Solange has some time to kill before going to Folly's room, so she walks around the new castle, no special destination in mind (although she is looking a door with a cat flap). She'll smile and say hello to people she sees, pause to take in the sight and sound of the waterfall at night, and just generally better familiarize herself with the floor plan.
After an hour or so has gone by, she meanders to Folly's room and knocks on the door.
The door opens after just a moment, quickly enough that Solange is sure she didn't interrupt a trump call.
"Solange, yay!" Folly says with a smile and offers her foster-sister a hug.
Which Solange returns enthusiastically.
"C'mon in." Folly gestures to the comfortable-looking furniture in her sitting room: a couch and chair that look like they're covered with suede or some other soft upholstery, a couple of low window-seats (one of which is already occupied by a very contented cat), and a beanbag chair.
Folly scoops up a spread of what look like half-drawn Tarot cards and settles onto the couch in their place with her bare feet tucked under her.
Solange sits down on the couch beside her. "Mind if I take off my shoes? My toes are dying to breathe."
"Please, go right ahead, make yourself comfortable," Folly says. "I've a feeling we might be here a while." She grins.
Solange removes her shoes and wriggles her toes in sheer bliss.
"So, I think we've both got some stories to tell," Folly says, still smiling. "You wanna start, or shall I?"
"Oh...you first, I think. So what's happened since I saw you last? Uncle Random inscribed another Pattern..." Solange starts ticking points off on her fingers. "We have two new cousins--no, three. You walked said Pattern--which surprises me in a way, for I was half-expecting that only Random and those in his direct line would be able to walk it, but I'm glad that that's not the case. What else?"
"Well," Folly says thoughtfully, "I s'pose I oughtta start at the beginning. Well, not the beginning -beginning -- though I might fill some of that in as we go -- but back to when last I saw you. Back to the Coronation. That was..." Folly pauses for a moment like she's trying to remember something, or work something out, "...uh, maybe six or eight weeks ago, for me.
"So: Thing One. Coronation night, pretty much right after Dara showed up to do the worst card-trick of all time, our shiny new king asked me and Martin to go fetch Soren. So we did." Folly pauses again, then asks, "Did Gerard tell you what I found out while I was home?"
"No..."
Folly nods. "Right. Thing Two. I, uh, I know I've mentioned my mum to you at least in passing." She picks up a throw-pillow and hugs it, a bit too tightly, to her chest.
Solange nods, giving Folly her full attention.
"So, as long as I was back home, I figured I really oughtta--- I dunno, at least let her know I wasn't dead. And also maybe get some of the details of my... my Amber heritage. If she knew them."
Folly blinks a couple of times, like she's trying to erase an image from her mind's eye. "It - it turned out to be mostly a nightmare of a mistake. She's just as impossible as ever, and she---" Folly blinks again, and looks at Solange with a wry smile. "Well. If you ever want to put Martin into an instantly bad mood, you should ask him how he gets along with Brij. It was a bad, bad scene."
"Ick," Solange grimaces.
"But after, you know, the fainting and the shrieking and the slapping---"
"Slapping? You or her?"
Folly looks a little sheepish. "Well, she slapped me, and then Martin--- uh, he... kinda strongly discouraged her from ever doing that again. Like I said, it was a bad scene. But after we'd all calmed down a little, I tried to get her to tell me who my real father was. And she wouldn't -- or, I dunno, maybe she couldn't -- but as I showed her Martin's trumps to try to jog her memory, she recognized Julian's picture from some sketches her grandmother left behind. She - she says Julian is her grandfather."
Folly seems a bit shell-shocked by this little tidbit. She looks wide-eyed at Solange to see what her foster-sister thinks of all this.
Solange is as wide-eyed as Folly. "No! Julian? Really? But how did...? I mean, who was...?" She blinks and her hand bemusedly goes to her mouth.
The space of a few heartbeats passes as Solange stares at Folly in shocked silence, then she bursts out laughing. "But...but you're so different from each other! Are you sure you can't throw him back and pick another great-grandfather?"
"Aw, Julian doesn't seem so bad," Folly says, and she's grinning now, too, the tension of her story dispelled by Solange's laughter.
