Court is done. It has been a day of many emotions and evaluations. Celina waits until after the dinner hour to journey to see her Aunt Llewella.
The route to Llewella's chambers is meditative this time. Celina walks the Gallery of Heroes within the palace. She spends time with the art there examining the faces and absorbing the cultural memory of the pieces.
She spends no time with work that she knows was done decades after the individuals were dead. She wants the immediate art of the living. Celina feels the comfort of connecting with the faces of the past.
When she arrives at Llewella's chambers, she scratches at the entry.
Llewella's maid answers the door and leads her in to her mistress' parlor. "You know, as Queen, you need not knock. How may I serve your majesty?"
Celina puts a hand across her mouth to help smother a laugh at the idea of sashaying into any room in the palace without a care. The laugh slips through anyhow. She shakes her head at Llewella. "I'll consider your suggestion."
Celina makes herself comfortable and moves closer to Llewella. "So I want to make a proposal to you. In addition to everything else you already help with, I'd like tutoring in as many Pattern skills as I might get if I was free to wander the universe. Even given that we stand within the Pattern here and so Pattern cannot be manipulated in the travel sense of it, there must be a lot you can share of how such things are best done."
Celina goes on, "And in addition, I want to see Moins and hear her voice. I have an idea how to do that and it requires your assistance, probably against all tradition. So I'm here to talk you into it." Celina flutters her eyelashes at her aunt in a faux-seductive style.
Llewella pushes her hair back, behind her shoulders. "That's quite a proposal. I notice that all the benefit from it flows from me to you. I will, at no charge at all, offer the advice that your majesty should work on her saleswomanship."
She stands. "I can make no promises about the second part, but as a teacher of pattern tricks, you should understand that I am self-taught. As the saying goes, I am from a large family of only children. My nearest peers disliked me because my mother came between their mother and the King, Eric's lot disliked me because my existence complicated his wife's Rebman ambitions, and there were other factors at play as well.
"I can show you what I know, but I have no store of family lore."
Celina nods, "Your lore then is a hundred times more dear to me because it is not family lore... and because you are willing and because Rebma will be stronger for it." Celina faux-sighs, "Oh, pearls, there I go again with the weak saleswomanship. You are so right, I shall have to devise a stern program for myself."
Celina looks up directly into Llewella's eyes, "It shall go forward then as you wish, in times of your choosing, and we shall become as Sisters of Pattern. While it appears to others that I am an only child and so are you, we shall have a calling on each other that only sisters know. The Grace of the Throne will reward you as I can when I can, and as secretly as you may wish and I can manage.
"The future, Llewella, is all or nothing with me," Celina opens this wound for her aunt to see. Her breath and words ripple with the love for the City she shall defend forever. "I choose all in your case. Which actually explains the second part of what I shall ask of you. I promise I shall not think less of you if you refuse me this."
Celina pauses, not with trepidation, but in order to let Llewella give her a sign to go on in a matter most serious.
"You shall not think less of me if I refuse the first, I hope. I am old, and complex, and contrary, and I do things or do not do things for my own reasons, which I do not explain."
She lowers her head, "Ask the second part."
Celina came with the words arranged in her head, but still she nibbles her lip now. "Yes."
Celina does a small summary of the hours she has dedicated to the history, the archives, and the galleries of art from the Moins period. Then she goes on, "I have failed repeatedly to gather any mirror images of Moins. It is to gain a sense of Moins that I come to you. Pattern is the Binding of our place and our blood here and it is Her Pattern. There are some very moving works of Art; some excellent songs of tribute to her rule and beauty, but I desire a personal touch with Moins and you have that. It is my thought that you could make a sending of those memories. Either conjure them in a mirror, and let me see her alive from your memory, or more directly I could open my mind and let you in to mirror those memories in me. I do realize the potential for harm to me, but I accept the risk."
Llewella looks at Celina for a long moment, and then does something Celina has never seen her do before. She pulls a cigarette from a box on a table and lights it.
Celina watches each detail as if her aunt had just pulled a cobra from the tiny box.
"Never open your mind to her." She takes a long, slow draw on the cigarette, letting the mechanical tasks of smoking occupy a few seconds. "I suppose you have to know, so I'll have to come up with a way to show you. I don't trust mirrors where she’s involved, so I'm going to have to think of something.
"You're not going to be happy with what you see, but I suppose since you asked me, you surmised as much."
Celina sets aside the idea she needs to tell her aunt that the Queen does not yet deserve to be happy. She cannot help but cock her head with honest curiosity and nod. "I put this off a long time. Partly my respect for you. Partly a young, complex, contrary idea I needed to try and Order myself the lonely way. I regret neither of those decisions but I am dogged by a surfeit of surmise on this journey."
Celina takes a step into the dark, "Moins is not dead then? I have to admit I'm shocked. I had been convinced by my failures she was."
"Dead and Alive impose a binary on a situation that may be more like a spectrum, or even a three dimensional space.
"If you're asking if Moins can ever come back, I think she can't, not in any meaningful way. If you're asking if she's alive, that's more complicated." Llewella hesitates.
"What do you know about why Mirrors work for us?"
Celina finds the idea of Life, Death, and Chaos an intriguing base to a pyramid that includes Necessity as Will and Order as Time. "I believed Moins had made a sacrifice of some sort. I did not think she was coming back." Celina adds, "Mother told me that mirrors are not as they appear. They include volume and Order in compression. Time inside a mirror is slower? And we rework the Order and Volume by Will."
