Heading to Texorami

Once Julian has finished feeding Jovian and taking care of other necessities, he sits down to eat his own dinner.

"I'll arrange for a horse tomorrow, and we'll take a second stage. Tomorrow evening I'd like to try to have us in an automobile, and arrive in Texorami on the third day. Does this plan sound workable to you based on our travels so far?"

Folly thinks for a moment, and then nods slowly. "Yes, if you can get us to a place with automobiles that run on petrol, and roads paved black with tar and rock, and a sky not too different from Xanadu's, Texorami should be findable within a day, I should think."

She regards Jovian for a long moment. "Is the plan to get him settled somewhere before we find my mother?"

"The plan is to release him before we find your mother," Julian corrects. "I believe you mentioned something about 'primal forests'. That strikes me as a good place to let him go. He'll run mad for a time; there's nothing to be done for it. I doubt a Texorami hospital can hold him if he wants to run--and he will."

Folly nods. She lays a napkin in front of her and pinches one side of it up into peaks and valleys. She stares at it for a long moment, and then points to an area along the edge, near a particularly high peak. "We should aim to come in about here," she says. "The coastal highway intersects an east-west road that should take us straight toward the forests." Her finger moves side-to-side, and hovers above a spot just to the right of a ridge of peaks. "My mother's family came from about here."

Julian nods as he traces the planned route with a finger. "It seems likely that we'll encounter your mother's father, if he's alive. We tend to be drawn to each other."

"That thought had crossed my mind, too." Folly stares thoughtfully at her impromptu model of the coastline. "I can't quite decide whether to be excited or worried by the prospect, so I'm aiming for a healthy mix of both." She smiles wryly. "I think my mother thinks her father is a bit crazy -- which means he's either REALLY crazy or perfectly sane."

"It's unlikely that he's a threat to us, even with my attention somewhat distracted by Jovian." Julian shares a wry grin with Folly. "Extremely unlikely."

"Well, then I shall trade in some of my 'worried' for a bit more 'excited'," she says, still smiling. "What else do you need to know about the area before we go? My knowledge isn't perfect -- it may not even be very up-to-date -- but I did spend a little time there as a child. Parts of it made a very big impression."

"Then you should lead us through the last part of the shifting, because your memories will be the best guide to such a place," Julian says decisively. "Have you shifted to Texorami, before? Do you know how to tell whether you've achieved the Texorami you came from?"

"I haven't shifted there myself, as the last time I was there was right before I took the Pattern," Folly replies, "but I... sang Martin through the shifting. So I have a sense of what to do, at least."

Julian nods slowly. There's nothing abrupt about it.

She pauses thoughtfully before answering the second question. "As to that last... I suppose I don't know, definitively. But since there's some of us there, odds are improved that they're weighing down the shadow and we'll roll right into the sink, yes?"

"That is the assumed theory. But even without having walked the Pattern, it is possible to make uncontrolled shifts. It would be unfortunate if your grandfather were to have done so. We could find ourselves in a place very like Texorami, but subtly different, and with a subtly different shadow of your mother." Julian stop to let Folly consider that idea.

Folly nods slowly, an unconscious echo of Julian's own gesture. "Do you find that you can tell a true family member just by... feel?" she asks.

"I have rarely been in a position where there's a question. Some of us enjoy close shadows of Amber. I do not," Julian explains. "But yes, there is a certain--pull--although it's not always definitive."

"If we do encounter a near-shadow of my mother, then, I suppose we'll just have to rely on some combination of that pull and intuition to know the difference."

After a thoughtful pause, Folly adds, "At the very least, I think I can recognize the real Texorami. So if my mother has stayed in her own shadow, I should know when we get there -- even if my grandfather has drifted elsewhere and we find him first. I think." She frowns slightly.

"That will have to be enough," Julian replies. "I think, though, unless you would like a lesson in the theory of Pattern use and how one might determine whether an individual is Real or a shadow, it's time we had a good night's sleep."

"You're probably right," Folly says with a little smile. "But I may ask for that Pattern theory lesson one day."

The night passes uneventfully.

The next day, Julian shifts hard and fast and they end up somewhere where they can find a car. Julian negotiates the sale; he lets Morgenstern go, commenting that the great horse will find them if he's needed.

He lets Folly take the wheel in preparation for the drive to Texorami.

It's been years now since Folly was last behind the wheel of a car. As Julian gets Jovian settled, she takes a moment to settle in herself, adjusting mirrors and seat, familiarizing herself with the location of all the buttons and switches on the dash -- but not their functions. That, she may need to make up later.

Jovian is strapped into the back seat.

There is a radio. Folly turns it on at low volume and finds a station playing guitar-driven folk music.

