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Index SB; Ederyn: Five Sides to Castle Amber

Soon, however, these views end, as the carriage makes a turn, and now Ederyn can see the outer walls of the Castle with the pentagonal center keep known as Castle Amber…

The carriage stops at the outer wall, and, from the interior of the carriage, Ederyn can hear the voice of the driver, Henrik, although making out the worlds is difficult. Both Daniel and Kezia strain to hear as well. Judging from her expression, though, it seems that Kezia's hearing allowed her to hear more than Ederyn and Daniel were able to make out.

In any event, the delay is short, and the carriage moves at a leisurely pace into the courtyard of the Castle. From the windows, Ederyn can see servants, and guards, going about their business. A few of the former and definitely a number of the latter, peer at the vehicle as it finishes the short distance to a seemingly designated spot.

As the carriage moves on, Ederyn slips the diamond into his wallet, and smooths his hair (which, after the long sea voyage, is still trying to be much curlier than its length usually allows).

A few moments after the carriage stops, the door opens with a flourish.

"My lords and lady!" the enthusiastic Henrik says, sweeping his arm in a grand gesture. "Your destination is achieved! Welcome to Castle Amber!" Beyond him, Ederyn can see two servants and a guard, waiting patiently for the occupants of the carriage to emerge, and presumably explain themselves.

Ederyn glances at Daniel, more than willing to let the real diplomat go first and do the explaining; and then the Weir, who take their job of protecting him so seriously.

Daniel nods, and exits first, taking a couple of extra steps as Cyrus, Boaz and finally Kezia follow him out and into the courtyard.

So it is that Ederyn takes a deep breath and is the last to emerge from the carriage, squinting a little in the brighter light. At first he looks, not at the waiting people, but up at the Castle, taking advantage of the wider view to get a good look - but resisting the impulse to look deeper than the surface.

The Keep of the Castle is indeed pentagonal, with massive wooden, reinforced doors. The stone looks to be some sort of grey, strong granite. Even without a physical examination, Ederyn can tell that the joinings of the walls were painstakingly put together. There are no signs of recent damage, or battle on this side.

There is something spherical at the points of the pentagon, on the roof, but its difficult from this perspective to actually make out what they might be.

Ederyn's examination of the Castle is interrupted by Daniel's introductions.

"...and this is Kezia, Boaz and Cyrus of the Weir of Weirmonken." Daniel says, gesturing to the three Weir. Kezia bows her head, her male counterparts do not deign to do so.

Ederyn can hear Daniel let out a breath and continue. "And this is Ederyn Ericsen Smith, envoy of Norwend, and son of the late King Eric of Amber."

The look of surprise on the guards, and servant is one of shock.Even the carriage driver Henrik is somewhat stunned.

"Some words of your own?" Kezia says lowly, to Ederyn, in Weir.

Thus prompted, Ederyn nods slightly to the startled receiving group and

says, in his still heavily-accented Thari, "We're not expected, but we'd like to speak with King Random soon, if we may." His tone and expression are calm and serious, but not in any way hostile.

The guards and the servants remain stunned, but not so stunned as to not apparently listen closely to Ederyn's few words. The guard looks at the servants, who look at the guard

Finally, the elder of the servants, a matronly grey haired woman, waves a hand.

"I shall get someone with authority." she declares, and turns and heads toward the Castle. The three Weir's eyes follow her for a few moments as she heads off, leaving a younger male servant, and the guard.

"If you do not wish to wait in your carriage." the guard says. "I can see that you can wait in at least a modicum of comfort while we await word." His look and his gaze are solely directed at Ederyn.

"I can bide here a bit." the carriage driver says. "You've paid me well enough for the privilege, and I have to admit, this is most interesting."

Ederyn looks at him. "I am not here to be a, a thing for people to look at," he says in a matter-of-fact tone. "We will wait --" he glances back to the guard, "-- inside?"

"My orders under situations like this are to escort you to an exterior building to await word. Likely, your Highness." The guard seems to say that last word as if it were experimental "preliminary word will bring you within the keep, and into a sitting room while someone of authority makes a final decision."

And then at this point, the remaining servant turns, and a look of relief comes on her face. The matronly servant has returned, with a tall dark haired man following her.

(Casting Call: Chris Klein)

He stops a few paces away from Ederyn, Daniel and the Weir.

"Good morning!" he says enthusiastically "It's been a long time since we've had an emissary from Montenegro." He nods to Daniel as he says this. Daniel bows in return, from the waist.

He then looks at Kezia. "It's been a while since the Clans of the Weir have been seen in Amber, too." He then adds a few words of greeting, in Weir that sounds a little more polished than Ederyn's, but with clear signs of disuse in his speech.

Even with this halting effort, Kezia, Boaz and Cyrus look surprised. Kezia bows her head in response.

The man then turns to regard Ederyn. "And then there is you, Ederyn Smith I'm not terribly familiar with the name Norwend, but its your claimed heritage that's the real eye-opener of this party." Pollux grins.

"I'm Pollux, Admiral Gerard's son, and if you are Eric's son, then we are cousins." Pollux says, offering a hand to Ederyn.

The smith's reserved expression lightens noticeably at this friendly approach, and he takes the offered hand. "I'm pleased to meet you," he replies.

Pollux's grip is strong and while its clear to Ederyn that Pollux could make it a test of strength, he doesn't do so.

"I'm told my father had brothers and sisters, but I know not much about my cousins." With gentle curiosity, he adds, "Is it common for strangers to come here, and claim falsely to be your kin?"

"Come, let's talk inside. All of us." Pollux looks at the matronly

servant. "Go and find one of my aunts and uncles and tell them that I will be in the Iyca Room. Oh, and then get Michael to get us some refreshments." Pollux looks at Daniel, then the three Weir. "Going heavy on meat would be an exceedingly good idea."

Boaz grins widely at Pollux's words.

"Yes, milord." the matronly servant hurries in front of the group into the Castle.

Behind Edeyrn, with a slightly disappointed look, the carriage driver is already making preparations to pull away.

Fortunately, once the carriage departs, it is clear that while Ederyn and the guards were speaking, the baggage was unloaded and been left behind.

Servants, without prompting, move to collect these.

"Any road." Pollux says, leading Ederyn and the others into the Castle "The family is large, but you DO get strange claims of being related now and again, and they are not always legitimate. In fact, I am surprised we don't get more than we do."

The main hall is busy, as busy as any of the buildings of rulership Ederyn has seen in Turku, Montenegro, Norwend, or elsewhere. Servants act as if in a beehive, many of them giving at least perfunctory bows and curtseys in the direction of Pollux as they cross his path.

Ederyn looks around, quickly taking in everything from the dress and manner of the people to the materials and decoration of the castle overhead and underfoot.

The colors of the servants clothes tend toward green and gold (although a few have a few other colors. It's clear to Ederyn these might fall under some other sort of chain of command, perhaps. Gold leaf is a heavy accent in decorations and decor.

"For example." Pollux adds. "We did have someone in here very recently claiming to, assuming *your *claim is accurate, be your half-sister. She's no longer around, which makes us all wonder about the truth of what she said."

At the term "half-sister," Ederyn's full attention abruptly returns to Pollux. "Perhaps she changed her mind," he remarks after a moment, disappointed about the fact that whoever she was, she is already gone. "I've begun to see that a false claim would be a very foolish thing."

"I had a thought, when you mentioned the Admiral," Ederyn says next, turning to another subject of great interest to him. "Perhaps he knows something about the fire sphere things in the ocean that we ... met? No, ran in to, last night."

"Fire sphere things?" Pollux looks somewhat confused, although there is a slight undertone of dread.

"Tell me more. Where did you run into these things, Ederyn? In Amber or in shadow?"

Daniel, and the Weir say nothing, looking toward Ederyn to respond.

"Between Rebma and the harbor," Ederyn responds obligingly, but watching Pollux's response. "Almost in sight of the underwater city, and it was just at dark. The ship captain could map the place, I expect. And he will ask about it in the docks because we all want to know why, and who, and so on.

"They were hollow spheres of iron, with sharp points on them. They floated just at the water's top, and I would think they were tied to the sea bottom with chains. Inside them was fire, and when the ship hit one it broke and spilled the fire. And put a hole in the ship." He seems about to stop there, but then thinks better of leaving off the part about how they survived. These folk are not likely to nervous about magic, after all. "I lifted the fire off the ship, or it would have burned it all. There was sorcery in it, I expect to make sure of that. The hole is not big enough to sink the ship if that was all that happened."

He concludes, "The group of things was about three ship lengths wide and twelve long. Set apart, I think so they would not break each other, but very many."

Daniel and Kezia both give nods as Ederyn finishes.

"Mines." Pollux says ,a few moments after Ederyn finishes. "Mines. Near Rebma." He exhales a breath. "I'm going to have to see that is investigated, Ederyn. Not the way I wanted to start this morning. And not the most pleasant of ways to introduce you and your party to Amber, either, I bet."

Ederyn nods in agreement, a gleam in his eye and a twist of his lips suggesting that he would like to have an unpleasant conversation with the person responsible for the mines.

Pollux pulls out what looks like a large, oversized deck of cards. Both Daniel and Kezia look on with wonder, Boaz and Cyrus with more pallid curiosity. "If you will excuse me for a moment, I am going to pass the buck on you, and put you into good hands while I get a hold of my brother and father and take a look at what you've reported."

"I don't suppose." he adds "you are familiar with Trump, are you?"

"No. What is it?"

"These are trump." Pollux says, putting the deck on the table. They appear to be similar to playing cards he has seen, except oversized, and depicting people, rather than symbols.

"There are stories of these, that...King Eric of Amber used." Kezia says.

"Yes" Daniel agrees. "Stories in Montenegro, too, of a type of magic that involved peculiar playing cards."

"Trumps are a power of communication." Pollux says. "The first were drawn by the old wizard Dworkin, who served King Oberon. Other artists in the family make them today. Here, while I go and call Cas and Asteria, I'll show you my own. One of my own, anyway."

He shuffles out a card and places it on the table while he returns to shuffling the deck.

The card depicts an office, somewhere.. A window looks out onto an inner courtyard, bounded by a sheltered walkway, lined with elegant columns.. In front of the window is a high desk of oak, and sitting behind the desk in a armed chair of the same wood is Pollux. His sits, with his hands already with a pen in hand and paper at the ready, as if he will take notes on what you have to say or ask him.

The card, if Ederyn dares to touch it, is strangely cool to the touch.

Ederyn spares a moment to admire the exquisite artwork, picking up the card to examine it more closely. The coolness makes him rub his thumb along the card's edge, testing the sensation. Then he tries looking at it with mage sight.

As Ederyn studies the artwork, out of the corner of his eye, he can see Pollux shake his head slightly, as if trying to ward off a flying insect of some kind.

The sensation keeps that coolness. A look at Mage sight shows that the card has a low level of a power completely unfamiliar to his sight. It's power, but its not sorcery. It seems to be a property of the card itself.

Pollux is staring at one of the other cards from the deck in his hand. He looks deeply into it. This card is infused with even more of the power, however, or whatever Pollux is doing with it seems to be invoking that power that Ederyn saw within the card.

Finally, Pollux takes a pace back from the group.

"Thank you, Asteria." Pollux says, and looks at Ederyn and Daniel.

"Any more questions for me before I bring your hostess through and take my leave to investigate the matter of the Mines?"

"Bring through?" Ederyn repeats, then absorbs the implications quickly enough to answer the question. "No, thank you, Cousin. I hope you learn much about the mines." And he watches alertly, to observe the effects of using the Trump this way.

"Oh, I am sure that my brother and my father will want to interview you further at some point." Pollux waves a hand.

And then, she appears. From out of the card, in a cascade of rainbow light steps a blond haired woman. Dressed in an elegant green dress, her eyes scan the room as the rainbows fade. Ederyn can see that the power level of the trump spiked as she stepped through, and then dropped off back to the card ambient level once she was in the room.

Where is the power coming from? he wonders. The user of the card, or some other source?

