Celina eats and writes a few notes and seals them. Vere, Jerod, and her father, Corwin all get a small note that she is leaving to pursue clues in shadow regards Moire.
Merlin she tracks down in the palace.
Celina uses a page to find him and waits to be introduced to whatever Merlin is doing today.
Merlin is in the gardens working on sketches for a Trump. A place Trump, from the look of the art.
Celina smiles, "Hello again. I think I'm headed off on an adventure. You usually express an interest in me not wandering off alone. Is that because I'm unschooled or because I'm your favorite sister?"
"You are, so far as I know, my only sister," Merlin reminds Celina drily, "although given our father I seriously doubt we are the only children he has sired. You are leaving Paris? Where are you going?"
Celina pauses on the thought of an unknown sister and then nods with a smile. "I came to Paris for the Jewel and I think it is here. But I also hear there is a descent from Mera, perhaps nearby or not. So in shadow I can do some geometry, looking for Rebman family. If that leads me back to Paris, which I'm not expecting, then Cordelia is not the only child pinned down by the Monks."
Merlin frowns thoughtfully in a way that reminds Celina of Martin. "Let us take this in our father's manner and make things uncomplicated, if we can. What do we know of the cousin who says she is a child of a Rebman grandmother? Because sometimes the simplest answer is not wrong."
Celina isn't sure she's heard right for a moment. She takes another few beats to swallow her astonishment. "Oh. We don't know much since Delta didn't seem to know much. She does qualify as an unexpected Rebman coming out of the shadows. Lir's bones. That is an interesting direction."
Celina smiles again. "I have no idea where she is. I'd have to ask if she passed on to Xanadu or is with an elder. Was that what you were thinking? I wonder if Jerod would know if the collateral branch was... invited... to leave Rebma? Llewella did not seem to believe there were survivors. Mmmm."
"It is not a guarantee but a thought. Your mother seems to have left many secrets in her wake. This is one we might turn to our advantage even if Delta's grandmother is not the lost heir of Mera," Merlin suggests. He starts to gather up his supplies.
"Alice will know where Delta may be. Delta could have already been debriefed by Random. Let's go see." Celina waits for Merlin and chats with him as they walk the palace regards his Trump work.
Merlin is working on sketches for place Trumps of Paris, in the city and in the courtyards. Some of the sketches may become actual Trumps but others are just to give him a feel for the place. He hasn't discussed the location of a formal Paris Trump to their father yet, but he's been scouting likely locations and ones that wouldn't be ruined by having guards to keep an eye on arriving persons.
It doesn't take very long to find Alice, who reports that Delta has not arrived in Paris, and suggests that they contact someone in Xanadu to see if Delta is still there. Paris doesn't have a Trump booth the way Xanadu does, but Merlin has a variety of cards and they can always ask Corwin.
Celina thanks Alice. She withdraws with Merlin and shares with him that he's welcome to come to Xanadu with her, but she guesses that the Paris future Trumps are important things to move forward. She grins and promises she won't wander far from Xanadu. But she doesn't want to be handed any tasks from Random so she thinks she'll Trump Gerard.
Celina eyes her brother but pulls her deck out.
If Celina wants to go to Xanadu, Merlin will come with her. And keep Random at bay. This work is too important to be derailed.
Celina sorts out Gerard's card. She studies his stance, admiring how relaxed and solid he appears.
She wills the card to touch him and when he answers, she gives him her kindest smile and explains she is coming to Xanadu to research family.
Celina brings Merlin into the connection with a light hand. And once Gerard is ready Merlin goes through and Celina follows.
Once arrived, Celina curtseys. "I hope all is well with you and your family."
Corvis is not present in his quarters, where Merlin and Celina have arrived, so it's just Gerard and the two of them (and nearby pages). "Aye, all is well here; though I reckon you've seen Vere more recently than I have. Is your business in Paris sorted out for now? Nothing's on fire or owt?"
Merlin blinks owlishly at Gerard, whose bits of Islander patois are occasionally confusing to him.
Celina doesn't think Paris is sorted at all but has no desire to speak for Merlin or Vere on that subject.
"I think the monks are taking advantage still. We've bruised them. Vere warned his sister. I may return there quickly as Vere is a great asset in investigations. For the moment I have questions for Delta about her mother's family. Is she still about?"