Solange's eyes twinkle, and Folly gets the impression she was hoping that would be the effect.
"Really, I think I'd rather pick another mother." She regards Solange for a moment and then adds, mischievously, "Trade ya. I mean, forgive me for speculating about your father's sex-life, but I really can't imagine him sleeping with someone awful...."
At Folly's words the strangest expression passes over Solange's face, all wistful and melancholy. She sits back. "I'd forgotten I hadn't told you this--it's already been awhile for me out in shadow, with the time differential."
Solange smiles at Folly ruefully. "Gerard isn't my real father. My Amber parent is his sister Ysabeau. She died while in childbirth with me, but charged Gerard to look after me before she...expired. Gerard told me right before I went out into shadow."
Folly's eyes widen. "Oh, I'm sorry, Solange, I had no idea," she says, and flushes. "That's... wow. Our generation is just full of surprises, isn't it?" She smiles and shakes her head.
"It's all right. I'm used to the idea now."
"Ysabeau. I - I'm not sure I've ever even heard her mentioned," Folly says after she's regained some of her composure. "I guess -- was she brought up outside of Amber?"
"No, she grew up in Amber. Apparently she was quite headstrong, which didn't go over well, as you can imagine. Wanted to become a Ranger like her older brother Julian, but Uncle Corwin and the old king--Oberon, that is--wouldn't hear of it, the bastards. She left Amber under 'heavy displeasure,' according to Father, and the old king refused to let anyone speak her name. She never came back."
Folly makes a noise in the back of her throat and shakes her head.
Solange draws a leg up onto the couch. "It's kinda ironic, you know? Ysabeau wasn't allowed to become a Ranger, and yet her daughter--" Solange stumbles slightly on the word, but recovers quickly. She almost said "daughters," but the fact that Robin is Ysabeau's daughter as well and not Julian's is not her story to tell. Let Robin reveal that, if it's her choice. "Um, daughter was allowed to."
Folly, perhaps interpreting the stumble to mean something else, reaches out and squeezes Solange's hand. "Well, you know, we are the Revolutionary Feminist Generation," she says, and smiles, but there's a certain bitter irony of her own behind the words. "Long live us."
"It'll happen," Solange smiles back, "eventually. Uncle Random seems more...open...to it.
"And speaking of feminist issues, interestingly enough, Ysabeau died in childbirth with me, as Rilga died in childbirth with her. It's enough of an ill-omen to make me never want to get pregnant," Solange concludes. She smiles and looks down at her hands.
"Uh, yeah," Folly says, half under her breath, "just wait 'til we get to Thing Five...."
She appears not to have noticed Folly's comment, perhaps lost in her own thoughts.
"Father asked me if I'd like to go on calling him 'father,' that I didn't have to if I didn't want to." She looks up at Folly. Her eyes are bright and her smile has turned wry. "What hogwash! He's been more of a father to me than some of his brothers and sisters have been to their own children."
Folly opens her mouth but then hesitates, and for a moment Solange almost thinks she looks a little defensive; but then she seems to shake it off and says with a sympathetic smile, "I know what you mean. He's your father just like my papa was mine, and the sudden discovery of some long-absent sperm donor won't change that. But that's just Gerard's way, you know? And that's part of what makes him a father."
Solange nods, agreeing. "Yes. Now I'm Gerard's foster-child, just like you. We truly are foster-sisters," she laughs, brightening.
Folly grins. "All I can say is, Gerard's got great taste in adoptees."
Solange smiles back.
"All right, where were we? I think you left off at 'Thing Three'."
"Yeah," Folly nods. "Thing Three you already sort of know about. After the debacle with my mum, we packed up the van -- I mean Martin, Soren and I -- and went on tour for a month, which was fantastic." Folly is practically glowing at the memory of it.
"Then we got the call from Syd -- er, Random -- and came here. And I walked the brand-spankin'-new Pattern." Folly's mood grows somber and she looks at Solange. "Can - can I confess something to you? In confidence?"
She straightens up. "Of course, Folly. What happened?"
