Celina exits the castle and crosses to the stable. Fog rolls down the uplands of Kolvir and she stops to watch the slow drifting eddies of those dream currents in silver. A smile draws across her face as she tucks the beauty away in her mind.
She finishes the walk through the courtyard and nods to the groom patting the neck of her horse, Mauve. "Very gracious, thank you and be well." Celina walks about the horse once before taking the groom's assist to mount. The saddlebags are bulky but balanced well for travel. Later, there might be reason to understand a change in the animal or its gear. She wants that information to compare things to later.
Using the reins and her legs, she moves the horse back and forth across the courtyard a few times while Merlin arrives and readies his own mount. His dark clothes are suited to the early morning fog. Finding she remembers how to tell the horse what she wants well enough, she joins Merlin already mounted and they move slowly off headed north.
"I hope you slept well," Celina greets her brother. "I look forward to our trip."
"I do as well, sister." Merlin has tucked his art supplies as well as his travelling gear into his horse's saddlebags.
As their distance from the courtyard increases, the sibs become soft shapes merging with currents of damp mystery.
Celina works her will on shadow and the countryside alters at a steady rate. The clouds tinge green at the edges rather than blue. Local wildlife here sport glossy wet coats of fur. Late afternoon sees a shooting star cross the setting sun.
A mossy green castle glares down the slopes of a craggy mountain. Celina and Merlin slide from their saddles and lead their mounts into the narrow streets of a smoky city. Though the sun is only near the peaks, it is time to find a room after the first day of travel.
Men busy themselves wiping the tables and racking glasses in the inn Celina chooses. Celina notes a woman smoking a long-stemmed pipe and reading the rough-edged gazette over by the fire. When she approaches the man behind the bar about rooms, he sends her to the women she noticed by the fireplace, who is the owner. An exchange of comments on the day, the weather, and the prospect that Celina and Merlin have trade goods finally ends with a room price agreed.
Celina notes the coins exchanged have a head in profile that looks strikingly like Moire. The roaring fire does not affect the cold shiver down her back. Merlin and she move bags up to a room they share for the night.
And at dinner, they learn they are resting in the City of Angha. Some quiet questions determine that women took the upper hand here a generation ago after a disastrous war killed half the men. There has been peace of late and prosperity, though Celina sees that it is not the thrive of Xanadu.
Celina and Merlin agree to night watches and their rest is not disturbed. They move on in the morning.
Celina's mind dances through changes as she notices more and more about the landscape they cross. By midday, the sun has a harsh red rim about its golden shine. The sounds and smell of ocean have dogged the second day. Riding from woods to beach near dinner, they surprise a couple of nude girls laughing and tossing a small chunk of driftwood back and forth.
The wood drops and both teens bolt for the water, leaping into the waves when the water is knee-high. A moment later as the young ones dive and vanish, Celina spots the soles of their feet show blue and there are webs between the toes.
During dinner on the beach, hummingbirds come and investigate the sweet smells of their meal. The surf is musical to her ear. Celina smiles a great deal and names the place Blueglass for the bright cobalt sand on the beach.
Onward a third day and the clouds are lower and promise they might storm. However, they pass through a village by afternoon and a sun reappears in smoky orange. Their green metal coins purchase a small lantern that is promised by crafter to light without need of air, if the proper passes are made. Celina realizes it won't work at all as soon as they leave the vicinity, but enjoys the swirling etchings on the glass. Almost, she sees curved blades and sinuous tritons in foamy surf in the tight design. She buys it and hangs it from the horn of her saddle. A quick meal and the sibs move right out.
The town fades with distance. The road leads them along. They cross a stone aqueduct bringing water from uplands. By evening, another town even larger is visible in lowlands ahead, but they stay in a roadside inn called, the Plucked Rooster.
A few beers later after dinner and the innkeeper's daughter is dancing on a table. The local crowd seems good-natured. Celina kicks off her boots and joins in the fun. She wants to get a smile from Merlin.
Celina ends up teaching the girl a few steps and they do a Seaward 'mirror dance' to finish the display.
She sleeps well that night. Nevertheless, the sibs still keep a shared watch.
The lowlands they saw the day before are marshy by the time they have traveled half a day. They stop at the gates of the town, though Celina is sure it did not have walls from a distance. The great gray doors are inlaid with a crimson scimitar worked in a single crescent arc across both double doors.
"Your business in Garrar?" The sentries watch them closely.
"My mother has sent me to inspect trade goods," Celina says, for reasons she is not really aware.
The guards ask to see a writ of trade, and when Celina reaches into her saddlebags, she produces one with the imperial seal of Dis Coleus Tartagan. The sentries relax and open the gate, but Celina has to mask her surprise, for the 'inlaid' crimson blade seven feet wide hangs suspended in the air above while the gates open to passage. She notes the artistry of the door inset the blade fits into in either leaf but does not reach for her Third Eye.
They enter the town of Garrar.
At lunch, they learn the town expects to be a city soon, but there are contentious issues to be settled by the Lords of Garrar before that is likely to happen. The Old Guard looks to keep various newly wealthy merchant families in their places.
Celina nods and continues to buy drinks for the young man, Kepeus, with so much time to kill.
