Everyone, including Lucas and Ossian, arrives at family dinner. Martin has Lucas summoned if he does not arrive on his own. (Vialle is not summoned, and does not come.)
I imagine Lucas is summoned, because he's having far more fun with Vialle than his machismo cousins. ;)
When you get to the green and white pavilion with a subtle pattern of unicorns on it and golden ropes, you find that inside there is a dining table set up and dinner is ready to be served. It's a large meal, with plenty of meat, bread, and hearty vegetables. Nothing fancy, though -- just good plain food. All of you find that you're quite hungry after the day's efforts and plates are rapidly cleaned and cleaned again.
Yeah, Lucas looks really tired. Really.
Afterwards, you move over to the comfortable sitting area also contained within the large pavilion. The grass of the tiliting yards is covered with rugs, and there are large pillows to sit on. For furniture, there are two couches (think elaborate wooden benches with backs and padding rather than a Pottery Barn monstrosity) and a couple of chairs in a similar style.
Everyone settles in. (Seating arrangements, please?)
[Lucas]
Couch.
[Solange]
Not the same couch as Lucas. Next to Vere. If Solange is in the
middle of a couch and there's room on the other side of her, she
would not raise any particular objection to any of her other cousins
claiming that spot.
Vere sits on a couch with Solange.
Ossian first aims for the coach occupied by Solange and Vere, seing that there is space enough for him there, but halfway there he seems to change his mind, and takes one of the chairs. He goes for the one that is closest to Vere.
Vere nods at him, and smiles very slightly.
Solange smiles at Ossian anyway. She doesn't speak a greeting -- despite having taken the time to comb the dirt out of her hair and put on fresh clothes before dinner, she still looks pretty beat.
(The fresh clothes are somewhat more Amber-appropriate -- a linen shift, a gold-brown, sleeveless front-laced, tabbed-waist bodice, and an olive-colored skirt -- but she's kept on her sneakers, and is still wearing the field jacket over the top.)
Folly curls up in the fetal position on one of the pillows on the ground, facing Martin's chair.
Paige will grab a pillow, prop it behind her against the leg of Solange's couch and pull Folly's head into her lap. The soft touch on her shoulder says, _Thanks. We couldn't have done it without you._
Folly smiles weakly and snuggles against Paige's legs: _And I wouldn't have made it here without you._ Folly's affection for her cousin is obvious. So, too, is her exhaustion -- she struggles to pay attention, but she seems to be drifting into and out of sleep.
Lucas smirks as a thought seems to come to him, but he doesn't appear to pursue it.
Martin claims a chair and begins to speak as soon as everyone is settled.
"I've arranged this meeting because we have a lot of information to pass around and a lot of things we need to settle, and it'll be easier if we do it all at once. For those of you who haven't put a name to a face in all the rush, I'm Martin. My father is Prince Random and my mother was the late Princess Morganthe of Rebma. For the last few years, I have been in direct service to the late King of Amber, our grandfather Oberon. Most of what I have to tell you comes from him.
"Almost all of you know that somewhere under our feet lies the Pattern, the walking of which formalizes our abilities to control shadow. Similarly, most of you know of the Patterns on the Tir and in Rebma. What you may not know is that there's another Pattern of which the Amber Pattern is apparently a close shadow. That one was the original, and it's in a place very like this except there's no city or castle or people and Kolvir's been shaved off at the level of the Pattern. I've been there only once, and I came in on a Trump, and in," Martin winces, "bad circumstances, so I can't get anyone there, before you ask. But I can vouch for its existence.
"Again, almost all of you know that Amber's been in the throes of a succession crisis since, oh, before we were all born. As part of the machinations involved in the succession crisis, Brand," and here Martin pauses to get his thoughts in order, and the high waters sense a lot of rage and a certain amount of remembered fear, all of which he squelches to continue, "Brand decided to destroy the Pattern. Not the one in Amber, but the original, which he knew about. His ultimate goal was -- is -- to make a new Pattern, which he knew how to do, and by doing so create the universe anew in his image."
Martin glances around the group to see who knows this much of the story already and what the reactions are. He somehow manages not to look at Paige.
Paige manages to not look at him either here, nor when he's speaking of Brand's actions.
Lucas looks blandly interested. In that sort of "there's nothing else to pay attention to" sort of way.
