TheTimeMeddlersIndex (Continued from Aunts and Angles.) "We sent no such ship, although Del and I debated contacting you when Jayson wanted...." She stops again, her eyes showing grief. At this point, a new voice, and new mind enters the contact. Ederyn feels a warning pulse from Nasirpal at this. Even as the words begin, he sits up and tenses, also bringing his mind into a more actively defensive mode. "Sand? Why don't you bring Ederyn through? I'd like to meet him in person." The contact shimmers a bit as a new card appears on top of the Trump Ederyn is holding, someone in a military uniform of some kind, standing in a large Great room. It's a woman. Tall. Dressed in an officer's uniform. Her brown hair is severely pulled back, her hazel eyes stare out of the trump with an appraising, almost dismissive look. The same person whose mind has joined the call. "That was somewhat basely done, Max," Sand says. "While I appreciate that my brother has been teaching you with dispatch, intruding on the call so directly is rather unprofessional." Her eyes look hard at her. Sand's low-key reaction, coupled with the lack of an actual threat, allow Ederyn to relax, more or less. An emotion of wry amusement comes through the link. "We don't have time for formal courtesies if you hadn't noticed," a woman's alto voice says. "But while we are about it. Ederyn, this is Max, one of your cousins only recently made aware of her heritage. Max, this is Ederyn, a recently revealed son of Eric. Ederyn has ... met Delwin and I before. "I am not certain Ederyn entirely trusts the idea of coming here at this juncture, do you, Ederyn?" Sand looks to him. "I would not be offended if the answer is yes. But the offer is tendered." Ederyn can hear the woman named Max snort, though he can't see her yet. "You're safe. My word," Max's voice says with finality. Max looks at Delwin. "Right?" she asks pointedly. "In fact," Ederyn says mildly, though with an undercurrent of tension, "I believe I am safe from your interference at this time, Aunt Sand. But I have several reasons to not leave where I am, right now." "Max," Ederyn says next. His Thari is strongly accented, including trouble with some consonants - "x" turns into "k-s," and "z" becomes "s." But with enough attention it's comprehensible. "Another 'new one,' I understand they say." He smiles tentatively, not sure whether she can actually see him. "I seem to have more cousins to meet every day." "The two of you should at least see each other, although this is a most unorthodox meeting." Sand puts a hand on Delwin. It is this, as it so happens, that allows Max and Ederyn to come into contact with Delwin, and, as it so happens, now see each other. To Max, Ederyn looks startlingly like pictures she's seen of a young King Eric. She can also see that his current garb and location are quite unlike what was in the Trump she glimpsed. Her right eyebrow twitches as she gets a good look at Ederyn. Her expression otherwise stays distantly polite. "You haven't learned everything yet," Delwin says to Max with a smile. He turns to look at Ederyn. "I believe what you are looking for, since you called us, is an apology." "Del..." Sand begins. Delwin gives her a look. "Very well, Ederyn, you have it," Delwin says. "If we knew then, what we know now, we would have brought you to Corilaine and fostered you here. Leaving you in Norwend to live your ordinary life for a time was not the best thing we might have done for you. At the time we thought it was. We apologize." Sand looks alternately furious and glum. Max on the other hand gives Delwin a brief look, a cross of surprise and respect. Ederyn glances back and forth between Delwin and Sand, too astonished to speak at first. "I ..." he begins, then pauses to clear his throat and think, but not for very long. "I accept your apology," he says gruffly. It doesn't look like this has made them all great friends, but the tension among them is definitely reduced. "Max is not known to the family at large as yet," Delwin continues, giving a nod to Max and a nod of recognition to Ederyn. "Much like you weren't, back in the day. Events have caused us to take a different approach than we did with you." Max turns to Ederyn, starts to speak, pauses. Frowns slightly. She looks at Delwin. "How do we know this is a secure channel?" she asks bluntly. "Spying on the trumps takes a lot of work and effort," Delwin says. "Any spy would have to decide that it was worth the unlikelihood that my sister and I are involved and worth focusing on. And the two of you ..." he gestures to Ederyn and then to Max, "aren't known at all. Why, for a time, the two of you could likely trump each other in perfect surety, until trumps of you start getting made." "Plus," Sand says, recovering herself and presenting a more regnant face again, "There are some advantages to our charge." She rubs a finger on one of the rings she wears. Ederyn hears a high pitched whistle not unlike the sound of a Weir's howl. To Max, it sounds like a cry in the voice of Correspondence. After about 5 seconds, the effect fades, and then disappears entirely. Max half smirks, half winces. "That's gotta hurt," she mutters. "It's a secure channel," Sand says, with satisfaction. "All right," Max turns to