Gerard frowns thoughtfully. "Aye, I think so. I'll send a page to find her and ask her to join us.”
Which he does.
Celina thanks him and verbally sketches a small exciting summary of kicking in doors with Vere at the Catacombs. She mentions collecting Cordelia as well for Gerard.
Delta kicks in no doors when she arrives, though she could if she put her mind and foot to it. Instead, she slips through right after a page has opened the door and announced her presence.
She offers no bowing or curtseys to the assorted royals, and quietly awaits the ending of Celina's tale.
Gerard gestures to Delta to join the group; there is a chair open where she can sit and see both Celina and Merlin. Merlin watches Delta with interest.
"Join us." Celina offers a smile. "We are fresh from Paris where it appears the Monks were also trying to box in other youngers."
When Delta settles in her own way, Celina asks, "Do you have what you need here? Have you seen King Random?"
Gerard is still frowning, as he has been since the story of freeing Cordelia came out, but he says nothing and waits for Delta to answer.
Delta moves to the indicated chair and sits cross-legged upon it. "Aye, I've met him, and others. It's been a sea of meetings, to be sure." Her usual hand-over-heart salute is followed by a, "Good day, kinsfolk. And -- are they all right, the other new ones? Blazes, those monks are tenacious."
Celina answers promptly, "So far, they are fine. We left several of our cousins still tracking monks in retreat." She adds, "Your Rebma family side seems to have skills at avoiding the Klybesians. Have you contacted them recently?"
Celina pauses to give Delta a say. She doesn't know Gerard well enough to guess what has bothered him.
"My Rebma family side...beyond you? I have not spoken with any of the others whose names I have been given in my questioning." She pauses, then adds, "If you mean my mother's kin, then no. I have been gathering questions for them, so I stand on sure footing when I do." Gerard's expression gets a brief look, but no long attention.
Gerard seems to have noticed that he's getting looks from different directions and straightens up, righting his expression.
Merlin asks, "Do you have a card of anyone in that part of your family?"
Delta says, "No. I just thought they were pretty drawings when I was young." On impulse, she slips the valuable deck out of an inner pocket of her leather jerkin. She fans the painted Trumps onto a nearby table with a card-shark's practiced motion. "These are all of them. See, if you like."
Celina lets Merlin have first look. She observes the portraits looking for resemblance to Moins or Moire. Celina also keeps an eye on Gerard for reactions. She doesn't exactly know how old he is, probably not as old as Llewella.
Celina looks for other Pattern symbols in the cards as well.
The first part of the set appears to be the standard "Dworkin" deck to Celina's eyes, featuring her father and her uncles and aunts, and grandfather Oberon and so on. Merlin and Gerard confirm this assumption. The fortunes, similarly, appear to be of the make that the elders have in their own decks; Gerard shows his deck has cards with similar markings.
There are perhaps a half dozen additional cards that aren't familiar to either Merlin or Gerard. All of these are place Trumps. They have the same back markings as the fortunes and the Dworkin Trumps, but they are in a different style, one that Merlin doesn't recognize. He puts his hand over them but doesn't touch them, and announces he thinks they are live.
Delta has seen these cards before. She isn't familiar with any of the locations, though one or more of them could be places in the Pearl Islands she doesn't know. (This is almost certainly what she's assumed all along.)
"Tales and stories," she murmurs to herself as the others peruse the cards. "I always thought those extra ones, those landscapes, those could be in the lands of my birth, but not any place that I've been. And I've been to many a place." She snorts a sudden laugh. "Not compared to any of you, but in my homelands, aye, I'm a fine, fine traveler."
She taps one image with her index finger even as Merlin's hand hovers. "We have no forests in the Pearl, not like the one here. Could be a land far beyond our ships' borders, though."
Celina admires the foreign place cards and sorts them into memory. "Compared to me, you may be an excellent guide to places. Any card of a place indicates a passion connection from the artist. Therefore, important in a particular time. It certainly may help you uncover your antecedents. Which has great value."
"It concerns me that I do not recognize the hand of the artist," Merlin says, frowning. "I believed I had seen enough of the Trumps of all those who could make them to be able to identify their works. It is clear that either Dworkin or Brand had other unknown students. I think any of the other artists in the family would have mentioned it to me."