Solange is watching him intently and trying to look calm. High Water types, if they are making a point of observing her and not Martin, would guess that she's mentally filing all this information with the hopes that it will all make more sense later.
Folly's dazed, glassy-eyed look suggests a small child, up well past her bedtime, attending a lecture on particle physics. The best indicator that she's actually listening is the wave of shivers that passes through her whenever Martin reaches an emotional part of his story.
Paige lays a reassuring hand on her cousin's arm whenever it happens.
Vere is listening without any reaction whatsoever. He is mainly concentrating on Martin, but his glance occasionally passes over everyone else in the pavilion.
"Brand managed to damage the Pattern, the primal Pattern if you will, but was unable to destroy it. However, what he did apparently set up some kind of flaw that allowed our enemies in Chaos -- the ones Benedict is currently fighting -- to get to Amber. Brand had already allied with Chaos and they were able to use the flaw and some other things -- Corwin's curse," he adds by way of explanation to Jerod and Cambina, "to allow Chaos to come in on that black road we've all been dealing with."
Ossian nervously flips a pen back and forth in his right hand. "So _that_ is Brand's crime." He continues with a low voice, so only those nearest to him hear. "Ah, who would not destroy old art if there was only one canvas?"
When Ossian says this Vere becomes very still, and during the ensuing verbal violence amongst his cousins he shows no reaction whatsoever. Even extremely high Waters will find him impossible to read.
Paige turns to Ossian with a start...
Solange, if she is close enough to hear this comment, gives Ossian what can only be described as a horrified glare. I can't explain it any better than that -- you would have to see it on Tia Kaplowitz' face to truly understand. "Poleaxed" is a word we often use for it, too. In strictly technical terms, the jaw drops, and the eyes both widen and bug out, but that really doesn't convey the true intensity of it.
Martin's brows lower and his eyes seem almost black with his rage. He starts to open his mouth but ...
"People are not art." Jerod replies, clearly so that everyone hears. "Amber is not art". To anyone with a water score higher than zero, it is quite clear that Ossian's next comment should be made with great care, as Jerod is likely to kill him instantly.
Ossian suspects he is in no less danger from Martin.
During Jerod's and Martin's outrage, Ossian looks visibly afraid.
If there is anything drinkable, hard or otherwise, Lucas will choose this moment to stand and fetch himself something. Otherwise he'll look like there was something to drink.
Solange takes a deep breath, closes her mouth, and her face smooths back into a more neutral expression.
"Cousin," Paige addresses Jerod, "I don't know how well you knew our Uncle, but he's nothing more than Martin said. A Prince who tried to take his chance at something our Grandfather left very unsure, the succession. As Cambina says, we can't be that unsure with our direction. We must act as one, in their," a nod towards the City, "eyes, and even in those of our own parents and elders who will hopefully return soon."
Martin now turns to Paige in outrage at this gross mischaracterization of his feelings on the matter, but she continues:
Jerod does not say anything, though it was clear he was about to reply. He does not continue however since she does carry on, though it is pretty clear that she's not made a good impression...its pretty clear too that he's got some sympathy for Martin right at that moment.
Paige smoothes Folly's hair and tries not to disturb her as she looks back to Ossian. "Cousin, I would implore you to watch your words. If you expect your teacher to ever be remembered as something other than one who sought to destroy everything we hold dear, then perhaps you need to be the example, the one thing we might be able to hold up as proof that his hand did not always create darkness and hurt, but also life. If not for your own sake and standing in this company, perhaps you could better choose your words, for his sake." Anyone can see she's aggitated by Ossian's attitude. How much of that is Ossian and how much of it is other events of the day, is for them to guess.
"ENOUGH!" Martin growls in a voice loud enough to wake Folly. "I did not ask everyone's presence here for to discuss our Uncle's many shortcomings -- or to otherwise revive the old family arguments." As he speaks, he visibly wrestles his temper back under control.
Paige moves slightly to the side and slides the pillow from behind her under Folly's head. "Don't worry," she whispers softly into Folly's dark locks. "Some scars are visible, others not. He carries both. Rest." Her eyes hold only sorrow as she looks up.
"Does anyone have anything useful to contribute to the discussion? The subject of which was, as I recall, how to make sure things get done until Gerard recovers from his injury enough to fully take up the Regency."
