Ishmael's log, Chapter 125

Ishmael and Maddy resign as tutors for Ariana's kids.
Ariana is told about the marriage and seems disappointed not to have been invited.

Nicholas departs for Chaos without Ishmael. This pisses him off, but Maddy won't let him get out of bed -- and I don't mean that in the good way.

War happens. It hurts. A lot.
Ishmael finds out that Ariana is Zane's daughter. D'OH!
Helgram had been disbanded by Zane, but reformed to support Nicholas.
Sawall and Jesby also supported Nicholas, while Vetch and Toryt withdrew, and Hendrake, Bances and Hondl threw in at the end.
Eireg, Borge and Dhur remained allied with Zane and were decimated.
They fought their way to Chaos and Zane got cacked when he touched the Orb. This was before they knew what would happen, but Ishmael kind of suspected it anyway, since the Orb is all of the eyes of the Serpent and Unicorn merged together.
Nicholas finally challenged Zane, they fought, the eyes came together to form the Orb, Zane touched it, and that was it.
Nicholas declares himself King of both realms.
It was necessary to fight some upstart Unseelie faeries in the initial six months after the "end" of the war, but Nicholas quickly quieted them.
Ishmael sees a familiar face that he wishes he didn't -- Edwin Jesby.
Before returning to Amber, Ishmael retrieves Thorn's headstone for Whimsy.

Ishmael returns from Chaos.
Ishmael returns Thorn's headstone, which Whimsy has interred in the family crypt.
Ishmael finds out he's going to be a daddy!
Ishmael lets slip that Whimsy's heretofore-thought-dead husband Edwin is actually still alive. Oops.
Whimsy goes off on a nut. Ishmael slinks out...then Trumps Fiona to give her a heads up on the situation. She tells him she thinks it's something he should undertake. Ishmael spends the evening creating a Trump of Edwin Jesby.

Ariana asks Ishmael to come to Middlecourt, where she proceeds to ask him about the war. He gives her the dime-store penny-peril version...
Ishmael tells her that it was well known in Chaos that she was Zane's daughter. That makes her unhappy, for obvious reasons. Ishmael neglects to mention that it was actually a good thing, since it was intended as a slander campaign against Zane, designed to weaken his power base.
Ariana asks about Miranda and learns that she is Benedict's daughter, and Ariadne's fraternal twin. She was the one who taught Ishmael about Takaran blades. She turned on Zane at the end, and she and Benedict have reconciled.
Ishmael visits with Vincent.

Last modified on September 15, 1998 by Kris Fazzari.