FieldWorkIndex SB: Field Work With a glance to Meriel, Martin holds out a hand to let her precede him. "Gentlemen first," says Meriel automatically. Then she gives him a rueful smile. "That way you can fend off frontal attacks while I watch your back." "Heh. K," Martin says and goes ahead. "Remember, things are, er, backwards here." Directly behind the throne is, to Martin, the very familiar door to his father's office. A single guard stands watch over the ajar door. The guard is more for ceremony than anything else, since a partial view of the red-haired head of Fiona is visible through the crack. The head makes a small motion of a nod. The voice of Random then comes. "Come in, the both of you." Without being prompted to do so, the guard opens the door, revealing the wood-paneled office. Fiona is sitting in one of the chairs; Random is standing behind the desk. He gestures toward the bar. "Go ahead and make yourselves a drink if you want." He looks at Meriel. "I suppose there will be water, too." "There is." Fiona says dryly. Martin glances at his construct. "Oh, I had to have programmed that," he says. "Godfrey, please make us a single malt scotch on the rocks, ice water with lemon, a Rebman Deep Well Water, and, um, gin and tonic for me. Lime, of course." Meriel's chin lifted. "I'll have a gin and tonic too," she said firmly. "Lime, of course." "One single malt scotch on the rocks..." Godfrey says, with a whirr of gears and a head turn toward the King. "ice water with lemon" his head turns to look at Fiona. "two gin and tonic with lime." His eyes swivel back and forth between Meriel and Martin. A moment more, and the clockpunk construct walks toward the bar and with a whirr of gears, starts to busy himself. "While he had a fifty percent chance of being right in any event, your little toy seems to be perceptive, Martin." Fiona says. "Your comment, though, suggests that the full range of his abilities are not known to you. That's interesting." "Ayah," Martin agrees. "Built him in my sleep, you see. In one night, too." "Fi" Random says, sitting down. "While Godfrey makes drinks, why don't we begin." "As you wish, Brother." Fiona says. In the background, Godfrey continues to work, now employing a cocktail shaker. "As you know, the business with Jayson's conflict with the Olympian Dreamstuff Deity had a number of side effects which we are still learning about. Or perhaps its the doings of this delegation from the Courts which has landed on our doorstep." "I am sure that Martin's education, at the very least, will allow him to know that the relative position of shadows, even in the Golden Circle, is sometimes subject to slow change. The relationship between shadows can vary, and fluctuate, but this process is often slow." Fiona stops at this point, since Godfrey has carried over a large tumble of ice water, with lemon for Fiona. The next minute is then taken up as he hands the King the single malt scotch with ice to Random, and then offers the gin and tonics, first to Meriel, and then to Random, the green slice of lime as perfectly positioned on the edge as Fiona's lemon wedge. "Thank you." Random says. "Go on, Fi." After a moment, Fiona takes a sip, gives a nod, and then continues. "To be succinct, like an approaching comet in those shadows large enough for solar systems, an out of place shadow has rapidly moved from a position beyond the bronze circle, the third ring, is passing through the Silver Circle, and is approaching the Golden Circle." "It's a high tech shadow." Fiona says, taking another sip of the water. "One with a strong aquatic cast to it." "You mean... like it has some kind of purpose to it?" Martin asks. Meriel, covertly watching Fiona for the correct form in drinking, takes a sip of her own drink. Her finely arched eyebrows lift a little, and she takes several more sips in rapid succession. But she is also listening intently. "It is not yet known." Fiona replies. "I would normally ask one of my children to investigate this, instead of bothering his majesty. However, it seems one daughter can't be reached by trump, the other is already on a mission for Random...and Lorius' strengths are not in the Element of Water. The two of you, however, are strong in that Element." "Clockwork creations and all." Fiona adds, appraising Godfrey. Martin grins. "Rust-proof and everything." Random shakes his head slightly, takes a gulp of his scotch and looks at Meriel and Martin, focusing mainly on the latter. "This is what I want. Go and take a look at this shadow that has spooked Fi. Find out why its moving through the multiverse like a driver on a bender. Deal with complications. You have our Royal Leave to dragoon any cousin into this at any point, except the others who have been handed assignments already." "Oh..."Random looks at Meriel intently now. "One last bit. If you were thinking of walking the Pattern, now would be a very good time." Meriel blinks. "Aren't the odds rather high on it killing me?" she asks. "I think the odds in Rebma are something like ... oh ... 