Paige stands and heads for the banquet table, "A discussion would suggest an intelligent exchange of ideas. All I've heard so far was your opinion on working toward a council. If the mere mention of the man's name is going to do this to it, then there will lines drawn before it's even begun." Her words are sharp, like a knife to the gut. "We need to be done with petty differences, especially from one who would seem to try and lead us. It may have been personal for some people, but now it's effected everyone Royal, commoner, and Shadow-dweller alike." Many can hear the unspoken, _Get over yourself!_
Jerod's focus at this moment is not on Paige, but rather on Martin...he's looking to keep eye contact with him, and to make sure that things don't get worse. It would appear for the moment that he has relegated Paige to a secondary priority.
Martin's focus is no longer on Paige, but on Folly. His face has settled into that expression of guarded neutrality Jerod is learning to recognize, but his eyes betray anger. The higher waters read his expression as "I will not let Paige jerk my chain, even if she is being particularly provoking".
Folly, looking more than a little concerned, meets his gaze. Her expression says, _Stay calm -- if I had any strength left, I'd give it to you._ She seems bewildered by the whole situation.
On deciding that Folly is more bewildered than upset, Martin seems to relax a little.
Paige pours herself a glass of single malt whiskey, and turns to face Martin and the others. "We have to throw away our parent's problems, issues, what have you." She sips at the whiskey. "I'm Paige, not Bleys, not 'one of Clarissa's brood', none of that. I'm willing to take every one of you for who you are, without the trappings of our family's favorite game If we can all come to the table with that, I think we can survive. It's the one thing we Amberites do, most better than anyone I've ever met. But better than that, I believe if we can take that step, we can do better than survive, we can rebuild, we can flourish. Look what a few of us did today in probably saving our Uncle's life. There were no concerns that, 'Well last we spoke, my father wasn't on good terms with Uncle Gerard' or any such tripe. We saw a problem and worked as a team, as parts of a whole to overcome it, for the benefit of ourselves, and for Amber."
Paige tosses back a bit more of the whiskey, before continuing. "I didn't spend many years here like some of you, but more than anywhere Amber's my home, and I'll do what's neccessary to help it. If there's to be a Council, I wish to be part of it." She turns and walks to the pavillion's flap and pushes it aside, to let some fresher air enter, but she does not leave and still seems to be listening.
"Ahem" Ossian clears his voice. "For the peace of this council I should probably explain what I meant."
"I did not say that _I_ view Shadow, or people as art. But I'm quite shure that Brand does view them such. Of course we must fight him because of that, even if he does the right thing from his point of view. This is all a matter of philosophy, in which I agree with you."
"I hope this clears things up a bit. Let's proceed."
Martin continues: "What Grandfather planned to do -- has done -- was to repair or remake the primal Pattern. He said this would have massive, universe-spanning effects, including putting the Trumps out of commission for a time, and that other effects we'd know when we saw them. He also said he'd die doing it." And here Martin looks distraught for a moment, but then squelches it and moves on.
Solange looks more "concerned" than "distraught."
At the mention of trumps not working Ossian pulls out his cards, trying to find out if they work or not. (GM note: He tries the beach card mentioned earlier.)
[Ossian and anyone else who checks the cards now finds that they are not cold, as Martin stated.
Actually, anyone who has checked them since the middle of the night last night has found that to be true. Apparently it hasn't affected Cambina's ability to say spooky things.]
Jerod remains totally oblivious to the state of the cards...:)...though he's always very nervous whenever Cambina begins her prophetic comments... (well, maybe not nervous, but you get the idea)...:)
Cambina has that "I don't care if it is 'objective reality', I'm right and it's wrong" look that Jerod knows. His experience is that explanations he gets from her about this kind of thing are seldom satisfying.
"Grandfather sent Benedict and the rest to keep Chaos busy while he did what he did. He expected us all to survive but said there were no guarantees. And he said that the ordering of space-time would be disrupted in such a way that he couldn't tell us how long it would take them to get home after the battle, especially since time is not stable in Chaos anyway."
"Most of you who can use the Pattern have already noticed that we can now use it here, which I was told we weren't supposed to be able to do so close in. The good news is that this means the Pattern exists somewhere. The bad news is that it doesn't seem to be here. While digging out the Pattern chamber is important, it can't take first place here, so I don't think we'll know for a while. But if this is a temporary effect, like the Trump failure is supposed to be -- I don't have to tell you to be careful about what you conjure, do I?
