Birth and Afterbirth


[Paige, Conner and Bleys] find themselves in a spacious suite in Castle Clarissa with almost all the accoutrements Conner could hope for to help with the birth, given the lack of electrical equipment.

Clarissa is moderately experienced in midwifery; she has given birth herself and assisted at other births. However, it has been a while, and Conner has to remind her now and then of various things. ("No, she can't just decide to do it, Grandmother.")

And this being Conner, he manages to keep the doctor's arrogance and the child's exasperation with his elders out of his voice every simgle time. Gentle reminders with a smile.

Bleys, by contrast, is charmingly helpless, perhaps the only time Conner has ever seen him so. Conner quickly realizes that the best thing to have Bleys do is hold Paige's hand, which duty he undertakes with his usual panache.

Conner idly wishes he had a camcorder for no one would believe this tale.

The birth isn't very difficult. It occurs at a somewhat accelerated pace compared to what Conner expected, but not at the overwhelmingly rapid pace that has characterized Paige's pregnancy. Some time later, Conner and Clarissa are able to present Paige with her twin newborns: a boy and a girl.

As Connor expected, these children wanted to be born post-haste and all he had to was catch. As he cleaned them and checked them, part of his mind kept examining them for some sign they were different as if staring harder would reveal their divinity. In the end, they were what they were, two gorgeous and healthy children with an uncertain furture, and Conner places them in Paige's arms with pride. "Your son and your daughter, cousin." He beams down.

Paige smiles through the tears at them. She positively glows as the boy, a thatch of red hair and eyes already favoring green begins to nuzzle at her, recognizing her smell, his quiet cry bringing the milk. Paige hands the blue eyed little girl to Grandfather Bleys as she lifts her blouse and helps her son find his luncheon.

"Troublemaker, meet Brooke. Brooke, this is your Grandfather," she beams at him. "I'm sorry Father, but it seems like Leif is just like all the rest of the men in this family, concerned with food and breasts." Paige looks tired, sweat plastering the red hair to her face, and uncharacteristicly she seems not to care in the least.

"Conner, Grandmother, thank-you both, ever so much."

"Oh, you're welcome dear," Clarissa says.

Conner merely nods and smiles warm and broad.

Conner doesn't think Bleys has much experience holding babies. He's obviously trying to support Brooke, but keeps adjusting her in his grip rather than cradling her properly against him. His expression betrays pleasant surprise.

Paige chuckles softly at her father, the joyful tears coming unbidden.

"Hold her like this, dear," Clarissa tells him, and proceeds to correctly arrange Brooke in her grandfather's arms. "There, see, she likes that. She was going to fuss, and now she won't, not until she's hungry at any rate. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

Eetu is standing by with a tray, on which a decanter of amber liquor sits. There are three empty glasses, and a fourth full of water.

Paige settles Leif in the crook of her elbow and reaches with the other for the glass of water. "Thank you, Eetu."

"I wonder if they'll continue to grow as quickly," Paige wonders idly. "It seems a pity to miss such wonderful time with them."

"It goes swiftly however long I'm told." Conner replies. "Shall I pour? He inquires but doesn't really wait for an answer before taking the decanter and doing so.

Conner distributes the glasses to Bleys and Clarissa.

"A toast: to grandchildren," Bleys offers, lifting his glass. Clarissa smiles, and adds, "And great-grandchildren." They both drink.

"And their mother and caretakers." Conner adds, draining his glass. "I think they will need all the help they can get." He grins.

Paige smiles and drinks. "Eetu, might I get some more, please?" she asks setting her glass back on the tray and then reseating Leif on her nipple as he started to fuss a bit.

The next few days are busy, with Paige adapting to motherhood and the presence of her children. Bleys spends quite a bit of time with her, and much of the rest with Conner. Clarissa also spends most of her time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

If it weren't for the fact that the servants aren't human, Conner and Paige could almost believe they were home in Castle Amber.

Paige is happy to have the time. She spends what time isn't spent in cuddling, feeding or changing catching what sleep she can, adopting the twins schedule, at least for napping. She tries to get them on a schedule that hopefully will let them adapt to Amber easily.

