Brennan watches Clarissa and her entourage leave the way other men would watch a tornado-- warily, while surveying the damage.
He is not the only one to do so, though Raven's internal thoughts are more about rogue waves than rogue wind.
When he is convinced that she's not coming back in the immediate future, more tension uncoils from Brennan's shoulders. He raises his arm and circles his hand in the air in the universal gesture of let's-get-moving, and raises his voice slightly so it carries: "All right, let's pack it up and move it out-- time is wasting!" That is more to the Knights of the Ruby and Sir Severity than to Firumbras and the Moonriders, since the KOR actually made camp (and therefore have a camp to break down) rather than go grackle-dragon-corpse hunting, but the overall message is clear to everyone: They're not sticking around.
The knights seem slightly restless, but break camp in good time. Despite not seeming to work at it, the Moonriders have their portion of camp broken sooner, and spend some time preparing their horses for another long ride.
Firumbras is talking to Lorides, possibly about whatever Clarissa was saying to him. He is not so self-assured as he was before she had a word with him, somehow. Clarissa has the effect on lots of people.
When they are moving again to Brennan's satisfaction, he will let the Moonriders lead again. He'll give it a good twenty minutes or so before falling to the rear of the train and catches Raven's eye with an expression sympathetic and somehow slightly arch. He is Fiona's nephew.
Raven snorts to herself, her expression going a bit wry, when she catches the glance, but she eases her mount back as well. She waits until her horse has fallen in beside Brennan's before she says, "Private chat time, I'm guessing? Given all of... that."
Brennan uses a working of Space on his and Raven's voices so that, once their voices have traveled more than a few feet, the inverse-square law is replaced with as high an exponent as he can manage. They'll be able to hear from outside just fine, but their own voices won't carry at all.
"Yes, with an emphasis on privately," he says, when that's done. "No one will hear us unless they're very sneaky, very talented, and very rude. So, Raven Connersdottir, that could have gone worse. What do you think?"
"Not sure I want to know what 'worse' would have involved," Raven says, and she shakes her head. "Pretty sure I was so far out of my depth that I couldn't see the bottom of the boat about two words in. And I know how short that list of names was, so I ain't saying a word about your very correct assumption there. Yes, he and I have talked about it, but not a watch later, he was trying to get himself killed in a duel," and there's an undercurrent of exasperation there, "and then we were going to talk to his Ma about getting some more concrete proof because Ma and I have issues. That didn't happen yet because of all that with the king, so here we are. I ain't of a mind to actually tell anyone on purpose at this point, but I'm also thinking he and I may now need to have a talk that starts with 'So is your kinda scary grandmother having a good feeling about it proof...?'"
"Worse would have been her taking offense and making an issue out of it, possibly with force. I'd have backed your play, but it would not have gone well at all," he says "As for Conner, once I stopped thinking what I was thinking, and started thinking Redheads, it was pretty obvious. It's not me, at least not without another layer of mystery, because I hadn't been to Rebma in the right time frame. And Edan's mother is a fire spirit-- It's not really his kind of place. But Conner spent quite a bit of time there both before and after the War."
He thinks for a little bit. "I'd call Grandmother's intuition compelling, but not exactly proof. I wouldn't bet against it without carefully considering the context and stakes of the bet."
"If she'd kept going, I didn't have much of a choice but to fold," Raven says wryly. "Still kind of surprised that what I said made her stop guessing." She blows out a breath and then shakes her head again. "No, you and Edan don't match what little Ma could be bothered to tell me - and if I'd had a thought that it might've been you, that's a talk that would have been had before we got out here. She said dark-haired sailor and not the Admirals, which pretty much left me with Marius and Conner. I won't say I'm inclined to take what the Queen said as true proof, but..." Raven frowns. "I believe Conner slept with Ma. I also have enough problems with Ma that I'm wary that we went from 'won't say anything' to 'here's a bit because they told you you're a Royal' to 'Conner being the first of the two to walk in her door that I know of and he's the one.' Seems a little too convenient, aye? So the Queen coming in and being sure enough that she wouldn't leave it alone is... not hard proof, but at least enough to make me feel more settled with the idea, I guess."
She pauses a beat, and then snorts in amusement. "Also, I ain't sure that there's a lot of difference between 'Queen Clarissa has a good feeling about me being kin' and 'Brita sniffed me and announced I'm family?' So there's that."
"Marius was the obvious bet, yes," Brennan allows.
