it just seems like it's where she would be today. She's available by Trump, both Martin and Merlin should have copies.

While saying Julian is anxious to be done would be incorrect, he is apparently aware of the limitations of the situation and would prefer to be free to act in a way he isn't while engaged in this chain. After passing Aisling, Flora, and Ce'e through, he bids Jerod farewell.

Jerod does the same, offering good tidings for a safe (and uneventful) trip. And he reminds Julian of that storytelling when he gets back. He'll be sure to have something suitable for drinking to go with it.

[GMs]
Since a couple of people seem to have been unclear on where the wounded people ended up (my bad), let me issue a clarification: they are carried through/passed through all the way into Arden, where there is a field hospital.

Flora is passing all the way through to Arden.

Aisling may choose to stay with the group at Ygg, or may go all the way through to Arden. Ce'e will accompany her wherever she goes. (Madeline?)

This might also be a good time for introductions and descriptions for those who haven't met or seen each other yet.

[Reid]
[Were people passed all the way through, Julian->Jerod->Reid->Cambina->Brita? or was there by default a layover in Ygg? Julian->Jerod/Reid Ygg Cambina->Brita?]

Having finally had a chance to discuss this with my co-GM, we say: there was a layover.

A short layover, but a layover nonetheless.

Well, then!

Aisling, stepping through, offers a quiet "Thank you," to Jerod. Then she glances around, smiling at the people clustered around the tree, and looking particularly happy to see Martin and Merlin (and Corwin). "Martin! Merlin! Corwin!" she greets them. "Have the others already gone through to Amber?"

[GMs]
Not long enough of a layover for a conversation either. Chuck was asking about direct transit in terms of the Trump process; the way this works for you is that Julian hands you through to Jerod (and Reid), who passes you to Cambina, who passes you through to Brita.

Having chosen to pass through all the way with the wounded, Aisling will get a brief glimpse of the others at Ygg, but will not have time to speak to them.

[Jerod]
It would appear that since Cambina ended the connection with Brita that there were some remaining at Ygg (which doesn't cause Jerod a problem, he's got things he wants to do...:)...so assuming that is the case Aisling and company would see Jerod only for a moment as he pulls them through.

Her impression of him is a tall man with a lean build and long dark brown hair that falls to his shoulders. He is wearing dark colored riding clothes, primarily black but with just a little bit of gold trimming. He smiles politely as he brings the people through but his expression is very focussed, intent upon the task and its successful completion. Assuming a moderate to high perception, Aisling would have the perception that Jerod can be very direct in his behaviour, perhaps impatient. But there is none of the classic nervousness that might accompany those characteristics (meaning he's probably fairly confident in his own abilities and has few doubts about things).

The empty space on the left wearing no clothes is Adonis. :-)

Aisling appears. About 5'8", graceful, looking competant in a practical-yet-sharp black outfit... With six kind of curving velvety royal purple streamers appearing from behind her, and lavender blond-streaked hair. She looks alertly around the whole area, and then smiles at the people present (and it may be particularly bright to Paige and Solange) and checks to see how her affine, appearing behind her, seems to be doing.

Solange quickly masters her initial surprise at this dramatic-looking newcomer, and returns the smile. She, herself, is looking more practical than stylish; she is about the same height as Aisling, with blonde hair in a single thick braid down her back, and is wearing jodphurs, brown boots, and a dusty-green leather jerkin over a golden-yellow linen shirt.

Paige stands just a couple of inches taller than Solange and Aisling. Her deep red hair is pulled back with combs and then gathered into a golden net, Her hazel eyes smile back at Aisling and the outfit, momentarily like a carnivore questioning how many bite dinner might me, and just as quickly gone again. She's dressed in an emerald green split riding skirt and matching bodice over a ivory silk blouse. As soon as she started helping move troops, she discarded the matching riding jacket, after taking something from its pocket. Riding boots show under the skirt, and if the outfit is marred by any of the work she's thrown herself into, sh doesn't seem to notice.

Ce'e is over 6', and appears pretty much human. Not particularly a looker, though. heheheh Perhaps a bit queasy.

Folly sees the arrival from her spot near the medical tents. "Looks like the wounded are here," she says to the Ranger nearest her. Then she catches sight of Aisling and grins like she's found her long-lost sister. She bounds over just in time to catch Aisling's introduction.