Gerard nods. "Aye. I think an unknown Trump artist is worth mentioning to the King." He looks to Celina and Delta. "Does this mean you'll be leaving on a quest, the two--three--of you?"
Celina offers, "That would depend on Delta's wishes. She just got here through misadventure. The Amber Family is a lot to take in. I have reason to think, like myself, that Delta may be also connected to the Rebma family. While playing scavenger hunt in shadow isn't on my list of fun things, I do think uncovering Rebman history is. And a missing or a hidden relative could be in danger."
Celina smiles ironically at Delta.
Delta glances from person to person as each speaks. After a quick return of Celina's smile, she says, "The quest is what? The artist of these? Or the mystery of my grandmother? All of it?"
Before anyone can answer, she holds up a hand, palm outward. "And...I'd want assurances, eh?" This is aimed more at Celina than the men. "Should my grandmother have played some role in Huon's attack, I'd want say in how you all treat with her." It's clear suddenly what sort of Shadow she comes from as she adds, "No killing on sight, no execution without story or word, none of that. Huon is your -- our -- family; I understand why his jail is a soft one. But I don't know your ways well enough to know how you'd treat with accomplices who aren't kin."
Celina thinks that's insightful but since she doesn't know Gerard that well and Delta obviously hasn't gotten the 'no kill family' speech from Random, she looks pointedly at Gerard. She nods once.
"Delta, lass, I can't speak for everyone but I know, and I know they know, that Random's forbidden kinslaying, even for cause. And Celina's agreed to restitution in the case of Huon, so I reckon she'll agree to that for your grandma as well." Gerard looks to Celina for a follow-up there.
Celina licks her lips, "As the aggrieved throne, yes, I agree you do get a say. You won't understand yet that Huon planned to kill my entire city and any travelers in it to get what he wanted. Various family assisted him, to greater or lesser degree, and not knowing how far he would go. For the most part, the Family has reacted by saying Huon went too far. Random asked me to spare him. And as Prince Gerard has noted, the Family is now shaken enough to want an Extended Pax.
"Knowing more about the Artist of those place cards is a worthy question. My own interest is larger. The last queen of Rebma took the throne without leave of the previous queen. To hold the throne she worked some pledges and buried some rival voices. Moire was not kind and she did not look to Family approvals. If your gramma was banished from the Restless Sea for politics, I'd like to see if we can change that."
Delta gives Gerard a nod at his words before turning full attention to Rebma's Queen. "I do understand it, eh? I've just been with him, hearing his tale. I've no idea if that's what drove my grandmother into despair and..." She continues more slowly. "...exile. Gods below, was she actually exiled?" Celina gets a longer, more thoughtful look. "If you're willing to hear her tale, I'm willing to take you to her. If we can find our way from these places, if they're from my home."
Celina nods agreement.
She smirks then. "Don't suppose we can cram a ship through the cards? That'd sure make the journey easier."
"They are not big enough," Merlin says. "A larger painting could be made for such an attempt, but I could not make it from here. We are stuck by riding, or I suppose, sailing, if we want to go the Pearl Islands."
"About which," Gerard interjects. "Prince Martin has the Queen Vialle--that's the name of the ship, Merlin--and it would be a mercy to give him something to do that isn't coming back to Xanadu just now, I reckon. I could send you through to him and he could divert to your destination."
Celina shakes her head no.
Gerard tilts his head a little and twists his lips with a bit of a resigned look around the eyes.
"...how?" Delta can't help but ask. "Not through the cards, no, but ...how? Is this not a different..." She lifts both hands in an baffled sort of gesture. "I am told I could not sail or ride to my homeland, because this is a different world. How do you travel between worlds without the cards?"
As if her own words remind her, she gathers up her Trumps while waiting for an answer. She sorts them so the mystery place cards are at the top of the deck before tucking them away.
Celina says, "Moving to a world you've seen is an exercise in adding the right things and removing the clutter. You journey with a singular purpose. It comes from within and expresses through your passion."
Delta's brows draw down in a confused expression. "Even without walking your maze, I can do this?"
Celina eyes Delta squarely, "Martin may have said something about the journey being something Family can all do even before Maze, but the Maze strengthens and sharpens the heritage. It was some time ago I was mentored."
