PrinceSquaredIndex Prince Squared Trump voice mail." Valerian says. "I had a technological equivalent back in Omphalos, but it wasn't trump based. This...this is new to me." he says with appreciation. "I will have to try it. And I suspect others will be interested in the R and D involved." Kieran shrugs his shoulders. "Possibly, though I'm not sure it can be adapted to everyone." "I still need to get myself some Trumps of my own." Valerian says. "Not for lack of inclination, merely time and someone to create them. Still, until that happy day, there are servants, pages, and other means of finding me." "I can help with that;" Kieran says. "When we get a moment or three." "I trust, if you are going to see your quarters now." he says to Dagny "that you will find it not onerous to find Kieran or myself again?" "Onerous? No, but then the day is still young," Dagny grins. "I'll see you both later." With that, she'll follow the servant. "And there she goes." Paril says, watching Dagny for a moment. "Yes." Valerian says. "Haroys knows a bunch of servants in the Castle that will set her straight. I suspect." Valerian adds "that Dagny didn't want to deal with the stress of meeting Lord Henden, which is why she decided to go elsewhere." "Are you ready to?" Valerian asks Kieran. "Lead on;" Kieran replies, squaring his shoulders. "Good. That's the spirit." Valerian says with a grin. "You make it sound like he is a fearsome Moff or something." Paril says, taking a position as Kieran's wingman. "Well." Valerian says, as he begins to navigate and lead Kieran through corridors that rapidly decrease in size from the Main Hall to much more modestly sized. "In a sense, he is. He's got a patent of nobility, and he's the chamberlain of the Castle. Has been for a long time, from what I understand. He's not royal, but he'll stand up to the Royal family as much as he can and where he can. Especially the younger ones." "Sort of like the head of the kitchens, that way." Valerian says. Finally, the corridors lead to an office. The office within is a maze of paperwork. Physical paper, not electronic documents. Folders, scrolls, folios and other things cover Henden's desk in what appears to be a mess. There are the bookcases brimming with papers of various kinds,a shelf with a pair of gilted unicorns that serve as bookends. There are other touches, here and there. A small copy of Amber's kingdom's banner, the white unicorn on the green field, hanging on one wall, and a portrait of King Random on the other. And in the center of this sits a dark haired man ready to start writing in a ledger. He looks up. "My lord Valerian. I have told you several times already that I had no say in..." he begins and then stops when he sees Paril, and Kieran with Valerian. His eyes scrutinize Paril, Kieran and Valerian in turn. Henden looks down at his book, sighs, and looks up again. "Well!" Henden says. "Introduce yourselves and your business, or have the Prince here do it, if you prefer. I really don't have all day." Kieran raises an eyebrow and regards Henden silently for a moment. Then he reaches into a pouch and produces a sealed envelope. "I am Kieran Elharn Kerrigan Percival Barimen Webster Douglas. I am the son of Princess Brandeigh Douglas, daughter of Princess Fiona, daughter of King Oberon; and the son of Prince Percival Webster, son of Princess Deirdre, daughter of King Oberon. This is my man, Paril Destine. Here are my credentials, milord." Kieran hands over the envelope. Inside the envelope, is a letter of introduction from Brandeigh along with a copy of Kieran's patents of nobility (genealogy). "Let's see what you have brought me, Prince Valerian." Henden says, as he takes the credentials from Kieran. In the corner of his eye, Kieran can see Paril tempted to gingerly touch some of the papers, as if they were relics from a bygone age. Kieran turns to Paril and silently shakes his head. "Sort of like flimsiplast, only organic in nature;" he whispers. Paril gives a quick nod at Kieran's explanation. He continues to study the paperwork. Henden, in the meantime, has the letter and the ornate looking patents spread on the table, above some other papers that give the entire table the look of a melange of paperwork. He studies the letter, and the patent for a while. A minute and a half in, and Kieran can hear a slightly exasperated exhalation of breath from Valerian. 