"Brita and Grandmother have different gifts. I trust Brita's gift near-absolutely, as far as I understand it, because I have never known her to be wrong. But I don't understand it-- I don't think anyone's does-- and so I only trust it for descent from Oberon. I suspect it's deeper than that simple thing, but I don't understand it. Grandmother, on the other hand, uses Sorcery, and it is probably similar to what Fiona or I would do, so I could at least provide a sanity check.
"This was absolutely not the time to be running loose in Fiona's Tower without permission, though. Edan and Martin had been there very recently," he says, and glances at Raven to see if she hears what he didn't say directly.
"Ah," Raven says, after a moment of thought. "That's the same tower, ain't it. Aye, I can see where we wouldn't want anybody poking around that, even aside from whatever else is in there. Figured you had a reason for warning me off - but I'd already decided the answer was no anyway. Somebody doing sorcery to confirm that someone else is your child seems like the sort of thing a man ought to be present for, to me, and maybe even more so when the situation's a little complicated." She looks over at Brennan and shrugs a little, apologetically. "So, offer appreciated, but not here and now. Not unless there's some urgent reason to get it done now."
"Yeah, same Tower," Brennan says. "I'm all for improv, reshuffling the deck, and mixing metaphors, but that could have gotten explosive very quickly. I did not enjoy sticking my nose into your personal decision, though, so I felt obligated to make the offer. It stands, but I won't push it. I see no urgent reason, and I'm not really sure what one would look like. I understand your caution. Seems like your mother put you in an uncomfortable bind, though."
While Raven responds, Brennan takes the chance to monitor not just his surroundings (which he always does) but the progress that the group is making through Shadow. Are the Moonriders using the same technique as before?
The moonriders are using the same techniques, but perhaps more circumspectly. They seem to be traveling more slowly towards their destination. Firumbras is with them, and it might be that they are explaining the process to him.
"I got no idea what an urgent need to know who my da is would look like," Raven says dryly, "but so far my time in this family has involved being sniffed, watching Jerod drop a comet on some people, an army of the undead, a couple of people I ain't so sure should be in charge of anyone - and maybe especially themselves - two riots, a lizard-bird-thing that turned into a boy, and now a bloody weird picnic that involved a guessing game and possibly the second- or third-most embarrassing way for someone to find out that I ain't as much a man as I look. Pretty sure 'we need to know your parent right now' can't be off the end of the scale here."
Brennan chuckles, low in the back of his throat. "You forgot the dead dragon returning home, and the talking horse. But this is never going to be 'urgent,' as such. If it goes anywhere, it will go from 'pressing business,' which is what it is now, to 'too late to do anything about.' It's pressing because Conner and Marius-- all of us, really-- have histories and enemies. Which sounds ominous and overly dramatic, but it's not wrong. Just as a for instance, Conner is a member of the Court of Rebma. Celina's court. But Moire is still out there, somewhere, and if she can use you to neutralize Conner even for a short period of time, she might very well. I don't think ambiguity helps you much, here, and once that gambit is in play, 'Oh, I'm actually Marius' child!' will sound awfully self-serving, even if true. So it behooves you to get it sorted out sooner, rather than later, is my opinion." Brennan is aware that Raven didn't ask.
"For what it's worth, though, you did as well against Grandmother as could possibly be expected. She might not thank you for it, but that's an experience she probably hasn't had in a very long time."
"Knowing now that Ma was originally from Rebma, the more I think about it, the more I think there's something there I may have to reckon with," Raven observes, but then she shakes her head and waves the train of thought off. "Look, point taken, but I'm not trying to just put it off until whenever. I'll grant you that I ain't in a rush to cover both bases and go talk to Marius too, mostly because he and I butted heads a bit on the way back, but I'm also leaning pretty hard at this point towards there not being a need. Could still be wrong, not willing to discount that, but I can see which way the tide's going just fine. And if it was something to just affect me, I'd probably take you up on that; funny how suddenly knowing a bit after not knowing a damn thing most of your life gets under your skin, ya know? But." She blows out a breath and shrugs. "It was Conner's thought to get it proved, and I can understand that. I mean, maybe I've spent too long around sailors that'd probably kill to get some kind of proof that the girl that's saying her kid's theirs is telling the truth - and still might not trust it unless they're there to hear it - but I can understand it. And he specifically suggested his own Ma as the one to do it. Don't know why, met her exactly once and in passing, don't want to find out if it'd annoy her to have someone else do it just because the saying maybe ought to be 'plans don't survive contact with the enemy or Queen Clarissa' and I jumped on the first chance I got. And anyway, even if I did have you do it, wouldn't change what I do next - I'm keeping my mouth shut on the subject until I have a chance to talk to him about what just happened. Or have opportunity to make a chance."
