Code Wheels and Gauntlets


Celina smiles and says, "Come in."

She sees Ambrose and gestures him to sponges or lounging couches shaped like powerful waves. "Can I get you anything to drink? I have questions about the finer points of Order and Time."

Today Celina is dressed casually, her briefs and shawl are of bronze metal beads, that have oxidized to a greenish color... apparently a desired result of the maker, since many metals do not seem to oxidized in Rebma waters.

Ambrose is one of those surface dwellers who is never going to adjust perfectly to Rebman ways. He maintains surfacer-type clothes in his colors, he won't shave his head, and while he's not openly rebellious, he doesn't natively accept female authority: he stops and thinks of what he might want instead of merely accepting what Celina offers him. Or maybe that's a consequence of being born a son of Amber.

"I am, as always, at your majesty's service." He settles on one of the lounging couches. "And while talking is thirsty work, I think I'd best not try to talk and drink at the same time. Order and stress, sequence and time. They take up one's attention."

Celina also elects to use a lounging couch, she has a small drink in hand. She stretches out and addresses Ambrose. "I continue to feel my way around the Pattern, seeking better understanding. It happens that some of that work got me to thinking about the Dragon in Arden---- the Triton Mother in Nedra, and how one might immobilize powerful, very willful, sentients using Order. Has this line of thought interested you? Do you have philosophy you could share? They both seem relatively unharmed and yet were constrained for many thousands of years. The Dam of Tritons perhaps much less so. I'm curious how it was managed."

"How much do you know about the half-giants?" Ambrose asks, sounding idle for all that Celina suspects the question isn't, entirely. "I've seen them. They're degraded as well. And as far as I know, they're not close to a Pattern, as we count these things."

Celina shakes her head in the negative fashion. "I don't. You aren't talking about Tritons. Something similar?"

He's struggling to get a little more comfortable on the couch, and finally comes to rest as he continues.

"As for how it was done, if it was, I've no clue. I have more theory than I have practical application, and I'm gaining more as I translate my father's papers, but still, it would take someone with our grandfather's knowledge to explain how to bind and maintain the bindings on powerful creatures like the half-giants, never mind the dragons."

"Ah, so Binding then is an Advanced Art of Pattern." Celina nods. "That makes sense indeed. So then I start to think of the Blood Curse in that way; a powerful spontaneous Binding. What can you tell me about the theory?"

"Theory tells me that binding something of that power is inherently a unique event. It would probably take a universal-level event to create such a binding," Ambrose explains. "On the order of inscribing a Pattern. Or the great storm at the end of the last war." He looks speculatively at Celina to see whether she knows what he means. "Given that we know of at least three events, assuming the half-giants were bound by a single event--which is speculative--and we know of at least five--no, six--Patterns, that's possible. It might also explain why the Tritons are bound to the Pattern blade."

Celina looks more serious. "Another way to say that is that the Tritons are bound until the Realm perishes. Which would suggest two things to me, both unknowable at this time, that Rebma's Pattern is fully healthy even without Moins, and that the Dam of Tritons was never asleep the way the Dragon was. Those assumptions disturb as much as provide Order." Celina gestures in the water sketching a large female figure. "What can you tell me about these half-giants? Where do they abide? What Realm do they seem to invest in? What relationship to the Family?"

Ambrose is nodding along with Celina's conclusions about the Tritons and the Rebman Pattern.

"The half-giants are far toward Ygg, where the shadows run wild. My father suggested they were a remnant of the universe that preceded Order. I could probably tell you where they are, but if you don't have a good sense of the natural flow of Shadow in that part of the universe, I don't know that you could find them. You'd be more likely to stumble across them by means of the natural attaction of Real beings," he explains.

"Ah," Celina looks intrigued and relieved in equal measure. "I know little about shadows that far from us. I was curious what sort of ties they might have as markers of other things I could explore." She taps her knee and sets aside the drink bulb.

"Ambrose, it is a long road and appears empty from a distance," Celina sighs and runs her fingers through her hair, knocking some of it out of place. "But certainly this road was never empty. Moins' secrets are well hidden----by more than time it seems to me. I wonder if Moire feared the Pattern so much that she destroyed certain messages or records." She realizes as soon as she's said it aloud that she isn't being sufficiently royal. She smiles at Ambrose. "Well, anyhow, thank you for coming to my call. Are you getting cooperation from the Archives in anything you need?"

"The archivists are helpful, yes. But the answer to the question of whether the records have been interfered with for political purposes is undoubtedly yes. My father destroyed records written in stone; how much simpler it would be to destroy records written only in the human mind." Ambrose says this very matter-of-factly. "It seems equally likely to me that the secrets were hidden so that only a worthy successor to Moins could wield the power. Moire may have deciphered the Jewel, but that doesn't mean she had anything else."

Celina is openly surprised and she pounces on that bit. "Really? You think her manipulation of the Jewel might be deeper than weather? Why?"

Ambrose shakes his head in the negative, a feat more difficult underwater than it is in the airy realms. "I don't think she did decipher it fully, but she clearly had mastered certain functions. That may be part of the test--a test, let us say, since we do not know for certain that Moins left such a test beyond the Pattern. It would fit what we know of our elders, if certain mastery were required to come into our fullest power, just as we walk the Pattern to come to--" he pauses, considers his words and settles on "--adulthood."

