These are the general results from the first set of voyages (second for Lucas), in the order of departure. [Results are based on a lot of card drawing, and element and power scores.]
Paige departs not long after Lucas' return on the Princess' Charge. Her captain for this voyage is Worth, whom Gerard had planned to drag out of retirement anyway. They visit four shadows in a sequence of not unsuccessful trades before acquiring their assigned cargo in the fifth, where they redeem their previous losses.
Solange also has a rough time her first voyage out. Her first shadow results in unsuccessful trading after a long round of negotiations; in the second, her ship is attacked by hostile natives. It is in the fourth shadow that she successfully acquires her assigned cargo.
Jerod is looking for the Golden Circle shadows, and in addition to his assigned cargo mission, has a squad of sailor-diplomats with pouches, including a senior member of the Bellum delegation. He sails for Bellum along the route he has deduced from the rutters, and is somewhat amazed to find that he arrives there. He has to spend some time there explaining himself to the authorities (what the heck happened?) but is able to do some trading, including acquiring a small number of flintlocks for possible use of what's left with Corwin's powder. The second shadow he finds is also a former GC shadow, and has the rest of his assigned cargo. He returns to Amber immediately, over the objections of the attaches, except for the new Ambassador from Bellum.
Jerod is immensely pleased with his luck and despite the objections of the attaches will surely travel back to Amber to report on his success...at last...something has gone right it seems for a change...:)
Cambina acquires her assigned cargo in the second shadow she visits. Maritime life, one suspects, doesn't appeal to her, and she'll probably be the first to opt out of the trade when she can.
Ossian and Vere manage to find their assigned cargo -- and lots of it -- in the first shadow they visit. They return with a laden vessel and a good profit.
Vere will make it clear to everyone that he considers the voyage's success to be entirely due to Ossian's skill at navigating Shadow.
Ossian smiles: "Oh, if we don't consider sailing, accounting and making the good business agreements, I certainly did the largest part of the job."
Lucas makes the rounds of the shadows he previously visited. He also comes back with his assigned cargo and a profit.
Martin makes his assigned cargo on the third shadow, after trying to visit somewhere he'd been and thought he could find again but couldn't. If Folly still wants to accompany him, he is glad to have her, but he understands if it would be too awkward under the circumstances.
Folly definitely still wants to accompany him.
Martin's relieved. Not only does he obviously blame himself for what happened with Paige, he also obviously expects Folly to. (Everyone else, for that matter. Cambina obliges him.)
Solange does not. She continues to treat Martin as she always has, and it's pretty clear that even though she's continuing to be friendly with Paige, she is more annoyed that Paige created a public spectacle of herself than interested in what precipitated the incident.
If that sentiment [blaming Martin] is spoken at all near Paige, she'll defend him, vigorously. Paige is very adamant about the idea that her actions were her own, no matter what led her to them, and even in that context, it was her mishandling of the luncheon that precipitated the incident. Martin is in no way at fault and Paige has to take responsibility for her own actions. This is one of the few moments before she leaves that she'll remind anyone of the Paige they knew before that incident.
Martin asks Folly regularly when he is in town how Paige is doing, but makes no move to see her. Apparently he feels like he's done enough damage.
Martin volunteers no discussion about what started it. (Certainly not publicly, although what he says to friends who ask may be different from what he says in general.)
Martin probably sees more of Solange until Paige's departure than he does of the rest of his cousins; he spends more time in Garnath and Arden and his time in town is carefully arranged so that he rarely eats dinner or spends the night in the castle. He most often stays at the Red Mill. After Paige's departure, he returns to the castle on a more regular basis.
Martin asks Folly to bring along her mandolin, and he brings his guitar. In addition to jam sessions, Martin also spends a lot of time talking about musical theory. Folly realizes at some point that he's teaching her how to shift shadow as best he can without her having taken the Pattern, using a language that they share.
This is, in fact, exactly the knowledge she most wanted to gain on this journey. In addition to paying close attention during these lessons, she concentrates on how it feels and sounds when Martin shifts shadow.
It's like listening to the music from a party a couple of floors up in your old apartment building: you can hear the bass line and catch snatches of the tune. If you knew what Martin was playing, you'd be able to sing along from that much, you think. But this music isn't quite like any you've ever heard before.
It may be the first time in your life something related to music has truly been beyond you. It's frustrating as all hell.
Jerod is back quickly enough that he is refitted and sent out for a second attempt to find Golden Circle shadows before any of the rest of you are back. His second voyage is mostly successful, but there are a couple of shadows even he simply can't find. Close analogies, yes. The exact places, no.