She pauses, considering, and then adds, "I'll take 'as best as could be expected.' But I'm also taking that to mean she's always like that and I should just get used to it. Aye?"
"Why Fiona? Because she's Conner mother, because he trusts her, and because she's one of the few people who can do that," Brennan says.
"But don't mistake this for arm-twisting. It's not. Unless someone like Grandmother forces the issue-- I don't think she would, but I'd've still backed your play-- this is something you have to decide on and see through yourself. But members of my generation, and even moreso yours, don't often get early training in courtly politics, much less the grand politics of the Great Courts of Order. It's hard won for us, and as annoying as it may be having someone in your face about it, I'd be a pretty terrible cousin if I didn't at least try to pass on some of the relevant bits while we have the time. I can't say I'd have taken it, but looking back I could have used some pointed advice, too, when I came in from the cold all feral.
"And, yes, Grandmother is always like that. And when I say, 'could have been worse,' I'm thinking of the time she met Paige and started up a conversation with her twins like they were old friends. Her unborn twins." Brennan shakes his head, remembering that. "I wouldn't go so far as to say just get used to it. You're a scion of Amber and not without your resources. Just recognize that you're as likely to change her as you would have been to change Oberon. For what it's worth, she was helping, in her own way. We walked out of that picnic with quite a bit more than we walked in with."
Raven opens her mouth to say something in response, pauses, and then slowly shuts her mouth again.
After a very long moment where it looks like she's trying to decide between being confused and alarmed, Raven settles on an uncomfortable, "No, you're right. That is... deeply weird, and I got off pretty light compared to it. And you're right about the not having any sort of courtly politics." She shakes her head. "I know dockside tavern politics, front side and back, and I know ship politics. I've also changed crews enough to know better to discount what old hands have to say, though I'm not gonna lie and say it hasn't taken me a little while to remember that. The advice is welcome, even if I'm still gonna dig my heels in on this one, and I'm pretty sure you just made something else fit into place that I hadn't quite worked my way through yet."
Brennan looks like he's going to ask what that is, but instead just says, "Those politics are all reflections of the politics of the Great Courts. Applicable, but incomplete."
She pauses there, scraching the back of her neck and looking faintly embarrassed, and then says, "And between that and the fact that I did actually hear what Jerod and Conner both lectured me on, even if I didn't do a great job of listening at the time - well. I'm pretty sure this is about the part where it's on me to talk about the whole being a woman part, isn't it?"
"Seems like a good time for it," Brennan says. "Why don't you tell me about it."
"For something that's about to become more of an issue than I ever really meant it to," Raven says, "there ain't that much to tell. Ma raised me as a boy - to keep me safe, she said. By the time I was old enough to understand that I wasn't, it had kind of stuck, I guess? I know I'm a woman, and I don't hate that or think it's a mistake the way some of the girls I've met that were born men do. But I don't know how to be a woman. I know how to be a man. And I'm comfortable being a man. Comfortable enough that most folks don't even think twice." She glances at Brennan. "It was enough to fool the Navy and pretty much all my shipmates but the few I trusted enough to tell. Mostly I just keep my mouth shut and let folks assume what they see is what's going on, at this point, because unless they're wanting to check what's in my trousers, they ain't going to know the difference.
"Which is what I did when I got dumped into all this." She smiles, faint and rueful, and shrugs. "Didn't even think about it, I've been doing it so long. But Conner pointed out that I'm going to have to tell the folks I'm kin to, even if I'm wary what this is gonna mean for me and a Navy that ain't exactly a welcoming place for women in the ranks. And you were part of the group he suggested we start with, so I ain't exactly upset that you know? Could have done without her announcing it to the Moonriders and whatnot, though."
"That was unkind," Brennan admits.
He rides along in silence for a while, thinking all that over. When he does speak again, he says, "Well, that's all tangled up together, isn't it? Let's start with Family: Why do you think Conner says you have to tell Family, do you agree with him, and do you have a plan?"
