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Osric and Cailin go to the Fringe to acquire the guy that was using the machinery that became the hungry-hungry Old Lord.
The guy goes magically active; Cailin drains him. The power tastes Fringy. Cailin feels the beginnings of a psionic attack, but it doesn't seem to be very effective.
They return to Chaos with their prisoner. A psionicist mind-reams him; he was rebelling against his family and made a deal with the devil, who looks a lot like Mikail. The mechanism had directed him to Osric's office.
One of the Old Lords comprising House Cara suggests getting the new Old Lord drunk. Ecto-Ilk relays the message; various Old Lords from House Cara discuss things and mix a brew. The hostile coral is soaked in the brew, and it stops growing. Yohaan, one of the Old Lords from House Cara, sighs, offers to take one for the team, shifts into beer, and pours himself on the coral.
Ilk realizes that Lloyd is somehow acquiring magical power, and questions people. There's a crystal in Lloyd's possession. Not a Fringe crystal -- a regular crystal. Pressure on it generates magic. Osric asks Norton to extract it. He can't -- it's not alive. Norton suggests that it might be un-alive. Jean is told about the crystal and greets it. After a bit of soothing, the crystal gazes adoringly at Jean as, say, an Amberite might gaze at the Unicorn. The crystal doesn't know ever having been anywhere other than inside Lloyd.
Norton points out that Lloyd's nervous system would shut down if the crystal was removed -- it runs on magic.
One of the Old Lords from House Cara exclaims, "Eureka! It's shrinking!"
Pharaban uproots the Bronelle power and smacks the coral with it. The coral shatters into a dozen pieces. The Bronelle power is drained. One of the pieces of coral is twitching. People pour beer on the piece, and it keeps growing. Ilk calls to it, "Yohaan -- is that you?" Yohann pours out of the piece of coral, which stops twitching. Ilk checks - it's really Yohann.
A number of beings appear near the shattered Bronelle power to defend it, and immediately start to flee. Jean calls out, "Get them. No, really, get them." and the assembled Old Lords stomp them.
Someone looks at Shannon and Beldan and determines that they're fine. Duncan needs to see a doctor. Shakes his head at Tate. They've been poisoned.
When the Old Lord turns around to pick up his beer, people can see a Bronelle-power shaped dent on his back.
Osric dips one of the pieces into the Sea of Chance. Its form changes a few times, and then it dissolves. He repeats the process until all of the pieces dissolve.
Osric complains about the lack of a Healers' Guild. Snarsht asks for ten people that Osric trusts so he can train them as Beastmasters so they can become healers.
People hear a cry coming across from Chaos, "Must... eat... brains..." Norton excuses himself and goes off.
Osric chooses ten members of House Chanicut that were standing nearby to cheer him on when he towed Darkover out of the Sea of Chance.
Snarsht complains about having a kindergarten class again, and tells them to follow around the daggers and learn from them.
Osric complains about the daggers. They are determined to be not owned -- they're living. But Neville's still responsible for them.
Cailin prepares to tell Osric that the Realms Mage is missing and is nipped out of time. He can see Melk, and several tendrils that look like they are probably Ilk. Melk looks at the tendrils. "Would you like to tell him, or should I?" "Why don't you do it." "Son, have you heard of panic?"
Time restarts. Cailin changes the subject.
Jean looks over at the piece of fruit. It's drifting away -- Pharaban is over by the shoreline making waves.
Cailin tries to explain Cataan.
Ilk opens a gate to Cataan; Cailin goes through to play tour guide for a group of Shiryu's apprentices. They walk in, look around, and look back out.
They explain. It's an overlay, of sorts, and it's keeping the magic out, suffocating magic and death. People are confused about the death part. Ilk expounds on the anti-Serpent components to the Realms Lords as a whole, and said info is shared with Shiryu's apprentices, with the understanding that they don't get to share with the class.
Marial sends Calla and Gil back out to resume leading her army. Janus approaches Osric, salutes, and asks for permission to return to the slug problem. He's still drunk. He receives permission, and staggers off.
Jean fishes Darkstar to Gwen's laboratory to look at the clones. They each have their own minds -- he couldn't draw a single trump for all of them.
Cailin asks Snarsht if he could heal the real Natasha. He decides that she would make a good experimental subject for his new students.
Cailin complains to Snarsht about his true name having been changed. Snarsht claims no knowledge of true names.
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