Ederyn, her eyes looking him up and down as if evaluating him from where she sits. "Fate. Broken Spirals. Causality is messed up right now. What caused you to call Sand at this particular time? It's important we know," Max tells Ederyn rather bluntly. He blinks, and looks to Sand and Delwin for some indication that they, at least, have some idea of what Max is talking about. Delwin scratches his chin but he looks intently at Ederyn. "It depends on what you mean by 'at this particular time,'" he tells Max, cautiously. "I could say that my call to Sand is a direct result of my last conversation with her, which happened many hands of years ago - but not long at all, compared with the age of the universe. Or I could say that it resulted from the opportunity to leave Drengrheim and travel to Amber, which happened something like a year ago. Or that it is because I walked the Pattern, which happened a short time ago in Amber but somewhat longer ago where I am now. Or most recently, because I decided not to indulge in any more delay this evening, and confront certain things that I expected to disturb me." Max sits back, looking thoughtful. "You walked the Pattern recently? How long ago in Amber time? And which Pattern?" Ederyn shrugs. "I know not how to measure the relative time flow," he says. "But I expect to return to Amber within few hours of leaving, perhaps one or two hours. Noys said something about shopping this afternoon, and I believe it was still morning when I left." "So within the last day," Max nods. "Somehow I'm not surprised," she adds with a touch of irony in her tone. "Now, regarding which Pattern: I walked the Earth Pattern, under the Castle, and then I walked the Fire Pattern, which is elsewhere. I asked the Earth Pattern to send me there, or at least close enough. The Fire Pattern sent me back to Amber, and Noys brought me here to rest." He watches their reactions with interest. "I thought it had released early," Delwin says. "The memory blocks we had out on you. A patternwalk would release them, of course. It wouldn't be the first." Ederyn's gaze at him turns sharp; then he looks both enlightened and newly irritated, but does not say anything aloud. Sand looks coolly at Ederyn. "Fire Pattern? You don't mean the Primal Pattern, do you, Ederyn?" she says. "Why did you go there?" "I mean the Fire Pattern. I went because I wanted to," he says with asperity. "I like symmetry, and no one had a reason for me not to, except that it was very dangerous. Which it was; it's in a dimension that is all fire." Max looks at Sand at that news. "Another option presents itself." "Yes," Sand agrees with Max, and continues to listen to Ederyn. "Now, are you going to explain what you mean about causality and spirals, or am I the only one giving away information here?" Max shrugs. "Not sure how much you'll understand. I only understand it because I spent time studying engineering in some more tech advanced shadows. Basically ... Delwin and Sand needed help with Benedict. They scryed for someone who can help them. They got my trump. Like the one you're holding now. Except... it hasn't been made yet. It's a trump from the future. And causality ... uh..." Max's hazel eyes flick up at the ceiling, obviously trying to figure out the words. "Um ... reality is out of ... phase ... time is ... well ... spiraling to close the paradoxes..." Max sighs. "I'm not used to talking time with people who haven't read H.G. Wells or seen Star Trek ... But ... I'm not completely fixed in time at this moment. Or at least my trump isn't. And ... I need to walk the Pattern ASAP. In fact... " Max glances back at Delwin and Sand. "We were just discussing which Pattern we could get me to, and since I'm not acknowledged as blood, with a minimum of Amber fuss. Or ripples in time. And ... out of the blue someone who's just walked a Pattern no one knew about just happens to trump Sand at this very instant. That's is ... so improbable that it almost defies causality." Max sags back in her chair with a sigh, stuffing her hands in her trouser pockets and looking mildly annoyed. Ederyn taps his fingers on the handle of the hammer that's resting on his right thigh, taking a moment to think this through. "I don't see why you're so worried about it," he says at last. "Time is a dimension; it's not going to shatter just because someone poked a hole through it from your future to your past. And with a Trump, which must have a very strange relationship with Time to begin with." Max opens her mouth as if to interrupt, the glances at Delwin and instead purses her lips together. "It could have been Dworkin who arranged the Trump," he adds casually. "I met him on the path to the Fire Pattern." "It sounds and feels like Dworkin's doing," Sand says. "More my father than my grandfather, but the former learned at the feet of the latter all the same." She frowns. "And not only someone who knows about a new Pattern, but someone whom Del and I were already familiar with." Max looks up at the ceiling, away from Sand and Ederyn. Correspondence said she was responsible for setting Max on this course. But Sand is claiming Dworkin might have. But then Dworkin would be working for, or with, Correspondence. That is ... if that wasn't Sand she'd been talking to. Max