30 seconds later, though, Henden looks up. Kieran smiles at Valerian's sigh. It vanishes before Henden looks up. "Welcome to Amber to you and yours, Lord Kieran." Henden says, his features and attitude softened somewhat. "I was unaware that the Princess and Prince had married, and had a child so quickly, in Amber terms." Henden doesn't pause but continues. "We can see to temporary quarters, of course, given that you have that right pro tem prior to any decisions on Oath swearing. And I presume you will want an audience with his Majesty as soon as possible?" "It's been over 40 years for my parents and myself of course;" Kieran says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Of course. I am familiar with the vagaries of time and space." Henden replies. "Temporary quarters will suit us nicely for now, thank you milord;" Kieran says. "And, yes, I would very much like an audience with the King, at his earliest convenience of course." He pauses for a moment. "Lord Henden, I may have a small something for you, but I have no wish to offend you in the event you they are of no use to you." He reaches into another pouch, removes a deck of cards and pulls out two. "My mother and father tried to teach me well concerning Amber and her people, but some things they left me to find out for myself." Kieran offers the two trumps of himself to Henden. "If these can be of use to you, milord, please accept them and feel free to use them when you have need of contacting me." Henden takes the two trumps. He looks at them for a long moment, studying them, before taking them up again. He opens up a drawer, and pulls out a trump deck. Henden quickly shuffles the two cards, together, to near the bottom of the deck before replacing it and closing the door. "I see that you have learned manners at the foot of your mother." Henden says, with what might very very charitably be construed as a smile, or definitely at least a neutral look. "Few of your mother's generation and below would think to have the courtesy to offer me a trump card, much less a spare card. I accept them, although I do not use them save at extreme need." Kieran does smile. "I'm sure she and my father considered my upbringing and education to be one of their... greatest labors at times." "I will contact his majesty and tell him of your wish for an audience." Henden says, turning to a piece of paper and writing something down. He finishes this, and then looks behind him at the wall of paperwork. Without any sign of why he chose it. Henden takes one of the scrolls from one of the cubbyholes, opens it, and nods with satisfaction. "Temporary quarters until your status in the Family will be on the first floor, not far away from the Rebman Envoy's quarters. I trust, Prince Valerian, that you might be able to show Lord Kieran and his man to the Vadnais Room." Valerian blinks a moment and then bows his head. "I had planned on showing Lord Kieran many things in the Castle. It would provide no hardship for me to do so." "Good." Henden says. He looks at Kieran and moderates again. "Anything else, milord?" "Actually, there is one thing;" Kieran replies. "With your permission, I would like to make a Trump of you, milord, in the event I need to contact you directly. If you agree, it will but take a few moments more of your time." "Mere moments?" Henden looks surprised, and his pleased look turns skeptical. "I am not that gullible, my lord. I know that even a proper trump sketch that your mother, or that young son of Gerard's, would take fifteen, probably twenty to twenty five minutes of my time. Which I can't quite spare now, I am afraid. However, two days from now next week I might be able to accommodate you." Valerian grins but says nothing. Kieran grins in good humor while shaking his head. "I am quite serious in that I need but moments of your time for this milord. I work in a different media than my mother or other relatives. Light." Kieran raises his left arm up and indicates the bracer on his arm. "Display image of my mother;" he commands the HTD; "scale image to one meter in height." Once his mother's image is displayed, Kieran continues. "This is a hologram, a sort of light sculpture or painting if you will. I am accustomed to a higher level of technology than is the norm here, milord." Paril grins. Valerian watches the display curiously, rubbing a finger on his chin. "Some of the Royal Family have made some experiments in this regard." Henden replies, starring at the image of Brandeigh. "To scan your image into my device here, milord, will indeed require a minute or two at most of your time. I can finish the rest of the process to make that image a fully functioning trump later, when I have the time to do so. I can even print out a traditional two-dimensional image for you to give out to whomever you so desire, if you wish. So, again, milord, may I?" Kieran waits on Henden's answer. "I see." Henden says. "You merely wish to, in a sense, use your device to take a photograph of me, and take that photograph to convert into a trump image later." "Something like that;" Kieran agrees; "yes." "You may wish to speak with your Grandmother regarding the full applicability and functionality of your device here. Henden adds. He waves a hand. "You may take the image of me now, if you like, however. I suppose sitting here will do?" "I'm sure that it will come up some point in a conversation with her;" Kieran replies. "It would seem most appropriate;" Kieran says. "Unless you prefer somewhere else." "This is where