Plans for Later To-Knight


Some time as the morning is sliding from early to middle, one of the pages of Castle Xanadu manages to find Edan. This particular page is heavily burdened with with a number of missives, letters, and notes-- a number approaching a dozen, it seems. One of those happens to be for Edan, as he zeroes in on him as soon as he is spotted. "Lord Edan," the page says, after a bow according to the emerging Xanadhavian protocol, "I bear a message from Sir Brennan. He did not bid me wait for reply, though I shall if you require it."

The contents of the letter are in Brennan's breezy phraseology, if not his actual hand. He must be juggling multiple events, much as everyone else is today:

Cousin Edan, or should I soon say, my Brother Knight Commander,

Congratulations on the new appointment. In the rush of news and events, I'm not sure if anyone has filled you in on one of the finer points of protocol for such situations: The new KC covers lunch for the established ones. And we know how important protocol is. The Iron-Grill Market comes highly recommended-- will you join me, today at Sext? I am fascinated to hear your plans for your Order, and to know if I can assist.

Brennan, KCOR.

The Iron-Grill market, if Edan chooses to join Brennan, is an open-air patio cafe shared by a number of permanent and semi-permanent vendors, and an informally shared staff of runners, the overall effect of which is something like a distributed tapas market. Brennan will be there at the appointed hour, drinking coffee in the shade of the sun.

Edan sniffs at the smell of coffee in the air as he walks in, and smiles at his cousin. "Brennan! A pleasure to see you again. I am glad you have provided me the excuse to try this place. Ah, when you said 'cover lunch', did you mean handfuls of gold, or more like saddlebags?"

Brennan rises to greet Edan as soon as he sees him.

"It's an evolving protocol," he says. "We'll figure it out as we go along. I took the liberty of ordering some preliminaries, but I'm told the Market conquers large appetites through a multitude of small dishes. Since I haven't eaten since Avalon, the notion has some appeal."

"I doubt I'll be the first, so let me be the most recent to congratulate you on the new appointment and the new Order. I've been mostly out of touch, so please-- tell me all about it!" he asks.

"Thank you," Edan says. "Where do I begin? There must always be a beginning. I suppose this story would start with Trumps. Specifically, Random's. Yes. You see, more than one of our Elders had heard of a sorcerous experiment with Space that I was undertaking. They said I needed to lay my hands on some Trumps, which did a better job." Edan shakes his head. "The point of the experiment was to see if it could be done, not replace the Family cards. Still, I sought out Random at Fiona's behest. He told me a story of a pack of Trumps that he lost before the war, while he was being chased by grackleflints. He asked me to go recover it."

Brennan nods in sympathy, "It's hard to distinguish between the Voice of Experience, and the Voice of Just Do It My Way. I'm guessing your father wasn't one of the consultees-- he's far more to the tolerant end of experimentation than most of our Aunts and Uncles." The moreso, he doesn't add, when it's our time wasted and he gets to pick up the benefits. It's not a bad research model, really, aside from the occasional newly grown island. "What was the experiment? This is the first I've heard of it."

"It has to do with my heritage, on my mother's side," Edan says. "The afriti of the Land of Peace can walk through fire; in other words, they can jump from one flame to the next in a manner similar to parting the veil. As the only one of my kind who can walk through shadow, I extended that ability through shadow as well. Set up a network of permanent magical fires in different shadows, and voila! Place trumps that only I can use. Or, if you prefer, a method of parting the veil that is near-instantaneous and doesn't do the same kind of damage to the involved shadows."

Brennan gives a thoughtful grunt to that, and thinks about it for a minute. "What makes you think you're not still damaging the shadows? And what makes you think it's secure? Have I anticipated most of the Elder objections to the idea? I'd take the second one a little more seriously," he adds. "The way you say it is almost phrased as a challenge."

"Those are good questions," Edan says. "I haven't made empirical measurements yet, but I haven't finished everything I've wanted to do. What I can say is that Parting the Veil is an assault on the senses of those who embrace Order. Walking through Fire doesn't feel the same.

"Security-wise, I've set wards and created guardians for each of the three locations in my little network, and the charms have to be maintained or they decay and vanish over time. Have I mentioned I'm the only one who can use it? It's based on Similarity and Space. If someone wanted to travel through the fire, it would be easier to figure out the destination and Part the Veil themselves than fight through my wards...and if they could do that, they wouldn't need the fire in the first place."