Later, she and Merlin exchange discussion regards the shadow and what the path appears to show them. "Strife or such barely concealed," Celina murmurs and Merlin nods silently. They saddle up and walk the horses through Garrar. Even then, they find Garrar changing and becoming larger as they pace the winding streets. Structures become older. The goods in shop windows become more luxurious and the glass windows better made. A veneer of prosperity limns everything.
Mauve's hide slowly shows a deeper purple color. Celina's clothes become obviously expensive and trimmed in thick sensuous white fur. Evening falls much more rapidly than expected and they are still within a massive city called Garrar.
The inn they stay at is the Swollen Eel. Celina and Merlin are fawned over by the help. She doesn't sleep well, but takes a longer watch that night instead. In the morning when the sibs descend to break fast, Celina sees a kitchen girl taking ashes from the main fireplace. This girl's face is tattooed like a triton and a collar rings her neck.
Celina eats quietly through the meal, but once on the street again and on horse, she looks at Merlin. "This isn't the place, but we are getting close."
Merlin seems uneasy. "The magic here takes power from people, involuntarily. It reminds me of the worst of my mother's habits."
"No wonder I didn't sleep much last night," she says.
They move on through the streets.
Celina watches the faces of the townsfolk and when she sees what she's been missing Garrar holds them no longer. A crimson blade--not surprisingly--is not what she is looking for. She sees it reflected in the mirrors of those eyes: a tiny spot of crimson in each wary gaze.
And once she removes it, the city is no longer a labyrinth holding them.
The sibs find the far northern gate is different from the southern one and already open. Here an obsidian blade floats above the gates instead of a crimson one. And here, the papers she shows the relaxed sentries have the imperial seal of Reme.
Celina breathes the damp morning airs outside the city and tells herself not to relax yet. Things are moving to a complexity. 'Relaxing' may be a thing of the past.
They move across the countryside. A dense forest of black-leaved trees is both larger and smaller than it should be and they pass through it in less than a dogwatch. A fog is on the other side of the forest, but it grows colder as they move into it. Their clothes become wet.
The day darkens as well. Then the air is even denser and without a ripple of awareness, they are moving underwater. Mauve almost panics, but Celina puts a hand gently over the animal's forehead and whispers a lullaby. They all move on again. There are water pressure fluctuations that are uncomfortable and nothing like Seaward or Rebma.
Very near evening, they move upslope and emerge from the surf on a beach of white sand. On the beach where they arrive, there are two stone obelisks. Both stylized stone spikes carved with tritons twined up from the base and a woman riding upon those massive triton shoulders. The woman's legs scissor the neck of the triton and her face is a spare stern version of Celina's own. The carved woman wears a crown.
Chewing at her lip, Celina decides to camp here even though it is obvious the obelisks make her uncomfortable. Celina asks Merlin not to gather a fire and they dine on cold rations.
After dinner, she strips her clothing off and she dances between the obelisks for hours of TaKhi meditation. By midnight, her good humor returns and she thanks Merlin for his patience with her.
They keep the watch together. Celina feels too good, too energized to sleep.
Merlin thinks he hears thunder in the distance, but there is no sign of rain.
Sunrise is beautiful, but makes Celina actually homesick for Xanadu by comparison.
By that morning light, Celina goes to the obelisks to examine them for notations. There are writings there, but they defeat her language skills. She smiles. Certainly a shame such answers still hide so well.
Merlin offers to show her the creation of it, using the Principle of Time.
A gleam of wonder sparks in her eye. Celina thinks carefully and long, giving over each possible notion of balance and the power to look back through time at various things. It enters her mind unbidden that she would love to see Moire delivering herself.
Because after all, should she accept that Moire is her mother because she says so?
She looks at Merlin, gestures to the old monuments and sighs. "This is my face, but not by my hand. Is it a message to me from a craftsman who expected me to pass this way? Or rather a message from me to me about what we seek? I get the impression that shadow needs to be what we want at times. We just don't find things, we fit them together and complete them. I think I will pass on viewing the shadows of this past."
She pauses to see if he thinks this so different from Chaos after all.
Merlin nods, gravely. "Our father says that 'The Shadows Lie for Us'. I think there is a jest to be made regarding that. I am not comfortable enough with the Ordered way of speech to form it, though."
They mount up and move northward again. Nevertheless, this beach, while details change and shadow veils tingle and part before them, seems to run before them all day.
Celina points out to Merlin whale plumes out at sea. She notes various predator birds overhead. The inland forests look quite vibrant.
And at their dinner camp that night, they have a fire and Celina finds Seaward spices in her pack that she improvises with potatoes into a slumgullion over the fire. It is a happy affair to be cooking for her brother. Life is good. Thunder booms at some distance. There is no sign of rains, but broken woods and tangled riggings wash up on shore.
She lets Merlin take the first watch and she sleeps well.
Merlin has made a sketch of the Obelisks. It's not clear if it's a trump sketch or merely a drawing of the carvings.
Celina nods and agrees he's done a prudent and useful thing. The Obelisks might be a clue that fits together with something seen later on. She's glad of his thoroughness.
A new day. Celina and Merlin do not check their supplies so much as glance at the saddlebags to judge their weight. Martin was clear about the benefits of nooks unexplored.
They break fast lightly and move on.
