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As the women scattered from Despil's dinner party, Jurt took the opportunity to find a mount to carry him to Ishtarways. He was never the flyer that Despil was, but that didn't make him unsure on wyvernback.

Something in him loved being back in the Courts, but there was no way that he was going to see the Logrus with Tear and Tasha, but, as arcane knowledge of his preferred Power was concerned there was Lady Barimen-Ishtar.

He dismounted and announced himself, apologizing for his lack of an appointment, but explained that if the Lady was available, he would appreciate her time.

"And Lord Torren?" asked the demon, its slick green irridescent eyes gleaming, as the thick fish lips peeled back from its spiked teeth. "Do you wish to speak with him too?"

"If he would have time for such as myself, Jurt of Sawall, I would be honored," he answered.

"He will have time," said the demon, with another flash of those formidable fangs.

Then he turned and led Jurt into the gracious Halls of Ishtar Ways.

Jurt walked by fountains and stained glass, past a doorway that appeared to lead into a hospital ward, up a flight of carpeted stairs that actually took them to a floor below, and down a long hallway filled with portraits of former Lords of House Ishtar and their families.

By the time they reached their destination, his guide looked less demon and more canine, though he still walked on two legs. He rapped loudly twice on the door, then turned and bounded back down the hallway on all fours.

The door oipened - seemingly without further interventions - and Jurt found himself in a library. The far wall was all glass, while books lined the other three walls from floor to ceiling. A bluish-green fire burned in the fireplace, contrasting nicely with the blood red carpeting and the dark wood.

Seated on the padded surround of the fire was a small woman, dressed in green, her hands wrapped in white bandages as though she was wearing mittens.

It was Fiona.

Jurt coughed gently to draw attention his way, sure that she had noticed him already, but ever the gentleman. "Princess Fiona, I'm ever so pleased that you could receive me on such short notice." He crossed to her and offered a respectful bow. His eyes lingered thoughtfully on the shelves of books. "I hope things are well for you?"

She smiled a little bitterly, thrusting her hands into the opposite wide sleeves.

"As you see, Lord Jurt. I continue to be an obedient subject of Chaos." A beat, and suddenly she was gazing at him intently. "Stands Amber where it did?"

"As ever, Princess. I believe your brother Corwin once called it the Eternal City, and may have had the right of it," he answered. "Might I inquire as to your injuries?"

She glanced down at the bandages as though seeing them for the first time, and then smiled. "Sometimes ... I forget myself," she said quietly. "And forget the fact of my captivity too." Then she glanced up at him, and if there was pain in her eyes, it was very well concealed. "May I have tea brought? Or perhaps you would prefer something else?"

"I've just eaten at Sawallways, so tea would be lovely," Jurt answered. He again appraised the room with a smile. "It seems quite the gilded cage," he commented with a smile. "I'm sure I could occupy myself for days upon end among such resources."

"A gilded cage still has bars," said Fiona drily, even as she signalled the demon to bring them both tea. "As doubtless you are discovering in Amber - or is your brother keeping you on a long leash?"

"From the day I arrived, my brother has limited my ambitions, but I've learned to make the best of what options are allowed me," Jurt admitted. "I was wondering if you might be willing to discuss some of my theories on the effects of secondary ordered wave patterns in third veil shadows?"

Fiona gave a little smile. "How did you know my weakness, Lord Jurt? Come - we'll go through to the library ... if you will permit?"

"Of course," Jurt answered as he crossed to her side and took her arm to accompany her. "As to weaknesses, I admit that it's one of mine as well."

"I've read most everything the Castle Library Archives have on Pattern Theory," he explained.

"Good," said Fiona. "Then you'll be ready to understand my own theories..."

She reached out and gripped his forearm. "Do you believe that Corwin is dead?" she asked.

Surprised at the speed of his own response, Jurt shook his head. "No."

"Do you?" Obvious curiosity in his tone, he waited for her to lead him toward the library.

"No," said Fiona.

They were moving through great booklined rooms now, dark wooden shelves gleaming, and heavy volumes lining them from floor to ceiling. Tall demons of the variety known as bookworms were moviing here and there - until Fiona opened the door of a maller room, still booklined on three sides, but with a series of diamond-paned windows that overlooked a courtyard garden making up the fourth wall. She indicated that Jurt should take one of the cushion and carved wooden seats.

"I have experience of his being dead before," she said. "What's your reasoning?"

"The impact of his Pattern on the afore mentioned shadows," Jurt answered. "It doesn't seem static, but to have some intelligence behind it."

"So unless I'm to attribute sentience to the Pattern, someone, most likely of his lineage must be controlling it. Since the only known child sits the throne in Amber," he offered a lazy shrug of his shoulders.

Fiona looked startled. "You think that Merlin ... No. Surely not. Wherever Corwin's Pattern is - it must be well away from Amber."

She was silent a moment, biting her lower lip and frowning.

"Unless, when the old was destroyed and new created, the Shadow that is Amber, having lost it's Anchor of Power, realigned itself with the similarities in the new Pattern," Jurt hypothesised. "Of course, as the metaphysical shifted, I'd expect more shifts in the local environment than we've seen over the last century there."

"Unless," said Fiona slowly, "for some reason ... the Pattern is closer to Amber than we've been anticipating."

"Implying that less corporeal shifts were necessary and possibly lost to observation during the original paradigm shift?" Jurt mused. "But the would imply that Corwin's Pattern exists within perhaps even the first Veil of Shadows as observed from Amber."

"No," said Fiona, a little too quickly. "No, I'm sure not. Corwin had passed Ygg."

"A fixed point to be sure, but it was a line of demarcation supposedly marked by your father as the point of equalibrium between Chaos and Amber. Perhaps more correctly, it was a demarcation between Chaos and Order, Amber no longer being synonomous with the latter," Jurt suggested as he led her to a chair.

"Unlike Amber, it hasn't been under constant observation since the creation of Corwin's Pattern, thus perhaps it now reflects a new division of Shadow, bringing it back to the median?"