Once Julian is ready, Folly pulls out onto the road, heading north at a moderate speed.

Julian relaxes a little once Folly takes charge of the car and it appears that Jovian won't be awakened by the motion of the car any more than he was by travelling on horseback.

Folly finds the ocean first -- there, on her left-hand side -- and reaches for the sound of it crashing against the exactly right sort of rocky coastline rising to mountains on the right.

Next the road, which is not so difficult now that she has the mountains: that same pink-grey stone crushed and mixed with a tar that doesn't quite mask the faint sparkle when the sun hits it in just the right way....

Then she works on the trees, moving to where they grow taller and greener and sharper and.... She rolls her window down just a crack, and waits for that crisp scent of loam and needly green that will tell her she's found the right spot.

With these things in place, the roadside produce stands seem to spring up of their own accord without her even shifting for them. Folly smiles at the clusters of scruffy hippie families negotiating with sunburnt farmers beneath hand-lettered signs advertising "Sweet Red Apples" and "Cheries Hand Piked" and "Uncle Bob's Tuna Stand".

That last one she's sure she remembers from her own childhood; she can hear her mother's snide comment ringing in her memory. So she is not surprised when, a few miles later, they come to the little brown sign announcing the turn-off for the road toward Winterness National Forest.

"We've another half-hour or so before we're properly there," Folly says to Julian. She pauses. "Were you always drawn to forests, even as a boy?"

Julian gives Folly a look. "No. Dad didn't assign me to Corwin as a reward."

"Ah." Folly stares at the road, and at the trees growing slowly denser on either side.

After a long moment, she asks, "Which of you did he think he was punishing, then?"

He stops to think about that for a moment. "With Dad, it's hard to tell. Probably both of us, and quite possibly other people who wanted the job and couldn't have it because I did."

Folly frowns thoughtfully. "Was that his usual strategy? To punish, rather than to reward?"

"My suspicion is that he wanted to be unpredictable. Predictability commands a certain type of loyalty, I've found. But if you fear betrayal, unpredictability has its value. With my brothers being as they are, can you blame him?" Julian glances over at her.

"Perhaps not," Folly agrees with a wry smile. "But it makes me wonder--- I have heard Martin say similar things about the manner in which Moire rules. One wonders, is thrilling in that sort of cool manipulation the thing that leads one to want to rule? Or does the ruling come first, and the manipulation grow later, out of necessity?"

"I don't remember a time before either Moire or Dad, so I can't say. But I've noticed the correlation and it's one reason I'm happy to stay in Arden."

After a moment, Julian adds, "Eric was starting to go the same way before he died."

"Ah." Folly frowns. "That's not very encouraging. What had he been like before?"

"Eric? He was always ambitious. He wanted that throne, and he hated Corwin, which is understandable. Before his exile, Corwin was an unpleasant man. We thought he'd killed Corwin when he came back that day, and he would have when Corwin came back and fought on Bleys' side. But after he took on the Regency, and then the throne, he grew more--" Julian pauses for a moment, then settles on "--paranoid, almost."

Folly ponders his words for a long moment. "Eric wielded the Jewel while he was on the throne, yes? How did he come to have it?"

Julian glances over at Folly from his contemplation of the forest they're driving through. "I don't know. Only that he did, and he somehow gained partial mastery of it, enough to use it against Corwin and Bleys when they attacked the city. Fiona speculated at one point that the Jewel might have hastened his death, because the wound he took shouldn't have killed him."

"That fits with some things Dworkin told me," Folly says slowly. "That it is the nature of being attuned to the Jewel that you will inscribe a Pattern or die. And that the process changes you. If he were only partially attuned, or attuned but never inscribed a Pattern...." She trails off thoughtfully.

"Dworkin told you that? How .... interesting." Julian's eyebrow arches. "The more I learn about the Jewel, the more pleased I am that no matter how many deaths there are in the family, I am unlikely to be called on to assume the throne."

"Martin believes he won't be, either." Folly smiles grimly. "I dearly hope he's right." She falls silent and stares at the road ahead.

Julian waits for a few miles before he asks, "How much further do you think it will be?"

Folly inclines her head toward the trees on either side of the road, their trunks broad and closely-spaced, and growing closer by the mile. "We're at the edges now. The gate, if they still maintain it, is perhaps another five or so miles on. Then another couple miles to the end of the tarmac. Beyond that it's footpaths and animal trails for miles and miles and miles."

"I'll wake Jovian up when we go on foot. He may try to run straight from the car. I don't think he'll have the wit to drive it, or any interest in trying. Stay well away from him when I wake him up and don't try to get in the way if he runs. When Cambina tried to restrain him in Xanadu, he hit her, and I'd rather not try to take you to a local doctor if he does the same to you," Julian explains.