Brennan looks highly skeptical at this claim of security-by-personal-identity, but lets it pass. As interested as he is in the technique, it's not the main point.

He is curious about the whole thing, curious enough to listen to an answer, but not to let it derail the story of the new Order. "Regardless: Random lost a pack of Trumps to Grackleflints? Yes, I can see why he'd want them back, at that. Those things do seem to get around," he says. "Who were they working for?"

"Also a good question. It was Fiona, at the time when Brand was being held in the tower. I traveled to Emil, leader of the Brass Legion, to negotiate for their return. But the grackleflints who had the deck were waylaid by the Klybesians. They have the deck now."

Edan leans back. "To get the monks to give back what is ours, one must either give away something precious that they want...or convince them it is less trouble to do what we want. That requires an army. And thus, the Order was born."

"Ah, the Klybesians," Brennan says, quite sourly. "They also seem to get around. I can see the need to retrieve those cards. But I am confused: What makes an army the right tool of persuasion for a cross-Shadow religious cult? Is not an army predicated on the idea that the enemy can be made to stand their ground and give battle? Why would they not see you coming and simply disperse, go to ground, and wait a hundred years?"

Edan frowns as Brennan speaks, but then the frown disappears. "Ah. Forgive my choice of words. Instead of 'army', then, 'a force of men capable of dismantling a chapter house, fast enough to retain some element of surprise, with tactics available to meet and perhaps overcome the proto-sorcerors and magicians that will be part of the defense'." He smiles a little. " 'Army' is not so much of a mouthful. 'Order' fits better. Will some or most of the Klybesians try to disperse? Of course they will, if we are not fast enough. I intend to harry them in ways that I think they have not been harried in a long time. There will be clues, and prisoners. There will be a trail to the next place, and the next. Eventually, I will degrade things to a point where they will try to fight, or talk. I will be prepared for either eventuality. My demands are very simple."

"Don't mistake me, cousin," Brennan says with a glacially thin smile. "I hardly mean to discourage you from your goal. Quite the contrary, actually-- there are a great many people in the Family with reasons to see this group punished. How far do your goals and your writ extend? Are you simply trying to retrieve stolen property, or is that just the formal cause of war to exterminate them?"

"Random just wants his cards back," Edan says. "Beyond that, he has not encouraged me, or discouraged me, from taking any specific action. I think we all see the Klybesian Order as a clear and present danger to the safety of Amber and Xanadu. I have questions for them, and I intend to ask those questions very hard. I believe that once we go down this path, we will discover more questions that need answering." A pause. "I am as keen as any of us to have them answer for their actions. I will continue my course until the full deck is recovered, at which point I will reassess, or I am ordered to stand down. Until then, they will know that a Prince of Amber stood against them. There will be blood."

"Yes," Brennan says, with deceptive mildness. "Yes there will. I'd like to put the one that snatched my son to the question, if he's still alive.

"This is your command and your task, Edan, despite my personal investment in it. And that is perhaps all to the good. But in that light, I ask: What help can the Ruby give the Lamp?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Edan says, "for I am fighting against time."

His expression softens somewhat. "Let me explain what I want to do. Those knights that I have brought to the city from the Dar-es Salaam, they fought with me against the hamaaj. They have fought against magic and chaos. They beat back the Black Road. I trust them. But more time has passed than I realized; there were less of them than I had hoped, and civilization has dulled their edge.

"The Order of the Lamp will be the leaders and officers for the real army, forces gathering in the near-shadows outside Broceliande. But those riders and fighters, they will be little more than recruits. They will have to be separated and trained in cohorts as they arrive. They must become champion equestrians. They must learn to fight and move in varying amounts of magic and sorcery. They must learn to travel with me through Shadow. If I am successful, we will have a cavalry that specializes in that kind of fighting, one that will counter the Klybesians...and since they are based here, perhaps a counter for the Moonriders when they come.

"The Lamp needs practice. They need to drill, and drill again. They need equipment: long guns, crossbows, horses, tack, mortars, swords. If you have suppliers you trust that would not balk at the extra work, I need them. I need Knights of the Ruby that would be willing to train with, and against us. As soon as I can have them ready, we will have to ride."

"Yes, I share a similar problem," Brennan says. "And I intend to execute a similar solution.