Ossian rises from the stone/chair/whatever he's sitting on (as mentioned before he has been making sketches of Folly), and follows her to greet the newcomers. His eyes take in Aisling, Ce'e and Flora; Ossian seems to be making some kind of desicion about each of them.

[ooc comments: Folly and maybe Paige would recognise the look in Ossians eyes as the one he gets when seeing a new painting or sculpture. His judgement: Ossian ponders over Aisling for a short while but seems to decide to like what he sees. Ce'e seems to please him less. Flora: Ossian will always appreciate beauty.]

Unless Ce'e convulses and collapses, or something, Aisling will begin introductions with a merry smile, "Greetings to the forest and those within it. I am Aisling..." slight pause, "Knight-Commander; of the line of Benedict. I am honored to present the Princess Florimel," she bows to Flora, the smile more respectful, "And my affine, Ce'e," pointing this unhappy being out. "I believe I have become in one step the resident expert on these poor souls..." she waves to the wounded, and looks for someone who's together enough to start offloading info onto.

As Aisling comes through she sees a young woman, approximately 6'2" tall in a red, long jacket (trimmed with white fur), brown pants and riding boots. The woman has green eyes and long blond hair plaited into two braids. Her eyes sparkle with excitement. Brita - still in the connection to Cambina - nods at the assembled company and notes briefly "Brita, daughter of Lord Vidar of Asgard and the Princess Fiona," before turning back to the connection.

This elicits a look of startlement from Aisling, necessarily very brief due to the introductions of the others...

[Conner would probably step up at this point for the debrief....]

Solange steps forward. "Welcome, Aisling," she says. She makes a brief curtsy, which looks a little silly in jodphurs, saying, "Princess Florimel," and, then, nodding her head slightly, "Ce'e. I'm Solange, daughter of Prince Gerard. What assistance can we offer?"

Since Solange took care of the rest of the introductions, Paige curtsies also to Flora and introduces herself, "Paige, daughter of Prince Bleys. If no one else has offered it; Welcome home."

"Well met, Aisling. I'm Folly." The petite girl who bounded over a moment ago steps forward and extends her hand to Aisling. "Welcome home." She smiles broadly.

Folly is small, about five feet tall, with pixie-ish features and dark eyes that shine, at present, with amusement. Her dark hair is streaked with purple, and she is dressed casually in beat-up black boots, purple leather pants, a gauzy black shirt -- not tucked in -- and a knee-length grey wool jacket, the style of which is vaguely reminiscent of a Civil War-era military uniform. She has a mandolin slung on a strap over her shoulder.

Aisling finds herself bowing to Solange and Paige and shaking Folly's hand all in a moment, beaming. However, when her eyes meet those of Folly and Paige, she looks deeply touched by the welcomes, more than she expected. "Thank you," she says, and to Solange she answers, "It's more what I can do for you-- I can tell the names and conditions of these men, and fill in their doctors on what's been done so far. The unconscious one with the curly black hair there (she stands on her tiptoes and points over Paige's shoulder) is Marius, Deirdre's son." She glances around the clearing, faintly uneasy, draws breath and asks, "...Has anything interesting happened in Amber while we were gone?"

"Five years' worth," Solange says. "We can fill you in later. Right now, there's wounded people to worry about."

"Five /years/?!" Aisling squeaks. This may the first time in her life she's ever squeaked. She glances around, to see if perhaps Gerard's daughter has some sort of previously-unknown bizzarre sense of humor, but what she sees in the faces of the others does not ease her paleness. She raises her fingers in front of her mouth, and her streamers fold back, and she looks off into the distance, half in shock and half calculating the damage. She obviously had absolutely no idea of the potential for time differential.

Solange looks with interest at the behavior of the streamers.

So does Folly. It hadn't occurred to her before now that they weren't part of the dress. "Too f***ing cool," she says under her breath.

Paige chuckles softly at her violet troubadour.

After she has greeted Aisling, Folly turns and bows to Flora. "Princess Florimel," she says, "it is a pleasure to meet you. Welcome home." Then she turns a concerned eye on the queasy-looking Ce'e and asks, "Can I bring you a cup of water, perhaps, love?"

"Greetings, I'm Ossian. Risking boring repetition I also wish you welcome. You are indeed a severe addition to the appeal of this forest." Ossian bows to the princess, and will, if allowed, kiss the hands of Flora and Aisling.

