The camp starts moving before dawn, and by the time the sunlight is visible, the scent of breakfast is on the wind and the day's activities are audible. The Rangers let Robin sleep in and rise when she's ready. The Warden keeps an unpredictable schedule sometimes because of his duty to the castle, and Robin receives the same deference.
Robin snores gently amidst the lizard pile, a small smile lining her lips. The smell of breakfast though - that's definitely enough to get her up and going. A quick tussle of the hair, soap, water and oil for the flying guys, a thorough perusal of her edged guys and Robin's waiting in line for food.
She laughs, jokes and occasionally throws biscuits with/at her fellow Rangers, as well as serving choicer bits of breakfast to Peep, Chirrup & Ooot. But Robin makes quick work of it nevertheless. She's got quite the trail list today, ending with Prince Caine. Yay...
She confirms with Vista that she's a worry-wart, but that if he doesn't hear from her by tonight... take action. Then she sets off into the living thunder of green that is Arden, whistles and trills on her lips. First stop? Grove of the Unicorn.
Vista asks what kind of message he should be looking for, eyeing the little firelizards as if he expects them to carry it.
Robin smiles fondly at her little flying friends. "Oh, I don't think these little guys are up to it just yet. 'Sides I want to take 'em over to The Mews and introduce them to the crew over there before I send 'em up into Arden's airs alone." A little teeth creeps into her smile at the thought of the work her feathered brothers and sisters do.
Those green eyes turn back to Vista. "I'll send a runner. Or slip some Cadence into the paths. Or something." She shrugs. It's not a great answer but then Robin's not a great predictor of the future.
Robin leaves with a proper Ranger's kit, which is better than what she came in with after so long away, and makes her way toward the Grove. She has no difficulty finding the Grove.
There's a thin ring of burning flowers around the Grove, but none have entered.
"Huhn." Robin blows a bewildered breath as she blinks at the sight before her. Weeelll, that can't be good. But is it cage-bad or fortress-bad, that's the question. After walking around the ring examining carefully for breaks or gaps, Robin whistles the firelizards to her.
"Okay, here's the plan. Let's charge in there and see what happens. If it's too bad, we'll eat our way out, K?"
She gathers her flying friends to herself, making sure that all of them are either in her arms or riding on her shoulders. Robin also makes sure that there's nothing too flamable dangling off herself. Then she heads for the flowers at speed, intending to leap over the ring.
Robin is an amazing athlete; a running jump over a line of flowers, even ones on fire, is trivial. She's able to clear the flowers easily and finds herself inside the Grove. All her little friends are safe with her, and there are no dangling bits of her or her gear burning.
When Robin lands, all of the firelizards she isn't directly holding scatter off her shoulders, hovering in the air around her nervously.
With a smile, Robin lets all of her little buddies who want to fly, fly.
Well, that wasn't so bad. Looking around, the girl decides to try one bit of investigation before the destruction starts. She snorts to herself; Vere must be wearing off on her.
Calming herself and the firelizards if she's able, Robin will close her eyes and Listen. As she does she will slowly bring up the Pattern in her mind and her hearing, paying particular attention to the circle of firelillies around the Grove.
Robin underhears nothing at first, but then she's aware of the flowers as a chaotic dissonance at the edges of the harmony of the Grove. She herself is a still center in the Grove (not the physical center, necessarily; a metaphysical center) and the firelillies are a dark, discordant noise at the edge of the center.
Green eyes pop open. "Good enough for me," Robin mutters to herself.
The Ranger calls her lizards after her as she hops back over the circle of flowers. Choosing a spot with care, away from any dry leaves, needles or low hanging branches, Robin quickly digs a decent size fire-pit and lines it with stones.
"Okay, guys," she grins toothily to her fair as she pulls on a pair of thick leather gloves, "I'd like to keep two or three of these bastards off to the side. But other than that? Let the carnage begin."
With a joyful screech, Robin starts pulling up the firelillies; root, stem and leaf. And the lizards are welcome to eat their fill. Though Robin will keep a light touch of the Pattern up to make sure that Peep doesn't suffer any fertility problems.