Merlin adds, "The gift is in us all, but the trial is what gives us control. Even then at first we know little of the skill. It is something we learn over time, just as the making of Trumps is for those who know that skill. As for travelling there--Celina and I would have to rely on your description, if nobody knows the place. Or I could try to make a Trump from your description, which might not be perfect but might get us close."
"I can't draw," Delta said, "but I can speak of a place, yes. The biggest island, Pearl herself, I can describe her main docks down to the floorboards and the vermin. Will that do? If you've got more coin than I do, we could get a boat and crew I trust and go exploring. After we talk to my grandmother." She fixes Celina with a steady gaze. "So we'll trust each other to watch each other's back? I'm willing, if you are." A thrum of excitement has entered her voice by now, despite her grandmother's woes and worries. "We'll need it - trust - if we're to go exploring."
Celina smiles wryly. "Frankly I am all about trust. I trust too far. Yes, we watch each other's backs. I want to tell you something else, though, there may be throne items in possession of Rebman outcasts that I am duty-bound to search for."
"Spoils of Huon's attack?" Delta asks, tilting her head. "Or from earlier days? All my grandmother gave me was the cards." She shrugs. "And a few bits of jewelry, but gems excite me little." From her tone, she's far less interested in this topic than the one of searching out new locations.
Gerard looks at Celina for an explanation as well.
Merlin is also clearly waiting, for all that he knows the answer.
Celina begins, "Rebma has a thriving craft of metals and gems, sometimes each trying to outdo the other. We also trade with shadows who do fine work by hand or magic.
I'd have to see your granddam's gifts before I knew whether they rose to the level of former Court regalia. There was a sister to Moire and Llewella long considered dead in Rebma. Her line would have a claim on the throne and might have Rebman treasure that would prove their antecedent."
Celina adds, "And, yes, it gets more complicated than that if the places these treasures rest have interacted for decades with the substance of shadow. In particular, that would interest Family as well as Rebma."
"I still don't know what the blazes Shadow means, but you can tell me on the way. So...to my grandmother first? We'll need to get you some local garb, we'll need coin -- and I'll need a cloak with a hood deep as a cave, if I'm not to be thrown in gaol - again - for deserting my berth when the Klybesians took me."
Another thought occurs to her; her brows draw down. "Would they have just taken me and let the ship be? How brutal are they? Because if I'm the last survivor of Lord Cravall's flagship, then that hood needs to be deep as night itself. Anything so I'm not recognized. We'll have to slip through somewhere empty."
Celina eyes Gerard, who might have another opinion but freely passes on Family Wisdom. "Father says 'the shadows lie for us'. The path will provide clothes, coin, and maybe you won't be recognized until it is a friend. I have the impressed that shadow is a friendly current that shapes to your skin. We fit together and sometimes our arrival completes something that needed done."
"Not entirely true if she's well known," Gerard says, "and especially since she's not got control of her gift yet. Delta's right: get a cloak. But under the circumstances that should be enough."
"In any case, we will need a very good sketch of your gram if we are to walk the right way. Do any of those cards hold a special memory for you of your gram?"
Merlin waits expectantly for this answer.
"None. They're faces I never knew until I came here, and places that are mysteries. But I can see her in my imaginings, clear as if she stood before me." She sounds confident of that fact. "Who can draw?"
"My brother is an amazing portrait artist," says Celina.
Delta nods once. "Is he here, or reachable? And -- " She gives the Queen an apologetic half-smile. "I don't recall which one's your brother, forgive me."
Celina gestures to the listening Merlin. She tries a thing Merlin may not have seen before: she mouths distinctly at Delta, 'the modest one'.
Without even seeing the mouthed words, Merlin blushes, which is very obvious on his pale skin. Gerard is trying not to laugh.
"I can make a sketch from your description. It may not last past its first use, but if it gets us in touch with your grandmother, it will be sufficient. But if she is not of the royal Amber blood, it might injure her if I were to try that," Merlin explains.
Gerard nods, adding, "Aye, that's happened to Solace, whom we thought was Eric's daughter, and it felled her with headaches. So let's not."
"If you have a good description of a place, though, I could make a sketch of that," Merlin continues. "It would not be a risk to anyone."
Delta's gaze slides to Merlin and the flush upon his face; the grin this inspires is both rueful and wide. "Ah. Maybe someday you'll draw me a chart, with all the kinfolk on it like little islands." She salutes him, hand over her heart.
