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Ilk has left New Cataan. Cailin and Jean discuss evacuating New Cataan.
Cailin and Neville investigate the possibly contaminated Pattern in Amber. [To be dealt with later]
Cailin goes off to the side and trumps Darkstar. The eyes of the trump are glowing. Darkstar has Cailin pull him through, and explains that someone was eavesdropping on the contact.
They chat. Cailin asks Darkstar to make a trump of Guido. Guido is told to go somewhere, and leaves New Cataan. Cailin realizes, too late, that he should have provided more information.
People talk. Much sound and thunder, signifying nothing.
Darkstar wants to take the fish, to minimize the chance of contamination. Cailin insists that he and his apprentice go along too, and that they take the whale. Darkstar eventually gives in.
The whale exhales a mouth full of water and people upon arrival in Cataan. Two Pattern-staples are found hanging in mid-air where the whale was.
Guido cranky about having been left in Cataan to be a trumpable minon. He seems rather cranky about this.
Dithering continues.
Cailin - "Hey Jean - the apocalypse is still on, isn't it?"
Guido mentions that the former head of the Mages Guild is still in his head -- he's always been there. That's how he got here -- he went through Toram. Toram is connected to any place where there is a cloud.
Jean to Cailin - "Okay. You know about this warfare stuff."
Toram told Guido that he was married to Clarissa.
Jeans form the Princess Chandra symbol and shine it on the Serpent.
Darhyse is "The Devouring One". Jean tries to explain that Darhyse is his mother.
Princess Chandra turns to a space near her and tells an assassin, who just coalesced, to tell the assassins around Cailin that she is apparently needed there. That one tells her that it isn't possible -- the latest team hasn't caught up with Cailin yet. Four more assassins sign up for Jean's "ex-Cailin-bodyguard-in-exile" vacation package.
Princess Chandra turns towards the Serpent and says in Serpent-speak, "And if you do anything while I'm gone, I'll be really pissed at you!"
Guido claims that all of his siblings were born of Toram and Clarissa -- about sixty of them.
Jean, elsewhere, turns to Cailin and asks him if he is interested in joining the Mages' Guild. Cailin says that he wants to avoid the inevitable traps. Jean points out that he might want to join the Guild to help Amaranth.
Jean writes up a Toram new info FAQ and tries to give it to the Old Lords in New Cataan. They don't want the info to be overheard, but give in when told that the enemy is eavesdropping on the original conversation.
Jean, in the tree, fills in Ilk. It is pointed out to Cailin that he's being contaminated every time he drains a cloud.
Ilk posts the new info to the Realms Lord channel, with the urgent flag.
Darkstar tests trumping, and successfully makes it in and out. He settles down in Cailin's pocket and takes a nap.
Ilk and Jean discuss the situation. Shannon is brought to the grey zone and enclosed with variable Pattern. The Serpent's Apprentice watches as the contaminant burns off. Ilk checks, and determines that the drunk Amberites in House Cara, if ever contaminated, have been decontaminated by the variable Pattern permeating House.
Jean fishes Mr. Suhuy, his appprentice, and (unknowingly) the Serpent's Apprentice to the Spiral, then to the egg-place.
There is a disturbance in the force, and Princess Chandra shows up in New Cataan. Jean turns off the Chandra-signal.
Jean hands Verra the FAQ. Verra determines that it is Wrath of God time. She has her prophet distribute throughout the lands that Morganti blades are now anathama. She'll give people a few hours for the word to distribute before enforcing the edict.
Verra has Jean tell Ilk that in a few hours, she will be in need of relaxation. Ilk, in the tree, is regretful about his current form.
Princess Chandra continues to talk with Cailin and Jean. Princess Chandra has Jean leave messages for his father. Cailin points out that Rainbow went off to rescue his daughter, whomever that is. Jean, in the room with Silver Lyra, says, "Dad? I'm not contaminated any more." Rainbow's voice echoes out of nowhere, "Good. I am." Jean points out that he could go into House Cara to burn off the contamination. Rainbow leaves, and the room becomes slightly lighter.