"They *can* come through pictures." Daniel murmurs, low.

Eyes focus on Ederyn as Pollux speaks and gestures toward each of the people in the room in turn.

"Asteria, as I explained, this is Ederyn, along with Daniel Poole of Montenegro, Kezia, Cyrus and Boaz of the Weir."

"Lady and gentlemen." Pollux says. "May I introduce the Princess Asteria of Amber, daughter of Royal Princess Florimel. And, thanks to the extremely pressing matter you have saddled me with, your hostess for the time being. Asteria, I'll take care of that other matter on my way to see Cas."

Asteria nods, offers Pollux a bright smile. She then comes forward

and offers her hands toward Ederyn. "A pleasure to meet you, Ederyn."

Ederyn is still holding Pollux's Trump; he offers it back to its owner before gently taking Asteria's hand. "And it is a pleasure to meet you," he answers.

Pollux waves off Ederyn's hand.

"Keep it, Ederyn. I needed an excuse to get Hadrian to make me some new ones. And if you *are* family, you are going to need a set. So I will be the first card in your deck."

"Thank you," Ederyn says. For the moment, though, he puts the card back on the table so he can greet Asteria.

"I am delighted to meet you and your friends, Ederyn." Asteria replies. Her grip is surprisingly strong compared to women Ederyn has met, outside of Norwend (with the exception of Kezia).

Pollux bobs his head, and leaves the room.

"Pollux only told me the basics, or perhaps the little he knew." Asteria alights on a chair. Slight head movements allow Ederyn to see that she gives polite attention to Daniel, the Weir, and Ederyn.

The smith also takes a seat near the table, so as not to loom over the lady.

"If I have this correctly, we have a request to reestablish diplomatic ties with one of our old Golden Circle trading partners." Asteria indicates Daniel.

"Yes, milady Princess." Daniel replies.

"Well, besides his Majesty, there are two people to talk to regarding such a thing. One of them just left the room like one of his father's ships. And the other is myself."

"And you..." Asteria smiles to Ederyn. "You are here to make a formal claim of your birthright as Eric's son, Ederyn? Especially since you decided to bring three of Eric's Weir vassals with you?"

He takes an instant to parse the term she used, then replies seriously, "They are my 'vass-alss' now; they believe it right to stand by me. I know not what this means to you."

"They are yours, and are under your aegis for ill or will." Asteria says. "You are responsible for their conduct."

Ederyn studies Asteria's face, or perhaps her other question, for a longer moment. "I'm here for more than one reason," he finally informs her. "I am an envoy from my cousin King Aren of Norwend, Eswel, and Dannisklund, to King Random." He rummages in his belt pouch and brings out the folded and sealed letter, holding it ready to give to her if she wishes.

"I have rank and position to accept this." Asteria says, taking the letter. She does not immediately open it, continuing to listen to Ederyn instead.

"Then my other reason," Ederyn goes on, "is to learn about my father and his kin." He pauses, his gaze flicking to Kezia and Daniel, then back to Asteria. "About this 'birthright' ... please understand, by the ways of my people, my mother's people, it would be wordlessly - no, un-speak-ably,

rude* to visit a court, or even a house, and say, 'I want this thing or

that thing.'" And indeed, he looks uncomfortable and reluctant as he goes on, "But I'm interested to know what a kinsman's rights are, to you. They might be - that is, I know they are different in at least one way from what they are in Norwend."

Asteria studies Ederyn for a moment.

"Well, to be kin to me, to be a member of the Royal Family of Amber is privilege and responsibility, in equal doses." Asteria says. "It means you are a Prince in this family, with the rights of a Prince of this land. A residence within the Castle. Responsibility to this kingdom and its King, although many of the family have interests, shadows far away from here."

Asteria stops for a moment and looks seriously at Ederyn before her words continue. "Most importantly, it means being eligible for your birthright, as a descendant of Oberon, to walk the Pattern, to be a scion of Order."

"Which, really is the crux of the matter, Ederyn. Only members of the family can be initiated into its power and survive the experience. It's the acid test to prove beyond sworn statements and testimony that you are indeed kin to us."

"Those not born here come to know of their family claim in different ways." Asteria says. "How was it for you?"

When Asteria openly refers to the Pattern and his eligibility, Ederyn relaxes noticeably - although he had not seemed particularly tense before. "In the beginning," he replies, with a little more warmth, "we knew only what my father said, that he was a son of King Oberon of Amber, and that Amber was very far away. No one could ask him more, because he left Drengrheim, that is our town, after only a few days, and never returned." He pauses, then with an undefinable mix of feelings remarks, "Sometimes I want to know if he ever knew that I exist."

"I know someone who might know that." Asteria says, softly.

Taking a deeper breath than he really needs, Ederyn goes on, "In time, we understood that he was ... of a different kind, because I should have grown old and died long ago. After some time I looked for the alfár - you call them the fae - and a seer told me that my father Eric was not one of them. Also that Amber was in another world, that some call the center of all worlds, and that there was no path from my world to Amber." He frowns distractedly for a moment. "And that if I waited, a path to Amber would open for me."

Asteria rubs her left thumb against her right as she watches and listens.

"So," he continues, "I waited. There was the great storm, the Montenegrans found Norwend, and they spoke of the Golden Circle and of Amber, which led straight on to talk of me. And they told us my father had died in battle." He pauses once more, recalling his shock and dismay at that news.

Asteria gives a nod, and a look of comfort.

"I had already enough proof for myself, from my father's words and the seer, but I got more along the way here." Ederyn shrugs, as if disclaiming any responsibility for Fate's taking an interest in him. "A storm pushed our ship onto the beach in Weirmonken. There, I learned that both the Weir and the fae of that place had received prophecies that the son of Eric would arrive, but knowing nothing of them. And so it was.

Asteria flickers her gaze toward the Weir at these words, but her inattention on Ederyn is very brief.

"Last, once we reached the bay and I looked at this city with the other sight, I could see the Pattern's power. Then, because I was tired from watching all night, I slept in the carriage, and I dreamed of it. Or it caused me to dream of it." He looks a little embarrassed. "Truly, I know better than to accept invitations from strange powers, but ... I knew not that to begin, was also to need to finish. Then I talked with it a while, and then made this." He reaches into his belt pouch again; the diamond comes to his hand and he brings it out.

And since he's showing it off now, he should know more about its properties; so he finally looks at it with mage sight.

"You walked the Pattern in a dream, and conversed with it..." Asteria's voice is a little distorted, hard to hear in the intensity of studying the diamond with his senses. Too, Ederyn is dimly aware that Daniel has said words, too.

The diamond pulses and shines under the intensity of his gaze. It is the source of all that is light, that is right, and that is real. Inside of the diamond, is a line, a twisted line that runs from one of the edges, and after an oval, twisting path, ends in the center.

The line is in the shape of the Pattern. Somehow, this diamond is a reflection, a piece, a child of the Pattern he walked in his mind. Or perhaps of the Pattern underneath this castle.

He blinks and cuts off his mage sight before he can get even further drawn

in. "It was a surprise to me," he says to Asteria, hoping to cover his moments of inattention.

"Indeed." Asteria says. Whatever she was saying while Ederyn was delving into the diamond is lost, unknown. "You know, Ederyn, if I might offer a piece of sisterly advice..."

"You might now want to broadcast this event that you had too widely,

yet." Asteria continues. "Family politics will sweep you up even faster than normal if word gets out that you have had not only conversations with the Pattern, but, seemingly, gaining boons from it as well."

An faint look of distaste crosses Ederyn's face at the mention of family politics. The rest of her statement, however, leaves him perplexed. "Boons?"

"Favors," Daniel murmurs.

Ederyn gives him a slight nod of thanks, but looks no less puzzled. "I'm not sure I understand you," he tells Asteria, a phrase that sounds like he's had to use it quite a few times. "What favors, besides it noticing me at all?"

"That, in particular is what I was thinking of." Asteria says. "If I had to make a guess, you're a arcane forger of some sort, to make that diamond as you did. To use Pattern energy in that way is special." she says.

"It's in my name," he replies. "Ederyn Smith."

"Ah" Asteria adds, with a look of enlightenment. "You come from a culture where names designate professions."

"However, for you to converse with the Pattern is extra special." Asteria adds. "It has not been entirely common for the Pattern to make its sentience known, even to members of the Family. For you, to have not even walked the design and yet had a clearly real experience..." She gestures toward the diamond with elegant fingers.

"May I, cousin?" she asks.

He starts to move, then stops, surprised by a deep reluctance to let the gem go out of his hands. He hesitates, looking at it, then masters the feeling and slowly hands it over.

His gaze stays more on it than on Asteria as he says, "I cannot see much of this as 'special.' The power expected to be used for movement, but it was not hard to turn it a different way. And the Pattern said that not everyone thinks to try speaking with it, which is all I did. Perhaps those who are familiar with it have habits, which I have not because I know so little of it."

Asteria holds it in her palm, glancing at it and Ederyn alternately as he speaks.

"Pattern Energy is not easy to wield, Ederyn, from what I have been told." Asteria says. "And for someone who has not yet walked the Pattern to do so suggests that you have a most extraordinary affinity for it."

"Cannot others in the Amber Royal Family do as Ederyn did?" Daniel asks. "The stories of the Royal Family of Amber still resonate in Montenegro." At these words, Kezia nods in agreement.

"Some are more skilled in such matters than others." Asteria says. "And if Lorius, or his mother, Fiona or Sand or Delwin could do these things before they ever walked the Pattern, they kept it quiet and off the record."

"This diamond." Asteria says, offering it back to Ederyn "is a golden ticket, Ederyn. Convincing evidence that your claim is true. I do want to ask you one favor, though, Ederyn."

"When you walk the Pattern...I would like to be a witness."

Ederyn takes the gem and closes his fingers over it. "All right," he says to Asteria's request, a little uncertainly, as he is not sure why she would want to watch.

"Thank you."Asteria replies with a smile.

"From what you say, I must believe this thing, this event, is not usual," he remarks. "I have an idea toward why it seems easy to me: I have a strong feeling - an affinity? - for Earth, and use it in my work always. And the Pattern is part of the Earth here. It is different, yes, but perhaps similar enough, for me."

"The Pattern is in the basement below us." Asteria taps the floor with her toe. "As far as this talk of Elemental affinities, you are talking to the wrong cousin, I am afraid. I know only a few theoretical basics from my brother, and his sorcery doesn't follow such methods. At least, I don't think that it does."

"I'm sure Aunt Fiona or cousin Lorius would love to talk you endlessly about such matters." she adds.

Ederyn somehow looks both interested and apprehensive. "I hope to meet

them," he says. And after a moment, "Is there anything else you need to know?"

Asteria laughs musically. "At the moment, no. I suppose what remains now is to see to quarters for the envoys from Montenegro, and yourself and your companions, and then see about getting you time to talk with Uncle Random, his Majesty."

"If you are ready of course." Asteria says. "Its not a full Court day, no pressing rush, more luck for you all that way."

Ederyn shrugs slightly. "Nothing difficult ever became less so for delaying it," he says. "I would say the sooner, the better."

"What is required in getting quarters assigned to us?" Daniel asks.

"A talk with the most important person in the Castle who isn't a member of the royal family. The Chamberlain, Lord Henden."

"Coming?" she gives Ederyn a smile. She strides to the door, opens it and waits for Ederyn and his companions to walk out with her.

Ederyn follows willingly, putting the diamond away as he does so.

Asteria moves ahead, changing her gait that Ederyn might walk alongside her.

"So if you came here from Montenegro and Weirmonken, you've seen a fair swath of the Golden Circle to get here by ship, Ederyn Even if it was probably a whirlwind tour. What did you think?"

The smith considers how to answer the question, even as he continues adding to his mental map of this vast building. "I dislike travel by water," he finally says, "so my opinions of different oceans are worth little."

Asteria smiles.

Ederyn goes on, "I think these realms - shadows - near Amber are bigger than I can imagine. That there are numberless more of them, as I have been told ..." He shakes his head.