A small path inland appears around the beach's bend. Later on the trail, a large group of refugees is making good time towards them. Dark looks are sent their way, but their clothes and mounts do not match up with whatever sends these people to flight. A woman speaks to two children and then moves out of the crowd and strides towards Celina and Merlin.
The woman pulls back the edges of her hood exposing a pale dirty face. "Madame."
Celina gestures her forward. The woman does not step closer. "Mine are hungry and I'll trade knowledge of the way ahead of you for food."
Celina looks at Merlin. She says nothing, but knows that the way ahead of them will take them ghosting past whatever travail lurks unless it relates to Tritons. She looks back at the woman and nods. She turns in the saddle, pushes her hands deep into her bags and comes up with dense stuff wrapped in many layers of waxed cloth. Celina kicks her left leg up over the neck of the horse, startling the woman, and slides to the ground.
She gives the unknown food to the stranger. The two packages weigh heavily in the refugee's hands.
The woman tells Celina of cannon and looting; of infantry and angry men. She tells Celina to turn back. Then the woman whirls around and dashes back to her group.
Celina remounts Mauve. She uses her sleeve to wipe the wet tracks from her face.
On their way again, Celina feels a blow of colder air and shortly her clothes alter to luxury and white fur trimmings again. Within an hour, her boots are also fur lined. Celina delights at the sensation of dense fur along the soles of her feet. Her laughter and shouted calls to explain this to Merlin startle some hawks up from distant groves. She eyes them as they fly and wonders at their golden feathers.
Onward.
Trees drop their leaves now in this place. They come upon a river gorge that has cut a channel for several thousand years. There is no way across.
Celina smiles. There will be. Up ahead.
Her coat has a hood by the time they find the bridge and guard shack. The wind blows chill from the sea. A group of twenty men are seated about a roaring fire. Three men detach themselves quickly to come intercept the riders before they might gallop for the bridge.
Celina shrugs at Merlin as if to say, 'sorry'. She knows it is her mind that navigates their way. Closer now, Celina sees the men have ruddy faces and the wooden weapons they hold are seated with metal tubing. The weapons might be some strange sort of harpoon mechanism, but the men don't seem to be carrying reloads. They have no quivers she recognizes. This makes Celina wary of judging the weapons at all. If they are projectile, how far are they useful? The refugee spoke of cannon: a thing Celina has never seen but understands to be a weapon against cities.
Are these hand held cannons then?
The men look to be in a dark mood and their uniforms are a bit ragged. Celina notes the Hunting Horn on a cord that blazes their outfits. "Halt and present your business," says a fellow not much older than she is.
Celina likes not this calculation. Two against twenty. She glances only briefly at Merlin to catch his expression as she brings Mauve to stop. Then she says, "We are expected. Our business is for your commander's ears alone."
A fourth man, perhaps a year or two older, steps up. His uniform is in better condition. None of them look like they need to shave, and they are all slightly built. "Which commander are you looking for? All I've been told to expect on this road is trouble." He looks at Merlin and then at Celina for a moment and then makes a decision. "C'mon over to the fire, we'll talk about it." He's definitely making an effort to dispel the dark mood Celina noticed earlier.
Merlin's voice whispers into Celina's ear. He's still a few feet back, but it's as clear as if she could feel his breathing. "Do you notice? The reddish skin, the straight, dark hair? The all look like they are kin to our Cousin Hannah."
Celina agrees with her brother. She can only hope that these men are as clear of eye as Cousin Hannah. Talk might be a very good thing. Celina shifts and slides off her horse. She pats Mauve, whispers a steady word in her ear and leads her a bit closer to the fire, taking that moment to nod to Merlin. TaKhi calculations are swimming in her head as she walks to the fire and judges the positions of the men.
So many. And up close, those wooden projectile things look well used. Starfish.
She holds her silence until she can feel the fire nicely on her outstretched palms. "In my business, I don't get to use names. The commander should expect word on this route. Can you send a man to let the Horn know we've arrived?" Celina meets the eyes of the speaker for the group.
"Ma'am? I'm just a recruiting Sergeant. I can offer your man a career, daily food, a chance to be part of the future of Renady and not the past, and good pay." He looks at Merlin and says "We're warriors, we fight for what's right. You look like a good man and you'd make a good soldier. We'd teach you how to use a gun, how to stand for yourself, how to be one with the larger world, how to be at peace with your inner warrior." He smiles and holds out bowls of stew.
What nonsense. Celina wonders if the man is enchanted or merely dross.
He seems very sincere. That may be why he got the job of recruiting.
"If you already serve Lord Huon, let me see your papers, and I'll send you along to the Captain. If not, lad, you should consider it. It's a good life."
"I'm not sure meeting each officer along this route is going to make the commander happy with us." Celina turns a bit a looks at Mauve's saddlebags. "It sounds as though you won't be used to seeing the sort of papers I carry for indentification, Sergeant. Perhaps, neither will your Captain." She doesn't move from the fire however. The name Huon means nothing to her.
"But a minute to warm myself and I'll show you what I have," Celina adds, smiling at the Sergeant.
He smiles and nods. "Nature of Armies, which is what happens when you need more armed men than a war party. You get specialists, like me and my cousins, you get organization, and you pass things you can't handle uphill."
He snaps his fingers. "Oh, speaking of reports, what are your names?"
