[Celina] accompanies the men back to the palace and moves straight to rooms to change for the party. She wants a warm bath, but does not get one. If she has offended citizens today, at least she can not to smell of soap and lavender for the urchins tonight. If there is any commonality to be found, Celina intends to reach for it.
Returning to the lower rooms of the palace after running a brush through her hair, she is dressed in the simplest frock she could find. She hasn't added the layers and layers that seem to go with every outfit Parisian. She didn't even do more than glance at the foundation wraps.
Not quite rumpled and definitely in a sober mood, she inspects the preparations for the party. Expecting the staff to have made everything neat and pretty, Celina moves along the sideboard fussing with things. The silverware is lined up like soldiers. She slides it towards the trays with the edge of her hand until is rests in a small pile. Napkins are stacked like book volumes. She takes one off the top, tucks it into the sleeve of her blouse and tips the pile over to spill forward. At the cake, she takes a piece with her fingers, ignoring the small plates and starts to nibble while she completes her walk down the table.
Once she is done 'demoralizing' the display of proper society and wonderful food, she lingers near the door waiting for her little scoundrels.
[if staff arrive and hurry to straighten things in her wake, she'll add, "Please don't. We need a certain amount of mess here."]
Celina's eyes light and she welcomes the small faces [if they come]. She may just be able to enjoy herself for an hour or two.
The urchins come. In fact, more urchins come than the ones who helped Celina; she was expecting a handful but they seem to have brought their friends. It is a merry celebration, and the children seem more like children now than the hungry, sharp little adults they were earlier.
Toward the end of the party, Celina sees Merlin entering the chamber.
Celina makes certain to learn all their names. She notes the taller boy, Benoit, who seems to have the most to say about things and the quiet girl, Zoya, with the twisted arm who nods and comments when the Seaward Lass is not supposed to be looking.
Merlin's arrival starts the emotions twitching again. However, Celina plays out the celebration, letting the little ones understand that she may have reason to see them all again.
She circles round the room to Merlin, licking cake icing off her fingers. "Hello. Did you have a productive day? I only annoyed a lot of people. Oh, and delivered Bend to the King for questioning."
"I solved the problem of annoying people by spreading coin where I passed. Father rules a practical and businesslike city," Merlin says, smiling slightly. "Tell me about the finding of Bend."
Celina looks askance at the children, noting their grins and loose chatter. Life goes on, even when it is headed in a wrong direction. She lowers her voice to a thready whisper and recounts the meeting with Bend at the cafe. Celina even reports on her own attempt to negotiate something diplomatic and her sudden reversal when Bend mentioned Martin's trouble and Corwin's ability to make a more dramatic solution to everything, including trump tricks like what Lucas' may have tried with Moire. Celina goes on to admit, "I really am terrible at this. I keep wanting to do the right thing as I was trained. Something politic and negotiated. So far that means everyone walks over me or laughs at my ignorance. Here I am in a City of Pattern that does not know me, trying to execute missions for a Father that does not know me, being measured by Sarcasm Diplomats who aided in my layered ignorance and chided to my face. So I tapped my anger. Instead of letting her go and following to Moire, I grabbed the eel I had in hand and delivered her to father. Even if he gets nothing from her, Moire has one less piece on the board of Paris." Celina sighs. "I like not what thing I am become. Not a princess. Not a Rebman. Not a player in the family game. Between people telling me I don't know what I'm doing and my hind brain being scared of my ignorance, I'm on a path to be a risk to every side, scattering pieces on a board I do not understand."
Celina pauses, holding back from an obvious smile at the urchins. Her thoughts are slightly maternal but more filled with possible uses for these many eyes and ears. "On the other hand, I have seldom felt so alive as when I brought Bend down beneath me."
"Defeating an enemy is often a sweet pleasure. I think I would have been very happy had I slain Father with my crossbow the first time I met him," Merlin says, as if this were the normal course of events in one's first meeting with Corwin. "I know a little of Bend, if she is who I think she is. She is dangerous. It is well that you disarmed her and presented her to Father."
Celina has come to understand just a bit of how Merlin's world was formed in razor events while hers was the ironic opposite: wrapped in packing wool.
"I think our Aunt will have more to say in what happens to her than he does, though, and if I were Bend, I should fear that." It's hard to think of her friendly, smiling brother as ruthless, and yet he says these things as if they are good, and Celina is to be praised for arranging them. "Still, it does leave us with the problem of finding your mother. We must be wary of all mirrors."
Celina nods twice. Once because she thinks Florimel will have her way with Bend despite what Father might wish. Once because Moire is not beyond retributions through glass. "Agreed."
He produces a paper. "These are all the manufacturies of mirrors in Paris that I could learn about." There are several names on the list. "It seemed the logical place to look for Rebmans."
"And so we should," Celina responds. "The children have given me a fresh current easing my cares. I'd as like get into this list immediately. But I must send them off with words that explain I would have more parties with them but for my busy search for the Green Murderer. I would hope that before I leave Paris, I'll at least have some working understanding with the Urchin Eyes." She licks her lips. "And these places will not do business at night." Celina grins. "So we should look them over. Any of them busy tonight are doing work for something more secret and alluring. I think that describes my mother nicely."
"Indeed," Merlin says. "I can come with you, but I should warn you that I have spent much of my strength in magic in my earlier workings. I will be of some use with a blade, but my spellcraft will be weak: even weaker than it normally is in Paris."
If Merlin agrees to head out (or if he doesn't), Celina has a farewell chat with the children. She tells them honestly that they have made her evening. She explains that they should be careful, because they have shown such good manners at the palace that they may make marquis and baronesses jealous of the favors possible. Celina chats openly about her mission to find the Green Murderer for the King and says she'll be too busy for another party, but hopes they can all do this again soon. Celina closes, "I need friends in Paris. Thank you for helping me."
Shining eyes betray that Celina has made, if not friends, certainly some connections that may prove useful to her in the future.
Once the children have vanished, Celina sees that the palace servants are counting the silverware and anything else of value, to be sure the children haven't stolen anything.