"A question for you," Ederyn says next. "How many cousins are there?"

"Now, that, Ederyn." Asteria says. "is actually a very good question. You can imagine that with a long lived family, wandering those numberless shadows, that the family is large. Only relative infertility keeps the Amber Royal Family from being countless in number."

"I'll do better than just a number for you." Asteria smiles.

"Let's see. There's Rylan, Finndo's son. Noys, Eric's daughter. If I am right, Krysta is his daughter, too, much older though. Corwin has Triton, and --"

"Wait," Ederyn interrupts, nearly coming to a halt in the corridor. "I have

sisters here?" His expression is contained and hard to read.

"You have one confirmed sister, Noys." Asteria says. "You should definitely meet her."

"Yes," Ederyn agrees.

"You'll like her. Good head on her shoulders." Asteria says. "She actually didn't get to see much of her Father. He kept her a secret that few were told and only a couple more ferreted out. Eric was afraid of her being used as a pawn against him. She came to the Castle during the Regency."

"Krysta, now, is named as a Princess of Amber, but her heritage is not clear due to how old she is. I've just guessed she's Eric's based on some clues and conversations."

"There was another woman, a Chaosian, who claimed descent from Eric, but she departed before her claims could be verified or rejected."

"Now where was I?" Asteria temporizes.

"Right Corwin. Corwin has three children, Merlin, Alais, and Angelique. Deirdre has Percival and Aura. Aura stays away from the Castle most of the time, not much known about he. I suppose that Hideo counts, too. Didn't catch if he was Arawn or Xavier's. Aunt Fiona has Lorius, Shannon, and Brandeigh. Bleys has Helias. Brand has Rinaldo...and Rinaldo has Dagny. Brand's got Kyle, too."

"LLewella has Tina Caine has Cyllene...and oh, yes, Swan. You won't find much information on her, either." Asteria smiles. Gerard's got the twins, Cas and Pol. You met Pol already. He also has Hadrian and Torri."

"Uncle Julian has Carl and Brieanne. If you had come by land instead of sea, its certain you would have run into one of the three of them in Arden. Sand has Jayson. Delwin has Oliver.My mother has myself, of course, and my brother William. Pity you just missed him. The King himself has two children before he became king--Martin and Dulcinea. Abast has Astin.Improbably, that idiot Dalt has Larissa and Antar."

"There are a couple of odd balls who don't quite fit in the family. Bhangbadea. Valerian technically counts even if his common descent runs all the way back to Oberon's sister. Malachi might be one of us too. Minh is definitely one of us, too. Clarissa claimed to be Mirelle's."

"There are a couple of Chaosians who might be technically cousins, but I won't count them. For one thing, an accurate count is not known to me."

"And that's it, all told, that I know of." Asteria says. "You would be cousin number 41, Ederyn."

"And here I thought the story was Nine Princes in Amber." Daniel comments.

"That was ... twenty children of Oberon?" Ederyn says, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Well, I left off a couple without children." Asteria says. "Benedict, he does have a descendant, Dara...that's Merlin's Mom. I didn't count her as a cousin though. Chaosians." Asteria rolls her eyes slightly.

"There's Coral, don't know if she has any children, she's pretty young. Oh, and Osric. Benedict and Finndo's full brother. No known descendants."

"Twenty three children of Oberon." Asteria says brightly. " I don't know his sister's family, mostly dead now, well enough to recount them. You'd have to ask Valerian about that."

"I think this branch is enough to go on with," Ederyn replies, with a trace of humor that has to be read in his voice and eyes.

"I am glad that we are not that fecund." Asteria says "With the long natural lifespan that the Family has, if we weren't relatively infertile, we would number in the thousands."

Daniel shakes his head in disbelief. "A hundred is enough to keep track of." He looks at Ederyn. "You may wish to hire a secretary to keep track of this family for you."

The smith's response to this sally is just a glance and a short sigh. Whether that reaction is to the idea of a secretary, of needing one for such a purpose, or something else is not at all clear.

Ederyn's thoughts, and his observations, carry him for the balance of the passage through the corridors led by Asteria. The corridors have become smaller, more warren like, and have increased in the number of servants of all kinds. Maids, pages, and servants of unknown provenance pass by Ederyn and his band in the hall, all of them showing respect to Asteria by either bowing, curtsying, or at the bare minimum, bowing their heads.

Finally, Asteria leads the group to a door and she knocks upon it, a dainty but distinctive cadence to the knock.

"Come in, Princess Asteria" comes the voice behind the door. Asteria opens the door to reveal a room dominated by papers. Scrolls, folios, tomes and other paperwork fill nearly every free space. In the center of the room, behind a table covered with papers and a pen, is a dark haired man, dressed richly.

"Good morning, Lord Henden." Asteria says, moving inside to allow Ederyn, Daniel and the Weir to see, and finally enter the room.

The smith mostly ignores the clutter, giving his attention to the office's occupant.

Henden looks at Asteria, and then glances at Ederyn, Daniel and the Weir in turn. He takes a moment, and then seems to make a decision, focusing his gaze on Ederyn.

"Well, go ahead and introduce yourselves" Lord Henden says. "Or would you prefer Princess Flora's daughter to speak for you? That would not necessarily be unwise."

Ederyn tilts his head very slightly forward, studying the man with a lively, almost amused, intensity, and looking even more like Eric than usual. But a moment later that effect is disrupted by his accent. "I take your advice, Lord Henden," he says, and nods to Asteria. "If you would, please?"

"A wise man, Princess Asteria." Lord Henden says.

Asteria nods. "Evidently, Lord Henden."

"This is Lord Henden, Chamberlain of Castle Amber, given his rank by King Oberon for his service at the Battle of Ahnenhoon against the Inyx."

"Lord Henden, may I introduce an embassy from the Golden Circle Circle of Montenegro, Daniel Poole."

Daniel bows at this.

"Finally." Asteria continues. "Let me introduce Ederyn Smith, who has come to Amber as envoy from a shadow adjacent to Montenegro, and also to claim his birthright as the son of the late King Eric. As such, he has brought three of the Weir of Weirmonken as his vassals. These are Kezia, Cyrus and Boaz."

She bows, and then the two male Weir bow as well.

For his part, Ederyn only nods with what he believes is sufficient respect.

Henden regards the group with a calculated look, and then spends the next minute gathering papers.

"Very well. The matter of Montenegro and the re-establishment of an Embassy here is an extremely simple one, since the Treaty remains intact. I presume you will wish the traditional quarters for the Montenegro delegation?" he says to Daniel.

"Yes, sir, that will be fine." Daniel manages before Henden indicates a few pieces of paper and a quill pen. Daniel looks at this for a moment

"As far as Ederyn Smith and his vassals..." Henden continues. "We'll arrange temporary quarters here on the first floor for you and your companions. As far as the matter of your birthright, that would be a matter for his Majesty to take up. You will want to see him as soon as possible, I suppose?" Henden says, offering a piece of paper and another quill and inkpot in Ederyn's direction.

"Yes," Ederyn replies, making no move to take the offered objects. "And you

will have to tell me what that paper says, please."

Daniel and the Weir say nothing; Asteria watches Ederyn.

"It says what is written..." Henden looks genuinely puzzled. "You mean..." He stops and then starts again.. "Ederyn of Norwend, am I to understand that you are illiterate? Or do you need it written in another language?"

"There's not much use of reading and writing in Norwend," Ederyn says. "I've never needed the skills." He sounds a bit like he's being tolerant of someone who takes his hobby a little too seriously.

"An oral culture." Henden says. "Well, we have some treaties and dealings with merfolk, who do not read and write because of the problems of doing so underwater. In that case, we'd need a known witness of good character to read the document to you and sign for you." His eyes focus on Asteria.

She does not miss a beat.

"I would be delighted to aid my potential cousin in this." Asteria says, turning toward Ederyn.

She picks up the document, looks it over and then looks toward Ederyn again. In the meantime, Daniel has returned to looking at his own set of documents.

"The document is a written form of the request for temporary quarters

here in Castle Amber pending your petition to the Royal Family." Asteria says. "it acknowledges, too, that you are personally responsible for the conduct of any servants, vassals, pack animals, and riding animals while you are in residence in the Castle." she explains.

"I agree with that. To that," Ederyn says.

"Good!" Asteria says. She takes the pen, nods to Ederyn, and then writes on the document in an elegant, practiced motion. Even if Ederyn cannot read what she wrote, the artistry of it is unmistakable.

"I have signed the document, 'Princess Asteria, on behalf of Ederyn Smith" Asteria explains to Ederyn.

Ederyn nods.

"That will suit." Henden says.He watches Ederyn, Asteria and the Weir. In the meantime, he is reaching for the other document which Daniel has apparently finished reading, and has signed.

The smith waits patiently to be told what the next step is.

Henden looks over both signed documents for a moment. He opens a drawer in the bottom of his desk, and produces two keys. One is a small gold key, glittering in the light, small and delicate. The other is a large iron key, with an almost menacing appearance. The former key he hands to Daniel, while the latter he pushes toward Ederyn.

The smith picks it up and examines it curiously.

It feels a little weighty in his hand...much more than an equivalent mass of iron should. It doesn't appear overly alloyed with some denser metal, either.

"The Montenegran suite is yours, and I will inform his majesty about the resumption of your post. No doubt he will want to meet with you, or perhaps have Prince Pollux do so, to talk about the details of the treaty."

"Thank you." Daniel replies sincerely.

"As for you, good sir." Henden says to Ederyn. "The traditional rooms that King Eric used to host parties of the Weir are, I think, the best place to place you and your companions." He gives Kezia, Cyrus and Boaz a speculative look. "It's called the Ruby Guest Suite."

The name pleases Ederyn, and he smiles.

"Princess...if you could show the parties where their rooms are, I would be grateful for your touch and help." Henden says.

"Of course" Asteria replies. She turns toward Ederyn. "Shall we?" she says.

"Yes. Thank you, Lord Henden," he says, nodding respectfully (but not

submissively) to the Chamberlain again.

"Come" Asteria urges, and with a nod to Henden, leads Ederyn, Daniel and the Weir out of the office and back into the hallway. She closes the door to the office and proceeds to lead the group, wordlessly, down the hall a fair distance before, slowing, stopping, and turning around.

"Where to first? The soon-to-be-newly-official-Ambassador's suite, or yours?" Asteria says.

"I am not officially the Ambassador yet?" Daniel asks.

"No." Asteria says. "Not until your credentials are presented to the King. So it is really a formality at this point. As for you..." she turns, smiling, to Ederyn "You wouldn't be an official ambassador from Norwend, only an envoy, given your petition for family status."

"It is a little awkward," Ederyn agrees. "Let us go to the place that is closer, first."

"That would actually be the Montengero suite." Asteria says. "Come"

Without further ado, Asteria leads the group through another set of corridors, ending in a doorway along one of the smaller side halls. Daniel tries the key in the door, and opens it to find a spacious suite. There is only one small window, but the light allows a brass globe on a stand to gleam in the shaft of light. The workmanship is identical to such things that Ederyn saw when he was in the Ducal court in Montenegro.

"Your possessions will be delivered here soon." Asteria says.

"I should remain here for now and await them" Daniel says, looking to Ederyn. "Although I admit to frank curiosity as to the Ruby Suite..." he glances at Ederyn almost hopefully.

One corner of Ederyn's mouth quirks into a smile. "Surely your things can look after themselves for a time," he says.

Daniel glances at the quarters, glances at the Princess and glances at Ederyn, "I suppose that I should trust the servants of the Castle to deliver the items in a timely manner."

"Of course! You should listen to Ederyn." Asteria says. "Come."

Asteria's route between the two rooms is, fortunately, not especially complicated. It is not particularly long, either, although Ederyn's attention to detail and the route will serve in good stead.