"I'm called Ourhope, Sergeant. And you can pass me uphill as you like." Celina makes a show of holding her hands closer to the fire.
Celina rises, stretches and walks to Mauve to rummage in the smaller bags hanging attached above the food stores. Her fingers light on papers, quite a few, and she decides if it matters which one she shows, there is going to be a fight anyhow, so she takes the edge of a rough parchment and pulls it out. She glances at the three heavy wax seals on it. She turns and walks back directly to the sergeant and stops, tilts her head at him. She looks pleased and relaxed. She turns the document face to him as if she is reluctant to actually hand it over.
But she will if he wants to handle it. She will also step closer to him as he reads it. Her eyes on his face will forecast whether the fight is now or somewhere ahead on the trail. Celina feels a wave of incredible energy that ought to be anxiety and isn't. She feels pressed by these strangers and their military hold on this road. She feels cornered.
Her smile is predatory now and her heart beats madly.
He looks at the paper, feels the seals, and looks confused.
"These aren't regular papers... Whose seal is this, Mistress Ourhope?"
Celina feels as if her heart has jumped up to clog her throat.
Before Celina can act, Merlin waves his hand briefly at the paper. "It is our father's, which should be adequate."
"Oh, that's-- yes, then. Do you need an escort?"
Merlin looks at Celina, quirking an eyebrow and just barely shaking his head.
The wind spills violent from Celina's inner sails. She exhales as the tension flows a bit less. "Hardly. But thank you for sharing your fire." She reaches out and plucks the paper from his hands. A quick turn puts her pacing to Mauve with her back prickling in danger. She stuffs the paper back into the bags. Grabbing the horn, she lifts herself to the saddle and settles.
The rest of the men seem somewhat confused: either dazed or bewildered as to what is happening.
Celina studies the green lantern hanging from the horn of her saddle. It rocks there lighting the way to the horn. She chews her lip. Is she asleep at Amber and this trip not started yet? Starfish! The universe has a funny sense of humor. She puts her gaze back on the Sergeant. Sergeant Lantern. Yes, a bit green. "I feel the need to move our information more quickly. Do you know the best route to the Horn?"
She gives Merlin the Family Eyebrow.
Merlin mounts his horse as well. He seems anxious to go.
"Lord Huon? If he is still in this realm and not the spirit realm, he'd be in Abford."
Celina nods her thanks and moves off for the bridge and road beyond. Abford?
A mile or two up the road, she thanks Merlin for the sorcery back at the bridge. "It was well done. I had a madly dashing heart when I handed over the papers to the sergeant. Some feeling that all was not well."
"I think they are not from here. Perhaps this is what you sensed."
Celina nods ahead. "And is my green blade then in Abford, or will the path leads us around this Huon of the Horn. I wonder."
"What do you think this Huon's red-skinned Affine meant by "spirit realms?" Did he speak so casually of his Lord's death, then?"
Celina looks at Merlin. "Not death. Starfish, I hope it's not a necrotheurgist. Actually, it seems like a good rumor to explain your commander disappearing off on astral walks of unknown duration to scout enemy lines. I've read of generals who dream of their enemy positions. But if those troops aren't from around here, then how did they get here?" Then something clicks. "What if a military man followed Hannah in her walk to Amber?" She shifts a bit in her saddle. "What if this fellow is caught in her wake and thinks he is attacking some other pale skinned country? That would be unfortunate for both sides."
"Or this Huon could be a local god or demi-god. They should be as infinite as people, yes? Perhaps it is all straightforward, as the red-man said." It's not clear if Merlin believes this or would like to believe this.
The Seaward cousin swallows hard. Starfish. She'd never thought of actually meeting a god. Shadow had so many surprises in addition to its complexity. Straightforward? Never, it seemed.
The two riders cross the crest of a hill and in the watershed below they see a river valley and a city nestled in it. The city's walls are tall against ladders but too thin for gunpowder warfare. Indeed, there are holes punched in it and tents about it, but it doesn't look to be under siege.
[How many tents? Are we talking hundreds or thousands? Are the holes in the walls indiscriminate, ie for damage alone or are they concentrated to allow a few routes of storming the interior. Were civilian casualties high or mild based on the destruction of walls alone? Is there a line of refugees streaming away?]
No refugees, it looks like light casualties and minimal damage. The city doesn't seem to have been burned. The tents are in the upper hundreds, although there's cleared space for more than that. The people seem to be mostly light-skinned, like the refugee, although there are a small number of red-skinned men amongst them. The red-skinned men wear less clothing than the light-skinned men. There are men marching in the cleared areas.
Celina sniffs the air and pats Mauve's neck. She pulls to a halt. "We haven't gone around. The path is taking us straight into that town. Abford." She chews her lip. "Abford. Ford of Ab." She glances about for a river and notes other topography.
"Who is Ab?" asks Merlin.
"Town's founder, if things work like the Seaward here." Celina studies the curve of the lazy river.
The clouds above cast walking shadows on the land. Celina remembers an old dream and uneasily looks up and above her shoulder to see if she is being attacked. She sighs. She looks shyly at Merlin. "I think I'm going down there to look for the blade. So I'm shortly to be captured, questioned, and perhaps treated in ways no lady should be treated. I don't suppose it makes any sense to you to wait here and rescue me if I don't come back in a day?" Her expression is rather girlish now. She seems to know his answer but want to hear it anyway.