"Let's not injure my grandmother, aye. I can describe --" She laughs. "-- my old trysting spot, from when I was a wild youth but still at home. It's near where she usually stays, and unless my secrets are out, no one should see us slip through."
Celina's emerald eyes glitter and dance at the mention of trysting. She's not sure Chaosi have such a word in Thari, but then Merlin has an excellent education.
Celina smiles, "That's a good plan. We should have food and drink as Merlin works. What clothes should we wear in the place you're taking us? They may have clothes here that will work."
Celina tries a poker face, "The King is a fashion guru."
"You can get clothes of good quality made here quickly," Gerard says, "but it's mostly necessary for you, Delta. The shadows will lie for Celina and Merlin. They will for you, as well, but not as reliably, since you've not taken the Pattern yet."
Delta lets out a soft snort at 'fashion guru' before saying, "I'll tell a page? That'll likely do it, they're magic themselves. While Merlin draws." She raises her eyebrows at him. "What do you need to prepare? I can talk anytime. At length, even."
To Celina she adds, "What do you want or need to know about my homeland? You're near to a fish, eh? Rebman that you are? That'll put you in good stead, especially if you've put to sea before on a sailing crew. But it's still probably different than the land you hail from."
Celina tilts her head, her listening to passion mode, "Tell me about the Art and Truth between women, among men, or between generations. I have not known my gram at all. Tell me about the dances there."
To answer this, Delta requires a chair. She finds one, curls up in it with her legs beneath her, and waves Celina toward another chair nearby. "Are art and truth the same? I don't know, I'm no philosopher. But I can tell you of the true dance of the Pearl." She raises her hand and rubs index finger and thumb together, in a gesture many earth residents would recognize. "Coin. Exchange. It's like this --"
She lifts both hands then, flat, palms up, like a scale. "You do a kindness to me? It's not a kindness, it's the beginning of a ...gods. Relationship? Exchange? You heal me, I remember and someday repay you. I give you a meal, you remember, and someday you make sure I don't hunger."
She drops her hands into her lap. "You hire me, I do a job, you pay me. If any of us fall short on that part of the dance, well. Consequences happen, to tilt the scale back to even. But! Even in a tale between only two people, there are at least three sides, eh? Who is aggrieved? Who is owed? That's the dance. That search for balance."
She pauses there, politely, to give a chance for questions.
"Aye," Gerard says, "makes sense to me. It's much the same in our family, except there's a pecking order to boot. Though that's broadly less important now that nobody's struggling for Dad's favor to get named heir," he clarifies.
Merlin is just drinking in all the information. "I was raised in Chaos," Merlin says. "It was very different even when they tried to teach me how things are in the Ordered realms." He sounds like a student who's worried that he's going to get poor marks on an examination he hasn't taken yet
Celina nods at Gerard's comments. It is at least the most succinct version of Amber Family values she's heard.
Celina adds, "Trade shells in the double-dozen seas talk of 'five sides to every story' as a negotiation truth. Since coming to Rebma, I haven't heard that at all. I think balance has been precarious under Moire. I hope some of the balance comes back while I sit the throne.
I try to follow the true dance of TaKhi which says the ocean can teach your body a path of wellness and worth. I suppose TaKhi scholars would call that philosophy also. It is a very real search for balance."
Celina asks, "What is your favorite memory of your Gram?"
The concept of 'wellness' seems to zoom right over Delta's head, given her blank look. She nods, though, at the renewed mention of 'balance.' "As long as you remember it, Queen -- even the most casual thing you say, if it implies that you're going to do something for someone, big or small? You're held to it, as strong as..." She frowns briefly, looking for the right word. "...as strong as oaths in old tales. You cannot be careless with even small words, yes?
"As for my grandmother -- " Delta's voice grows tender, a new tone for her around these strange new kinfolk. "She had skin between her fingers and toes, just a little bit. I used to call it her fins. Her fin-skin. When we swam together, she'd show off how fast they made her, compared to me. She could dive so deeply. Hold her breath for so long." She trails off, wistful.
Celina is charmed. "I cannot wait to meet her. How long has it been since you visited?"