One thing Ederyn does notice, and can make use of, is the prevalence of works of art. Statuary, tapestries, and paintings serve as landmarks as well as decoration. Ederyn discovers a tapestry depicting the city framed by sunset over the mountains and forest to the west, a painting depicting the Castle as seen from that winding road, and, carved in wood, a polished and lacquered model of the city of Amber on a short marble column.

Finally, Asteria leads Ederyn to an imposing iron door, painted in gold and green, except for a black circle that has a dot, a mote of red within it, off center to the right and above the center.

"The late king did not really have a symbol as some of us do." Asteria says. "Although Noys might be the person to talk to about that. But this symbol has served in its absence."

Ederyn studies the circle, brow slightly furrowed, as if he can wrest - or actually is wresting - some meaning from the abstract shape.

"Hmm" Kezia says, aloud. "I expected a wolf's head."

"Colors, you will find are a key mark for members of the Family." Asteria says, gesturing for Ederyn to open the door.

Instead he lifts his hand, still holding the key, and touches his forefinger to the red-on-black point on the door. He's not familiar with all the earth-based pigments in the paint, but he knows the 'voice' of iron very well indeed.

The exploratory contact comes easily, very easily. The iron almost seems eager to speak to Ederyn, if the worker of Metal will deign to speak to him. Ederyn can get a few other details in the exploratory contact. The iron is from nearby, somewhere in Amber, given its resonances, and was wrought into this doorlike shape a very long time ago...hundreds of years ago, in fact.

To learn more would require a deeper contact than Ederyn is probably willing to risk.

The Weir and Daniel are silent and still. Asteria leans to stare at the junction between Ederyn's finger and the door, watching curiously.

Regretfully, the smith lets the door know that he'll get back to it later. Then he withdraws from the contact, mentally and physically, and applies himself to unlocking and opening the door.

As the door swings open, he glances through for a moment; then he walks inside far enough that the others can follow him, and looks around more carefully.

The room is lit by a sphere hanging from the center of the room, casting a yellow-tinted light. This reveals that the open plan room, divided by a partition that divide it into two parts, is furnished in a spartan fashion. There are a few chairs, made of a sweet smelling cedar, painted red, a single round table, and precious little other furnishings in the centre area.. Visible past the partition is a set of five beds, made of the same cedar, arranged in a row. There is also a closed door on the far side of the open room from the partition.

A rug, composed of that same design as on the door, covers most of the floor.

"It is too spartan for my tastes." Asteria says, looking around.

"There is at least some room to stretch ones legs in here. I had feared something like the ship" Kezia counters.

"Room" Boaz agrees with a growl. His counterpart says, nothing, raising his head and sniffing.

"Something like a barracks, Ederyn." Daniel says.

"A what?" the smith answers absently. While the others talked, he has wandered further into the room, and now pauses with one hand resting on the back of a chair. A chair his father might have sat in, if he ever visited the Weir here. In a space marked with his father's own odd choice of symbol. This is probably the closest he has ever been to the stranger responsible for his existence, and he is not sure what he feels about it.

"I thought you had gotten a tour of them while you were in Montenegro." Daniel says. "Barracks are quarters for soldiers. These look like barracks for soldiers under the aegis of your father. Weir soldiers to be precise."

Ederyn drags his thoughts back from their wanderings. "Ah, yes, I remember now," he says, as of something he'd paid little attention to until now.

"The history of the end of Oberon's reign, your father's reign and the Patternfall War are still being written." Asteria says. "However, your father did have Weir based here, a move some in the family felt uncomfortable. Their loyalty to your father was unshakable."

"As it should be." Kezia says. "King Eric was our Jarl then, as Ederyn is ours now."

"Jarl?" Asteria inquires.

"Jarl of the Clans of the Weir," Ederyn elaborates. "Responsible, they tell me, for things between the clans or outside them."

Asteria looks slightly relieved. "I had worried that it was some sort of military title. A warleader, a general, Lord Protector of some kind. A title indicating that you were to lead the Weir to war."

"The Jarl would naturally handle such matters as well" Kezia says with not a small touch of pride.

"But not soon or often, I hope," Ederyn adds with resignation. "My life has not prepared me for such work."

"Why was this to worry about?" he asks.

Asteria shakes her head. "You are clearly new to politics, Ederyn." She looks around and makes an elegant gesture with her hand, a request to sit down.

He nods agreement in response, but remains standing himself, watching her attentively.

"It's relatively simple, and perhaps an analogy to your shadow might work. If you came to see your king with a force of men at your back, and they proclaimed you as their warleader and commander, and bound in fealty to you alone, how would the King feel about their presence. Or the fact that you suddenly had gained an armed force not answerable to him?"

Ederyn looks bemused. "You speak, cousin, as if all in this story are too stubborn or stupid to ask questions and hear answers," he says. "I know that I sought not this duty; that you can see, at this moment, the Weir I know. I bring no war to King Random or his kingdom. I will gladly swear this is so; and maybe more, though I'm not sure what trust to give here in this place."

He considers her expression for a moment. "I know not what kind of men you are used to in Amber," he concludes, his tone markedly cooler. "But my word binds me forever."

Asteria considers this, and gives a nod. "Well, once the matter of your paternity and membership in this family are established, that will be the Oath Uncle Random wants and needs. As to answer your question, I do not wish to offend you, or your companions here...'" she gestures toward the Weir."

"This is a matter of history again, Ederyn. Your father crowned himself king, after a long period of absence by our grandfather. True, he had convinced some of the family to support him, my mother chief amongst them, and made others neutral. On the other hand, he did have an armed force, answerable only to him, too, to support his bid." "The Clans of the Weir" Kezia says. "The Clans" Asteria says, looking toward Ederyn. "Now do you understand why I asked what I did? And why others will do so with perhaps a less than positive light?"

The smith does look enlightened, and his irritation forgotten, early in Asteria's explanation. "Indeed," he says, and pauses for thought, frowning a little.

"I'm not sure I would choose - have chosen - differently, if I had known this," he muses. "And it is too late now to turn back, which is not my desire at all, anyway." He shrugs, his eyes gravely meeting his cousin's. "But the only influence I have on others' thoughts is my words and my deeds. We will have to see if that, and time, will be enough.

"And if not," he concludes, "Perhaps a few blows will serve instead. It's a long time since I had to knock a man down to open his ears, but I think I remember how."

"We can only ever go forward, cousin." Asteria says. "Going backward is ill advised, even when it is possible." The blue eyes from the woman look over Ederyn, studying him, regarding him. She rises from the chair she had selected and walks over to Ederyn, standing close to him.

He almost steps away when she moves into his personal space, and he turns only partly toward her. As he hasn't moved from near the chair, she must stand more or less at his elbow.

"And yes, it is true that your words and deeds will count more than strength of arms, although the latter should never be permanently placed to the side. However, you should choose your allies and friends carefully here, Ederyn."

"No one in this family is ever who they exactly appear to be." Asteria adds. "Not his Majesty the King, not the Queen, not any of your uncles and aunts and cousins. Not even I."

"Would you include Ederyn in that statement, Princess?" Daniel asks.

"Too early to tell." Asteria says, turning her head to look up at Ederyn's eyes. "But I will enjoy finding out."

Ederyn hears a soft change in Kezia's breathing, perhaps a tenth of the way toward something malevolent.

He returns Asteria's gaze with an expression gone distant again. "What man - or woman - shows the same face to every one?"

Asteria draws back slightly, giving Ederyn a little more space, and regards him again, more carefully this time. Her gaze briefly flickers toward Kezia but she returns her attention fully on Ederyn.

His posture definitely relaxes a little when she moves away.

"There are people like that." she counters. "I find them rather dull on the one hand, and dangerous on the other. People who are so simple and uncomplicated do not understand nuance, and given power and opportunity, tend to abuse it."

"A point," Ederyn says, thoughtful. "But these are, I think, rare people." He gives a slight, wry smile. "And I'm not one of them. Quiet, yes; simple, no."

"Even the stillest and plainest pond has hidden depths, if one knows where to look for them" Asteria replies. "And, I would not be so foolish as to make a snap judgement of you to deem you simple."

Kezia gives an approving nod of the head at Asteria's judgement.

For his part, Ederyn seems mildly pleased.

"So if you are satisfied with your quarters, we can lead your companion back to his room, or you might take your leisure, or I might get even more out of the bargain with cousin Pollux and introduce you around to whomever we can find. You haven't met any of the Elders yet, have you?"

"No. But what I most want right now," he says in an apologetic tone, "is a bath. And perhaps the food Pollux sent for."

"And ... if I'm going to be careful, as you say, Cousin," Ederyn continues,

"perhaps I should meet the King first of all."

Asteria favors Ederyn with a smile that a master blacksmith might favor an apprentice who has turned out a suitable piece of work.

"If you will excuse me cousin, I will see that the food cousin Pollux has ordered is delivered here, to these rooms. This will give you time to settle in, draw a bath and speak with your companions in relative privacy in the meantime. Afterward...perhaps I can convince Uncle Random to see you sooner rather than later. You would appreciate such a courtesy, oui?"

"I would, thank you," he says. And hesitates, his eyes showing a trace of uncertainty and worry, before adding, "This has been going well, so far. Thanks to you and Pollux."

Asteria takes a half step toward Ederyn, not close enough, though, to intrude on Ederyn's personal space. She raises a hand as if in greeting.

"We're your natural allies." she says. "As are a few others. And it seems that unless something strange has occurred, its fairly easy to see that, based on what you have said and done, that you are family."

"I will see you soon" Asteria promises.

He seems somewhat reassured, though her assertion about natural allies raises another array of questions in his mind. "I thank you," he says again, setting himself to endure more waiting for answers.

"Ambassador" she says to Daniel. "Lady and Lords of the Weir" she adds to Boaz, Cyrus and Kezia.

Unless Ederyn has anything further to say, Asteria then departs.

He watches her go, a little surprised at how empty the room seems with her gone. Then he sighs and reaches up to unhook the heavy gold torc from around his neck. "So, we must stay here until sent for," he says. As he moves to put the object down on the table, his gaze falls on the Montenegran. "Except for you, Daniel."

"Hmm" Daniel says. "I could go to see to my quarters.It would give you privacy for you and your vassals. Although if I leave, who knows how I will get any refreshments."

"Do diplomats, human diplomats, from your country always think with their bellies?' Kezia asks.

"Sometimes, Kezia" Daniel replies. "Breaking bread and sharing drink are important in establishing relations. To eat with someone is to show trust in them. Is this not true of the Weir?"

"We hunt together to show trust" Kezia says. She then looks at Ederyn. "How is it amongst the people of your land?"

"Sharing food, and visiting," Ederyn replies, carefully draping his red silk cape (formerly attached to the gold torc) over the back of a chair. "Stay if you wish," he tells Daniel. "I intend to bathe, and then ... I'm not sure."

"WE shall remain here" Kezia says.

"I shall remain for the moment. I don't wish to become lost in this castle." Daniel says "And expose myself by not having the accent they do. I do not understand" Daniel says "what they do to their r's, for example."

With such banter to occupy Ederyn's ears, investigation of the closed door leads, indeed, to functional bath done in a blue and white marble motif that is better than any that Ederyn has seen in Montenegro. With a plethora of towels, soap, and most importantly, hot running water, Ederyn has ample time to clean and refresh himself.

He takes his time, happily replacing the smell of ocean, ship, and sweat with clean water and soap. These peoples' ability to make good soap is one thing he admires without reservation.

By the time Ederyn emerges, a new man, the three Weir and Daniel are sitting around a table. The smell of food now overpowers the smell of soap and water that masked the food's arrival to his nostrils. The three Weir seem most enthusiastic about eating what appear to be cooked wings of poultry.

"There is a note that came for you just after the food did." Daniel said, gesturing Ederyn over. "None of us opened it, of course."

"Well, go ahead and open it now, please," Ederyn says as he approaches the table. "Who is it from?" His hair, still very damp, is already curling again, and he seems cheerful, in his quiet way.

"I think my fingers are cleanest." Daniel says, with a slight smile that Boaz responds to nwith a toothy grin.