Folly sets the throw-pillow aside and draws her knees up under her chin. "You remember when Random came back to Amber, I asked you to tell me if you noticed me going completely 'round the bend?"
Solange nods.
"Well, I think maybe I need you to do the same thing now, but... sorta in reverse." She gives Solange a wry smile and then drops her gaze, turning her focus inward.
"You've probably figured out by now about me and Random, that we... knew each other, a long time ago, years before I came to Amber."
"I figured something like that, based on comments you made."
"I didn't know what he was, back then, and he didn't know about me either. But despite all the not-knowing, we were... close."
Solange raises an eyebrow, thinking this must have made things interesting at first with her relationship with Martin.
"Well, you know, as close as anyone can be to an incognito Prince of Amber. And it's coloring how I feel about Xanadu. No, that isn't nearly strong enough---" Folly shakes her head and shifts her gaze to some faraway point out beyond the windows and into the night sky.
"I've heard all the stories about the sons of Oberon arguing, fighting, damn near killing each other over the throne of Amber. And I always used to think, What macho posturing rubbish! You know, put it back in your pants and quit with your little alpha-male power-games...."
An unladylike snort. Solange grins to herself and passes a hand over her face.
Folly looks at Solange with an eerily intense gaze.
And with it, Solange's grin fades.
"But now I think I sort of get it. I've seen this place and I've walked her Pattern, and I can sense what he meant when he drew it. I can feel her, always on the edge of my consciousness; if she cried out in the night, I would hear her and come running. If she were threatened, I would fight tooth and nail to save her. Hell, I'd raise my own f***in' ARMY if I needed to!" Her eyes are wide now, and she seems a little freaked out.
"Um, Folly...?"
"I want Random to stay in charge here for a good long time -- even by our standards. But if something were to happen, if some usurper were to try to take over -- well, they'd have to get through me first. Because this baby is MINE, and I won't abandon her."
Folly blinks a couple of times, and the wry smile returns, though she still seems a bit freaked out and overwhelmed. "I'm utterly mad, right? Or at least supremely arrogant...."
Solange starts to speak, stops, thinks a moment, then begins again. "I didn't feel such a...um...connection, or empathy, with Amber after walking the Pattern there. That doesn't mean that it might not affect others that way...it just didn't affect me in that manner.
"Does that mean your reaction to your experience is odd or unusual? I...wouldn't think so." Solange's tone is a little uncertain, despite her words. "It's a very personal experience, after all, and you obviously have--or had--very personal feelings for Random."
Folly's cheeks color; Solange guesses it may be more the former than the latter. But she nods slowly, and is beginning to look a bit less freaked-out. "Thanks, Solange. You're so... sensible." She smiles affectionately at her foster-sister.
She chuckles. "Say that for Father's benefit, sometime, will you?"
Folly grins. She looks very nearly back-to-normal.
Solange sits back and thinks for a moment more. "Something else to consider... Aside from the obvious fact that this is a different Pattern and therefore the overall experience has a potential to be different, who knows how much of his desires Random was able to instill in it? For example, would it be possible for him to have the act of walking the Xanadu Pattern instill in the walker a conditioning to protect Xanadu, and it's that conditioning you're experiencing?"
"I... suppose it's possible," Folly says, though she sounds a bit hesitant. With more surety, she adds, "Or something in his will influenced the outcome. I, ah, I know he means for me -- or at least he hopes for me -- to look after h-- his creation." Her brows draw together, and she frowns thoughtfully.
"I guess that's the bit I'm puzzling out," she says. "I - I know I'm meant to have some influence here, but I don't wanna overstep my bounds, y'know? That way leads to conflict and pettiness and war and all the things I work so hard to eliminate. So I need to figure out if these things I'm feeling about Xanadu mean something real, something intended -- or if I'm just making them up or imagining them. Wishful thinking, and all."
Solange shrugs. "I suppose one way to find out would be to have someone who's already walked the Amber Pattern walk the Xanadu one as well and compare the two."
Folly's eyes widen. "I could never ask anyone to do that," she says gravely. "That s*** can kill you."