Begging an hour from Merlin, Celina stops to change clothes, sending a palace footman to the motorbike couriers for baggy leather trousers and a heavy jacket. While those things are on the way, she takes a bath and pins her hair up while it is still wet. Adding boots and gloves, she is soon back at the central courtyard of the inner palace checking out several of the motorbikes.
She grins when Merlin joins her and points to the bike and sidecar arrangement. "I'll drive, you can rest your magic." She hands him goggles like that ones already around her neck.
Merlin takes the goggles and manages to figure out how they work with some small effort on his part.
Following his direction, they head into the outskirts of Paris, weaving tiny lanes and speeding down boulevards in the dark. Further from the city center, the windows are dark and the streets are empty of shadowy figures. When they pull up at the gated property of the first glass foundry. It appears like a spined sleeping whale grounded at the dark bottom of a cloudy sea. There are no lights, no fumes rising from the stacks.
"Let's see," Celina offers. "Even if empty and quiet...we'll get a look at what Paris thinks a glass foundry should look like."
By the time they reach the foundry, they have only a few hours until the false dawn makes their search more difficult, or at least more likely to be seen by Moire's agents. Merlin pulls himself out of the sidecar and moves to the gate.
"Do we enter by stealth, or quickly? I think our arrival will have alerted any guards."
"Yesss," Celina nods. "So we are quick." She admires the ornamental metal of the gate and tests the lock: fully functional but with a few swirls and tree like twists midway up. So Parisian. Celina imagines she could kick out the latch and it would be less noisy than the military bike they arrived in. She pulls the bike off to the side near a fence pier. Then sets for a running kick into the gate.
The snap of metal is surprisingly slight and the gates wobble out of the way...too heavy to bang against their hinges.
Celina lands lightly inside. "Let's go straight to the furnaces." She pulls the pistol and nods the way ahead, looking at the silhouette for active stacks. She sets off at an easy run.
None of the stacks are active.
They reach what seems to be the main building without being stopped by whatever guards the mirrorwrights employ at night. Merlin handles the lock, this time, by sorcery. They are far enough from the heart of the city that he seems to be having an easier time of it.
With the door open, they look into the manufactory. The methodology of glassmaking is different in Paris, but they are above the water and can have forges that aren't volcanic. None of them are in operation, which is good, because no one seems to be here to keep the place from burning down.
It is not a complete waste if the place is so empty. They have the chance to look about and learn the local arrangements of the pieces that Celina knows so well in another place. She eyes tools and imagines the uses of some of the large equipment. She offers some whispered comments to Merlin when she spots tools that might be useful to Moire. He'll know some useful things if he comes across these tools separately from Celina.
She looks in particular for smaller gear that might work for a special piece of art glass or mirror that was significant in quality but could still be carried. The main stacks would not serve for specialty furnaces. Any doors or ways to lower areas should be carefully investigated for recent use.
A night watchman is inconvenient and Celina will deal with him if he arrives. Even more troublesome if no one watches the place at all. Who has been here to take the guard away?
There's nothing that obviously betrays the presence of Moire or Rilsa here. But the mirrors here are not of the best quality for the craft: the factory will produce large mirrors, it's true, but under the stresses of great magics, they might well shatter.
Not every use of a mirror is meant to end in murder.
It's clear that the manufactory is not where specialty glasswork is done. A smaller shop might do for that, but there's no evidence of that level of craft even in what appears to be the prototypes here.
There is a night watchman, but they avoid him, although he's bewildered to find the gate open, and they see him shaking his fist as they dash out toward the motorcycle.
Having scouted deeply... if nothing suggests more scrutiny and no pieces of glass hold images of Moire or rebmans, they shall emerge again from the broken gates to the motorbike. Celina eyes the sky and clouds measuring the time until sun up. "Useful, but ...." She looks at Merlin to see if he needs to rest.
Merlin seems less winded than Celina. He jumps into the sidecar easily. "I am fine, sister. Do you think we should go on?"
"While I see no reason to think Moire would expose herself during the daylight, knowing we are looking for her," Celina kicks the motor on as she speaks and slides into gear while Merlin adjusts his goggles, "I cannot do anything but go on. We need to find her shell here." She raises her voice over the engine roar as they enter the lane again headed to the next location, "Bend was sacrificed to buy time. Bend tried to make sure she wasn't sacrificed by delivering her message and making much of taking my words back to Moire. However, I think that was all a calculated risk in my Mother's plan. Deflect me, derail me, and keep me out of the way. While history suggests I am the least of her concerns, from Moire's own emotional words, I am some essential part of the future and she does not want me damaged."
Somehow, the loud engine masks the emotions in her voice, but Celina feels the strange eddies of violence and sexual heat there, "Moire might have planted me in Khela's camp to be taken in. That's how far she might be thinking ahead. I need to know what she's doing in Paris. We look until the King changes his mind." Celina shakes her head. How strange a creature she is now: fueled on rejection and love and anger and lies.
Celina will be diligent, searching the larger glass-making forges they come upon even tho' they are not suited to the precise quality work that would tell in Moire's plans. She will pay particular attention to smaller specialty furnaces and that is where she'll spend the most time turning over rocks. The rest is just being thorough and looking for pointers to Rebman activity.
She makes a point of enjoying this time with Merlin, even if it is only to memorize and bask in his physical motion. She wants to imprint his TaKhi presence in her senses enough that she'll not strike out blindly in his direction come trouble or anbaric tape.
At the second manufactory, they are still at their search when the workers come. Merlin explains that he and Celina are searching on direct orders from the King and demands the assistance of the mirrorwrights, such as they are, and the supervisors. They quail at his demands, clearly afraid of what such royal interest might mean, and help with the search.
When the owner arrives, he's less fearful than his employees, but still deferential to the royals. He offers to list the specialty glassmakers in Paris for them, in the hopes of helping the Prince and Princess find their quarry.
In dealing with these men, Merlin is more aggressive than Celina has ever seen him, as if the flow of his TaKhi has changed somehow in all of this. Perhaps he is less of a boy and more of a man, or perhaps all his training and teaching has come to fruition in this emergency.
