Shrike leads Alex and First off to the office of the Steward, whose name is Gilt Winters. Winters is a tall, thin fellow with long white hair whom Alex reads as the kind of guy who would be Random's manager if he were a rock star. He has a bit of a posh accent, to boot, of the sort that says he spent some time in Euro boarding schools, maybe.
He's got a fancy office with a heavy wooden desk that looks like it came from the old country too, wherever that is from here, but he still rises and bows, to First to the Fray and then, more slightly, to Alex.
"Ambassador First," he says, "Lord Alex. How may the steward's office help you?"
Ten flavors of temptation pass over Alex's face, transparently, before he restrains himself. He bows back, equally slight.
"It's good to meet you! And I guess you've already met First, uh, Ambassador First."
He frowns theatrically.
"So I guess we've made some kind of a mistake, and I'm hoping I can help make up for it. Ambassador First and I were chatting over dinner, which was excellent, and it turns out she's not sure exactly where she's supposed to be sleeping? But the page said you would know, and I'd be happy to help escort her there if that seems, uh, called for."
Folly slips into the Steward's office behind Alex and First. She raises a hand in greeting, but doesn't interrupt. It's difficult to tell from her body language which of them she has come to see -- maybe all of them.
"In the absence of the Queen," Gilt says smoothly in a voice that sounds like a guy who's smoked a lot, or been in a lot of smoky rooms, "His Majesty has asked the Lady Corvis to act as Chatelaine. She has assigned guest quarters for you, Ambassador, and a page can see you to them."
He smiles at the group, and includes Folly in it. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Ambassador, Lord Alex--or for you, Lady Folly?"
Folly returns the smile, warmly, and holds up three fingers. "Yes, sorry to intrude. Martin's people who came in last night--" she taps her first finger "--are likely to be here for at least a few more days. They're refugees, essentially, and at least some of them may want to settle here. They were Martin's household staff and so all of them have skills that could be useful on the staff here, if you're looking for people and they're interested. And speaking of staff--" she taps her second finger "--I understand some of the staff here have had a rough time of it this last little bit, and I... I'd like to do what I can to help make sure they're okay, y'know?" Alex and First may get the sense she's carefully not saying something, but expects Gilt to know what she's talking about anyway. "Not tonight -- I'm sure it's already been a long enough day with, you know, everything--" she waves her hand vaguely "--but maybe sometime tomorrow, if there's a good time for it." She is clearly deferring to his more intimate knowledge of the staff and their needs.
Folly turns to Alex and First. "And I wanted to make sure you got settled okay, and did I overhear you asking about after-dinner entertainment?"
Alex gives Gilt a thoughtful look before giving it up as a contest he's not sure how to fight and turning to Folly.
"I think Ambassador First was, but sure, I like a little bit of entertainment as much as the next trans-dimensional lost guy. Wanderer? Sure, that. But I mean nobody should go out of their way. If you shoved me into a bedroom right now I'd probably be asleep before I reached the bed. Who's Martin, and why did his people wind up here?"
"Prince Martin is the king's eldest son. I believe he was at dinner, but I understand he has left the castle on royal business just now. He brought retainers with him from Shadow recently and they've been recovering under the supervision of Castle medical. Doctor Suon suggested a brief quarantine, perhaps forty-eight hours, to ensure there was no infection," Gilt explains. The first half seems to be aimed at Alex, the second half at Folly.
First is looking a little concerned at this, but the mention of quarantine seems to settle her.
Folly nods, and adds for Alex and First's benefit, "Martin is also my husband, in case you hadn't caught that bit yet."
Gilt continues, "Once the quarantine is over, I'll be happy to find positions for them, though if His Highness wants to keep any of them in your personal household, of course that would take precedence. As for the rest of the staff, I'd be happy to call a meeting for you tomorrow, milady."
"Yes, thank you, Gilt, that would be much appreciated," Folly replies with a smile. She takes a few moments to work out the details, then turns back to Alex and First. "Should I let the two of you get settled for the night? I know it's been quite a day."
"Oh! Thanks, it's hard keeping track. I bet there's a monk somewhere, uh, a good monk, who's got a big wall chart... actually I guess probably the other kind of monk has one too, huh?" He yawns.