Jerod makes sure to make notations for comparison to the rutters and has them sent to Gerard for his evaluation and for any comments he might wish to make. If there's something that Gerard might be able to add for future reference when he goes looking again, Jerod will definitely be interested in it.
Gerard can provide assistance, but most of the routes date from the days when Eric and Corwin and Caine were the young sprouts. He knows them as a navigator and that helps, but you'd do better with the men who laid most of the paths on hand to tell you how they did it. It's also clear from Gerard's comments that it's not an exact science, but, like many Pattern skills, slightly different for everyone who does it.
Gerard is not very good at discussing theory. He is not the most verbal guy Jerod has ever met. Jerod could probably learn how to do it by apprenticeship in a snap, but this lecture/practical split is pretty tough.
Jerod takes what he can get, even if its only crumbs. Every little bit will help and he's not going to get too pushy once it becomes clear there's a limited return on the practical end.
For those shadows that he cannot find...how does this affect the Golden Circle situation? Are we leaving many Ambassadors stranded, etc? And is Amber likely to suffer from having those shadows missing - in regards to needed trade goods, etc?
Amber will need replacement sources for some goods, but she can't act as a trade hub for ships not navigated by Family the way she did before until new shadowpaths are laid.
Jerod's going to bring up at the Council meetings and Gerard about laying down deliberate shadow paths that anyone can follow...not just family. They can debate which paths are most critical based on need, and Jerod can go take care of that for the first few, assuming other people don't have a better idea (and if they do, he's interested in hearing it).
Gerard wants to hear opinions from the different family members about whether this is a viable plan in terms of their ability to shift around the work, etc. and, if so, which shadows might be best for laying down permanent paths.
The Golden Circle as you knew it is probably finished, at least until the Elders show back up. Gerard is open to any suggestions the younger generation may have about how to deal with stranded Ambassadors.
Cambina's suggestion (not made in front of Gerard) involves manual labor.
Solange concedes that the idea is tempting, but it's probably more feasible to grant them citizenship, and find some sort of bureaucrat jobs for them to do. As citizens, they're also free to take advantage of the homesteading program (although Solange doubts that ambassador types will want to become honest working farmers), or start up merchant ventures (although they have the problem of no capital), but if all else fails, we can put them to work in the Customs House dealing with import duties or something like that, now that we're at least bringing in SOME trade. That ought to be close enough to their former work that they won't be too lost.
Folly likes the idea of giving them citizenship and finding jobs for them. She suggests that since they're all negotiators, maybe some of them might be useful as negotiators on some of the trade voyages.
Jerod recommends that the stranded Ambassador be kept around, but informed that their shadow links are beyond contact at the present time. Once the remaining Elders return from the battle, they can be enlisted to help re-open the connections. Jerod does not speculate openly on whether the other GC shadows might not be there at all anymore.
The return order of the remaining vessels is: Paige, Solange and Ossian within a few days of each other, Cambina, Martin, and, last but not least, Lucas.
All of you think about laying down permanent paths. Jerod thinks he could teach himself this skill with enough time, but he just can't manage it while he's running around with the damn ambassadors and trading and such. None of the rest of you think you could.
Jerod will report this to Gerard first and then to the rest of the family at a family dinner. If Gerard can provide any pointers or instruction on how to do it that would make the process go faster, then even Jerod's ego takes a back seat to the need to get the routes laid down.
If not...then he'll talk to his cousinss and see about what they might think about some kind of trade schedule...he'd need time to lay down the route without distraction, so he'd probably have to offload some of the trading duties to others...though once some routes could be laid down, that would take the burden off of them and let regular ships take up more of the slack.
Gerard is all for a regular trade schedule. You all determine quickly that is possible to lay down routes that another Pattern initiate can follow with minimal difficulty.
You can also shift small fleets through shadow, thus allowing the ships from the shadows as well as the Amber ships to follow you. Of course, the stronger you are with the Pattern, the more ships you can bring with you.
Paige is more than willing to pick up the slack in the trading, unless she's needed in the judiciary or Courts...
.. In fact as the first one back of the others, she volunteers to go back out, trying to find a more direct route to where she had success, or at least a quicker one. The idea that she might not be back in time for her own anniversary party doesn't seem to occur, let alone bother her. While in town she keeps herself busy, picking up what she can of the judicial work, reading over cases she's missed and delving deeper into the law than the property and usury laws that are common place. She doesn't ever stay over in the City, at least not until others return, and in the evenings can be seen meditating in the solarium, or just walking Kolvir as the moon sets. Her desk in the room is a pile of hastily scratched verses, and a pile of crumpled pages.