Understanding that Paris' culture leans towards men of action, Celina does everything she can to augment Merlin's change in stripe. Whether it is a game for him or a true change of seasons, she will be mindful in either case. She nods in punctuation of his commands. She eyes the men, especially the owner, as if it would be madness to delay Merin's mission for even a moment. Her body language is aligned to Duty and she allows her belief in Merlin to surface as well in the signals her stance gives off.
Celina looks carefully through the list of specialty glassmakers. Names, streets and occasionally a hurried, scratched out line where the owner has thought better of who they should ask for once they arrive. She smiles at Merlin and nods, giving him back the list, de facto enforcing him as the commander in the eyes of the men present. Still looking at Merlin, she acts on inspiration, "And which of these specialty forges does work they cannot brag about? Work for brothels and bawd houses? Work for fetish chambers?"
She does not try for eye contact with the men, she keeps a steady gaze on Merlin, letting the silence build to compel quick answers. If Merlin follows the TaKhi flow he has going, his reaction should overcome any embarrassment these men might feel in discussing the Matter she has injected.
Merlin's role does not permit him to flush at the mention of the sexual improprieties implicit in Celina's question. Fortunately, the workers and the manager of the manufactory take care of that for him. The latter flushes bright red at Celina's question.
Merlin looks at him coldly. "You will answer my sister, please."
The man puts the list down on his desk and points at one name.
"So I think we are done here," Celina nods once as she commits the name and address to memory.
Celina allows Merlin to finish with the men and orchestrate their withdrawal to the motorbike. She kicks the machine into action. "I might have thought of it sooner. Independent women, ignored activity at night, comings and goings of city men of all walks of life... possibly strange looking women in exotic costumes." She shakes her head. "Let's note any on our list along the way but carefully scout this bawd house as soon as possible."
She looks to see if he has questions or objections.
"By way of this shadowy art glass wright," she adds.
"Perhaps we will catch them sleeping," Merlin says, not sounding very hopeful. "But the longer we wait, the more I expect your mother to have fled Paris."
"She came to conquer or make a place to watch the world," Celina says with certainty. "She will not leave or flee or abandon that plan until a better opportunity opens. While I think the King setting us to look for her is some mild rebuke for Lucas' fall, I do not think Moire will flee unless Florimel finds her before we do. For Florimel to get ahead of us yet, my Aunt would have to break Bend very quickly." Celina skids the bike around two children chasing a young dog in circles about a baker woman loading a cart with fresh bread. "I think we could be close. But catching them asleep? No."
We might catch her in bed, thinks Celina. She guns the engine faster along the bumpy cobbles.
"She would have to be a fool to remain here now that we have taken Bend," Merlin replies, but he seems ready to drop the subject.
His words curl and ebb upon her thoughts for a few minutes. She decides he may be right, and in particular that Moire should fear Florimel, but that with Corwin back in the City, Moire will chance staying to finish whatever she hoped to gain here.
And even if she finishes that and flees....it would be essential to find out what she was doing here.
She slows the bike considerably as they near the neighborhood of the bawd glass forge. With a nod to Merlin, she quits the engine seven doors down from the gray brick facade that seems to be the address. Celina leaves the dusty goggles in place this time as they walk quietly up to the door.
She does not knock, but tries the lever and moves inside with a slight crouch and spring.
It is late enough now that workers have started to go about their business. Indeed, inside the manufactory there are artisans at work, although they stop and look up at the entrance as the two royals come in, mouths agape at the prince and princess. One of them, a manager or senior worker at least by the look of him, has the presence of mind to speak up. "Hey, you can't come in here like that!"
Celina smiles, letting her white teeth gleam from a trail-dusty face. She puts her hands on her hips, the right hand resting on top of the holstered pistol. Nothing really to add to that welcome. She scans the room, notes the exits and if there is a glassed supervisor's station with a fellow in it, she heads that way.
She keeps looking about, eyeing tools and faces and listening for the other shoe to drop.
If the speaker seems to be the most 'in-charge' person present. She'll start in, "I have a rush job. The palace sent me. Is there somewhere to talk about it?" She does look over each worker here, more interested in who tries to leave or slip away. She will certainly memorize such a person exiting if not succeed in intercepting them with a 'where are you going?' comment.
His face becomes a slideshow of quick, emotional reactions as he steps over to the pair, fear and greed being strongest. "Please, come with me to the office," he says. "The shop floor isn't safe, your honors."
Celina measures the glow of self-interest in his expressions.
No one seems to be leaving, but no one seems to be doing much work at the moment, either. There's nothing that's obviously unsafe.
The man looks at Celina as he steps outside. "We have a discreet lounge down the hall where we can discuss matters. Do your people have another custom order for us?"
Celina nods. "We're pleased with what you've done for us. Now we may have something a bit more challenging. Can you push aside other work? This item will be bigger than the last." Celina follows him to the 'discreet lounge'.
Merlin lets Celina slip away with her mirrorwright; he's continuing to inspect the shop floor.
He waits until the door is closed to answer Celina. Greed easily wins out over fear this time. "It'll cost, madam. But if you're paying as well as you did for the last, we'll make yours first.
"We'll triple the fee, but this will be large and we want to make it fit the site. Can you go with me now and speak to the Lady? You'll need tools to measure the access and such for delivery. It has to be today, now. We cannot wait and we prefer to deal with you."
"Madame--mademoiselle--" he looks confused. "Your mistress' other servant said that the glass we prepared last month should suffice. Has your mistress moved chambers?"
[last month? GMs please correct me if I'm off-base, but that would mean someone was in Paris long before Moire who could manage mirror work of a quality Moire would need? Interesting. How many mirror artists in the Rebman court?]
[Not that many but it's a lot harder to make mirrors underwater. They're a trade item. And yes, you're correct in deducing that someone wanted that quality of mirror before Moire arrived.]
Celina narrows her eyes and looks hard at the fellow. "I'd rather you had not asked that question and placed me in a position where I must consider you are fishing for information you do not need. It suggests that certain people are on to us and have replaced the man I was sent to speak to with an agent." She draws her pistol and points it at his midsection. "However, timing being what it is, I cannot just kill you because of a suspicion or a ill-considered question." Celina smiles. "Get your measure tools. The best way to prove who you are to me now is for you to lead the way to my mistress' chambers."