"Um, yeah. I would love to get some sleep. I think, uh, can someone point me at my room?"
"Of course," says Gilt. "I'll have a page lead you to your quarters in the Family wing, and another for you, Ambassador First, to lead you to your quarters in the guest wing."
First's expression is bland, but Folly feels like she might be amused by the whole thing.
"Unless you'd like to do the honors, Lady Folly?"
Folly hesitates and tilts her head, almost like she's listening for something, then nods. "Yes, I rather think I would. Thanks, Gilt -- I'll see you tomorrow. Cousin, Ambassador--" she smiles, with a twinkle in her eye, as she gestures to the door, "--shall we?"
Once they're in the hall, she says, "It turns out I'm the good monk with the wall chart, but it's more of a scribbled sketch and I wouldn't have known you were on it until you showed up today. But once you're rested up, if you'd like a quick primer on our known family -- at least the ones you're likely to meet around here -- let me know and I'll walk you through it." The invitation is mostly directed at Alex, since he was the one asking, but she includes First as well. Folly sets off toward the family and guest wings, planning to find a page when the paths split to take Alex the rest of the way to his rooms, and walk with First to her quarters.
Alex looks moderately relived. "Yes. Thank you. People keep telling me everything now, but it's been a long day and I don't think any of it is sticking, you know? Tomorrow I can take notes or something."
He walks, maintaining pace with Folly. "Also of course I have no idea... where I'd go on it. How do people usually figure that out? Do I describe Mom, then have a page discreetly send it to everyone who's a possibility and see if anyone raises their hand? I was thinking I was going to need to go back home and talk to her, which means I guess I need to find someone to go with me, unless this Pattern thing is secretly on the King's agenda for me for tomorrow."
First doesn't have anything to say to that; she's also a newcomer here, and probably, Folly intuits, curious about the whole thing herself. Also quite interested in the P-word behind her diplomatic facade.
"If it is, you definitely need to rest up," Folly says. "And even then, you'll probably want someone else to go with you while you figure out how it works. When I first went back to ask my mum who'd sired me, Martin went with me and we showed her his trumps, figuring the pictures might help if whoever-it-was had used another name. It... didn't quite go the way we expected: Martin didn't have a picture of the culprit, but she ended up recognizing someone else as looking just like sketches in her grandmother's diary, and that's how we found out I'm descended from Julian on my mother's side.
"But, yeah, you could also just ask around here." Folly thinks a moment, and adds, "I might be able to make a sketch you could show around, if you're good at describing faces. Did she ever say anything about your father? Or, like, huff out an 'Oh, you're just like your father' when you... I dunno, dangled your brother over the edge of a cliff, or flirted with your sister?" Her eyes are twinkling with self-amusement. She does take a moment to study the lines of Alex's face, and his movements, as they walk, to see if they are particularly reminiscent of any of their relatives.
"Mom was short like me, kind of a jock. Uh, do you know snowboarding? She did that, made enough to live on most of the time. Good-looking, so she got some endorsements. Blonde, round face, kept her hair cropped short, wow this is hard. She looks like mom!"
He makes an amused face. "I didn't really take after her as far as looks go. She was kind of an ice queen, sometimes. She never said much about Dad... well, she said she wasn't surprised when I grew up to be a bit of a bulldozer. I don't know how I measure up here yet..." He waves to First, cheerfully. "That's one reason why I want to wrestle you, honestly, I think it'll be a good learning experience.
"But yeah, back home, I can punch harder than the average bear."
First doesn't seem to have a lot to add here. Folly intuits that she's just listening and absorbing what she and Alex are saying. Not in a bad way, just trying to get her bearings.
Folly nods thoughtfully. "Well, the most legendarily strong among the ones I know is Gerard, who is the one in the wheelchair now. But honestly just about any of them could lift a car if they needed to, I think. And not that this would be especially definitive given that time flows differently in different places, but how old are you, -ish? That could also be a clue."
Alex nods. "I met Gerard when I came in. He didn't seem to recognize me but Dad wasn't around when I was growing up."
A grin, quick and quirky. "Look, would it be rude to just go ask him? Not now, I mean, in the morning. Oh, and I'm thirty-six. Old enough...."