"Mother did something. Something beyond us, something beyond any of us, to try to damp down the lunacy of her sister in Tir-na N'ogth. It was like the creation of the Queen's High Way—a benison on us all. It ended and sealed the war of Genesh, but she never returned. And after that, mirrors spoke to us, and we could teach our children.
"What we do with Mirrors is a trick, or a side-effect. They're for fighting the Moonriders."
Celina says nothing for a long time. Her thoughts fly through many previous conversations. Sometimes, she has to stop, evaluate a lie or an assumption, and then begin another path through everything she's learned. "I only know the Moonriders from conversations others have shared."
Celina sets aside some questions for later, but asks, "You believe Moins put all of herself into a Blessing that sealed off Tir? So there are many side effects from that event, including the Power of Mirrors. I've heard stories about haunted mirrors and time slips. But with Cambina's death and the return of the Moonriders to oppose us, are we looking at a complete reversal of the Moins event? Perhaps Moins did not intend to return from her sacrifice. Then again, the Queen of Air and Darkness is not quite bound now either. So are mirrors traps for those who step through time?"
Llewella turns to her, her hair following a second later in the water. The look on her face is not a happy one. "I wish to Lir I knew. Right now, it's kind of a bluff, or maybe we're hoping Benedict figure it out and tell us just in time."
The princess pauses. "If Mother returns, there will be war, if I have to start it myself."
Celina swallows hard on the bloodless cut of those words. There are some pains just as powerful as the Pattern. "Tell me about this war, for I would be your ally if I can."
Llewella bites her lower lip, as if holding something back. "The most likely cause of the war will be if she possesses you and takes over your body. Mother ... had more Chaos in her than father and she was pitiless. Your mother was ... more willing to negotiate, and keep peace. There was a reason there was a binding to end the first war. Mother was not blameless. Nor was she easy to live with."
Well. So Moins was a bigger threat than the Dame of Tritons as far as Llewella was concerned. The Dame and Moire had kept their oaths. Moins lived by a more rapacious code.
Celina clears her throat. "Well. I'd not be much of an ally if that came to pass. So I object to it." Celina moves to Llewella and takes her hands as carefully as she would any wild creature. "I'm so sorry you have had to carry this so long by yourself. My scars do not compare to yours."
She looks directly at her while she rubs her thumbs along Llewella's beautiful fingers. "However, consider that this is a very practical Pattern we stand upon. Pitiless and Practical. If the Pattern is so like Moins, indeed it has no love of her. And as Moins sacrificed to bind Air and Darkness, she may have also tried to Eat that Pattern and it was too much Other for her. Or the two are still locked in combat. It all makes me think of Saeth and that this manifestation of Air and Darkness coming upon us now is not the Maker of Tir, but a severed Childe that has escaped a prison that holds her mother still. In which case Moins is bound as well. That fits things so much better."
Llewella doesn’t look convinced.
Celina chews her lips and than adds, "There is hope in this. Strange Hope, but more than I had before this conversation. Knowing Moins better explains some of the peculiar Order of the City. I feel Brennan should know that any Air and Darkness may be a Childe." But even as she says that she realizes Llewella has reasons the redheads are not confidants. Clarissa?
The Queen peers at Llewella, leaning closer, "I still think it is better for me to know Moins than not. If taking my body would be a key move of Her aggression. Having some first hand memories of Her from you would set my careful pickets against Her. Better I show the Pattern how much more Ordered I am as I woo it to our side." She adds with dark humor, "Also, it would help you better know your Queen, so that you could account just when to start the Llewella War."
"Don't you dare name it after me. I'm no Lir." Llewella's cigarette seems, improbably, to not be any shorter, for all that she's been smoking. Or perhaps it's a new one, replaced too smoothly to notice. "I need time to think. You've been warned, so I'm fine with going ahead. But I need to figure out how to make this work and be safe."
The princess looks up. "You should ask the archivists to tell you all they know about the interregnum between Moins and Moire. While it's true that Moire had control over the archives, she might not have purged that period too badly."
Celina looks away from the familiar watery swirls in the cigarette gases and nods at her Aunt. "I should. I shall. What parts of Rebma went 'grabby hands' while you and Moire worked out The Throne Compromise?"
She shakes her head. "I was too young. I was kept out, by Father. Moire did most of that work herself, convincing others that she was the Princess IN the castle and therefore the Queen OF the castle.
"Few people were saints, and many tried to better themselves. Moire punished the egregious, except where she promoted them."
"Of course," Celina nods, thinking it is only what Llewella has said of Moins. Pitiless. Practical. "Please come see me when you have resolved how you wish to proceed. I shall have another history breakfast with the senior archivists. Soon. Thank you again for your essential point of view." Celina knows Llewella will find a way to make this work because that is what she does so well.
With a tiny bow and a gentle smile, Celina works a graceful exit. She really thinks she likes Llewella. So darn flexible. She hopes to Lir she never sees that much tragedy.
And before she settles to other business, she finds a page on her way through the palace and sends notice to the Archives. The five senior archivists will join her for breakfast on the morrow. Songs and stories are the agenda.
Another page is sent to start the cascade of messages that will bring Lady Clarifee ap Ruadan, Lady of the Jeweled Kilts, to talk to her late tonight in secret. Time to check on whether Clarifee did insert an agent. Past time to fill her in on Klybesian Monks and put a target on them.
The pages depart, and the parties will meet her as expected.
Celina gathers three pages as she moves quickly from Court to her own rooms. She is late for her own lunch and requested Tomat join her. She wanted to change and hopes he is cautiously tardy so she can shed the formal gown.