"He gave me more than enough of a chance to pass on the idea, but he also used the word deception." Raven's brief scowl gives away her feelings even before she says, "I don't like that word. Not about this. It might be a proper choice of word, but I've never heard it be anything but bad. It makes it sound like I'm spending a lot of time lying to everyone to try and get something out of it, instead of mostly just letting folks assume that what they see's the whole story. That's one reason. The other's more... hindsight? I got a bit of a lecture on other stuff, but that - once I agreed we should probably tell folks, I didn't get any kind of 'here's why this might be a bad choice' thing. He just ran with it, kind of encouraging-like. I can read between those lines and see that he thought it was the right choice."
Brennan sends a sharp side-eye into the middle of that, but he lets her finish.
"As for if I agree..." She blows out a breath. "Yes. I guess. 'Should I tell the ship's complement worth of people I'm suddenly kin to?' wasn't exactly in the cards when it was just me and Ma. But even aside from telling Conner, I kind of knew I was going to have to tell someone at some point. And I think - well, what you were just saying about keeping quiet on who my da might be until it becomes an issue could be read as self-serving... that's going to apply here, ain't it." That's not a question. "But this ain't ever been anything but an awkward conversation, and I'm not exactly excited about it. As for plans? The original suggestion Conner made was talking to 'the Redheads'" - the quotes are almost audible - "before the family meeting that we were all shockingly busy for, and then I think say something there, assuming we'd talked to his Ma before then. I'm not against that plan, but there's two folks I feel like I ought to talk to privately before the whole group hears. One of those being Max, because I ain't sure if he knows or not."
"Deception is the right word," he says. "Deception isn't limited to actual lies where you say things untrue. And not all deceptions are swindles, where you part someone from something of value. And although it cost people nothing, you did gain something from it: The ability to serve in the Navy on your own terms, to start with." He sighs. "I'm not so hostile to the concept as I sound. Quite sympathetic, even. I've fought in enough wars to know that even just causes employ deception. Every feint in a fencing match is deception, when you get down to it, and every member of this Family could write a treatise on the subject. We keep them all in the Caine Wing of the Library.
"But the part Conner maybe didn't tell you is this: No one likes getting fooled. No one is going to thank you for it, I'll tell you that from personal experience. My generation is kinder, mostly, than the Princes and Princesses, so I don't want to overstate things. I don't think you'll face a line of duellers seeking satisfaction, or universal condemnation or anything like it. I suspect most will shrug, and a few will carefully file it away for future reference. But if there is one thing the Family runs a trade surplus on, it's ego, and ego is friction.
"So, yeah, I agree that getting it done is also for the best. But allow me to offer an alternate plan: The King, first. Then everyone else. Getting right with the King about it is extremely important."
"Aye, I might've run up against somebody else's ego once already," Raven says. She's frowning again, and after a moment shakes her head. "Let's come back to the King idea, aye? I want to talk through that one, but I think the deception thing needs to come first. Because if the two people I've talked to so far are both coming to the same point, I'm gonna keep running into it. And I get it, it's a sort of lying, and I've heard that before with the few folks I've told - but it has just been a few folks. One here, one there, folks I thought I could trust to keep their mouths shut or that I wasn't ever going to see again. But it was only ever one at a time, and the worst that I needed to worry about was them breaking their word or deciding not to talk to me anymore. This is - these are bigger stakes, telling, what, fifty people? And the Navy, because even aside from not being fool enough to think that that many folks are going to keep quiet about it for all time, I realize that that includes two Admirals. I hear 'deception' and I think the person saying it's expecting me to, I don't know, say 'surprise,' rip off my trousers, slap on a skirt, and skip off into a parlor to sniff flowers and wear pretty jewels like I'm in some sort of play. That ain't me." She slaps a hand down on her thigh in emphasis, her frustration clear. "And I hear what you're not saying, that I'm really only going to have one shot at this - back to that self-serving idea. So clearly, I've gotta explain it right the first time, and clearly, I ain't explaining it right as it is. But I don't entirely know how to say that what's up here," and she taps her forehead twice with two fingers, "is a man, but also not, and what's out here," she gestures down her body sharply, "is a woman, but also not. They're side by side. They're both me. Can a person be both a man and a woman? Because that's more true than saying that I'm a woman playing at being a man so she can serve in the Navy."
"Ah. Now I think I understand your objection. Not necessarily well enough to put it in my own words yet, but I think I understand. Thank you. And I've been kicking around long enough to see a lot of different ways for a person to be, and a lot of different ways for people to organize their societies. If that's who you are, I'll not dare to tell you you're wrong," Brennan says.