"For the moment, the one common bond between the Knights of the Ruby is shared military service. In particular, at the Courts of Chaos. Even the newest addition, Sir Dignity, served there as my squire. That won't always be the case, of course. I have my own thoughts about the customs-- and customs of entry-- I wish to encourage. I do not, at the moment, intend them to become an army or the core of an army. I intend them to be a general collection of specialists, everything fro commandos to scholars to magicians to logisticians. Our collection of force multipliers. It's the best organization I can think of for an Order with three co-equal Knights-Commander. Four, if Jovian comes back to us."

If that structure also happens to follow Brennan's own philosophy of versatility, well, that's as it may be.

"That being the case," Brennan says, "I've already selected a number of them to come back with me to Avalon to augment the force I've fallen in with there. But our forces and needs are not the same." He's evidently used his time talking as time to think as well, because he gives a number of names with little hesitation: "Sir Crow, cavalry from a family with equestrian roots somewhere back in Shadow. You'll like him. Sir Hub, older fellow, built like a brick and just as steady. Sir Hale. I don't know him well, but he's one of Lilly's inductees, and I trust her judgment. I need to talk to Marius about the next two: Sir License. Good judge of the field, good overall strategist. If you need to split your force for training or for real, he's a good candidate. And Sir Monsun. Marius likes him. You might not. I'm not sure if I do, the mouthy little bastard, but he has a certain genius that he applies to breaking as many rules as he can. When you need to show your men the virtue of unconventional thinking, turn the Monsun loose." Brennan thinks that last one over, then adds, "If you don't think Monsun is appropriate for your force, I have someone else more conventional in mind. And I'll see what the status of Jovian's inductees is, too."

Then he adds, "There's a price, but I don't think you'll mind paying it: Grow my people, Cousin. Push them. Sharpen them. Teach them things they don't already know. Time permitting, if any of them show any aptitude for magic or sorcery, nurture it. I could do that last myself, but I want them to learn from someone who isn't me. Yes?"

Edan nods at intervals, memorizing the names. "I will contact them beginning tomorrow, and put them in touch with my captains," he says.

"As far as equipment and armaments go," he continues, "The King has graciously given the Lamp an infusion of gold to start us out. If money talks, we should be able to have a discussion with your suppliers about speed and quality and quantity. My engineers are retrieving the gift now. Slowly. Random dropped it into the bottom of the lagoon."

He spreads his hands, almost like an apology. "I have little choice but to build a sizeable force. I was told that the Klybesian Order has a mercenary army in their employ, led by one they call the Turcopolier. Eventually we will run into them."

Brennan hesitates a long moment, working his mind over something-- probably the lagoon-- before saying, "No. They'll go to you, not the other way around. They're not being asked, they're being told.

"For suppliers... no, I suppose Xanadu follows Amber in not exactly being a hub of manufacturing and armaments. Most of the forces I've raised were locally raised for local purposes, or close enough-- I wasn't exactly trying to be high profile in those days. I'd also he highly wary of gunpowder weapons for all the reasons everyone will already have told you. That said, my go-to location would probably be Reme. I haven't been there in a long time, so I have no specific contacts, but Reme is a land empire, and an old one at that. They have an imperial backbone for their military, but supplemented it with a vigorous policy of private, punitive expeditions when they felt the circumstances warranted it. It was a good way to move up from the moneyed class to the political class, and those content to remain the former did so by selling to the latter. The Remans might just be the most cynical people I've ever met," Brennan says. And coming from the son of Brand, that is not an empty statement.

"But they're sword, board and stirrup. Far on this side of the Tree, too, so they're not likely to have powder weapons. Not much change from generation to generation. For powder weapons..." he scratches his chin. "That's an awfully large amount of ground to cover. I don't think you want the stuff that's so advanced it's basically magic, so this suggestion is going to sound strange, but: Perhaps New Hong Vegas. It's a glitz-tech shadow, so they're going to try to sell you a load of stuff you probably don't want... but they will sell anything they can make to anyone who can pay. They will think you're crazy, but they will happily take your money and can probably set up a print run for long guns, cannons and possibly even artillery, as long as you supply the designs. But if anyone asks, I advised against it," Brennan says.

"What do we know about this Turcopolier? This is the first I've heard of it."

Edan notices he's reaching to scratch the back of his head, stops himself. "I've heard of New Hong Vegas, but never been there. The Land of Peace is at steam and gunpowder technology as well, but it is a longer trip. It might almost be worth it. And that other one, the one Corwin was at." He shakes his head.

"Turcopolier, yes. All I know is that he leads what army the Order commands. Just the name itself implies he commands light cavalry and mounted archers. His identity, and capabilities, are one of the questions I want to have answered from the Klybesians."