One evening the physicians in the Castle imfirmary find a red chest upon their desk. Within the satin lining are small containers, containing various pharmacutecal grade drugs, all labeled in appropriate terms for the locals to understand, and a letter.
"I'm sure that you will be able to put this to much better use than it was originally intended," signed with a kiss of red lipstick.
Until the others return, she'll ensure to have dinner nightly with Uncle Gerard, if he's willing.
Since Paige is back first, and assuming that Jerod hasn't left yet, he would speak with her and Gerard concerning the situation. If there are trade goods that Jerod was going to pick up but that Paige could acquire, then perhaps other GC shadows could possibly be searched out. At this point, I'm assuming that Jerod would still not be certain enough to try laying down permanent routes...not until after his second trip at least was successful and he had a clearer idea of what he was up to.
At the moment, Jerod is still figuring that trade goods are more urgently needed than GC contact so he would not be offended to go out again on that kind of route (which given the previous messages I'm assuming that's what happens). On future endeavours however, if time permitted, he'd want to see about doing some exploring.
Vere will listen to most of these discussions without becoming too involved; occasionally making a suggestion about trading schedules but for the most part listening rather than participating in talk about travelling through Shadow. He will eventually, in a somewhat offhanded manner, suggest that it might be a good idea to see about attempting to re-establish a connection with either Rebma or Tir-na Nog'th, and preferably both....
[Jerod] And Cambina's reply to this would be?
As well, Jerod will ask Gerard's opinion on teaching others...assuming that Jerod can figure out how to do the work, does Gerard think there are any likely candidates amongst the others that could learn it from Jerod? Or do they need someone more experienced like Gerard as a teacher?
Gerard's not a very good teacher, as mentioned above. How good of a teacher is Jerod? And will he be confident of teaching a skill before he is sure he has mastered it?
Jerod as a teacher...is probably about average. I normally view teaching as requiring both Water (being able to read your student and provide information accordingly) and Air (being able to plan the flow of information to the student in an organized and helpful manner). So he could probably try to teach others what he knows...but given that he would only have just learned about the concept of shadowpaths, he's probably not going to be able to pass much over...and certainly none of the helpful insights or intuitive comments that really good teachers can provide.
I think once Jerod's actually mastered it...done a couple of routes and gotten a good feel for the practice, then things would change...he'd understand that feeling and be able to provide examples that could work better. He probably wouldn't be a fantastic teacher...but he could impart information and help others get things done a bit faster. So at the present time, without having actually done a shadowpath...nope. In the future...possibly...:)
This will be a moot point until into year 3, I imagine. (We're just now into year 2, remember.)
Paige rides in from her morning work out in the fresh air above the Castle on Kolvir. She jumps from the saddle before the hands can help her, calling, "I'll need a carraige for at least 4, perhaps more readied, if you please, Anders?"
With that she hurries to her room, telling the closest page to inform both the Regent and Vialle that Lady Folly's ship is approaching. It's past Cabra and should make port this morning, probably within the hour.
[The rumor is welcome to spread to anyone else that might be in the Castle environs, or in town...]
Solange has been spending the morning in one of the smaller reception rooms in the Castle that has become the Homestead Office, doing paperwork, hearing petitions, and all that other boring administrative stuff that's piled up while she was out on her most recent journey. When she hears the news, she is more than happy to declare the office closed for the day while she goes to meet the ship.
Paige returns no more than 10 minutes later in a gown of emerald, looking to see who else might've heard the news. For those with any Water she obviously would like someone to accompany her. There's a nervousness to her gait and a bit of anxiety in her hands.
"Paige! You're going down to the docks, of course?" Solange says when she meets her cousin. "Do you have room in your carriage? I didn't dress for riding today." That much is obvious. She's still wearing the dull, respectable outfit she was in for her office work -- a gold-colored bodice and plain brownish-green skirt over a linen chemise trimmed with olive tapes at neck and wrists, her hair braided and caught back in an olive-colored snood. She is hastily buttoning the oversleeves on to her bodice, and there are ink smudges on her fingers. When Solange is dressed for riding, she doesn't let the opinions of society matrons get in the way of her convenience, and favors jodphurs, a man's open-collared shirt, and her braid hanging down her back.