She sorts messages from Court business and trade factions to Seaward. Makes a mental note to Trump the Regent of Amber tomorrow. Then handing off five messages to Page Cere, she adds, "These are all yes. Take them to Lord Angh."
She nods to the guards at her chamber doors and stops---- sorts the chits into two groups, she hands one off to Page Frillis. "These are nos. Take them to Lady Clarifee."
Celina smiles at the last page, Her current Favorite, "Page Gwedd, come and help me change. I have company for lunch." She pushes the heavy metal door aside, ordering the guards to close it again as she bulls the chamber water aside. Pulling Gwedd in her wake, she makes straight into her sleeping chamber and strips. "Please, the heptabeaded blue from Clency. And the Silhouette shroud. Thank you."
Celina gestures at the wall and forces a mirror to form from the water. She scowls at her hair. "I look as frigid as glass with this hair. I don't have time to change it." She grabs an oilstick from her dressing table and limns her arms and thighs with a nice pearly scented cedar.
Shortly then Gwedd holds and helps with the squibs on the short metal gown. Celina decides once she tries the shroud that it is too casual and will spoil the first half of the meeting with Tomat. She thanks Gwedd after handing it back to her.
"Now, Gwedd. Take your ease on the couch in here." Celina smiles at the sudden frozen expression on the girl's face. She adds, "When you see the little mirror on the wall vanish? Come into the parlor apologizing for falling asleep. I'll want the interruption, so I'll be ending the magic holding the water flat, so that is your cue."
She squeezes Gwedd's shoulder. "You should look flustered or stiffly poker faced, your choice. Are we good?"
The calculations whizzing behind Gwedd's eyes are wonderful to see. Celina waits.
"Of course, your majesty." Gwedd nods once, in flattering imitation of Celina's habit.
Celina slide steps away, closes the bedroom door, and awaits Tomat. She starts to fill a plate as the food has been sitting a while and she's really hungry. Pearls, some days she is nothing but hungry and sad.
Tomat appears exactly at the appointed hour, escorted by guards (human, not Triton, for he does not rank that honor). He has not quite become accustomed to the dress of Rebma. The surface men are more modest where their bodies are concerned than Rebmans, and, Celina may suppose, the Klybesians more modest than many surface-dwellers. The tight trousers that would give him freedom of movement are there, but he is still wearing a robe that covers all of his chest and arms, and inhibits his movements as he enters the room.
"Your Majesty," he says, and bows as deeply and quickly as the water permits. "Thank you for your kind invitation. How may I assist you?”
"I wanted to thank you for all you shared with Ossian and Silhouette," Celina says as she turns to him from the food. "I needed them to feel better about their tasks, to settle into the roles, and you were the best way to do that. I know it was awkward. You did very well in trying circumstances. Your counsel is excellent.
"Please, eat something and keep me company," She gestures to the copious food. She runs a look over his long robe. "I can put a robe on if you prefer that." She gestures off-hand at her glittering vest-gown that hangs to mid-thighs but hints everything beneath it.
It's not that Tomat isn't aware of Celina's state of (un)dress but he's not, er, overly aware of it, either. (And not just in the way easily detectable by too-tight Rebman trousers, either.) It's more that he's easily capable of paying attention to her eyes and mouth and not her body. His own nudity is uncomfortable, but hers apparently is not so much.
"Thank you," he says, and it's not clear which of the several things Celina has said that he's thanking her for. "It was my pleasure to assist Your Majesty." Tomat comes over to join her where the food is set up and takes some small amount of things that Celina considers "easy" food for surfacers. He's been in Rebma long enough to learn how to eat but not long enough to adapt much more than that.
Tomat waits for Celina to settle with her own plate before seating himself wherever he's supposed to be.
Celina lets him pick out which of the three places there are for him to sit. None of them are bad choices. And she's bet herself that he isn't going to pick the lounging three-seater. "So now it is my turn to do something for you. It seems to me that you would like a job and station to keep the brain sharp while Signy is away making the Universe a more interesting place."
She licks her fingers and swoops some colorful foods onto her plate before walking back to stand near to Tomat. "There are a number of positions that a foreigner might enjoy in our city. Some of them would be boring for you though." Celina enjoys his discipline and how he focuses on her eyes and mouth. He is such a brainy character.
"You might like something more challenging. Varying degrees of difficulty and perhaps some degree of social friction from our residents?" Celina puts a relatively clean finger to the edge of her plate. "One. I would apprentice you to the Archive where you could memorize as much of the history of Rebma as you can carry away."
She gently touches the plate with a second finger. "Two. I would apprentice you to the most wily and canny sorcerer of the city. Anything he taught you while you were here would be golden. To be fair, he might not like it, but I think someone who has given the Thumb bite to the Klybesian Monks deserves to learn as much as possible in order to defend that decision, long term." Celina nods at Tomat with a raised eyebrow and lets her eyes speak of her respect for her guest.
She touches the useful plate a third time. "Three. I need an heir sooner rather than later. I would tuck you into my bedchambers and we could have an exploration adventure."
Tomat's eyes bulge a little with shock at that last option. "Your majesty may not know that I was a celibate. I doubt I should satisfy your majesty's requirements in that area. You honor me greatly," and here he swallows, "but I would hate to return your hospitality by disappointing you.
"But if your majesty commands, I cannot but serve."
Celina listens closely and nods.
There's a long beat while he pauses. "In an ideal world I should love to learn more of sorcery, to exchange what I know with another of my brethren--and sistren--but in my heart I would learn of Rebma. Either in the archives or by serving your majesty as scribe or some other office. Such knowledge is precious and rare, and even though I will not sell or give it to the Klybesians, I would rather the risk of its loss be diminished by learning it myself."