He's keeping an eye out for the gate.

Folly nods. "Unless it's to protect innocent bystanders from him, I'll stay well away. And even if there are other people in the area, we should be able to park far from any of them -- unless things have changed a great deal since last I was here."

The car clears a low rise and a large brown sign comes into view, announcing things they are not allowed to bring into the forest: glass containers, hard liquor, firearms, fireworks, offsite firewood. Not far beyond stands a booth and a low traffic-barrier arm; behind, a much sturdier-looking iron gate stands open. A bored-looking park ranger leans in the doorway of the booth.

Reflexively, Folly reaches for the driver's-side visor and finds the pair of sunglasses that she knew must be there. She puts them on and runs her fingers through her hair, mussing it up a bit. She suddenly looks entirely unremarkable.

Julian slouches in the seat and looks remarkably unlike himself. The effect is completed when he finds a pair of sunglasses--Ashley, from the look of them--and dons them.

As they approach the booth, the park ranger gestures to them to stop and roll down the window.

Folly stops, rolls down the window, and smiles in pleasant blandness. "'Morning," she says. "'S there an entrance fee?"

She suspects what he's really after is to glance in the trunk for prohibited items, but she awaits further instructions.

"Two royals per vehicle. Purpose of your visit?" The ranger sounds bored.

Julian remains silent.

"Bit of hiking and fresh air. I'm told it's better for the baby than coffee, cigarettes, and sitting on the couch." Folly smiles a little and digs around in her pocket for the money, biting back a dark joke about dumping their third royal in the forest as she hands it over.

"Nothing in the trunk?" he asks. "No fireworks? No glass?"

Folly shakes her head 'no'. "Spare tire, old blanket. No fireworks, no glass. Nothing incendiary."

"Mind if I take a look?" he asks.

Unless Texorami law has changed, Folly isn't required to let him open the trunk.

"Not at all," Folly replies agreeably, "but you'll need me to open it. This beast got rear-ended a few years ago, and now you've got to finesse the trunk latch juuuust right to get it open and shut." She reaches for the keys, still in the ignition, but pauses and regards the ranger with a quizzical look to make sure he really means for her to go to all that trouble.

Either way, though, this should keep him from trying to slam the trunk shut. The last thing any of them need is for the crazy man in the back seat to start awake and freak out.

The ranger stands aside so Folly can open the door. Julian doesn't seem to be moving and he hasn't responded to the conversation.

Folly takes the keys, climbs out, closes the door -- without slamming it -- behind her, and gestures for the ranger to follow her around to the back of the car. She works the key into the lock and jiggles it just so, for she knows it won't open otherwise. It takes a few tries to get it just right; the hatch swings open to reveal a trunk she knows will be mostly empty.

As the ranger peers in, Folly keeps a hand lightly on the hatch to keep him from slamming it shut again. She decides it is very probable that a car full of rowdy college students will pull up soon and give this poor man something, anything, to do.

The ranger looks into the trunk and seems to find everything satisfactory. As he moves to close the trunk, another car rolls up. As Folly had decided, it's full of rowdy, drunk college students, playing classic rock.

Happenstance. The opening chords of Find Me Gone, from the live album.

The ranger gives her an odd look as he turns toward the other car. "It's all in order, miss. Have a nice day."

"You, too," Folly replies, and smiles. She carefully does not look in the direction of the other car, though it takes an effort of will not to throw a 'rock on' sign at them reflexively.

She carefully, quietly pushes the trunk hatch shut again, climbs back into the driver's seat, and starts the engine. She realizes belatedly that the guard arm is still lowered in front of the path, but concludes that it must be the sort that raises automatically when you drive at it slowly. She spares a quick glance at Julian and Jovian, and then eases the car forward.

The guard arm goes up and they pass underneath it.

Once they're clear and a bit further down the road, Julian relaxes and lets out a deep breath. He says, "I decided it was probable he wouldn't look in the back seat. The last thing we needed was a kidnapping charge laid against us."

"No, indeed. Thank you for that." Folly glances into the rear-view mirror. "You may also want to decide it probable -- because of course it is -- that the car behind us will be detained for a while by the bored guard." She nudges the car into a higher gear -- fast but not quite speeding. "I think they were fans."

"It's quite probable that he'll find some illegal substance in their vehicle," Julian replies after a moment.

"Quite," Folly agrees with a tiny smirk.

Then he adds, a bit dubiously, "Fans?"

"Of the band," Folly replies, as if that explained everything. "I heard them playing---"

From the back seat, Jovian suddenly starts to hum the chorus to "Find Me Gone". Julian's head snaps back to look at him and his eyes narrow, but he doesn't actually stop his son.