27 to 1. That might encourage me to have a flitter on a shark race - I'm not sure if I would want to stake my life against arcane forces." Martin, undoubtedly recalling one or more recent Pattern-walks, looks away and drinks. "27" Fiona comments. "Our intelligence on how many people Queen Moire sent appears to be inaccurate." She sips her waters and watches Meriel with green, intent eyes. Random shakes his head. "I wasn't going to force you. As Mirelle's daughter, your odds are considerably higher than that. And frankly, I'm almost relieved you want to wait." Random takes a sip of his scotch and then continues." It seems that more than half of your generation snuck onto one or more of the Patterns *without* permission. Its quite different to have someone actually reluctant to do so when offered openly." Random then looks at Fiona. She smiles slightly, nods and looks at Meriel and Martin and speaks, still smiling. "One last thing. His Majesty informed me that the two of you, especially Meriel, had an encounter with a member of an Elder Race recently. I would consider it a favour if you could briefly give me your impressions of the encounter." Martin smiles and gestures to Meriel in a 'please, go ahead' kind of way. "An Elder Race?" says Meriel. "All I know is - they were *most* offensive." Without more ado, she launches into a full - and graphic account of their encounter with the strange creatures, and their rescue of the captives, occasionally looking towards Martin for corroboration. Her account is vivid, colourful and not terribly exaggerated. Really. "Jaghut" Fiona says thoughtfully to herself at one point after Meriel tells about Tamora. It's clear that the word has some meaning for her ,and not entirely salutary. Random watches her but does not interrupt, his attention on both Meriel's story and Fiona's reaction to that story. It's also clear to Martin that Godfrey is also listening very intently to Meriel's story. She leaves it with their escape - looking to Martin to add details of their unexpected encounter with Moire. Of that she still clearly cannot bring herself to speak with equanimity. Martin nods. "Well. You got the story about Grandmother." He launches into it again for Fiona's sake, and doesn't try to cover up his mistakes which led to their meeting. "So it's kind of a truce now. With her, that is, not with the other things." "My brother shows wisdom in bringing you into the Family, niece." Fiona says, looking at Meriel with a slightly unnerving concentration and study. "Your knowledge of mirror scrying and sorcery will prove valuable to the Family. Don't you think, brother?" she says, turning her gaze away from Meriel at last, and then to Random. "Absolutely" Random says, finishing his scotch. "Truce or not, I expect Moire to put her tentacles into a lot of our business going forward, especially by watching what we do, and don't do. I think, Martin, this unexpected encounter with Moire was part of that. It's a good thing we have now have someone with such skills in the fold." He looks at Meriel. "Although I would be foolish to make the same mistakes as she did in handling your talents." "I would say that you should watch out for any Rebman interference while on this operation, but I don't think I really need to tell you that, do I?" Random adds. Martin's eyebrows raise. "As best we can," he says. "I wonder how many picket lines we'll be crossing on our way into shadow." Picket lines?" asks Meriel, her forehead wrinkling slightly. "What are those? Can you eat them?" Fiona stares at Meriel, not quite agape, but with a slight narrowing of the eyes. Without being prompted, and breaking the gaze, Godfrey brings another glass of water over to Fiona, to replace the one she has already drunk. Random clears his throat. "No, my son is talking military tactics. I don't expect Rebma to field an actual military; they've not really needed or had anything more than a home guard; we *were* bound to protect them as our vassal after all." Random looks at Martin. "I don't expect that sort of resistance. However, with that knot of Chaosians in Arden, who knows what *they* have left on their path here." "Be careful, the both of you." Random looks at his empty scotch glass as if it were an oracle of some kind. "When you return." Fiona looks at Meriel. "I, or if you prefer, one of my children, would like to interview you regarding what you know about Rebman mirror scrying and how to thwart it. As I said before, it is a valuable skill that you possess, valuable to the Family. I have taken some pains to begin thwarting her Majesty's more gross abilities at scrying, but its the more obscure and telling details of your art that I have not mastered." Green eyes regard Meriel. "Yet." "Oh, certainly," says Meriel cheerfully. "But, you know, none of the Queen's abilities are really gross. If they seem ... overt ... that will be because she wants you to see them. You know I know you know ... that sort of thing." The lurking mischief is back in the green eyes that look back at Fiona. "But, of course, you know that too." "What's more confusing?" Martin adds. "That you know that aunt Fiona knows, or that Fiona said she didn't know?" He smiles. Fiona smiles