Post-Prandial Plans

As to which bits to play out... possibly some aspect of getting Merlin integrated into the team, or at least getting some of his questions about Amber answered. Likewise Aisling, although Folly is less worried about her since she's lived in Amber. Perhaps Folly can arrange to get together with them the afternoon following the Big Family Dinner, in Folly's quarters (since she did promise to introduce Merlin to her cat), to coordinate?

Any conversations in the Soap Opera portion of Folly's life (Is Paige Pregnant? Is She The Only One Who Is? What Happens When I Poke Vialle With A Stick? (as well as just about anything having to do with Syd -- er, I mean, Random)) are welcome, too. I may think of other things in the next day or two, too, once my brain has recovered from the buzz of reading ten days' worth of HoC mail in one evening....

After breaking off from Ossian, Brennan scans the room again, looking for Aisling and Lilly, in that order. He heads over to Aisling, wherever she happens to be, with the I've-got-an-idea look coming back into his eyes, just a little bit.

If he can make eye contact with Lilly along the way, as Lilly is heading to Vialle, he'll gesture to her as well, hoping she joins them. When he gets to Aisling, he'll wait until there's a break in whatever conversation she might be having, and then motion to draw her aside if possible.

Lilly nods, clearly demonstrating that she understood his desire to speak with her, then continues in the direction of the Queen. It's not that she didn't want to speak with Brennan. All things considered Brennan might be one of her preferred people to speak with currently. But the Queen most likely won't be attending her father's briefing and Brennan most likely will. In her mind she can speak with him then.

[Aisling] innocently raises her butterfly-purple brows at him, and says twinklingly, "Let me guess. The Knights of the Ruby as an instrument of foreign policy?"

Brennan thinks about that very briefly, and gives a tilt-headed look as he silently mouths the words, 'Daeon... foreign policy...' to himself. Then he comes back to himself.

Aisling smiles, still a twinkle in her eyes. "He seems to do fine when he exerts himself, as at the funeral." Yes, definitely a tinge of the sardonic there, the master would of course notice.

"It would not have been my first thought of a pass time for him," he says drily. "Although," musing about the larger issue that Aisling suggested, "It's really not a bad idea. Nothing says foreign policy credibility like a wing of dragons flown through Shadow. Still, you'd have to convince the others.

"I like it here," Aisling says obliquely.

"I'm sure," he says blandly.

Aisling reacts to that about as much as the stones of the wall of the passage do.

[Brennan]
"I do wish the others were here, though. No, just a thought much more personal and local. It displays a certain impetuousity, though," he says, with nigh-imperceptible self-deprecation, "And I wanted to see if anyone else thought it was a good idea. Or had had it already."

"But before that, about that 'Chaosi spy' thing...." He gives a shrug. "Hence the sanity check."

Aisling's streamers twitch, though her face stays mild, shading to politely baffled. "I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"I think some already knew, but I was less than delicate." Brennan seems pleased that she's not overly irate, if that continues to be the case.

"Everyone needed to learn, though I'll probably suffer from the spin you gave it." She shrugs. You can't read her. "So what was this idea of yours?"

He shrugs. "It's a membership issue. Did you want to hear it now, or at such a time as there are more than three of us in the same room at the same time?"

She frowns in thinking. "No, we might as well at least start considering this now. I have no idea how long it will take Jovian to get back, or Marius to wake up and be ready to assimilate all this... And the only thing I've heard about Adonis is that he's headed off into Arden...?" she shakes her head, 'in his condition?' audible in the gesture. "At least we have Lilly," Aisling says with a smile, as Benedict's daughter catches up with them.

"Indeed." Lilly says in a quiet voice. Her eyes meet Brennan's., "How may I be of service to you cousin?" It's an honest question that's almost amazingly free of any flirtation.

"Well, I don't know about service," he says, "but as I was saying to Aisling, we're presently the only three Knights Commander of the Order conscious and in the same place. At some point, we're going to have to start thinking about membership even if we don't do anything about it just yet. And even though we're going to split up tomorrow, we might want to try and set a date to get back in touch... and invite Daeon, Jovian and Marius to the party if they're back and able.