"The seal is royal, so its got to be one of your new family members" Daniel says, breaking the seal and opening the letter. The message is on soft pink paper, and Daniel scans it for a moment. He gives a nod and looks up to Ederyn.

"The gist of the letter is that The Royal Princess Florimel welcomes

the opportunity to speak with her newest nephew and invites you to afternoon tea." Daniel says. "She would like a written reply if you intend to accept the invitation."

"I wonder" Daniel muses "if the Royals use written messages only for those they don't have those trumps made."

"I wouldn't want to be ... spoken to that way all the time, I think," Ederyn reflects. "And also I wonder if they are entirely safe."

"Such Eldritch arts rarely are" Kezia says.

"I would prefer the more scientific arts of Montenegro" Daniel admits. "Although your skills and talents in those areas have impressed all who have seen them."

Ederyn glances around the room doubtfully. "Have we any ink and so forth?"

"We do" Daniel says. "I made an inventory of the rooms between rounds of food." He rises, and heads over into the room with the beds, and returns with some sheaves of paper, a quill and a pot of ink. "There is a secretary desk in there." Daniel says, placing the items on a clear area of the table. "I don't know why its not in this room."

"I might have to ask for a salary if I am going to be your amanuensis" Daniel says with a grin.

Ederyn has taken a seat and surveyed the food while Daniel stepped away. He gives up a slight smile at the Montengran's joke. "One of many decisions I'll have to make soon, I guess."

Watching Daniel open the ink, he says, picking his words carefully, "I want to tell my aunt that I'll be glad to join her for tea, if I've been able to speak with the King first."

Daniel dips the quill in the ink and begins scratching, reciting as he goes along.

"To the Royale Princess Florimel.

Thank you for your most kind offer to meet you for tea this afternoon. I would like to tentatively accept your invitation to meet, assuming that I have been able to speak with his Majesty, King Random of Amber, prior to our own meeting. My business with his Majesty should properly take precedence over meeting other members of the Royal Family.

Sincerely, Ederyn Ericson Smith of Norwend. By the hand of Daniel Poole, envoy to the Court of Amber from the Duchy of Montenegro."

"You're clever, Ederyn" Daniel says, lifting the pen and regarding Ederyn.

"How?" Kezia says.

"Well, Kezia, if Princess Florimel wants to talk to Ederyn badly enough, she will help speed up Ederyn's meeting with the King. Was that your intent, Ederyn?"

Ederyn swallows the green, crunchy vegetable he picked up from the food plates while Daniel was talking. "That would be a good effect of what is only the truth," he concedes. "I'm not sure about the 'business' part, Daniel. But, also I'm not used to explaining myself. Which you may have noticed." He selects a piece of what he assumes is carrot, despite the fancy way it's been cut.

"I do not think his Majesty will permit me to be at your elbow for that." Daniel says with a tone of regret in his voice. The orange vegetable does,to Ederyn's palate, taste like a carrot, despite its unusual cut.

"The King won't let the Weir be there, either."

Boaz growls slightly at that. Cyrus puts a hand on his arm.

Ederyn is surprised to find that he is not happy about that thought, either.

"That said..." Daniel continues. "We haven't, on our journey, talked much about what his Majesty will ask of you. Perhaps I might stand in, to give you a feel for how it might go? After I see this is delivered to the Princess?"

The smith puzzles briefly over what Daniel means by this. Then he shakes his head. "No. Thank you." Despite what he said a moment ago, he goes on to explain. "What I need to know is what kind of man this Random is. Whether - or how much - to trust him." It can go without saying, he thinks, that Daniel can't help him with that.

"Hmmm" Daniel temporizes.

"And what he will ask - well, for his questions the truth will have to be

enough. For what promises he will ask ... I want to stay in Amber, Daniel. I want the Pattern. I want --" Ederyn breaks off abruptly and presses his lips together, stifling a confidence that he doesn't, at the last moment, wish to give. "Let's just say," he continues, making his tone lighter, "that I know what I want. I can guess at what he'll want, and I have to meet him before I can decide whether to give it."

Kezia regards Ederyn thoughtfully, as do her male compatriots.

"You want to stay here, and you want the family inheritance." Daniel says. "Those are fair and reasonable. It seems to me that Princess Asteria, and perhaps Prince Pollux have already come to the conclusion you *are* family in all but the official signature on a royal decree anyway."

While Daniel speaks, Ederyn finally takes one of the plates and starts collecting an assortment of food from the array provided.

"What do you think he wants, Ederyn?" Daniel continues. "Fealty? Service? Something else?"

"Fealty and service are enough," the smith says with a trace of impatience, adding a second pastry-ish thing to his plate. "If he's not an honorable man, or will not be careful of *my* honor, they're too much." Apparently he thinks this is obvious.

"I've no real reason to worry, that I know of," he adds in a friendlier tone, "but I truly know far too little about everything here."

"Unfortunately" Daniel says "Everything that I know here is over a century out of date, except for some second hand tales. When last someone was in my position in this Castle, Oberon ruled. With what we've seen in Shadow and what has happened in that century, Amber has changed. Mind you, its an enthralling and invigorating challenge.

"Its not so comfortable for you, though. You are looking to join this family. Never an easy thing,to balance your blood and honor with theirs" he says.

"Ja" Kezia quietly agrees.

Ederyn looks at each of them and nods slightly, glad to find that they do understand.

Daniel looks at Ederyn's plate. "If you are satisfied with my reply to Royal Princess Florimel , I'll see that a servant delivers it." he offers.

"Thank you," Ederyn replies. "It's fine. And stay if you want, but after I

eat I intend to pass time by, from what you can see, staring at nothing."

"You intend to do a working" Kezia says, with a nod. "Rest assured, my Jarl, we will watch over you as you do it. You can do it in safety and surety." Boaz and Cryus growl their assent.

"What do you plan, if I might ask?' Daniel adds.

"Just to find out more about this place," Ederyn says. "I've only scratched

the surface of it."

Daniel nods. "As have we all" he says in an amused tone.

Ederyn can and does finish his food without any more interruption from the Weir or the Montenegran diplomat. All four watch with interest as Ederyn makes his beginning preparations for the contact. Once Ederyn has re-established contact with the Iron Door and sits down, the three Weir take up positions in an equilateral triangle around him, vigilant and silent. Daniel is somewhere outside of his field of view.

And, once again, and now without interruption, the Door of Iron opens into full contact with the worker of Metal.

Indeed, the age of the door is confirmed. Six centuries, as men count time, the door stood in its place. Ederyn gets impressions of the man, a smith and worker of metal named Talis, who refined iron kamacite found in the mountains near Kolvir into iron, and then forged it the form of the door.

And there are traces, memories, of someone else, someone who aided the smith Talis. An apprentice of some kind.

A tie of blood exists between Ederyn and this apprentice. The door can feel it, as can Ederyn.

The apprentice was his father.

His pulse leaps, and goes on beating faster. His barely regarded body shifts very slightly, from repose to attention, while his mind fastens on those traces, seeking to wring every fragment of new information from them - almost as if he could reach across the years and touch the mind that left them. Didn't the Lady always say that Time is only a matter of convenience?

The Weir, and even Daniel know nothing of the traces, powers, impressions, and intimations that Ederyn seeks in his communion with the Door. Indeed, it would take a worker of magic to know what Ederyn was doing, and what he was learning.

The purpose of the door comes first to his explorations, and becomes clear. The creation of the door was an experiment, a test to see if his father had the knack to be a true worker of metal, a smith.

One that very clearly Ederyn learns and realizes, his father failed.

As ever with regard to his father, Ederyn is not sure what he feels about that - disappointment, or relief? Or both?

And yet, even through that, there is some sort of affection or regard that the smith, and his apprentice Eric, had for this door. For it was not discarded or melted down, but rather was installed here.

For, Ederyn feels and realizes, even if his experiment in being a worker of metal failed, Eric felt that the work he collaborated on should not go to waste. Indeed, there are impressions, intimations that he came back to this door time and again over a long period of time, visiting what he had helped wrought.

Interested in this, Ederyn pursues those additional traces, hoping to learn

more about either Eric or this iron door.

The layering of visitations from Eric on this door are complicated and multifaceted. In a sense its similar to what Ederyn has heard about tree rings, the rings showing the life of the tree as snapshots in its history. The impressions of Eric are snapshots in a similar vein:; Eric the failed apprentice. Eric the young man. There is a sharp tang of metal to this one. The next time, there is a sense to Eric similar to the feeling he gets around Daniel. There is a rapid series of short visits. And then the next visit there is another aura and impression that is familiar to Ederyn: the aura of a Weir. Female.

Ederyn can start to sense, at this point, that his attentions on the door are, for lack of a better term, now being marked and noticed. In an arcane sense of the phrase, his study is no longer a secret, although turning his attention to try and find the source has its risks.

He pauses in his work, knowing his awareness of observation will itself be observed; the question is whether he wants to do anything about it. His rapid conclusion is that while he doesn't like it, that's not a good enough reason to stop. So, he continues his careful sifting of the door's recollections, albeit with what in his physical body would be a bit of tension in his shoulders. There is also a thickening of his mental defenses in that particular direction and a distinct craftsman's sense of "don't bother me, I'm working."

Ederyn doesn't get a verbal reply from whoever is studying and watching him. However, things being as they are, Ederyn can get a sense of *surprise* from whoever it is that is watching his work.

However, the observer does not interfere with Ederyn's study of the impressions of the door.

Finished with his data collection, he takes a little time to review what he's found and build a sketchy picture in his mind of his lost sire.

Failed worker of metal, turned warrior and soldier, and turned diplomat. Those are the three major impressions Ederyn gets of his sire.

Oh, and one last impression, one last profession that makes up the totality of Eric of Amber. This impression is both weaker for being on the door only the once, and stronger for it being the most recent impression on the door:

Ruler. Suzerain.

King.

This gives him pause. It makes the fact that his father was king here more real to him than ever before; makes the phrase "King Eric" more than words - makes them a thing that people here knew and experienced, not just a piece of unknown history. The mind that left that impression on the door, he realizes, cannot have passed among the people here without leaving its mark on them, as well.

It will be interesting, he tells himself by way of reassurance, to see how they react to Eric's very different son.

Only then does Ederyn turn, figuratively speaking, to face the unknown observer.

There is no body to the observer, none that Ederyn can see at first. It's a presence, one that seems to permeate the Castle.

As Ederyn watches, the presence coalesces into a semi amorphous form. A head, two arms , and a body trailing into pale blue mist.

"Why do you seek communion with the Canis Door?" the entity speaks in a soft voice. Ederyn can smell the sea as well as stone in the air around the creature. This olfactory output appears to extend into the natural world, judging from the sniffing that Boaz, Cyrus and Kezia start to do. They do not seem able to hear the entity's voice, however.

"It remembers my father, Eric," he answers calmly; his natural curiosity about this entity shows in his study of it. "I am Ederyn Smith. Who are you?"

"I am not a person as you might deem the term, child of Eric" The entity replies. "If you wanted to be pedantic, I am a formalized arcane entity who, along with my compatriots, is designated to monitor the use of magic in and around the Castle."

Ederyn clearly finds this information fascinating, though he's inclined to disagree about the entity not being a person.

"Although your efforts have been minor, their unusual subject, and your newness to the Castle, attracted my attention."

"I am pleased to meet you, Ederyn Smith son of Eric" the entity says, with a trace of hesitance in his voice. "Are you a full brother to the Royal Princess?"

"No," says Ederyn, answering with the bare fact. "Were you here when my father was alive? Who made you?"

"My siblings and I, if I may be permitted to use the phrase, are old, Ederyn Ericson" the entity says, with more than a trace of pride. "We have been reworked several times, but I, and they were first called into being by the Queen."

"Queen Clarissa, of course." the entity adds.

After an uncertain pause, during which it is obvious that the name means nothing to Ederyn, the smith says apologetically, "I know little about my father's family. But this queen must have been a remarkable sorceress, to make something like you."

"Queen Clarissa, of course." the entity adds.