people best know me." Henden says agreeably. He looks around and then finally shifts his position in his seat, looking up at Kieran from the seated position of, what Kieran can frame as a hard working Amber bureaucrat. Kieran mentally instructs the HTD to scan Henden for a trump image. Uncharacteristically, the scan does not go smoothly for Kieran's HTD. The first two attempts after previewing the completed scan, turn out to have visual artifacts and defects that would make them, in Kieran's judgement, useless for purposes of trump creation. Henden seems placid about the delay. Valerian watches curiously and Paril watches with slight concern. Kieran frowns deeply at his HTD at its failed first two attempts. It takes a little bit of fiddling with the settings for Kieran to, on the third try, get a scan of Henden's image that, according to the HTD and more importantly to Kieran's own visual inspection, that he can and will be able to convert to a trump image. Kieran makes a mental note to explore what the cause of the difficulties in obtaining a successful scan was. And to experiment with the settings and tinker with them to get the HTD up to speed in Amber. Finally; "There!;" he says still frowning at his device. "That seems to have worked finally. Thank you for your patience, milord. And with that, I bid you a good day." Henden nods. "Good morning and day to you." he says. Kieran turns to Paril and Valerian. "Shall we go?" "Yes. I have seen enough paperwork." Paril says dryly. Henden raises an eyebrow at this, but gives another bow of the head to Valerian and Kieran. After a moment, he is back to scribbling on a document, blissfully giving his three visitors no more thought. "Right." Valerian says, indicating for Paril and Kieran to follow him out of Henden's office. A few paces down the hall, he stops. "You want to see your quarters? Or Family?" "Quarters, for just long enough to drop off our gear;" Kieran replies. "Don't fancy the thought of lugging a duffle bag and a guitar all over the place." "You never know:" Valerian says with a grin as he begins walking. "There are those who like to keep a very close eye on their possessions." "Theft?" Paril asks. Valerian shakes his head. "No, just a preference for keeping things close at hand." "Nothing special about our gear;" Kieran shrugs his shoulders. "And the important stuff, I can track down when I need it." In short order, though, and not without too much time for conversation, Valerian leads Paril and Kieran through a few corridors, past many doors, and finally to a likely looking door along one of the corridors. Valerian looks about for a moment, as if orienting himself, and then opens the door. "Ah, here we are." he says, stepping forward and allowing Kieran and Paril entry. The Vadnais Room, as Henden termed it, turns out to be a suite of a main room and a bedroom, and a bath. The room is done in mahogany furniture, in a tasteful but relatively anonymous style of furniture. A few chairs, a bookcase, couch, table, writing desk, and in the bedroom, a modest but nicely done bed, along with more mahogany furniture. A glowing globe provides yellow illumination of the room. A narrow window provides additional light to the bedroom. Kieran has seen much larger rooms, but compared to the Voyager in both its forms), this is definitely an increase in space, even shared with Paril. "Space in the Castle on the first floor iss a bit at a premium." Valerian says. "Although once you get off of the first floor, you'll have more space. The more senior members of the family get better quarters, of course." he adds. Kieran nods his head as he goes about a quick inspection of the place. He puts his duffle bag inside an armoire, along with his gunbelts, in the bedroom and then closes and locks the armoire's door, pocketing the key. He gently sets the guitar down in a corner. "Paril;" he says after glancing at the bed. "Take the bed. I'll sleep on the couch, more like meditate, but you get my meaning." "If you are sure." Paril says. "It is a rather nice bed, even if this is lower end quarters in a primitive planet." Kieran chuckles. "This is lower end for a royal castle, and I'm sure about the bed. Looks like it's way too soft for my liking. Once they assign me permanent quarters, I can pretty much have anything I want in there. Mind you, the tech stuff won't work though." "I saw that with your trump device." Paril says. "It didn't work quite as expected, but we can talk about that later." To Valerian [Kieran] says; "It's fine for now. Not sure how long we're planning on being here anyroad." He then smiles at Valerian's last comment. "Funny how that works. I've been on the bottom of the seniority ladder before, nothing new there." "Right;" he claps his hands together. "Let's go meet some people. Preferably my grandmothers first." "Morning in the Castle." Valerian says, thoughtfully "I am not sure I want to face Fiona just yet. For one thing, the