Merlin shakes his head in the negative, once, perhaps one and a half times. "You do not suppose correctly, sister. I can rescue you much better if we are together. Or you can rescue me."
"Yes, I thought that was the way of it." Celina pats Mauve again while smiling at Merlin. She shifts her thoughts and gaze to the encampment again. "Yet there aren't tritons in that river. It isn't mighty enough. To find the blade here, where there are no tritons is odd." She fusses with the lantern hanging from the saddle horn, tapping and tracing the engraved swirls.
Why would a godling need an army? Many hands to do work. Or to protect against a rival army. And such surgical entry to the city meant something valuable inside, perhaps. Was this army searching for the blade as well? It did not seem a place of antiquities, this Abford. But could the blade have been brought here?
And who would do that? Rivers did lead to oceans if such a familiar order ruled here. Celina licks her lips and flicks Mauve's reins. The horse starts down the hill to town. "Merlin, we better find out who this Horn is and why he's here. We may have crossed this path because he is looking for the green blade. If that's true, then it might tell me something about our destination. He might not have told his men exactly what they are looking for, but perhaps the town has a shrine where historic things are kept. There is some reason the town was not damaged more. This isn't just a war we've come across."
She looks to his comments.
"Our father told me a tale, once. Quite a long tale, in fact, of how he and I ended up on the edge of the abyss. One part of his tale involved a chance encounter not by chance where he met King Oberon in disguise. Perhaps someone wants us to cross paths with thus Huon. Perhaps, subconsciously, it is us. Perhaps we need something from him." Merlin looks over the town, and the army.
The Seaward woman nods, thinking how such things might be arranged and almost feeling the answer.
"The smaller army is recruiting here, just as they did along the road. They would not want to kill their new recruits."
Ah. Simple. Celina nods again. "I see. Yes."
As they near the men, Celina starts to hum the lullaby of her childhood. Her inner doubts have not surfaced except for that shadowy dreamsky above her. She smiles at the troops as they move to intercept the two riders.
And when the soldiers greet them, Celina says, "Good day. Mistress Ourhope to see Commander Huon, please."
These men are more closely related to Merlin in coloration than Hannah. They seem to be reasonably relaxed, and it would be hard to consider them a significant military threat. But they both have long guns. One seems to have been wounded, perhaps burned, but has recovered.
The uninjured one looks at Celina and Merlin, and says "While we have no orders regarding green-skinned women, I suspect the Lord Huon will want to see you. If you'll dismount and disarm, please, I shall lead you to him." He turns to the other soldier. "Jacob, see to their horses."
Celina looks deep into the eyes of the man who asks her to disarm. The commander is apparently very cautious or very sought or both. Twisting in the saddle, she swings over a leg and slides off to the ground.
Reaching into her boot, she takes the slim knife from there and tucks it into her saddlebag. It is followed by the long dagger from her belt. She turns around again and looks at the man. "Suffice?"
"Yes, Mistress Ourhope." He looks at Merlin, who complies as well.
Celina waits on Merlin. Together they walk away from their horses and supplies to follow the man into the scattered pattern of the army.
Jacob takes the horses and leads them towards a corral. Celina sees men being trained to ride and carry guns. They don't have the habits of a lifetime shooting, but they seem to be picking it up well enough.
The other man leads Merlin and Celina through the stone gate and past a large stone building with a painting of a woman crying outside of it. He looks up at the colored glass windows as he passes. Eventually he steps up to another stone building, lower but wider, on the west side of the city. "Captain Carper and two um, guests to see his Lordship."
They are shown in immediately and led to a large room. Inside is a man sitting at a table. He looks larger than life, wide and proud and Celina can imagine him leading many armies in his time. He is of middle age, she guesses. His hair is cropped short and his brow is heavy, but not unhandsomely so.
He looks at her, his eyebrow raised. After a long pause he says "Thank you, Captain, that will be all." Carper turns and leaves.
"Do I know you?" he asks.
Celina opens her third eye to examine the man for sorcery or invisible weapons. "Don't you?"
He glows with the bright whiteness of a member of the family.
With that glance done, she smiles and walks to the window to check the escape possible by jumping through it. "There are several ways to find out. Which would you prefer, your Lordship?" She turns about again and takes a comfortable stance. "Rebman social rules or your own?"
He smiles and replies in Thari. "With that gambit and your coloration? I think it may need to be 'family' rules. Which mean I get to satisfy my curiosity first."
He points at two chairs. "Please, be seated. Now, I've got my guesses, but I won't let them out just yet. So, who are you and what are you doing in Shadow Renady?"
Celina looks at Merlin for just a moment. This man is both host and possible family. Or he is something else very like family. Chaosi? Would she know the Dara from another woman?
"Two travelers passing through, your Lordship. I'm called Ourhope." Celina moves to the chair as if she will relax and sit, but she does not. The host hasn't offered drink or other nicety. She likes having a straight line to the window. She lays her hands lightly on the chair back speaking to the man. "Your army was making our progress a bit dreary and asking for papers at every turn. We thought we'd save some time by coming here to find out what papers you'd like us to carry." She smiles.