There's no real way to do that. While time does go forward, things like sun schedules are at Clarissa's whim, and right now that seems to be all about what the babies want.

Half expected that... Sigh... Not worth the aggrivation of trying to explain herself on that one to the Clarissa.

If Bleys or Clarissa (or Conner) is willing to accompany her, she like to start walking with the kids, trying to get more excercise. By the end of a week, she'll be doing Tai Chi again and working on toning. Quiet time is spent sketching the kids, and Conner, and Clarissa.

Bleys will accompany her, and Clarissa would be simply delighted to walk with her great-grandchildren.

Walk with Paige, carrying the great-grandkids, I hope. Paige isn't ready for them to walk yet. If this is happening, please let me know.

It is not.

[OOC: sketching, or working towards trumpage? is there anything you want to do threadwise?]

[Sketching, as we established that Trumpage is Hard[tm] here. Figure I can at least lay a foundation for future Trumpage... Thread under separate cover...]


In one of his rare moments alone, Conner decides to cast the cards with his thoughts focused on Leif and Brooke and their future and what place, if any, Conner may have in their destiny.

Unicorn reversed/Nature/The Defender reversed

The Creator/The Eagle reversed

The Phoenix (sideways)

Conner can't help but chuckle as the Unicorn reversed is drawn and simply nods the next two. "Temptation, New life, and danger. Tell me something I don't know why don't you?" Conner murmurs.

Flip, flip.

"Nurture and thoughtlessness." Conner muses. "Sounds like a mother's daughter and a father's son to me."

Flip. Conner gazes into the flames of the Phoenix for a moment. "So they are truly the ones to tip the balance." Conner reaches for the glass of amber liquid by his bedside. Conner idly reminds himself to ask Grandmother what the stuff is and where he can get some.

"So where am I in all this?" Conner wonders gazing over the cards once more. "No where." He decides. "Except for how I choose to nuture the children." He muses tapping The Creator. "And if I know not what I teach..." His finger slides to the plummeting Eagle and his eyes slide once more to searing flames of the Phoenix.

"If you would change the world for a year, plant corn. If you would change the world for a generation, plant a tree. If you would change the world forever, teach a child." Conner slides the cards from the table and slips them back into the box. "To the family business, changing things forever." Conner toasts to the air and then knocks back the glass.


After casting the cards, Conner set out once more through the shifting halls of castle Clarissa in search of Grandmother. He found her rather difficult to find shifting through countless libraries and grand galleries before it occured to him that they were the same libraries and galleries. In fact what clued him in was a book pulled out on one of the revisits. The title read "A Study in Patience."

"Shall I take that as a hint you are a little busy, Grandmother?" Conner chuckles and sits down to read through the slim volume. It was rather interesting actually from a meditative point of view and flipping through it apparently killed the time that Grandmother needed for his next attempt to find her met with success.

At first Conner could not tell if he had found her in a kitchen or an alchemical lab, but that was clearly Grandmother standing by a large black cauldron and only years of diplomatic skill kept the smile on his face from showing amusement. "Greetings, Grandmother."

"Greetings, my dear boy." Clarissa replies, and puts her cheek forward for a kiss.

Conner does not disappoint and kisses said cheek.

"What can I do for you today?" she asks, taking a pinch of something or other and tossing it into the pot. She stirs it more vigorously after she's added whatever it was. Conner still can't tell from the scent coming from the cauldron whether it's magical or edible. Or perhaps it's both.

"I wanted to ask about Chaosian biology." Conner asks pulling up a nearby stool and sitting down near where she is stirring. "Namely exactly how spawning works. I find the concept a little difficult to grasp intuitively."

"I suspect it is a bit non-intuitive to extremely Orderly minds, Conner. Will you stir for a moment?" Clarissa pushes the implement of the handle she's stirring with towards Conner.

Conner has been in this position often with Mother and takes the handle smoothly stirring with the same rhythm.

She turns behind her to a shelf and begins to pull out small jars, as if looking for something in particular. "How it happens depends a lot on the nature of the being or beings who wish to reproduce. Did you have a particular case in mind? Aisling? Dara? Cleph? There are some common factors in those instances, because they're all lords of one sort or another. If Eetu were to spawn, things would be very different."