"Am I alone in thinking that Random is going to formally and publically unveil the Order around the time of the Coronation?"

"Nay indeed, my fellow; and we should have some idea by then what we intend to do with it." Aisling pauses to let someone else chip in.

Brennan nods, and continues in a lower voice.

"And have you noticed we've not gotten any particular direction on this yet? Not before the funeral, not when I talked to The King this afternoon, not this evening, and not even a summons to a meeting. Our King appears to be improvisational, delegatory, and laid back. I think, like much of this evening, he might be waiting to see what we make on our own initiative.

"And given the personality mix involved," he says drily, but not unkindly, "That probably implies a certain level of flexibility. And room for different interests. I think we can probably come up with some traits we'd like to see in our Knights, though, in a general sense."

He looks up, to see Lilly's and Aislings' response and, as Aisling did, let someone else chime in.

"Not having been given much direction does give us a bit of power in some ways. This order could very easily become an honorary title given to those who have done service to the kingdom and not much more. Or it could become an order devoted Amber not just in thought, but in action. I personally am more inclined for the latter. In times of difficulty one can never have too many fighting for the same cause. The key decision we will need to make, and I am by no means suggesting we make it right now, is whether the Order is fighting for Amber or for the King. Once that is decided, other traits will easily follow." There is nothing in Lilly's tone or body language to suggest which camp she falls into. Of course that could be because she is undecided. Or it could be because to her they are currently one in the same.

"A subtle and sobering distinction," Brennan murmurs.

"Indeed. I am inclined to agree with my great-aunt Lilly," Aisling says with a small smile at the phrase. "I do not feel we will have much time to discuss it this evening, but I believe it would behoove us to meet as much as it is possible over the next handful of days, as we get a feel for the environment in which we shall have our base; do you think it would be possible for you to join us tomorrow evening, Brennan?"

"I can try. I'll know more in the morning, and send a page to find one or both of you. I have no Trumps of myself to give out, or I'd have given one to Jovian already, when we met at the Tree." He pauses for a brief moment, to let either say that they have Trumps they can give him, but he isn't really hopeful on that point. "But I should be with Bleys for much of the day tomorrow. If Marius is awake tomorrow, I'll let him know he's a Knight Commander and invite him to the party. If he's not... I'll let you know how he's doing."

Lilly nods. There was no point in making arrangements for a meeting until they all had a better idea of what exactly it was they would be doing. They had no choice but to rely upon pages for the moment.

Then, as a last thought to Lilly's commentary, Brennan says quietly, "Maybe we should look to find Knights who can be trusted to do the right thing, if the decision ever passes the hypothetical." The phrasing and tone indicates that Brennan doesn't like the possibility or the consequences, because he can't predict what the 'right thing' would be until the decision needs to be made.

"Unfourtunately right... and wrong for that matter, are often subject to individual interpretation. I can think of any number of situations even the three of us could not agree upon. The true qualities you are looking for, I believe, are loyality and intelligence. Never just one of those. Those who are merely loyal follow blindly and are easily manipulated while those who posses only intelligence can cause untold harm." Unlce Brand was a good example of the latter in Lilly's eyes but she felt no need to point it out to those who had just fought by her side.

He nods. "A good beginning. Now if we can figure out a sieve to leave us with the people we want after having known them for only a few weeks, we're ahead of the game." He thinks on the context he's known the pool of candidates-- battle, and the long road home-- and spitballs: "Acts of leadership? Sacrifice, or bravery under fire?"

"Various goals, to attract the best sides of whatever people we end up with," Aisling suggests, "But I believe the general will be beginning soon?"

[Brennan]
"No doubt. And a lot to think about. I'll try to let you know as soon as possible when I can make it back to the Castle. With luck, I can bring back a Sir Marius."

"That would be good news indeed," Aisling says with a smile.