"It gives them something to do. It's not a good idea to have a bored army." He stands. "May I offer you a drink? I prefer informality and the rules for family discourse are like a scripted morality play. But have it your way, I can certainly have someone make you some papers. We'll just need some basic information. Your name, your parentage, where you're from, what you're doing in Renady, how long you plan to stay. Administrative trivia like that."
Celina cannot quite decide if she likes the way the man ignores her brother or not. Neither does she approve of his demeaning comment about pleasant social manners. Then again, her aunties shouldn't get too much credit for raising her to appreciate the finer things. "A drink would be nice. Thank you." She decides a compromise would be accepting a glass she never has a chance to drink.
Through the window, Celina can see men marching in the distance. They aren't very good at it. Yet.
The Seaward cousin purses her lips. "Perhaps I didn't present our reasons for arrival too well. Since it is your army's busy work that brings us and it would engage your resources to have detailed papers drawn up for us, we would settle for a pass written out by you to let us be on our way. Renady is certainly not on our list of layovers. Staying isn't part of the agenda---unless you are trying to bribe me to change my plans." She watches his muscles as they march along with his intentions.
He smiles. "No, that's what you said, so it wasn't your presentation. It was more the content. You're here, you're Rebman, you didn't so much as flinch when I switched to Thari, and you're not interested in answering my questions. You don't look redheaded, and neither does your ... friend?" He shrugs and continues, "So I don't think you're likely to be here howling for my blood to prevent my personal ambitions from coming to fruition. If you're an assassin, or he is, you're at least refreshingly forthright in your approach to stalking me."
He stands up and walks back to a sideboard behind his makeshift desk, where he picks up a decanter. "I'd guess you're my sister Llewella's, but I'm not going to wager on it. Dad and Moins may have made up, again, or something. You and I may be natural allies, if you can just get past the mystery for mystery's sake."
Merlin continues to sit still and quiet, letting his sister handle the man.
Celina lets a few heartbeats pass. She studies the man's eyes while she's able and lets thoughts crash upon the shore. She really wants to get through all this without lying. "You're a good guesser." At least based on what I see so far. And what do I know about the redheads that might mean anything here? Well, they run hot and fast.
She steps around the chair and sits down as if he may well get a chance to bribe her if his liquor is decent. "Banish the thought of stalking. Your actions drew me here. But let's for the moment focus on why a young fish and an old fish would swim together in these waters. How many points of information do we need to trade to discuss being allies? Or better yet, what's in it for me, uncle?"
"Your home wasn't always fond of my enemies, mostly because of how they treated Llewella. We may want the same things." He shrugs. "This is one of the reasons the family meet-and-greet is supposed to start with the ceremonial trading of gossip. You should be hinting about what you want to be in it for you, Niece." He finishes his drink and rises, raising an eyebrow in Merlin's direction.
Merlin nods at him, and Huon fetches two more drinks, handing the new glass to Merlin.
"Gossip. Hints. Mmm." Celina says this as if she thinks she has none to share that would interest such an old and wiley fellow as her uncle. "Well, I do know that there are several people who have been dying unexpectedly lately. Many more than those who unexpectedly are not dead." She laces her hands together and looks introspective.
"And then there are all those new faces in the family, you'd probably be surprised at that. Not that I can give you a card for them. They're just too new." Celina studies his desk. She's bound and determined to continue fencing with partial truths rather than false information. "But many things don't change at all. I wouldn't expect you'd think the King and Rebma are all that cozy if you saw the way things were at Amber. Is that where you're headed? I just came from there."
He nods. "Eventually, probably. I have some personal matters to attend to. I may even go to or by Rebma on the way. How has the old man reacted to having grandchildren running amok in his pretty city?"
Celina allows her eyes to chill with thoughts of her mother. "Let's just say that most of the ones my age get the same treatment I do: He doesn't say word one to me; like we exist in separate worlds."
His eyebrows raise, slightly. "Really? How he's mellowed. Is there a Queen in Amber, these days?"
"Actually, there is." Celina sips from her drink and lets her instincts ponder how much further this mining of her goodwill should go. "I think that now we are into the realm of me doing favors for you. Since you've been nice enough to tell me that you have a ongoing fracas with some of the family, and since I don't want the redheads sharpening my coral, I'll switch topics."
She smiles prettily. "I love what you've done with the weather hereabouts."
"It came this way, and it'll be this way after I leave it. A better place, too."
He smiles back. "You remind me of me when I was young; cocksure and willing to bluff anyone who might be across the table from me, even if I didn't have anything but bravado to go on. Whose eye are you planning on spitting whiskey in, in your pretty fashion?"
Celina laughs at the rough compliment. "You have a good eye. I've taken some swings at my betters and been brought up short." She sips her drink. "Now you've given me a better idea. I never would have thought of spitting alcohol in the eyes. I bet that stings mightily. Thank you, uncle. I won't tell where I got the notion."
She settles more relaxed to the chair. "In Rebma naturally, spitting is a self-besmirching gesture. Not that you meant it that way, of course, pretty thing that I am.
"Am I amusing enough to get a tour of your town here?"
He stands, stretching as he rises. "You are. It's not much, but it's been a useful base. I'm not very demanding for a conquering god." He offers Celina his arm.
Celina takes his arm in the Rebman court fashion, as if she owns it. She settles in for a long languid walk with a nod to her uncle.