"That is a worthy ambition. I think it can be arranged. I am meeting soon with the Archive. It will ripple tradition to have a man study with them, but they also serve. I shall invite you to the meeting."
"Thank you, your majesty," Tomat replies. He's still a little unnerved by that last question, Celina suspects.
Celina moves and sits facing him. "The other options could be for the future." Celina speaks more slowly, "It could be months or years before Signy returns, the shadows lend strange meaning to time. Do you love her, Tomat? I would think you know your heart and would not want her to leave without telling her, but I'm not privy to what has passed between you. She will look the same when she comes back."
Tomat nods slowly to some of what Celina is saying, but it's hard to be clear which part he's agreeing with. "I understand that she's like her mother, and perhaps her father, and holds what the Order thinks of as the secrets of perfection. That she's immortal unless killed, and unlikely to be killed." He pauses for a moment to find the next few words. "I am her loyal servant and would not try to bind her. I understand now that I can never be trusted by some in the royal family. I would not see her under suspicion more than she already is."
"Yet she is not under suspicion of the Queen of Rebma, and neither are you. And here you are for the time being. Some of the family may be wary of you elsewhere, but you could make a new start here," Celina says. "Perhaps 'bind' is not the right word, while 'loyal' is a good start. I'm pleased to see you have thought about it some. You are a thoughtful man."
Celina sets her plate down. "If you are putting aside those parts of the past that hold you back now, I can aid you again if I assist to remove your doubts about what you may satisfy. You are not afraid of learning new things. You've been celibate. You do not wish to offend me, of course. I appreciate your humility. On the other hand, the Archivists are teachers of many things. We know a cure for celibacy in Rebma." Celina has a twinkle in her eye.
Tomat is outright flushing now. "I am at your majesty's command in this matter, and if you advise me to improve my skills, I can but obey." He neck-bows to Celina, perhaps because he's having a hard time not being awkward. "Then I will go among the archivists, and learn what will serve your majesty well and, should you ask it of me, perform any research for the Crown or your person."
(He realises that he made the unintentional pun after it's out of his mouth; Celina can tell this because the flush darkens.)
"Tomat, I've made you uncomfortable. Please excuse me." Celina keeps her body language gender neutral. "Let me explain that I want Signy to be happy and have a better life than the strife with her father. If as I suspect, you might be part of that happiness, consideration for all your cooperation compels me to offer you knowledge that also benefits Signy, especially if it meets your goals. Perhaps the shorter version of my ideas is this, in making Rebma stronger, allowing for more joy in the Family is part of my goals." Celina adds, "Unless you are telling me you do not feel that way about Signy."
"I'm not--with all due respect, your majesty, I'm not denying that I care very deeply for Signy, but I understand that I am not an acceptable suitor for her. Nor do I have any reason to believe she sees me as more than one of her counsellors. I wouldn't presume--I was her father's hired man from the Order, you see. And Signy doesn't trust her father, even though I think she trusts me for the most part, and your family doesn't trust an ex-Order man--so I don't see any hope for any more than the friendship she and I already have. So your offer of teaching is gracious," Tomat says, his smile wavering a bit, "but I don't expect to put it to use. Not with her in any case."
Celina studies Tomat for several seconds. She approves he did not fall into the offer of bedroom privileges, for as she suspects, Signy is his obvious star. She finds his attitude about his suitability for recreation--- unimaginative. Men really should learn to think in three dimensions. "Well, then I'm interfering with your intentions and plans. I will leave things to your discretion, and if you decide differently at some point, you may seek me out. There's no reason this conversation ever goes further than our ears. My offer regards the Archives, is of course, still valid. I think you would enjoy the experience. Tomorrow then? I'll send a page for you when the Archivists are summoned. We are going to talk about the historic period in Rebma right after Moins perished."
Celina smiles.
It is with some gratitude that Tomat retreats from the subject of gratifying his hostess. He, too, smiles, though with far more nerves than Celina is wearing. "Your majesty is very gracious and kind. And generous. I will be pleased to research any matter that would suit your agenda, and will make myself available for this meeting." He does not say that he has nothing better to do, even though that is true in both the diplomatic and practical senses.
And after a while, when lunch is properly enjoyed and Celina has made enough small talk for Tomat to regain himself. She reminds him as she walks him to the door. "You can also make a point of becoming friends with Red Claws. I'd like your perspective on him. He seems to have a more practical view of his time in Rebma, but I don't want to trust only my local observers. I appreciate your time."
"I am your majesty's servant," Tomat replies. He bows, difficult but not impossible in the waters of Rebma. "Thank you." And, having been dismissed, he is on his way.
Celina wishes she had the luxury of Conner at her side. He'd certainly be just as interested in this as she is. And in thinking also of Jerod, she changes the venue from the Crystal Garden she usually sees the Archivist in to the Throne Room itself. Where better to speak of Moins and not-Moins?
The summons goes out to the Archive. All staff required to attend the Queen, first watch after mid day meal. She sends a page for Tomat and asks that he be early.
In the throne room waiting is herself on the Sapphire Throne and Orseas drifting large behind and above her. She has the Scepter in her lap. She is wearing nothing else but the Scepter. Her hair is braided around and around the crown of her head like a kraken tentacle and there are sapphires pinned there like dewy suckers.
The guards have instructions to pass thru her guests with shell trumpet blasts as if this were a full court session.