"There are a number of people who have walked the Amber Pattern more than once and survived, even in our generation," Solange shrugs again. "Alternatively, you can compare experiences with Lilly, or even talk to Random about it."
Folly nods.
She pauses and her tone softens. "If you're still worried about this after talking to Random, or if it seems to be getting stronger, let me know, okay? I'll walk the Xanadu pattern myself. I'd do that for you."
"Oh, Solange---" Folly's eyes brim with tears of gratitude. "I - I don't think it need come to that, but -- thank you. Thank you so much. I haven't even got words for what it means to me." She smiles through her unfallen tears and squeezes Solange's hand again.
Solange returns the squeeze and smiles back.
"Right. Now, wasn't I telling a story?" Folly wipes at her eyes with the heel of her hand and grins. "Where was I?"
"Point Four, I think."
Folly nods, ticks off on her fingers to make sure she's in the right place... and blushes. A smile spreads slowly over her face.
"Yeah. So now we're up to the part where Martin and I are... kind of... official, now." Folly looks giddy as a schoolgirl as she meets Solange's gaze. "He actually asked Gerard for permission to court me, and everything."
Solange draws her knees up to her chin and grins. "That's wonderful! I'm very happy for you."
Folly beams.
Then she lowers her voice. "He actually asked Father permission? He used the word 'court' and everything?"
"Yeah," Folly replies in an equally low voice. Her cheeks go pink again. "And I probably woulda given him a hard time about it, too, except... I get why he did it. He wanted to make it abundantly clear that we're not just fooling around here. That it's really, formally, officially... serious. I mean, our situation is kind of complicated, so I don't know how it will all play out, but...." She trails off, and her hands fidget in her lap.
"I talked to his dad, too," she adds after a moment. "Damn, that was hard."
Solange exhales. "I can imagine. How did he take it?"
"Okay, I guess." Folly pauses, and stares down at her hands. "I mean, he didn't go ballistic, or forbid it, or anything like that -- but I sorta think it wasn't his very favorite thing in the whole world. He, ah, he's not real big on talking about... 'stuff'." She smiles ruefully as if at some private joke.
She pauses again, and then continues, very quietly, "I... sort of feel like a sh**, though."
Solange reaches over and touches Folly's shoulder. "You did nothing wrong. I see some Random in Martin, so of course you were attracted to him."
She pauses, collecting her thoughts, then continues, "Folly, I feel I need to ask you a question. Please don't take it the wrong way. But...if Random hadn't married...would you still be attracted to Martin?"
In Solange's question lies the unspoken question: Are you in a relationship with Martin because you can't be in a relationship with Random?
"Attracted? Hell, yeah. I was attracted to him before I even knew who he was." A small smile quirks the corners of Folly's mouth, but her eyes stay focused in her lap. "But that's not really what you're asking."
Folly is quiet for a long time, thinking about the unspoken question. Finally she says in a low voice, "Y'know, he -- Martin -- asked me the same sort of thing, a long time ago. Before his father had come home from the war. And I told him then, and it's still true, that what I feel for him is entirely separate and distinct from what I feel for his father." She looks at Solange with a gaze intense with emotion. "I love Martin deeply. I love him for himself. He's not just a substitute for the man I wanted but couldn't have. Because... because I think I could, still, if I wanted...."
Solange says nothing, just stares back at her, eyebrows raised.
Folly closes her eyes, as if overwhelmed by the strength of her emotions. "And all of these things are true," she continues, barely louder than a whisper, "but the whole truth is so much more complicated than that...."
When she opens her eyes again, Folly looks at Solange with a terribly sad smile, and the words come spilling out, released from the deep well where she's been hiding them. "I had it all figured out, y'know? Syd would come back from the war, and we'd work something out. Either he really would turn out to be the changed man everyone said he was, in which case I was prepared to wish him well and quietly slip away, or...." She finishes the thought with a vague gesture. "I - I didn't even really care about the being married, if that made him happy, y'know? I can be discreet, and anyhow, what would anybody else care about one more silly dalliance from a prince who was infamous for such things? Only I wasn't expecting---" Folly blinks and shakes her head.