Brennan doesn't smile, but the Ossian-induced mood with which he had started the conversation has clearly dissipated. He cracks his knuckles and elbows in anticipation of the evening's sand table activities, then offers an arm each to escort Dames Lilly and Aisling into the briefing room, for a thread which has already ended.

Lilly somehow manages to hide the awkwardness she is feeling at accepting his arm with a fluid motion and nod of thanks. Some days it was good to have muscles that were trained to react without much thought when need be. Taking a man's arm, even when it was as innocent as this, was still a bit novel her. But she liked Brennan and more importantly she trusted him (for now anyway <g>).

Aisling, amusingly, has pretty much exactly the same reaction, with the same graceful muffling of it. She is actually rather pleased with the idea. Brennan gets an odd sort of a matched set...

If Brennan notices the hesitations or awkwardness, he gives absolutely no indications of it whatsoever. Rather, he is simply pleased that his Sister Knights Commander have accepted his escort. All is right with Brennan's world.

At least for this moment.

Benedict spends the first few minutes of the briefing discussing the layout of the battlefield and the objectives. Those who were there see the battlefield return to life in the deft linestrokes Benedict makes in the sand. He places small colored cloth markers on it to represent troops and reserves. For those who are interested in such things, there are both cigars and brandy. Corwin and Benedict both have drinks.

"And so, I had three objectives. First, deny the enemy entry onto the Black Road at that place until the Jewel was on the field. Second, demonstrate to our enemies, both combatant and noncombatant, that the cost of war with Amber was beyond their means. Third, I wished to preserve the troops loyal to us. The first was accomplished during the battle, necessitating a change in tactics mid-fight, and the second and third had to be balanced against each other. Given these goals, this environment, and the following troops, I arranged a five-fold defence, with three layers of forces and two bodies of reserves..."

Benedict continues at length. His analysis is brilliant and detailed. He even somehow manages to make it interesting to those who are not high fire (although the more you know about warfare the more insightful it is). This will take the rest of the evening for anyone who joins it. The elders in attendance, led mostly by Gerard and Corwin (who were not present for the battle) ask a few questions, and the youngers are encouraged to ask questions as well.

[The briefing covers the material in The HoC-Choas log Part I: Fire and Rain, from Mark's Logs. It can be found on his web site. The logs are your friend and can answer almost all the questions that might come up. Unless you have questions that they don't answer, assume that you asked and Bendict answered based on them.]

Ok, Aisling gets filled in on what happened while she was above the clouds... Except for one thing, and if no one else asks first when that part of the analysis comes, she'll glance at Brennan and ask, "What were the events immediately surrounding and leading up to the death of Brand?" [[ Oo! Oo! Tell me to refer to Chapter 11 of _The Court of Chaos_! :D ]]

Benedict wasn't present when Brand died, IIRC. He'll have to refer you to someone who was present. The elders aren't inclined to talk about this--Brand was their brother--so perhaps one of the youngers will enlighten Aisling.

Are Caine and Cambina there? Does Caine explain his undeath? ;)

Neither Caine nor Cambina is present. Elders present are Benedict, obviously, Corwin, Bleys, and Gerard. Absent are Caine, Julian (obviously), Random, and all of the sisters.

Youngers who are in attendance can speak up. Youngers who are not in attendance include Martin (and Jerod), Cambina, and Merlin. Brita, Paige, and Marius are in Arden, and IIRC, Lucas, Reid, and Folly also had other appointments.

Does Benedict, in fact, offer analysises of the actions of the youngers and elders present? How did we do? ;)

IIRC, at some point in the past he said they had done slightly better than he had predicted, so we'll stick with that analysis.

Brennan gives Benedict, or perhaps Bleys, a chance to speak up, but when they don't, he fills Aisling and the rest in.

"Marius will probably be the better man to ask-- he was in the thick of it." But he gestures to the sand table, indicating the long, slow desperate ground stand against the force, then the dashing charge that Bleys' cavalry made which broke the enemy resistance.