Folly looks over her shoulder at him, too, though she is still driving. "---That," she says, perplexed. "Huh." She turns her eyes back to the road, and...

"Oh, shit!"

Folly stomps the brake just as an enormous buck, as startled as she is, makes a desperate leap from the center of the road to avoid being hit. They hear the hard thunk of hooves hitting the roof of the car; and then, an instant later, whether by luck or by the tremendous force of Folly's (or, more likely, Julian's) will, the animal clears the car behind them and bounds back into the forest, apparently uninjured.

Folly stares motionless after it for a long moment, and then blinks. "M-maybe we should walk now," she says. "I think I saw signs for parking just ahead...."

As soon as the buck has cleared the car. Julian reaches quickly into the back seat and finds a sword. "We're being blocked. Or someone's trying to block us. Park the car and we'll go on horse."

He lifts his free hand to his lips and issues an ear-piercing whistle.

"...Or maybe it was just a deer," Folly offers in a small voice as the echoes of the whistle die away. "They're quite common in this area." Her knuckles are white against the steering wheel as she pulls forward the scant hundred feet to the nearest parking area and shuts off the ignition. "What makes you think it's deliberate?"

"It's the sorts of trouble Eric would have put in the way of someone trying to come into Amber by Arden," Julian explains. "Except that we're not crossing Shadows to overcome them."

There's a distant rumbling coming toward them, like a persistent drumming that grows louder and louder.

Folly nods and reaches carefully -- so as not to disturb Jovian overmuch -- into the space behind the driver's seat and retrieves her bag, but otherwise she waits to follow Julian's lead. She knows enough to let him be first out of the car to greet Morgenstern.

As they wait, she scans the edge of the forest before them, alert for signs of man or beast or anything that feels wrong.

Julian is out of the car first, and gives Folly a signal that she doesn't recognize but is able to intuit means that she should stay inside the car's protection.

Morgenstern's hooves sound closer and closer.

There's a crack that it takes Folly a moment to recognize and Julian vanishes out of her line of sight.

That was gunfire.

Folly curses and scoots far down in the driver's seat. Her heart is pounding in her ears, and she's running mostly on instinct. She peeks between the seats to make sure Jovian is still lying down, not presenting an obvious target. She plays the sound back in her mind, trying to work out the direction of its source; but with the growing sound of hooves and the echoes off trees and terrain, it might as well have come from everywhere at once.

Jovian is sitting up, but if whoever is shooting is doing it from the rear, he's partially protected by the headrests.

Keeping her head low, she stretches out so that she is lying across both front seats. With one hand she reaches carefully into the glove box and feels around until her fingers close over cold metal. With her other hand she grasps the lever of the passenger-side mirror and moves it slowly, using it to scan behind the car for any sign of Julian, or Morgenstern, or their attacker.

She listens, too; but she knows that soon any sound of approaching footsteps will be utterly drowned out by the sound of hoofbeats.

The thrumming grows far too loud and then Morgenstern arrives.

The great horse circles the car once. He stops on the passenger side and Folly sees Julian rise with the protection of Morgenstern's body. He doesn't appear to be injured, but he's not wearing white, so it's not like it would be as obvious as it usually is. He glances inside the car at Jovian, and then at where Folly should be.

Folly sits up just far enough to catch Julian's gaze and give an 'ok' sign. She looks pale, but her expression is more grim than frightened. She motions to Julian that she will reposition herself on the passenger side, and then -- unless he objects -- carefully does so.

Julian remains in place while Folly slides across the car.

Folly presses the button to lower the window a couple of inches. She looks wide-eyed at Julian; her hand is still clasped around something in the glove box.

"Do we have a plan?" she asks.

"Distraction," Julian says in Thari. "Can you handle our cargo? I'll draw off the sniper."

He sounds as if he might enjoy the prospect.

"As in... go ahead and move our cargo into the woods?" Folly gives a small nod. "I think I can do that."

She has no doubt of Julian's ability to find her in the woods once he's done with the sniper.

"Can you release it without me, if need be?" Julian speaks softly, as if he's trying to keep from being overheard.

Folly nods. "I think so," she replies, equally softly. "There's an area just there, a couple miles' walk" -- she gestures to the front and a little to the left of the car -- "that I remember from my childhood. It should be suitable, if you can draw our uninvited friend's attention elsewhere."

Julian nods. "We'll find you." He gives her a brief gesture--a lift of the hand that's clearly meant to suggest she raise the window, and turns to Morgenstern. The horse shuffles sideways a half-step, and then Julian mounts up.

He doesn't even have to touch his heels to the great horse's side; Morgenstern seems to have picked a direction independent of Julian. Or perhaps Morgenstern is so in tune with Julian's will that there was no apparent communication between man and steed.

