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Ilkandacian is in Home, testing it and himself for any "presents" that Clarissa might have left for him by rippling the shadow like a sheet in the wind. His initial test results in an echo of something Real, an echo that apparently could only have been made by him, or by something co-positional with him. However, in the next test the echo is gone -- did the cause of the echo leave, or did it just analyze the test and hide itself from it? Home appears to be untouched, but is Ilkandacian's mind untouched? Ilk starts to become paranoid.
After three days of intensive tests, navel contemplation, and Ilkandacian's paranoia running unchecked, a member of the Philosopher's Guild arrives in Home, politely and deliberately sets off the multiple layers of additional wards Ilk has assembled, and hands Ilkandacian a letter. After examining the letter and the messenger for traps, he opens and reads the letter. "In the sea of yourself, is there only yourself?" The philosopher departs, and Ilk continues becoming even more paranoid.
Soon afterwards, upon doing a routine check of his messages he finds an invitation to Random's party for Cathryn at the next turning such that the starry sky is overhead in Chaos, and decides to continue running test after futile test until the party, and then consider the searching futile and settle into a less frantic form of paranoia.
A bit later, Ilkandacian's cousin arrives in Home and stops by to inquire regarding Ilk's attendance at Cathryn's party. He notices Ilk's odd behavior, which Ilk explains by mentioning that there was an intruder to the shadow recently, and that he is checking for recent alterations, along with contemplating his navel. Ilk is not in a very talkative mood, and decides not to suggest that his cousin mind-scan him to check for alterations, so the conversation stalls. Finally, Ilk asks his cousin to initiate a sequence of changes in the shadow in order to help test the shadow, while hoping that changes he hasn't initiated would be harder for a possible intruder to his mind to follow. However, not even a blip appears, which would tend to imply that either there is no intruder, or that it is controlled by or in synch with Ilk's cousin who might actually not be Ilk's cousin...
Ilkandacian continues becoming more and more paranoid while waiting with his cousin for Cathryn's party.
Benedict, Rivka, and Cathryn travel to a sandy plane in a shadow near Ygg, and Cathryn raises the wards that she had a member of Jesby place around the area earlier. Rivka is in human form, appearing to be in her mid-twenties.
Benedict, still hoping that Rivka called the meeting for a tryst, asks Cathryn why she is present, and Cathryn replies that she is there to provide moral support for Rivka.
[logger's note -- there was far too much happening far too quickly for a verbatim log of everything that was said; I only transcribed critical quotes. I'll try to flesh this out a bit more eventually, but would really like feedback/additions from you and/or jen before doing that. A death scene is important enough that it should be done correctly and accurately, IMHO.]
Rivka: "I believe that you are my father."
Everything seems to stop. To Rivka, it appears similar to when Clarissa stops time, except that she cannot move, and Benedict can. He stares at her for a timeless moment, and finally the shadow resumes.
Benedict looks at Cathryn. "Did you know this?" "Only long enough to set up the meeting."
Benedict looks back and forth between the Rivka and Cathryn, and Cathryn acquires a feeling of expendibility, as if Benedict were calculating whether or not to kill them both right there and now, and if it would do any good. Rivka does not notice.
Benedict: "And you couldn't have waited..."
Rivka: "?"
Benedict: "I was in the midst of breaking my ties."
Rivka: "My brother Bleys found out..."
Cathryn's feeling of expendibility decreases, as there are now non-present and less-easily killed witnesses.
Benedict: "Never trust a brother"
Benedict wants to delay killing Rivka until Oberon forces it to happen, and tells Cathryn that this entire affair might hurt the politics of her house, since he is known to associate closely with them.
Benedict: "At least there was no issue, that's not as bad as what Eric and Flora did."
Rivka and Cathryn express astonishment at that historical tidbit, and Rivka, after being prompted, reassures Benedict that there was indeed no issue.
Benedict, resignedly: "You haven't been enjoying the company of any of our other brothers."
Rivka, meekly contemplative: "Well... that doesn't count..."
Benedict, enraged: "Names! I want names!"
Cathryn announces that she will understand and approve of anything and everything that Benedict does here, and that she won't try to stop him or get in his way.
Rivka: "Well, there was Julian, but I was just marking time..."
Cathryn realizes what she has just said and amends her statement to exclude damage done to herself.
Rivka: "And there was Mikail, but that was a charity case..." Rivka: "And with Rhiannon. I told her first."
Benedict is angry at not having been told before Rhiannon, but his anger is lessened slightly at Rivka's explanation that she wasn't sure if she was going to be alive after meeting with him to tell Rhiannon, and that Rhiannon was her favorite niece and deserved to be told.
Benedict extracts from Rivka that he was neither a charity case nor a way to pass the time, but that he is "technically proficient, at least by my standards".
Rivka: "...started out on this project because mom kept talking about your side of reality..."
Benedict queries as to whether or not he was just a stepping stone on her way up; Rivka changes the subject.
Rivka apologizes for trusting Bleys, to which Benedict repeats that she should never trust a brother. Rivka replies that she's always had this problem about trusting family. Benedict asks Rivka why she didn't tell him sooner - he could have broken it off...