"Never summon anything larger than your head," Solange mutters, half to herself, half to Vere.
"Then there are a couple of questions about Gerard. I'll say this in here, once, so we can all agree it's a meaningless statement, and then not mention it again. If Grandfather's dead, technically the patent of Regency Gerard has is invalid and we're in an interregnum. I don't think any of us want to deal with the additional crisis that would cause in the city." Martin looks at each one of you to ascertain agreement.
Solange nods, her lips pressed into a tight line.
"The second thing is, and I'm sorry to have to say this so bluntly in front of you two," and Martin looks at Solange and Vere apologetically, "but even though we've saved Gerard, he'll be recovering from this for a long time." It doesn't take an incredibly high Water to hear the unspoken thought _if he ever does completely_.
Solange just continues to look grim.
Vere takes Solange's hand and squeezes it slightly; he has no other reaction.
"He's going to need to gather his strength if he's going to heal, and the last thing he needs is us running to him like a bunch of squabbling kids because we can't agree about things. We're going to have to get through this crisis mostly without him, and when we go to him, we need to be able to present options clearly and ask him for a final decision. As often as we can, though, we need to just be able to present something to him for approval."
Martin takes a deep breath. "I've had the opportunity to study the Rebman archives and talk about these things with Grandmother, and I happen to know what they did in Rebma after Queen Moins' death. They had a Regency Council that dealt with everything for the approval of the next Queen. They knew Moins had daughters and that one of them would eventually show up to take the throne and approve what had been done. The situations aren't exactly parallel, because we have Gerard's official patent to cover us, and we'll technically be advising him, but I think the situations are close enough. And a council will allow us to keep our arguments away from Gerard until he's well enough to deal with them. It's not like we won't be doing all the work anyway."
Martin looks around to see what the rest of you think.
Lucas gives no immediate response and is looking to see what others say.
Folly appears to have fallen asleep.
Ossian tries to look as if he has understood everything. To high water people it is obvious he does not have a good grip on the situation right now.
Vere looks briefly at Solange, glances over everyone else with a thoughtful look, and then looks directly at Jerod.
Jerod returns the look for just a moment before asking. "Yes?"
Vere nods thoughtfully, as though Jerod's response had answered a question. He turns his attention to the conversation between Solange and Martin.
"How was the council in Rebma organized?" Solange asks. "Was it a gathering of equals, or was there a leader?"
"The organization wasn't always stable -- the interregnum in Rebma lasted for several decades, from which the Unicorn will save us, we hope. The final and longest-lasting version of the council was set up as a council of equals. Questions were settled by votes of the membership. There were also a couple of council officials -- a parliamentarian, for example -- but the real power lay with whoever could swing votes."
Martin yawns. "I'm sorry, Solange; it's not your company. I've had about six hours of sleep in the last three days and I had quite a ride yesterday, so I'm not at my most coherent. If my answers don't make sense, ask me again and I'll try to do better."
"I believe," says Vere, "That we are facing two separate questions here. There is the matter of forming an interim council until our Elders return, merely to keep order in Amber and direct the populace during the emergency. All well and good, I believe that almost any form of organization would suffice for that, as long as we all cooperate with each other. However, if the repair or re-creation of the Pattern has somehow cut us off from the Reality which our Elders inhabit, or if the forces of Chaos were underestimated and they were defeated by Chaos, then whatever we do today may well have to stand until Father is strong enough to resume his rightful place." He pauses, then continues, "I am personally opposed to the concept of a 'Council of Equals.' I fear that it will lead to constant debate and political infighting when decisions must be made. Backroom deals become the order of the day, secret agreement between members and factions. It also encourages outsiders to attempt to stir dissension among us. A single strong ruler, selected by the majority, preferably by unanimous assent, who can be removed and replaced if a majority of us so decide."
"The secret factions and backroom deals will exist regardless of whether you have a council or a single ruler." Jerod says.
Solange is nodding.
Jerod continues. "We can build something suitable to stand the strain of this situation, without investing power into a single individual. I think to put one person in power, especially in this situation, invites grave mistakes. None of us are old enough to fully understand what is needed to rule the kingdom. Nor are any of us skilled enough on our own. Like it or not, a council is the most reasonable solution. Those who serve on the council will have a say in how things are done. Our skills will be greater for the whole, even if there are arguments about how to proceed."