The rumbling echo of hooves grows quieter as they move farther away.

Folly raises the window again. She withdraws her other hand from the glove box and looks at the handgun clasped in it. Loaded, safety on. She straps it into an easily-accessible front pocket of her bag and slings the bag diagonally over her shoulder.

"Jovian?" she asks in a soothing, sing-song voice. "Jove, are you ready to take a little walk?" She listens for any outside sounds besides the retreating hoofbeats.

There's a stirring from the back seat. "Unnnnnhhhhhh?" Jovian asks. He starts to sit up, blinking.

"Slowly, slowly," Folly says, still sing-song, "keep your head down, we'll be going soon...." She repeats the phrase like a children's nursery song as she feels around under the seat, coming up with an old baseball cap that may once have been a proper color but has since faded to a light beige. She pulls the handle on the door and nudges it open with her foot. Holding the cap sideways by the brim, she eases it out of the car slowly at about head-height; someone watching from a distance might think it was someone peeking out of the car.

She waits a few moments. If there are no gunshots, she cautiously climbs out of the car and carefully opens Jovian's door.

There's no gunshot.

Jovian starts to sit up again and pull himself out of the car. He blinks a couple of times. "Where are we? Canareth--where's--" and he leans forward and buries his face in his hands.

Folly cannot begin to imagine the depth of his loss. The darkest time in her own life was a haze of sorrow and emptiness and lying alone in dark rooms unaware of the passage of time and only bothering to eat when someone else made her; and that, she knows, was nothing compared to this.

"I'm so sorry, Jove," she says in a low voice, and slides an arm around his shoulders, offering comfort.

Jovian doesn't immediately respond to her words. He seems both distraught and disoriented.

"Where is he?" he finally asks Folly.

Folly weighs options rapidly in her mind. She won't lie to him, but having this conversation here, now, could spell danger for both of them.

"It's not safe here, Jove," she says, gently but firmly. "We need to get into the woods. Then we'll talk. C'mon." A steady rhythm, a walking pace. Her arm tightens around his shoulders, guiding him -- as she might a small, scared and weary child -- out of the car and toward the trail into the forest.

Jovian is resistant to being moved--not violent, certainly not yet--but he doesn't want to be pulled out of the car and walked away from it. Folly feels it will take more to get him moving than just pushing and pulling. Also, with Julian gone, Jovian could be--is--dangerous to Folly, if he becomes violent.

Folly casts a nervous glance over her shoulder, into the forest behind and before them, but quickly turns her attention back to Jovian. "Jove?" she ventures, and strokes his hair. "Are you still with me?" She hums a soothing tune as she waits to see how or whether he responds.

If he's capable of having a conversation, even a broken one, she might be able to reason or tempt him into the woods. If not....

She eyes the base of his skull, wondering whether she's got the strength and skill to knock him cold before he retaliates. She's certain she could fireman-carry him at least partway into the woods.

The question isn't whether she could carry Jovian, it's whether she could fell him in the first place. Fortunately, the tune seems to be having some effect on him.

"I have to find--where's Dad?" Jovian asks.

"He's to meet us in the woods," Folly says. And if Jovian remains more-or-less conscious and vaguely coherent, she'll remain with him in the woods until it becomes true. "Come with me, Jove," she says, gently but firmly, and resumes her humming.

The humming seems to be having the desired effect on Jovian now; instead of arguing, he lets Folly help him out of the back seat and walk with him.

Folly heads toward a trail marked with a small wooden sign. The path leads them out of the parking area and into a forest that quickly blots out most signs of civilization, save for the occasional markers indicating trail distance.

It all seems much more wild than Folly remembers from her childhood, the markers less well-maintained. But the path is still visible, and even leading Jovian, she can generally follow it without stumbling.

She walks at an easy pace and keeps up the soothing humming.

If she is where she thinks she is, they should be coming upon a fairly deep gorge soon, spanned by the only bridge for thirty miles. If Jovian does go dangerously crazy once he processes what has happened to Canareth, she'd prefer him to be on the other side, away from civilization.

Jovian is still with Folly, apparently subdued by the music for the moment. Folly is able to walk him most of the way to the bridge, to the place where the trees end. Once she and Jovian step out into the open, the melody is broken by a familiar noise.

*snik-snik*

"Don't move," a voice calls out. Harsh, male. Not Julian.

Folly stops, and with her hand on his shoulder directs Jovian to stop, too.

Jovian snaps his head around toward where the shotgun noise came from.

She suspects the odds are good that their assailant will recognize her -- either as a celebrity or as family. Either way, it might buy them some time.