Jean has Verra's edict distributed through Chaos via the Etiquette Guild.
Jean, ecto-Ilk, and ecto-Suhuy are burning off Toram-contamination in the egg place. Ecto-Suhuy points out the residue that burnt off. Ilk scoops the bits of residue into a variable-Pattern icecube-tray, covers the squares with variable-Pattern, and pokes variable-Pattern toothpicks through the wrap into the residue.
Ferethyn is filled in by Jean, and asks for a decontamination. Ecto-Ilk is fished back and gives Ferethyn a double exposure. Ilk passes the "ecto-Ilk" cup around, to ensure that all of him are clean, then ecto-Ilk is fished back to the egg place.
Remaining work: creating a holding dome over the stasis'd Cobaltians.
Princess Chandra suggests hitting the Spiral now. Ecto-Ilk, ecto-Suhuy, and the Serpent's Apprentice are fished to the Spiral by Jean.
Ecto-Suhuy asks for some markers to start working. It will take some work to cleanse the Spiral without destroying it in the process.
Ilk and Jean discuss dropping House Cara on the Spiral, but determine that they can't get it into the same piece of fruit as the Spiral.
Dropping House Cara on the Primal Pattern is discussed, to short it out. Ilk points out that it might actually be a good idea - Dworkin could be sane in our reality if we get rid of his Pattern. Jean tries to ask Dworkin, and ends up explains ecto-Suhuy to Dworkin, who provides visual aids with grapes.
Jean fishes local Dworkin and non-local Dworkin to the Spiral, to get a living demonstration of the variable Pattern.
Dworkin is very alive, very powerful, multiple, fragmented, and has marks of both Serpent and Unicorn in him. The Serpent's Apprentice can't tell if he is contaminated or not. The other Dworkin looks almost entirely unified, but more like an alloy - as if he was pounded into unity, rather than a pure substance.
Local Dworkin introduces himself to ecto-Suhuy. They start. After a bit, local Dworkin pulls out a pencil and scrawls something that is variable Patternish. It starts folding, then twists itself into non-existence.
Foreign Dworkin gets a strange look on his face, says something fairly complex, and the others start drawing on the floor. Pattern Suhuy says, "No, I don't think I can do it." Dworkin says, "Yes, I think I can do it" at the same time. Dworkin's is a small Life-style box that wanders around leaving a trail behind it. The trail goes off and comes back with the little critter in tow that Dworkin just made. Ecto-Suhuy claims that he just can't think that way. Dworkin does it again, and a twisted thing bearing Suhuy's signature is fetched. The twisted things were in the space between the dimensions.
Ilk suggests looking for Ingold that same way, and gives them his specs. They discuss the matter, and build a fishing rod. The fishing rod starts to go out, then the foreign Dworkin says, "Look at that", and points up at an angle. There are a bunch of connections going out from the Spiral. They jostled the fishing rod.
People decide that the Spiral needs to be dealt with now, and Dworkins and ecto-Suhuy start frenetically designing a variable-Pattern fly-swatter. Ilk watches, fascinated.
Ilk asks Jean to tell the Dancers' Guild and Marial that the head of the Warriors' Guild should be decontaminated with variable Pattern, since she's in shadow gathering an army to invade Chaos. Marial requests House Cara to serve as a decontamination chamber. House Cara galumphs to Chaos. One of Marial's minions goes inside, screams, and doesn't come back out. Jean scrapes the guy into a bucket, and brings it to Norton. Jean also explains to Norton about the contamination.
Jean fills in another one of Marial's minions. That one refuses to tell Marial. After some effort, they kill the guy and Norton raises him and sends him off.
Jean greets his dad again. Rainbow is about to go off to do something that involves cats, and will therefore be distasteful. "The world is going to be a less interesting place, because we will no longer be opponents. I will have to admit defeat."
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