"It's less about deception if the language and customs don't let you say what you need to say, isn't it?" He looks like he has more, or is chewing over more, but doesn't want to go any farther than that, right now.
Raven's tense shoulders relax slightly, and she nods. "Aye. That it is. I don't even know if there's a proper word. Probably ought to spend the time trying to figure that out, maybe when there's not a half-dozen dangers to the realm wanting an extra hand to deal with 'em as soon as possible, but that don't help me now. And if we did visit anywhere that might've had answers while the Vale was lost, I was too busy trying to get us all home safe to even ask."
"All right," Brennan says. "That's not the problem I thought it was. You were right to push back. But it's close, and perhaps I blundered my way into reinforcing something closer to the truth: One problem is about the perception of deception, of having been deceived. Another facet of this is trust, and still another is privacy. And when I say that ego is friction, this is the mechanics of it-- everyone will have different timetables and expectations of trust, privacy, deception, and how they interplay. How soon do you throw yourself into trusting people you've just met, just because we're Family; how much privacy are you allowed, and so forth.
"Still a fair description?"
Raven considers that. "That's a fine line, between deception and perception of it, and I ain't sure I've ever tried to break ego up like that," she says slowly. "But aye, I think I'm with you. Not entirely sure where you're headed yet, but following so far."
"I wasn't necessarily leading anywhere, per se," Brennan says, "just trying to make sure I properly understand. I am a little leery of saying anything with too much certainty or conviction either way, because this is not a good situation to be wrong about. But, no one in our two generations really stands out in my mind as someone who'd give you grief over this, with the right approach. Elder generation... is harder to read. They've had more centuries of practicing to make it so.
"That leaves the Navy. You still want to continue in the Navy in some capacity, yes, even after it's known that Conner is your father?"
"Aye," Raven says, nodding. "Look - growing up dockside, it ain't hard to find a job on a boat if you want one. But I never saw much appeal in the merchant ships, and even less in fishing and the like. They're necessary things, just not things I want to do all the time. Joining the Navy meant picking up a duty to protect the realm, and that turned out to agree with me pretty well. So, I've spent a big part of my life being a Navy sailor, and was looking at doing the same for the rest of it unless I got found out. But I also ain't fool enough to think that it's going to be the same as it would have been if I wasn't a royal - or that whether I actually get to stay as long as I might want is up to just me. There's still rules and folks that make 'em and enforce 'em, and by those rules I'm still a former bosun with a spotty record that's made captain mostly by being the only officer in charge on the Vale when we were lucky enough to make it back. Just also so happens that I'm related to the King and the two Admiral-Princes, which aye, means a lot - means I get to requisition a ship and mostly the crew I want, for one, and that's bloody weird - but while I'm sure there's rules for what to do with Princes somewhere, I ain't a prince. Not sure they quite know what to do with me just yet. It's in my favor, I guess, but I was a common sailor for too long to not know that I've gotta be careful not to be high-handed with what I do or I'm gonna stir up trouble. That means working within the rules as much as I can. I don't figure that knowing exactly who my da is will mess with any of that more than just being somehow related has. But this other bit, not being exactly as much of a man as they think - that's going to stir up everyone, the officers too, and it definitely ain't in my favor. So even though I'm planning to stay, I can't rule out that they'll decide that they can't kick me on account of blood, but maybe if they make me miserable enough or piss me off enough, I'll quit."
She hesitates, and then shrugs slightly. "And just because you're splitting it out and it makes me think you might be thinking this way - I don't have a lot of faith that telling family one thing and the Navy something else is going to last for long, even if it's giving them only a piece of the truth and not the whole of it. Not that I'm saying folks can't keep secrets, but that's a lot of people to keep quiet on a thing that they've got no personal stake in. And it leaves aside that if your knights were paying attention when the Queen used the word niece, it's like as not going to make it into the fleet as soon as we get back. It's a juicy piece of gossip, even if it ain't all of the facts."
"It might last a long time, it might get out tomorrow. I thought Bleys and Fiona-- a smaller group than the whole Family, even then-- had kept my existence secret for five hundred years, right until I Trumped Caine out of the blue. But then I also found the Klybesians knew enough that they stole Ossian from his mother. I can clamp down on the Knights pretty well, if I have to. But Grandmother alone has a bunch of relatives descended of Benedict that we rarely see on the other side of the Tree, but she sees often," Brennan says. "It is just not predictable, in my experience.
"You can probably figure out what I'm going to suggest next, though," he says.