"Wasn't expecting what?" Solange prompts gently.
"I - I wasn't expecting a lot of things. I sure as hell wasn't expecting him to go and get himself made King. I wasn't expecting to fall so deeply in love with Martin. And I wasn't expecting Syd to... to need me, y'know? I mean, I kinda figured I was just---"
A stricken look crosses Folly's face, but she shakes her head again to regain her composure. "No, that's not it. I knew, and I know. Syd is my soulmate. But he's not my husband." Solange feels that Folly means something deeper by that last than just the king's current marital status.
She looks wide-eyed at Solange. "Does that make any sense at all?"
Solange nods. "Yes, it does. You blew my mind a bit with all this, but it sounds like everything is good between the three of you."
Folly lets out a bitterly amused snort, not exactly disagreeing, but perhaps wondering whether it's Solange's definition of "everything" or of "good" that differs from her own.
Solange smiles. "Well, it sounded like it, from what little you told me. I can imagine that the situation isn't as simple as all that."
Folly's expression softens to melancholy, and she nods.
"Folly, I just wanted to make sure you knew your reasons for getting involved with Martin. Yes, I know you've thought about it and such...but we sometimes hide things from ourselves, y'know? Things we don't want to face, or haven't fully processed..."
Folly nods. "I'm trying really hard to keep my eyes open, and to be honest with them and with myself. But I haven't really had a chance before now to say it out loud to someone who doesn't have a strong stake in it, y'know? I think... that really helps." She gives Solange a grateful smile.
She strokes Folly's cheek with the back of her fingers and returns the smile. (A purely platonic gesture.) "I'm glad I can help."
Solange touches her shoulder briefly, then sits back. She chews on her lip, thoughtful, then continues, "I'm glad you've talked about all of this with Martin, that he knows. I wish you both all joy and happiness."
Folly's smile broadens, and she nods her thanks.
A pause. "And...be careful, okay?"
Folly's smile doesn't so much dim as become more subtle. "Which kind of careful?" she asks.
Solange laughs and makes a dismissive gesture. "That kind of careful is none of my business, but I'm sure you realize you're not in a place where you can conjure that risk away anymore. No...the kind of careful I'm talking about..."
She trails off and sighs, suddenly uncomfortable.
"Folly, tactically you're in a very dangerous position. The situation seems stable right now, but it's like nitroglycerin." Her voice lowers. "If Random's feelings for you are as strong as yours are for him, if he should suddenly want a...dalliance...or a dalliance just happens--I'm not saying you would intentionally do such a thing, but sometimes they do just happen despite our best intentions--it could start a civil war."
Folly blinks. "Do you really think it's that bad? I mean, it's not like I'm out to overthrow---"
She abruptly stops, mouth still open, and blinks again. "Oh," she says quietly. "Well, f***." She leans back heavily, sinking into the couch cushions, and stares up at the ceiling.
Solange sighs. "Sorry. Here you are telling me about how much you and Martin are in love and here I am spreading doom and gloom."
The silence that ensues is like a bad train wreck that you don't want to look at but can't pull your eyes from. You don't want to pursue the present topic because it could lead to dark places, full of human passions, intrigues, and painfully bared souls. But on the other hand, it's almost irresistible not to because it could lead to dark places, full of human passions, intrigues, and painfully bared souls.
"So...do you have a number five?" Solange asks Folly. Nope, nothing to look at here. Just move along.
The quiet laughter that answers Solange's question is steeped in bitter amusement. "Yeah. Speaking of sex and politics...."
Folly straightens up again and looks at Solange. "When I told Syd about me and Martin, he said that we shouldn't have children together. For metaphysical reasons. Same goes for all the descendants of Oberon."
Folly hesitates. She seems to Solange to be clamping down on some emotion. "But," she adds after a moment, "he also pointed out that Martin needs an heir." She shrugs and looks at the floor.
Solange narrows her eyes. "So what's he suggesting? A surrogate?"
"I dunno," Folly says, and sighs. "If he were more of a traditionalist, I'd be sure he meant 'Martin has to marry someone else, but by all means feel free to keep fooling around with him because we're royals and that's just what we do'. But that's not how it's gonna work." Folly seems quite certain on that point.