thinks about what she knows about Dworkin, and realizes it's not much. Only that he was Oberon's father, and legend has it he slept with the Unicorn to beget Oberon. Which ... seems like a nice bit of propaganda to Max. Blast ... too many maybes. Not enough facts. "It does defy causality," she says to Max. "but it is closing the spirals of improbability." She looks at Ederyn. "This Fire Pattern, a dimension of Fire. A reverse of Rebma, then?" Max returns her attention back to Ederyn. And at the same time reaches for her sketch book, pulling it towards her on the table. "In some ways," Ederyn answers Sand. "If Rebma's pattern is at the bottom of a deep hole. But in this place, the whole landscape is made of flame - there are cliffs and spires that almost look like stone, but are not. I believe Rebma is not made all of water?" "The Pattern Room is under the Rebma Royal Castle," Max answers. "Same as Amber's Pattern." Max takes the notebook in front of her and opens it for Ederyn to see. Showing a sketch of the Rebma Pattern. As she holds it for Ederyn to view, she re-examines her own sketch. Is Sand wearing in the sketch what she's wearing now? Is Ederyn possibly in the sketch? Meanwhile, Ederyn looks at the sketch and frowns. "I thought you had not yet been to a Pattern?" Max's mouth twists into a crooked smirk as she glances up from her drawing. "I haven't. Yet." "This sketch is a taste of the strangeness we've had to deal with" Sand says briskly. "The future, influencing and trying to dictate the past. What one gets for dealing with Primal Powers." Delwin in the meantime moves about the table and looks at the sketch as Max does. Sand is wearing something far more Rebman and revealing than the outfit that she is wearing right now. There are a couple of distant figures she remembered from the vision, sketched here in basic lines. Could one of them be Ederyn? They are indistinct enough in the watery realm as to be unclear. There are a couple of people in the background. One of them *could* be Delwin. Or someone else entirely "I think this goes back to not going to Rebma," Sand says. "Let this happen in the future, or not at all. Walk a different Pattern." Max nods vaguely She's realizing she should have spent more time talking to this Gretel girl. Delwin looks at Ederyn. "We've been training Max in Trump, obviously, but Benedict would likely want a Pattern Initiate. And now you see why you calling right now is so fraught and strange." Ederyn stares at Delwin for a moment and then suddenly laughs - a kind of muted chuckle, but with a genuine smile, which shows that he's really extremely handsome when he isn't being guarded and borderline hostile. "Fraught and strange," Ederyn repeats, his smile fading a little, "has become my life, Delwin." This earns a snort of amusement from Delwin. Max on the other hand looks slightly less impressed. "I am no more astonished by this time problem than by 'electric power.' If you want me to offer to introduce Max in Amber, you will have to ask me, not try to engage my curiosity. And you'll also have to explain why you won't do it yourselves." Max looks to Delwin and Sand to see their answer as she closes her sketch book and moves it to in front of her. "You don't appear to be in Amber right now," Delwin says. "However, you are starting to understand Amber rather well," Sand smoothly picks up. She gives a nod and a smile to Ederyn. "Very well. Despite our past difficulties, it would be a favor to us if you would introduce Max to Random and see that she walks the Pattern. The fact that she is our delegate for brother Benedict should smooth those gears. As to why we do not go to Amber ourselves and do it, there are a number of ... situations in the Golden Circle which our departure would invite escalation and action inimical to Amber." She looks at Max. "Max herself knows of what I speak in this regard. The situation in Menius," she adds, as a prompt. Max leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well ... yes ... the security situation for Corilaine is a bit strained. Especially now that Menius has accepted Amber garrisons to help with protection against the Omphalos. And Menius could very well use the situation to attack Corilaine now that their own defenses are bolstered. It really is too bad you can't ask Random for help here. Corilaine not being a member of the Golden Circle treaty. I mean ... if Corilaine asked for provisional membership in the Golden Circle right now ... and Random accepted ... and he moved a few squadrons into Corilaine to bolster its borders ... It would stand to reason that Random would have to make Menius stand down against Corilaine. Since you'd all be assisting Amber against the Omphalos. In fact..." Max says in a pleasant tone, "I'd be happy to ask Random for you if that's something that you'd be open to?" Ederyn follows these political details dutifully, and doesn't see fit to add any comments of his own at this point. Delwin gives Sand a significant look, clearly to Ederyn and Max as a ceding of this to her. Sand doesn't return the look, but instead turns to look at Ederyn and Max through the trump. "Well. I see that in some ways, Max, you are being entirely wasted shut up as you've been in Delwin's Tower. I should