back at Meriel. "I think we understand each other somewhat, Meriel. A good beginning." Meriel regards her aunt guilelessly ... and then gives a sudden, complicit grin, Random shakes his head and sighs. "This entire conversation has gotten off track." He looks at Meriel and then Fiona and then settles on his son. "Right. Go into shadow, find this renegade moving shadow that has decided to make a mess of things, find out the particulars, take action as needed, up to dragooning one of your free cousins on our Royal Command." "Any questions?" Martin shakes his head. "We'll find out what's going on. I'd say Priya off the top of my head, but being that she may have just become de facto Ambassador to Rebma, that might not be such a good idea... we'll find someone. We'll get it done." He turns to Meriel. "Do you want to try the Pattern?" "I don't want to," says Meriel. "The odds are way higher than I would like for me as a Rebman. What if I take after Father's side of the family? I mean, all that Rebman has to come out .... well ... somewhere. But if you think Pattern skills are necessary to this trip - and you're prepared to teach me without getting all bored halfway through and going off to play a gig somewhere then ... well. Maybe." She looks a little anxiously at Random. Random glances at Fi, holds up a finger, and then he stands and walks over to where Meriel sits. He puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It would be useful for you to have a Pattern Imprint on this assignment, its true, which is why I offered it to you straight up first thing. My son..." he looks at Martin and holds the gaze "learned a lot of things the hard way, without much training except from Benedict and the School of Very Hard Knocks." The look on Martin's face says, 'Benedict also counts as a school of very hard knocks'. His hand casually goes to cover his stomach; he drops it after a moment. "And he's not going to go play any gigs, not until this little matter of this shadow is sorted out." Random continues. Fiona clears her throat. Random looks at her, and finally gives a nod. Fiona regards Meriel and speaks. "The walking of the Pattern, especially your first time, is not a playful excursion, not a casual thing, and not to be taken lightly, Meriel." "On the other hand, its your birthright. It is your key to becoming a full member of this family. More than my brother the King saying you are, the Pattern Imprint seals the pact between you and the power of the latent power in your blood." "We know that the strength of that Amber bloodline extends at least one and probably two generations further down than you. You *can* walk the Pattern, Meriel. And there are ways of improving your chances even more, ways that Queen Moire knows nothing about." Martin nods once and starts refilling drinks. Without prompting, Godfrey, delivers the drinks as Martin makes them, with a whirr of gears and motion. Random gratefully takes the refill. Fiona gives Martin a nod and takes a sip of the water immediately. "All right," says Meriel, drawing a deep breath. "I'll do it. If it is really that important." She looks at Martin's back worriedly. He nods back, with a completely serious expression. "I just hope this isn't the family way of getting rid of uncomfortable additions," she says. "I was brought up in Rebma, you know. And I'm sure that at least three of those the Queen sent to walk the path were people she was happy to see the back of." "*That* doesn't surprise me, Meriel" Random says. "Here, though, we are careful not to allow people who don't belong on it anywhere near it. Unauthorized attempts to walk the Pattern have lead to nothing but trouble, here. Dara. Coral. That idiocy with Triton." Random looks at Martin. "You should leave for the mission, ideally, tomorrow, so see to it that Meriel has a good meal in her before she walks it." "I am sure that Martin has a trump of me on his little device." Fiona says with a smirk. She turns, sips her water and looks at Martin and Meriel both. "Call me when Meriel is ready to make her walk." Her eyes then look at Meriel, staring at her with an appraising gaze that seems to be trying to read every nuance of her appearance. "I'd print a Trump out for you," Martin says to Fiona, "but I'm still working the bugs out. Something about the printer's matrix, or maybe the inks, or maybe I'm not holding my tongue just right. But I'll Trump you." "Good." Fiona says. Glancing back to Meriel, he adds, "After you're fed and rested and happy and ready." "Fed and rested?" echoes Meriel. "Yes - that should be possible. Ready? As I will ever be, I suppose. Happy? Well, three out of four isn't too bad, I suppose." She looks at Random. "And what does my mother say to this? Or is she uninterested?" Random winces outwardly for a brief moment before returning to a more neutral, unreadable poker face as he faces Meriel "Mirelle realizes the difficulties involved in your, ah, relationship, with her." Random pauses "Your mother has agreed to let me handle things with you without her interference, and she has agreed not to get too entangled in your new life here." "Until