"Why?" she asks, and turns her face toward where the voice came from. "We mean no harm." She resumes her soothing humming, a little more loudly this time.

"You're not supposed to be here." If the humming is having an effect on whoever it is, there's no immediate evidence in the tone.

Well, he's still talking rather than shooting; that's something, at least. "I don't understand," Folly says. "This is a national park. Public land, yes?"

"Public land," he repeats, a sneer in his voice. "Safe paths are for people on public land. You're going to the wild."

"So you're protecting us from the wild, then?" Folly asked. She turns her head a little farther and tries to get a look at the man. "Or the other way 'round?"

"Man's the most dangerous creature there is."

The cessation of the humming--necessary for Folly to carry on the conversation--has left Jovian a bit less pliable. He pulls silently at Folly's hand.

"Turn around and go back."

"Our path lies this way, I'm afraid," Folly replies, calmly, "but if you're concerned, come with us. I don't expect to stay very long."

She ventures a step, a little forward and a little toward Jovian.

"Stay back."

Jovian's silent pull becomes more urgent.

"If you don't mean to stay, what are you doing?"

"My cousin's rather ill. We need to have a talk. We're meeting someone there. It's just over the bridge. Come with us." Rhythmic, all in a walking pace.

Folly stops talking and starts humming again, and takes another two steps forward and a little toward Jovian.

"Stop that!"

Something about the raw anger in the man's voice seems to alarm Jovian, and he jerks loose from Folly's hand.

"Across the bridge," Folly says to him. "Quickly. Take cover, and wait."

She decides that it is highly improbable that the man will shoot Jovian. She turns to face the man in the trees, keeping herself interposed as best she can between him and Jovian.

The handgun is visible protruding from the front pocket of her bag -- nudging the odds in Jovian's favor -- though she keeps her hand well away from it.

"Stop what?"

Jovian is already moving in the direction of the bridge and freedom.

Several things happen almost at once.

There's a gunshot.

There's a screech and something drops out of the sky into the trees.

There's a giant grey horse with a white-armored uncle on it that came out of nowhere--probably from across the gorge--and it's between her and where the shot came from.

There are also some dog-like things that aren't quite as tall as Folly, maybe, and they're in the trees too now.

Folly doesn't feel like she was hit.

She takes a few quick glances to verify whether anyone was hit: first at her own front, then at her uncle on the horse -- and then over her shoulder at Jovian.

Folly wasn't hit.

If Julian was hit, it was in the bulletproof armor. Jovian is still moving--away, quickly--and there's no obvious sign of blood.

The hounds are baying and there's a sound that might be a gun trying to reload. Julian leans down to pull Folly up on Morgenstern's back with him, if she will.

She takes his arm and scrambles up quickly. "We should see Jovian safely across the bridge," she says. "He was sounding... almost coherent for a minute there."

Julian shakes his head. "He's already gone." Morgenstern is already moving even as she settles; the horse is almost an extension of Julian's will. They're in the trees by the time the words leave Julian's mouth.

"Put the gun down or they'll tear you apart," Julian calls out. The dogs have whoever it is down.

Folly wants to follow Jovian's progress, but his path is already lost through the trees behind her. Instead she cranes her neck to try to get a look at the man the dogs have pinned.

Julian gets the dogs under control--not that they were out of control, although that gun looks distinctly _chewed on_ right now--but lets them keep the man pinned.

He looks somehow familiar to Folly, although she's not sure from where.

"Who are you?" Julian asks him. "And by what right do you try to bar our passage through this forest?"

Their former assailant remains defiantly silent for the moment.

Folly eyes the man shrewdly for a long moment. Her conclusion is a hunch, but in a universe in which her kinsmen warp the reality about them so that they all keep rolling into one another like lead cannonballs, it seems to her a reasonable one.

In a mild voice, as if this were merely the next logical question in a dialogue already in progress between them, she asks the man, "How old was your daughter when you left?"

To Folly it's clear that the man is startled by her question, and then perhaps a bit frightened.

Julian, who seems to have intuited that he has the role of bad cop in this scenario, dismounts and walks over to the prisoner. He moves the gun aside with a foot, and proceeds to nudge the fellow in the leg in a way that isn't quite hard enough to be described as kicking. "Answer her," he suggests in a menacing tone.

The dogs sense their master's anger, and growl.

"No, it's all right," Folly says calmly, almost soothingly. "Give him a moment." She looks down at their prisoner from her horseback perch, meets his gaze, and waits expectantly.

Julian takes a half-step back, clearly waiting for the prisoner to respond.

"Who are you?" he asks Folly after a long moment, still suspicious.

Julian looks to Folly, to let her choose to answer the question or not. He has an answer of his own in mind, Folly suspects, if she doesn't have one ready.