"Those who don't serve, or who serve poorly...well, they get zip."
"I agree with Jerod on this, Vere," Solange says earnestly, and then shuts up.
Vere looks at Solange and nods.
Cambina, who has been sprawled across the arm of a chair near Jerod, speaks up.
"If we have a ruler, then there will be pressure for him to be king or to stand aside for a king and if he is an ambitious man, then he will face a heavy temptation. I would not see us move prematurely. There are powers in the city, families that have made their way for thousands of years by playing the games of favoritism and factionalism. If we give them their way, they will tear us apart.
"I watched the ambitious men of this city scheme to gain by Oberon's disappearance, father's regency, Corwin's attack, father's kingship, and his death. We must learn to rely on each other, for relying on the moneyed and powerful of the city is a sure way to become dependent on them. Our grandfather crushed an entire house because there was open warfare in the streets when my father was a baby. There are still those for whom resentment smoulders.
"A council, 11 of us acting in the regent's name while he recovered, that would seem the course most suggestive of stability and order. Those are things we need and need badly. Because if we don't provide them, the city will turn elsewhere, and quickly.
"We have a duty to make what good we can in a city that has gone through more shocks in a decade than it had in the last thousand years. Let us hope that we can quickly convince it that there is value in the castle and the royal line. Otherwise, we shall not survive the winter."
"I withdraw my objection," Vere says. "Quite honestly, I am not as familiar with theories of government as I should be. I was raised in a monarchy; I found Amber to be a monarchy; I have a tendency to want a clear and well-defined hierarchy in place. Your objections are well-reasoned, and founded on actual experience."
"We arrange to have the group registered as a council of advisors for Gerard during this period." Jerod says after a moment. "Power remains in Gerard's hands for the duration, but we act as his representatives. It puts the other power brokers at odds because instead of being able to get to the person who makes the decisions, they have to go through intermediaries. And too many for them to effectively sway the entire council except for the moment important of decisions. Each person on the council is assigned tasks according to their skills. And everyone serves."
As Jerod is speaking, Folly wakes up again. She concentrates on his words and then pushes herself into a seated position. "I know I may not have caught all the details," she begins, keeping her tone light and even in an attempt to soothe tempers, "but the council sounds like a good idea to me. If I understand correctly," she says, looking around at her cousins as she speaks to judge from their reactions whether she has, "what we're mostly proposing is taking care of the day-to-day stuff that Gerard won't have the energy to do for a while, even though he'll still be officially in charge. And we'll have" -- Folly counts off on her fingers -- "three possible, um, levels of involvement, I guess you'd say, from Gerard. One, we divvy stuff up among ourselves according to our abilities and just take care of it, like we did today. Two, if we run into something that's too big, or important, or challenging, or whatever, for just one non-Gerard person to take care of, we get together and make a decision and then take that decision to Gerard for approval. Three, if we're in that situation but can't come to an agreement, we present the individual arguments to Gerard and then let him decide. All sounds groovy to me."
Lucas, returning to his seat with his drink, will make a face and silently mouth the word "groovy" as he approaches his seat. When he turns and faces the room at large, he looks as composed as before.
She pauses, and a look of concern darkens her features. "The only thing I would add, even though I'm sure it's completely obvious, is that if we get to Level Three in the very near future -- depending on how long Gerard takes to get some of his strength back -- we should do our damnedest to send as neutral a representative as possible to present the options, and our individual arguments, to Gerard for his consideration -- or maybe do it in writing. I get the distinct impression that 'even-tempered' does not run in this family, and the last thing Gerard needs right now is for a bunch of us to march into his bedroom with our panties all in a wad about something...." She looks at the ground for a moment and seems to be wrestling with her own painful memories.
Folly swallows hard and turns her thoughts back to the task at hand. "So, so far I haven't heard any sustained objections to the idea of a council. Are we actually in agreement, at least in principle?" She looks around at her cousins once more, her gaze lingering longest on Ossian and Lucas.
With a shrug, Ossian says: "A council is ok with me." With a wry smile he adds "Then, most things that does not include me getting killed is ok right now, I suppose."
Lucas: "It certainly seems like an admirable solution, cousins. I applaud you all."