"When the Klybesians took me, I was in the second month of a six-month voyage. So just before then, not that she was one for talking." She shakes her head in frustration. "I ...am not one to soak in pain when it happens. There's always a way, whether in bed or in a bottle or a card game or on the sea -- there's always a way to turn pain to something better. My grandmother drowns in it. Sorrow. And I am glad you come with me, because you know pain better than I do." It's frank, but her expression toward Celina holds apology in it as well. "I feel no glee in saying so. But it's true."
Celina pauses a breath, an inner voice differs with that bold comment. No. She doesn't understand how much joy and passion I have. There is no pain that can smother....
But Celina sees Khela's hands laced with her own and Swallows.
Celina doesn't look at Gerard or Merlin. This isn't the right time.
Celina smiles shyly at Delta. "You are extraordinary, Cousin. I will try to help your Gram. Thank you."
Delta grins. "I've always thought so. And -- " Her voice takes on a more formal tone. "Your help is appreciated. And I will help you locate your regalia." The words seem very carefully chosen. She reaches out to pat Celina's knee in a reassuring way before glancing at Merlin.
"Tell me when you wish me to start describing, so you can sketch. I admire you your talent."
"Thank you," Merlin says, sounding startled. He says to Gerard, "If we can send for materials, I can set up here, or we can find a different room with a balcony and good lighting if you'd prefer not to be disturbed. It will take some time."
Gerard shakes his head. "You can work here, on the balcony if you'd rather. I don't mind listening in. Celina, if you'd rather not, you can stay or go as you please."
Celina says she'll stay to watch her brother's work but more than that pleasure is a chance to gather her sense of the currents present in Delta, how she may handle in a gale or sudden squall.
She listens and absorbs the ocean within this granddaughter of a Rebman.
Delta seems happy to wait for the materials to be fetched, and can engage in small talk in the meantime. But when ready to describe, she does so as if she's just been holding the words back by sheer force. They tumble out of her in a delighted rush.
"Sand under our feet, eh? Sand with tufts of sharp-bladed grass now and again. I want us to appear in this hidden place, so picture two rocks set against each other like this. Both dun-colored, both smooth. Taller than me, both of them." She angles her hands to show the positions of the sheltering rocks. "The rock on the left has a seam in it that goes from..." She'll lean over Merlin's shoulder to correct or add, as needed. The detail she goes into is impressive; if asked, she mentions with a grin that she probably saw more of that spot as a very young woman than anywhere else. She snickers.
Celina is smiling. She sees how being less well behaved would have been a very good lesson for a future queen.
Gerard moves on his way, and basically back into his office; Merlin takes a seat on the balcony with his easel and paints to take advantage of the light.
Corvis comes by during the working and makes sure everyone has refreshments, but doesn't want to disturb Merlin's work much more than that.
It's obvious to Delta as she tells the story that Merlin either doesn't get or doesn't want to get the sexual innuendo around the place she's describing. It's not that he's judgemental about it. More that he's pretty clearly not interested in or particularly familiar with the subject. This is also obvious to Celina but it's old news to her.
Merlin makes several preliminary sketches and paintings with different materials, incorporating the corrections and additional descriptions Delta has made for him into subsequent sketches.
After he's worked for a couple of hours, the light has gotten too low for good painting, so he removes inside and commandeers a chamber for his work. He tells Celina and Delta the rest of his plan: he thinks it'll take him another four or five hours of close work with Delta to make a good preliminary set of works, and then another six to get a Trump sketch. He apologizes that it takes so long but since he has never been to the place, it just takes a long time and the sketch will be one-use. But once he's visited the Pearl Islands, he'll be able to make a new sketch or a permanent card much more quickly.
Celina thanks Merlin in a tone that would be a big hug if she didn't know his preference and his current focus.
Celina speaks to Delta plainly in front of Merlin, "You've done something special here. Few could communicate such passion and precision to make his Art be real this way.
"There is no imperative and you haven't said your Gram is in likely danger. She's carried her burden long and doesn't seem the kind to let the pain end her. We can grab sleep. Sometimes world jumping leads to great moments of action and surprise.
Celina adds, "Or I can sing you operas of Rebma while we wait."
Hopefully Merlin is reassured as Delta follows up not one of her cheeky phrases with anything directed at anyone in the room. Innuendo is as natural to her as breathing, but targeted innuendo is something else entirely -- at least in her eyes and her behavior. She's happy to work alongside him in whatever way he needs.