The firelizards follow Robin's example and start pulling up and eating the firelillies. Peep seems to be ordering Ooot and Chirrup around. Chirrup seems happy to just plow through the flowers. Occasionally Ooot disappears with one and comes back urping smoke; Peep chides him when he returns.
It seems like they should be making short work of the ring around the Grove, and they do, but then there's a line of the flowers stretching off toward Amber and another stretching off into the depths of Arden.
Straightening up and dusting her gauntlets off on her pants' legs, Robin looks at the lines of flowers with a wrinkled brow. Eventually she sticks her tongue at the them. She'll come back and weed Arden another day. Right now, she's made a good start but has a lot of other things on her plate. But she doesn't like them flowers, no she doesn't.
"Hey, sweetlings. I need a little quiet time. Nappies and digestion for you?" She croons to her little fair, rubbing eyeridges and full tummies all around.
Once she gets the fair settled, Robin paces slowly around the Grove, breathing in the vibrant green air of Arden, Listening to the silence, calming down from her joyous burning destructive spree. When she feels that she's come into tune with the place and herself, Robin lowers herself to one knee.
Quietly, almost reverently, the girl removes the leather pouch her mother bequeathed her from her vest pocket. As she fans through the Cards contained therein, Robin does her best to repress her initial shudder and focus on being calm, quiet and respectful. Finding the Trump of her favorite uncle, Robin smiles briefly at Gerard's image before turning the Card over. Resting her eyes on the Unicorn, Robin clears her throat nervously but presses on regardless.
"Lady." Robin's voice is soft and flowing, a mantra of devotion that does not demand nor expect a reply. "Prayers are... bad for me and I know I got one huge vested interest. But, please Lady, if you would consider... he's probably the best of us..."
Julian notwithstanding goes through her heart.
"And he's hurting badly. If you could... see to helping him somehow, I'd..."
Oop, no bargaining. The memory of Canareth stabs through her briefly.
"I... please, Lady. Watch over and guard my Uncle Gerard and bring him whatever help you can." Robin finishes, closes her eyes, and lets her heart speak where her words get all tangled.
There is no answer, but the Unicorn doesn't work that way.
Some time passes, and eventually Peep flies over sluggishly and lands on Robin's shoulder, and chitters at her. From the tone, Robin guesses it's some kind of question.
"As well as could be expected, Peep, thanks." She puts away the Trump and rises to her feet, giving the firelizard a special nuzzle. "How are you?"
Assuming Peep and the others are well, Robin will gather her gear, three live firelillies - bulb and all - and her little buddies and head off into Arden.
Next stop? Daeon's cairn.
As she heads off in that direction, Robin realizes that the firelilly trail is headed in the same direction.
After a few steps, Robin stops and blinks. "Should'a known... Dink." She mutters wryly under her breath.
With a wrinkled brow, the Ranger takes in the density of flowers along the trail before her, the length of walkin' to Daeon's cairn and the time it took her and her crew to wreak their havoc around the Grove.
[OOC - Does Robin think she can 'weed' her way to her next destination without it slowing her down too much. Or is this a chore that must wait until she has a little more time?]
Robin ponders the time it would take her to destroy the trail. She realizes it would delay her far too long, especially if she means to send a message back to Vista.
[Daeon's cairn (or, as Brita would say, 'Daeon's Cairn') is on Kolvir, above the Castle...]
"Dung," is Robin's final judgement. She casts a wry glance down at the three firelillies she's collected, well aware that they're probably going to be redundant. Ah, well, she shrugs, there's still the gesture.
"C'mon guys. Let's make some time." Robin grins to her flying buddies and sets off in her ground-devouring Ranger lope toward the memorial.
Robin is able to make good time up Kolvir toward the castle and the cairn by the Ranger paths. The castle's defenses are active and the guard is moving about.
It's getting toward sunset when she arrives at the cairn. It seems bigger; other Rangers must have come by to add stones.
A smile lines the girl's lips at the sight of the grown cairn. They're good men, that they are.