"Don't crack down on 'em on my account," Raven says flatly. "Not about this. Ain't worth it. And I'm pretty sure I can guess, because if I'm right, Conner suggested it too. But go ahead and give it to me anyway, so's I can hear your exact reasons."
"It's back up to the King," Brennan says. "Ultimately, the Navy reports up to King Random, just like we do. Now, I know there are a lot of ways to look at that. One way-- which I don't favor, myself-- is to look at this as trading on your connections to royalty. That's assuming the King sees things as I do, which I can't actually guarantee.
"But another is that you, like Conner and Marius, are known to be a skilled naval officer. If the King has need to send a ship somewhere captained by Family, sure, he *could* send me, but he'd probably be better sending you or Conner or Marius. That being so, there is an argument to be made that this is also the King's business if there's an issue that gets you crosswise with the Navy."
A thought strikes Brennan, or perhaps this is just the moment he decides to ask: "You have sworn fealty to the King, yes?"
"Aye, privately. He said doing it publicly needed to wait until we'd figured out who my da was. And that's not quite where I thought you was headed. Not a surprise either, though." Raven blows out a breath. "Can't say I'm happy that some folks'll think it's trading on royal ties, but that's the dockside kid in me talking and I got a feeling he's just going to have to get used to that being a thing people think sometimes."
She pauses there, frowning a little as she thinks it through. "Aye, no, you've got the right of it. Makes sense, why it'd be the King's business. I think Conner was coming at it from the point of 'maybe it's time to do something other than the Navy,' but even then, that scenario you just threw up - just leaving the Navy before they find out, it's not really a useful answer. Them finding out after the fact ain't going to be any less of a problem." She snorts. "Well, it'd be less of a day-to-day problem for me, but the bigger problem's still out there waiting for the first time I might be needed. But I think you mean it's important on the family side too...?"
"You are who you are," Brennan says. "Some of that you can pick and choose, some of that you can't. The royal descent is part that you can't. You can only deal with it, and the consequences, as they come.
"For the Family... I am of two minds, now that I better understand the situation. On the one hand, I think you have the right to a private life. I am a private person, too-- there are some things I do not share with many people. On the other hand, there are some things about being part of this Family that complicate that, in ways that are not necessarily fair or just. My gut says, yes, tell the Family, too. When I think about it long enough, it plays out like this: Conner knows. I know, because Grandmother knows. Fiona will probably know when she tests your parentage. The King will know after you tell him. That's not a secret, any more. An open secret, at best. So in some sense, the question is more about how you want people to find out rather than whether. That's a passionless, analytical way of thinking about your private business, I know, but that's often what I bring to the table.
"But, I can also offer this: If you're going to talk to the King because of the Navy situation, you should really ask his advice on the Family angle, too. He knows his generation better than Conner or I ever could, and he has a very different but equally useful perspective on mine."
"Aye, I am who I am." Raven shrugs. "I wasn't figuring I could get out of telling the rest of the family, not at this point. Even on top of that list you just gave, I do still have to talk to Max, and I don't figure Conner's going to not tell Brita. So there's seven, without working at it and without thinking too hard about whether Great-Grandma," it sounds like she's trying that out (and by the expression on her face, she isn't entirely sure what she thinks of saying it out loud), "is gonna decide to tell somebody else. I think - eh, this is going to sound weird. But the family part doesn't bother me that much, except for the bit where it runs up against the Navy part? Ma always knew, and much as she and I get along like a pair of wet cats eying up a fish, she's still family. But I also never really had to explain to her, either." She snorts. "Unless you're counting yelling that I'd act how I damned well pleased more than once. But family and folks that are as near as are one thing; folks that aren't either, that's where I'm thinking more about privacy. Don't know that I can peel the Navy part out of that to give a reason why that's better than 'not fond of the idea,' though."
She shifts in the saddle, considering, and then nods. "Aye, I can ask him. Pretty sure I just showed that I ain't got the first clue how to go about this, so I'd better take all the help I can get. But I got a feeling that's really just going to help with the approach part, if that makes sense? The how to tell people, but not the what to say. And I've still got to figure out how to explain to him without, y'know. The part where I got irritated enough to just spit it all out in the messiest way possible."
"I don't know that I-- or anyone-- can give you much help on the finer details. But maybe a few points. It's probably an in-person conversation rather than a Trump conversation unless somehow," Brennan doesn't seem to see a way this could happen, "it becomes just that urgent. You may want to telegraph that you have a serious topic, say, by requesting a private audience for a pressing personal matter. After that, I think you are your own best guide." Which may not be as comforting as it is intended to be.