Celina sees the immediate similarity between what Moire needs from the jewel and what Celina feels the jewel means to Rebma. Moire and she are really not so far apart in many things.

Celina wrinkles her nose and sighs. She draws her knuckles back through her hair, leaving strands wandering free of the stylized look as curves slowly sway in the waters. "Caterpillars must be dogged in ritual right up until they are butterflies and decide the whole thing is a lark." She waves her hands lightly in the waters. "Your logic is good. Certainly Moins could not leave much behind, and just as well, to make sure the portents left were deep and challenging. I do understand that what might be preserving my reign right now is exactly what Moire cannot get from the stone."

Celina leans back and looks at the water pattern above. "I don't suppose your philosophy logic would include a way that a Family questor might more easily cross paths with Moire since she carries such a strong piece of Rebma's fate with her?" Celina speaks more directly, "In fact, forget Moire, it is the jewel that I need. Could a compass to it be built?"

Ambrose’s shrug leaves his hair swaying in the water in a slightly different set of directions to the ones that his headshake involved.

"Unknown. If what my father said was true, the Jewel of Judgement couldn't be hunted in that way, but I'm not convinced that, mirror or not, the Rebman Jewel would follow on. If it's a Real thing, it will distort shadow, and those distortion will draw other Reality toward it--assuming it's not hidden or protected by another Pattern--but that doesn't mean we have any way of picking that particular strain of reality apart from other sort of Reality that would draw us." Ambrose pauses there to be sure Celina is following him, and in case she isn't, he adds, "Like family members. Or maybe a Pattern blade, if one is out there loose."

"I have some experience with chasing Family and Pattern Blades. So you make a good case." Celina's response is upbeat. Ambrose has given her hope and that is no small commodity. "So if I can appeal to a Family member to quest for the Jewel, the chances of laying hands on it are much more likely than waiting Moire's schemes to show me the way. That is good news.

"Ambrose, I regret this advice did not occur to me sooner. What else can I do to make your stay here more meaningful?"

"There is, actually," Ambrose confesses, almost awkwardly. "I am engaged in a particular and complicated work that may require your assistance, and, I think, your royal judgement. Are you familiar at all with the native language of my home shadow, Uxmal? Or the complications required to translate it into Thari?"

"I think no one has had time to tell me about Uxmal except that there is a Family member there bent on destruction. I accept your word for this complication. Is it like unto the Chaosi math speech?" Celina is very interested.

It takes Ambrose a moment to process Chaosi math speech, but when he does, he nods, his lips pursed slightly. "Somewhat," he says, "but an order of magnitude more complicated. It's the native tongue of my father's favorite shadow, and my father recorded his papers in it. He expressed himself in poetic glyphs that require a code wheel to decipher. The code wheels are sufficiently complex that they experience accelerated entropy in the presence of a Pattern." He stops there, to be sure she's following the explanation.

Celina nods once. She looks even more interested, and leans forward. "So you cannot expect to finish your translations.... here.... if much time goes by? And how may I assist you?"

"I've conserved the code wheel in one of our Aunt Fiona's laboratories in Shadow, under conditions that retard any deterioration. But it would be to my advantage to have another code wheel created. I would need your permission, and probably your private advice, to bargain with one of my cousins for the task." Ambrose sounds vaguely apologetic as he says it. "I would be honoured if you offered your opinion of whether Silhouette or Signy would be better for the task."

"Ah, I see." Celina sits up and considers. "Well, it would be fascinating to see the two of them exchange ideas, but I believe that Silhouette will be resolving some matters for a time. She may be fully committed to other tasks. It is Signy who has the skills and experienced teacher that might more suit your named task. If you can interest her." Celina says the last in a way that suggests Ambrose will not have to work hard to get Signy to listen. "It is also good timing on your part. I'd welcome you advancing the Family's store of knowledge in matters the codewheel could reveal. It is also that Signy has set up a shop where her normal work might cover for other works that I would not want the general populace to see." And Celina meets Ambrose's eyes on that. He can see she means her license to him to do this involves his discretion regards actual progress and details from anyone but Signy and herself. Then she clarifies, "Even a failure would be instructive. This is Family business. Right?"

"It is family business of a nature that I cannot conceal from my brother, as he is intimately involved in all matters concerning our father." Ambrose is gently agreeable, but quite firm on this point. “And also the only trustworthy person who could use a code wheel."

By way of agreement, Celina nods and says, "And I look forward to seeing him back in Rebma soon. But may there have been something else you also needed?" Celina gives a very open look, a very reasonable invitation to push forward where he was hesitant to begin with. "Something more.... personal?"

Ambrose smiles at Celina and shakes his head--still a surfacer's trick--his red hair fluttering in the self-generated current. "Nothing at this time, but I am grateful for Your Majesty's concern."


Before the rest of the smiths come in, Signy carefully wraps the glove in clean cloths and makes her way from the smithy to the palace. She moves through hallways that are in the process of stirring to life for the day's business until she comes to the seneschal's office, where she knocks on the door and waits to be called in.

