Session
63
Day 2159 RSTE, 721 BPTE
My research was just starting to pay off; I had the kinks worked out
of my spell, and I'd found a decent place to start. Well, at least a good
one, if not overly decent. So I feel this tugging at my jacket, and I
figure it's a monkey, right? Well only in a way. Turns out to be
Bartleby, using the Logrus from what I've seen. He tells me to scram,
that bad juju's going down. I don't want to. He gets insistent. I shrug
and figure that I could use a vacation. So I call Mother on the Trump,
and I have to say at this point that if you ever let me do that again with
apes twiddling each other behind me I'll stick you back into some damn
oyster...all right, that was uncalled-for. I'm sorry. Come on. I didn't
mean it...
Day 2159 RSTE, 721 BPTE continued
I promise, okay? So anyway, Mom brings me home and she's just happy
to see me, et cetera. Oh, forget it. Let's go find a party or
something.
Day 2161 RSTE, 723 BPTE
What a bizarre time of it I had yesterday. You know how sometimes you
see someone that just seems to be made of your dreams? Play along, okay?
So you see this person, and all you want is one night to give this person
the kind of pleasure they inspire in you, and maybe then you can die
happy, knowing you've fulfilled your life purpose. Just keep still; even
if you don't understand it, it's a point. Anyway, you think that nothing
will ever mar this image, that it can always be remembered as a glimpse of
perfection. Well, if that ever happens, walk away. Don't even speak to
the person. Trust me, you'll be happier for the thought of it. Okay, so
shortly after noon, the quake hits, and everyone scrambles for Kolvir. I
choose this time to mention to Mother that Bartleby fingered Dad as
knowing what's going on. Mother sends me on an errand, as she wants to
talk to Caine. So Usires and I find him in the library. Well, and
Laughter does too, by virtue of not taking a hint. But she's a woman,
right? So respectfully I suggest that perhaps our blowfish might be
calmer if there were less people holding swords in his near vicinity. She
leaves in a huff. So I let Mother know we've got him, and that we'll meet
her in a nearby sitting room. She starts in on him, and from the look on
my cousin's face he caught no more of it than did I. She sends me for
something, I forget what, and I think I brush something in the hall. Gee,
what could that possibly have been? So rather than let Mother know what I
suspect, I decide to be cool and find our spy myself. This is
accomplished, but only after Mother has shed some unfortunate light onto
her personality. She makes Laughter tell her something for her silence,
and it's just got to be juicy from the look of it. So now this woman, who
has been caught spying, and has seen too much, proceeds to assume that
she's better at interrogating Barnabas than is Llewella. How idiotically
presumptuous can one person possibly be? Okay, so she's obviously the
warrior type, so she's probably not up on social graces. She's not a very
good one if she out jumps her rank. She's also a mage of sorts. Also,
presumably deficient, from the notable lack of forethought. She only
leaves after I'm forced to extricate her damn sword because she's screwing
up the whole thing. Damn it. I really wanted to like her, too. She's
just so intolerably unthinking. She kicked me on the way out. For being
so rude as to remove the unasked for impediment to resolving the situation
favorably. Shit. She's probably still banging on that damned sword. At
least I know how strong that pool is, if she hasn't found some way to fuck
that up as well. People really don't seem to know their business from
everyone else's around here. If it weren't for certain ties, I'd make
myself adjust to Chaos. At least the people there obey certain social
restraints. Amber is populated solely by infants... Like the one that
got drunk and woke up in a barrel of rapidly deoxygenating water. I'd
have given a lot to see Martin's face when he finally opened the damn
thing.
Day 2162 RSTE, 724 BPTE
It was just so weird seeing her again. She gets older every time we
meet. It's not that I've neglected her in any way, it's just that I sort
of went into slow time on purpose. I couldn't take watching her grow up.
That would just be too awkward. It is too awkward. It's like she exists
just for me, reserved for my sake. Yecch. It's just wrong. I'm sure
Mother had her reasons, and I can't fault the tremendous advantage which
she's arranged for me, but if I can at least manage to be younger than my
wife I'd feel a lot better about it. There is, however, little chance of
achieving a desirable age ratio. Damn. Anyway. She showed me her coral
garden. I shouldn't see her like this.
Day 2162 RSTE, 724 BPTE appended
Lyss is a great comfort, even with Norval's child, so how could I
ignore her dilemma? Apparently, the fact that her dad was a Pattern ghost
(for the Rose) had more than a slight influence on her being. As in, she
is in many ways a ghost herself. With more mobility. And Norval's boy.
So of course, now that Brand has resurfaced, he's set on destroying the
Rose. Normally, this would concern me very little. I'd have been sad for
Lyss, of course, but she'd have gotten over it and walked the One True
Pattern. Life goes on, right? Wrong. Not hers. Not without the Rose.
Apparently. So I announce that I have a solution for their defensive
needs. Brand asks what that might be. I show him. He's not going to fall
for that one again, which just about uses up my usefulness here. So I
Trump Mom to tell her I'm staying here to help some more. She's against
it, since she's always right, but me, I've got a Noble Purpose, so I've
got to get myself killed stupidly or something. I mean, Brand will
eventually succeed. I just sort of think that Lyss would appreciate
someone to be there with her when it happens. Or maybe not. There's got
to be something intelligent I could be about.
"Outrageous Fortune"
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Last modified on January 13, 1999 by Kris Fazzari.