Wide-eyed, the man raises his hands. "May I have one of my men get my toolbox?"
"Please do so," Celina seems to be all drawing room politeness and soft words. "But be careful with your tone because I would rather explain your death than explain how you tricked me."
The man moves to the door and carefully opens it, so that Celina and her gun aren't visible from the corridor. She can hear him call out to someone in the hall to fetch his toolbox, that he will be going out with the lady. There's no apparent alarm in the hall, for all that he sounds a bit nervous--understandable, with Celina holding a pistol on him.
Believing in certain uncanny timing by her brother, she will manage the Crafter and his toolbox out to the street again expecting Merlin to be there already or catching up soon.
Celina decides to move straight-line to the street, avoiding another cross through the workshop. Merlin will finish his investigation of the interior and look for her there in short order or she'll have to poke her head in the front door.
Either way, she likes the pistol handy and will avoid displaying it to the workmen in the large room.
Merlin doesn't seem to be coming out immediately.
Celina focuses her attention on the Crafter. She wants to keep him nervous and most of all greedy. "Let's hope my agent hasn't found more irregularities inside that are keeping him." She smiles as if to take the sting from that, but allows that gesture to look transparent, robbing none of the threat from her statement. "Perhaps the bonus for speed will offset this temporary inconvenience, sir."
She moves them both to where Celina can watch the motorbike she left up the street and the door where Merlin and she entered. Celina listens for disturbance from the door, but keeps an eye on the body language of her Lead.
There is no disturbance that Celina can see. It takes Merlin a few minutes to come out and join her. When he does, his eyebrows go up at the sight of the mirrorwright and the tools.
"What is our plan?" He pointedly omits any name or identifier.
Celina lowers her voice a bit, making the three a closed conversation. "Complications ensue. There may be a problem. I hope not, but this fellow started asking questions about ...movements of important people as we were settling business. So to make sure he's not a plant on us, he's going to take us along to the Lady's chamber without our leading the way."
Celina watches to see if Merlin wants to add a gesture or comment.
Merlin simply nods.
She looks at the Craftsman. "You dictate our course, we judge if you know what you should know. We'll keep pace with you, of course. I'm hoping neither of us makes any more mistakes. I will shoot you even if we are in a public place. I will escape and you will be dead."
Celina gives him the body language to take the lead.
She is not content to just follow, however. She tests his body rhythms as he moves along. If his greed and fear actually retreat enough for him to test her....say by taking a roundabout route or a false trail....she thinks she'll see a physical reaction, be it sweat or pulse change or other transparency.
If so, she won't kill him immediately...but if he runs for it, she'll shoot to break one of his legs. He has information she wants.
Merlin and Celina have to get the fellow in the sidecar of their motorcycle to get to the Lady's residence. They find themselves in a business district in Paris, not at all what they would have expected for Moire, and the mirrorwright directs them to a discreet flat over a shop.
The door is locked, but Merlin opens it sorcerously with some small effort, since it is still too close to the palace to try to decide it is unlocked, or find a key. The flat is nondescript, and shows evidence of recent inhabitants. None are present.
But there is a very large mirror, perhaps 6' x 4', on the wall of the living room. It reflects a great deal of light. It is of perfect quality for someone to use with mirror magic.
"This is the one I made for the Lady," the mirrorwright explains.
Celina steps over to Merlin with sudden inspiration, she points at the Mirrorwright as she does this. "Stay. You're doing very well. I believe you are the right man."
Once a few steps away with Merlin, Celina all but brushes his ear with her lips as she whispers, "Sudden thought. Moire's purposes here in Paris may be ruined. Yet there are weeks of planning involved in some of this. Things moved here without Moire. Certainly she came directly here, but what if her reasons did not only involve saving her throne. This is a fine glass of large size. They are not easy to make in Rebma. It may be that mirrors from Paris would have some quality never seen in Amber or Rebma, perhaps because of some quirk of vanity in my father. I have heard stories about his silver blade. At any rate, can you sketch something quick of Moire and Rilsa and other senior ladies of the Trade delegation I brought to Paris? I want to know who specifically is the Lady he worked with."
She makes plain that the time of hiding intent from the Mirrorwright is done. A few answers now would be nice.
[preparation question: did Moire's teachings involve mirrors trapped against another user fiddling them? Or does the clarity and necessity of a mirror preclude traps?]
[They are possible but probably beyond Celina's capacity to construct. Celina might be able to detect a trap depending on the type and the mirror.]
"Having handled the blade, I am not so sure of your theory," Merlin replies softly, "but I know nothing of mirrors, so perhaps you are right." He moves to find paper and supplies to sketch Moire and the rest. There are some papers in a secretary and Merlin sets to work with them to do as Celina commands.
The mirrorwright is bewildered by all of this. He's clearly in way over his head, and knows it. Celina intuits his first priority is getting through all of this alive.
Celina moves carefully around the mirrorwright and guides him to a spot to sit on the floor in a corner. "We need to check the mirror for traps. So far, so good." She gives him a smile that is warmer and more honest. "Don't fiddle about or open your tool bag until I ask you to."
She checks the room with her Third Eye for traps. Expecting little in the way of sorcery here, she will move up and examine the mirror more closely. She studies the mirror for aura. She'll prepare herself mentally for sorting images from the mirror itself of the last users. There is time for Merlin to finish his sketches while she settles her own mental skills.
The mirror appears to be a mirror of the usual sort used for mirrorcraft to Celina with both her eyes and her Third Eye. She doesn't see any sorcerous traps on the mirror, nor any sorcery that she doesn't recognize. By the time she has given the mirror a thorough examination, Merlin has produced three sketches, which he shows to the mirrorwright.
"This one," the mirrorwright says, pointing at the sketch of Bend.
Celina is mildly surprised that Bend is the advance agent. She moves the Rebman pieces about in her head, thinking backward to those things overheard or assumed about Bend's power in the court. While it seems that Moire instructing Bend is out of bounds with what she intuits about her mother, Bend getting information from one of Moire's apprentices is not out of consideration. But then Bend being in Paris might fulfill the wants of someone besides Moire.