"Did you know these people faced an almost apocalyptic war just a few years ago? Lots of places did, apparently."
"Mmm?" Celina says.
Merlin rises too, and moves towards the door, rubbing the back of his neck as he goes. "Yes, we should leave for a tour immediately. The war you speak of? It was when we destroyed those who tried to destroy the pattern."
Huon looks surprised. For the first time.
"Oh, yes. That was a terrible business." She smiles at Merlin with pride in his contribution to the discussion. It's also a possessive smile.
Merlin opens the door for the two of them.
Huon leads Celina out into the office. Huon's men look very busy and as if they haven't been discussing the strange green woman in their Lord's chambers at all. "You all have been busy while I was on vacation."
Merlin looks back to the middle of the room as he leaves. He closes the door behind them.
He takes them out onto a balcony that overlooks a large open square. It looks as if it is sometimes a market, but today it is a drill range. Below are men marching in formations. In the corner of the square others are practicing with their guns. From this distance, the shots are barely audible. The men seem to be training in several techniques, including volley fire and sharpshooting.
Huon points out the training session. "The red-skinned ones are called Poncas. They're good with guns and with horses at the same time. They're more metaphorical than literal. They're also good instructors.
"The locals are from the newly confederated cities of Renadiatic League. The unlucky ones will get rich taking over this world through the Promethean gift I've given them. The lucky ones will come with me."
Celina studies the expanse with an unconscious nod. "Promethean gift? You mean the explosive ballista?"
"You're familiar with the story of Prometheus? The friend of man who stole fire from the gods for them and was punished for eternity? It happened rather the other way around for me, but the basic story matches the archetypical one that you can find in a many shadows."
Celina nods.
He looks out over the walls at fields newly planted with rows of tents. "In the shadows near this place, there's war or soon to be war. The Black Road, which showed up in all these shadows, was resisted. Now the common foe is gone and men who remember their newfound strengths and their old despites are contemplating action.
"In this place, I've changed the tactical balance, and there will be war, but it will be ridiculously one-sided and the scars will heal quickly."
He pulls out a silver case and opens it. It is filled with cigarettes (which are, in Rebma, an affectation of powerful mages). "Cigarette?" Merlin shakes his head, once. Huon lights one for himself [and Celina, if she takes one]. "My brothers would have taken what they wanted without a thought for the people who live here. That's one thing that centuries of living in one shadow did to me."
In the Seaward, Celina tried the habit at school, but hasn't indulged in a long time. She demurs the offer of tobacco. Her eyes watch the men at their practice of war. "So you plan to leave a group of mercenaries here to tip the odds even further? Or is it just your ideas you leave behind, uncle?"
"Ideas, mostly. We're unlikely to return here in one of their generations. If I were more of a theoretician, I'd be interested in seeing how my changes ripple through shadow. As it is, they'll be dampened after I leave, but some changes will stay."
Huon smiles grimly. "We live in a world with limitless wealth, niece. The only resource in scarce supply is ourselves, so we squabble over it endlessly."
Celina turns slowly to look at her uncle's profile. Some glimmer of a thought reads brightly in her eye. She does not share it.
She looks back at the training men and watches them far too intently.
"Enough," she looks away. "Uncle, please show me something pretty. There must be more to this little town than men playing soldier. Is there no museum here? No works of art?"
He thinks for a moment. "They're merchants, mostly, and only beginning to have the luxury of art. The religious organizations have some worship art, and wealth and leisure." He shakes his head. "Their religion wouldn't go over well in The City." He smiles. "I don't have all of Dad's vices, though. Come with me, I've thought of something to show you."
[Assuming they go. ]
[Indeed! No point is being sulky if it doesn't get you a change of view!!]
Celina follows Huon. She walks carefully with respect to Huon's personal space.
He leads her down a ramp, towards the other large building in the city. "Where the merchants worship when they aren't doing so in their counting-rooms." He smiles. The building is large, and clearly built with great care and attention to detail. It reminds Celina of some of the buildings in Paris.
A thought that finds a fertile place in her imagination.
Huon pulls the door open and the three enter the building. It is smoky from years of candlelight, but well lit through the stained glass windows. He walks towards the back, making an obvious gesture of respect towards the altar as he nears it. Merlin does the same. The room smells of incense and fervor.
Celina regards the altar but does no gesture.
He steps into an open room and a large woman smiles at him. She is neither obviously old nor young, and her hair and skin are all covered in heavy robes. "Ah, Mother Humility, just who I was looking for."
[ooc: clarity-- she wears something across her face? no one has dressed so thus far?]
[No, sorry for the unclarity. face is uncovered, but hair and the rest of her body is. Think "Nun", but as a style and not as a uniform.]
A woman gets a gesture of respect from Celina. She lowers her chin and eyes.
She looks at Celina very intently for a moment and then addresses Huon. "I serve the Goddess and the Church, Protector Huon. How may either help you this day?"
"I would like to see the bracelet again, Mother."
Mother Humility nods, and pulls a small coffer from her desk. She opens it and inside is a delicate pearl bracelet. It glistens as if wet.
Huon looks at Celina. "Rebman, isn't it? Is it a message for you?"