"Now I understand the need for an army," Brennan says.

"How does one lead an army for a group dispersed in Shadow?" The question comes fast. Fast enough that Brennan has had something on his mind close to this for some time.

"I don't think they are," Edan says. "Not very much. The more they disperse themselves through shadow, the less effective they are. Thus, they must be very mobile to make the hammer fall where needed. To get from place to place, they would need good working knowledge of natural shadow paths, or sorcery- something they apparently have in abundance- or, of course, Trumps and someone able to use them."

"Or a Family member," Brennan says.

"Aye," Edan says, softly, as if he were reluctant to bring up the possibility. He casually glances around before adding, "Have someone in mind?"

"By name, you mean? Someone we know?" Brennan is also cagey enough to keep his voice down. "No. We all pride ourselves on playing the long game, but this feels like something else. We've been surprised by long lost aunts and uncles more than once, and Benedict mentioned a few names, recently, so old even he wasn't certain they really existed. Another lost cousin in the scale of Artemis and her kin is possible, too."

Brennan hesitates uncharacteristically long over what he says next, probably less in deciding how to say it than deciding whether to say it at all.

"They kidnap children, too. In sufficient numbers to run an orphanage. That is where Brand found Ossian, after all."

"I did not know this," Edan says. Several things click in his head, from his expression. "I am sorry.

"My chief worry is that we will encounter this Turcopolier and it will be one of our elders," he continues. "If it is a new or long lost cousin...it is what it is. I will just have to decide then how to proceed."

"We only put it together recently," Brennan says. "On the one hand, it causes me to want to see if I can actually unmake a Shadow-- burn it right out of creation, as a warning. On the other hand, it's not hard imagine a world where Brand hadn't taken him out of there..." he trails off, at a rare unwillingness to follow a thought to its logical conclusion. "Something for the King to weigh in on, I suppose, but there's a reason I haven't dropped everything to turn my hand to this personally. Either way-- if it's another Huon it's still a Kingly matter."

Brennan returns to the business immediately at hand: "Do we have any leads on this Turcopolier? Finding a particular person in Shadow is a lot harder than finding an object."

Edan shakes his head in response. "You had it right, it was my plan. I will let them come to me. And to do that, I will have to make enough noise so that I get their attention. In the meantime, hopefully, I will gather some useful information about what I want and the organization at large."

"Unless we have some idea who or where this Turcopolier's force is-- and I obviously don't, it's the first I've heard of it-- I don't think there's much more you can do. Unless you gamble that the leader is definitely one of us and let the metaphysics attract him, which is more of a desperation ploy than a real gambit. I'm still struck by the contradictions of a group that on the one hand organizes like a cult or a spy network-- a resistance network, they'd probably say-- and an army," Brennan says.

"But leaving that aside, I guess the question is, what or where do they value enough that they can't ignore you kicking over garbage cans?"

"I don't know that," Edan says. "The only three solid leads I have on them was that shadow Folly and Martin were in, and Abford, and shadow with the Asir- the one with the doctor, and the one with the orphanage, and the lead that the Dey passed along to us."

"Abford is the Shadow with the orphanage, unless they are fronting more than one," Brennan says.

"'The Dey,'" Brennan asks. "Is this the Dey of Longtides that Marius mentioned during the last Mandatory Fun? If it is, that whole rambling conversation is the sum total of my knowledge. Longtides makes it sound like someone associated Rebma or a Shadow of it, but I'm not familiar with the title."

"It is- he is- a marid," Edan says. "I have never been to a place called Longtides, but a Dey is a ruling title. Just under a Sultan, and selected by the sultan and the populace. I don't know if it is an exaggeration, for that is common amongst the genii. Especially the afriti."

"An afrit," Brennan says. "One of your people? Was this near your homelands, then?"

"All of the elemental races are represented in the Land of Peace," Edan explains. "The afriti, of fire. The marids, of water. The djinn, of air. The secretive djao of earth. I am part-afrit. The Dey, his household was in the coastal city where I was raised as a child. But he is there no longer."

"I see," Brennan says. "This touches on something delicate: Ossian tells me that he came across the Klybesians in what he believes to be your homeland. He didn't call it the Land of Peace, but he mentioned a fire-wielding Sultan, followers of the Merciful One, an overthrown Amir of Gathium. I expect he could provide more details if pressed, but those are ones he mentioned to me."

