Session 8

A week passes after the funeral. Miranda goes about her daily activities without any real sense of joy. Sand takes over her duties in the Assembly for a while, but keeps her informed. Driscoll is legitimized by the marriage of his parents and moves into Hendrake. He's now the legitimate grandson of the Duchess. Yut-Lung moves with him, but returns to instruct Miranda regularly in hand-to-hand combat. She finds she kind of likes it, as it gives her something to focus on that doesn't remind her of her lost friends. She also finds Yut-Lung interesting, because he's so different. As they spend time together, she learns how he first met Driscoll and Kail, how they fought the vampire, etc. Miranda thinks the vampire sounds pretty nasty. Yut-Lung agrees. Part of why he came to Chaos is because there are no vampires there. Miranda recalls that people from Shadow don't usually survive in Chaos. It's generally believed that this is because they are exposed to diseases that they haven't encountered before, but Brand has told her that it's because they aren't real enough. Which means Yut-Lung might be real. Miranda asks if he misses his family. He doesn't really have one. Who raised him, then? His Emperor. Won't they miss him? He committed an error of manners and had to leave. Miranda doesn't press him further about this.

Miranda has another dream where she's walking to the beach, dressed in a bathing suit. She hears Jasra's voice from behind her, telling her to stop, which she does. Jasra points out that Merlin is down on the beach. Miranda now recognizes it as the beach where she had her first encounter with him. Jasra asks if she's ready to deal with him. Is one ever? What should she do? Jasra says she needs to lure him into the house and imprison him. Miranda looks where she indicates and sees a house that is pretty much her dream house. It's exactly as she would build it. Not quite finished in a few spots, but.... Jasra warns her that she must be certain that there's no way Merlin can escape. If imprisoning him is so dangerous, why not just kill him? Because Jasra doesn't think Miranda really wants Merlin's ghost banging around in her mind. Miranda is concerned that Merlin won't believe it if she's nice to him, after what he's done. Jasra tells her that she is clever, and she'll think of something. Now Jasra must leave, or he'll notice her. But if Miranda needs her, she merely need summon her. And with this, she heads off towards the house.

With no small amount of trepidation, Miranda proceeds down to the beach. Merlin is sitting in one of the chairs wearing a Speedo. Miranda expresses surprise that he's come to talk to her again. Merlin says he finds her interesting. She tries to get him to explain why he killed all of those people. He blames it all on the Emperor, who he says is crazy from the loss of his wife, and perfectly content to drag everyone down with him when he dies. So why not attack the Emperor instead of the people at the ball? Because by doing so he showed that the Emperor is weak and will turn the people against him. Miranda is doubtful that this will happen. The Emperor killed his own first-born son for treason, so it's unlikely that Merlin's actions will spark some sort of revolt. Merlin claims the Emperor didn't kill his son for committing treason. Why would he kill his own son for no reason? He says she can't expect normal reactions from the Emperor, since he's insane. Miranda privately thinks Merlin is just as nuts, but doesn't say so.

Miranda pretends to notice the house and asks if it's Merlin's. No, he thinks that comes from her mind. And the beach? A shared location, kind of a border between their two minds. He points out his 'house,' a tall, thin metal building on an island far offshore. Miranda wants to look at the house. Merlin doesn't see how it could hurt, but she'll understand if he doesn't stay long. They walk up to the house, and Miranda can smell food cooking. This gives her an idea. If she can poison Merlin, he'll be easier to subdue. She asks Merlin if he thinks they can eat here. He doesn't see why not, although she shouldn't be surprised if she's still hungry when she wakes up. She invites him in for tea, then. She shows him to a sitting room, then rings a bell for a servant. The servant is a young, redheaded woman who reminds Miranda of a young Jasra. Miranda tells her to fetch the tea that she's so fond of, and wills for it to be poisoned. This is her dream, after all, so she reasons that it should work. The girl returns soon afterwards with a heavy tray of tea and cakes. Merlin eats and drinks. Miranda does the same, but only pretends to swallow the tea. She asks Merlin why he cares what happens to Chaos, and learns he grew up there. He had a questionable background, with no one ever really sure who his father was, and he was always competing with his brothers. Miranda comments that she and her brother get along pretty well. That's because she was raised in the eastern way, not the way of old Thelbane. What is the traditional way, then? He starts to answer, then gets a funny look on his face and clears his throat. She asks if something's wrong. He looks at her and says he's feeling a bit under the weather. He puts his teacup down, and she sees his hand is shaking. He gets up and tries to leave the room, but Miranda gets in the way while "helping" him. He says she shouldn't be able to poison him here, then collapses. The serving girl appears and begins tying him up. Miranda helps. Once he's secured, Miranda drags him by the feet into the basement, his head making a very satisfying sound as it bumps down the stairs. They go into the wine cellar, where she proceeds to kick him a few times, shackle him to a wall in an alcove, and then wall him in. Despite never having done something like this before, the wall looks quite good when she's finished.