have been keeping you in Court, instead. We don't quite know, after all, though, just how Ederyn is plugged into Amber. Judging from your surroundings, Ederyn, I'd wager you are in the keeping of your sister. She certainly is plugged in." "But let's lay some cards on the table," she continues, focusing on Ederyn. "Sending Max to Amber and having her walk the Amber Pattern under your aegis solves some problems, and possibly disrupts the aforementioned broken spirals. I've already asked as a favour. Is there something else more you want, or perhaps demand, to do this for us?" Ederyn gives this question the serious consideration it deserves. "Two things," he says. "First, release whatever command or geas you have given the Lady of the Oak, so that I might speak with her again one day." Sand makes a head motion for Ederyn to continue. "Second," he says steadily, "promise and give me whatever assistance I may need in certain negotiations with the Queen of Air and Darkness, about an item that once was hers, to happen at a time and place not yet known." "Bide a moment," Sand says, regarding Ederyn. "Not Rebma?" Delwin says. "I almost feel a couple of competing powers are moving the four of us one direction or another, toward one of these two poles." "It does, which goes to what you want, Max. Do you want Ederyn to introduce you to Amber? To the stars with what your future self thinks, or elder powers, or Dragons, or anything. What do you want? What do you both want?" "A straight question from my sister," Delwin murmurs "Strange days indeed." "There is very little I want that I don't already have," Ederyn says. "And you've asked the question I was going to ask," he continues, "or one of them. Max, would you like for to me to introduce to you Amber? But also, whose daughter are you?" Max's eyes are unfocused as she listens to the conversation. "Um ... Rebma ..." she says, her voice a little distant. "No ... yeah ... that's it." Max snaps back to attention. "So ... I don't think I'm the one walking the Rebman Pattern. I think it's Ederyn." She looks through the trump. "You walked the Amber Pattern. Earth. Then the Fire Pattern. You're... empowering yourself to the Pattern, aren't you. I think you'll need to walk the Rebman Pattern to help seal the deal. So... I think I'll walk the Amber Pattern first... Why are you sealing yourself to the Pattern?" Max suddenly asks Ederyn. Ederyn looks astonished and then bemused. "You haven't seen it yet," he says, "or you would know. Although I did attempt the Fire Pattern for the reason of expecting the act to strengthen and balance the Fivefold Pattern, and thus our Reality, which should help us somewhat against the Omphalos. I did not expect that I would be the first ever to walk it," he notes, alert to Sand or Delwin's reaction to that statement. "Though upon thinking back, I suppose I should have." "Were you?" Sand says, in a murmur, not meant as interruption. "As far as me walking the Rebman Pattern," Ederyn continues, "I have no interest in walking more Patterns, and no knowledge of any need to do so. But more importantly, it is possible that I would rather be skinned alive than travel under an ocean any where at any time, so I really wonder, Max - what makes you think I would try to walk Rebma's Pattern?" Max shrugs casually. "Ask Dworkin if you should. I bet he says yes. Plus... you're a man. You'll like Rebma," Max says with a smirk. "At least the clothing." Ederyn frowns. "But the laws of magical symmetry are more important the higher the power you're working with. And the Pattern? Well, you'll figure it out. And when you need to walk Rebma's Pattern, you'll want Sand's help getting there." "But yeah... I'll probably need an introduction to the royals. Unless... Flora can get me to the Pattern room?" Max glances at Delwin, shudders slightly. Delwin smiles. "I'd hate to guess the price for that favor though. As for lineage?" Max leans back in her seat. "I think it's enough to say I'm your cousin. Maybe your niece." Max says with a tilt of her brunette head. "Besides... if I'm wrong, the Pattern will kill me anyway. Plus I've spent the last 15 years, my time, in Amber's military. I'm a Lieutenant in the Marines, Engineer. That should be enough to vouch for my loyalties," Max says, looking straight at Ederyn and not glancing at either Delwin or Sand. Ederyn shakes his head. "It won't work, Max," he says, almost pityingly. "I haven't been part of Amber for very long, but I am sure that if there's one thing the Family in general dislikes, it is uncertainty, especially where the Family is concerned. Refusing to explain your parentage will not be received well at all. Now, if you don't want to tell me or the Family in general, but just Random, that might be acceptable. Of course, you would have to trust Random not to tell everyone whatever it is that you don't want to reveal ... but to gain trust, one must give trust." Max's eyes open slightly wide at the last. "Wow ... you really ..." she says in a half mutter. "How well connected ARE you to Random," Sand asks Ederyn, interrupting, a spark of energy through the trump call. Max glances at Sand, shuts her mouth. "Would you, with her, have the capacity to introduce Max to my brother and the Family? Enough that