"Dara and Cleph were foremost in my thoughts." Conner replies. "So very different considering they come from the same source. I was curious if there natural variation to the whole process or if they were deliberately made so."

"Dara, well, that's one thing. Cleph wasn't deliberately made at all," Clarissa replies. She continues looking for whatever it is she wants on the shelf.

"That nasty Corwin cut Borel with his sword, and Borel spawned one being to be eaten by the flames. What was left was Cleph."

Conner's eyes widen and he loses the rhythm of his stirring for a moment causing an ominous looking bubble to start to form in the thick liquid. Conner swiftly corrects it without incident. "I see." He comments simply stalling a moment while he decides on the next question. "What of Saeth then? How and why was she spawned?" He queries trying the direct approach for once.

"Oh, pretty much the same way," Clarissa says airily. "It took a little extra effort to get her out of Caine's hiding place. Too much was pulled away for her to really be Aisling any more. Now she's Saeth."

Finally she finds the object of her search, and opens the jar. It contains a shiny crystalline powder, which she pours onto one of her hands. Three pinches go into the pot, and the rest back into the jar. A thin film of the stuff is left on the palm of Clarissa's hand, and when she thinks Conner isn't looking, Clarissa licks it off with an overlong tongue.

Conner shivers involuntarily and realizes for the first time that this current form he knows as Clarissa is likely kept out of politeness more than anything else. "Was it so critical for Aisling to be freed then?" Conner asks wrinkling his nose at the smell from the cauldron. "And what became of what was left behind?" He adds.

"Critical? Of course it was critical! Do you know what kind of man Caine is? Even his father found him most unsuitable!"

Clarissa comes back to where Conner is stirring the pot and takes the spoon. She begins stirring the cauldron vigorously, almost as if she were whipping the contents into a froth.

"It must be my lack of imagination." Conner replies relenquishing the spoon and stepping to the side. "I can't think of much worse than losing much of my body mass and all of my personality." Conner shrugs. "While speaking hypothetically I would gnaw off my own arm to escape Caine's clutches, somehow when it comes down to it I don't see myself chewing with relish."

"She didn't exactly lose all of her personality," Clarissa clarifies. "She just lost enough of herself to be a new being. Sometimes that can happen if you eat something overlarge and it influences you to excess, but normally in that case you'd want to spawn off a child anyway."

She continues whipping the contents of her pot as if they were meringue, and indeed, whatever it was seemed to be changing in texture, leaving sharp peaks behind as she beats it.

"She did say she remembered some things about Amber, didn't she? Let's hope for your sake that her memories are more favorable than what Cleph remembered from Borel." Her smile is full of friendly malice, which Conner feels isn't really directed at him.

"Indeed. Amber had enough troubles as it is." Conner murmurs. Finally Conner's curiosity gets the better of him. "Grandmother exactly what are you making here?" He asks.

"Oh, it's just a little something special I like to treat myself with sometimes," Clarissa says. "Would you like a taste, Conner?"

She puts her hand into the bowl and scrapes a fingerfull off the top, offering it to Conner. Not for the first time, he notices that his grandmother has six fingers on each hand, rather than five as he does. Whatever it is, it's purple, and smells, well, not wrong, but a little odd.

"Well I'll try anything once." Conner replies nonchalantly with easy grin. I am rapidly rethinking that policy mind you. He thinks to himself as he scoops the fingerful from her finger and takes a taste.

Conner's finger tingles when he takes the stuff from her hand. When he pops it into his mouth,it dissolves on his tongue with a fizz, like carbonated soda. The taste of the stuff is sweet and sour, savory and bitter, all at once.

Conner's vision clouds, and he feels like he's choking, and then it clears and he realizes he's having a hard time standing up. He can feel the flush on his face, even though he can't see it.

"I have always known intellecually," Conner begins clutching the edge of the cauldron to steady himself. "that the air around me is made up of milliions and billions of separate molecules and atoms. I now know this empircally because I feel each one of them banging into my skin and hear them cursing me off for daring to get in their way." Conner decides the stool is a much better idea but there seems to be three of them now. One of them only told the truth, one of them always lied, and the third could do either. He was about to pose the age old question when it occured to him that stools didn't talk, not even here. Squinting reveals the center stool to be the real one and he lowers himself onto it with a thud. "Potent stuff." He grins widely at his Grandmother.