servants gossiped that there was a late night session of some sort going on in her laboratory." He then looks at Kieran and Paril speculatively as he speaks. "How well did your mother and father teach you about weaponry besides a clumsy, random blaster?" "And you believe she won't be in the best of moods to greet visitors just yet? Even if one of the visitors is a previously unknown grandchild?" Valerian nods, a serious look on his face. Kieran arches an eyebrow, then shrugs his shoulders. "All right, its your call;" he says in a tone of voice one might use for 'Its on your head.' "Blasters are only clumsy and random in the hands of clumsy and poorly trained beings;" he smiles. "That said, Mom and Dad did teach me a thing or two about using crudely fashioned lumps of metal with which to beat upon one's enemies." With that, he reaches his left hand behind his back and removes the hammer-mace from its resting place on his back. He presents it with a deft spin of his hand. "This was most carefully constructed and modeled after my father's weapon." He returns it to its resting place on his back. "They also taught to use swords, daggers, spears, and all that stuff." He grins. "Why, you want to spar or something?" "Well, we could if you like." Valerian says agreeably. "Although I expect your hammer there would require something other than a sword to spar with. That reminds me a bit of your father's gear." "It should;" Kieran replies. "I modeled mine after Dad's." "I should have guessed." Valerian replies with a grin and a nod. "The reason why I was asking about sparring, though" Valerian continues "is that at this hour of the morning, its more than passing likely that your *other* grandmother is on the training grounds working on regaining her strength." "Then let us make haste for the training grounds;" Kieran replies while turning towards the suite's door. "Mom and Dad mentioned she was... in less than top form when they left. I'm very much interested in meeting her." Valerian motions for Kieran and Paril to follow him out of the suite and down what turns out to be a new set of corridors. "Unfortunately true." Valerian explains. "Its not been that long, here, so she is still less than top form. You will be happy to know that I *have* seen some improvement, although the best of my generation here can still match and beat her." Valerian rolls his shoulders as he continues his relatively fast pace through corridors and eventually toward a side exit. "Which is not to say that the best of my generation is anything to sneeze at. Your father, for example." Kieran begins prepping a Mind Over Matter spell enroute. "I've only seen his tactical abilities." Paril comments "Not his ability with hand weapons." "Tell me, if you would;" Kieran says as they continue to walk. "What, in your opinion caused this. Also, what steps have been taken to help her recover. I know what my parents have told me, but another viewpoint may show something they hadn't considered." Out the door, and into the early morning chill of Amber, the side exit that Valerian has chosen places Paril, Valerian and Kieran quite close to what are the training grounds of the Castle. A number of figures, guards by their clothing, are practicing. Most of the weapons are swords, although a few, mostly younger men (and women) appear to be using wooden swords, or even staves. One figure is unmistakable in the midst of all of this. Wielding a two headed axe, the dark haired woman, with fury behind her blows, is facing off against a tall dark brown haired man wielding a sword. As Kieran and company move across the ground (which has the remnants of grass surviving winter) he can see that the man is holding his own against the woman. Mostly. The woman is clearly his mother. The man, judging from Kieran's experience looking through the trump deck given to him and uploaded to the HTD is one of Gerard's sons. Pollux, in fact. Kieran looks around to see if his grandmother is here while keeping an eye on Pollux as well. "Are we early then?" he asks. "I admit that I had expected her to be sparring out here already." Valerian pauses "We might BE early or even too late to meet her." he concedes. The ringing of weapons between Pollux and his mother continues. Kieran can make a guess that Pollux is allowing the woman the advantage, he's definitely holding back, or allowing her to practice her attacks without his full defense. Out of the corner of his eye, though, Kieran's attention is drawn. As Kieran turns, he sees a blue haired jet black haired woman, running toward the training grounds, and in particular, Kieran, Paril and Valerian. This, finally, the woman that Kieran has only seen previously in his trump deck, and the sketches his mother made of the design of her tomb. And the stories of his father. Deirdre. She slows down and sizes up the group as she approaches. Paril doesn't get more than a glance, Valerian gets a nod, but Kieran gets a long, long