He pauses. "Wait, okay, y'all -- we all -- live a long time. Does that just, is that -- cause the last couple of years I've been wondering why I haven't lost a step, you know?"
"I don't know whether your years and the years here are the same or not," First says, "but the legends of Prince Benedict say he is three thousand years old and more. The King is perhaps five hundred. You have time, Sir Alex."
Folly nods. "Yeah, I think it would be fine to ask. I doubt Gerard would take offense. Or any of them, really -- and with so many previously-unknown relatives coming out of the woodwork, they should be used to it by now... or are about to be." She grins.
"I have an idea for how to get at least a rough image for you to show around, if you want. I'll try to have it sent up before breakfast. Ambassador First is correct -- depending on the time-differentials between where you grew up and where your sire has been, for them it could have been ten years or a hundred. If they're close, my guess is it's probably not Gerard, but it's still probably worth asking." She hesitates, thinking, and adds, "If you want to ask Huon, you might want to do it within the next couple of days, as he has duties that will take him back to Rebma soon." She pauses again. "And keep in mind that as long-lived and slow-aging as we are, your father doesn't necessarily have to be of their generation. My husband is a couple hundred years old, as he figures it, and he has at least a few much-older cousins."
They've reached a junction of hallways, and Folly stops. "Welcome back to the family wing," she says. She's ready to flag down a page for him if Alex is ready, but waits to see if he has any more questions.
Alex grins tired, and murmurs a thanks. "That helps. It's like walking into a new locker room, you just don't know the habits, and it's just similar enough to places you're used so that you can screw up by making assumptions. I'll hit up Huon in the morning, thanks."
He watches Folly's page-flagging technique carefully then trundles off after the resulting page. On the way:
"Hey, can you send like a note to Huon and see if he's available for breakfast tomorrow? Do pages do that?"
The page, who is perhaps a week or two past his voice starting to change, nods. "Of course, my Lord. Do you wish stationary to write a note, or shall I deliver your message directly to Prince Huon?"
"Nope," Alex says cheerfully, "You go ahead and deliver it."
(When he awakes, there is a package for him, from Folly. It's almost like a funny-face-building children's toy: set in a metal base, a card shows the outline of a round, feminine face with short-cropped hair; and with it are packets of eyes, noses, and mouths of different shapes and sizes, but more realistic than cartoonish, colored in with pastels or colored pencils, that can be arranged on the base to give a reasonable approximation of a sketch, for those with the eye and the skill. There's also a panel of glass that can be clamped onto the result to keep the pieces in place if he wants to show it around.)
Folly watches for a moment as Alex and the page depart down the hall, then turns back to First with a polite "let's continue" gesture. As they walk, she asks, "So, out of curiosity, what sorts of after-dinner entertainment are typical for you?"
First glides onward, her joints seemingly plastic or at least immune to laws of physics. She would be able to play things that take two pianists with normal arms.
"Typical? That would be hard to say. We travel lightly, and frequently, so we don't do things that require elaborate staging or preparations. That's not quite true. We do but we plan for those, so they're not typical. Storytelling, song, dance, competition. Gambling, duels, drinking, poetry.
"We spend much of our time traveling, so our hosts often have feasts, and we are exposed to a variety of arts.
"I first met Firedancer when he and I were both engaged in a contest that our respective hosts were engaged in. I think his people are similar to mine."
Folly smiles and just barely stops herself from blurting out 'not similar enough for him to know he was getting accidentally engaged, though'. Instead she says, "I think you might be right, although I admit I don't know very much about his people. It's too bad you weren't here a little earlier last night to see his very impressive Echo Dance, which was the after-dinner entertainment for the whole town, as well as the introduction of his knightly order. That's not exactly typical for us either -- at least not on so large a scale; it was quite the production -- but music is a very common activity here. The king is a drummer, and a card player, so the city and the castle are naturally good places for both. But also Xanadu attracts people from all over, so there's a little of everything."
"I noticed that", says First. "It's like traveling but letting the cultures come to you."
Thinking back through First's list, Folly asks, "So, do I understand your people have some sort of time-powers? How does gambling work if you know what's going to happen next?"