"After Bleys took the fight out of them, the conventional battle had been decided and taking ground was easy. It was a mop-up operation, and the ending stages of it. Except that Brand chose that moment to take the field himself. If you saw flashes of red lightning playing merry Hell with the ground forces from where you were, that was Brand's sorcery."

He pauses, and whatever sights he's remembering are obviously unpleasant.

"Marius, Deirdre, and Random rushed forward to help deal with that threat. Caine went-- I think he had been hidden among Deirdre's men. Fiona, too. I don't know, but I think Corwin went as well." He glances at Corwin for confirmation-- Brennan hadn't met Corwin until well after the battle.

He continues with some remnant bitterness in his voice. "I would have gone, too, but with three line commanders out of the five of us gone, at least some of us had to stay behind." He shoots a grateful glance at Lilly. "It would have been the perfect chance for a last counter-offense if the Chaosi had had any reserves."

He looks like he's going to say more, but evidently notices that a small trace of bitterness has crept into his voice, and he promptly knocks that nonsense off. There's no one to be bitter at, and in the same situation he would be forced to do the same thing again, anyway. It's done.

He continues in an even, much more detached tone of voice.

"Anyway, Brand somehow managed to get a hold of Deirdre, physically, just above the Abyss. He had the Jewel, and there was, I'm certain, some kind of a sorcerous showdown with Deirdre the hostage. Caine ended the showdown by shooting Brand in the throat and the heart. He went over the edge-- dead, I hope-- but took Deirdre and the Jewel down with him. The Unicorn returned the Jewel, though."

By now, the only sign of tension is the strong grip he's got on the edge of the table, but it should be fairly obvious that he regrets not having been there to help.

Aisling looks thoughtful, greatful for the story, and reserved. She nods in thanks to Brennan, and scans past Gerard/Vere/whoever else among the Regency Amberites are present, to see if they'd heard this before.

Nobody seems surprised. Some of them seem like they've played poker together for, oh, say several centuries.

If there are no further questions or comments on that part of the battle, Brennan asks Benedict a number of questions about the battle. Remembering Benedict's original assessment that they had done better than he expected, he begins the questions in trying to determine how, specifically, they had exceeded expectations. Then the questions probe to contingency plans-- how had the tactics shifted from his original plan, and wht sorts of nasty surprises could have been sprung by the enemy forces. FInally, he'll head off into the area of how they could have done even better than they had, given the situation.

Brennan doesn't monopolize the conversation or talk non-stop (unless, by some bizarre chance, no one else has any question at all) but Brennan realizes he's not going to get this chance again for a long, long time.

Aisling will support him in this, so there's some synergy, it's not just him asking questions. Any love is good love, for values of "love" that equal "information". :)

Does Benedict mention specific ways we youngers could have done better?

Brennan was asking about this, as well as mistakes he expected us to make, but didn't. After all, as unlikely as it is that Brennan could ever make a mistake, it might have been luck....

And also at some point she'll ask, "What part was Duke Borel playing on the battlefield, and how was he killed?"

[[ Man, she has no idea that she's stepping on Corwin's toes... What can she do for a followup? "Hey, at least you've still got that nice horse, right?" Heh. ]]

"He died on my blade." Says Corwin, looking appraisingly at Aisling.

Aisling returns his gaze blankly, looking at him without moving a muscle except perhaps to blink once or twice.

"He met me as I was approaching the battlefield and insisted that we duel. I overcame him quickly and made my way to the spot where Brand was. He had no obvious part in the battle, unless it were to delay me. It's possible that had I not been waylaid by him, I could've arrived in time to be more effective in the final confrontation. Did you know him?"

Aisling is recalled from thinking, and says softly, "Not really... No."

Brennan takes in the information without too much of a reaction. He'd hear enough from Martin that it wasn't a surprise, and it's obvious that if Corwin's telling is even remotely accurate, that his sympathies will lie with Corwin. It was a battle. People on opposite sides kill each other.