discerning look. Kieran's eyes mist over briefly at the sight of his paternal grandmother. The many stories of her that both his parents told him over and over as a child and young adult echo through his mind as he watches her approach. "Hello Princess Deirdre." Valerian says. "Here is someone who I could not possibly introduce any better than he could himself." He bows slightly and slides away slightly to allow Kieran center stage. Kieran subconsciously straightens his posture and makes a very formal bow to Deirdre. It may be out of place here and now in this place, but it is a gesture of respect he feels the need to make. And, he has a feeling that if he doesn't make it now, he will never be allowed to do so later, but only because his grandmother will tell him it's not necessary. "My lady;" he says in a warm, rich and humble tone. "I am Kieran Elharn Kerrigan Percival Barimen Webster Douglas;" he places a subtle stress on the names Percival, Webster, and Douglas as he speaks them. "I have the very great honor and fortune to be the son of Brandeigh Douglas and Percival Webster, your son." He observes her very carefully for her reactions, ready to lend a hand to steady her if it be needed. He doubts it will be, this is the Warrior-Princess he's talking to after all. Kieran's observation skills allow him to notice the slight widening of Deirdre's eyes in reaction to his introduction. That eye reaction is the only outward reaction of surprise that Deirdre has. "Mom and Dad are well;" he says after a moment. "And send their love, Seanmhathair (pronounced something like shan waw-hir, Scots Gaelic for grandmother)." He pauses a moment, then; "Hello grandmother." He then braces for what he hopes will be a hug. "It seems I am blessed these past two days for meeting my children and my children's children." Deirdre says. She steps forward neatly and embraces Kieran in the offered embrace. It is full, sincere, complete and probably as long as it could be and still remain seemly. Once the embrace is complete, Deirdre releases her hands. "Twenty years of elapsed time, where they are, Garmhac?" she asks. Her gaelic accent is a little off, or a touch foreign, to Kieran's practiced ear. "Twenty five?" Kieran chuckles and shakes his head. "More like forty. We had some problems until quite recently with getting trumps to connect outside Mom's Shadow." "Yes." Deirdre says. "I noticed that, but here it was only a few days of discontinuity." She looks at Kieran. "Forty. An amazing amount of time. Not a natural shadow phenomenon." Kieran's expression shows interest. "I hadn't heard about this. You experienced the phenomena here as well? We, I, thought it was just a local thing." "Not what I meant" Deirdre says. "And yet I do. There was no time lost here, however things occurred that lead me to believe it may be tied with the strange time factor my daughter-in-law's shadow experienced. We can speak more of this later." Kieran nods, thinking to bring it up if/when they meet his other grandmother. Deirdre turns at this point and looks at Paril. Paril clears his throat. "Hello, Princess. I'm Paril. I work with your grandson." Paril says. "Forgive my manners;" Kieran says looking back and forth between Deirdre and Paril. "Grandmother, this is Paril Destine. As he said, he works with me, he's an excellent musician, good pilot and businessman, and a fine friend of mine." "Children, Deirdre?" Valerian says. "Percy is here?" Deirdre shakes her head, takes a step backward and gives Kieran a look of clear assessment as she talks to Valerian. "No. My daughter, Aura, is here as well." She continues to gauge Kieran. "Your father's younger sister." "I don't recall Dad speaking of her often;" Kieran says. "I would very much like to meet my aunt." "Your father and your sister are very, very different, and have lives which rarely intersect. Aura spends most of her time managing and living in her shadow and its environs. She's one of us, grandson, who is not truly comfortable in Amber. The weather, for one thing." Deirdre says with a smile. "I believe this morning she is talking with..." she looks at Kieran and smiles slightly. "Your other grandmother." Kieran looks at Valerian and gives him a 'See, I told you' look for a moment. Turning back to Deirdre, Kieran nods his head. "Paril and I actually like higher tech places ourselves, but;" he glances around; "Amber does remind me of the home where I grew up in some ways." "I would also like to meet my other grandmother as soon as possible;" he continues. "But I would very much like to spend some time with you. Valerian tells me you come here to spar every morning?" "I have come every morning since I returned to Amber." Deirdre says, with a nod. "Gerard says its good therapy, and I did it often enough, before the War." Deirdre looks at Valerian "I already took on your friend from Flora's line yesterday. Were you looking to add to the tally yourself, Valerian?" "No, no." Valerian