Aisling seems, not bored, but delighted by the repetition. She lets Flora field the appeal comment, though, since clearly Flora is the more qualified; also, if she can contive to subtly avoid the hand-kissing by being busy bowing and shaking hands, she will do so. Otherwise she will accept graciously.

Ossian understands, and will avoid putting Aisling in the unconfortable situation of being kissed on the hand by him. ;-)

Ossian is slightly over 170 cm tall, with auburn(?) somewhat unruly hair and sincere blue eyes. His body is lean and not overly muscular -perhaps a dancer? In Ossian's right hand is a sketch book and a pencil, and there are paint stains on his hands. The choice of clothes is perhaps a bit impractical; he is wearing black trousers, a plain light blue jacket and a slightly rumpled white shirt, the overmost button unbuttoned. There are some stains on his clothes, but not so much that he appears unclean. Indeed the stains seems to be exactly what is needed to make Ossian fit aesthetically in the camp.

Brita mutters to someone nearby, "What's an affine?"

Folly mutters back, "I think that means that if it was straight in Chaos, it's straight here, too."

Aisling laughs quietly, and with some joy.

Once you have a chance to glance around in Arden, you see a valley stretching out before you. On one side (the North if you are observant enough to notice that), is a fast, deep river. The opposite side of the river seems to be pine strewn foothills leading up to more rocky terrain farther down the valley. The valley itself is covered with purple heather (thus the name) and is sprinkled with a variety of tents and camp grounds.

Several Rangers are assisting in the dispersement of the wounded to the field hospitals. They are all sporting crown emblems on the right sleeves of their "uniforms".

Flora, who has waited until Aisling has finished to answer, has the indulgent but somehow still dazzling smile of Auntie Mame. "Thank you, Paige. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I look forward to becoming acquainted under less trying circumstances."

She looks around. "Solange, I would have thought your father would be here to tend the wounded, but I don't see him. Is he nearby?"

"No, Aunt Florimel, he's back at the castle. It's a pity he can't be here, but the wheelchair is pretty awkward on rough terrain."

Aisling kind of looks at her in added shock, and then just thwumps down to sit on the ground.

Solange looks startled at this, and also a little apologetic. She holds out a hand, offering Aisling assistance in getting up.

She's looking kind of grey, and waves it away also for the moment, needing to be sitting.

"I too look forward to it, Aunt Flora, if I may?" Paige looks a bit in shock at her cousin, but covers it by leading Aisling toward the hospital tent, along with Folly.

"A moment," Aisling mutters, holding up a hand. She looks up at Solange. "The wounded have lasted for quite awhile-- they will hold for a bit longer... What happened to Gerard?" her voice kind of catches.

"About five years ago, when the black rain was falling all over creation, we had an earthquake here. Cousin Cambina says it was a Sundering, and that's what everyone's been calling it, but whatever else it was, it included an earthquake. And an awful lot of the castle fell right on my father. He hasn't been able to walk since then," Solange says. "We've all had five years to get used to it. I have to remember you haven't," she adds.

Aisling absorbs this news for a moment, hand curled around stump-of-hand in front of her lips, streamers with odd little broken angles. Then she stands up in a slow motion, still in shock, but seeing the need to move despite. "Thank you," she says to Solange, wanting to add some title of respect, but not knowing any that are appropriate. She bows to her and Brita and the Princess, granting Flora an "I'm not up to passing on news" look. Then she heads off with Paige and Folly.

Loud enough for Brita and Folly to catch, Paige asks, "Affine? I've heard that term before, from another cousin. In the Courts it's a servant of sorts, isn't it?"

"'Sworn armsman' would be perhaps the closest approximation," Aisling says with a game little smile; Paige has picked a good topic to distract her, but her heart just isn't in it. In return she tries, "Is one of our cousins also a Lord?"

"Most of them are, in fact," Folly replies with a grin, "although I suppose one or two are also Princes, depending on who you ask. And we are properly addressed as Ladies -- but I've always hated being properly addressed."

Aisling looks vaugely surprised to find that Folly, too, is a cousin, but clearly she doesn't want to talk about her lineage casually, so Aisling doesn't bring it up.

Paige, who heard the capital "L", smiles, "I think Aisling was referring to the phrase Lords of the Living Void. I don't know if he styles himself as such, but I'm friends with our cousin Merlin fitz Corwin."

