Session 1

Notes from the early years: Miranda and Rinaldo are fairly close as children. Rinaldo distances himself a bit when he becomes older. When Miranda is 13, she has a confrontation with her mother over a dress Jasra wants her to wear to a party. During the course of their argument, Miranda makes the mistake of telling Jasra that she can't make her wear the dress. Suddenly, she can't look away from Jasra's eyes...and the next thing she knows, it feels like some time has passed, and she's wearing the dress. And she can't speak. She throws a destructive fit at this, but Jasra is unimpressed. Miranda remains mute for six months before Jasra decides she's learned her lesson. When she restores Miranda's voice, she gives her a ring to wear as a reminder. Miranda always wears this ring.

Miranda is told by Brand that she cannot learn sorcery, since that would make her ineligible for the House succession, and he wants a backup for Rinaldo. He teaches her Trump instead, something he refuses to teach Jasra. This doesn't exactly help the relationship between Jasra and Miranda. Trump are a House Barimen secret, and completely unknown by anyone else in Chaos. So important is the secret of Trump, that those who have decks are not allowed to be witnessed using them. Or to lose them. There are spells placed on the cards that will destroy them if the spell is activated, to guard against them falling into the wrong hands. The penalty for being seen using Trump or for losing the cards without destroying them is to be exiled from the House.

Sand occasionally takes over Miranda's Trump lessons, when Brand is busy with politics.. Sand is an artist and can be temperamental. Miranda learns to leave her alone when she loses her temper. She also learns that Sand despises Fiona. Sand is rather pleased about Fiona's current situation, pointing out to Miranda the high collar and long sleeves that Fiona always wears. They hide the signs of her beatings.

At one point, when Miranda is about 16, she complains to Sand about the fact that Trump isn't as effective without access to a power source like the Logrus or the Pattern. Since the former is accessible only by imperial decree, and the latter is destroyed, this doesn't leave her with much in the way of options. Sand mentions there are broken Patterns that can fill that role as well. Jasra is the expert on them.

Miranda makes an effort for next several months to be the kind of daughter Jasra wants. When she thinks sufficient time has passed so as not to be obvious, she poses a variation of her original complaint about Trumps to Jasra. Jasra admits there are broken Patterns that can be taken. She also looks like she's figured something out. Miranda suspects she knows exactly why Miranda was being so dutiful...and it seems to please her. She tells Miranda that she will help her, for a price. With Miranda unable to learn sorcery, she fears the loss of all of her spells from the house when she dies. She proposes imprinting them in Miranda's mind, somewhere she won't even be aware of. Miranda asks if she won't have to erase something else to do this. No, a large part of the human mind goes unused normally. How will it help the house if she won't be able to remember the information herself? It will be passed along to her children, only activated if they begin studying sorcery. Miranda considers this carefully, since what Jasra is proposing is illegal, but she eventually consents, reasoning that it will both benefit the house and get her what she wants. This also seems to please Jasra. Then Miranda becomes aware that some time has passed, and that she agreed to let Jasra do something in exchange for showing her the secrets of broken Pattern, but she doesn't remember what it was...which is really for the best.

Jasra spends several months training Miranda for the ordeal of walking the broken Pattern. It is a long and painful process, but finally Jasra deems Miranda ready. They ride by coach down the Black Road, which has always been uncomfortable for Miranda and her family...except for Jasra. Eventually, after traveling for a few days, they stop at an inn. Jasra leads Miranda behind it and they walk for a while through a run-down feeling landscape. Finally, they reach the broken Pattern. Jasra explains that Miranda is to walk through the flaws to reach the center, being careful not to fall off. When she reaches the center, she should think of returning to Jasra. Miranda steadies herself and begins. It is very difficult. As soon as she sets foot on the flaw, her surroundings change. At various points she is walking along the edges of cliffs, on rope bridges, etc. Once, she has to make a giant leap over a chasm. When she reaches the center, she thinks of Jasra as instructed, and appears next to her. Jasra looks proud that she survived and says she will teach her how to use it once she's had time to recover. On the journey back, Miranda notices that the Black Road no longer bothers her. She asks Jasra why this is. Jasra explains that the Road represents a flaw in the Pattern. Brand, Sand and the others find the Road uncomfortable because of their connection to the original Pattern. But by taking the broken Pattern, she has chosen to embrace the flaw. She suggests that Miranda nap to help recover from the mental exhaustion she's feeling.

Once Miranda has rested from taking the broken Pattern, she tries drawing a Trump, and is delighted to find that it has much more power to it than before. She proceeds to redraw her entire deck.

Miranda's Page | Miranda's Logs

Last modified on May 23, 2001 by Kris Fazzari.