A more interesting cake recipe, to be sure.
Celina speaks slowly but confidently to Merlin. "I will examine the interior of the mirror for images of its use and users. Every user leaves a bit of something in the compressed distance inside the mirror. That still won't tell us what they were doing with it, but might tell us how large a cadre of people are tentacled into Paris."
"Do you think I should report?" Merlin asks, tapping his jacket to indicate the inside pocket where his Trumps are concealed.
She chews her lip. Pearls. "Well, I suppose Father might have gotten something from Bend or even had Moire stroll back into the palace." Celina sighs. "Truth be told, we still have little to show him. Bend maneuvering in Paris for months? He probably doesn't care. However, let's do the right thing and call before I get into this Reflection." She looks at Merlin and nods at the mirrorwright. "Is this one of those family things we don't do in front of passerbys?"
Merlin draws his deck forth and begins to shuffle out the card. "I believe," he says with surprisingly silky menace, "that this gentleman is so deep in our business already that one more sight will do him no further ill. But if you would rather wait--" he trails off.
Celina stifles an emotion that wants to be a giggle, laughter prompted by Merlin's wonderful timing and his humor so piquant within this serious business of murder and hunt. The unvoiced giggle lifts her mood and her emotions swirl around his line of strategy as undertow about a hidden channel.
Giggles and belly laughs were forbidden in her parlor room upbringing. The bubbles that might froth about the nose and mouth of a young lady were most unseemly. She lived and breathed decorum at the pleasure of her aunts.
So now in this place so Real and Distant from her adopted parlor, her composure tilts out of line, she holds the giggle in but she grins like a lunatic shark. She is in a city dreamed of her very blood. She is a beautiful, immortal and green child of madness. What daft mystery is decorum in this family she must live in?
Celina understands she can save the mirrorwright's life if he is scared enough. She grins at Merlin's inviting line of reason. The certainty arrives that she must prosper in this life without a mother or father willing to explain her existence. The notion settles her and informs the broad smile.
"No further ill," Celina nods. "Yes, agreed. Proceed." And if it sounds all too droll and portent, as if the mirrorwright's life yet hangs on the whims of a green siren from distant seas... well, she hasn't pulled the pistol again and she seems to be in a better mood.
No doubt he will be grateful.
Celina watches Merlin work his Trump of Corwin.
He looks up after a bit. "Father is refusing me." He does not sound pleased. "I can attempt again, but I may not be able to obtain his attention."
"We'll save impressing him for another time," Celina says, both validating Merlin's offer and her faith that he could indeed get Corwin's attention. "Watch our cooperative craftsman. I'll examine the mirror now."
So saying Celina preps herself again (a minute +1) before settling her concentration on the mirror. Celina starts to peel into the layers of images, collecting who used the mirror the most and left the greatest number of impressions. Incidental figures and faces will be noted but tangents will not be followed for now.
Celina watches and spends a minute preparing and implementing her mirror use. The images come, first of craftsmen installing it, then of candles and servants walking through the room, then it accelerates, going faster and faster until it becomes a blur. Figures pass is jerky motion and the candles flicker, grow and die more in 30 seconds than the moon above the city does in a month. Another step faster and it's hard to know that the moving shapes are people.
Suddenly it slows, and the figure in the frame is Moire, who paces in front of the device, not using it, but not ignorant of it. Suddenly she clutches her head as if in extreme agony. She collapses to the floor and people run towards her. The image is so strong and the reaction so visceral, that it makes Celina feel for a moment, as if she is also going to faint.
The dimension between the layers of silver and the shadowy room collapse downward and silvery gray seems to slide into all the colors of the world. Celina realizes her knees are buckling and she straightens. She centers a breath and chases the final mirror image, mapping it to her mind.
After that, the mirror shows nothing.
Celina steps back from the mirror, doing a cleansing breath and adjusting her TaKhi.
"I'm not sure...," Celina hears silvery gray in her voice rendering it odd to her ears and takes another cleansing breath. "Either I just saw an attempt on Moire's life...or someone created this mirror specifically to a single untraceable use planning to injure her. I did not get a user reflected except for Moire in distress." Her voice does not sound fey or husky now. Celina judges whatever strain is passed.
Her mind races along, finding not only slippery purchase: "Virgin glass, Bend might have prepared for something that Moire would do, such as spying from here to Khela in the City, since the two places are linked. Moire might have surprised Khela with that. Moire seemed frustrated or impatient. I wonder if this glass was made without her knowledge...and she was trying to figure out what that meant. There is a traitor in the court?" This last thought surfaces gently, but adds a pallor of distress to Celina's face.
She does not even register the irony of loyalty to the idea of Moire's court, though she is not that girl now.
Celina sets her expression to blank, because the embers of anger are awake again. "I want to question Bend again. Let's take this mirror with us to the palace." She looks at Merlin. Then nods at the mirrorwright, "We'll take him along too. There may be a reward in this for him after all."
Merlin listens to Celina and thinks for a moment, his brow wrinkling. He leans in to Celina and asks softly, so the mirrorwright is unlikely to hear. "Could the attack be in revenge for some attack of Moire's on Lucas's wife?"
It's a chilling idea and one she would not have thought of on her own. Celina ponders it. "In all that I have seen of Moire, she is proud and moves to change things to her liking. I do not think Moire would attack Lucas through his wife. However, Bend might have put pressure on Lucas in that way. I imagine that Bend did many things without direct consult with the Queen. This could be another thing that Father will discover from Bend." She looks directly at Merlin. "And of course, Lucas did many things without consult to Father or Random."
She is interested in Merlin's outsider perspective... so she will not move off with mirror and craftsman until they have both shared all their comments. She uses the time to check herself for strain from the mirrorworking as well.
Merlin seems to be thinking out loud as much as explaining or answering Celina's implicit questions. "It was suggested to me that the attacks on Lady Solace might have been made with mirrors. I do not understand enough about their workings to know. But they were not sorcery, and mirrors do work at a distance. But why Solace, and why Lucas? And for what reason would they want to put pressure on Lucas, before he came to Paris?"