First turns her head sideways. "I should probably be more reserved with this, but that's not how it works. We don't have foreknowledge any more than a good seer has with a Fortune Deck." She thinks again. "I can't think of anyone who has the training and discipline to enter a fugue state using it to cheat at cards.
"Our gambling games aren't really suited to two players, but I could teach you."
"I think that would be interesting to see, particularly how it compares to the games we play," Folly says, "which I would be happy to teach you, if you're interested, although I'm far from the biggest expert on that. If you're interested in a music lesson, on the other hand...." She grins. "Your bendiness that my daughter was admiring could be quite an advantage in mastering some of our instruments."
First thinks on this for a moment. "I have kinsfolk who play the bagpipes, and there are martial songs, both for going to war and remembering afterwards. I would be pleased to learn to play your musical instruments.
"Would you like to do teach each other now, or do you have further duties this evening?"
Folly smiles brightly, looking sorely tempted to head straight down to the game room and/or studio, but then she blows out a little huff of breath. "I do have a thing or two to attend to this evening... and also, there's another thing I will want to discuss with you that I think is probably best done after a good night's sleep. But I do very much look forward to teaching each other, and just getting to know one another better in general. I believe we may be very much on the same side in wanting mutual peace between our peoples. I'm relatively new to knowing this family, which means I don't carry the same deeply-ingrained prejudices as some of my relatives for whom the conflict at Jones Falls is within living memory. I'm hopeful that will be an asset." She does not add, "On the other hand they will probably think I'm being naive," but First may hear the implied flip-side anyway.
First nods, sympathetically. "It is an asset for me, and a liability. The eldest seem to think it is an affront that I became competent despite not being there to die in that battle. And they do not consider that I can form my own opinions to be a virtue."
If there's more, First doesn't elaborate. At least not before tomorrow.
"Ahh, elders," Folly says, and smiles wryly, as if she's well-familiar with those sorts of opinions.
She stops in front of a door. "Your guest quarters," she says, gesturing with a polite bow. It may not be clear to First whether Folly already knew which room she'd been assigned, intuited where she should go, or just picked something out of her own volition. Either way, it is a nice suite that is much more ambassador-y than dungeon-y. "Sleep well; if you don't already have other plans perhaps we can meet for breakfast? And if you need anything in the meantime, you can flag down one of the pages to bring you what you need, or get a message to any of us that are currently in residence."
First accepts the breakfast offer. She really has very few plans, except to wrestle Alex at some point. That can wait until after breakfast.
After taking his leave from Random, Edan makes his way with the baby back down to the outside gardens. They appeal to him, and there's a pear tree on one side that needs to divested of more fruit.
He looks around and back to Heckle, who he's sure has come along since his son is here.
"When we called on you, the danger was a lot more obvious," he says. "I don't know where the danger is coming from, any more."
If a bird could shrug, Heckle would shrug. "Well, it was smart to get me, then. Your deal wasn't for one warning of one specific danger, you bought the annual contract. I have yet to see any peril that warranted an alert, including the Moonrider.
"But like you, I might miss something subtle. And I or my form may change over the years, and the protection provided might evolve. We are living things; we change or we are dead."
Heckle hops from foot to foot.
"Have you given any thought as to where you'll plant the first acorn?"
"We planted the first one in Broceliande, near the link you came through. I agree, there's not enough oaks in this world; if you have another acorn from my friend and Sorcery is truly not involved with the planting, I would plant another in the new compound of my Knights." He points down the mountain. "That one would be well cared-for, grow to be a great tree on its own, and a symbol for us. Xanadu is the best place I could imagine to realize its potential."
Heckle bounces up and down in agreement.
"Did I hear right, that Grandfather Tree in the Blue Earth sees you as sort of a parent since I woke him? Is it a burden to you?"
Heckle bobs again. "Yes, to the former, but let me ask you a question. Is your son a burden to you? Do you think I should call upon a person to act as guardian and warn me of danger to him?"
"That's a fair response. No, my son is not a burden to me." Edan smiles a little. "Or should I say, the most incredible, amazing burden I could hope for. I was setting up an apology, you see. I've never woke a tree before, and I didn't know it was so involved. I took great care to make him strong and not damage the Earth around him. I guess I assumed that already being an old tree, he would already think in a more mature fashion. I thank you for stepping in to help protect him."