"Quite," Clarissa agrees, continuing to beat the mixture. "I'm glad you like it, Conner."

She scoops up another fingerfull and sticks it in her mouth, extracting it slowly with a wet popping sound. "Delicious!"

The stool says to Conner, "It's quite fattening, though. I'd appreciate you not eating much more if you're going to sit on me often."

Conner just blinks several times and then shrugs. "Why do you have six fingers anyway?" He blurts out leaning forward. "I mean do you find it useful than five? Or did you forget how many we usually have and decided six was close enough?" He grins.

"It's easier to play the lute with six fingers, dear," Clarissa replies, as if it were the most normal question in the world.

The stool adds a comment of its own, but it's muffled under Conner's weight.

"Didn't know you played the lute." Conner replies deciding to try standing again and having a little better time with it. "Regency council used to have regular jam sessions each playing their own favorite instrument. I play a mean pennywhistle." Conner smiles fluttering his fingers as though playing. "Tell me something." Conner says conspiratorily stumbling forward. "The bits of Aisling you left behind. Would they just be dead bits or is there a living being made up of those bits?"

"Alive and dead are such definite terms, suggesting a bright line between them, Conner. I don't know if her other child, or children, survived. Or whether they were sentient. I should look in on them sometime," Clarissa says, scooping up another fingerful of purple goo. Conner thinks the goo does not want to be scooped.

The stool says, "Nyah-nyah, can't tell the difference!"

"Perhaps you should." Conner nods absently kicking back with his foot and hitting the stool.

"Ow!" the stool complains. "You big bully!"

"It doesn't do to neglect family. I can only assume the one that came back with must be wondering what's going on." Conner just stops for a moment and then goes into a frenzy of writing equations all across the backboard in front of him. He is the middle of a particularly difficult multi variable derivation which models the affect of magical travel on the fabric of reality when it occurs to him that the room didn't have a backboard in it. In fact looking closely it still doesn't. Yet the piece of chalk in his hand appears real enough. "I think I should go lie down." He concludes.

Clarissa looks at Conner as if he's said or done something a bit odd, but it's hard to tell what it might be. "You are looking a bit peaked, Conner dear. Perhaps you should."

Conner nods in agreeement and can't seem to stop nodding thoughtfully once he's started. "Thank you very much for the chat Grandmother." He intones formally leaning forward to kiss her cheek and felt somewhat relieved when his lips actually contact flesh and not air as he half suspected would happen. Conner turns to go and makes to doorway where he stops a moment and takes a deep breath. Either he was now so in tune with the place that finding his bedroom would be an absolute snap, or he was about to get so lost that they might never find his body. Well, at least he had the chalk to mark his way. "Until later, Grandmother." Conner waved jauntily from the archway and he strode boldly into the edge of the wall and then caromed off into the passages of Castle Clarissa.


Paige lays Brooke aside her brother in the bassinet and turns just as Bleys enters. Holding a finger to her lips she ushers him back out of the nursery and into the sitting room that he entered from.

"I'm sorry, I just got both of them down," she explains. "But I'd love some company if you've some time.

"Who knows? They might even wake up to visit with their Grandfather, eventually," she teases.

"Any time in the next decade or three will be fine."

"I've missed large amounts of time of being a parent already, Troublemaker. Don't curse me to lose more," she says, a bit of concern evident.

"For us, there is no standard of 'normality', Paige. We are what we are and that is to be celebrated. I'm sure there's some major shadow religion or other that claims that striving to be something other than what you are is what causes pain. We should be philosophical about it and take joy in who we are, not what we want to be."

"And on that note, I believe I'll have a drink."

She indicates a small table at which Eetu set a water pitcher earlier and some cold roast from last evening's dinner. "I've so many questions, Father, I don't know where to begin...