Aisling nods, filing but not analyzing in her present state.

One of the men in the tent that they walk toward stands about 5' 5" wearing a now blood spattered white lab coat over what looks like riding clothes of green and brown. His auburn hair is cut short and he is triaging the wounded and performing small medical procedures here and there. He looks up at the group approaching and flashes them a smile so dazzling you'd think he had lessons in it from Flora.

"That's Conner," Folly says to Aisling while they're still out of range of his hearing. "Hard to believe he's Brita's brother, innit? I guess she got her height from her dad's side, and he... didn't." She grins, fully aware of the irony of making short jokes about someone a good hand taller than herself. "They're both cool, though."

Aisling does a good approximation of her own dazzling smile in return, moving slowly back towards a more normal mode of operation. She's still looking sort of greyish (not literally), and her bandaged right hand seems more noticeable than it was when she arrived.

"Aisling, meet Conner," Folly says as they arrive at the tent. "Conner's the guy you'll want to core dump to about the state of the injured. Conner, meet Aisling -- another cousin from the Purple side of the family." She beams gleefully.

Paige shakes her head, "What will Harmony and her circle do with you two?"

"Die of apoplexy, most likely," Solange says. "I think I ought to charge admission."

"Greetings, Aisling." Conner nods with a smile. "If these are the winners I'd hate to see the other side. When you are ready I could use an update on what happened here."

Aisling smiles and bows.

Conner turns his smile to Flora. "A pleasure to see you once more, Highness." Conner chuckles. "Calling you Aunt just isn't going to sound right for a while."

In that Conner is momentarily distracted from doctor duty by his glorious Aunt, and the situation doesn't seem to be immediately deadly, Aisling asks Paige and Folly, "For what reason has it been decided to put our army in the enclosed space of Heather Vale?"

"We're hoping to be able to manage things better. It's fairly convenient for the supply lines," Paige answers for public consumption.

Brita, having completed the trump contact, comes over to the tent and catches this last question. "There are many reasons, one of which was to ensure we had space for a squad of dragons somewhere that would not terrorize the locals. The King also wanted to ensure we had a location from which we could debrief and disseminate the troops without being constantly barraged by family and others from Amber."

Brita catches sight of Sticks trying to "organize" medical supplies at the far end of the half open tent. "If you will excuse me, Cousins and Brother" (with a flash of a bright smile for Conner because she still can't get over having a _brother_), Brita heads off to find out how the Rangers are doing in their tasks.

Aisling bows to her leavetaking.

Ensuring that it's for family ears only, Paige continues, "Until we can decide how to reintegrate a few thousand troops into a society that hasn't seen them for half a decade, it was decided that it was better to keep them isolated. And not all these troops will be returning to Amber, I'd assume. Many will be returning to their home Shadows, unless we're expecting a counter-attack?"

"I'm not," Aisling says with a smile and a shrug. "Chaos, I hear, was very much rocked by changes as well..." And a look of disbelief at the five years once more is upon her.

Flora, who is still looking a little shocked after Solange's revelation about Gerard, smiles at Conner, but it's at least in part reflexive. "It won't sound quite right coming from you, either, Conner. When I left Amber, I had two nephews, but now I find I have a dozen or more, so I suppose I shall have to get used to it. I didn't realize you were one of them, though."

"Anonymity was my shield for a time." Conner nods. "But Amber needed all the family members it could get when I arrived."

"With Gerard so badly injured, I can only imagine," Flora says. "How terrible." She is passing from shocked to upset and saddened.

Conner nods soberly. "Truly a great blow, but he has adjusted fairly well and kept things going as Regent. And we have hope that perhaps a way to heal him may yet be found once people can be spared to look."

"I'm hoping for nanotech," Solange adds.

"I should go to him," says Flora, and draws out her own deck, shuffling Gerard to the top and drawing it out. After a moment, she says "Gerard?" and bursts into tears.

"Oh, Conner, goodbye," she says as she vanishes into a rainbow brilliance.

Aisling looks quite stricken at this. She had been paying attention to the talk between Conner and his aunt after the Heather Vale question was put to rest, and now she's staring after Flora's rainbow afterglow and looking (there's just no other word) stricken. Super-water types may gather that she wished she was along.

She turns to the naming of the hurt with a will; nice to be useful and not have to think about five years and still not in Amber proper... Flora, with the wisdom of ages, got past the "shock" stage a lot faster.