Folly continues: "How should we go about divvying up responsibilities? And how often should we be getting together to prepare a 'State of the City' report to keep each other -- and Gerard -- posted?"
Lucas responds: "If you're in the trusting mood, you could simply list out what is needed to be done and have people volunteer for the bits they find interesting. However, if you take the cynical view, this means that cousins will vie for the juicy things that will gain them the most power. Which means you need an approval process. Welcome to the happy land of bureaucracy."
Folly thinks a moment longer and then turns to Cambina with a puzzled look on her face.
"Eleven? Or did I dream that part?"
Martin does a swift head count, comes up with nine, and looks at Cambina, who provides no explanation of her counting scheme.
"Don't ask." Jerod says to Martin. "You won't understand. Trust me on this."
"I've got a couple of ideas on how to divvy up stuff." Jerod says. "Most of them are mundane and boring, but they'll cover using the existing castle and city people so we should get most of what we need watching to be covered. As for how often do we get together, I propose we institute the time honored tradition of the family dinner. Attendance mandatory." and he smiles a little at that.
"Let's hope most of them are more placid than this one," says Martin, now more placid himself. He wends his way through the crowd, stopping at the banquet table and pouring a tumbler of whiskey from the heavy glass decanter.
"Oh, they're so mind-numbingly placid they could be used as tranquilizers." Jerod replies, settling a bit more into the couch. "We use the existing personnel to provide us with what overall tasks need to be dealt with. Food, shelter, security, trade, etc. The bureaucracy knows what's needed... they just need someone to look up to."
"Folly? Solange? Cambina? Can I bring something back for any of you?" He looks at Paige to see if she's still sulking before asking gently, "Paige, would you care for another?"
"Thank you, Martin," Solange answers. "Some of the dark rum?"
"Certainly, cousin," he says, fetching her a glass and returning to the table for something stiff for himself.
"Red wine sounds good," Folly says. "Thanks, sweetie."
Martin fetches a glass of wine for Folly, and, at Cambina's request, a stiff drink for her as well.
Paige turns back to the others, her eyes obviously tear stained, "No, thank you. With today's exertions, I'm sure just this one will probably put me on my ass." Paige sets her glass on the table, her hand softly brushing his as she walks back to the others.
Martin looks at Paige, starts to say something, then shuts his mouth without speaking. He takes his own glass of whiskey back to his chair.
"Fine, so family dinners? Are we agreed then? What has to happen before we can all get some sleep? Our troubles with the city will still be there in the morning, so let's deal with them tomorrow." Paige takes her position again by Folly, looking to the others for their opinions.
"Family dinners sounds like a fine plan to me," Solange says, smothering a yawn.
"Me, too," Folly says, leaning her head against Paige's shoulder. She doesn't bother smothering her yawn.
"If we have to have state dinner, we'll just postpone the meeting," Martin says.
Vere nods, decisively, and stands. "We should all meet first thing tomorrow morning to make plans on how we will present ourselves and the new situation to the various authorities of Castle and City. Cousin Paige's question is excellent, what must be done tonight? Before going to sleep I am going down to check on Father. Hopefully we will be able to move him to more comfortable quarters soon." He pauses, and cocks his head to one side. "Speaking of quarters, where are we sleeping tonight? Many of us had our chambers severely damaged, and I am unsure of whether the remaining chambers have all been investigated for structural stability. I assume some arrangements have been made for the Castle staff, as well?"
This falls under the heading of "what Solange was doing while the engineers worked on the cellar," so I am sure the GMs could provide me with the answer that Solange has and I do not.
"I'm not sure about quarters, and frankly I could sleep anywhere right about now." Jerod says.
Cambina says: "The engineers will be looking over the castle to determine the soundness of various areas starting tomorrow. In the meantime, we've set up tents and pavilions for everyone. If you ask one of the pages, they'll tell you where you're supposed to sleep. We're bunking double, I'm afraid, at least for tonight. Solange, I hope you won't mind sharing with me."
Folly leans over to Paige and whispers, "And that's a bad thing?"
"No, of course not," Solange answers automatically. Of course, the combination of rum and fatigue is starting to make its effects known; you get the feeling that her answer would have been the same if Cambina had said, "Solange, I hope you won't mind sleeping on an eel-filled hovercraft."
Ossian glances at Vere with a questioning look on his face.