"I don't think I think in a mature fashion, so I guess we're even. Between you and me, I'm not sure the Blue Earth exists. It might just be another way of looking at the same old Earth we have. Which is to say, this earth may not exist, and the Blue Earth may be a closer approximation of the real earth. Assuming there is a real earth at all."
"There is," Edan says. "Though, I've never seen it. Hmm." He bounces gently with the baby. "I may have been making assumptions about you as well. One of those assumptions was that you can travel practically anywhere. That's not quite true, is it? I think you get around pretty well near or past the Tree, but not as well the more Ordered things get. Have you ever been to Amber before? Or Tir?"
Heckle bounces gently in time. "I am a creature of air, darkness, and moonlight, and smoke and fire. I have legendary connections to you and your family, although mythic stories are often both true and malleable to suit the teller. In some worlds, I might be seen as an ifrit from the jinn, taking a form both pleasant and familiar.
"The story of many-colored crow is not one that is true in my experience, but imagine if an ancestor of mine, we'll call him 'Forethought', was chosen to go to the sky spirit to ask for warmth when all the animals were freezing. 'Forethought' went, and carried fire back to the people, but with a cost. His brightly colored wings were singed to a deep iridescent black and his voice was raspy from the smoke. And yet, he wore these defects as a reminder of the cost of saving the people, and would not choose to give them up.
"That is because crows and ravens are awesome, and give their all. How is it not mythologically true?
"I am at this time less than a mile from a center of order, as the crow flies. I'm still flying, so I'll say I'm not convinced of your theory.
"What would it mean to you if I was more comfortable further from Order and Disorder?"
"Well, it tells me that if you are in a particular place, you would work with the rules of that place. Instead of, say, changing the rules or tearing the rules apart. That's a difficult life, having to remember how much air there is to breathe or how much gravity there is or how well a spell works every single place you go. Even more difficult, remembering all the different natural shadow paths to travel from world to world. We have all these troubles, it's true, but we can make changes to suit us."
After a moment he adds, "I can see why there are so many that want what we have. The monks. The Moonriders, after a fashion. But they're searching for that power to our detriment, and we're going to have to fight to survive."
Heckle considers. "First of all, I will absolutely do things the easiest way I can figure out how to do them, as long as the job gets done. I have no idea if that is ordered or chaotic or just corvidish. It's a matter of conservation of resources." He thinks for a second on the latter point. "Have you considered accommodation? Can you just give them what they want and let them be?"
Edan takes the time to think about it. "I don't think so," he says. "They've killed at least one cousin, and have demonstrated a total lack of civility or respect for the rest, and a lot of the Family are very unhappy about it."
He takes some more time to keep the baby entertained, happy that this hasn't gone completely south yet. It's a new thing for him.
"How far do you think it will go? Destroy them to the last monk?"
The baby makes a scrunched up face and starts to cry. Heckle looks Edan in the eye. "I don't think of this as a dangerous situation, for the child."
Back to bouncing. "No, they are not an immediate danger. The Queen was, and still is. We need to know what the Moonriders are going to do. At least, the faction around Her and the Marshal. I am greatly relieved that Random has become more himself."
Heckle nod/bounces. "Yeah, that seems better than the alternative. I guess if you have to go to war with a Queen, a blind one is easiest. Did she give up her sight attempting to gain wisdom? That trick doesn't really work, even if you have ravens.
"So, you say that the big threat is the moon riders and the little threat is the monks. It's too bad you can't get them to deal with each other, while you watch. Or maybe one of the others is already trying that."
Hannah is strolling up the winding garden paths from the palace. She looks quite relaxed.
"I would love to see that happen. I don’t know of any connection between the two groups, but maybe one of the others has found something out. All the more reason to hang around here a little while and harden up the defenses I’ve created with the Order of the Lamp and the troops we’ve brought to Broceliande."
"You have troops in Broceliande? I'm sure you mentioned that at the meeting or before? Such a long couple days. Can't keep it all straight. It's nice to hear the two of you having a conversation," she says.
Edan nods agreement. "When I brought the first Knights of the Lamp to here, we picked up like-minded troops through Shadow. It is much like how the other armies are coming to Broceliande. The Knights themselves, I'm training them to be the leaders, along with their other duties."