When Tomat arrives, she gives him moments to adjust to the drama, then assigns him to sit the lowest step below the throne on her right side. (If he has contrived some sort of oiled paper or note taking medium like wax tablets, she tells him to put them away.)
He does so.
When the Archivists arrive, she gestures to the mid and closer steps where only the Queen's favorites may sit.
The senior archivists come and arrange themselves according to station on the dais first, then the juniors lower, and the apprentices, lowest yet. There are many of the apprentices, and they surround Tomat, looking on him as something of an interloper, though not with extreme hostility. There's clearly a bit of wonder that a silly man has been allowed into what is obviously about an important meeting. Some, Celina guesses, think he is here because he is a gentleman of the chamber, as it were. The senior archivists are a bit more suspicious but a bit less concerned; it's not like a man could be doing anything important or relevant to their work, after all. (He's not an Amberite.)
Once they have settled themselves, Celina launches into her personal recollection of the Battle of the Foreign Prince. Telling of how Khela and allies arrived and relieved the City of Rebma from assault by a Outlander Army with Magics.
There is lots of Death and Destruction and plenty of foreshadowing. Perhaps a sliver of Destiny. No Dream. She never names Huon, that is for other stories. But Caine, Robin, Jerod, Conner, Brennan, Khela, herself, and of course, the absent Moire do figure in the recounting. She stops once the Foreign Prince is locked up. There is nothing of Pattern in her story.
Celina is well-observed by the archivists, and it's quite likely that they are incorporating her words into the tapestry of Rebman history.
Celina looks to the Archivists once she's done. "And now I'd like to hear all the accounts and histories from the last official acts of Queen Moins to the Crowning of Moire. I understand those stories are better than the one I just told. No one leaves until I have them all."
The oldest woman in the room bows. "Much of what we know is allegorical, or comes from secondary sources. Much of it contradicts itself and some of it only I am old enough to remember. Those songs have not been sung since I heard my mistress Archivist Calypso recite them to Prince Martin. It is possible that Senior Archivist Carina knew more, but the Lady of the Sandy Seafloor is not present." She pauses. "Your majesty may wish to allow us to send for food and drink, for we may not be able to finish your task if we do not have sustenance."
"I agree, food and drink will be arriving shortly, let us be comfortable and hale," Celina responds.
The language of the archives from this period is archaic, and there are often several versions of the same stories. The historians start with the great tales of the war against the Tritons, and how they broke the old peace and how Rebma's allies were slow to to answer the call, and how Rebma fought the minions of the Dragon by herself, despite the road and the promise of her allies. Each of her Sister Cities is detailed: Paris is lost, Tir-na n'Goth is mad, Amber fights the Ganeshi, and Rebma stands alone. Moins is amazing, a power of the Universe unto herself, and where she is, the foe fall. The song details traitors: families and lords who have made their own peace with the Dragon, living yoked lives subject to the whim of Chaos-spawn. Those names are unfamiliar to Celina, and the song suggests that that is the Queen's doing.
The Death of Moins is the next topic. It is a grim tale that focuses on her uncanny ability to win wars and the great loss her people suffer in her fall. The song suggests that her enemies rejoice at the news, and gather to attack, like sharks sensing blood. But her daughter is ready for the task and the enemies suffer a humiliating defeat on the seafloor plains, putting paid to their assaults for the campaign season.
The Princess is to be crowned, and the city is hopeful, in a way it had not been before the Stand of Princess Mera. Mera was making magical and spiritual preparations to become the Queen when something went awry and she was killed mysteriously.
Celina pays close attention when this unfamiliar name arrives. Mera.
The city returned to dread. The campaign season would start again in a few months, and they had no war leader. Princess Moire sent her sister Llewella to her father's castle for safety and began working to arrange a marriage of her daughter to King Oberon of Amber.
The city rallied behind her, and she was made Queen by a grateful people.
The main songs include battle songs which name which families sent troops to which battle and who fell where. It is detailed. What the archivist says after they finish is that there are fragments of other songs, which suggest a more complex history. Most of them are lost. The archivists share what they have, which are personal, and often need to have the characters pointed out. Moins is the Narwhale, Moire is a hammerhead. Lir is a flying fish.
Celina asks, "Mera is the...?" If there is no song with symbols of Mera, Celina just nods. Celina wonders aloud if there are ways to repair the fragments of the oral history.
Mera was a daughter of Moins, and elder to Moire, so the songs tell. Her songs are little remembered outside the archive because she died before achieving the mystery of the Queendom. The best way to repair those fragments is to ask those who were present. Which is not very many still living.
If Celina is watching Tomat, he has been listening and clearly retaining a lot, but not reacting much. Here, he frowns visibly.
Apparently there were a number of simultaneous deaths in the archivist corps not long after Moire came to power, so it's suspected that some archives are lost forever.
The songs are good and the Queen seems pleased. Celina again calls for food and drink. If it is obvious that the elders are tired, she may suggest a nap, in an adjoining chamber of the court. Celina will commend the staff for their scholarly duty.
Once everyone is rested, Celina reconvenes and asks if Avalon was an ally of Rebma during this time. She wishes to hear the fragments for the legends of Lir and anything further on Mera.
And Celina will also ask if there have been any messages to the Archives from the long absent Lady of the Sandy Seafloor.
There are no messages presently. Were Prince Jerod here, messages to him might be expected, the archivists explain gently. It is suggested that Prince Jerod may have had a hand in her removal lest there be any more unforeseen forgetting in the archives.
Everybody looks very serious about that.
There is some elaboration about the songs and stories of Mera from the archivists. The lack of detail about her death is deliberate, Celina intuits. A lack of detail that matches the lack of detail in Khela's death.