says, quickly "I think perhaps your grandson might, though..." Valerian looks toward Kieran. Kieran nods his head. "I would like that." He turns to look at the various practice weapons. "If I can find a blade that suits me." He will look for something in the rapier class of blades; something light and fast but with a fairly sturdy blade. Paril idly walks over toward the practice weapons in Kieran's wake. As Kieran looks over the weapons, testing them one by one as he narrows his choices, he notices Paril examining the blades, as well. The practice weapons are not ornate,but the steel and balance of them are very very good to Kieran's examination. He does finally find one that, if it doesn't call to his hand, at the very least feels very good with it. "The typical kind of sword." Deirdre says in an approving tone "that Corwin favors." She herself picks something a tad heavier, a little more toward the broadsword sort of range. She steps to the side and gives it a few experimental swings. Kieran smiles at his grandmother's comment. He puts his chosen blade through a few experimental swings. While its not his preferred weapon, a lightsaber, the practice weapon should work well with his style of combat. He decides he can cope with the movement of the blade; lightsaber blades don't bend after all. "It's not what I'm used to fighting with;" he says; "but then my blade doesn't have a stun or practice setting, so I'll make do." "Knowing at least one local weapon is a rule of thumb for me." Valerian says. "I suspect Aunt Deirdre makes it a rule to at least double of treble that." Deirdre says nothing, but she smiles slightly at Valerian's comment. Kieran nods his head. "The damage caused by my preferred weapon is rather distinctive; there are times when the use of something else is called for." Paril looks at one of the blades and looks at Kieran and Valerian with a look on his face analogous to a first time car driver at a car dealership full of vehicles to test drive and purchase. "While you spar with Deirdre, I should teach your friend here how to hold a blade." Valerian says. "If you don't mind, Kieran." Kieran looks at Paril. "By all means, my friend, if you want." He studies Paril for a moment, bringing to mind his knowledge of his friend's abilities and skills. He then points to a few blades. "I think you'll find one of those will serve you well enough for today. If you like this, we can pick up some practice weapons of our own, and later some vibro weapons for you to train with." "I figure that I need to learn something about swords and daggers and stuff if we are going to be in this place for a while." Paril says. "Since most of the weapons I'd think of reaching for would be useless." He then starts to look at the three blades Kieran indicated and clumsily starts hefting one. "Well, you could always throw a blaster at your opponent;" Kieran says in an aside. "Or use it as a club, for that matter." "One of the few good things about the home of the Omphalos is that the tech level is fairly high. If you can figure out how to make a vibro weapon work in Amber, Kieran I would love to have one." Valerian says, sliding over to Paril. Kieran raises an eyebrow at Valerian. Valerian grins. "Random wouldn't like that." Deirdre comments dryly. "Neither would Benedict." She then looks at Kieran. "Shall we?" she says. "Let's;" Kieran replies while raising his blade in a salute. He then drops into a guard position with it. Deirdre starts off, testing, probing Kieran's guard. Its clear immediately she is not using all of her resources as she takes the attack to Kieran. She seems more interested in seeing how well rounded Kieran's defenses are more than trying to score immediate points on him. Hmm, Kieran will start slowly; probing her defenses and acclimating to his practice blade. Once he's gotten comfortable with the feel of the blade, then he'll begin ramping things up until they reach either his or his grandmother's level. Deirdre's defenses are good, very good. It is fortunate that Kieran has learned from both his mother and his father, or else he would make a poor showing, even if Deirdre is not trying to overwhelm him. Is she trying to *test* him? Clearly, that is one motivation, as the practice continues and the footwork sends them up and down on a precise, straight line. Finally, Kieran is taxed to his ultimate level. It's clear to Kieran, even at this level, that Grandmother is better, but how much better is not clear. From the stories that Father has told him, she should be far, far better than this, by a couple of orders of magnitude. Kieran gets the feeling that, currently, Grandmother is not so much better than Kieran than stories would allow. Deirdre, once she finds Kieran's level, keeps drilling and practicing him at that level, fighting him at just a little better, just a little quicker, as if trying to probe his lasting power, next. Kieran preps a Mind Over Matter spell, or