Casting a jaundiced eye toward the sunset, Robin gauges the time and then looks out to the sky over the canopy of Arden. If she spots any specks riding the thermals, she'll call her little buddies to her arms. And then whistle piercingly for one of her siblings of the feather.
The firelizards come to Robin easily and settle on her arms. They're startled by her whistle, and then settle again as nothing happens immediately. A moment later, though, Robin sees a familiar shape flying up along the mountainside. Before it can arrive, the firelizards start to hide.
While Robin is tucking away her friends, her spirits start to soar. The scents of feathers, fewmets and feed waft through her memory. Clicks, the shifting of taloned feet and the ruffling of wings echo in her mind. Her earliest memories and her fondest ones - growing up in The Mews among the Storm Hawks.
Robin's eyes begin to glow as she watches her Sister's wings glisten in the golden winds above the green of the forest and a joyous paean lifts from her lips in greeting.
She plans to introduce her friends to her Sister but yep, it's better to start slow as the Hawks do rule the airs of Arden.
As the hawk comes down to land on Robin's arm, Peep makes a noise and Chirrup and Ooot rise up to meet it. Peep starts to circle around Robin's head and Chirrup and Ooot head for the hawk, which veers off in time to avoid a flaming firelizard breath.
A happy bark of surprised laughter erupts from Robin at the flurry of airborne tactics. Brilliant and beautiful!
Then she settles herself down to business.
"Peep. Peep!" Robin opens her arms for the firelizard to settle.
"Oh, you clever, brave darling," she croons to the little gold. "I LOVE the way you react to new people with suspicion and violence. You and me, tres sympathique, oui?" A bright, warm smile lines Robin's lips as affection floods her heart. "But Cora's my Sister of the Wing. And I'd really like to say hello, okay?"
Peep chitters back at Robin, but does not land on her arm just yet. Chirrup and Ooot have taken up patrol. The hawk is circling overhead; for some reason it doesn't seem to be coming down.
Robin hums to herself in thought, wondering if her winged friends know something she doesn't. She cocks her head and really looks around, but even more so, she Listens.
Apart from the general problem of underhearing so close to Amber the way she does in Shadow, there's nothing particularly off in this place. The hawk feels just as she should, but faint because of the distance. The firelizards have a faint dissonance that sounds of the firelillies to Robin, but then again they did eat a bunch of them.
"Peep. Chirrup. Ooot." Robin lets some sterness slip into her tone. "Love you guys. Thank you for protecting me. But it's time to behave." After that, Robin stops with the words and lets her feelings and body language do the talking.
[I'm not clear on specifically what Robin is doing with "feelings" and "body language", so please give me some details.]
[OOC - Robin's trying to be a 'lizard-whisperer' here. She's knows that she and the firelizards share a loosed empathic link so's she letting her feelings of loving disapproval rise to the fore. With body language she's taking a dominant commanding position like she's seen Hoshith do. Does that help?]
[OOC: Yes. That's exactly the kind of information I need in this kind of post.]
Before Robin can do much of anything, the hawk dips toward the path below, as if indicating something is on it. When Robin's gaze follows, she sees that someone is coming up from the castle below her.
Gre-e-eat. If she's lucky, it'll be some snarky member of her Family ready to witness her Saurian difficulties. And if she's really, especially lucky it'll be some oh-so-tolerant member of Daeon's family witnessing her Saurian difficulties.
"Guys. Down. Now." She commands her fair.
Unfortunately, Robin's attention is somewhat divided between gauging the approaching person and keeping on eye on her unruly buddies.
Whoever's coming up the mountain is a moving blob right now. Even Robin can't tell who it is just yet.
Chirrup comes right down, but Ooot is persnickety. Peep alternates between fussing at Robin and fussing at Ooot.
Robin gives a loving croon to Chirrup and scratches him over the eyelid. She lets her pleasure at Chirrup's response filter through her emotional link. Then she casts a jaundiced eye at the other two. A direct order was given, if it continues to be disobeyed, punishment will be forthcoming.
Peep flies up to meet Ooot and there is a bit more fussing between the two of them before Ooot settles down and the two firelizards return to Robin. If Ooot were a cat, his tail would be twitching violently.