Once invited inside she lifts her hands slightly to emphasize the wrapped package, and asks if she might be able to see the queen briefly to give her the commission that she was asked to make for her. While in the office she unobtrusively takes in the office, looking for the box that the twins delivered.

[Assuming that Signy is sent along on her way -- if not, disregard the rest of this]

A young girl, perhaps just having had a huge growth spurt to her height, is directed to escort Signy. She is dressed as a page.

Signy moves briskly through the halls to where the seneschal directed her. Stopping at the doorway, she announces herself to the guards stationed at the door, and waits for the Queen to invite her in.

A guard returns from the chamber, opening the large metal door and motioning Signy to pass inside.

Once within, it is the familiar, breakfast arrangements to the room. A woman has just moved a sponge lounge into place near the queen. Celina is getting her hair set into an updo for day's business. Celina offers you food and simple chat while the hairdresser finishes her work.

Then the two women depart quickly.

Celina smiles more warmly. "Good morning. You've been busy for a while. What news?"

Signy sits quietly while the women do their work, but as they leave shifts in her seat as if suddenly not quite so comfortable. A fairly flat object wrapped in nondescript linens sits on her lap, while unconsciously her fingers twitch slightly as if poking and prodding at something.

"Very busy. We've earned our first royal charter, and started on a few small projects."

Her eyes look away, and focus on Celina's shoulders.

"I finished the piece you'd mentioned. It. Well. It looks like a piece for a queen should look, but I'd tried to make it more. It ended up being too.... It's just not enough...." Each time, her voice trails off at the end of the incomplete sentences. She's not sure what the appropriate way to finish the thought is. If she knew, then maybe the piece would actually be what it was supposed to, and not this malformed bundle of good intentions and failure.

"I don't know. I can't put it into words, but it isn't what I'd hoped it was."

Her fingers continue to make small motions, though they don't go near the bundle on her lap.

Celina measures the distraction and vulnerability of her guest. She stands and approaches. "So soon, I would have thought it could take months. And you did all that without having to make a template of my arm? How clever." She smiles again and slowly folds her legs upward, like an upsidedown surface flower unblooming. This leaves her seated tailor fashion in mid-water slowly settling downward next to Signy.

"And you are very disappointed. Yet there is nothing to say you cannot start again... or test a different approach... You have a talent and yet you must have been disappointed before. Why so disheartened?" Celina looks deeply into Signy's expression. And listens.

Celina's first words snap Signy out of her frustration for a moment.

"The sizing's not that hard. I've made enough swords that I can get the length and hilt right without needing to do more than see someone walk."

Her hands come to rest on the package, signaling an end to the momentary break in her mood.

"It seemed right. Things were building, and taking shape, and once it was done it...wasn't. I don't know what it is, I can't even put words to it. I make a sword that's too long or too short, I can see what the problem is. I can make another, and change the length. Here, I don't even know what's not right, just that it isn't."

Her tone changes, becoming harder. More bitter.

"But I do know one way to fix the problem."

"What fixes the problem if you do not know that it is not right?" Celina asks gently.

Signy finally looks Celina in the eyes again.

"You talk to someone that can show you where you've gone wrong. In this case, that happens to be my father."

Celina appears slightly surprised. "Well, let's not go there immediately. What I asked for was a token of Art and Beauty. I didn't expect something epic. Or priceless. Well, despite your feeling of wrongness. Who is to say I'm not satisfied by what you have done? May I see it?"

Signy sighs. Now that it's time to act, her hands stop their pantomime and move to the wrapped package and quickly flip the cloths on the top aside. Once removed and the glove is exposed, she scoops up the bundle from beneath and offers it up to the queen.

Once removed, the cloths were shown to have covered a gauntlet that should go up to about the middle of Celina's forearm. She notices that wile it may not fit as precisely as something that had been specifically measured and tailored, it should still fit well on her right hand. A tightly-woven mesh of coral colored chain links is shot through with veins of an almost electric blue, running in an intricate weave that is reminiscent of the Pattern. They come together on the back of the hand and run down into the fingers, where it looks like when a fist is made they will form some other sort of knotted design.

At first the fingertips shine and twinkle like the stars do at night, above the water, but as it moves closer to Celina when Signy raises it up out of her lap they resolve into a series of small diamonds that are somehow set into the fingertips.

Celina's smile grows larger for a moment, then fades. "Why that's beautiful! It is very like what I wanted, perhaps even more." Celina hesitates and then reaches and touches the gauntlet lightly. She pulls her hand back. "I'm afraid you'll want to unmake this beauty. Take heart in that you tried to do a mighty thing. This however, should not exist as it is. It would likely cause trouble."

Signy sighs, hearing her own fears and concerns being confirmed. "I'm glad the design pleases you. I'd worried during the making that I was too long removed from working like this, and that my vision wasn't true.

"I also wonder if it's this doubt that marred the work."

She lifts the glove and looks at it, though her eyes aren't focused on the object in front of her.

"There's nobody else in the Family that does this sort of work, other than my father?"

It's clear from the tone in her voice that she doesn't really expect any answer other than the obvious.