To Celina's praise she says, "I miss it, eh? Suppose it took me being yanked from my berth by mad monks to realize how fine it is to sit on the sands with a bottle, looking out over the water as the sun sets. There's no place like it." She glances at Merlin's work and adds, "Don't think I can sleep, sadly. Not while this is all taking shape. What's an opera?"
"A story or legend set to music and instruments. Different singers take roles. Often it is told in an engineered auditory but I know some parts and roles. I'm not professionally trained and I hum the cetacean parts. Especially if I cannot sleep." Celina nods.
"Singing and humming will not bother me, but I will need quite a bit of Delta's attention to complete the preliminary sketches," Merlin says.
Celina demurs of making any of the work harder with cultured music distractions. She will help Delta order new clothes if that helps.
"You'll sing opera for me sometime, I hope," says Delta to Celina with a wink. She's fine working in great detail with Merlin, chirpy and excited. At a break, she works with Celina to order that deeply hooded cloak, not to mention a few bibs and bobs for travel.
Merlin is supposed to be taking breaks but if Delta will permit, he'll sketch her a couple of times as well, just to get started on a future card for her. He will only do so with her explicit permission, though.
Probably too soon for Merlin's artistry to be completely done, she asks, "When do we go? Are you done yet?"
It has been several hours.
"I do need a break," Merlin says. "And to do something with my hands other than draw." He wiggles his fingers, then intertwines them and swings his wrists outward, producing a set of popping sounds. "After the break, you and my sister can go amuse yourselves elsewhere, if you like. I will be preparing the finished sketch. It will take the better part of the night, alas."
Celina stretches in a strange circular pattern that leaves her facing Merlin and Delta once again.
Celina offers to Delta, "The kitchen runs almost around the clock even though the pages do sleep. We can wander there or into town. Alas I am a poor guide for Xanadu as my visits have been hurried or sad. Maybe you don't need any company but your own? We can start fresh in the morning. I am at your service for Family time."
"I'm fine alone, but not fond of it," Delta admits. "I need no tour, but food, yes. Yes please." She arches a brow at Celina. "Think Xanadu keeps any Rebman foods -- or chefs who make them?" It's a clear 'show me!' request, leveled at her cousin with a smile.
Celina asks Merlin what they can bring him back from the kitchen.
Merlin doesn't care what he eats as long as it's something he can pick up with his hands and isn't too messy, thanks.
Then she gestures to the hall door and guides Delta through the palace.
"Alas, between our raw foods and the searing of protein we indulge, air cooking loses the subtle joys of Rebman foods. Everything gets over-prepared here. However, the Queen has a store of undersea drinks we can test. We shall see what changes may have reached the kitchen since my last visit. And I'm glad to compare the offerings to like kinds from my city."
When they arrive Celina tries to make friends of staff and gives the accounts of feasting in the seas.
The staff is not exactly overawed by having the Queen of Rebma in their midst (they are, after all, used to serving the King of Amber and Xanadu), but the unsettling of everything to do with Vialle has made its way into the kitchen. So the food preparers with experience of Rebman cuisine are happy to stand forward with the hope of pleasing the Queen and whichever members of the royal family they are asked to serve, and to use the Rebman foodstuffs in the royal larder.
Fish is prepared, cut into thin slices and served on seaweed and edible leaves. Some is seared lightly, some arrived smoked, and some has been prepared in various oils and sauces. Fruits and vegetables, mostly surfacer, but some from underwater, are placed in their midst or used as garnishes. There is salt tea and ginger water, but in surface-style cups.
The smoked-style fishes are similar to some that Delta has eaten in the past, though she's more used to eating smoked fish as a travel food, prepared so it would keep over time, than as a luxury. The presentation of this food is definitely considered for aesthetic purposes as well as taste.
Celina has never entered Xanadu or the palace hoping to awe workers so she considers the casual feast successful.
Random attracts passion people so the food is presented well and Celina lets the staff see her enjoy and overhear chat in that vein with Delta.
This, this is Food. Delta is not shy in her enjoyment, or in her partaking. At one point she asks Celina, "So, the places we come from, they're just...shadows, eh? Creations of family desires?" She tilts her head. "So who would have made the Pearl? And why does this taste so much like home? Just...prettier."