Miranda wakes up, dresses and goes in search of her mother. She tells Jasra that Merlin visited her again. Jasra frowns and asks what he did to her. It's more what she did to him. She's locked him away in her mind. Jasra looks concerned and asks if there were any windows or openings in the room where she imprisoned him. No, he's in a wall. Jasra looks relieved. Miranda asks why she seems so surprised when she's the one who told her to imprison him. Jasra asks her to explain, so Miranda tells her what happened. Jasra says the spell should have just protected her from Merlin. Something must have altered it. Who? Miranda. But she doesn't know magic. Spells can be altered by the force of one's will, sometimes. Miranda admits she wanted revenge on Merlin pretty badly. So now what should they do? Find Merlin's body and kill it. Jasra will talk to Brand about that. She doesn't think he'd approve of what happened. Why? It placed her too much at risk. He would have just had magical wards placed to prevent Merlin from bothering her again. Of course, that's what the spell was supposed to do.... Miranda mentions that she rather liked the house in her dream. She might build it someday. Jasra smiles knowingly and looks at the house around her. Miranda realizes that they are living in her mother's dream house.

A short time later, Miranda is told by a servant that Suhuy is there to see her. This makes her feel rather nervous, so she tells the servant to say she's indisposed and goes to Brand's study, where Jasra is talking to him about what's happened. She tells them that Suhuy wants to see her. Jasra says they shouldn't keep him waiting, then. She and Brand accompany Miranda to the sitting room where Suhuy is waiting. For some reason, Miranda dislikes Suhuy on sight. He holds up a vial and says he understands Brand had someone tracking a demon named Lucifer? Yes, he caused some trouble with a member of the house earlier. Well, apparently he had possessed a woman in House Prydain, but Suhuy was able to defeat and imprison him. He wants to check the household to see if there is any lingering demonic taint. He claims that there are some strange energies about Miranda. Miranda looks at Jasra, afraid that the spell might free Merlin somehow. Jasra asks if the spell will affect the psyche. No. Not having much choice in the matter, Miranda submits to the spell. She feels a cool sensation wash over her, and then feels briefly stronger...more energized. Suhuy casts the spell on Brand and Jasra as well. He grouses a bit about Rinaldo showing up to help when he was fighting Lucifer, since he didn't need any help, even if Rinaldo did handle himself well. Miranda mentions that Lucifer stole some jewelry when he fled Barimen and asks if anything like that turned up on the Prydain woman that Lucifer possessed. Suhuy suggests she asks Konrad Prydain. Then he finally leaves.

Miranda sends a note to Konrad requesting an appointment. He says he can see her later on that afternoon, or the following day. She arranges to come by that afternoon.

At lunch, Miranda tells Rinaldo about Suhuy's visit. Rinaldo tells her that their father sent him with Perrin Vizsla to House Prydain to help in Suhuy's fight against some demon. Miranda explains that the demon was Lucifer. Rinaldo vaguely recalls who he is. Miranda asks if Lucifer had any items of jewelry on him. Not that he saw. Why? She tells him of the necklace that was stolen. He doesn't remember seeing it and asks her to draw a picture. Once she does, he studies it and then concentrates. A short time later, a pouch appears by Miranda. Inside of it is the necklace, or what's left of it. It's blackened and broken. Rinaldo protests that he didn't do that, but the damage doesn't seem to bother Miranda. Rinaldo says he's getting good at finding things like that. Miranda asks if he can find people. Depends on how well he knows them. If he knows them, he can pull them to him. If he's just going on a picture, he can find and go to them. Can he locate them without going to them? No. Miranda looks at Jasra, who comments that "he" will have automatic defenses that would kill them both before they got near him. Oh. Never mind then.

Miranda now no longer needs to talk to Konrad, but keeps the appointment anyway so as not to arouse suspicion. She claims it's just a follow up to her earlier illness. He examines her and says she appears to be in good health, although she needs to exercise more. Why? Her heart rate is a little high. Also, she should loosen her corset more. She'll think about it. She figures that her new workout with Yut-Lung should count as enough extra exercise for now.

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Last modified on October 14, 2001 by Kris Fazzari.