Celina looks down at the gauntlet. It is so beautiful and yet sad. Maybe Signy was thinking about the Queen too much when she made it. She looks back up at her cousin, searching for an answer. And then she does have one.

"Folly may be able to put you in touch with Dworkin, who has schooled most of the advanced creators of the Family," Celina says. "However, Folly is pregnant and I think she's gone off for some relax time to enjoy the experience. When she returns from shadow, she'd likely help you. That might be a year, but such time could be well spent on other projects."

Signy does brighten a little at this.

"He taught my father, do you think?"

She thinks it over a little further while she rewraps the gauntlet.

Celina nods once. "Yes, I expect he did."

"It would also give me some time to look into the Moonriders further. I may see if I can reach Paige and find out what happened to that chain we took from the Marshall."

She pauses, and gives Celina a look that looks like it might almost be mischievous. "I suppose I could also make something else for you since I fell a little short with my first attempt, also."

Celina laughs lightly, "Well, yes. That would be wonderful. I'm excited seeing what you can do .....when you fall short." She openly grins to remove any sting implied. "Why if we give you some encouragement, we might get a dazzling gauntlet that will be a trend setter and blot out any question of the Art you can bring to Rebma." More seriously she adds, "It was lovely, Signy, and so much I want to give the Court art to inspire a better outlook for tomorrow. If you are willing to try again, for something a bit less.... arcane, that would be gracious."

Signy nods. "I would be happy to try again." She gives a tentative smile in return to Celina. "It should be easier if all I need to bring to Rebma is Art."

She rises to her feet, the rewrapped gauntlet tucked under one of her arms. "I also wanted to let Silhouette know that if she wanted to, she was welcome to stop by and make use of the smithy as well, if she didn't already have a place of her own.

"Do you think she'd like that?" she asks, a little less sure sounding.

"Yes, I do," Celina answers with certainty. "I have asked Silhouette to play a less obvious part in the Court expectations. Publicly, she is a favored dressmaker, bringing another Art to the splendor of Rebma. However, I think she would like access to your Forge and skills on her own time and out of the public eye. I will send her a message you have suggested it. Thank you."

Signy gives Celina a grateful smile.

Celina moves close to whisper distance with Signy and says, "Let me know if you have any trouble destroying this. We will consult Others if it resists being returned to components and harmless materials." Celina hugs her Cousin.

Signy just nods, not trusting herself to speak. A thing that can't be destroyed would just be the proverbial icing on the cake.

Silently, she gets up and offers an almost-competent bow to the Queen before making her way back out of the rooms.


Signy keeps the gauntlet with her, but spends just enough time at the forge to make sure that things are running as smoothly as they can be. She starts the master smiths on crafting links for a pair of gauntlets, seaweed green, coral, and a deep blue tinged with green like the deeps of the sea, making sure they have the process down for when she's not around.

She decides to spend a couple of days in the Rebman libraries, reading up on all things Rebman she can get her hands on. History, mirror magic, Tritons. Industry. Agriculture. Social mores. Upon arriving at the castle, she is somewhat surprised to end up in a smaller room with just a few chairs and a small table.

She looks at the room in puzzlement before one of the archivists comes in and makes her introductions. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but soon Signy is seated next to her asking questions about the home of her new workshop almost at random. Eventually she narrows in and starts the archivist alternating between telling her the story of Rebma during the time of the Black Road and the Pattern blade.

After a time of listening and questioning, the lesson, or discussion, is interrupted by the arrival of a page leading Ambrose into the room where Signy is exploring the archives. He bows to Signy and to the archivist, only at the neck, because a waist bow is so much more difficult underwater. Still, the effect leaves his hair waving in the water.

"Lady Signy. I did not mean to interrupt, but at some point when you have time, I should like to speak with you privately on a matter of--" he pauses, considers what can be said in company, and settles on "--creation. At the forge."

Signy returns his bow at the neck while she traces through the family tree to place him. She thinks she's getting better at it, as it only takes her moments to place him.

She turns to the Archivist, and offers her a warm smile. "Thank you for your time -- it's been extremely informative. If you don't mind, however, I'd like to take a little break while I catch up with my cousin, and try to take in everything we talked about."

After the Archivist leaves, she turns back to Ambrose and nudges the recently-vacated chair over towards him slightly. "These 'Archivists' are an interesting way to pass information around. Much more interactive than a book, but hard to flip back and forth."

"Also a little too easy to edit, in my experience. Not here," Ambrose hastens to add. He settles on the vacant chair. "But it's a lot harder to edit stone marks in a temple wall. Unless you decide to destroy the shadow instead." He says this last with a quirk of a not-particularly-amused smile. "That's a long story of its own, although I may have a chance to tell it to you later. I come referred by our cousin Celina, and I have a commission I'd like to discuss, if you're available to make a thing.”

Signy manages to suppress an involuntary flinch at his words.

Mostly.

She briefly wonders if Celina made this suggestion before her...unfortunate first attempt at the gauntlets.

"I'm flattered that the Queen felt confident enough in my ability to point you my way. What is it that you're looking for?"

Hopefully, it's not a set of enchanted gauntlets.