Peep daintily sticks her head out for Robin to pet her.
"Thank you, Peep." Robin says gently. And gives the little gold some loving. Ooot gets a raised eyebrow and a wry twist of the lips. Robin is pretty sure that this is Karma coming to get her for all the trouble she's caused Julian. And Rattle. And Vista. And Morgenstern. And Vere. And Random. And, and, and. Yep, she can't really be mad at Ooot when she's the same way herself.
It'll be a while before whoever it is makes it up the hill to the cairn. Robin could go down and meet the newcomer if she liked, well away from the cairn. Or she could make herself scarce.
Casting her gaze down at the approaching figure, Robin guesses that she'd better be about her business fast. 'Cause whoever it is, it's bound to be someone distracting. A quick whistle is tossed up to Cora to keep her in the neighborhood as Robin scrambles back to the cairn.
Taking a little time to pick her spot carefully, Robin looks for a place that will be well watered by the spring she doesn't remember being there before. A place next to the cairn where a tree would shade it, but not disturb it with probing roots. A place where a traveler or a visitor could pause, refresh and be lifted by the ambiance.
In that place, Robin digs a small hole in the soil. She removes the raw olive that she Worked on over her journey. Robin pauses for a moment, letting the memories of her brother - her annoying, earnest, maddening, loving, impossible, pure brother - wash over her.
Then she places the olive into the hole, leans down and over it breathes the word "Dione."
"I never knew you, sister." She says as she pushes dirt over the olive, burying it perfectly for growth. "But I wish you all the best." Robin stands up, brushing the dirt off on her pants' legs. And the Ranger releases all the growing she's put inside the seed, using everything she's learned as Julian's daughter, to help it grow into a perfect, beautiful olive tree.
Nothing happens at once, but nothing would. But Robin has the sense that when the tree grows in its own time, it will be perfect and beautiful, as she desires.
By the time she's done, the sun is under the horizon and it's getting dark. The figure approaching from the castle is almost to the cairn. She doesn't recognize the man in Amber livery and he doesn't have the stealth skills of a Ranger.
"Hallo the cairn?" the man calls.
"Hallo the trail." Robin calls back, friendly though hurriedly.
Glancing at the darkening sky, she curses under her breath and grabs a medium sized stick, nothing a hawk would have trouble with. A few quick swipes of her knife cut Cadence into its length. Robin/ok/message tomorrow.
Whistling for Cora's attention, Robin tosses the stick high up into the air where the hawk can hopefully grab it. She follows her toss with the Cadence whistle for Vista. She repeats the whistle strongly and adds her own mental-birdie command as well.
In mid-air, Cora catches the stick and soars away in the direction of Arden.
"The Rangers said a courier would be coming from Arden with news," the guard says. Apparently it's normal for Rangers to come by the cairn first. "I've come to escort you down to the castle."
There's something wrong with the guard. Robin doesn't think he's lying, but he's agitated about something, and there's something a bit unusual about escorting a courier, or at least there would have been during the Regency.
Robin raises a brow as she cocks her head at him. "I know my way to the Castle." Then she thinks about the guards on the wall. "Is something wrong?"
The guard is definitely more nervous now. "You're Lady Robin? I have been told to speak only to her about the castle."
Robin bites back a number of comments regarding the 'Lady.' She's definitely in the meadow now. "I am Lady Robin." She nods but can't quite get away from the nose wrinkle that follows her statement.
"You're wanted at the castle immediately, milady. Prince Caine has been taken away by magic and against his will. Two of your cousins were with him. He was in his office and something just dragged them away, in plain sight of his aides."
That Julianic brow goes up and Robin's first thought is 'well, turnabout is fair play.' But since she can't think of any of her cousins, much less two of them, that deserve that fate, what she says, "Right. Brief me on the run."
And she starts moving toward the castle at the best pace she think her guide can make while reporting to her.