"My siblings and I have been furthered improved by the children of King Oberon and Queen Clarissa." The entity says proudly. "The Royal Princess Fiona, and the Royal Princes Bleys and Brand. But it was the Queen who first conceived of us in our first forms."

"You clearly have some talent with such arts." The entity says. "Or

else we would not be speaking now. Who taught you such arts, Ederyn son of Eric, who speaks with metal?"

"No one from Amber," Ederyn answers, suspecting that the details would be irrelevant to this being. "I was born and reared far from here."

There appears to be a small polite sound of acknowledgment from the entity.

And he adds a new question of his own: "You watch for magic in the castle, and what else?"

"My brethren and I watch the castle for, to quote Prince Lorius, "Arcane Malfeasance." the entity replies. "That is most of our charge, Ederyn Ericson. I am pleased to see that you do not appear to be engaged in prohibited activity."

"Some of our functions and duties, however, cannot be reported to anyone save his Majesty or Royal Princess Fiona."

"Understood," Ederyn murmurs. "But what is prohibited activity?"

"Acting in an arcane manner contrary to the interests, commands and directives of the Monarch of Amber. Unauthorized teleportation. Summoning demons or djinn. Casting magic destructive to the integrity of the Castle." The ward replies.

"It is hoped" the entity continues "that you do not intend to engage

in such activities."

"Not at all," Ederyn avers. "I intend to behave properly. Only, what is 'teleportation'?"

There is a pause from the entity.

"Teleportation, son of Eric is the instantaneous transfer of matter from one point to another. Given the relative strength of physical constants in this realm, I refer to magic-driven teleportation. I am unaware of any possible teleportation that is possible within Amber without the use of sorcery."

"You can appreciate, perhaps, the dangers to allowing unauthorized teleportation of spies and assassins into and out of the Castle."

"Yes," Ederyn replies thoughtfully. Just to be clear on the matter, he

asks, "Trumps are not teleportation?"

"Trumps are not teleportation, Ederyn." The entity replies with a tone of agreement in his voice. "You should keep in mind that incontinent and reckless use of place trumps within the Castle is dealt with by means other than myself. My bailiwick and purview is solely confined to the arcane."

Ederyn's attention sharpens on the phrase "place trumps," but the concept is easy to grasp, needing no inquiry.

"Now, if you have no further questions, son of Eric, I will withdraw. I have other things to monitor."

"Of course," Ederyn says. "Thank you for staying so long."

"Until we speak again."

The entity's departure, as Ederyn observes it, is a rapid retreat, shrinking in Ederyn's vision as it moves away. The strange thing about this departure is the direction in which the entity retreats. The direction does not seem to correspond to any combination of the three directions, up and down, left and right or forward and back. The entity departs along a different direction entirely.

Ederyn gives a short sigh and rubs the back of his neck with one hand, thinking over what he has learned.

"I feel a strange chill in the air" comes the voice, outside of his

arcane perceptions, of Kezia.

Ederyn looks around.

While Daniel remains seated and calm, the three Weir are on their feet, and what's more, Boaz and Cyrus have changed into their warwolf form. The former is pacing, the latter sniffs the air like a hunting hound.

Kezia remains untransformed, but she, too is on her feet.

"I was speaking with one of the castle's guards," Ederyn explains to them. "It just left ... the chill might be from that."

"Guard?" Kezia says. "We saw no one, although we sensed a presence in the room."

"A court sorcerer?" Daniel asks.

"No, it called itself an 'arcane entity,'" Ederyn says. "It wanted to know what I was doing. That's its job, it said - watching for, 'monitoring,' the use of magic here. It was polite," he concludes, eying the pacing Boaz. "No trouble at all. Since I wasn't trying to damage the castle or cause danger for anyone here."

"If you say so, my Jarl" Boaz finally manages to say, slowing and stopping his motion, stopping right next to where Ederyn sits. Cyrus stops his sniffing, but looks around with inhuman eyes, patiently wary, as if expecting the arcane entity to return at any moment.

"I have no idea what an arcane entity is." Daniel says. "But it speaks to the richness of this land that Amber has such things at their beck and call."

"It is most interesting," Ederyn agrees. "It'll take some time --"

"Someone is coming toward the room, my Jarl." Cyrus says, turning his head toward the door. "I can smell him. He smells much like the man who calls himself your cousin."

Ederyn straightens in his seat, realizes his belt and sword are still lying across one of the tables, and gives a mental shrug. "Be ready to let him in, then," he tells Cyrus.

"Yes, my Jarl" Cyrus says,, walking over toward the door. Kezia moves to stand behind Ederyn, crossing her arms in a defensive, protective, gesture. Boaz stands apart, but Ederyn can see that he could easily intercept anyone who rushed his counterpart and headed for Ederyn.

As far as Daniel, he has folded his hands and sits, waiting for the door to be opened.

The door knock is firm, loud and resonant. Cyrus opens the door as required, revealing a man who looks in facial features to be identical to Pollux. However, this man, although equal in height to Pollux, is more muscular, and in general, bigger than Pollux.

Ederyn rises to his feet as soon as he gets a good look at the visitor.

"Good morning" the man says. Cyrus regards the man, and steps back, fluidly, as the man enters. He fixes his eyes at the occupants of Ederyn's table, mainly Ederyn himself. "You must be Ederyn. I'm Pollux's brother, Castor." He steps toward Ederyn's table, offering a meaty hand as he advances.

"A twin, Asteria said," Ederyn remarks interestedly. He moves forward out of his protectors' immediate reach, extending his own somewhat smaller but work-hardened hand. "I'm pleased to meet you."

Castor's grip is strong, and firm.

"A pleasure to meet you." the big man replies.

"Yes, my brother and I used to part our hair differently, until it became easier to tell us apart. He does send his regards, Ederyn, to you and the rest of your party." He looks over Ederyn's three companions. "I would greet you in your language" he says to Boaz and Cyrus "but I am afraid I would mangle the tongue of the Weir."

"You are welcome here, Prince Castor" Kezia replies.

"And, it is my honor to see an emissary from Montenegro" Castor adds, looking at Daniel. "It has been too long since I've seen the Lighthouse at Den Helder and the Waterpoort of Leeuwarden Perhaps your presence here will change that."

"Perhaps, milord Prince" Daniel says.

Castor nods and returns his attention fully to Ederyn. "I see you have had a chance to repose yourself after your journey. Is there anything you need before I bring you to his Majesty? An informal audience, mind, there is no Court today."

The smith's expression brightens, in part with relief. "No. Or, only my belt and things." He wheels away to fetch his belt, with sword and pouch attached. He doesn't hurry, but also doesn't waste any time, as he arranges the belt around his waist. The heavy gold torc, on the other hand, he is glad enough to leave lying on the table.

Settling his enameled belt buckle into place, he looks at the Montenegran. "Daniel," he says, "I'll see you later?"

"Ja" Daniel says agreeably. "If I am not here, then I will either be in my own quarters or meeting with one of the other ambassadors or emissaries. Montenegro has over a century of catch up to do. I'm sure the Weir can see that I stay out of trouble."

"Yes" Kezia says. She looks at Ederyn. "Be safe, my Jarl. Good luck speaking with the brother of your father."

"Thank you, Kezia." He glances at Boaz and Cyrus, wordlessly extending thanks to them as well.

The two Weir bow their heads..

Castor blinks a moment and then looks at Ederyn. "Shall we, Ederyn?"

"Yes," Ederyn says, returning to his cousin's side.

And so, with Castor in the lead, Ederyn is led out of his temporary rooms,and through corridors in the Castle. His stride is long, and it seems to Ederyn that Castor has to remember to slow down so as to not leave Ederyn entirely behind.

Castor is the quiet sort, but he finally begins to converse with Ederyn after he leads Ederyn past a trio of guards and up a large, wide flight of stairs. The guards bob their heads in respect as Castor leads Ederyn into what is clearly a more private area of the Castle.

"I'm not the garrulous talker that my brother is, Ederyn." Castor says. "it is said that my brother spoke enough for both of us for many years. I did want to answer any questions or points you might have before we meet Random. His Majesty." He stops by a portrait of a man in what must be royal regalia, crown, sceptre, a figure with sandy brown hair, enthroned.

"This is him. The King. My, presumably our uncle that is." Castor says.

Ederyn studies the painting for only a moment before turning to Castor. "I also talk little," he says with a bit of a smile. "But I have a question. What is different between formal and informal, here?"

Castor regards Ederyn for a moment.

"Formal is when we acknowledge rank, titles and relationships outwardly." Castor says. "When Random holds Court, when we gather the Family for a sit-down dinner."

"Informal is when we speak in more familial terms and when modes of dress are more casual" he adds. "Meeting with the King in the Great Hall, addressing him as sire or your majesty, dressed for the appearance is formal." Castor says. "Being invited to High Tea by Princess Florimel is always formal too."

"Playing cards with Random, Lorius, Noys, Bleys, me, my brother and sister after hours is definitely informal."

Ederyn's attentiveness turns to amusement at this last.

"Pol tells me there are languages out there in shadow which make it always clear the level of formality or intimacy in a relationship or conversation." Castor adds. "He'd also say I've just said the most I've said at one time in weeks." The big man laughs.

The smith's natural reserve gives way before Castor's friendliness, and he smiles warmly. "Luckily, I have no other questions - for now," he says. "Thank you."

"Salutatio" Castor replies, with an accented word that is unfamiliar as the accent. But the nod of the head seems to speak just as well, and Castor leads Ederyn through some more hallways, past even more pieces of art. While some of the paintings, tapestries, busts, and something framed that looks something like a painting but isn't are of Random, other people of the Royal Family are depicted as well. One of the not-paintings shows Castor, his brother, and a dark haired woman who superficially resembles the two of them, standing in front of a three masted ship.

With Castor's lack of conversation, such sights are what can occupy Ederyn's attention until Castor stops in front of a door down one of the side hallways. He knocks, with the same strong cadence he did at the door to Ederyn's quarters.

"Bring him in" comes the voice from behind the door. Castor opens it to reveal a sitting room superficially similar to the one where he had conversations with Asteria and Pollux. This one is done in a black and white sort of palette. A painting of what looks like a game piece, in white, dominates the far wall. Sitting underneath this is a blond haired man. Next to him is a table with an additional chair and two large white mugs and a matching carafe.

(Casting Call: Ewan McGregor)

"Thanks, Castor. I'll take it from here. Go and see to the other matter we discussed."

"Yes, Uncle" Castor says, clasping a hand on Ederyn's back. "Good

luck" he rumbles quietly.

"Thanks," Ederyn murmurs, and steps into the room.

Ederyn has had time enough to compose himself for this interview, and approaches it with much the same open, receptive frame of mind he employs when working with a new metal or trying a new technique. But setting aside all preconceptions is hard; he cannot help but be a little watchful, as well. No metal or gemstone has ever had the power over him that this stranger holds.

He starts walking, unhurriedly, toward the king.

Random stands and watches Ederyn's approach. After a few moments of study during the approach, Random takes a step away from his seat, and extends his right hand in Ederyn's direction.

"Ederyn Ericsen Smith, of a shadow we will perhaps call Norwend, I

presume." he says.

"Yes, your majesty," Ederyn replies, accepting the offer to shake hands. This version of the gesture is no different from those he offered his cousins.

Random's grip is strong, but the King does not try to engage in a strength contest.

"Eric's, huh? Random says, releasing Ederyn's hand. "Your handshake is more like Gerard's, but he's got a daughter who is more like Bleys than HE is, so it proves little." Random gestures toward the table and chairs. "I've heard that once upon a time, before their Golden Circle treaty was abrogated, Norwend's neighbor Montenegro had coffeehouses by the dozens, trading their fine wines for coffee."

"Care for some?" Random says, reaching for the carafe.

"Yes, thank you," Ederyn says, moving toward the table and allowing this easy chatter to soothe some of his wariness. "Some of the old men in Montenegro spoke of 'koffie,'" he offers. "One said, 'De koffie is als het leven: zoet, bitter, en ingewikkeld.' In Norwend it's mead that causes poetry, so I'm curious."