Ambrose answers, talking with his hands a little to demonstrate what he's looking for as he goes. "The language of my home shadow, Uxmal, is extremely complicated and requires a magical device of some complexity to translate into Thari. The device, which is called a 'code wheel', is clearly magically mechanical because it experiences the sort of entropy normally expected of magical--and, I'm told, technologically complicated--devices when left too long in the presence of a Pattern. I'd have to take you into Shadow to show you one, but if you can create such a thing, would you be willing?"

Signy listens quietly, her eyes not giving much away.

It's away from a Pattern, and working with Sorcery, both of which are much more favorable than having to go back and try to craft something Pattern-based.

"That sounds...interesting. If you don't mind my asking, this isn't a general-use translation item, is it?"

Ambrose shakes his head in the negative, with attendant effects on his hair in the water. "Uxmali is a language of ideograms, which combine into glyphs. The code wheels don't technically translate the ideograms; they unwind the glyphs, which are almost impossible to interpret manually even to an experienced speaker. The glyphs would be like writing everything in Thari in algebraic quatrains in required geometric patterns.”

Signy nods, her hair unknowingly mirroring his.

"It's like going from bread back to its basic components like flour and water?"

She thinks on the problem for a moment longer.

"Is there anyone that makes these devices now? I'd be curious to know how long it's supposed to take to make one. Do you need to be in Uxmali to make them?"

"Uxmal. The shadow's name was Uxmal, and I'm not sure you can go back. There was a fight there, in which Power was used. As for making one, I think you'll have to at least learn the theoretical underpinnings of Uxmali to do it, and be somewhere similar. I don't know who made the original code wheels, but I've always assumed it was my father. My mother might know." Ambrose ponders the other question and comes up with: "I think it's more like desalinizing seawater. Salt and water is a natural state, and so is seawater. It takes a lot of effort to get from one to another."

Signy nods along with Ambrose, getting drawn further in in spite of her earlier reluctance.

"Who can teach the underpinnings? You?"

She sits back slightly, thinking about the problem further.

"So...why do you need more of them created, if you don't mind my asking? Are the ones you have breaking?"

"Some of them were held in a Pattern realm long enough to experience the advanced entropy associated with sorcerous and manufactured objects in such places. I don't know whether that's on a per-Pattern basis, but I won't chance it further. Also, now that my father is dead and Uxmal is fallen, there are a very few native speakers and a lot of my father's papers that require translation," Ambrose explains. "My father was supposedly Dworkin's most advanced student. We need to find out what's locked in those papers, and without the code wheel, it's difficult for even my brother and I to translate his work. Even teaching the language alone wouldn't be enough, though of course I'd be willing to teach you."

Signy gives a final nod.

"When can I go and see the wheels? That will give me a better idea of what we're working with."

She pauses for a second.

"Have you shown them to any other smiths?"

"Not that I know of." Ambrose pauses there. "I don't pretend to know the limit of my brother's skills, nor those of our aunts and uncles, but your opinion is the only one I've solicited on the matter of whether they can be recreated. As for when we can go and see them--that would be more of a matter of your schedule than mine. I wouldn't want to take you away from any duties you may have at court, and I'd like to confer with Celina before we leave."

Signy gives a quick flash of a smile. "Ten minutes to leave some instructions for some people, and I'd be ready to go meet with the Queen."


While Signy is completing her business with the archivists, Ambrose sends a message ahead to Celina by a page that he and Signy wish to speak with her at hear earliest convenience on that matter which Ambrose had previously broached to Celina regarding Signy. (It's phrased in a more flowery manner, but that's what he means.)

Celina dispatches three pages in response. One to acknowledge and then wait as Ambrose's escort. One to wait on and guide Signy's arrival. The third page goes to summon Lady Chas T'ara to breakfast tomorrow. If movers are going to be coming and going this much in her Court, Celina wants to chat more often with her Wise Ears.

Celina decides to meet Family in the Airy Chamber where her cousins are likely to be more comfortable. And for this she concedes she will need to wear more clothing. Air never holds heat the way water does. She adds a mental note to her schedule to do more exercises in the Airy Chamber, not just her own rooms. No point in getting so used to water that she is foreign to airside.

Celina has the chamber prepped with some heated stones and finds a glittering shrug that is a waterfall of tiny metal scales and drops from her shoulders all the way to the floor. She arrives early and fusses over the sideboard of foods. She finds herself looking long and deep into the black caviar. Passive and beautiful: so much like a thousand dark eyes watching her.

She removes the caviar from the tray and sends it back to the kitchens. Then she folds into an extended trance pose and combs the tension out of her body; muscle strands extending and contracting to her heartbeat as she works out from neck to toes.

After Ambrose leaves, Signy calls for a page. She sighs, and wonders how one would send a private missive in a place where you can't really have paper, pens and wax seals.

When the page shows up, Signy directs her to the smithy with some suggestions for the smiths for projects and direction, and a message to Brother Tomat requesting he continue working with the apprentices while she takes care of some other business.

Once that page repeats the message back to her, she sends her on her way, and then follows the page that shows up to guide her to the queen.

She slips into the room quietly, observing the Queen in her pose.

Celina stops her quiet rhythms a few moments after she hears Signy arrive. She stands and moves forward with a smile. "Come in, there is food. Ambrose should be here shortly."