"I'm worried for the children," she admits. "Uncle Julian suggested that they might be at risk, that Pattern was my best defense. I'm not half as able as many of my cousins and far less than any of your brothers and sisters. If Conner and Brennan couldn't hold Adonis, how can I expect to hold the twins. But I can't raise them here until they can take the Pattern," she rambles.

He nods. "This is not an ideal place to raise a pattern defense. Nor, for that matter, is Amber, whatever other advantages she does have." Bleys combs his hair back with his hand, "it also appears that brother Caine's solution does not work well, either.

"I do not want to stay here overlong, but I also don't want to start the journey while you and they are this vulnerable. I'm sure mother would suggest something unhelpful, like asking them to grow exoskeletons or loaning me a unit of her legions but, ah, it would be best if she didn't get too used to our presence, nor they to hers.

"I am disinclined to put all our eggs into Corwin's basket, but there is much to be done. Where will you feel safe?"

"I don't know," Paige says, picking at the roast with her fingers and popping a bit in her mouth. "I suppose someplace with a Pattern. If that's Paris, it will have to do. I don't know what our reception in Rebma would be, what with Conner's current persona non gratia status there. I suppose it's an option, unless Paris is an issue.

"Wasn't the King and his sidekick the Heir going to do something about Amber's lack of a Pattern?" she asks.

"Your cousin should be up to it if we decide to return to Amber, I assume."

"Conner? I'd assume so, unless he's still concerned over Thalia and if she made it to Gateway safely," Paige shrugs.

"We can ask his Sublime Majesty what his pleasure is. How soon can you be ready to travel?"

"Quick trip to Ygg and Trump home? I think the twins need another few weeks, at least two," Paige says after some consideration. "If we're talking about return passage on The Sun, I'd think two months before I'd be comfortable. Sooner if we're sailing the Royal Passage with a sharp weather eye out, I suppose.

"If you're suggesting Rending the Veil, one-way, no layovers?" Paige's eyes sparkle at the idea, "Promise me they'll be fine and I'll go get them now."

"The passage won't hurt them," he says casually. "Why don't you slip next door and see if your cousin can join us for a nightcap?" Bleys is moving his right hand in an arrhythmic pattern, as if he is repeatedly running over a sequence of events in his head.

Paige says nothing as she rises, decidedly not watching her father's hand movements. Catching up her skirts she hurries to the next room, opening it upon her cousin.

Conner looks up from the book he is reading, a large leather-bound tome entitled A Brief History of Everything, as Paige throws open his door.

"Troublemaker's asked for you, Conner," she says with some urgency.

Whatever witty retort he had planned on using is mentally shoved aside at hearing Paige's tone. The place in the book is marked and the tome set aside as Conner swings his legs over the side of the bed. "Has he now? Best not keep Uncle waiting then."

Conner accompanies Paige next door and nods at Bleys as he enters. "What's up?"

"The duration of our sojourn in the land of our ancestress, my dear boy. If you are ready?"

Paige doesn't hesitate, she leaves the boys talking for a moment and hurries next door. In less than a minute, she's returned with Leif in a sling across the front of her body, Brooke fussing softly in her arms. Over her shoulder is a bag of essentials that must've been packed for just such an occasion, as she didn't have enough time to pack it while she was gone.

"I can be ready in a few minutes." Conner replies. "I have an appointment to keep in the Land of Peace though. How were you planning the journey?"

"Express to the midpoint, then points Patternward. We hadn't chosen a destination yet," Bleys replies, tapping the side of his nose with his index finger. "If it's nothing you can't replace, lad, then no time like the present. Otherwise, off with you on your errand."

Paige watches the men with some curiousity, but if mostly occupied by Brooke's wide-eyed wonder. It's as if the girl can sense the tension in the room already. Paige has already accepted that she's losing alot of her maternity dresses, and doesn't seem worried. Should Eetu find them once they've gone, he'll notice that most of them are missing their finery.

Conner nods at Bleys's words. "Won't be a moment." Swift steps bring him to his quarters and Conner snags the pre-packed shoulder bag hanging on the hat rack by the door. He doesn't even spare the rest of the room a glance before rushing back to Bleys and Paige. "Ready."

Bleys reaches straight up in the air, pointing at the ceiling. As his arm casually arcs down, a bright sunlight fills the room from somewhere that is not Clarissa.