"I know so little about either of them," Celina admits. "He seemed a decent fellow for a man of the Amber family. She certainly did not strike me as being involved deeply in Court affairs or with the events of the oldest generation." She thinks back to the murder of a well-connected Rebman merchant and how little that whole mess made no sense to her limited point of view.
"Perhaps it really is still fallout from the Regency and the Events beneath the Castle," Celina shakes her head, because it does not really satisfy at all to point at the Pattern's demise in Amber and blame it for everything after. "I never heard that Lucas had an interest in Rebma. Maybe he practiced mirrors himself... tried mixing it with Trump arts." That makes as much sense as anything she might invent right now. But who would have taught him?
"It would make sense of his relocation to Paris," Merlin replies, "but then we are still left with the mystery of the attacks on Solace. Martin suggested at one point to me that those might have to do with certain affairs of the Regent in Amber that Lucas became involved in. Confidential affairs."
"Martin ..." Celina just stops. If Lucas were working for the Regent during those troubled times in some secret capacity...then he might have crossed paths with Bend multiple times. There could be past grievances.
Celina moves much closer to Merlin and her voice becomes a husky thread. "Lucas requested permission to spy on ...Rilsa before he died. Would this all tie back to the other murder and reveal someone still trusted by Amber? Perhaps someone here in Paris near the King? We have to get back. Bend must talk."
"We can have this mirror removed to the castle," Merlin suggests. "And keep this mirrormaker in custody so he can assist as needed."
"Oh yes," Celina does not want this mirrorwright to have an accident before the King can speak to him. "Done and done." Celina races back through faces and court gossip and tries to imagine how Rebma might have eased a killer into the court of Amber or Xanadu or Paris. Celina grapples a bit with the idea that Rilsa has been so close to everything and so elusive but Moire's senior surviving daughter must have considerable powers. What could nettle Moire so unexpectedly except her own blood working behind her back?
What mirror play in all this did Moire not anticipate? Why Paris?
She works with Merlin and commandeers local help and transport to get the mirror and man back to the King.
Vere watches Corwin's eyes. The moment the king's focus shifts away from the trump contact Vere drops to one knee and bows his head.
"Majesty."
The stories Vere has heard of Corwin suggest that he had quite the temper before his disappearance. From the look on Corwin's face and the alteration in his bearing, Vere can believe it.
"I believe, nephew, that you owe me an explanation," he says.
Vere remains on one knee, but lifts his head to look into Corwin's face. "This is regarding Cambina?" he inquires. "I am unaware of anything else I may have done to disturb your majesty. It would appear that what I took to be concern over the dangers of speaking to Cambina's spirit in a place with a working Pattern was a deeper concern. I confess I do not understand it, is it merely a personal dislike of the activity, or are there dangers to summoning the spirit of a member of the Family of which I am unaware?"
"I had this discussion with Solange before I took Hannah up to Tir." Corwin's eyes have narrowed and his attention is focused completely on Vere. It's not a very safe feeling; there's a weight to Corwin's gaze that Vere might not have expected. "Did she tell you about that conversation before you did whatever you did? Which I'm still not clear on."
"I will be happy to discuss the question of what happens when I call the spirits of the dead," Vere answers. "Or, as is more often the case, when they come unbidden to me, on their own. But as for the matter of Solange's discussion with you and Father..." he pauses, tilting his head to one side and considering the matter before continuing. "I am not certain if I simply misunderstood her, due to not considering that there could be any true cause for concern, or if she misunderstood the objections of yourself and Father. In either case, I fear I did not apprehend that the two of you were firmly opposed to the idea. My impression from what I was told was that Father was opposed to it because he did not wish to bring the customs of the Isles to Amber or Xanadu, and that you expressed some disapproval in a nonverbal manner, but did not actually speak against it. I believe my sister's exact words were, 'He folded his arms and gave me a look.' And, finally, that Hannah was concerned that raising Cambina's spirit in Xanadu, where the Pattern existed, might somehow bind her spirit to that place. By bringing Cambina's body to me, instead of me to her, that circumvented the question of the Pattern, and Father's objections to bringing the customs of the Isles to Xanadu."
Vere continues to meet Corwin's eyes as he goes on. "I was uncertain of the logic of her reasoning, and attempted to contact Father via trump. However, I was unable to reach him, and had to make the decision on my own. Weighing the pros and cons, I decided that it was important to attempt to gather information on the cause of her death, and what had happened to Queen Vialle." He nods his head, once, decisively. "Based upon the information I had at the time, I believe I made the correct decision. Had I possessed the additional information of the strength of objections that you and Father held on this matter, and even more importantly what Jerod's reaction would be, I would not have raised her. Quite frankly, Jerod surprised me. He is one of the very few people who knew that I possess this ability, and he has never expressed any disapproval of it to me before this.
"The final decision to raise her was mine, your majesty, and the responsibility is mine. I will accept your judgement." Vere waits for Corwin's reaction, still on one knee before the king.
"No one told me you removed her body," Corwin says, having pulled that much out of Vere's long speech. "My objections aren't bringing the customs of the Isles to Xanadu. If Random really objects, such an importation would not hold. Solange didn't ask what my objections were, as it happens. She was too busy flipping the bird at me over the Queen of Air and Darkness.
"Right now I'm not particularly interested in the merits of her arguments, or the lack thereof, just the flouting of my decree."
"The Queen of Air and Darkness?" Vere repeats. "I saw her. In a dream, or a vision. On the stairs between here and Rebma." He shakes his head then, and says, "We will return to that, your majesty, if you wish, once we have finished with this matter. I do not wish it to seem I am trying to divert the topic of this conversation." He pauses for a moment, just in case Corwin wishes to say something.
(Assuming Corwin does not interrupt)
Vere narrows his eyes slightly, thinking, then says, "My answer to the matter of your decree, your majesty, and my father's decree as Regent, is that I truly did not understand that this action had been prohibited. Again, I do not think my sister deliberately kept that information from me. She is as stubborn as my father, but she speaks from the heart. Her flaw is not dishonesty, but a certain lack of..." Vere pauses again, considering his words carefully before completing the sentence, "...a lack of in-depth consideration of matters upon which she has already made up her mind."