Ambrose arrives not long after Signy, led by the page that Celina sent to him. He takes a moment to dry off in the airy chamber, with particular attention to his hair. He's carrying some sealed documents, prepared for underwater storage or at least passage. "Your Majesty," he says, by way of greeting, and bows, more formally or at least more easily, than he does anywhere else in Rebma.

Then he turns and adds, "Lady Signy," and also bows to her, but less deeply.

Celina nods to her guests. "Eat as you like and relax. Let me know what you need and how I can further your aims."

Ambrose takes a small plate: enough for politeness, but not so much that it will discourage discussion. He is, in the air, a precise eater with nicer manners than in the water. What clumsiness he has displayed in the past in Celina's presence is clearly only the awkwardness of the surface dweller in the watery realm. He makes polite conversation as he eats, but it's all superficial chatter of a sort suited to the table: no business, as the Queen has commanded.

Celina studies both her cousins to emulate and master the manners of air eating. It is a much more sensuous method and Celina rather likes it.

Signy also takes a small plate, and eats relatively quickly. Her manners are not nearly as polished as Ambrose's, though she manages a passable impression. Celina gets the impression that most of her meals are fairly quick and hurried affairs that probably don't involve much in the way of formal place-settings.

Once the meal is complete and the dishes set aside and removed, Ambrose broaches the subject that he and Signy have come to discuss. "Your Majesty, Lady Signy and I have spoken about the code wheel, and she is willing to look into the matter. For her to proceed further will require her to see one of the surviving code wheels, which are kept in Shadow because they degrade in the influence of a Pattern, being in part sorcerous constructs. Since we would have to take leave of your realm, we thought it wise to speak with you before making plans for departure, to obtain your leave and to be certain we were not interfering with other plans you might have."

Celina nods and looks pleased. "My plans would not be interfered with if you both have interesting journey and success. I shall miss you both and look forward to your return. You know, Rebma has some special properties when it comes to magic. It may be that Rebma will be kind to the wheels, moreso than other Patterns are."

Signy cocks her head slightly. "So...is Mirror magic a Sorcerous thing, or a Pattern thing?"

That may explain some of what went wrong with the gauntlet, at any rate.

"From everything that I know, Mirror art is a delicate Pattern compatible exercise." Celina shrugs. "But I am still testing that." She smiles at Ambrose. "So.... is it far you have to go? Shall I not expect you back this year?"

"It won't be difficult to get there, but the manner in which we return, and the speed of the return, will depend on our cousin's observations." Ambrose nods to Signy. "I don't believe this will be a simple project, if only because I'm going to have to teach our cousin Uxmali, but I don't know how it will be best completed: in one attempt, or, as seems more likely to me, by trial and error, some of which may be attempted in Rebma." He looks to Signy for confirmation on that point, to the extent that she can offer any without having seen the object she's meant to duplicate.

Celina watches them both to judge how they are meshing so far. It seems good to her.

Signy turns more serious, now that it's time to talk business.

"It depends how much sorcery is involved in making them. And how much taking apart is needed."

She frowns, slightly.

"Are the devices meant to come apart at all? Some things need to be broken to see how they are put together...."

Celina believes in omens, so she winces and then smothers it when Signy's words spark a blacker version of Rebma's survival. She waits Ambrose to respond.

"I've never taken one apart, so I wouldn't know," Ambrose confesses, with some slight reluctance. "They're very complicated, I do know that much. And because my father made them, and I've used them, I have a strong sense that they're extremely sorcery-intense. But it is just a sense, because they were in existence before I was born. Possibly before my brother was born, because he's familiar with their use also."

Celina's expression is in complete sympathy and not any sadness at this moment. She knows only too well what it means to have an intense mystery that must be solved at all costs. She holds a growing hope. Signy apparently has experience with taking things apart in order to make them anew.

Celina looks to Signy.

Signy shrugs, and doesn't seem that bothered.

"The most interesting projects are seldom, if ever, the easiest." The formal recitation sounds almost like a student repeating a lesson back for the benefit of a teacher.

She thinks for a moment, then looks at Ambrose. "Is there any tricks we could play with Shadow to help us? Find someplace that has similar devices that we could use to help us learn the new ones, or where decades pass in days here?"

Celina starts to say something in response. She's obviously puzzled, but she stops herself and looks to Ambrose. Now she looks worried.

"My sense is that we'll want to try to do it in a shadow close to Uxmal-that-was." The form Ambrose uses is a bit awkward but seems natural to him; perhaps it's a consequence of having a different native tongue, with different concepts of time and space. "One with similar conditions, because, knowing my father, the conditions will be key. Venturing too close to Chaos is risky, between Chantico, Dara, and Grandmother."

Celina looks transparently relieved with this answer. She nods once. "If possible, you could keep in touch with Brita during your absence. It would be a kindness for me to know that things are moving along, even if you are gone a long time."

"Of course, Your Majesty," Ambrose agrees at once. "To the extent that we can. Shadow is safer than it once was, but Chantico is still out there. As is Dara." Which is not an entirely pleasant thought if Ambrose's expression is any guide.

He looks to Signy to see whether she has any further questions.