"I guess if we're having armies, I need to recruit some more crows to eat the eyeballs of the dead," replies Heckle.
"Invite your friends if you like, dear feathered one, but my experience is that nature will provide. No need for you to go out of your way." To Edan, she adds, "Have you met all the new cousins? I have run into two so far."
Edan shakes his head. "I saw a few, for a minute or two in the rescue. And once we came back, I had a few words with Alex. I was hoping to have more opportunity to meet the others."
Heckle looks at Hannah oddly. He hops over and gets on her shoulder and looks into her ear. "I need to check your ear for brain-worms. I am Heckle, and am both this crow and the crow spirit of the Blue World. If there are crows feasting on a battlefield, nature has provided, because I invited them. Or Jeckle did."
"Wait, you're nature everywhere?" Hannaah laughs. "And is Jeckle, like, a duoism of you, or an actual separate spirit?"
She looks at Edan. "Did you know he could call all crows? Everywhere?"
Edan looks amused. "I assumed Heckle here to be an avatar for the crow spirit of the Blue Earth. There, I think he can be as many crows as he wants. Jeckle is new, though."
"Thank you, Edan. Hannah, hopefully you didn't push your brains out with the baby. No one could contain the majesty that is all-crows everywhere. But I am a personification of the spirit of crow-ness. In the Blue World, I am Crow. Here, this Kingdom, I'm Heckle. The place affects the form, somewhat. If crows are summoned to a battle by nature, than I am the one who did it, because that's how the spirit world interacts with your worlds. Crow Spirit may know, or not, but that's the mechanics of it.
"Jeckle is my brother. We were eggs together. He isn't around. Corwin ate him." If a crow could look annoyed, Heckle would be that crow.
Edan barely hesitates; that was definitely a subject of interest, but there's something more important. "That was kind of the thing we were discussing before you came -- Heckle's capabilities. I was curious if he was able to move through shadow on his own."
Hannah its also very interested in the answer to this question, and looks to Heckle expectantly.
"Shouldn't you have asked that before you made a deal to have me contact you if something went wrong with your egg?"
He pauses, letting it stretch to uncomfortableness.
"I don't have your gifts, but I can get certain places If I have to. Or more specifically, I find I am in the places I need to be."
He laughs, and it's a rough, gravelly sound. "Don't worry, I'm capable of doing my job."
"Isn't it a chick now? I always thought you'd do your job, Heckle. Could you move the baby with you?" Hannah asks.
Edan, ready to talk about the amorphous quality of 'luck', listens with interest.
Heckle concedes the point about her son being a chick. "That's not actually the arrangement, of course, but it's not like I've tried baby-napping to know if I could spirit him away. I could almost certainly move him to the Blue World, but at that point I might need Grandfather Bear to help move him elsewhere."
Heckle gives a very crow-like shrug, which is a fascinating gesture in a creature with wings but no arms.
"I don't really think we should put him in danger to test my capabilities, when my remit is to notify you of the problem."
Hannah shrugs back.
"The arrangement stands. We asked for you to give us warning, and I am confident in your abilities. I am glad to learn there are other possibilities if things go completely sideways, but I will not plan on them, or rely on them." Edan gives a crow a head-nod bow. "Being nearly completely ignorant of our child's legacy on his mother's side, I am also looking forward to hearing the stories you can tell."
"Hah," barks Heckle. "Once upon a time there was a foolish man who gained wisdom very painfully by doing everything wrong. He was the perfect human, and would've been a pretty good corvid, except he wasn't good looking enough." He bobs his head. "I look forward to teaching your chick about humans. I have so many songs."
"I bet you do," Hannah says. To Edan, she asks, "And how are you? How did your talk with First go?"
"I haven't yet," Edan says. "I went to the king to see whether First can hear everything."
"Oh. What did he say?" she wonders.
"Tell her what happened," he says. "And then, if she uses that information for ill, we will deal with it then."
Hannah nods. "This is why I like him. It will be hard for First, if she believes the behavior dishonorable - especially if her father is deeply wrapped up in it. Will she believe you?"
"I don't know, really. It's not great news, and she wasn't very happy with me before. But there's been time passed and a formal apology since then. All I can do is try."