Rivka: "Well, that's why I didn't tell you - you would have stopped sleeping with me."
Rivka: "Sorry things turned out this way. In time, I could have grown to love you that way. As it is, I only like you a lot." That statement floored Benedict briefly.
Rivka, gradually realizing that Benedict isn't going to kill her immediately, asks "What should I do now?" Benedict replies, "Run. Hide."
Benedict, just to make sure that she didn't sleep with anyone else that she hasn't mentioned so far, runs down the list of Royal Amberites. She didn't sleep with Caine or Corwin or Eric or Diedre or (K'rin - Benedict assumes, Rivka doesn't reply) or Fiona or Bleys or Brand or Llewella or Gerard or Zack or Random. So she's only slept with four - Benedict, Mikail, Julian, and Rhiannon.
Benedict, clearly reaching for a way to keep Rivka alive: "So, if I kill Rhiannon, Bleys..." Rivka interrupts: "Don't kill Rhiannon!"
Cathryn puts an end to that line of speculation by stating that Fiona mentioned something along these lines to her directly before they headed here.
Rivka tries to find a safe place to hide.
Rivka: "So, Mom could make her place safe if she really wanted to..."
Rivka: "If I can get to Faerie, would that be safe? Nobody would think to look for me there."
Benedict mentions two holes in her theory: Zack and Ivy.
Benedict considers killing one of Rivka's sisters and giving that corpse to Oberon, but Rivka doesn't like that plan, and Cathryn doesn't want to piss off Clarissa. Benedict mentions that they could ask Clarissa if she has any children that she wouldn't mind losing... Cathryn, as an afterthought, adds "Or Oberon, either" to her previous statement.
Rivka: "How limited is Oberon's reach?"
Benedict: "It isn't, as far as I know it."
Rivka: "Does it extend to the Sea of Chance?"
Benedict replies in the negative.
Benedict mentions that if she could find Dalkantyr and Mikail, she might be able to find an island in the Sea.
Benedict: "How good are these wards?"
Cathryn: "They might slow Oberon down; they won't stop him."
Benedict bids Rivka leave, quickly.
Rivka asks for and receives one last hug from Benedict, and then *bamf*s directly into the Sea of Chance.
Cathryn: "I didn't know it was this bad."
Benedict states that he hasn't been surprised in more years than he can count, and hopes that he doesn't receive any more surprises for quite a while.
Benedict heads for a stronghold, on the assumption that the person who tells Oberon might not mention that Benedict didn't know that Rivka was family before he slept with her.
Cathryn drops the wards, returns to Chaos, and immediately un-invites Rivka from her party. Jesby's Ettiquite Guild representative asks her if it is expedient to... Cathryn cuts her off with a curt yes.
Cathryn discovers a note from Random inviting her to an Amber formal court, scheduled for this afternoon. The overt reason for the court is to raise some newly acknowledged family members to vacant positions. Cathryn decides not to delay her party for the court, and prepares to leave.
Stormy is disassembling the blocks around the Locked Room party.
Oberon walks in, wearing the Jewel of Judgement.
Dworkin: "Entertainment has arrived!"
Suhuy: "No, finality has arrived". Suhuy does not look pleased.
Arielle notices Oberon and nudges Logan -- "We can go now!"
Gerard's baby gives out a loud cry, and Velaria's mother starts walking towards Oberon.
Arielle tells Logan to get Velaria's mother - "Don't let her reach Oberon!"
Oberon notices Stormy, and tells him to "Stop it!"
Stormy starts backing off on his disassembling of the blocks, and Oberon pulls out a trump, concentrates briefly, and the cracks in the blocks that Stormy had been forcing wider become much smaller.
Zack and Cassandra are walking through Castle Amber when Titania pops up in front of Zack and falls over. Zack catches her. Titania says "Ouch... something got snipped." Whatever Oberon did just snipped the Faerie gate, and a piece of Faerie has been permanently removed from Faerie. When Titania mentions the loss, Zack begins senses it as well, as an aching hole in his head.
Zack introduces Titania to Benjamin, Corwin, and Cassandra. Titania tosses a silver rose at Corwin, and he catches it, while seeming to recognize her.
Corwin claims that Oberon is a nutball. Benjamin talks about the Church of Cassandra, and Cassandra accuses Corwin of having started the church. Benjamin refuses to tell Cassandra anything about the Church of Cassandra, even though he is not a member of the church, which annoys Cassandra greatly.
They head to the Locked Room.
Oberon looks around the Locked Room, and starts to get pissy about some people not having stayed where he put them.
Stormy: "You expect these people to remain in place while you were kidnapped and held incommunicado?"
Zack, Cassandra, Corwin, and Benjamin walk into the Locked Room. Titania is not with them. The hole in Zack's brain starts hurting, and feeling as if someone was sticking a finger into it and wiggling it around.
Oberon walks towards the center of the room.
Arielle catches up with Zack, and they chat. Arielle is worried about her kids on Omega 17; Zack agrees to try to help her return to check on them.