"Unfortunately," she continues, "if we really do plan to import Amber's people wholesale, the most logical solution probably won't be politically viable. Well, not unless the ambient political climate suddenly becomes progressive enough to accept triads, y'know?" She chuckles ruefully, shakes her head, and mutters, "Stupid f***ing politics."
"That's what we're talking about, isn't it? The f***ing politics?" Solange jokes, laughing as she envisions various avuncular responses to the triad suggestion.
Folly chuckles again, this time with more amusement.
"So, did Random expand upon these 'metaphysical reasons'?"
"Not really," Folly says, and her smile fades. "I asked. He said he didn't know, exactly, he just knew he had to forbid it to 'prevent tragedy'."
Her expression grows pensive. "I've been thinking about that. Did you know Oberon's queen Clarissa was actually descended from him?" Folly looks at Solange to see if she knows where Folly is headed with this.
"Huh. No, I didn't. Does Random think that's why Brand went nutters?"
"He didn't say so explicitly," Folly replies, "but it does make one wonder, doesn't it? The thing is, though...."
Folly's brow wrinkles in thought, as if she's searching for the right words. "The things Brand did were horrible and tragic. But can we really say that more bad than good came from the offspring of Clarissa and Oberon? I mean.... I love Paige. Brita is a doll. And Brennan -- Brennan! The madman's own son! -- impresses me as one of the few of us who actually knows how to keep his eyes open, y'know?" She snorts and shakes her head. "Or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize what I want. I don't want to defy Random, and I do believe that what he says is true -- I'm just not sure it's as clear cut as all that. What do you think?"
The expression on Solange's face clearly says, "You're asking me?"
She smiles and shrugs. "Perhaps it's just a first-generation thing and it stopped with Brand and his siblings." Solange looks up at the room in general and waves her hands pacifically. "Just kidding, Uncle Bleys!"
Folly laughs.
She turns back to Folly and looks at her appraisingly. "I don't think you'd be satisfied with the safe, surrogate mother route, so that means you need to find out more about these 'metaphysical reasons.' Perhaps Uncle Bleys or Aunt Fiona could offer an opinion--both because they're children of Clarissa and because they're into things arcane."
"Yeah," Folly agrees, "I do want to look into the metaphysics of it; you're probably right that they'd be the best place to start."
She pauses in thought, then adds quietly, "I told Martin that I would love any child of his as if it were my own, if he decided to go that way. But I don't think he's gonna. He---" Folly cuts herself off abruptly, as if she'd strayed near something too scary or too private to say out loud. Judging from the little smile around the corners of her mouth and the sudden pinkness in her cheeks, though, whatever-it-is isn't a bad thing.
Solange waggles her eyebrows at Folly, encouraging her to continue.
"...is a gentleman," Folly says, still blushing, then grins and sticks the very tip of her tongue out between her teeth. For all that she feels safe spilling her own secrets to Solange, she's obviously far less comfortable when they stray too far into Martin's private life.
Solange, sensing her reticence, waves it off.
"I wish I could offer better advice, but this is beyond my ken. I mean, not only am I not sleeping with a family member, I'm not sleeping with someone period." Solange spreads her hands ruefully.
Folly affects a comical busybody voice. "You want that I should set you up with someone?" Her eyes sparkle with amusement, but Solange can tell it's a genuine offer.
Solange laughs. "No...too many things going on right now. Maybe later. If he's really good looking."
Folly raises her eyebrows as if to say "Have you seen the guys I hang out with?" She's grinning.
Solange just smiles in return and shakes her head.
"And speaking of lots of things going on, I wanted to ask you a favor before I forgot." Solange leans forward. "I'm planning to go back to Amber tomorrow to straighten out some business with my foster-uncle Hardwind's estate. I expect to be back in Xanadu soon, but if something comes up and I'm not, can you keep an eye on Father for me? Hannah is planning to change his medication and she wanted family around to offer support if needed, and Vere isn't here... Would that be all right? Are you planning to stick around for awhile?"
