![[previous]](gu-prev.gif){kind=small}
![[next]](gu-next.gif){kind=small}
Back to the index.
Cathryn goes to converse with Jesby, and is informed that Jesby is currently discussing the exchange of favors with some of the lesser Great Houses. Cathryn sends a note to Jesby, and when it arrives, the gentleman with whom Jesby is negotiating, Lord Ratheon of House Jeniquet, excuses himself to take care of bodily functions. Cathryn tells Jesby that she just had an unoffical meeting with the King, whom warned her of the existence of currents in the Courts, and advised her to be more careful about who she gave sanctuary to in the future. Apparently the Torturer isn't in good graces in Chaos these days. Cathryn briefly mentions her recent encounter with Mikail -- he came, he did weird shit, and then he left. Jesby informs her that she has placed spies in Castle Amber, and they should hear if Mikail returns to Amber. Cathryn mentions having met Clarissa, and Jesby tells her to cultivate that acquaintance - Clarissa could be a useful ally. Jesby warns Cathryn that she may hear some rumors that she is to be married off in a political marriage, and tells her to ignore any such rumors.
Cathryn goes to House Cara and asks after Paprika. She is told that Paprika hasn't returned to the House since the party at Jesby. Cathryn leaves a note for Paprika. She then tries to trump Benedict, fails, and receives intelligence reports from her spies in House Cara. There is apparently some question about Cathryn's continued existance with regard to her recent actions against the King. Lord Cara has been absent recently, save for Cathryn's duel. Zack has been heard in his room, but never seen in transit to or from it. Cathryn orders her spies to stop looking for the assassin, and tells them to investigate Ilkandacian and the plot against the King. She tries to trump Corwin and fails, and then decides to follow up on Rivka's cryptic note about Mikail - "on the place of the gods".
Cathryn returns to Dragaera, in the city she left from last time. She shifts to a Dragaeran form, and then shifts to a flying form and flies to the courtyard of Castle Black, where she is greeted by Lady Teldra as Lady Cathryn of the e'Barit line, who tells her that Morrolan is in the party. Cathryn enters the party and overhears an argument about some sort of game. She finds Morrolan in a corner of the room, where he is concentrating on something that is being held by someone else in front of him. Five minutes later he buys it, and turns to Cathryn. However, they quickly discover that Clarissa's translator spell has lapsed and they cannot understand each other. Morrolan tries to find Sethra to translate, but cannot. Morrolan is getting bothered at the level of communication, which is limited by his "Me Morrolan, You Cathryn" understanding of Thari. After trying to pantomime, point at maps, and a quick trip to Morrolan's private chapel, Cathryn takes Morrolan to a fast, high-tech shadow and shifts to a local form. Morrolan is freaked out, but soon recovers his equilibrium, and they start swapping language lessons, Thari for Dragaeran.
Zack is walking off with Julian after the duel. He heads to a nice, durable, relaxed shadow where he begins revitalizing Julian.
Tries to trump Rhiannon and fails. She then goes to check in on Bleys in Clarissa's tower. He is busy seducing on an Overworld chick who is in training to be a Keeper. Rivka successfully manages to break the mood, allowing the chick to escape. Bleys complains about not getting laid recently, so Rivka brings him to the physical world of Darkover. Bleys again tries to shift shadow and is disturbed at his failure, and asks for a language lesson. After some discussion about the mechanics of this operation, Rivka trusts Bleys to suck her mind dry. Oops. She wakes up lying on the bar top, and realizes the enormity of her error.
Rivka returns to House Cara, receives Cathryn's message, and decides that all is well with her. She then hunts down the latest Chaos gossip. Most is about three recent duels - Cathryn's duel with Julian, a duel between a member of the Creationists' Guild and a member of the Mathematicians' Guild, and a duel between a high-ranking member of the Mages' Guild and himself. Nobody is sure who won the duel between the Creationist and the Mathematician, and the mage who dueled himself lost.
Rivka decides to hang out in Chaos for a while, so she leaves a note for Cathryn and then heads to the Shapeshifters' Guild to do chores, where they tease her about her recent experience with babysitting. Rivka seems to think that a serious explosion will be happening soon...
Cathryn receives Rivka's message, and replies with, "Learning Dragaeran - do you wish to join?"
She gets back, "Love to, but want to be reachable around Chaos. Warning, I may be in a lot of trouble at some point in the next decade. You might not want to associate with me."
Zack Faerie gates to House Cara, and about ten minutes later his spell to distract Julian goes off. He asks the Etiquite Guild what the negative impact would be of Julian coming here and then being thrown out. He then tries to trump Julian and is blocked. He returns to the shadow where he left Julian, and discovers that 12 hours have passed locally and Julian left six hours ago. There is a note from Julian, saying that he's leaving, he's xxxx, and if you need to find him you probably can, signed Julian - no titles.
Zack tries to walk to Julian and fails, then trumps Malachai. He fills Malachai in on the recent events with Julian, and asks him to keep it quiet for now. Malachai says that he might have gotten Cassandra off the hook, but he's not sure yet.
Zack trumps to Castle Black, where the Lady Teldra asks him for a word with him. She gestures to a small alcove by the gate, which is where she apparently lives. She expresses interest in his history as a member of her house, who is well travelled? Yes, he's well travelled. Morrolan seems to have travelled, and they're making excuses for him, but can't find him. She asks Zack to check up on him; apparently he left with a Lady Cathryn. Zack proceeds to shadow walk to Morrolan.