"I could take her to see the mess in Random's old room. In fact, probably should, if no one has managed to get rid of it yet. I'll let you talk to her first." She grins. "No pun intended."
Edan nods. "That sounds like a plan. She should see the room, maybe she will have some ideas. I don't like that room; the appearance screams 'Sorcery' but it's not."
"My instincts tell me it is more like an invasive plant. We just have to figure out what will get rid of it without doing worse damage in the process. I'm also curious if the absence of she who was feeding it will make it wither away. I need to slip over to the spirit side and look at it from there. I just fear the headache that's likely to give me." Hannah shrugs. "And I don't want him anywhere near it." She looks at the baby.
"You have a lot of expectations about who he's going to be, Edan. Did you get to make many choices when you were a child?"
Edan shakes his head. "Not many. I was ostracized by my appearance, kept apart by wealth, and you can imagine what my father's infrequent visits were like. But I have to disagree with you-- I don't have any expectations for him at all, save the knowledge that he's going to excel at absolutely everything he sets his mind to. And in this place and time, with so many enemies around us, there are basic survival things that need to be taught. After that, I'm happy to let him strike out any direction he wants. I intend to show him as much as I can, so he has a decent choice."
"Alright," she says. "Good." This seems to be what she needed to hear.
"I don't remember ever pushing back against expectations, as a child, until I decided I was getting married. Which is probably how we got away with it. No one would have expected me to defy what my parents thought and... elope, for lack of a better word. Kajika either. Also, I was already a brilliant planner and he'd been studying the land and strategy all his life. In the end our parents were right, of course, which is damn annoying." She shakes her head. "It seems so stupid now, to have made a decision like that at fifteen. I guess that was my mother in me. I wasn't going to be told no when I'd been doing everything they wanted for All My Life." She grins. It falls away though.
"Are you alright if I ask Random if he thinks this child will be able to take the Pattern someday? It seems to me it is too soon to tell, but who knows. If he can't, we will have to be very mindful of his raising, so he can be content with his path when his cousins go down a very different one."
Edan thinks about that. "Why not? Our child is here. Random is here. If there's one thing I've learned with this family, it's not to put anything off. You rarely get another chance. But I agree, it may be too early."
"All my beliefs mean it would be too early. The soul isn't fully formed until they're around three, things like that. But I try to keep an open mind that my beliefs are born of and for the blue earth, and there are universes that will be different, especially any that are so anchored as this. You haven't talked about traditions from your childhood much. Are there any common rituals or coming of age ceremonies that you want to pass along to him?" she asks.
"Aha." The humor doesn't go quite through. "I'm not keen on teaching about how I was descended from fallen angels, or the torturous religious path my mother followed to keep us accepted in society. Or the knowledge that we are stronger than the god she worshipped. Or the bloody war I started to liberate those under that society's thrall. Maybe we'll take a trip sometime and I'll teach him about life and survival in the deep desert. That sounds more fun."
Heckle looks over. "Just to be clear, do I warn you if he's doing something dangerous with the baby, or is that OK?"
Hannah lays a hand on Edan's arm. It's not pity, but it is sympathy. To Heckle she says, "Not if you're certain it is him."
To Edan she suggests, "I think you are exactly right. I do not plan to teach him the stories of how my people used to torture our enemies, or enslave them. Though my father or some of the others in the wood might." She shrugs. "You can create your own traditions, and if they are good, he might pass them down himself someday. You should start with stories of the animals who survive there. Like how the sandcat protects its babies. Children love animal stories. I know that much about them, at least." She grins a little sideways, and looks at their son. "I am still hoping he gets your hair."
Edan smiles at that. "I've always had the hair. And the eyes. The abilities that came with it, they didn't come out until I was grown."
"Did anyone ever try to cut off your hair to take away your powers?" Hannah asks. Or teases. She might be serious.
"I've had my share of teasing growing up, but we had money and privilege, and that made up for a lot. Nobody ever went for the hair, even when I crossed over to the Land of Fire and gained a link to all the Sorcery I had been learning. My grandfather was..."
Edan pauses.
"I can't exactly say I was under his protection. He challenged me more than anyone. But as he was the Padishah, I suppose I wasn't accosted as much as I could have been. And once I gained my Sorcery and then walked the Pattern, I was not an easy target."