"Do you have any Trumps?" he asks.
"...Does it answer the question," Raven asks dryly, "if I say that I've seen and used few enough of 'em that it didn't occur to me that there was any option for that conversation other than in-person?"
Brennan takes out his pack of Trumps, and thumbs out the one on top, which is always his Trump of Amber. "Take this. If things go south in Ghenesh, and you need a rapid departure, use this. More useful than calling a relative, I've found. Amber always answers. You just have to remember Caine has snipers stationed there, now."
The one just below it, now the top of the deck, is the one Clarissa gave him of the Mountain.
Raven hesitates. "Bearing in mind I know I ain't got even half an idea of what I'm getting in to or what you've got to deal with whatever we do get into, and I know we both know it, I'm still asking. That," and she nods at the Mountain card, "is your backup in place of the Amber card? Because if you're giving me your backup like you think I'm going to need it and it's at your expense when you might need it too, that ain't right."
"It is," Brennan says. "Grandmother gave it to me, and it's a place I want to visit anyway. I also don't need the same kind of back-up you do. Sorcery, remember?" He makes a quick, subdued sketch of a gesture, as if to Part the Veil. "And aside from that, I've been telling people that I might just let them take me captive, so don't come rescue me and for bloody sure don't trade anyone important for me. I don't think they've seen me Part the Veil, so they hopefully don't know I can do that. But you, since you'll be here, seeing things with your own eyes: I'm telling you, use your best judgment. I've got Caine, Bleys, and Fiona if you want a face card to go with the place card. There are a few Trumps of me floating around, too. Fiona has one. Another is in the gallery."
If Raven wants one of those face cards, he'll hand it over as well.
"But, this is all contingency planning. I'm not planning on rolling in with a declaration of war or anything that would provoke them into taking me hostage. But I'm not entirely sure what to expect, except that things might be tense."
"Place card's enough for now, I think," Raven says as she takes the Amber card - which she handles very carefully - and tucks it away. "And aye, I realize you've got the sorcery and I'm sure you ain't told me everything you can do, whereas I basically have the Pattern and my wits. Still had to ask. I like knowing there's plans for if things don't go right, when there's time enough to plan ahead, and that they cover everybody." She shrugs a little. "And this seems like as good a time as any to bring this up... The hell are we doing with this sword I went fishing in the muck for? Looks like a normal sword to me, but considering where it was found and all, I didn't think it was a good idea to just give it to the Moonriders. And they seem interested still - said something about it being 'inert,' but their experts in Ghenesh might want to look at it."
"Oh, that," Brennan says. "Pretty sure they're right and it's Random's sword. Pretty sure it's just a sword. If I'm right, the backstory on that is that Fiona was keeping Brand imprisoned in her tower, he managed to get a message out to Random, and the sword got left there as part of a rescue attempt. Whole bunch of reasons I didn't want to dwell on any of that, though: No need to air all the laundry in front of strangers, and I don't know-- or WANT to know-- how much Grandmother knows about who was doing what, there, at the end. Brand was her favorite.
"Here, let me see it for a minute. I'm not really inclined to let them have it-- it was Random's, then it was salvage, but you touched it first, and last. Give it back to the King, if you want."
If Raven hands it over or holds it up, Brennan will give it a quick Astral examination, more out of an abundance of caution than anything else. He's really not expecting to find anything unusual.
"Aye, that sounds like the kind of laundry that don't need airing. I'll just keep playing dumb about all that, then," Raven says. "Had no idea what the story was - just seemed like if it was something they were that interested in, it'd be better not to hand it over blindly."
Brennan, however, is not a Moonrider, so Raven will hand the sword over to him for inspection.
The sword is old, but seems pretty servicable. The blade is straight and the edge needs sharpening, but it's been in a bad place for swords for a few years, or whatever time has passed here (if any). It has the word "Joy" written on the hilt, and the pommel is leather-wrapped wood, and seems unlikely to be the original. It's not 'real', like Greyswandir or Werewindle, but almost no swords are.
Brennan looks at the sword carefully for a bit, and then lapses into a more typical examination of the blade-- checking the edge, looking at the wear patterns, checking to see if there's anything tricky about the pommel-- before shrugging. "It's a sword. I know magic swords of great portent seem to be falling out of the sky, lately, but they're actually pretty rare, all things considered, and this is not one of them. If it were like Conner's, you'd know without my telling you, anyway."