The guard falls in beside her. He's in decent health, but he's no Amberite, and he can't match her pace, even with the day of running she's already had. "The Marquess Maritime has come up from the Naval. He thinks it was the Rebmans. Prince Caine's office is waterlogged; there was seawater pouring through when he was taken."
The firelizards start after the two of them.
"Rebmans, huhn?" Robin shakes her head. Here she lives a decent dragon-haunted life and Rebma keeps poppin' up.
"Who was taken with him? What did the taker look like? And anything else to add before I pick up the pace?"
"We don't know. He just vanished in light and water." The guard has to think for a moment to get the names. "The two who were with him were Lady Paige and Lady Signy."
"Lady Signy?" Robin shakes her head, cousins sproutin' up all the time. "Right. Thank you. Return when you can." And Robin pours on the speed for the Castle.
Robin runs down the hill to the castle, quickly outdistancing the guard, and provides the password to the gate guards. She's admitted to the castle and given the option to send messages to anyone she might want who might be in the castle.
Robin doesn't need to send any messages. But she takes a moment to talk seriously with the firelizards.
"Okay, darlings. It's going to be ucky in here. You can either wait outside and keep hidden. Or come with me. But if you come, you cannot attack anyone without my permission, oui?"
Regardless of the firelizards decision, the girl continues on into the teetering heap of senile stone.
The firelizards seem to be inclined to stay outside, for now. Robin suspects they will be around somewhere.
The gate guards send Robin to Caine's office. When she arrives, she finds a group of nervous Naval officers--some of whom are probably closer to Robin's age than childhood--and one elderly gentleman in a wheelchair who Robin suspects has the rest of them mildly terrified. She can see into Caine's office, which is soaked as if a man-sized wave had materialized near the desk and splattered all over it.
The wheelchair-bound fellow assesses Robin with none of the deference that she's used to from the castle people. "You must be Lady Robin. Julian's daughter. I am the Marquess Maritime and I've taken charge of this investigation on Caine's behalf. Do you have any sorcerous means of determining how Prince Caine was taken?"
Having worked among the Rangers, Robin has no problem with a lack of deference. She nods in response to Marquess' identification. In response to his question, she says, "No sorcery. Other things though. Anyone tried to contact him through one of the Cards, yet?"
"Unfortunately the Regent failed to leave us with any working cards." The Marquess seems well-acquainted with the idea of Trumps, which suggests he's in somebody's confidence. "He must have had his deck with him."
"Let's try that first then." Robin pulls the beaded leather pouch out of an interior pocket of her vest. Her brow furrows in thought as she shuffles through. Eventually she holds two cards out to the Marquess, reserving one for herself.
"Okay, if something eats me, call the King and Prince Bleys. That should shake all hell loose. If something doesn't eat me, I'll want those back." She finishes with a grim smile.
She turns her green eyes to the remaining Trump, Caine in all his piratical glory, and attempts to Call her bastard Uncle.
There is no response. It doesn't even have the sliding-off-mind feel of a contact denied. There simply is no response.
"Hunh." Robin frowns.
"Do yours feel icky?" she asks the Marquess, reaching over to poke one of the cards he holds.
"I haven't noticed anything unusual. Define 'icky'," the Marquess suggests, offering her the cards.
When she touches the cards he's holding, they seem cold in the usual fashion--but so does Caine's.
"That feeling. Okay, that one didn't work." She puts her Trump away but doesn't retrieve the cards from the Marquess yet. After all, there's still plenty of time to be eaten.
"Anyone been in there yet?" Robin says stepping toward the door. (If no one stops her, she'll attempt to walk right on in.)
"No one has, not since Signy and Paige apparently rushed in to help Prince Caine," the Marquess says, but neither he nor the aides seem inclined to stop her.
Robin walks into the room. There's a lot of water and the tang of salt sea near the desk; she could smell that from the hall.
Robin looks around at the water splashes and the way things have been sloshed to see if she can get an idea of the water's entry.
"Apparently rushed in? Were there any eye-witnesses?" she asks while still looking around.
The water appears to have flooded in from somewhere near the desk. There's no sign of a breach of the castle or a broken pipe or any such thing that might have caused it.