"A fair commentary on life." Random replies. "In Amber" Random says "it is wine, particularly those wines made by the Bayle family, that is the drink of which all others are but shadow, and that invokes poetry and prose. But, I find, it is a tad too early for wine, and I do not favor tea as some in the family do. Thus, coffee."

Random pours the coffee into two cups. He sips his coffee, first blowing gently on the cup as the steam curls up from the surface of the liquid.

Ederyn follows suit, first sampling the rich aroma, then judiciously evaluating the taste. The old man's description, he decides, seems appropriate.

"Now, then. I have some of the details of who and what you are thanks to the agency of my niece and nephews." [the king] begins. "I'm inclined to take your Montenegran companion at face value. At least, as much as one can a diplomat, anyway." Random says. "The real question is, backed by three of Eric's Weir no less, who are you and what do you want, Ederyn?"

A frustrated look crosses the smith's face at the mention of the Weir. He says, "Perhaps you think those are simple questions, your majesty."

Random sips his coffee and listens.

He cradles the mug in his hands (and shunts the excess heat back into the coffee without noticing that he's doing so), speaking quite slowly as he feels his way through his own thoughts and translating them into Thari, while watching Random's face closely. "I know who I *was,*" he begins. "I was a smith, a worker in metals and gems, who tried to make the world a little more beautiful. I was a scholar in my own way, studying the runes of power, and the ways of earth and fire. I was a man who lived alone for many, many years, waiting for the time when I might learn more than a little handful of facts about my father."

Random nods, encouraging Ederyn to continue.

Ederyn takes a deep breath, and lets part of it out as a sigh before going on even more slowly. "Now ... I have left my home, and I miss it, and I think I will never go back. Now I have taken the duty of being Jarl of the clans of the Weir, and I still know not enough about them or what that means. Now I have seen Amber, and I ... cannot any more tell myself that I have no fear of cities. Now I have seen the Pattern, and it told me things I would rather not know."

A look of surprise comes across the King's face.

He pauses again, his expression gone quietly intense. "Now I have felt the earth of this place, and it feels like the home I made for myself, but more strongly. As if I shaped my home earth into a copy of a place I knew nothing of except its name. How can that be? And how can I say who I am now? I have left behind everything I ever knew, or thought I knew. Even the language I learned as a little child at my mother's knee.

"Your questions say you want to know how I fit in with things here. I cannot tell you that ... but maybe you can tell me."

"Wait" Random says. "Who took you to the Pattern Room, Ederyn. And when?"

"No one," Ederyn says, surprised. "Except the Pattern itself. I told Asteria - this was in a dream, just a few hours ago."

"What she told me." Random says, nodding. "I had wondered if you might change your story, or tell a different one, to me. She believed you, and I believe you.

Ederyn doesn't like the implication that he might be any kind of liar, but lets it go.

[Random] sips his coffee and then continues.

"The Pattern acting as an independent agent is not...unprecedented, Ederyn." Random says. "Tell me what are these things that it told you, that seem to have roiled your mind."

Ederyn sighs and stares into his mug for a moment. "That's only part of it," he says, stalling. "One thing was that my coming here might not be greeted with joy." This is also more of a delaying tactic, with an attempt at a dry tone that falls flat.

After shifting in his seat a little, and consulting the mug again, Ederyn pushes hard against his reluctance and begins, "I went looking ..." and then stops, and backs up to provide a more complete beginning. "After my wife died, I went looking for my father, or at least some word of him." His eyes seem dark and opaque.

"After some time, I found a seer, one of the álfar. I have learned that you call those people the 'fae.' She is called the Lady of the Oak. I asked her three questions, and gave her three years and three days of service, as it is traditional.

"And she ... tied me into knots. It was hard, very hard, to leave her. But I left, of my own will. Until today, I thought I had ... got rid of everything about that time. But in the last Veil of the Pattern, in its light, I saw that her enchantments are still tangled around my heart and soul. They're quiet now. They haven't stirred for a long time. Perhaps they'll never act on me again. Yet ... if I saw her tomorrow, I would be worried about it."

Ederyn moves uneasily once more; he is certainly disturbed by this, and perhaps a little angry. "I think if I walk on the Pattern in body, not just in mind, it will clean it all away. Already it took away one other thing she did, which I might say was small except ... she told me, as a gift, that if I waited, a path to Amber would open for me. And at that time she put on a little, a very light, enchantment, that turned my thought away from trying to learn how to travel there myself. That one is gone. I saw it go, and I think if anyone had said to me, 'Surely you could learn to follow your father, if you try,' it would have broken before, so light was it. But that never happened. And I waited."

He concludes, grimly, "The Lady is very wise, and not cruel like some of her kind. But I cannot say what is her intent."

"There are indeed many kinds of Fae and they are very difficult to fathom." Random says. "And our dealings with them are limited. My brother Julian knows some of that lore, as does his daughter Brieanne."

Ederyn seems about to say something, but lets Random go on, instead.

"The Pattern does indeed wipe away enchantments. This virtual walk you made was not a true initiation, but it was an unusual experience nevertheless. I have never heard of such a vision amongst those who are not of the Blood of the Royal Family."

"So you are looking to walk the Pattern and take your place." Random says. "As a son of Eric, with Weir at your beck and call, its a slightly strained political spot, shall we say. You are a man of honor, from what Asteria and Pollux and I judge, so I will make a bargain with you, Ederyn."

"Swear fealty to me, swear never to make war upon my throne, and I will allow you to walk the Pattern and take your place within the family. Unlike some people I have this speech which, I am fairly certain that you have the genes to walk the Pattern."

Despite his resolve to be prepared for anything, Ederyn is surprised by this quick offer, and by a surge of regret almost strong enough to be grief. He hesitates, staring for a moment into the past. Then he shakes his head and brings his attention back to the present. "It is hard to trust a stranger," he says, then nearly smiles. "For you also, no doubt. But I know, at least, that war has never been my thought."

"You are a stranger, but you aren't" Random says. "Ederyn, I'm a poker player. I've learned to read people, quickly, to find out who the sucker is at the table. You're *not* a sucker. You're family. I don't need Fi to tell me that."

Ederyn has (inevitably) learned a little about poker on his journey, though he can't guess who or what "Fi" is. And he knows, though he's been lucky himself, that family can't always be trusted. His expression warms into a real smile. "Thank you," he says. Then he nods once, solemn again. "Fealty, and the ... what is that word ...redundant war part: I agree." Making this decision seems to release the tension in him, or at least most of it, and his expression turns to one of interest. "Some place very public, I suppose?"

"Public Court would be best" Random says "Just had one, I'll have to check with my booking agent, the Chamberlain, to see when the next one is. Likely in a couple of days. There is always new business. In the meantime, you probably should be introduced to the rest of the Family and get to know us, and vice versa."

"Your half sister might be a good place to start."

The smile reappears. "I would like that very much. Also to see more of this castle." He glances around the room, the arch of his brows including the whole structure by implication. "Maybe that will make it less intimidating."

"Four floors above ground, plus the dungeons." Random says. "Castle has been here for a couple of thousand years. Not all of it is that old, though there haven't been any new additions since I was born."

Ederyn's gaze returns thoughtfully to the king. "There also are some more

things I should tell you, or someone, about my visiting - visit - in Weirmonken. Perhaps trouble, in time, and also some commitments."

"Is it something political or is it arcane?" Random asks. "If its politics, then you should tell me. If its something arcane, then you tell me first, and then I refer you to one of the redheads." He regards Ederyn for a moment. "Your Uncle Bleys, your Aunt Fiona, and your cousins Lorius, Brandeigh, and Shannon. Dagny is too new to help, and I don't want to inflict Helias on you just yet."

Ederyn blinks at that last, but decides he should ask someone else for detail. "Political," he says, then sips his coffee, brow furrowed, while he decides how to go about explaining.

"I begin with commitments," the smith finally says. "I have to go back to Weirmonken before very long. First because I agreed to be their Jarl. I intend to learn their language properly, and to have some hope of understanding their problems, before then." He evinces a palpable lack of enthusiasm for this project.

Random considers Ederyn carefully as he speaks.

"Second, because my meeting the Weir was caused by another of the fae, once called the Queen of Air and Darkness. Her realm has a door in Weirmonken. She felt, I think, that I owed her a favor for this, and required that I make her a gift and bring it to her in a year and a day. So I think I'll do both of these things on the same trip. I hope to avoid any other dealings with her, in the future, but that seems unlikely," he finishes frankly.

Ederyn gives a sigh. "The problem I mentioned involves, or might involve, the humans in Weirmonken, and the Chaosians. The Chaosian my Weir captured is one of the most arrogant beings I have ever met, but he is not stupid."

"Weirmonken is a shadow that Amber has not had much dealings with..." Random begins "It was frankly an ignored backwater until your father went there, over a century ago. And even though he brought a force of Weir back to Amber, no one I know explored the shadow in his absence, although I suspect some tried."

"It does sound like a wild, chaotic place, with humans, and Weir, and Fae. But you say that you met Chaosians there? That's...not right." Random says.

"Just one Chaosian," Ederyn corrects. "Yason Gelimerson of House Lenelli, and he said he was an 'outrider' for the ambassadorial party coming here. He told me it is their practice to send these outriders when traveling, to see and report on other ways to get where they are going. And no doubt anything else of interest, I expect."

"I think Weirmonken disagreed with him; he called it 'this cursed shadow.' What worries me," Ederyn says earnestly, his accent getting stronger, "is that he must have noticed that Weir and human are at odds. I learned, myself, that both believe they were first to come there, and the other is an invader. If the Chaosians were to offer the humans their support ... Weirmonken is not so far from Amber, and they tell me there is - or was - a path by land to Amber. And the trouble they could cause in Weirmonken itself ..." He looks frustrated. "It is a problem I can see, but solving it is outside what I know. Nor I can guess how likely it is to happen, or when."

"The ambassadorial party has come here and quickly pulled up stakes" the King replies. "which suggests, depending on the time difference, that the time there was off kilter compared to Amber, or he was lying. This House is not one of the major ones; I suspect one of your cousins who have made a study of the matter could tell you more about House Lenelli."

"Pulled up stakes?" Ederyn puts in, baffled by the phrase.

Random chuckles. "Gathered their possessions and departed. I suspect my brother Corwin has given me one too many idioms. "The Ambassadors came here, said their peace, and then quickly left town. Rather odd, but, then they are Chaosians."

"Anyway, what you say,though, about their meddling, is certainly a modus operandi for some things that some Chaosian Houses do. No, Ederyn, at first blush, it sounds like this Lenelli is looking to agitate Weirmonken."

"You are returning there at some point." Random continues "I ask you, once you've sworn to me, and taken the Pattern and headed in that direction, if you would learn more and act, if necessary to prevent this situation from fulminating. You may find the counsel of some of the family useful in this."

"I'll certainly try, and ask for advice," Ederyn replies firmly, guessing that 'fulminating' means 'becoming troublesome.' "I'll need it, to deal with whatever trouble these Chaosians think of."

Then the smith eyes Random for a moment, another question clearly in his mind, but hesitating to put it in words.

"Was it hard," Ederyn finally asks, "being asked to ... to rule?"

"That's an interesting story." Random says. "It was the end of the War. I never expected to get the Throne, didn't want it, really. That was Corwin and..." he regards Ederyn "your father's game. So when the Unicorn popped out of the Abyss with the Jewel, our symbol of kingship, the Unicorn chose me. Coulda chose any of us, but she picked me. Me, Ederyn. I wasn't going to say no, you know?"

"Jules was the first to kneel" he continues "He had no doubts. He knew. It helped *me* and the others for him to do that."

Ederyn listens closely, taking in particularly the mention of his father.

"He knew what?" he asks when Random pauses, not willing to trust his intuition on this point.

"He knew that I was now King." Random says. "He knew the Unicorn had made her choice, and that the fractiousness that had plagued our Family was over. Our family could begin healing again, and going forward."