He hands it back to Raven.
"So, what do you think of our travelling companions, so far?" he asks.
"Right, so if it makes it back, I'll give it back to the King, but I ain't going out of my way to rescue it," Raven says as she puts the sword away again.
"I'm still trying to figure out those Moonriders. I was thinking Sir Argalia was a scholar or something like that, until that talk about time, and the other two were his guards. Now I'm leaning more towards masters and a journeyman, maybe? I get the feeling they're letting him run until they need to step in, either way, but I can't say I've got much of a feel for the other two yet beyond that."
"Or they were clamming up, letting the boss walk through the minefield of that conversation. The one I've talked with extensively is Unsheathed, who also has that scholarly air about him. But not necessarily in the redheaded sense-- he might be a Sorcerer, he might just be widely read and studied, I'm not sure yet.
"Have you ever spent time in higher tech shadows? What Argalia said about not being a priest or a scholar struck me as similar to what warriors in tech shadows say about their weapons: 'I don't know how it works or how to make one, I just know the bullets go into the other guy.' I could almost hear Corwin or Random saying something just like it."
"Not much," Raven says. "The Vale ended up in a few places I'm betting would be 'higher tech,' just because folks were way too interested in the ship and were moving around on things that weren't animals, but I couldn't make heads or tails of more than that. Didn't really linger in any of 'em - too strange for most of the crew, even the ones where nobody was trying to kill us or take our ship." She shrugs. "Didn't really get a feel of Argalia as the leader, but that's more to do with thinking he was excited to talk about some of that than anything else. Sounds like Vigil may be the question mark, then? I don't really have a thought on that one beyond what I said."
"Yeah, Vigil doesn't talk much. In general, though, they're quite a bit more... civil than I expected. But then, a lot of what I had in the way of history was filtered through Brand." Brennan's expression goes beyond his perpetual scowl into something closer to bitterness and contempt. "You'd think I'd learn, at some point. I think everything the man ever said to me was designed either to reflect his own ego or to isolate me from ever seeking other sources of information."
"I got the kinds of boogeyman stories kids tell each other in Amber," Raven says. "And aye, they seem... just like normal folks, plus the time thing."
She hesitates, and then frowns. "Ain't presuming to know anything more than what you've said about how you got along with the man," she says carefully, "or to compare, but I know some of that 'you'd think I'd learn' thanks to Ma. Friend of mine told me once that it ain't easy to not trust the kin that raised you, and I won't ever say he's wrong."
"It's one thing to know something, up here, and another thing to know it down here," Brennan taps his forehead and his gut, respectively. "There's a certain point where even the best of us forget the source of received wisdom, until it jumps up and bites you. Does make me wonder how they're going to react when they find out about the Vialle gambit-- disbelief? Disapproval? Follow orders?"
Raven nods. "Aye, I know - that's the problem with that kind of thing. Easier to say than to deal with." She snorts. "Trust me, that I know. And aye, I'm wondering that too. Right now I'm leaning towards most of 'em following orders, but I ain't sure whose orders they're going to follow. With what they were saying when we talked about time and that name Ambrose found, I'm starting to think they've got the military folks and the scholar-priests as two different factions in Ghenesh. I'd figure they've got to work hand in hand to a point, but how far's that point?"
"The Speaker-to-the-Moon person?" Brennan asks. "Good point. Points to at least there being different institutions, while First points to there being different factions. I'm not at all sure whether Brand's dealings with this Speaker is going to help us or hurt us. Or even who among the Moonriders would even know about it other than the actual Speaker-- if it's even the same person now, as then. But those are good places to start looking for the thin cracks to start driving wedges into."
Raven nods. "Or to find allies, if only for long enough to make those cracks wider."
Brennan nods, lets the spell that kept their conversation private lapse into oblivion, and rides along in companionable silence for a bit.
Old campaigner and commander that he is, he does a near automatic assessment to see if anything has changed in ways he didn't expect... although this is a journey in far Shadow, so he wouldn't much blink if the local trees had changed to have broad blue-and-gold striped fronds, with pastel tachyraptors soaring over the horizon on distant thermals. But a head count to make sure no one got carried off by a tachyraptor is in order: One Family member, three Moonriders, seven Ruby Knights, one squire, one talking horse, a bunch of not talking horses, one fellow from the Baronesse's domain, and one knight from Carol's Court at Paris.
All present and accounted for, Commander.
Last modified: 16 July 2022