Cathryn has mostly learned Dragaeran by now, and has discussed the Paths of the Dead with Morrolan. Morrolan mentions that "Mikail is possibly dead or undead, and hence not a problem? Maybe you can talk to Sethra about him, but she was missing the last time I looked." Cathryn is about to take Morrolan back to Castle Black.
Zack walks in to the library where Cathryn and Morrolan have been studying, and mentions that there has been some concern at Morrolan's absence. Cathryn snipes at Zack, who trumps back to Castle Black. Cathryn Logruses herself and Morrolan back, and Zack beats them by about thirty minutes, and chats with Lady Teldra while waiting for them to return.
Cathryn returns with Morrolan, and they decide that they will spread the rumor that Cathryn is a sorceress which whom he was performing a spell, rather than that they were engaged in dalliance, although Morrolan does offer the latter. Cathryn checks her messages.
Zack mills around in the party, and tries and fails to trump Julian again.
Cathryn heads to the Courts to look for Rivka. She first tries House Cara, and then finds Rivka at the Shapeshifters' Guild taking lessons in holding a continuously changing pattern of forms while her instructor tried to impose another form on her against her will. Cathryn's entrance broke Rivka's concentration on her shapeshifting, resulting in her being turned into a small box. The instructor thanks Cathryn for the assistance, then excuses himself and leaves the room. Cathryn asks Rivka about the cryptic note that she left, and Rivka replies that Mikail is a god, as is she -- it's a family thing. Rivka asks Cathryn how goes with Mikail, and Cathryn replies that the walls have ears, and leads Rivka to a secure side room in Jesby. A few ears form out of the wall and listen to them walk out of the Shapeshifters' Guild.
Just as they arrive at the room, a servant arrives with a message for Cathryn -- Mikail has been spotten in Chaos, in House Sawall. Cathryn walks out, leaving Rivka in the room alone. When Rivka becomes bored and tries to walk out, she is blocked by a guard, who says that she doesn't have the heir to Jesby's permission to leave. She asks the guard for some entertainment, and is given a member of the Ettiquite Guild who shows up and exchanges gossip with Rivka. Apparently, there is a new duel -- a master-level mage has challenged Benedict regarding his worthiness to be the head of the Warriors' Guild. Benedict has Cathryn and Corwin as seconds, and the mage has the Beastmaster and the Warlord as his.
Cathryn heads to MandorWays and is invited inside. She asks to speak with Mandor, whom shows up, casts a lovely and highly artistic ward, then shows off some more by conjuring her some marvelous tea. When asked, Mandor states that Mikail is not present, but that Bleys was possibly there recently, probing his defenses in preparation for their upcoming duel. Cathryn returns to House Jesby and her conversation with Rivka.
Cathryn tells Rivka that it was a false lead - Bleys was spotted near House Sawall, not Mikail. Rivka expands upon the information that she gave in her note, "avoid me in places where Amberites can reach - Bleys read my mind." They continue to talk about why Cathryn should avoid Rivka.
Ilkandacian decides to briefly punt his research and goes to Castle Black to take Morrolan up on his offer to discuss death blades. Upon arriving in Dragaera, he discovers that Morrolan is not locatable via the Logrus. He passes time at the party by destroying Mikail clones with Logrus tentacles. Upon further examination, he notices that he cannot Logrus-seek into a section of Morrolan's library due to a high concentration of Pattern energy.
Zack chats with Morrolan, who mentions the riots in Adrelanka. Zack offers his aid in hunting down and squishing more of the people trying to use pre-Empire sorcery to overthrown the Empire, but they, or at least the leaders, have already been dealt with. However, Morrolan would be interested in Zack's help in interrogating the ones that were captured. Zack leaves the library, transforms into a small flying thing, and leaves the castle.
Ilkandacian watches the patch of Pattern leave the library, then locates Morrolan in the former blind spot in his library. He heads upstairs, and discusses Morganti blades with Morrolan. They aren't powered by any power source that Ilk is familiar with. They're made by a strange race called the Seroli about whom little is known, except that they're powerful, reclusive, cannibalistic, and dislike outsiders, except as snacks. Ilk continues squashing Mikail clones while conversing with Morrolan.
Zack goes to Adrelanka, and studies the aftermath of the riots. He notices a number of Mikail clones wandering around freely, and more imprisoned within pillars of stone. He deconstructs one, and several others that were nearby unravel as well, leading him to the conclusion that they were very hastily made. While investigating the riot, Zack sees a Mikail clone disappear before his eyes in a surge of Logrus energy.
Zack returns to Castle Black, where he is told that that Hawklord is conversing with Lord Morrolan. Zack heads up to make sure that Morrolan is well, sees Morrolan draw a Morganti blade on the Hawklord, and enters the library readied for battle.
Ilkandacian is studying a Morganti blade that Morrolan just unsheathed when he gets a icky Pattern-y feeling down the back of his neck, rotates, and steps backwards in time to see a Pattern mage enter the library. Morrolan greets Zack by name, and asks him if he would like to join in the conversation. Zack does so, and the three continue the conversation.
Rivka leaves House Jesby and tries to trump Rhiannon, but fails.
Back to the index.