Paige accepts a hand up from the footman into the carriage. "Of course. Please, join me." Paige's smile at her friend's company says much more than words can convey. She smoothes the emerald velvet over the ivory silk peticoat. From within the greatsleeves she produces a gold hairnet that matches the gold lace on the pointed bodice. Trying not to fall out of the low, long neckline, she tosses her head over and tries to pull her hair back into some semblence of order, looking up to Solange. "Help?"
(If that's the Cavalier neckline we talked about earlier, she's not going ANYWHERE. The thing about those is that you look as if you're going to fall out, but you're laced in so heavily that there isn't the ghost of a chance, even if you do a headstand.)
Solange looks critically at the size of the hairnet and the amount of Paige's hair, and shakes her head. She reaches through a concealed slit in her skirt to the pocket hanging around her waist, and produces a comb. "Sit up again," she instructs. Solange parts her cousin's hair along the center, and then makes another part side-to-side. "Hold these," she tells Paige, putting a front section of hair in each hand. She combs out the back section so that there's no center part remaining, then fishes a couple of wire hair pins out of her pocket, and puts them in her mouth to hold them. Deftly, she winds Paige's below-waist-length hair into a broad, flat coil, and skewers it in place with the pins. Then she braids each of the front sections, and crosses the long braids over the top of Paige's head, tucking the ends behind the coil. Finally, Solange takes the hair net and fits it over the back of Paige's head, anchoring it by its combs, the front edge just behind the crossed braids. She stops to admire her handiwork for a minute. "There," she says, "that'll do."
(OOC: Those of you who are Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will recognize the style from the illustration of Aunt Ruby and Aunt Docia getting ready for the Dance at Grandpa's in the Big Woods.)
Solange takes another look at her cousin. "You've gotten really dressed up for this," she comments. "Velvet and silk to the docks, where you risk dragging them through piles of fish guts? Or is this an exercise in looking impressively royal for the populace?" She looks ruefully at her own ink-smudged hands.
"Shit," Paige says under her breath with the unpoken _I wasn't thinking that far._ "I just grabbed something nice, and yes, I am trying to clean up my image some. I suppose the fillet would be a bit over the top?" She produces a fine gold chain with an emerald bob at the center.
"You're this fancy already, you might as well go all the way," Solange says, and hooks the fillet onto the hairnet.
"Hell, the hardest thing's been trying to learn to mount sidesaddle. Who ever decided woman deserved such torture?" she laughs nervously.
"Nobody would bat an eyelash at split skirts," Solange tells her cousin. "There's such a thing as taking it too far."
"I know, but I've got to go a bit 'above and beyond' until I get myself in good graces again. I'm just hoping, well... I'm hoping I'm worthy of their trust again."
"And falling off your saddle is the way to prove it?" Solange quips.
Paige sticks her tongue out in a very unladylike way...
The darkness flits across her eyes for a moment, but... As she begins to hear the gulls and the fishmongers, Paige takes a deep breath and looks Solange seriously in the eye. "If I do anything stupid, tell me, OK? Push me off the dock or something. Your father will deal with some hi-jinx on a happy occasion better than another one of my scenes."
"Just smile and say 'Welcome home, cousins,' if you're that worried," Solange tells her. "Graciously let everyone else crowd in around them. That ought to be safe enough, right?"
"Yes. I haven't talked to him since, well... you know. I think I can without putting my foot in my mouth, but..." _This is important to me._
"Your father wanted to know if I could work with him. I promised him I'd try, and well, your father's one of the few people in this city that I'm really concerned about... I mean that he can trust me." Paige is obviously flustered and goes through some breathing exercises, trying to find a calm, but not ignoring Solange.
"If you're going to be working with him, it'd help if you were able to say his name," Solange comments.
"I can say it," Paige protests. "Martin. See?" The name has conflicting emotions running through it, but she seems steady enough on the surface. She reaches in her pocket and produces a small cigarette case, pulls out a cigarette and when tapping out a match, something else falls into her hand. Looking at it hopefully for a moment, she shakes her head and strikes the match, the item still captured in that hand, and lights the cigarette. She takes a long drag and after tossing the match she hands over the item to Solange. "Keep that for me, OK? Better yet, don't." Solange finds herself holding a small glass vial, holding a white powder.
Solange makes a "naughty, naughty" gesture and tucks the vial in her pocket. She also lowers the carriage window (if this is a closed carriage; if it's an open one, she just deals).
Vere would already be waiting on the Docks as the ships return, as he always is as soon as the first reports come from the lookouts that one of the expeditions is returning.
[Because she operates on "Coincidental Time",] Cambina just happens to be in Vere's office when the news arrives. She offers to accompany Vere to the Docks. She says something about wanting to observe what everyone's going to be talking about later.