"I should be around, yeah, and I'd be happy to look out for Gerard." Folly smiles. "After all, he's been so good about looking out for me. Whatever he needs, or whatever Hannah needs help with, I'll do my best to provide. I'm so glad he's finally gonna take the time to get some proper medical care."
"Thank you." Her gratitude and relief that Folly accepted is evident on her face.
Folly pauses, and Solange can almost feel her trying not to get her hopes up. "Did you... find anything useful in your travels?"
"Maybe," Solange sighs. "I found a shadow called Hope where a nanotechnology to repair nerve damage exists--"
At that ray of hope, Folly sits up a little straighter.
"--but it's not reliable and the company possessing it is paranoid and unfriendly."
...and, deflated, Folly frowns and slumps again.
"Why? Well, the company--it's called The Institute" (and Folly can plainly hear the capitals and italics in Solange's voice) "--stole the technology from the opposing side during a war and my guess is that they don't want it in turn stolen from them."
Solange smiles grimly.
Folly shakes her head and makes a 'tsk' sound, as if the story Solange tells were about misbehaving children rather than... misbehaving grown-ups.
"Want to hear the kicker?" she asks. "The side they stole it from is a Black Road manifestation. It's called the Iron Crown and it's even more unfriendly than the Institute."
At the mention of the Black Road, Folly visibly stiffens.
"I considered approaching the Iron Crown anyway, for they appear to have a better grasp on the nanotechnology, but before I could proceed I was apprehended by military-types working for the Institute. It looked like things were at a dead-end by then--they had me locked away and surrounded by soldiers--so I trumped Father and came back to Amber."
Solange shrugs.
"I spent a lot of time in shadow without a lot to show for it, I'm afraid. I did gain a lot of exposure to various technologies, though. Very interesting, especially since some of it may work here in Xanadu."
"Yeah, but if they're Black Road technologies, are you sure you'd want them to work in Xanadu?" Folly looks vaguely horrified at the prospect.
"Oh, no, not the Black Road technologies! Others...there is so much out there. I had no real appreciation for how low-tech Amber is until I traveled out in shadow. Imagine, Folly, a place where they live in outer space."
Solange's features grow more animated as she talks.
"You look out your window every morning and see this incredibly beautiful wormhole sprawling across space, all high-spectrum colors, purples and neon blues, against utter blackness," she smiles. "It's like a beautiful necklace, sapphires and amethysts, resting on black velvet that's sprinkled with bright, tiny diamonds."
The memory fades and Solange returns from her reverie with a blink and a self-conscious chuckle.
Folly, caught up in the description, is smiling; the fingers of her left hand wiggle as if she's fingering the fretboard of an imaginary guitar.
"I think I'll eventually return to Hope, for I haven't exhausted all the possibilities. Perhaps I'll convince Hannah to come with me."
That gets a wry grin from Folly as she imagines Hannah poking around a warring high-tech shadow: cold grey steel, paranoid androids, and one pair of bright beaded buckskin moccasins.
"On the bright side, I did manage to come back in time to see Vere before he went off to war in the Isles, and for that I'm grateful."
"Oh, good!" Folly says, looking brighter herself. "D'you know I hadn't even realized he was planning to go to war 'til Brennan mentioned it this afternoon? How was he?"
"Fine," she replies, nodding. "A bit apprehensive, but who wouldn't be? Jovian and his dragons went with him, so I'm sure they'll keep an eye out for each other."
A wistful expression crosses Solange's face, yearning tinged with melancholy. "Papa went as well. It's hard to let people you love leave like that, not knowing whether they'll return. It's different when I'm the one doing the leaving, not so bad, but when I'm the one doing the staying...hell, it hurts."
"I know exactly what you mean," Folly says softly. "Sometimes I wonder if living forever is worth it, if it means losing the people we love over and over again." She shakes her head sadly.
"Perhaps that's why we're drawn to family in our relationships," Solange muses. "We know on some level that they'll always be there. Well, I know anything can happen, but you know what I mean."
Folly nods, but her smile is strangely wistful. "At some level. Even if we don't know who they are." She chuckles ruefully and returns to the subject at hand.