"There are just so many stories in so many cultures about hair containing someone's power. My people have them. The settlers' holy book had one. And I've see it used." Now she really grins. "Want to try it? Knowledge is power..."
"I used it too, remember, to communicate with you. Similarity is one of my favorite Principles." Edan reaches up to touch the back of his head. "You... want me to cut my hair?"
She shakes her head. "No, I'm playing with you. Or trying to. You are very focused on the many things distracting you. Do you want to talk about any of it?"
Edan's fingers tangle a little at the back of his hair. "It's nothing. I'm transitioning into things I'm not used to doing, and there's some impostor syndrome going on. Fatherhood. Running a knight-order firsthand. Xanadu politics. I think it will get better over time, but I am, as you say, very distracted."
She looks at him with sympathy, then nods. "I think you're doing very well at all of it. Politics are politics and best avoided by doing the things you can do, like fathering, and leading your knights. Fathering is easy right now, so try not to let him distract you too much. If I decide to hire us a... whatever they're called here-- a nanny? If I could talk myself into that, would you have any suggestions? Do any of your knights have wives or sisters with them here?
"See, much like you, I'm struggling with my expectations of myself. My ancestors strapped on babies and just kept doing all the work that had to be done. Why shouldn't I? But they had no choice... and I do. I don't want to hand him over to be raised, but just having someone to focus on him when I'm working, or resting -- having someone I know will keep him fed and change his linens and sing to him -- someone besides poor Heckle, I mean, who did not get hired to change nappies. I have already started asking myself why I am denying myself this help. Is it guilt? Is it wanting to prove I am as stoic as the ancestors? I know better... yet it is still hard."
"My answer would be just like you said it. You have options, and your ancestors didn't. Why are you working so hard? I'm not even talking about the city or the castle, I've acknowledged you publicly with the Knights of the Lamp. We all care for our own, you're a member of our tribe now, as best I can describe it. Why not let them help? It goes both ways, I'm surprised Knights haven't sought you out already, since I introduced you as a healer."
Edan taps a finger to his lips. "Having said that, no one brought wives or sisters, but the Lamp has both women and men. A few were paired up, but nothing formal. We started at thirty, but we are slowly recruiting from Xandhavians. Most of the interest has been from those originally from the Land of Peace, of course. And it was always understood that those here would join... interweave... whatever... with the city. Michelle has been overseeing the living arrangements, she would know some good candidates."
"Will you send her a note for me, and I'll go down to visit her to talk it through when I have a moment? And I'll check on them while I'm there, so they know I'm available to them." She smiles. "Do you have a medic?"
Edan matches Hannah's smile. "Not as good as you."
"You may be a bit biased, Edan. Badu, right? That's your word for father?"
"Heh. Baba will do. I've never been called that before." His skin looks a little more red than usual. "Speaking of, what do I need to do? What does the baby need that I can provide? Feedings, changing, interaction?"
"Ah, I got you a book. I made notes in it. The answer is yes, to all those things, although I will try to do his feedings myself for at least a few months. Still, there are recipes in the book in case you have him and I'm not available for it." She pulls a small book out of her pocket. The soft cover says, simply, "Pocket Guide to Babies". "It's simple, all of it, but the trick is learning to set aside the wailing baby noise to figure out the best course in the moment. That's easier for Baba's than Mama's, because your blood pressure doesn't go up as much as ours does when the baby cries. But it still does, a little. I mean... well, for humans. I don't know what our bodies do," she admits.
Edan flips through a few pages and smiles. "This is... Excellent. Oh. Grandmother. She will want us to visit with the baby, once he can travel. How's your sense of confused outrage?"
She grins. "Well developed, I should think. My father will feel the same, so we'll need to go there via Brocialine when we do - assuming he doesn't get up to the castle before that. He can travel, but based on what I have heard about your grandmother, I might like him to be a little better developed first."
Edan nods in agreement. "I wanted to put that out there, because eventually Clarissa will push everyone she has contact with to get us to come. There's time."
"Indeed. We may have to take a very long walk there...so he's like, 3 or 4 when we arrive."
Last modified: 16 July 2022