The Marquess gestures at a midshipman. "I saw the ladies go in, but I didn't get a very good look at what happened next, ma'am," the young man says.
Robin walks over to the desk and pokes around, looking for... broken summoning circles, fried items of power, you know, stuff.
"Anything else interesting happen at the same time? Sharp cards stuck in walls? Weird psychic screams? Anyone shredded or empty-headed?"
Based on a visual examination, there's nothing wrong that dumping a few dozen gallons of seawater into the room out of nowhere wouldn't have caused.
"There are no signs of a Chaosi attack, if that is what you mean," the Marquess replies rather severely.
"Heh. Lots more things huntin' us than Chaosi, but I'll take that as a 'no.'" Robin chuckles wryly. The Marquess' severity doesn't bother her; things are done differently in the Navy than the Rangers.
"Okay, quiet time coming." The girl leans a hip back against the desk, closes her eyes and Listens. She knows this doesn't usually work well in Amber, but what the heck.
Robin had, perhaps, forgotten that the deafening thing now only was deafeningly silent. Perhaps she would expect the sort of nasty undertones that accompanied the Black Road in the old days, some discordant note that would echo in her underhearing long after the event, if that had been how Caine and Paige and Signy were taken. But as it happens, there are no such echoes: nothing reminiscent of the road or even the jangling of the firelillies she heard earlier.
The room is silent.
Robin pales and sways, suddenly disoriented by the intense silence. Opening her eyes, she surreptiously wipes a tear away. "Damn," the girl mutters under her breath, "I am NEVER going to get used to that."
"Okay, that reduces the likelihood of it being Chaosi attack quite a bit." She nods to the Marquess. "Probably green goddesses too. Don't know about Moon-types or Rebmans. Or new players to the field."
Robin looks around the room feeling spectacularly unsorcerous. Abruptly, she folds her arms angrily. Green sparks of venom dance in her eyes and her frown is enough to shake trees.
"Fine, then!" she spits to herself. "Call the Fuckhead."
Taking a deep breath, she looks over at the Marquess, makes a little bow and does her best not to be too pissy. "Milord Marquess, would you be kind enough to call th... p... fu... Prince Bleys and inform him that his daughter has been taken?"
Oh, it's killing her, but there it is.
"But surely you wish to--" the Marquis says smoothly, a slightly malicious smile lighting his face. " No? Very well."
Robin sticks only a little bit of tongue out at the Marquis while he's calling. After all, a little snark is a small price to pay for not having his highness the backstabbing bastard in her head.
He takes up the Bleys card and concentrates on it. "Your Highness, it's M."
There's a noticeable pause.
"No, rather something else. Your daughter Paige and the Regent, your brother Prince Caine, among others, have gone missing."
Another pause.
"Lady Robin, Prince Julian's daughter is here. It is she who requests your presence."
Another pause, this one longer.
Then, M brings someone through. It's not Bleys, though; it's a dark-haired woman. She looks vaguely familiar to Robin, although Robin is certain she's never seen the woman before. Her new friend is dressed in semi-transparent silks and barefoot, with jingling bells around her wrists and ankles.
Bleys steps through behind her, dressed in silks himself, but he has on boots and a leather belt, from which his blade Werewindle hangs in its sheath. "Thank you, Marquess," he says, then turns to one of the midshipmen. "See that Lady Brij is escorted to an appropriate chamber. She is the mother of Prince Martin's beloved and must be guarded appropriately."
'Mother of Prince Martin's beloved' huhn? Robin raises an eyebrow. That would make the belly dancer her... grandniece or something. The girl's eyes narrow as she gets in a good long look at Brij. Robin doesn't keep lists in her head, more like piles of intentions stacked around her awareness. But grandniece belly dancer has definitely been added to a pile to be gone through once the current crisis is less immediate.
M makes a slight hand gesture that Robin doesn't recognize, but can guess is the Naval equivalent of Cadence.
As Brij is escorted out, Bleys turns to Robin. "Where did you say my daughter was?"