Edan starts to say something, stops, tries again, and fails. He looks like he's quelled the impulse to shake Brennan to see if any other interesting data falls out.

"When I left," he said, "there was a treaty. No one had been overthrown. But considerable time has passed, as if the time stream has been affected. I wish one of my captains were here, they could confirm this one way or another."

That evidently wasn't the reaction Brennan thought he would get from that.

"I fear I have spoken callously about your home, Edan. I did not intend that. I offered the detail of the Amir because it seemed specific enough to pinpoint whether Ossian was actually in your home. What seemed germane to me was the Klybesian activity in that region."

Edan waves a hand. "No offense is taken. I thank you for telling me this. The news, it makes me very angry, that the Klybesians would dare infiltrate my home. My tribal brothers will feel the same. We will use this anger to our advantage."

Brennan nods his head at Edan's graciousness. "It would be worse not knowing," he says. "Ossian asked me recently whether there had been Klybesian activity in Uxmal, and of course I didn't know-- I left far too long ago and too ignorant to know anything useful. It's an uncomfortable feeling, wondering if I've been watched for that long. Use it to your advantage in destroying them, is all I ask."

"I shall do so," Edan says. "As for Uxmal, I hope the news is good. I hope it is still there, to be honest. I was not gentle, breaking out of Brand's tower with Grandmother."

"I've not had much news from Uxmal since Lilly came back from there... quite seriously injured. How did you-- and Grandmother?-- come to be trapped in Brand's tower, if I might ask?"

"Grandmother said she was training Ambrose, and offered to train us together," Edan says. "So we went to Uxmal, but Ambrose had already left the Shadow with his people. Left it to Chantico, but not before lacing the Magician's Pyramid with traps for her. Since her skill set and mine are so similar..." He leaves it at that. "Ambrose is very good with Space."

"Ah. I can imagine," Brennan says. "Ambrose must have spent considerable effort to set traps that would inconvenience Grandmother. I suppose I should have at least some fond memories of the place-- that's where she taught me the basic, too-- but..." he shrugs. "Still not sorry to see it go."

Brennan leans back and savors his drink, giving Edan a chance to redirect the conversation.

Edan smiles. "If I may ask, what have you been doing? You've not been around Amber or Xanadu, last I heard."

"Working for the Crown, with the added benefit of following a personal project," Brennan says.

"The Crown in question happens to be Celina's, hunting down Moire. As far as I'm aware, her last known location was in Paris, looking for Corwin's support against Khela, but she disappeared after Lucas' death. And we all know that since the War, the Faiella-Bionin reconfigured itself so the road to Amber led instead to Paris. I conjectured that she went to Paris not only because of her past relationship with Corwin, but because lacking power over Shadow she was limited in her choices.

"Based on several offhand comments from people like Benedict, I made a second conjecture-- that there was a second road out of Rebma, and that it probably led to Avalon, and worked out how to find it. It's a dicey thing, detecting something of Order that close to a Pattern, and in the end I had to rely to Conner's memories, but I was right. The Road doesn't stop at Rebma, it goes through Rebma.

"So I volunteered, and I went. Fletcher came also, for reasons of his own. Arriving in Avalon, I met with Benedict and explained my and Celina's concerns; The Moire, having failed to secure support in Paris, had fled to Avalon with the probable intent of raising a force to attack Rebma through a route she expected had been forgotten. He allowed that this was possible, and explained some events he had seen in Avalon, but was not convinced. Moreover, he wanted something from me: He was expecting an invasion," Brennan says this in the same way one says one is expecting heavy snowfalls, "and wanted a scout to uncover as much information and detail as possible.

"I of course agreed." Because One Does Not Refuse Benedict. "After considering the information Benedict had given me, I concluded it was at least plausible that Moire was manipulating the timing of that invasion to serve her own purposes, and struck out in a direction that would help me get the information Benedict wanted and, if I was right, prove Moire's involvement."

"So there is another road from Rebma to Avalon. And Moire is likely there. I assume the invasion in Avalon, that was local troops and not hers," Edan says. "Who would give up all their secrets throwing their own troops against Benedict? I hope, given this, that the way to Rebma from Avalon has been cut off to prevent her plans?"

"The road I took was the Faiella-Bionin," Brennan says. "What other route are you thinking of?