Signy looks back over at the Queen. "My men are helping out at the smithy. I can vouch that they won't be any trouble, so would it be OK if they stay in Rebma in my absence?"

"It is indeed," Celina agrees easily. "In fact, I would not have you worry about their safety while you travel far. If you allow, they can train with my own guard and study with the Archivists." Celina toasts to them both and blesses the journey.


Celina could be asleep.

Instead she is awake and dances in her own quarters. She leaps and flourishes back to the floor in a spiral of her own current. She creates arches and axis changes in between her momentary touchdowns on the chill floor. Up again, she springs as sparks up from the Pattern, traces another veil, lives once again her terrible wonderful connection to the Pattern below the palace.

Lives once again her nightmare responsibility, but makes it something beautiful. Something whole. She dances the Pattern in three dimensions. Moves and never stops until she finds the center.

Meters and meters of dance, she creates joy around and around the center, gravity only a pale resistance that reminds her of the terrible weight of the Pattern. Moves through the last veil upside down now, because that is the most stressful creation yet for the ritual she orchestrates.

Nearly there.

Finally the center. She sinks to the floor, thrilled and overheated and spent. She settles against the cold stone and reviews the past days. Here.... is peace. This tiny space of cool wet stone is hers for just this time. Her mind aches a bit. Good. Then it is working.

Lir!! She dearly misses Dolphin and Ambrose and Brita and Conner and Signy. Again alone.

News from the freshly appointed Trade Factors has returned from Seaward. No signs of Dara. No signs of Moire. Which lends weight to the idea that things will stay at the Center, where it matters.

The new gown from T'llanean is fun though the final blue of the crystals are not what she imagined. With Silhouette gone, Celina could stop spending so much time with Dressmakers and Fashion. There is less need for a cover story now. But it still is fun to do. And Silhouette will be back.

She sighs, thinking about the recent mirror exercise looking into the city's past. Failure. Again. And a deep headache that took a watch to overcome. She considers the consequences if she gives herself a stroke chasing at history. Or maybe it is supposed to feel like failure. She must believe that understanding the past means a better future. Maybe not. It matters that she try regardless. Never stop moving.

She sighs again because the floor is too cold now.

Today is the medal ceremony. She smiles. It has taken months to review all the various reports. Weeks of personally talking to commanders and men of the various brigades, to convince herself that the choices have merit and truth.

She's talked to neighborhood leaders and many constables. She's absorbed the hundreds of acts of bravery and cowardice during Huon's attack on the City. She has visited the families of the dead. Today finally she can recognize the living.

Soldiers. Scholars. Smiths. Children. She smiles remembering one particular child, Burann, who will get a medal from her today. He went back into a collapsing building and brought his gran out, her legs broken by stonefall.

Three hundred stories selected. A medal created; Courage During Terror. Three hundred (and families, of course) invited to dinner with the Queen after the ceremony.

Celina notes she has been on the floor too long. The stone captures heat from her and muscles warn her of impending constriction of blood flow. She slowly sits up and pushes her hair back over an ear.

Then she rises like a flower opening to the sun. She looks at the wheel clock. Nods once. She moves to the heated stone bed in the small tub and eases into it. She sand sponges the sweat and oil from her limbs. She hums a tune she's written to Rebma. True. The city is hardly her child. Much more her old mate and she the too-young wife. But she cannot resist the notion that giving a good morning song to the city is an appropriate ritual.

Wake up, dear heart, wake up.

A new day begins.

Your dreams make me smile.

Now imagine a new world starts.

Better than dreams.

She leaves the warmth of the tub and rings for assistance to get dressed. It's early, but they know her at this point. The good days are always early.

Once dressed and fed, Celina moves to the routine of day.

By mid-morning, almost all the routine is done and she gathers the necessary guard to drop in on Huon working in the City on the rebuild.

She sends one page ahead so that he knows she is coming. This isn't really a surprise inspection, after all. She wants him to brag a bit about progress and see how the crews react to her interest.

She has the guard captain halt the troop in the streets outside the work area. Cpt A'lon is permitted to escort her to Huon. The honor guards stay outside the construction area.

Celina smiles, looking at Huon's hands as she approaches. He's been handling stone himself. Good. "Good morning, Prince Huon. You look well. Please tell me how the work fares today."

Huon smiles back. "Your workers are excellent. Construction has some definite advantages when underwater. One who lives and works in such a place is at a tremendous advantage in tactical thinking than someone who has not the water-breathing habit.

"Just a few tritons can replace a dozen men lifting stones. We've concentrated on the Docks, since the return of commerce is the return of prosperity. I've sent messages to your spymaster about who has tried to bribe me to get their warehouses moved to the front of the queue. It's quite amusing how little they think I can be bought for.

Huon glances over at the makeshift table where his personal 'archivist'/'bodyguard'/'keeper' is sitting. "We should consider how we will reward those who restore the city. While the architects are mostly women, the laborers are mostly men. Some of them have never had a task this big to work on."

Celina smiles, "Your enthusiasm does you credit. I look forward to opening the Docks officially. It should also be a moment to recognize the dedication of your best workers of all races. Perhaps a carved stone of the names of the top three crews would be in order? You and I shall judge and it is permitted for the crews to know there is a contest." She allows him to point out the work in progress.