"I didn't, cause I don't know." Robin answers in her best 'duh' voice. But she gets right on to reporting as quickly as she can. "Reports," she waves to the Navy guys in the corridor to source her intel, "say that Prince Caine was in his office and taken magically against his will into light and seawater. Paige & someone named Lady Signy rushed to his aid and disappeared as well. I'm not picking up any obvious Chaosian traces or any blatant sorcerous signs, but I'm not the best finger-twiddler in the family." She says to the finger-twiddler.
Bleys' eyebrows rise slightly.
Robin holds her hand out to the Marquess for the return of the Bleys Trump. The King he can still hang on to for now. While having the Asshole around reduces her chance of being eaten (at least by non-family enemies), there's still always the possibility.
The Marquess offers Robin both of the Trumps she handed him.
Robin takes just the Bleys Trump back.
"Let's keep that one as a back-up for now, oui?"
Then she meets the Marquess' eyes, and with a wry twist to her lips, makes a little bow. She owes him one for allowing her to throw his brain between her and Bleys. And she knows it. Snarkiness aside.
"As your ladyship wishes," the Marquess replies, with a simple nod of acknowledgement.
Bleys steps into Caine's office and tsks at the seawater stench. He draws his great golden blade and makes several passes with it. Robin can only assume this is some kind of sorcery, but it's not strong enough to impinge on her underhearing without Listening.
He considers whatever knowledge he gained from the spell for a moment. Then he turns to the Marquess and says, peremptorily, "Have whoever is in charge at the Rebman Embassy brought up. Now."
Okay, Rebmans. Robin ruffles. But still not her area of expertise.
The Marquess gives a gesture and one of the midshipmen moves off to make it so.
Bleys turns to Robin. "Excuse me, dear niece, but I think our next order of business is to contact Rebma and find out what they know. That was no Rebman sorcery; perhaps it was a mirror enchantment." He shuffles out a Trump. "Llewella may be of some assistance."
Pretty lights dance in front of Robin's memory for a moment. Mirror enchantment? Her head cocks to one side. Then her gaze darts around the room looking for mirrors or other reflective surfaces as she nods in response to Bleys.
There are no mirrors visible in the room. Bleys, catching the direction of her gaze, and perhaps the line of thinking, says, "They'd be on the other end. Llewella, hello, it's Bleys. How are you?"
There's a long pause.
"That sounds absolutely fascinating, Llew, but I believe I need to deal with matters here first. You don't know anyone who would be so rash as to try to commit violence on Caine's person via mirrors, do you?"
Another pause, much briefer.
"A pity."
The Marquess smirks.
Robin echoes that smirk.
"I suggest you go to the Pattern chamber and assess from there. Contact me when you have a better idea." A moment later he closes the connection, looking disgruntled. "I mislike this a very great deal."
Robin raises an eyebrow. Either he'll tell her or he won't.
"There's been some difficulty in the Pattern chamber of Rebma. Brita and Ossian are missing as well. I'd best contact Fiona." Bleys starts shuffling out his own trumps to find his sister's card.
Yay. Robin presses her lips, but nods her understanding. Then she cocks her head to the side as she wonders whether the Patterns vibrate with one another and if it'd be worth it to check the dead ruin in the basement.
The question is immediately moot because Bleys does not make the contact. "She's talking to someone," he explains, tucking his cards away. "We're on our own for now, at least until she calls me, which will either happen at the most inconvenient time in my working or just in time to save our lives."
Robin Hears a sudden noise, like a distant thunder, with her underhearing. The devilish smile on Bleys' face drops then, and he draws his great golden blade.
"Something happened. Did you feel that?"
"Heard it," she clarifies/confirms with a worried nod. And Listens more closely.
She mostly Hears Bleys throwing up a spell of some sort, and can see him drawing a quick gesture with Werewindle. He says "Out!" as if he has no time to spare for more speech.
There's something else going on that she can also Hear. Her gut instinct is that Bleys is containing the other thing.
Hoping she's understood him correctly, Robin scrambles for the door. "Fall back," she orders the naval men. Once into the hallway, she slows and Listens again to see how far the retreat need be.
Last modified: 31 January 2009