He shrugs then, very slightly. "Whether that is a sufficient excuse is for your majesty to decide, and I will abide by your decision. I pride myself, perhaps excessively, upon my intellect and my own deep consideration of matters. However, in this matter it is clear that I erred in not awaiting instructions from those to whom I had sworn my oaths, and in not more carefully considering the possible reactions of Jerod and Brennan."
Corwin listens to Vere, letting him finish out, for all that he's clearly interested in the Queen of Air and Darkness, perhaps more than he is in dealing with the problem of Cambina that Vere has dumped on his doorstep.
"I'll need to think about this," he finally says. "Tell me about the Queen of Air and Darkness. And then tell me about everything else you think I need to know about your arrival, your men, and Lucas's murder."
"Halfway down the stair to Rebma there is a cavern," Vere explains. "When Jerod and I departed Paris for Rebma we stopped to rest there. I though I awakened, to find myself alone, save for a woman on a throne. She was seated in a cold light, her red hair floating about her. She wore a robe of white and a necklace with a silver chain. The chain fell beneath the neckline of the robe, and I could not see what gem or jewelry was on it. Her skin was pure white. She spoke in pure Thari, and said, 'What great disturbance is it that brings you before my throne, oh ghost?' I was awakened then, and realized it was all but a dream. When I went to where her throne had been, there was a formation of the cavern that looked somewhat like a throne."
Vere shakes his head. "When we returned by those stairs, with the Children of Lyr, the throne felt somehow different, but I could not put my finger upon what the difference was. Some of the men from the Seaward were disturbed, and said the cavern bore a resemblance to a place in certain myths of the Queen of Air and Darkness. A cavern beneath a mountain, where blood sacrifices took place. I do not think my dream was random nor meaningless, Uncle. I have visions from time to time, of the dead, and of other times, and this I think was one. What it means, I do not know.
"As for the other matters, let me summarize the main points I think important, and then you can ask for clarification. There is too much to tell otherwise, I could easily spend the night speaking upon this. As you know, I am leading the peoples of my sister, our traditional enemies the Witch Queens, and a third party, the folk of King Bran, away from the Isles, in the face of their unravelling. The leaders of these three groups are within your castle, along with Aurelius, one of the captains of the Children of Lyr, and a man with many powerful family connections among the Rebman nobility. A man to keep an eye upon. If you have not spoken with my sister and her companions yet, then I would hope you may do so soon, and I would be with you, if you allow it. I seek to find a new home for them, and I would prefer a place with a Pattern, so that they will never again face such a trek. It is the second in their history.
"The folk of the Isles number in the thousands. But a more pressing concern for you would be the hundred men of the Children of Lyr. As you will recall, they were men of the Coldstream Guard, and I expect their female relatives to pull them into the Rebman conflict sooner rather than later. I would dismiss them from my service and free them to their own paths as soon as possible." Vere smiles thinly. "But I would do so with honour, giving them the rewards I have promised. For the good and loyal service they have given, for my own future reputation, and for the sake of my word.
"We arrived just after the Princess had discovered that Lucas had been murdered, and were instantly drawn into the matter." Vere pauses, "Oh," he says, "I do not know if this is important, but we sought to make an impressive entrance, and arrived via dirigible. It did make quite the impression.
"To return to the matter of Lucas. The Princess handed my sister and the others to Lady Alice to settle, and she took Solange and I aside with Merlin, and explained about Lucas' death. I also spoke with your man Lance at length about my people, and about the Children of Lyr, the forces we have and their current disposition. We then investigated the scene of Lucas' murder."
Vere closes his eyes then, and begins reciting in a cold emotionless voice everything he saw in the room, and the conclusions he made from those observations.
He opens his eyes then. "After observing all of this, I told the Princess Florimel that I could upon occasion raise the spirits of the dead, and asked her permission to do so with Lucas. She granted that permission."
Vere stops here, waiting for Corwin's reaction to this news before going any further with his report.
Corwin's eyes narrow again. "But she approved it? What about Solace? Was she asked?"
Vere shakes his head. "Solace was not present. While it was not said, I was under the impression that she was distraught, and had been sent away. Princess Florimel and the Princess Regent both gave permission for the summoning." Vere waits to see if Corwin has further comments or questions on this before continuing.
Corwin doesn't say anything and his expression is difficult to read, even for Vere. "Go on," he says, with a wave of his hand.
"I called Lucas' spirit," Vere says. "And it came quickly. He was far more interested in dictating to us the details of his state funeral, however, than in anything else." Vere smiles very slightly. "I passed those requests on to Aunt Florimel, if you are interested.
"Of his death, he said that he had considered that the mirror he used for additional light might allow the Rebmans to spy upon him, but he needed the light for his art, and did not consider that they might destroy the mirror to attack him. He claimed that the subject of the painting appeared in the mirror, told him that he had interfered with her for the last time, and then the mirror exploded." Vere pauses, for a moment, his face expressionless, then continues, "Another matter came up, which I mentioned to Princess Celina, your majesty, but in case she has not had a chance to pass it on to you, Lucas also said that an agent in his employ in Amber had been relocated to Paris. A tobacconist named Prudenter. The implication was that his identity as an agent had been uncovered in Amber. If he still lives, it might be wise to follow up on this matter."
Vere shrugs. "That is most of what I was able to discover, save that Lucas had been working with Martin in Amber against the Rebmans. Lucas was obsessively fixated upon the details on the funeral, and did not wish to discuss aught else.
"After this, we went to Moire's quarters, but discovered that she had already departed, leaving her Archivist to face Celina's wrath. The princess seemed..." Vere pauses, then continues, "She can be emotional when surprised, and I was concerned that the Archivist might suffer for the deeds of her Queen. I felt I owed it to Jerod to protect her, and I extended my personal protection to her. Solange then took the airship and left Paris, and I had two of your motorcycle couriers take me and the Archivist back to my people. I explained what of the situation I felt they needed to know to my commanders, sent Carina via trump to my father, and then returned here, leaving one of your couriers with my men in case they need to communicate in an emergency."