Bleys hands a bejewelled dagger to Conner and says "look out for boojums."

Conner takes the blade and gives Bleys a look of incomprehension at the reference. Deciding not to ask, Conner holds the dagger ready and steps through the portal.

"You're next, child."

Paige hurries through behind Conner, a quick kiss for the doorman his only tip...

Conner arrives in the sunlight, scans the horizon for signs of trouble, and sees none. The only landmark is a vast, leafy tree standing next to a small brook.

Before Conner has time to do more than glance around, Paige comes through, followed by Bleys, who turns and carefully closes the veil.

Conner smells the fresh air and smiles. "I've missed that." He says content. "A pleasant looking spot Uncle. Where are we?"

"Ygg, my dear boy, Ygg. It's not really a spot, even though it is pleasant looking. It's an inflection point."

Conner simply nods at the name in comfirmation of his own thoughts then asks. "An inflection point? Are there others?" He asks curiously.

"If my understanding of the equations are correct, the theory allows for more than one, but this is the only first order derivative inflection point in the system."

Paige blinks against the light and eases the grip she had on the twins. Brooke is making some noise, but Leif is still asleep in the sling about Paige.

"Points Patternward? Rebma or Paris? Or do we spin home and see if the Crown Jester's finally remodeled his basement?" Paige offers Brooke to Conner for a moment.

Bleys demurs, looking around curiously.

Conner slips the dagger into his belt and gladly takes Brooke settling her into the crook of his arm and bouncing her up and down slightly. He resists the urge to babble at Brooke in the high pitched voice most adults treat babies to and instead keeps his attention on the surroundings. He also finds himself unconciously checking Brooke's weight as if afraid she has grown.

[Paige] produces her Fortune Deck and shuffles the Trumps to the top. The first she rolls over is the Heir Presumptive.

Bleys pulls a large coin from his pouch, and flips it into the air. Those sensitive to pattern manipulation can tell that Bleys is attempting to affect the probability of the coin toss. He catches the coin and slaps it onto his wrist. Looking up at the two youngsters, he says, "Something has shifted the pattern. It feels different. We'll want to touch base with Paris or Amber or Fiona soon."

"I'm all for touching base with Mother." Conner replies. "I'd like to hear of Brita's triumph." He grins though it seems a little forced and the chuckle that follows it nervous.

Paige slips Martin's image back a few and produces her Aunt Fiona, which she concentrates on almost immediately. She savors the cool touch of the Fortune again after untold days of turning luke-warm cards in Clarissa.

Fiona answers almost immediately. "Paige? Where are--oh. What's happened?"

Bleys watches Paige shuffle out the card and concentrate on it.

"Nothing that your brother's shared, yet," Paige answers after a pause. "Although he's convinced that Order seems different and that we should find you or an anchor as soon as possible. I chose you as I don't have a Trump for Paris, yet."

"He brought us to Ygg, can you complete the trip? I promise to introduce you to the newest members of the family," Paige says with a wink.

Bleys places his hand on Paige's shoulder and slips into the contact like it's an old pair of dock shoes that he's worn forever. "Sister dear, what news from Paris, before we make any hasty decisions?"

Fiona's face lights as Bleys speaks. "There's much to relate. I've spoken with Corwin and there is a great deal to discuss--but when we have leisure, not when you're in transit. Brita has taken the Pattern successfully. She went to visit the old man."

Paige seems happy to know that Brita is well, but is concerned about her visiting great-grandfather, if that's who Fiona's implying.

"Really?" Bleys says, and Conner, who has a clear view of his uncle, can see his eyebrows arch. "How interesting. Conner is with us, and he's been quite useful recently. Conner, do you have anything to say to your mother?"

Paige looks to her cousin and makes a gesture, offering to take Brooke in her free hand. Leif grunts and turns a bit in his sling, but takes no notice of Powers or domains.

Conner is quite capable of handling Brooke one armed, but relenquishes her to to her mother.

Bleys extends his hand to the younger man, as if to draw him into the conversation.

Conner takes the hand and lets himself be drawn in. "Good to see you Mother." Conner smiles. "All went well." He reports. "And I trust the same on your end."