Celina looks into the faces of her Archivists, young and old. "Well, it seems to me, that sharing out the history of the Archive through all staff is a great way to discourage assassinations of the Archivists. If former rulers mandated that only certain tales could be shared, I rescind that mandate. I don't want to good reason to eliminate my elder or younger library staff. In fact, I'm going to assign a Triton to the Archive. You will not be able to command him, but he will be there specifically to protect my history staff. If anyone does not feel safe, or feels they are being followed or harassed, I want to hear about it. Any other suggestions about the integrity of our history?"
She does not look at Tomat.
Tomat, who is obediently waiting his turn and has been drinking in what he's been hearing with extreme interest, keeps his mouth shut.
"If your majesty were willing to offer to train more archivists," one of the juniors suggests, a bit nervously. She is, Celina thinks, one of the older juniors: not quite old enough to be a leader, but a woman who has spent long enough in the archive to have learned its ways.
Celina nods to young Lowri and looks at all their faces, "I am very willing to see more Archivists trained. I shall make it known there will be openings and training." Celina wants to stand up and go sit with them on the stairs. She wants to touch them and feel connected. But it is not time yet, so she gives them her heart instead. "Here is what must happen. Before we induct new Archivists, we must heal the old wounds in the Archive. There is nothing more valuable to exploration than remembering where you have walked and why you set out in the first place. Sadly, time previous to me has weakened our History. I want you remaining to be real sisters and healers of the History we have. I want you to share with each other. I want Rebma to share with you. I shall see you trained to be diplomats to the noble families of Rebma. There will be things I do not share with all of Rebma until I know the time is right. But the Archive shall be stronger and more protected and honored."
Celina looks to the Eldest, "When you have made strides to be a new fellowship, the new inductees will learn of this new path and less of the worldly machinations that have hurt you. The sooner the better."
Now she looks at Tomat. "This man, Tomat, is honored adviser to a Cousin. He too, is an Archivist from a long Tradition among the surface world." She looks back to her Archivists, mostly keeping her attention on the Eldest. "Learn from him of how secrets and histories are kept and protected in his former Order. And teach him of Rebma as a novice to your art. In particular, his former Tradition might have desires for knowledge from Rebma and I would have you learn all you can of the Signs of this Tradition so that you are wise if approached and may warn Me. This is very Important."
It has been clear that the archivists have been wondering what this man has been doing here during this discussion, and the news that he will be working among them, with them, sets them all atwitter, or at least the underwater equivalent.
Tomat looks to Celina for permission to rise and speak before they can say anything.
Celina points at him to gain the attention of the Archivists with the physical move and nods her head.
Tomat rises. "I am Tomat, formerly of the Klybesian Order, now adviser to Lady Signy, daughter of Deirdre. It is an honor to be offered a place among you. As Her Majesty has commanded, I will teach you of the lore of the Order, and of how they will seek knowledge from you, as you teach me of the lore of Rebma. I know it is unusual for a man to be sent to the archives, but there were no sisters in the archives where I was taught, so there will be much to learn for all of us. I am grateful for the opportunity to study with you." He bows, first to the elders above him, and then to the ladies below.
There isn't any muttering or commentary from the archivists, because they are well disciplined, but Celina doesn't need them to say anything. She can tell they are all aflutter anyway, even though they're waiting for Celina to speak.
"Understand," Celina turns her words directly to the Eldest Archivist, "that the Klybesians are considered Rebma's enemies until proven differently by this Court's Justice. It is a coup for Rebma to have insight into this coming confrontation, and Tomat is not under coercion to offer to train. I believe my archive has been marred by the previous politics played with history and look to not repeat those mistakes. If there is something you would have to enrich my desires, speak of it now."
Having given the Eldest a graceful chance to support young Lowri's request, or reach for her own short list of necessities. Celina gives the Eldest an honest encouraging smile.
"We serve at the pleasure of the Queen," the archivists, led by their seniors, pronounce in something like unison, a bit ragged with the first two words but falling together by the time the sentence ends, they have achieved a proper chorus.
Having heard the correct response, Tomat adds, "I serve at the pleasure of the Queen."
The Eldest adds, "In due time, we shall ask for more sisters to join us, Your Majesty." She may be willing to accept Tomat, but she's not willing to have any more men in the archives than she has to. "The confrontation you speak of may require special considerations. Once we have spoken with Archivist-Trainee Tomat, we will have a better idea of what support we will need to defend the archives."
"The Queen is pleased with that plan. Let us talk more often. Matters are already moving." Celina thanks the Eldest and invites them all to refresh and dine with her before they leave for other duties.
Celina will send a report of this change to her senior staffers and Llewella. She will also personally choose the Triton Nereus to be assigned as Watch Captain for the Archivists with additional advice from the senior Tritons of the watch as to how best to give the Library a zone of safety through every full day.
Then she will send for Lamell.
Lamell arrives in due (short) time and presents himself. "How may I serve the Sapphire today?"
Celina offers Lamell refreshments. "How much do you know about mirrorcraft, Lamell. And how much do you want to know?"
"I know what all sorcerers know: mirrors are powerful and dangerous; they are a kind of magic that runs parallel to sorcery but does not touch it; they are generally an art of the ladies of the Court. I'll spare the laundry list of legends but rumor has it they are useful for communication and spying and even passing over long distances if the mirrors are of the right quality.
"And of course I would like to learn more about them. All about them." Lamell smiles as if that's a given. "What, might I ask, is the price of the lessons?"