atleast attempts to as he fights his grandmother. He does start making seemingly random maneuvers and circling back and forth as opposed to the straight line of battle his grandmother seems to prefer. Once his spell is ready, he'll cast it converting his Psyche to boost Warfare for a time. Then, he'll press a series of attacks to see if he can best his grandmother. Deirdre accepts Kieran's fighting withdrawal, at least long enough to get the mental spell prepped, ready and cast. Its a near run thing, as Deirdre just about cornered Kieran before the short duration spell goes off. Kieran's boosted Warfare surprises Deirdre, and he is able to press the attack, as she takes time to adjust to Kieran's improved Warfare. In the end, fighting at full transfer, Kieran is not quite good enough to best his grandmother, although its clear he is a challenge at this level. She is, however, by all appearances, delighted by the improved competition, and she continues to duel Kieran at this level. Finally, however, Kieran feels that he can no longer sustain the conversion of Psyche into Warfare without draining himself completely--or worse. Not willing to completely drain himself, nor delve further into his other skills (not all lend themselves well to sparring matches and it's best to leave a few surprises after all), Kieran concedes defeat in the sparring match with his grandmother. And, its not like he really expected to win anyroad. Kieran steps back several paces and raises his blade in a salute once more to Deirdre. "I yield, Grandmother. I see I still have much to learn." Deirdre steps back and raises her blade in turn to Kieran. "I accept the yield." Deirdre says with a slight smile upon her lips. "I see we have much to talk about at some point. Especially about that trick you pulled. Something that your mother taught you?" "Indeed we do;" he says. And then; "Yes and no;" Kieran replies with a smile. "I'm sure that she knows of the technique but I did not learn it from her." "Something learned in that region of shadow then." Deirdre looks thoughtful. "Not the most common of skillsets, even amongst arcane practitioners." Again Kieran smiles. "Yes and no." He shrugs his shoulders. "The theory and basics of my 'skillset' I learned at home. The practicing and honing of the technique were done elsewhere. We can discuss it later, if you are interested in learning more." In the meantime, Paril has actually managed to get to the point where he is crossing blades with Valerian, although its not really a spar so much as an practice exercise. Its somewhat awkward for Paril, but Valerian patiently is pressing on with the lesson. Kieran watches the pair with interest. Both to see how Paril progresses and what skill Valerian reveals in the process of instructing his friend. The sparring goes on for a few more minutes, Valerian and Paril unaware of Kieran's (and, concurrently, Deirdre's) interest in the lesson. Although an actual match against Valerian would be the best way to determine how good he is, Kieran can get a decent sense of his skill level. "Have you sparred with him?" Kieran asks of Deirdre as they observe the lesson. In Kieran's judgement, as he shows Paril basic strikes, lunges and feints, Valerian is probably better than Kieran is, but with Kieran's special talent, Kieran could at least match him, and possibly beat him. Finally, the sparring ends, and Paril backs away. Valerian salutes him with his sword, and after a moment, Paril does the same. "You have taken your first step into a larger world." Valerian says to Paril "Although, from what I saw, I think your friend Kieran could teach you as much as I could." "I'd introduce the both of you to William." Valerian continues, turning to Kieran "who is *very* good, but unfortunately he and another of our cousins is probably already sailing past Cabra as we speak." Kieran nods his head. "Another time then;" he comments as he returns his blade to the table where the unused practice weapons rest. "Grandmother;" he says, turning to Deirdre; "Shall we adjourn somewhere more quiet and continue to get to know one another?" "Yes." Deirdre says with a gleam in her eye. "Let's." "And so, for the moment, my duty is discharged." Valerian says. "Although..." he looks at Paril, Kieran and Deirdre. "I could give your friend a tour of the Castle and so allow the two of you some privacy. Grandmother to grandson." "I'll be fine, Kieran, and I will see you later, hey?" Paril says. Kieran nods his head. "All right then;" he says. "Valerian, show Paril the library, I've heard stories about it. Paril, its where they store data here; no holonet, datapads, flimsiplast, or computers though. Paper and parchment, leather bound books and so on." "Really?" Paril says. "I have to see this to believe it." "The library it is." Valerian says, and soon leads Paril off back toward the Castle, leaving Kieran and Deirdre on the practice grounds with relative privacy. Backlinks |