Liking the sound of this, Ederyn nods again, decisively. "I'll do what I can to help, or at least to not harm," he pledges. "It isn't trouble that I'm looking for."

"If I had the intimation that was your intention." Random says "we would be having an extremely different conversation."

He regards Ederyn for a moment. "You know, did Asteria or one of the Twins show you a picture of your Dad? His trump, for instance?"

"'Dad'?" Ederyn repeats. "You mean my father?"

"Yes" Random says.

[Ederyn] sits forward a little, very interested in this turn of the conversation, though not obsessively so. "No. Pollux showed me what a Trump is, but I never thought to ask if he owned one for my father. But I would like to see a picture of him."

"I think you are going to find this interesting." Random says. "Your father is part of the deck, even if the trump doesn't work, so when I get you an official deck, you'll have a picture of him..." Random pulls out a trump deck, much the same as the one Pollux produced. He shuffles through the deck, and finally lays down a card face up in front of Ederyn.

The image depicts a man, black hair, blue eyed, who is dressed in formal court clothes of black with accents of red, with the hilt of a sword in the lower right corner of the image.

And the man looks *very* much like, in facial features, build and overall appearance, like Ederyn himself. In point of fact, one might be bold to say that the man on the card has the visage Ederyn sees in the reflection of a pond, or in a Montengran glass mirror.

He leans over the table to see the card, one hand reaching toward it, and then freezes, just for a moment, before going on to pick up the Trump by one corner. A corner of his mind notices that it isn't cool to the touch. His other hand puts the coffee cup on the table too fast and too hard, slopping still-hot liquid over the rim.

"Careful" Random conusels.

Straightening a little, Ederyn holds up the card and stares at it. He touches his own face, tentatively, as if double-checking his own memory. But the only physical differences he can see are the other man's short hair and foreign clothes. And his expression; Ederyn doubts that he himself has ever produced such a winning and confident smile.

Maybe it's the smile that does it. As the shock wears off, that smile seems to summon up every sorrow of his life - absence, loss, uncertainty, loneliness - and invoke all the indefinable things he never received, and now will never get, from this father.

Ederyn slaps the Trump back down on the table, well away from the coffee spill. "I am myself," he says hotly, "not him."

Random beams.

"Good for you, son." Random says. "There are those who are going to react...oddly to your close resemblance. There are those who probably will want or expect you to BE him, Ederyn."

"But remember you are your own man, and you will be fine. There's an author in the shadow your Aunt Florimel likes, amongst others in your family. Plenty of the familiar has visited Flora's little world. Anyway, the author wrote:

"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

"It's good advice for anyone, even those who don't resemble their fathers." Random finishes, taking a sip of coffee.

The king's reaction makes Ederyn blink, and diverts his temper. He nods

thoughtful agreement and is a little more subdued than usual when Random ends his speech. He replies, "It is. ... Thank you for telling me, Uncle."

"You're welcome, Ederyn." Random replies. "And if one of your cousins

haven't told you, I detest formality unless we're in public or there is no avoiding it." Random says. "Uncle in the familial is fine. Your cousin Minh still hasn't quite learned that distinction."

Ederyn takes this in, and his expression warms up again. "I was trying to be clear," he says.

Random nods.

"Well, now. Shall I call your half-sister and have her meet you? Or do you have more questions for me, or ideas of your own?" the King says. He refills his cup, and Ederyn's without prompting, and regards the son of Eric.

Ederyn sips his coffee while he makes up his mind. "I'd like to hear about my father, as you knew him," he says then.

"Well, that's a lengthy subject" Random says. He sips his coffee again before continuing. "When I was younger, probably around your age, I was, not to put too fine a point on it, a brat to him, Ederyn." Random says "I thought he was a priggish idiot, and, like most of the rest of my older siblings--I was the youngest then, you know, tried to make his life miserable. I didn't really understand that some of what drove him was the strange position in the family Dad had thrown him into."

"Over time, though he matured, and I matured. Still didn't like him, much. I sided with Corwin when he turned up not-dead. Took a potshot at Eric with a crossbow after Corwin wound up in Eric's clutches. Eric crowned himself King, got what he always wanted."

"It was in the end, though, when we were fighting for Amber's survival on the flanks of Kolvir, Ederyn, with everything hanging in the balance, that I finally learned to *respect* your father. Sure, he had crowned himself, as I said, and maneuvered against his rivals for years, and did bad things, but I could see...well, I could see what your half-sister sees in your Dad. For all of his faults, Eric had a nobility of purpose somewhere behind those eyes, and he gave his life so that Amber might live. He saved us, Ederyn, held off Chaos until Corwin's arrival with extra men."

"The common people took to his short reign" Random says. "There is even a play, done in one of the theaters, at least one run every year, of The Tragical History of Eric, King of Amber. Noys has a copy, and I suspect Shannon does, too. I don't officially keep one in the library for political reasons."

The first part of what Random says gives Ederyn some preparation for a story involving hostility, but he's still surprised about the crossbow. Most of the historical details are lost on him without the larger context he's missing. Still, he's impressed that Random, at least by his own account, was able to change his mind in the end.

"I guess I'd better not go to see this play," he remarks dryly. "For

political reasons."

"Incognito, if you must go." Random says. "Before who and what you are is well known to the city."

Ederyn straightens in his seat. "Thank you," he says to Random, trying to include everything in that single phrase. "I think meeting my sister is next."

Random chuckles. "We're a big sprawling family, with a dozen agendas. And factions, though few will cop to it. Its something of a sink or swim around here, but you aren't a nineteen year old teenager. You have life experience. I think you're going to do okay."

"Now, then, Noys." Random pulls out the deck again and pulls out the sixth card from the deck. He shows it to Ederyn first, a woman with almost ebony colored hair.

"This is Noys" Random said. "I didn't know she existed until we came back from Chaos. Turns out your Dad kept her hidden, and safe, right here in the city of Amber. While we were gone, Gerard brought her to the Castle; she helped his Regency no end."

Random regards Ederyn. "You've never actually *used* a trump

yourself, before, have you? This might be an opportunity for you to learn, if you are interested."

Ederyn looks up from his study of the card. "I wouldn't want to surprise her," he says, gesturing towards his face. Then, "How dangerous is it?"

"There are some competing thoughts on the danger, as it were, of using Trumps." Random says. "They are a useful tool, certainly, especially given that the trappings of long distance technology do not work in Amber or across shadows. And letters and correspondence are often damnably slow, even if they are polite. When I was being chased by some miscreants, before I was King, I called Corwin by trump. I did NOT resort to the mail system to tell him."

Ederyn can see how a swift means of contacting someone for help would be useful, so he nods, despite not understanding most of the rest of that.

"On the other hand' Random says "a trump connection is, between people, anyway, a mental one. It can, under some circumstances, be turned into a conflict of minds. Not often, but it can occur. I should assign you a tutor to see to your mental defenses, if your esoteric work hasn't already led you to develop some." Random looks enquiringly at Ederyn.

"I have some," Ederyn says. "There was little need for it at home, but I have been practicing what I was taught."

"To use a trump, then, one must open the defenses a little?" He is serious,

but not particularly worried about that.

"Its nearly impossible to force a trump contact on someone who doesn't want to be contacted." Random says. "Once the contact is open, then the trouble can start. And yes, if your defenses are fully engaged, you probably will disrupt or not allow the contact to work, depending on how they are formed. So, yes, you will need to lower them, a little, to make the contact."

Ederyn nods again. "And you use these often - with people you trust," he

notes. "That is well enough."

And he waits to see what Random proposes to do next.

"Yes" Random says. "And now, I will call your sister and bring you into the contact. A skin to skin contact, grasping my hand, is what is required. Oh, and just the gentlest lowering of your defenses, so that our mental link can be established and you can be brought into the contact I will have with your sister."

"Any further questions, or shall we get this show on the road?" the

King of Amber asks.

"No questions," Ederyn says, and sets his coffee down again so he can observe without distractions.

Random lays the card down on the table. He puts a hand down next to the card and stares into it. This staring lasts for about thirty seconds. What Ederyn hears next is one half of a conversation, as if he was eavesdropping but only hearing one half of the conversation.

"Hello, Noys. I am well, thank you. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have something to ask of you." A pause. "No, I don't need Brieanne or Hadrian. Just you. I want you to meet someone. In the call first, I think."

Random stops speaking, and then offers his hand toward Ederyn.

Ederyn hesitates, not happy that the king seems determined to surprise his sister. But he doesn't yet know how the man will take argument in front of others, so he takes the hand and also stares at the card, opening his shields just a little. There must be some mental trick to this, he guesses, and hopes to be shown what it is rather than having to work it out on his own.

The staring at the card does not produce any results for Ederyn, at first. Its simply a card depicting a black haired woman, nothing more. And then, slowly, as Ederyn stares at it, he begins to see the image move in his mind's eye. The actual painted image could not and is not moving. But the perception of seeing her move, and what''s more, a scene far away from the room in which she is depicted, proceeds apace. The woman is in a forest scene.

And then the mental contact is there. Ederyn can feel the mind of the King, and another mind, a woman's mind. Not quite like The Lady, but the feel of Ederyn's connection to these minds, in this trump connection, is much like contacting Nasirpal, the mind of the courtier, inside of the hammer.

"Hello brother" the woman says, before Random says anything else. "I'm glad I finally have gotten to meet you at last. I wondered if I ever would. I'm Noys."

There is a feeling of surprise from the mind of Random.

What Ederyn feels is shock, undoubtedly reverberating across the mental

links before he can shut it down. The effort of doing that makes his face go pale and stiff. "You know of me," he says flatly, which is not at all the way he wanted to greet his sister.

"Noys?" Random prompts. There is not precisely pleasure in the tone of his mental voice.

Noys for her own part, through the strangeness of this connection, spreads her hands. "My apologies. Yes, I've known of you, Ederyn, for some time."

"Did Eric know and tell you?" Random says.

"No" Noys says. "I found out by other methods."

Ederyn breathes out, almost a vocalization, and finishes pulling himself together.

"I can give my regrets to Brieanne, Hadrian, and Galen, and come to speak to you now, if you like" Noys is clearly pitching her voice and intent toward Ederyn, and not the King.

"I ... please," Ederyn says. It is not a plea, but a sincere request, underlined by his intense study of his sister.

"Well, then. Make your farewells and depart." Random says to Noys. The young dark haired woman turns her gaze toward a group of people sitting around. An elfin blond haired woman. A pale skinned man in the shadows. A black haired youth with what looks like a miniature dragon on his shoulder. Silently (to Ederyn) Noys appears to speak to them, and they to her. Finally she turns her back and offers her hand out.

Although Ederyn has been speaking all this time, what he sees is new. Somehow Random's hand extends into a space between here and *there*. Noys grasps it, and then, in the blink of an eye, she is standing next to where Ederyn and Random are sitting.

"Hello, your Majesty." Noys says, bowing to Random. She then turns a smile to Ederyn and studies Ederyn carefully, but makes no immediate move.

Startled by the speed of the transition, Ederyn takes a moment to remember to release the king's hand and stand up. His expression softens in response to her smile.

"Noys," he says, his accent putting a soft 'ess' sound in her name. "I learned only today that I have a sister." He steps a little closer to her and holds out both hands.

Noys takes both hands, eagerly, and squeezes them. "Our branch of the family tree, is something we should discuss at length." She turns her head toward Random, not yet releasing Ederyn's hands. "May we be excused, your Majesty?"

"Yes, yes. Just see to it he is returned to his Weir and pet Montenegran in good order. Show him where to get a deck; tell the librarian I've given you permission to hand him one. Introduce him around. If possible, get him ready for Court, which is likely tomorrow. Perhaps the next day."

Random regards Ederyn. "Don't worry, your sister is modest but I am leaving you in capable hands, son. She helped Gerard run the kingdom for ten years."

Noys' face dimples and she curtsies.

(Continued in Long Lost Sister of Mine)

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