"Politics and prominence for you, I think, though only if things go very wrong," responds the Queen. "Discretion, which is why I'm talking to you, should make the price more reasonable. If Jerod were in touch, I would be talking to him, but I think he would approve me speaking to you about this. The price of lessons is holding the Queen's secrets and life in your hands."
Lamell has to think about that. After a moment, he asks Celina, "You do understand, Your Majesty, that I am closely associated with the previous regime through Prince Jerod, and that many will assume my loyalty is to Rilsa or Moire and not to you, and advise you accordingly?" The question of whether she believes in his loyalty, or how she plans to bind it beyond Prince Jerod's goodwill, is hovering just behind the one he asked.
"Rilsa is someone I respect. Jerod is someone I respect. Therefore, you are someone I respect," Celina says firmly. "It is not every man of Rebma that I would speak of mirrors to. I'd be worried I was setting him on a path to a quick death or an attrition of a thousand bites of fear or envy were it found out his gifts." Celina nods at Lamell once. "If your loyalty to Jerod or Rilsa is a higher importance to you, than we have had a nice chat and I hold no measure against your wishes. What many assume about you holds no sway with me, Lamell. What you assume about me intrigues me."
"I think you are the Queen of Rebma and a Princess of Amber, or Paris, these days, which amounts to the same thing. That makes you infinitely interesting, and infinitely dangerous." Lamell offers Celina a neck-bow. "I don't think that learning about mirrors, or Your Majesty's secrets, will place my loyalty to either Prince Jerod or his mother in danger, any more than my loyalty to one of them endangers my loyalty to the other.
"I also think it's very clever of you to bind a sorcerer of my caliber to your party in this way. Whether it proves to be wise is something neither of us will know until the tides have turned dozens of times." Another neck-bow makes this mild insolence a compliment.
"Let me suggest some things I believe in--- to return your kindness," Celina says. "First, I want you as an ally, not bound but perhaps by your choices. Second, I do not want harm to come to Rilsa or Jerod, as I may have suggested but want to be clearly understood, so you are right about that. Third, and perhaps least wisely, I do not want my mother killed by whatever schemes and prophecies she follows. I feel that there are those in Rebma who might act on Moire's behalf without understanding her motives and plans. And the shortest most direct of these would be harming my court."
Celina moves closer to Lamell, "And in this, I think you can help me most of all in return for what I share. So if I am not wise, you have fair reason to turn me down." She smiles at him, clearly she wants him to have time to consider.
Lamell notices her move, but does not react. He doesn't move back at all, but he does lower his voice slightly. It's still a respectable baritone, but a much quieter one than before. "Majesty, when you hear tales of the great wisdom and practical knowledge of magicians, know that that is the story told by old magicians--Men who were once so young and brash that they decided to learn how to take the universe apart for their own benefit, who took the shortcut to the only power they saw open to them in a world where they could be husbands or soldiers or perhaps useless to their families. Know that in their hearts all of these men at one time or another chose a shortcut to power that suited them. I am no different from my brethren, except that I am more successful, or perhaps do a better job promoting my skills.
"Thus, wisdom is not a thing for me to judge. I have seen the great waves wash over this city so often that I know how to ride them, and that is at best a skill."
Celina looks him in the eyes and lets him finish.
"I need no time to consider, for the reasons I just outlined. Let us say that I agree to the terms."
The queen nods once. "Walk with me."
She does not take his hand, but leads off and quits the throne room. They pass through the uncommon corridors and then deeper down into the palace. Celina is watchful that she sees familiar faces in the guards as she nears her destination. Finally she stops at a metal door and pauses the alarm spell she set on the lock. She notes it needs a refresh. The city eats sorcery. She swings the door in and enters waving Lamell forward.
Celina gestures to the broken glass floor and the shrouded mirror centered in this room. "This remaining mirror was crafted by my mother. Passage from here through it could threaten my Family" (she does not say which part of it), "and I think the mystery of the broken mirrors and the protection of the city from the whole mirror needs a crafty hand." She looks at Lamell. "And of course, it could be a route back into the palace. I don't want that to happen. This would be your duty. Warding the back door."
Lamell pulls out a piece resembling a jeweler's loupe and takes to examining it with an enthusiasm that suggests he's wanted to do this for quite some time. The examination provokes a lot of hmphs and mmms. "Not that I don't have a number of ideas of my own about how to go about this," he says as he continues his inspection, "but what in particular do you think I should be looking for, Your Majesty?"
Celina responds, "Did the accessory mirrors all break at once? Are there lingering traces of intent, blood, or sorcery here? Are there sorceries buried in the surviving mirror? Is the relationship of this room special to the palace? If the Queen is going to keep the surviving mirror active and usable, what is the sorcerous way to trap others who try to use it? And any traces of the last people to use this room, before Conner and I?"
Lamell has gone into work mode. His form of address remains the same, but his tone is distracted. "It will take some time to answer one of those questions, Your Majesty, never mind all of them. And if--" he turns to look at Celina "--the rumors of the royal gifts are true, I may not be able to answer them definitively. Which of those questions is most important? Presumably the one about trapping the back door; if so that may obliterate the traces of anyone who has tried to sneak in, if that's what you're looking for. Or anyone who's tried to sneak out."
"My curiosity is not worth the life of a single palace defender," Celina responds. "It is to make Rebma secure that I accepted the throne."
Disappointment tinges her next words, "Trap it so that only I and you may use it. We will deal with what else follows."