"Mum told me once about her father," Folly responds, "who went haring off when she was a girl to 'defend his primal wood'." She looks at the man, then at Julian, then back again, comparing their features, the lines of their jaws. "Were you called 'Kuli'?"

Folly sees it more in how they hold themselves than explicitly in their features. But how alike does she think Julian and Jovian are in looks?

The man on the ground looks at her, and finally nods. "I was. You're Brij's, then?" He looks at her, clearly catching the curve of her belly, and frowns. "Who're you?" he asks Julian.

Julian says "Your father," and moves to offer Kuli a hand up.

"And the fellow that just took off into the woods is your brother," Folly adds. "And yes, Brij is my mother."

Kuli looks at her for a long moment as he moves to take Julian's hand and come to his feet. Before he's even standing or even quite certain of his balance, he takes a swing at Julian.

"You bastard!"

It's something of a blur to Folly because of the angle, but Julian seems to dodge Kuli's fist and release him all at the same time and suddenly Kuli is on the ground again and the dogs are all over him.

"Don't hurt him!" Folly intones reflexively, the tone somewhere between a plea and a command. It's directed mostly at the dogs, though she has little enough expectation they'll pay attention to anyone but their master.

Julian steps away from Kuli. He glances back up at Folly and she can tell he thinks his children are the most vexing thing ever.

"Perhaps you should explain matters to Kuli, Folly."

She nods. "I'm getting down now," she says to Morgenstern, and then proceeds to do so. Carefully.

Julian moves to help her down.

If the dogs have not yet backed off, she requests with a gesture to Julian that he call them off.

He whistles and the dogs retreat a bit. From their posture, they really aren't very happy about any of this.

She approaches their prisoner and takes a seat on the ground a few feet from him.

"Why do you live in the woods, Grandfather?" she asks.

Kuli glares at Julian for moment, perhaps contemplating the odds of either punching Folly or grabbing her. After a long moment he turns to look at her. "It's where I belong," he says. "Wasn't happy in the city."

Folly nods. "And I take it that all you knew about your father 'til now was that he left?" she asks, her voice very calm, hoping his editorial comments on the matter wouldn't get too out of hand.

"Mum waited for him to come back until the day she died!" Kuli snarls at Julian. Julian's face remains impassive.

Folly frowns, but it's a sympathetic look. "Perhaps we'll come back to that in a bit, but to make sense of that, you'll need to understand... other things." Her voice is calm, even. "I suppose you'd noticed even as a boy that you were different from those around you? Perhaps even in other ways than not belonging in the city."

She pauses, waiting for him to respond, or not.

Kuli eyes Folly and then Julian and then Folly again. "What kind of different do you mean?" His voice is full of suspicion.

"As a child you might've noticed unusual talents -- exceptional strength or speed, perhaps, or cleverness in some area. For me it was always music." Folly smiles a little. "As you got older, the physical differences would have become more evident -- that is, if you've bothered to track the passage of time. By my reckoning, you'll be at least eighty years old now, yes? And yet by your looks, few would suppose you much older than half that. Even after most of a lifetime of rugged outdoor living."

She pauses to let these ideas sink in, then adds, "That is part of the legacy of our blood."

This seems to resonate with Kuli more than anything else Folly has said. He looks at Julian again. "How old is he?" he asks Folly, clearly not willing to speak to his father.

"As the years roll past we cease to count them with any precision," Folly replies, "but at a guess he would be several centuries old, at least -- neither the youngest nor the eldest of his surviving brothers. And I've yet to hear of one of us dying of old age."

She adds, "There's more, but it's a bit weird even if you accept that we're functionally immortal."

It's Julian who breaks in. "I'm not convinced my son is ready for that."

Kuli glares at him resentfully.

"However pleased I am at this family reunion--" and Julian says that deadpan enough that even Folly has trouble sensing whether he means it or is being sarcastic "--we have other questions to deal with. Such as your mother."

Kuli looks at Folly. "What about Brij?"

"We need to talk to her. Or, rather, I do. It's been a while since we've seen each other, and... there are some things she doesn't know yet." Folly folds her hands across her midsection and manages -- just barely -- not to chew her bottom lip.

Kuli's eyes narrow. "Does she know about all this you're telling me about how special she is?"

"Some of it she worked out for herself," Folly says. Her expresion clouds. "The rest... we didn't quite get that far last time I saw her."

"What do you mean?"

Julian is waiting for the answer to that question too.

Folly addresses her answer to Julian, because it touches on things that Kuli might be better off not yet understanding fully. "She intuits that we are Real," she says. "I didn't quite get around to explaining why, though."