Vere tilts his head to one side and looks at her quizzically. "Should I have a guard detail standing by?" he asks as he offers her his arm.
Cambina pauses for a second and replies more slowly than she normally does. "I don't think so, but the fact that I'm not sure is part of the reason I came. I expect it to be subtle, but interesting. It may be one or neither of those. Maybe I just want to see what Lady Paige wears when she comes to the docks."
Vere considers this for a second, then says, "If it is going to be subtle, then best we meet it with subtlety. Even if whatever is to occur is in some way hostile to Amber meeting it with armed men may well simply escalate an otherwise peaceful situation. No guards then." He smiles. "I am now quite curious. Shall we, Cousin?"
(Ossian has also been working down at the docks) In this moment Ossian catches up with Vere and Cambina, slightly panting. "Is that Folly's ship coming in?" he asks, pointing at the approaching vessel(s?).
Vere raises an eyebrow slightly. "Martin and Folly's expedition, yes," he says. "Shall we see what we shall see?"
"You are too sharp, Vere. What shall we see?"
Vere glances at Cambina with a slight smile, then looks back at Ossian. "We don't know. That's the interesting thing."
Paige's carriage comes to a stop at the landward end of the dock where Vere, Ossian, and Cambina are standing. The footmen open the doors for Paige and Solange and will help them down, or get out of the way of Vere and Ossian if they prefer to help the ladies down instead.
Ossian steps forward to help the ladies down: "Ah. Welcome to the harbour, cousins."
Vere moves smoothly to the other side of the carriage door, to assist the ladies out of the carriage in the classic fashion. He smiles as Paige descends and says, "You are even more beautiful than usual, Cousin." Behind her back he glances at Solange with a slight smile and a questioning look.
Solange rolls her eyes at her brother, then assumes a gracious smile as she steps down from the carriage.
Paige blushes slightly, smiling, "And you are as charming as always, Cousin." She's careful where she steps, but gives a nod to Ossian while joining Cambina.
"So when do we expect Folly?" she asks looking across toward the harbor. When Solange approaches, "And Martin, of course."
The ship is settling at the dock and men are tying her up. Folly and Martin are waiting for the gangplank to be lowered, which should be happening momentarily.
When Folly catches sight of her cousins, a big grin spreads across her face, and she waves enthusiastically. Then she turns, lays a hand on Martin's arm, and says something to him -- even at this distance, Paige recognizes her "everything will be OK" look.
Martin says something in return and smiles at Folly, putting his free hand atop hers for a moment.
As soon as the gangplank is lowered, she rushes down the dock -- not quite running, but almost skipping -- to greet her cousins, leaving Martin to catch up at his leisure.
Martin saunters leisurely down the gangplank, waving at his cousins.
"Thank you for coming out to meet the ship!" Folly says. "I've missed you. Not many dancers on board," she adds with a grin at Ossian. She clasps the hands of each person in turn, ending with Paige, whose hand she continues holding. "Oh, but it was a lovely trip, and we found what we were after, and I learned eight new drinking songs. All-in-all, a successful voyage, I'd say...."
Ossian smiles back.
Paige has hug and a kiss on the cheek for Folly, and a small smile with a chuckle. "At least you've got your priorities in order. I... We've missed you, too." Paige blushes the slightest at her phrasing.
She makes no move to release Folly's hand either. She turns to the gangplank, and Martin. "Welcome home, cousin." Her voice is soft and even, almost practiced high waters might guess.
Martin draws Paige close in a cousinly embrace and kisses her cheek before releasing her. "Good to see you, Paige. You're looking well."
Paige accepts gracfully, but the man who knows her and is holding her can feel every muscle in her body tense. Whispered softly, perhaps too softly for even him to hear is the "Don't." The face drops momentarily, but is back in place by the time he releases her.
Martin doesn't appear to notice.
Then he repeats the process with Solange. "I'm glad to be your excuse to get out of the office."
And then he repeats it with Cambina, with whom he exchanges no words. Her look at him says _you're pushing it_ and his flash of cat-ate-the-canary grin says _yeah, aren't I?_.
Paige stifles a chuckle behind a handkercheif produced from her sleeve.
For Vere and Ossian (and any other male cousins), it's a firm grip and a cousinly slap on the shoulder. "I've brought back a couple of new games we can try. And somewhere in my luggage, Vere, I've got something that might do as an alternate reed for your pipes if you run out of the kind you have."
A moment later: "Good to see you too, Ossian."
Last modified: 18 Jul 2001