"Did you have a chance to talk to him, too, before he went?"
Solange shakes her head and looks down into her lap. After the space of a few heartbeats, she looks back up at Folly and forces a smile.
"I know he wanted to be there, with Vere," she says, her expression now less wistful and more melancholy. "Mama and Matthew are dead. I was gone out in shadow, preoccupied with healing Father. Paige is...with Adonis. I think he wanted a place to fit in, somewhere where he could make a difference.
"So now he's with Vere, fighting a war for a people he doesn't know, because that's a way he can find purpose."
Solange frowns and looks away.
"I need to spend some time with him when he gets back. If he gets back." She shakes her head resolutely. "_When_ he gets back."
"When he gets back," Folly agrees, as if willing it would make it so. She takes Solange's hand between hers, comfortingly. "When they all get back."
Solange smiles gratefully. "Thanks."
She squeezes Folly's hand and then stretches, both hands over her head and her toes wriggling. "That pretty much brings you up to date on what's been happening with me. One more question for you, and then I'll get out of your hair."
Folly grins affectionately and shakes her head; spending time with her foster-sister is hardly an imposition. "Sure, shoot," she replies.
"This 'Order of the Card'...do you know what plans Martin has for it? Or is it only an honorary thing?"
"He's talked about making it be about protecting the king," Folly replies, "which of course is something I can get behind." She grins. "But I think the specifics won't really be sorted out 'til we all sit down and talk about them. I suspect it'll be more than just honorary, though in practice our 'duties' may well line up with stuff we would've done anyway, like making sure the king doesn't get skewered by card-wielding chaos harpies...." Folly rolls her eyes comically.
Solange smiles.
"Any requests or suggestions, if the topic comes up while you're still back in Amber? And remember, Lucas is one of us, so decisions of Orderly fashion may be made for us...." Folly's smile is wide and amused.
"Just as long as it doesn't involve corsets or cleavage for the women," she chuckles back. "Codpieces for the men might be interesting, though."
Solange pauses...then shakes her head, apparently trying to rid herself of the resulting imagery.
Folly, though, is grinning and nodding vigorously -- not so much because she thinks it's an idea they must implement, but because it's too funny not to think about. Enthusiastically.
"Requests or suggestions..." she says, getting back to the matter at hand. "Well, I do have one request that you can pass along to Martin if it comes up. You can ask him to give me something to do that actually means something. I want to be useful, y'know?"
"I know exactly what you mean," Folly agrees. "I suspect that would be his instinct anyway -- but if it comes up, I'll make sure he knows." She smiles.
But before Solange can make her escape, Folly exclaims, "Oh! I almost forgot! Please, if you see her, will you give Aunt Felicity my love and condolences? I--- wait, I even made her a card, but we left in such a hurry that I didn't finish it until we were on the road to Xanadu...." Folly hops off the couch, grabs a leather satchel from the desk in the corner, and rummages around in one of the pockets 'til she comes up with an envelope. It only looks a little bit like it's been riding around in a satchel for a week. Folly smoothes it against her belly and then offers it to Solange.
Solange takes the card and looks up. "Can I look at it?"
Folly thinks about it for a half-second, and then grins. "Yeah, sure, if you'd like. And if you don't think Aunt Felicity would mind you reading her mail."
The envelope, conveniently, is unsealed. Solange can see without withdrawing the card that its front depicts a serene scene, hand-drawn in pastels, of two small birds huddled together beneath an awning of leaves and flowers, sheltered from the rain.
"It's beautiful," Solange comments, looking at the artwork. She doesn't pull the card out of the envelope. "I'm not going to read it. It's a private thing between you and her. I'm sure Aunt Felicity will be touched by your gesture."
Solange gives Folly a bear hug worthy of Gerard. "Take care, foster-sister. G'night."
Folly hugs back tightly and gives Solange a sisterly peck on the cheek. "G'night, foster-sister," she grins. "Safe travels in Amber."
[Solange] smiles and exits the room, returning to her own room to grab an hour or two of sleep before dawn.
Last modified: 11 May 2005