She regards her grandfather with a faint, rueful smile. "We did not part on the best of terms, she and I. We rarely do."

"And I cannot let you see her alone," Julian says. "Which leaves us with the problem of how to deal with Kuli." He gestures at his son.

Kuli protests, "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"

Julian continues, "I could leave Morgenstern and the hounds with him while we visit your mother. If you think that's wise."

Folly regards Julian thoughtfully for a moment, and then turns to her grandfather. "If we were to leave here, now, he and I and the horses and the hounds, what would you do next?"

Kuli eyes them both cagily. "Would you be coming back?"

Folly does not have an immediate answer -- these things are so hard to predict sometimes -- so she looks to Julian for his.

"Would you go to Amber?" Julian asks Kuli. "Or to Arden, which is the forest that makes this wilderness seem nothing but a shadow?"

Kuli looks at Julian. "I'd have to think about it."

Julian turns to Folly. "How will your mother react if we bring her here? I assume we do mean to take her with us for the wedding."

"Generally how my mother reacts is 'badly'," Folly replies, "but perhaps we can chalk that up to these unexpected entrances and exits we tend to make. And as I said, we didn't part on the best of terms. I had rather planned to let her make up her own mind about the wedding, if she even lets me get that far into the conversation."

She looks thoughtful for a moment. "If we did bring her here and she decided she was having none of it, I do have the means to return her quickly to her house."

"One of the family cards," Julian says, arching an eyebrow by way of inviting confirmation.

"A sketch," Folly replies. "It should work."

Kuli looks at Folly. "What happened the last time you saw Brij, then?" Folly can tell he's getting a bit impatient with all this talking over his head again.

Folly's brow furrows as she decides how -- and how completely -- to answer. "I hadn't seen her for a while, and hadn't been in a position to send word -- so she was a bit miffed with me even at the start about that. And I started the conversation knowing that I'm related to this lot, but not that she is, and so... I sort of implied pretty strongly that my papa wasn't really my father, which even if it were true wasn't exactly the right way to make things better. It all sort of went downhill from there."

"But you think she might come with you anyway?" Kuli sounds skeptical. "Accusing your mother of adultery's no way to get her to travel with you." He glares at Julian. "Not quite as bad as threatening a man with dogs, but not good."

"Well, yeah," Folly replies, "but it's not like she was famous for her chastity...." Her voice sounds faintly indignant, but her eyes spark with amusement. "But... um...." Her tone grows sheepish. "I suppose threatening her with my boyfriend didn't help much, either."

Julian arches an eyebrow at her in response to that last bit. Before Kuli can ask any more questions, he breaks in. "I believe it is time to make a decision. If you wish to take Kuli with us, we can. If you want to fetch your mother and come back for Kuli, that is also possible. The dogs have his scent. Which will it be, Folly?"

Folly regards Kuli thoughtfully. Taking him along would potentially provide an additional target for her mother's temper, which could prove useful.

But on the other hand, Folly is not generally in favor dragging around people she's just met against their wills.

"I think," she says slowly, "that unless my grandfather has decided in the last two moments that he would like to go with us" -- she lifts her eyebrows at Kuli, inviting him to offer his opinion -- "we should leave him here for the nonce."

Kuli shakes his head in the negative.

To her grandfather, she adds, "We would plan to come back. But it is worth mentioning that our plans do not always work out the way we expect."

"And if we do, you need not fear that we could not find you," Julian tells Kuli.

Kuli starts slightly as if he's considering punching Julian but doesn't complete the motion.

"Very well, then. Kuli, fare well until we meet again. May it be soon." Julian moves to help Folly to her feet.

Folly takes Julian's hand and comes to her feet. "Be safe, grandfather, until we meet again," she says. She briefly considers admonishing him to look after his brother should he run across him in the woods, but decides against it; her grandfather will do as he will do.

She looks up at Julian. "Horse, car or sketch?"

Julian shrugs. "What are your mother's security arrangements likely to be?" Behind him, Kuli is scrambling off into the woods. One of the hounds is following him.

Folly frowns thoughtfully. "She sometimes travels with a bodyguard, but that's only for public appearances. At home, if it's still like it was when I was living there, there'll be a locked gate on the path from the beach to the back of the house, but I know where to find the key. There's one of those security-system thingies that makes a lot of noise and is supposed to -- if she ever figured out how to set it up correctly -- alert the police if anyone breaks in, but...." She waves a hand dismissively. They both know it's highly probable the system will not function properly.

Her brow furrows. "Sometimes she keeps a live-in maid. Oh, and I'm pretty sure she owns a gun, but I've never actually seen it."

"If it's a handgun, I believe we can deal with it," Julian says dismissively. "Let us take the sketch, then." He extends his hand to Folly.