The marzipan golem Dworkin has been making stands up, walks over to Oberon, shakes its finger in his face, and says "You bad, bad boy. Go to your room." It looks a lot like Oberon. Oberon looks surprised - not only that a golem just did that, but that he couldn't unconjure it.
Suhuy stands up and announces that if Oberon doesn't have a good excuse for this, "we might find ourselves with a new king". He sounds pissed.
Oberon announces that "Reality, as we know it, is unravling."
Corwin retorts with "No, it's not." and Cassandra chips in with "You are!"
Oberon looks at them and replies, "You'd better hope that that is the case". He looks at Stormy and announces, "You don't belong here".
Oberon proceeds to explain to Stormy that it is not law and chaos unraveling, but rather stability and instability unraveling. They start having a conversation about the nature of Reality that quickly degenerates into math.
Dworkin is forming the last of the marzipan into snowballs and stacking them in front of him. Suhuy has placed his head in his hands and is muttering "No, no..." It's unclear as to whether he is commenting on Dworkin's actions or Oberon.
A dead jedi head pokes its head out of a beam and starts debating with Oberon.
Corwin asks Arielle if she can recommend a good school for Cassandra.
A general conversation ensues...
Clarissa walks into the room, thanks everyone for coming, and then announces sharply, "Now that the Master of Ceremonies has arrived, perhaps we can allow a bit of ventilation." (mouthed) "OPEN THE DOOR!"
While Clarissa is organizing an escape, a woman walks up to her, tugs on her sleeve, and asks, "Are you the demon?" Velaria wakes up and starts trying to draw her mother off. Clarissa seems amused by the woman.
Oberon uses the interruption to regain control. He raises his arm and everyone in the room with Power feels drained. Well, everyone except for Dworkin, Suhuy, Clarissa, and Stormy - Stormy was polite, and the others are pumped.)
A dead jedi falls from a beam in the ceiling, and the door to the Locked Room opens.
Oberon resumes the mathematical discussion with Stormy and the dead jedi guy.
Zack, Arielle, and Logan leave the room together, and Zack notices Titania slumped unconscious against the wall. He quickly establishes that the others cannot even see her. Zack puts a hand on her shoulder, and she falls over. Zack picks her up and takes her to a nearby private room.
Clarissa and a few others join into the mathematical conversion.
Cathryn initiates some inquiries about Dalkantyr, and discoveres that it was believed to have been briefly parked in the Abyss and guarded by demons.
Stormy, listening to the math conversation, thinks that Oberon seems to be arguing that the waves that normally affect shadow are affecting reality as well.
Zack remembers that Clarissa walked in soon after them, and thinks that she might have had something to do with Titania's current condition. He tries to set up a Faerie gate and fails.
Arielle, Logan, and Zack (carrying Titania) head to Arden.
Dworkin starts throwing snowballs at those people remaining in the now Unlocked Room. The snowballs that are thrown at the mathematical conversation veer off and begin circling Suhuy's head. He appears to be trying to listen to the conversation...
Shiryu, the Realms Master, walks into the Unlocked Room and greets Suhuy with, "You rang?" Suhuy gestures to the math conversation. Shiryu asks Suhuy to catch him up, which Suhuy does with six words of a tongue that nobody else in the room understands. Shiryu thanks Suhuy, and joins the conversation. He starts arguing that internal disruptions caused the incursions from other realities, not the other way around, and that Oberon is insane. Fix that, you fix the problem.
Corwin trumps Flora briefly, and then announces that Flora has removed herself from Oberon's service. Oberon is now without a steward.
Stormy hands Corwin an acorn, and tells him to plant it when he gets home. "It will grow into a steward."
Corwin's blade leaves its scabbard, blurs through the air, and is resheathed, intercepting a snowball during its path. Everyone but Corwin in the area is splattered with marzipan.
Zack pauses in a hallway and tries to open a Faerie gate and fails, then tries to trump Benedict and fails.
Random shows up at House Jesby breathless, and announces, "We've got half of an hour -- let's go!" Martin is there as well, dressed to the nines. Random trumps them to a glassy shadow, and from there trumps them to Amber. Cathryn expresses interest in his use of a two trip transit from Chaos to Amber, and Random says that trumping that far always gives him a headache.
Cathryn, Random, Martin, Corwin, Cassandra, and Benjamin all arrive for court at approximately the same time.
Cassandra is shown to Flora's room to change by Dutch, an ex-boyfriend who is currently in the Castle Guard.
Sir Erik arrives for court.
Zack, Arielle, Logan, and Titania reach Arden. According to the rangers that Zack asks, Malachai is not available. Zack sends a note to the castle herald saying he will not be attending court, and sends his seal to Ingold, apologizing for missing his ceremony.
Zack finds a Faerie gate that had previously existed in Arden and takes Titania through to Faerie. She wakes up, feeling substantially better. She confirms Zack's guess that Clarissa caught her after she had been weakened by Oberon, but that she will recover. Zack returns to Arden to help Arielle.
Zack and Arielle both try to trump Arielle's Arden, and fail. They then repeat the process for Omega, and fail as well. Finally, they attempt to trump Benedict and succeed. Benedict pulls Zack through, and we're reached the
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