She shakes her head and, if Conner is ready, falls in to a tour of the wounded; "This is Private Chive; we've patched up the hole in his gut and reduced the amount of internal bleeding so that he can breathe, but he needs still blah blah blah..." There's only 20-some who were so bad off they couldn't be moved with the army, so it should go pretty fast.

Conner helps distract her with perhaps overly detailed questions, filling out charts as she rattles off the information.

Folly follows Aisling and Conner into the medical tent. Rather than join them on their tour of the wounded, though, she quietly unslings her mandolin and heads to an unobtrusive spot in the corner, settling cross-legged onto the ground. A moment later, the tent fills with soft music. The tune is meant to soothe, strengthen, and heal; and its power to do so seems to derive from some source other than mere notes.

Aisling listens first with interest, and then with a much keener attention, and she subconsciouly ceases to move in ways that put her back to Folly. What magic is this? she wonders, glancing over to her shortest cousin as she asks her next question:

Marius may be of particular interest... When she gets to him, Aisling gives the brief rundown and adds, "He was damaged magically. Have you any sorcerors competant to deal with such?"

[GMs]
Probably the best thing to do here is to describe Marius' condition.

He's been struck by lightning, and has some burns, but he has remained unconscious longer than the period that can be explained by his physical wounds (to the extent that one can tell how long he's been unconscious, since it was Chaos).

"Not in the way you mean the term sorceror." Conner frowns kneeling down to examine him. "But we shall do what we can with what's available and go from there."

Aisling raises a flat purple eyebrow, then smiles, including Paige. "Ah, but what is available now is vastly greater than what was available before Jerod trumped Julian. Our cousin Merlin, for instance, has impressed me greatly with his magical help in the salvation of the army. When will you be bringing the rest of us through?" she asks of the group at large.

"Most of the people at Ygg will stay there until the army is through, or until we have someone replace them. They are needed for Trump contact and to keep Shadow in place there, we believe. The army should be here as soon as the Ygg people has established a connection with it." Ossian says. "Until then, I guess we wait."

"Ouch. I obviously spend too much time with Vere." he adds as an afterthought.

"This 'Vere' must be a being who knows how to report properly," Aisling says approvingly.

"You can't fault my brother for lack of thoroughness," Solange says, in a tone of mixed affection and exasperation. "It all depends, though, on whether you think there's such a thing as being too thorough."

At the word "brother" Aisling begins a slow slide back into shock. A kind of subtle thing, until it leaps up and bushwhacks her, and she rests her face in what's left of her hands. "How many of you are there?" she asks, hopelessly, edging towards tears.

"Lots more than I ever knew about, growing up," Solange says. "I didn't know I had a half-brother until the recent events. Let me count up. Me. Vere. Jerod and Cambina. Paige. Folly. Martin. Lucas. Ossian. Reid and Brita. Conner. Robin." She looks around. "Did I miss anyone?" she asks her cousins. "How many cousins were there on the battlefield?"

"Six." Aisling says, head still in hands, condition unchanged. Four of her streamers are drooping listlessly, and the upper two are sticking up in a V like "rabbit ears" antennae. "No, five-- seven, if you count Dara and me. Eight. You didn't get Merlin." Not much vocal expression happening; she's mostly focused on not totally losing it, which makes it hard to read her otherwise. "Who are... Reid and Lucas?"

"Reid is Osric's son. He came in with Brita. Lucas is Princess Florimel's son. He married a girl named Solace a few years back and has two children now, Hope and Philippe." Solange looks at Aisling with some concern. "You look like you could use a stiff drink. Brandy?"

"No, no, it's just the blow to my professional pride..." Aisling attempts to joke a bit, moving her hands down to negate the offer of a drink. She looks over at Brita, hopeful that more people will appear as disractions.

Ossian grins: "Correction: He had two kids when we left Amber."

Once that task is done, Conner looks up at Aisling. "Did you see ought of my mother Fiona before you left?"

Brita goes still where she is standing across the room near the fuzzy red creature.

"I had been unconscious for a long space, but when last I saw her she looked hale. I suspect she is with the bulk of the forces, since she was not with the dragons," the lady of Chaos offers.

[Brita]
[question to the GMs: when you get time, are any of these wounded Rangers?]

Most of the seriously wounded are sailors. There are also several nobles, and one little red furry critter that Brita's never seen the like of before.