she might walk the Pattern prior to her leavetaking to Benedict's war? if she were to reveal who her parent truly was?" "It's not as if she's another Brandling, though," Sand adds. "You entangled yourself with another Lady of the Fae?" Delwin looks at Ederyn through the trump with a quizzical eyebrow tilt. A corner of Ederyn's mouth quirks. "I will not take all the blame for this one," he says, "since it was Fate or someone thinking to act that role that brought me to Weirmonken." Delwin shoots a look at Sand. To Sand, Ederyn gives a nod of acknowledgment and says, "I am yet not sure how to measure the influence most other people have with Random, never mind myself. I've spoken with him, oh, just three times so far. I do think that he would rather know than not know about Max. I can say that he was willing to give me permission to walk the Pattern and have rooms in the Castle, and he was willing to take my oath of fealty. Of course, I did play an important role in saving Julian from the Omphalos; I expect that counts for something more than usual. Perhaps Max's military service will do the same." Ederyn looks to Max. "I am supposed to repeat my oath in front of the Court tomorrow," he adds. "Noys assures me that the Throne Room will be 'packed to the rafters' for this." That prospect visibly does not make him happy, but he goes on, "If you wish to avoid being noticed, there may never be a better time. But, I am not sure whether you have made a decision yet?" "About what? I'm walking the Amber Pattern. And my blood is my own business," Max says matter of factly with a slight shrug. "Unless you feel like taking me to Dworkin first," she adds off the cuff. "I don't dislike you that much," Ederyn replies. This jest from Ederyn earns a grin from Delwin. "However ... why is Random making you re-give your oath in front of a crowd during a war? That's a bad security risk," Max continues more thoughtfully. "For you and for him. It's like he's asking for trouble." Ederyn looks askance at her. "I believe it has something to do with my father," he says dryly, "and making clear where I stand. After we have destroyed the Omphalos, there still will be the politics of Amber and the Golden Circle and the Courts of Chaos to live with." Sand taps two fingers together, nodding. Max looks doubtful at the explanation, but doesn't add anything. "Now, what I was trying to ask is whether I must tell Random about you and that you don't want to tell him or anyone else about the details of your parentage. But in that case, I cannot make any useful guess at all about what he will say. Possibly, he will accept the assurance of Sand and Delwin," he glances at them, "that you are a kinswoman and do not intend to try to destroy the Pattern. Maybe he will give you permission to try walking the Pattern, and leave it to make the final decision about whether you are worthy of its trust." Max lets out a slow heavy sigh. "This is such a bad idea..." Max rubs her forehead with a tanned hand. "How about this: I'll escort you to this presentation. Ask Random for a private audience afterwards. Or before hand. Mention family business. When you go, I'll go with you. My rank should get me through most of the security checks. Then when you're with Random, away from the crowd, tell him you have a family member with you who needs to walk the Pattern before reporting to Benedict. Keep my trump on you. That... should get us there. But don't do it during the ceremony. People, including spies, will be watching. And I'd rather not be on anyone's radar." Ederyn leans back in his chair and stares up at the ceiling. "Then you should stay in Corilaine, or wherever else you want, until I call you," he says. "A ... Marine, was it? appearing with me would be noticed. I don't have Amber military people around me, I have Weir, and only three of those." He looks back at Max. "I cannot understand your attitude, your saying this is a 'bad idea,' but it is clear that you feel it very strongly, so I must respect it. I will try to convince Random to meet you, and permit you to walk the Pattern." Ederyn looks to Sand. "Perhaps, Aunt Sand, we should say that this effort, like my requests, is in two parts: first, trying to get Max introduced, and second, her being permitted to walk the Pattern." "It would be Gauling if the request, and the effort, were in three parts," Delwin says. Sand shoots him a look and picks up the conversation. "If it's acceptable to Max," Sand says, "then it is a bargain made. You can call Max when you've arranged him to meet the King." "Perhaps the walk of the Rebman Pattern isn't what happens next after all," Delwin says to Max. "Or it would have been, if Ederyn had not called now." Max nods. "We'll see, There's a lot of time between now and Ederyn's oath giving. But that does give me another day of training," Max says matter of factly. "Good luck tomorrow," Max adds to Ederyn. "Should be fun," she says deadpan. "Thank you," he answers gravely. Looking to Sand and Delwin, he says simply, "We will speak again." "It would appear we are fated to do so. Fare thee well, Ederyn," Sand replies "Good day, Ederyn," Delwin adds. And then Ederyn ends the call, a little abruptly and without much skill. (Continued in Intersections in Real Time.) |