"Yes, it all went very well here." Fiona smiles proudly. "Brita did perfectly."

Bleys says, "Fiona, I've been thinking that Paige and the twins might benefit from a visit to Altamar. If the suspicions we discussed are true, Paris strikes me as a bit obvious of a destination after your own swift departure from our maternal home, and the benefits of a little accelerated growth for the twins are obvious. What do you think?"

The redheaded sorceress considers the question. "I think you might be right. I'll come to you when I can. Conner, will you join me in Paris, or do you have another destination in mind?"

"While I'd love to see Paris, I left Thalia checking up on things in the Land of Peace and should really check in on her. Never know what damage a Gatewegian on her own could do." Conner smirks.

Fiona grins and nods at Conner. "I'll wish you well, then, my son, until we meet next."

"Altamar?" Paige puzzles for a moment, before shaking her head. "You agree with him, Aunt? I understand that everyone's concerned for the children, and I appreciate it, but why can't anyone seem to let them live their lives at a normal speed?" Paige's not arguing that she'll travel to Altamar. In fact she's even hopeful that the Sun will rendezvous there, as shes concerned for Van. But she still doesn't look thrilled.

"You make is sound like Artemis isn't the only grandmother, or great-grandmother, to covet my children. Just what the hell am I missing?" she complains.

"You know," says Bleys, "there was a reason we didn't wait to make formal farewells to Mother before we departed. She means well, but she can be overbearing and willful. And everything we said in her castle was overheard by her."

"Of course," Paige says. "But that's not answering my question. Perhaps people aren't aware that I won't let the twins be used as pawns. I think I'm going to make that perfectly clear from here on out," she begins.

Brooke, perhaps sensing her mother's aggitation begins to fuss. Paige bounces her as best she can while still keeping the contact. Leif also starts shifting like he's considering being awake, too. As quickly as it began, Paige loses her bluster and is cooing quietly to Brooke. "Quiet now, we'll be safe soon, baby girl."

She looks at her Father to make sure he understands that it's somehow his responsibility to make that last statement true.

Fiona nods again. "You shouldn't wait too long before departing the inflection point either, dear brother."

"I don't mean to," Bleys replies.

Fiona says "Good, is there anything else?"

Bleys adds, over his shoulder. "Conner, you should take "The Sun". She's at anchor over that hillock. Should take you a week or so to get back to the Land of Peace. You should be able to see your way clear for the return voyage. I expect the seas will be calm as mirrors."

"Well your expections are better than many people's facts." Coner smiles. "Thank you Uncle."

"If you're ready, Paige?" Bleys doesn't close the connection, but expects that Paige will.

Not having a free hand to pass over the card, she releases the mental connection and lays the card flat against Brooke's back before sliding it into a pocket.

Once the contact is broken, Conner asks. "By the by, will either of you be dropping by Amber any time soon? I had wanted to drop a message to my manservant Lugg." Conner says.

Paige gives her cousin the a look that implies that she's not the one to ask.

Bleys thinks for a moment. "We're likely to be in touch before you are. What word have you for Lugg?" Bleys pauses, but not long enough for Conner to reply. "A simple message, I hope. I will likely have to pass it via Random."

"I have it written." Conner replies handing Bleys a scroll sealed with red wax. "Lugg's a good man but you do have to spell things out for him sometimes." Conner smiles.

Conner goes over to Paige and kisses her on the cheek and each baby on the forehead. "Fare well, my kin."

Paige kisses back, Brooke coos ,and Leif opens his sleepy eyes fully. "Travel safe, and my love to your lady."

She watches Conner head off for a moment before turning to her father. "So Troublemaker, if he's the boat, how're we traveling? I didn't have time last visit to Altamar to work any good sketches."

"Why, I shall Tear Asunder the Veil of Heaven and we shall cross Between the Realms. That's how mother described it, but she has a flair for the dramatic. It will take a few moments, because the distance is great."

A few moments later, as Bleys had promised, a smooth-edged gap opens that resembles the one that took them from Clarissa. A cool breeze blows from it and Paige smells salt.

"After you," Bleys says.


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Last modified: 5 May 2004