Vere stops then, having brought the king current, and waits for Corwin to speak.
Corwin moves to the door and uses the bell pull to summon a guard, whom he tells to summon Prudenter to the castle at his earliest convenience.
"I'll need to talk to Carina. I understand the impulse to get her out of Celina's reach. I thought she and Merlin could keep out of trouble for a night, but nobody expected Lucas to get himself killed. I had no idea he was a Trump artist."
His brow furrows for a moment. "Where was Merlin during all this?"
"He was with his sister," Vere answers promptly. "He appeared to defer to her, although I should add that my interpretation of their relationship may be more due to my own upbringing and inclinations than anything actual. He did interject some questions during my summoning of Lucas. It was he who initiated the question that led to our discovery regarding Prudenter. He was interested in the raising, and we had planned to discuss it in relation to his own sorcery afterwards, but our discovery that Moire had fled, and my desire to return to my men before they were contacted by anyone from Rebma prevented that."
This doesn't seem to do much to mollify Corwin's concerns, but he nods. "Is there anything we need to discuss that can't wait?"
"No, your majesty," Vere replies. He smiles thinly. "You have more than enough to concern you now."
A summary of Vere's activities in Paris prior to the funerals:
1: Make sure Corwin meets with Avis and her fellow rulers. He especially wants to see if Corwin gets along well enough with Avis to justify pushing the idea of settling the refugees in the area around Paris. Failing that, he at least hopes that Corwin and Bran are enough alike that they will form a meeting of the minds, and he can at least settle Bran's people here. The Witch Queens and their people he's not so worried about - if Avis and they work out a deal then he's happy to let them stay together, if not, he doesn't really care where they go. He might escort them to Rebma just to be contrary.
This one is going to require some discussion in terms of what the Isles-based NPCs are up to, but the meeting between Corwin and Avis will go off without a hitch. He's too busy to be rude, as it were. Fortunately, he's also too busy to tell Avis she reminds him of his dead mother, or his dead stepmother, Vere's grandmother.
Or his dead sister...
(Also, he seems to have a maitresse, if not en titre.)
As though that would give Corwin pause....
Corwin is open to the idea of settling the Isles folk and Bran's people in the areas around Paris.
Excellent. Vere will discuss this with Avis, and have her and the Spider, along with Bran and the Witchqueens, given the grand tour of Paris and its surrounding area. If Avis seems to like the idea of settling around Paris he'll stand back and let her handle the arrangements.
This will still be ongoing at the time of the new thread.
2: Disband the Children of Lyr, pay them handsomly for their service, well above what they were promised, and point them at the stairs to Rebma. He'd like to have a nice little ceremony showing how very much we of the Isles all love them and appreciate everything they did. Now go home.
This is going to require some discussion as dealing with the Children of Lyr is going to involve "what happened to Moire" which will be coming out soon.
3: Find out what happened to Castor. Vere feels an obligation there.
He is located in Paris; Celina didn't know what happened to him but he is there and OK. Everybody was just distracted by Moire and the murder.
Vere gives a mental sigh of relief, and hands over the day to day control of the Children of Lyr to Castor. He'll have a long talk with Castor about the current political situation, and the dangers of allowing the Children to become politically involved in this affair. Castor and Aurellius get sent back to the camp, along with whatever couriers Corwin has set up to replace the dragooned motorcyclist Vere left there.
Things Celina is doing... Arranged in order time effort priority.
1. Bend's status, things the King may have gotten from her. If Corwin has done mostly nothing, or even doesn't want to inform Celina of what the status is... she'll make official snoop to at least find out if Bend has been questioned.
Bend has been questioned but it's going to take a while to get things out of her.
I suspect news of what Moire has been up to will come through other means first.
Okie. Sounds intriguing.
1a. Sleep
2. Settle mirror capabilities: it does seem interesting that no one except Moire has ever used the Suspect Mirror. And/or that the mirror may be one of the finest ever made, manufactured in a center of Order...Celina will use a day or two to make additional assessment of the mirror's quality and strength...and possible scenes before Moire's arrival in front of the Glass. If Corwin does not want mirror in Paris or Palace... find a spot for it. (Details would follow.)
This is an ongoing project.
2a. Sleep lots.
3. News of Khela, Conner and Rebma? She may have a chance to ask Merlin to Trump and find if Conner is whole and has news regards the battle. Swap summary of events since they parted. Summary is fine. Tell Conner about Lucas...they probably knew each other much better than Celina did. Also see if Conner can update wellness of Loreena. Sigh.
This will either require play or discussion with Rich for Conner.
I actually expect that this will be more Conner than Celina, since Just In Time may mean reports regards the Rebma Pattern circulating.
I'm working on that as well. That should be your next thread up, which we're coordinating with Team Rebma.
4. Prepare for funeral. Clothes. Visits with Aunt Florimel. Discussion of family protocol with Father. Sigh.
4a. Sleep, perchance to dream.
5. Write a eulogy. Sigh.
6. Prepare to leave Paris on short notice. Who knows what family arrivals for funeral will prompt. Be ready to go to Rebma.
6a. Find a decent restaurant, quality alone time with thoughts. Sleep. Alone.
7. Respects to Lucas' widow. Visit with Lucas' children.
7a. Sleep
8. Spend time with Street Children. Celina does not formally adopt any of them. No. Feed them. Introduce Merlin. Have a party.
9. Sleep. Alone. Sigh.
Most of these seem to be able to be handled in summary.
10. Funeral.
Moving to what the GMs think is key to play/summarize first (and since Conner is busy, what isn't blocked by other players' threads), it's probably the Children of Lyr/Moire business.
Comments and thoughts?
Agreed. It would certainly seem to be the Main Thrust of what Corwin, Vere and Celina might have to talk about and deal with ...consequences involved. The idea that Moire is 'hiding out' here in Paris just doesn't swim.
Looks like Celina and Vere will end up dealing with the Hunting of the Moire together, yes?
I think so. There will be a new thread to jump you forward a few days after the meeting of the minds with Rebma.
Last modified: 17 January 2010