Celina looks. "It certainly could be. Or a copy of something Rebman. It is also valuable. I haven't been here before, so if it is a message, it is a very complex one. Perhaps my mother expected me to meet you, uncle." Celina looks at him. "Perhaps she insisted I meet you?"
Celina nods to Mother Humility. "Lovely."
Merlin reaches down and picks it up. He turns it over in his hands several times, looking closely at the designs. "It is very distinctive, but not enchanted."
Huon looks up. "You've been playing the Rebman mercenary sorcerer well, but I'm not convinced. What is your name and lineage?"
Merlin squares his shoulders. "I am Merlin, son of Corwin and Dara, heir to Borel and Paris." He looks remarkably like his father as he says this.
Huon smiles at Celina. "Now that's a surprise! When you came in, I assumed it was one or the other of you, but not both." He turns to Mother Humilty. "I've decided to agree to your proposition. I'm giving the bracelet to my niece as a gift, in honor of her visit to Abford."
"Indeed?" Celina smiles at Huon. "Fancy that, and all I wanted was a writ of free passage. You do know how to turn a girl's head, uncle."
But it is Mother Humility and the plans behind that face that Celina tracks as Huon announces his largess.
It's somewhere between relief and greed. It's entirely possible that this item was too rich to find a buyer before Huon arrived.
"In the end, family is all we have, niece. If I were to throw despite into the face of everyone, there'd be no one to live with afterwards." He's smiling. He looks to Mother Humilty. "Send to my headquarters for the payment."
Mother Humility's silence breaks like a dam. "Of course, Protector! Thank you, this will allow us to do so much good. You have no idea how you've helped the children of Renady."
Merlin holds the bracelet and looks questioningly as Celina.
Celina says, "Merlin, please give the bracelet back to Mother Humility." And if he complies, she looks at that worthy. She holds out her wrist watching Humility's face. "As the proper owner, I should accept the bracelet from you or by way of my uncle. Would you fasten it please?" Celina's emerald eyes hold with Humility's reaction.
"Of course. Your Uncle has been quite a blessing in disguise for all of us in Renady." She smiles as she puts it around Celina's wrist. The dark pearls are cool to the touch and the bracelet is very pretty. It's distinctive enough and well-made enough that Celina thinks it would be possible to track down the exact Jeweler in Rebma's Artisan District.
[...and is there anything of it so reflective that someone might have crafted for mirror work? the pearls, the metal?]
Oddly, no. Not at all. Almost the opposite, really. It might give a mirror user a headache.
"Thank you," Celina whispers.
Mother Humility turns to Huon. "The Bishop mentioned your discussion of using Sisters as nurses, and we're discussing it in conclave. It seems quite innovative, Protector."
Huon nods, but doesn't respond. Mother Humility contines. "Your Uncle is really being quite generous to us, as he knows. We have had that for years and couldn't sell it, because it was so unique. Now, when we need money to expand our mission, he's providing it, but not as simple charity that some would question the motives of."
Huon smiles now. "You'll turn her head, Mother Humility. Sadly, we have to go, so we cannot stay and discuss this further." He rises.
Celina curtseys to Mother Humility. "Good favor to your expansion, Mother Humility." Celina backs and makes exit with Merlin and Huon.
Outside, she says to her companions. "It was eerie to turn my back on her. I expect you know what you're doing with that one, uncle. Better you than me."
"She reminds me of a young Florimel, except with orphans. She will go far, or those like her will. I expect to have gone far by that point, myself."
Huon turns to her. "Have you seen enough of beauty, niece?"
"Oh, no," Celina smiles, "not at all. You'd have to lay the table heavier than that to sate my taste for beauty, uncle." She looks deliberately at his gift. "But I must say that you've been the gracious host." She looks up at his eyes and chuckles. "Except for the balance of gossip all going one way."
A beat.
Celina leans into his personal space and lays a gentle hand on his arm; adds a direct look to his eyes. "Don't let me tease you so." She looks again at the bracelet. "If I weren't due elsewhere, I might stay a while to help you with your travels.
"But I must be going on."
He nods. "Duty, duty. I too have miles to go before I sleep. This is a dry route to Rebma. Or do you travel elsewhere?"
"Away from the Emerald City. It may be long before we see it again." Celina looks straight at Huon. "I will tell my parent of your hospitality when next we talk."
He bows to her and reaches a hand out to Merlin. "Tell Corwin I'd speak to him, an he desires it."
Huon provides you with leather badges that can be attached to your saddles providing you free movement in the kingdom and the services of Captain Carper as a guide for the remainder of your visit.
[Captain Carper will show you around if you like, or lead you to the gate if you'd like. If you don't wanna talk to him, you can EoT and head off to wherever is next...]
Celina invites the Captain to show her the barracks, the armory, and to display his 'projectile' battery.
He will, happily. He's a talkative one.
Celina nods and 'ahs' and gets some idea of just how handy and portable Huon's artillery is.
[Arref/ooc: If she happens to fall upon a green sword in all this, she will be more shocked than I---just.]
[Nope! They musta hid it! In those mobile greensword laboratories]
After seeing what there is to see, she thanks the man. She keeps a calm and cool manner while he delivers she and Merlin back to their horses. They take stock of the animals and depart for the next shadow of note.
Merlin wants to start shifting right away.
Last modified: 13 April 2006