you want her to." Random adds. "No telling if she'll hold to that of course." Fiona puts in. "Still, I think you will find, Meriel, that it is the relationships you form yourself that are of equal importance as your parentage in this family." "Don't you agree, Martin?" Fiona adds to Martin, taking another sip of her water. Martin's chest and stomach spasm once as a silent -heh- to this. "Speaking as someone who hasn't known his father very long and was knifed by an uncle, I'd say parentage and family was way down the list. But yah," he turns his attention to Meriel, "Fiona's exactly right. I expected to be treated a lot different when I came here, but really, it's less about your parents and more about your choices." Random gives a nod at Martin's response. Fiona just smiles. "Well," said Meriel reasonably, "I wasn't expecting to find a mother here at all, While she had no reason at all to expect me to turn up, so neither of us were expecting to have any sort of relationship." She looks around at the others. "Perhaps I should go and eat this hearty meal you think is a good idea. Myself, I'd think you'd want to be shark sure, but you all know best." "We do." Fiona says. She looks at Random. Random nods. "Well, I have some business to attend to in the meantime. Your Majesty." Fiona nods to Random. She then looks at Martin and Meriel. "Until your walk, Meriel." Fiona finishes her half full glass, places it down, and heads toward the door. Godfrey, with a whirr of gears, bows to Fiona as she passes. She stops her progress to favor Martin's creation with a smile before she completes her trip to the door. She opens it, and is gone. "As do I." Random shakes his head. "Paperwork and dealing with some of these hot potatoes dropped into my Royal Lap. I trust." he looks at Martin. "you'll let me know when she finishes her Walk?" "Sure," Martin says. He looks to Meriel to see if she has anything to add. "Thank you," says Meriel, and then, as an afterthought adds, "Your Majesty." "You're welcome. The both of you. You have our Leave to go." Random says, running a finger around the edge of his glass. He looks at Godfrey. "All three of you, although I am mildly tempted to take possession of your creation, son, as my bartender." He pauses a moment. "Still, I'm more interested, though, Martin, to see what you make of him, now that you've built him." "Yah," Martin responds with a half-smile. "Me, too." "And Meriel." Random adds, offering a smile to her. "Good Luck." "Thank you, your Majesty," Meriel says again, with less of a gap between the two phrases this time, and gives Random a dazzling smile to show how pleased she is to have remembered. Random rewards Meriel's improved diction with a grin of his own. He gives a nod and watches and waits for the pair to depart. Godfrey steps smartly behind the two, with only the sound of his locomotive parts to mark his passage. She follows Martin's offered escort, looking behind as the door closes to judge when the currents will no longer carry sound to the pair within. "Should we see the Queen now?" she asks Martin quietly, when she judges it safe. "Or should we flow with a different tide?" Martin nods in response. "This is the time to do it, if we're going to see her. Later we'll be too busy, and after that, probably too tired." Meriel nods. "And I'd certainly like to find out how she does that," she says thoughtfully. "Using mirrors without being able to see them - that would be a very useful trick, don't you think? I wonder how she feels about Rebma now ... and if she'd tell me." She looks expectantly at Martin, doubtless trusting he'll know where the Queen is to be found at this time. Martin knows that after Court, her Majesty usually can be found in her studio, or having a luncheon in the Royal Quarters, or (weather permitting), the Gardens. Since its still a chilly early spring, the last choice is unlikely. Although Martin can likely think of other possibilities, too. "Godfrey, why don't you head back to my rooms and get us packed up for a short trip?" Martin asks his construct. "You might be a little intimidating to Vialle, and I don't think I can pass you off as sculpture. We'll be along shortly." "Yes, Martin." Godfrey inclines his head with a whirr of gears, and heads in the direction of the staircase. Once Godfrey leaves, he says, "Let's try the studio. I didn't get anything through your contact- how well do you know the Queen?" Meriel shakes her head. "Not well. I heard about her, of course, but our paths never crossed before she was married off to Random. And I'd had no idea that she had any skill with the mirrors - they kept very quiet about that." She frowns, considering this. "In fact ... I wonder if ... " She hesitates, and then shakes her head. "Not a whole lot. We can get most everything we need on the way. Just what you expect to wear, and maybe a few things that would fit in saddlebags. Make sure they can survive being underwater. I generally carry a few tools and knicknacks, and Godfrey should be getting them prepped for a saltwater swim." He glances sideways at Meriel. "Wonder if... what?" Backlinks |