"I'll see what I can find out before I trap the mirror, Your Majesty." Which is the best hope Lamell seems to have for Celina, and he's aware it's not the answer she wanted. "Any method of trapping the mirror that excludes you from the trap will require either your participation or some sort of sympathetic token, such as hair or fingernails, woven into the spell. Does Your Majesty have a strong preference as to which method I use?"
"I always prefer participation," Celina nods once. "I'll give the guards orders and you can study as you like. I'll be prepared to assist you then when you say." Celina looks at the shrapnel patterns of shards on the floor. "And Lamell, in this instance your curiosity is not worth your life. Take what time you need to be very safe."
"I'll be careful, Your Majesty. If anything happens to me, tell Prince Jerod that this was my decision." Lamell turns back to Celina and gives her a neck-bow before returning to his work.
Celina wakes very early from a painful dream of lying in Khela's arms.
But there was something there. She works coils of TaKhi exercises for a while in her suite without any lights on. Once sufficiently relaxed, she sand scrubs and then meditates on the Pattern.
Yes. Something neglected. Celina dresses for the day and leaves for the Airy Chamber, where she sorts the Trump deck and studies Caine's card for some minutes.
He looked amused. Was he waiting for the call? Celina brings her will to bear and communes with the coolness there, so like still water. "Caine?"
"Who?"
"This is Queen Celina, do you have time to talk?"
Caine's face is crisp and his beard and hair are blowing slightly in the wind. "Of course," he says. "A moment..." He makes a gesture and might be walking somewhere. It's hard to see anything behind him, the trump seems to be focused solely on his face, perhaps even on his smile. "Sorry for the delay. Now, what can Amber do for Rebma?"
"Trade is picking up here," Celina responds, "and I was wondering if there were goods you needed, or things you would like from the Seaward. And generally checking in to assure you we are well." She does not put any emphasis on this that might suggest Amber is not what is was and requires assistance of this sort.
Caine frowns. "We do not yet prosper, but the restarting of our trade routes has helped those who are left. Our routes to Rebma are long and expensive, through Random and Corwin on the one hand, Tir on another, and through perfidious Gateway on the third.
"I am perfectly content to let our merchants and your shells determine what is profitable and what is not, holding the royal power at one remove from the risks and rewards of commerce.
"However, a shipment of the caviar that Dem Harga'rel used to save for me would not be unwelcome." His smile, as he says this, seems very precise.
"Can Amber help her sister city in some way? Dry clothes, perhaps?"
Celina finds this so witty on so many levels that she has to put a hand over her mouth as she laughs. She realizes it is not the same in Amber, and indeed here in the Airy Chamber, for laughing does not bubble and she does not need to conceal her mouth. She gathers herself and smooths the laugh into a royal smile, perhaps a bit large. "Dry clothes are welcome when I visit. Alas, they do wilt so when passed over to us."
Celina goes on, "We can provide caviar, I shall remark it to my Ladies and egg slippers will be set aside. It shall be sent with good medicines your people may want, or even fashions to pick up their spirits, a jeweled tanga or thirty. If you approve of how trade stands then we are also content here."
Celina provides, "I have not heard much of Gateway, but their Trade still runs here. Have they stopped trade with you or are they taxing it anew instead? I thought they might be stronger partners to Amber with recent events. If they Vex you, I would like to know of it."
Caine's face darkens, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun. "Gateway attempted to murder Marius and, with his blood, Rebma's pattern.
"The King has sent Jerod to deal with them. He should have warned you. If it goes badly, and it might, you may expect an influx of refugees from the Seaward. And you should at least be informed when the attack upon your city is answered by the family."
The light clears somewhat. "I shall mention his oversight to him."
Celina stares into the light, "I hope you allow my words were not meant to mislead you. I did hear that Jerod was on task to make Gateway a better place, but I do not know the status of that mission, so I was concerned you were seeing fallout from some Gateway event I had not heard about. Is Marius recuperating in Amber or Xanadu? This I have not been told."
He brightens. "Ah, I am pleased. I did not think his majesty would forget such a detail, especially when you were attacked by them as well. Marius is in Xanadu. All I know is that Jerod has finally shipped out and may even be in Gateway by now. I suspect that he will try peaceful methods and when they betray him, he will unleash unpeaceful methods.
"I can send a message to Marius, if you wish."
"Thank you. Please let him know he is welcome to visit Rebma, if this fits in with his duties." Celina folds her hands, considering a different subject, "The Klybesians are becoming more active. I'm sharing in case it has not reached your ear, but Jerod ran out of carrots with them. But his stick was big enough to close down the operation that was taking samples from Master Reid. Reid's body is returned to Xanadu. The Monks were involved in setting Marius up also, it appears. Ossian and Silhouette are now investigating where else the Cult of Monks may be hiding. I would wish you might assist them if they call at need."
Caine is his usual unreadable self. "I would do so even had you not called, Majesty. The King has informed me of the return of Reid. I think he intends to bury him in Amber, but he is having trouble finding close kin to confirm his decision with." Caine looks away for a moment. "Is there aught else? There are matters I need to take care of in Amber, and I cannot delay them indefinitely for the pleasure of your conversation."
"Thank you for the time," Celina responds sincerely. "Remember we are here if you need us."
[response, if any]
And Celina puts her hand over the image to gently close out the contact. She thinks for a moment, and then slowly slides Caine's card back into the middle of the deck. She puts the deck on the nearby glass table. After a moment, she realizes she is still staring at it as if waiting patiently for it to do acrobatic tricks.
But then again, amusements are so hard to come by in Rebma.
Celina gathers the cards up and seals them in their warded case. She ends the lights as she leaves for other business.
Last modified: 16 March 2016