With that, she laughs and reaches forward to wrap seaweed around beautifully prepared fish. "This is over-prepared?" Clearly, this isn't a 'casual feast' in her eyes. This, hanging out in the kitchen eating the fruits of the sea, is perfection.
"Prettier. Fancy. But home foods, even for a girl from the double-dozen seas." Celina grins and eats while doing a calculation on what to say in front of Xanadu staff regards Family travels.
She tries her truth, even knowing there seems to be something more divine between the worlds of elders. "Pearl may be a found safe haven, not a made place at all. It is hard for me to think all the shadows are made of Us. Doubly hard to react to everyone I meet in shadows filling in some desire in my hearted travels. Our Elders learned from those who once were Lords of Chaos and back then the things that stayed findable were the things they wanted. Now I'm not sure we have the same skills or rules."
The staff notes the appreciation of the Queen and the Lady Delta and are clearly some combination of pleased and relieved. They withdraw from the dining area though they are still close by if needed.
Celina adds, "And by hearted travel I mean what you were talking about too. A place that feels like you return to find a part of yourself. Home."
"That's it," says Delta, with an energetic nod. "It'd be boring beyond measure if everything out in the world is just something we already know we want, eh? And there's enough wrong with the Pearl that I'd question my own taste if it came out of my thoughts."
She finishes cramming delicately cut fish into her mouth and groans. "Gods below, that was good." She wipes her mouth with an available napkin, then fixes Celina with another curious look. "All right. Chaos is a place? Explain?"
Celina chuckles. "I have not been there but Merlin has and many of my uncles. From what I hear, it is a somewhat stable place reinforced by the will of a strong leader of the Elder Blood. These type shadows are quite far from Amber I've been told. If you walk into one you are trespassing against the Lord who holds it. Together a bunch of these Lords tried to crush Amber and got King Oberon killed. They lost badly however."
This seems to make perfect sense to Delta. "That's the way of things. Don't go trespassing unless you plan to overthrow. And the King may have died, but his people kept his territory...then." Amber's history is byzantine, still. "Where I come from, that means he would go singing into the deep waters, proud at the end."
Celina nods. Such an insightful woman. The culture of Pearl would be very interesting to visit.
Did Corwin or Moire have pride in my stepping into Khela's shoes? Not by anything much said so far. Was Oberon a wiser man at the end? I hope so.
Celina grins, "I find that interesting. I'll ask Vere or Jerod when next we meet about Oberon's last days."
Celina stills. There was that very interesting conversation with Moins. Celina had not asked for a blessing but there was something like in it. She twines her fingers together.
"Aunt Fiona's mother is still alive and hails from Chaos. Be wise in what you ask of her. Queen Clarissa likes to take a hand with young people."
Fiona. Clarissa. Delta clocks the names before saying, "Clarissa is queen of ...chaos? Which is not so chaotic? Mysteries upon mysteries. She's kin, though?"
Celina flicks her fingers at her own forehead, "Ah, I really jumped ahead. Clarissa was one of Amber's queens. Her children with Oberon were Fiona, Bleys, and the Unraveler Brand. The Redheads descended of those three elders are some of my fav cousins. Conner is in my Rebma court."
Celina smiles, "I doubt there is anything like a queen of Chaos. Chaos isn't monolithic. But in Chaos, if you call yourself a Queen or Majestrix, another Chaos noble not using your Artful Title in your hearing is probably a warlike insult."
"Artful Title," Delta repeats, with the implied capital letters clearly audible. "That's a grand way to put it." She laughs before absently grabbing a napkin and wiping her plate clean, then whatever utensils she used. "I should pick one for myself eventually. Explorer -- Explora...trix? Is that how it's done?" She wipes her hands on her trousers after stacking the "clean" plate and utensils. "Should we get back to Merlin? I don't want him to draw the wrong rock after all that description I did."
Celina agrees and adds, "Xanadu titles come with tasks so be careful. Same for Rebma. I think you'll do fine."
And they rejoin Merlin hard at work.
Merlin has been hard at work on his sketch while Celina and Delta were gone. He is not working on the wrong rock, though Delta makes some additional corrections.
It takes several more hours of work for Merlin to get a piece that he and Delta are both happy with. In the meantime, the three of them have prepared supplies and made ready for the journey. When Merlin is also satisfied that it's complete and ready for use, they finish any last-minute preparations.
Last modified: 1 January 2023