Brita is immensely curious about the small red soldier. She will make sure it is comfortable. The hospital tents were set up near the river (for easy access to water) and Brita hopes that the sound of water will help sooth the sailors although Folly's music will be a big help in that aspect.

Aisling notes this interest, and volunteers, "Breek, of Corwin's riflemen. They helped hold the center in the last battle, under the command of your cousin Brennan. Fought like beings twice their size. They think the children of Oberon are gods..." she evinces no particular opinion about this belief.

"Well, Brita is, anyway," Solange comments, "though it's through the other side of her family. Thing is, godhood and half-a-crown still won't get you a cup of coffee around here unless we get the trade routes to the coffee better established."

"Fermented fish paste just doesn't cut it." Conner with a shudder. "Neither do Rebman Salt Teas."

"I should think not," Aisling says in agreement, but her stomach rumbles anyway. With a little smile, she asks mainly Solange, "Could, perhaps, the help I have offered so far get me a large amount of food for myself and Ce'e? We are both, I believe, still recovering from various exertions..." and her lessened right hand twitches a bit.

"Right away," Solange says. "Is there anything you or Ce'e would have an objection to eating, or trouble digesting? Or anything you especially require? There's cold meat, and bread, and a stew that looks to be mostly beans and pulses, and I know we've got some chicken broth around for the convalescents, and if I don't miss my guess we've got berry tarts, which are good even when they're cold. And we DO have some coffee. If that doesn't sound good, describe it and I'll see if I can fake it."

"No, that sounds just fine, thank you," the emphasis on 'just fine' making it clear that Aisling is quite happy with the offering.

Of Brita, Aisling asks at some point with curiousity, "What are you a god of?"

Brita cocks her head to one side. "Of?" she asks as if never considering that aspect before. "I'm just a god. If my da has not survived Ragnarok, I suppose I would be the god of Idayoll and Asgard's forests."

"May it be that he has," Aisling offers with sympathetic feeling.

"As to food, we have a tent set up over there set up with some basic supplies." she says pointing a short distance across the valley to the West. "I can send one of the cooks to assist you in preparing your meal."

"That's allright; I'm sure we can muck something together," Aisling says graciously.

Brita turns to the rest of the cousins (and brother) and says, "Princess Flora has probably alerted Uncle Gerard of our status, but we should probably contact Vere as the arrival of the main body of troops is imminent. I have access to the supply route at Amber. Does anyone want to contact Vere?"

Aisling bows a bit and heads off to the mess tent with Ce'e (and any of the other relatives who choose to come) in tow.

"I'll do it." Ossian says, and carefully pulls out the Trump sketch of Vere from between two of the pages in his sketch book, and walks a few meters away, to be able to talk undisturbed.

Vere is in his Father's office, where Flora appeared a little while before, and is now sort of half-sitting on the arm of Gerard's wheelchair in what would be a very dangerous way for his balance if he didn't outweigh her about 3-1 with her arms around his neck and her face buried in his shoulder, sobbing.

"Hello, Vere. It's me, Ossian."

Vere regards the sensation of Trump contact curiously, and then nods as he sees Ossian. "Cousin," he answers.

"Brita been in contact with parts of the army, a dozen or so of the wounded are here in the camp. You might want to be ready for the rest of them to arrive here anytime soon, as soon as Reid makes contact with them."

"By the way, if you don't know it already; the princess Florimel is in Amber, probably with your father." Ossian is quiet for half a second. "You should have a look at her. She's perfect."

Vere glances to one side, then back towards Ossian without any change of expression. "Indeed," he says. He pauses for a moment before continuing, "Arrangements are progressing well at this end, more physicians are continuing to arrive from the City, and will be ready for transport very soon. Supplies are already in place. I trust someone is keeping His Majesty apprised of how the situation is developing?"

Ossian's smile widens when he sees Vere's reaction to Flora's presence.

"Not as far as I know, yet." Ossian says "I don't even think anyone here has a Trump of him."

"Could you maybe send him a note?"

Vere allows a slight smile to appear on his lips. "I think I might be able to arrange that," he says. "Is there any other information that needs to be conveyed to His Majesty? Have any of our Elder relatives, other than the Princess Flora, arrived in Arden as of yet?"

Ossian glances away for a moment, making a thumbs-up sign to someone saying "Good."