Huon is a methodical worker and also smart. He's allowing any Rebmans who wish to hire their own reconstructors to do so, as long as they do a portion of the city's infrastructure work.

It's not something Celina had either authorized or prohibited, but it has clearly been effective. The supplementary workers have allowed a lot of progress to take place.

She likes progress and clearly shows that.

When she is suitably briefed and has memorized several of the faces of the busiest Tritons and Rebman workers. She asks her uncle, "So I hope you are amused more than insulted by the bad bribing here. Are the families testing you? Or do they just like admiring your handsomeness from close quarters?"

He grins. "I know not the minds of Rebma's Great Women and their plans. I suspect that they remember Vialle and how she rose from a subject of pity to the Queen of Amber. She figures greatly in their myths about themselves. Apparently they all loved her, and everyone around them did not." He doesn't quite roll his eyes, but he doesn't quite not roll his eyes.

Celina tries not to look pained. She fails.

He looks up from his work in the city to the castle proper. "When can we work on the Southern Tower of the castle?"

"Here is a different but related question for you," Celina says. "The queen thinks the Southern Tower should stand as a monument to what happened here. A thousand years from now, it can remind this city that oaths keep stone safe and broken oaths will crumble a palace. Your thoughts?"

Huon smiles. "My thoughts, are freely given, for I serve at the pleasure of the Queen." His bow is courtly and precise. "You know why you would do such a thing, so I will suggest reasons you might choose not to. I think that leaving a construction site half-cleared where hallways end abruptly in sudden falls onto jagged edges is a way to have more casualties. Symbolically, it may come to indicate damage you cannot or choose not to heal. And from a practical perspective, one of the two entrances to the pattern chamber is under it.

"Psychologically, your people may be more happy with a 'see how little you hurt us' repair than a thousand year reminder."

Celina warms to the topic. She knew he could be courtly. She likes that Huon has a playful side. "Indeed, I'd like to have everything beautiful and whole through my entire life. Seamless. Sacred. That's easy. It is also false. It strikes me that Rebma should acknowledge scars and costs more than it needs the parental perspective of, "there see? everything all better. now go run and play."

Celina resists turning in the direction of the Pattern as she thinks about it. "And from a practical perspective, lots of debris on the entrance to the Pattern Chamber is not a bad thing." She goes on, "I see perhaps a garden, life springing up and making a comment on death. Beautiful metal grill work closes the hallways, but allows someone to look over a thriving city beyond the rubble." She smiles, "On the other hand, perhaps I think too much about scars." -----and death, she adds to herself.

She compliments Huon, "This is good progress, my uncle. And I'm glad that the leaders of the city are interested in bribing you. I am disappointed that they are so bad at it. While I agree that trade is important as you have said, I find that so much of the cleverness of these women is in taking shortcuts that bite." She looks at him frankly. "Have you bitten any of them?"

Huon nods in response to the complement. "I admit only to listening to their offers--their various and sundry offers, to learn what there is on offer here. I have no confessions of a personal nature that I feel obliged to make at this time, My Queen."

He's really quite funny. She resists letting the laughter surface.

"All right. Well, it seems to me for Family solidarity that there may be a small measured edge to your eventual pleasure or displeasure. Our Rebman families should uphold the style of the Pearl of Cities--even in bribery." She moves on to other things. "What portion of the city damage do you take on next, saving the palace tower for my further decision...."

"Hmm," Huon hmms. "We've been concentrating on the commercial buildings, because commerce is the life of a city, but there's plenty of progress being made on that front by the private contractors. The walls have the military to take care of them, who have politely declined my assistance. Temple Quarter or Down are the two next likely areas, other than the castle, of course. Each has pitfalls, politically. If the temples, whose temple first? If the triton town, how will the people react when their city is not restored first?

"Politically, I've stayed conservative, but at some point a decision will need to be made." He looks over at a worker, and lets loose with a piercing whistle. "Look below before you drop that, son!" The workman stops, nods to Huon, puts his hand up and fixes the stones in his hod before continuing.

He turns back to Celina. "I'm sorry, My Queen. They do need supervision and we are trying to work quickly but safely. While they would not mind the income, I am hoping this is not a five year task."

[She's fine on agenda. She wanted to see how satisfied he was. She wanted to steer his ambition if that became a topic. She wanted to know his plan of attack. While she may have gotten those in reports from listeners, she wanted to have the face time with him. She knows he matters. I think she got all that already.]

Her spies on his team find him charming and untrustworthy. Celina is too high water to not see the possibility that one or more of them might yield to the temptation he represents.

Celina nods and readies herself to leave. "You have been generous of your time. I appreciate that immensely. Please come see me tomorrow we can discuss the Down. I'd like to make the entire area better than new when repairs are due."

He bows. "My time, like my labor, is yours, your Highness. We will talk on the morrow of the city depths, if that is your desire."

She bids him a warm farewell and takes a tour of the streets on the way back to the palace.

There is much to be done, but people are moving past the damage already. The richer quarters were less damaged than the poor areas, in part because the buildings were stronger, but also because the hill-tops of the rich have already swarmed with workmen.


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Last modified: 28 June 2014