Vere nods and smiles slightly. "And I even promise to let you get a full night's sleep without asking any subtle questions designed to determine where your true loyalties lie. I'm too exhausted."
Ossian smiles back: "In return, I will hold back my attack on Amber until well after breakfast." (OOC: Yes, Ossian is jesting. Don't kill him, please...)
Jerod continues: "But the one thing that needs to be done, and Vere has actually mentioned it indirectly...is to prepare for the meeting with the castle and city authorities."
"Messengers should be sent to the city marshals and local representatives to send a single representative for each group - guilds, nobles, etc. They will meet us here with a report of their current efforts for our review, after we've had time to prepare ourselves in the morning. At that time, we can advise them of the new situation and let them see who they're going to be dealing with. It will give us time as well to evaluate the situation and determine who amongst us should deal with what areas."
Cambina nods. "I'll have the messengers sent tonight and tell them to be here after the noon meal."
Jerod rubs his eyes for a moment before continuing. "We'll need to be ready to act very quickly over the next few days, maybe the next week. Unscrupulous people are likely to try to take advantage of the situation and we must be ready to respond instantly, if not before they have a chance to do anything. We can prepare our first major initiative for repair work and dealing with the people's condition after we hear the report tomorrow. It will keep the power brokers off balance, give some direction to the rescue and rebuilding efforts...and give us time to settle in to our new jobs."
Jerod nods once to Cambina's replies, rubbing his face again. "Just so long as I don't get stuck with anyone who snores." he says, the slightest touch of a smile on his face. He looks at Cambina for just a moment, a certain look to his expression that high waters will interpret as he wishes to speak to her privately.
So who does Lucas end up with when the pages point him towards a room?
In case it matters at this point:
Solange & Cambina
Paige & Folly
Jerod & Vere
Lucas & Ossian
[Hm. I thought Ossian and Vere had an obvious room-sharing agreement. Obviously someone (Cambina?) canceled that. Ossina will survive but remember..]
The arrangements were made well before you guys came to dinner. Cambina's predictive powers are not 100%, apparently.
Either that or she likes her brother too well to leave him alone with that notorious bed-hog, Lucas.
"Martin, unfortunately there's not a spare tent for you. You'll have to bunk with the officers tonight."
"That's OK; I'm so tired I could sleep in this chair anyway."
[High waters conclude over the next while that Cambina doesn't care much for Martin.]
Prior to departing for his tent (after one final set of rounds of the castle guards and checking on Venesch's condition), Jerod looks over at Ossian for a minute, with just a hint of a smile. "It appears we haven't finished with torturing you concerning your affiliation with Brand." he says, in reference to the sleeping arrangements.
[OOC:Is Jerod trying a joke here? I must have misunderstood something.] Assuming Jerod and Ossian is out of hearing range of Lucas: "Obviously. Please, could you tell me who invented this particular torturing device?" Ossian replies, looking at Jerod with a sad smile on his face.
"The Princess Florimel is the proud progenitor of Lucas." Jerod says with a grin. "Though I'm sure there would be some doubts as to whether the word proud would be used in that context."
Ossian laughs. "One never knows. Good night, cousin."
Lucas is a notorious bed hog. Not very snuggly. Just tends to take up far more room on his bed than you think he would for his size. He'll probably also ask you more about Brand, in a fairly conversational tone.
Ossian is willing to talk. Anything specific?
[Lucas]
Mainly trying to get a feel for what sort of person Brand was.
"He is a man who lived for his art. I guess he puts that before everything. Of course, he has a very fine sense for estetics. I would say that he judges everything for its artistical values. Even his siblings."
"When he talked about them, he always mentioned Corwin with respect, because of Corwins poetry, while he loathed Eric and Gerard, regarding them as dimwits."
"He was kind to me most of the time, except for when he got disapointed in my speed of progress."
"Trump painting. Art in general. Did you ever meet him?"
"Only in passing. Mother didn't approve of him, and I tend to trust her taste. So you draw Trumps, do you?"
"Yeah, Brand taught me how to do it. Too bad they don't work right now.
"Did he really try to rewrite the pattern?"
"That's the going story. I wasn't around for specifics."
"Then he must have become fully dedicated to his own art. He will have to pay for that, I guess."
Ossian yawns. "Sorry. I'm tired after carrying all those rocks. Good night cousin."
Last modified: 18 Dec 2001