"For that matter, what are you thinking of when you propose cutting that route? If you mean actually severing it, I've thought about it, but I'm not sure it's possible. It's the Faiella-Bionin," Brennan says, emphasizing the capital letters. "It's not a lazy afternoon project, that much is certain, and I'm not sure what the results would be. If you mean just putting an army in front of it, that's in progress, although," his expression grows wolfish, "I'd rather put the army behind her, let her take the route, and find herself trapped between the hammer and the anvil."

"I didn't mean anything...metaphysical," Edan says. "I meant cut Moire's forces off from reaching Rebma. Using an army. Is that what you plan to do now? Are you still involved with Avalon?"

"It is what I was in the process of doing when your father found us and gave us the summons to the Mandatory Fun," Brennan says. Then, by way of explanation, "Conner and I. It turns out there may be another route between Rebma and Avalon not associated with Faiella-Bionin, and while I'm good, I can't cover both of them. Am I still involved in Avalon? Yes, barring some major event like Dara declaring war again. I don't much like losing a day, but if Benedict can attend, who am I to refuse?"

"Ah, Benedict." Edan suddenly finds his attention taken by something on his plate. Away from eye contact with Brennan. "I have never met him, even during our Mandatory meetings. I don't know what he would say to me, really, after Lilly was injured in our adventure."

"I couldn't say, obviously," Brennan says. "I can tell you he's aware of the injuries she sustained. I can tell you he's aware that she made a recovery. I can't tell you what he thinks or feels, because he's almost as hard to read as Corwin, sometimes." Brennan hesitates, taking time to put his thoughts into the correct words before adding, "And I can tell you something else we-- all of us-- take far too long to learn, something I fail to put into practice as much as any of us: Actions have consequences, cousin. But so does inaction. This is the nature of Dworkin's creation, and therefore this is our nature. There is no escaping that. All you have is a choice."

Edan is silent for a long moment. "That is...very good advice," he says. "Yes. I will seek him out, if he comes himself to the meeting. And you, if you are not at the celebration tonight, I will see you in the morning. Your people, I will work with them. We will see what they can do, neh?"

"Glad to have helped," Brennan says. "But aside from that, you might want to talk to Lilly, too, if you haven't already.

"And now I'm going to try to take my own advice as far as action and inaction are concerned: You should talk to Ossian and Regenlief. I have not seen it with my own eyes, but they have access to something that may aid you in your fight against the Klybesians. I expect that will come out at the Family Meeting, but if for some reason it does not, I want to make sure you know about it. And obviously," he says, with dramatic understatement, "Ossian and Regenlief have as great a reason to want the Klybesians destroyed as any of us."

Edan's eyebrows knit, thinking. "Who is Regenlief?"

Brennan looks more than mildly embarassed. "It weighs so heavily on my mind, I forget that the news has not spread. Regenlief is Ossian's mother. He found her. She is a Valkyrie, from Brita'a Asgard I believe, although they haven't met. That's not where I met her, though-- We met in a place called Summerless as I fought along the Black Road."

"I see," Edan says. "So a family reunion during the Family reunion. It is good to see long lost family." He pauses. "Usually. Well. Hopefully I will see you all tonight."

"Something like that," Brennan says. "It's been sixty, seventy years since we saw each other last, and this morning was the first time we had all been in the same room. She'll be present for the public events, but not the private Family-only gatherings, of course."

The lunch moves to small talk, which to warrior-sorcerers means the finer points of spellcasting and the logistics of an army in the field. Edan recounts both battles he's had against the Moonriders, and the appearance of their Queen.

"She... appeared?" Brennan asks. "That's not good. The elder generation are entirely too tight-lipped about why for my own comfort, but my understanding is that's not not good at all. I think most of my questions might be better delivered during the Family Council itself to see what shakes loose from the assembled crowd, but I have to ask this: This is her, yes?" Brennan hands over the increasingly well-worn picture of the Queen of Air and Darkness knighting someone. "Did you see this other figure, or do you recognize him?"

After Edan answers, Brennan explains briefly the origin of the image: His dream on the Plain of Towers, the timing of it before Cambina's death, and his subsequent discussion with Benedict.

Edan shakes his head almost before Brennan has passed the picture over. "I am sorry," he says with a rueful expression on his face. "I should have thought to look, but at the time the, ah, 'jig was up'. Father had left, I was trying to get out, the camp already knew there were invaders, and the air was already saturated with arcane energy so my Third eye was dazzled. I never did have a good look at the Queen."

Brennan shrugs, "No reason you should have thought to look for someone who appeared only in my dreams. But it was worth a shot. And you can bet I'll be passing this around at the Family conclave-- even if no one knows who he is, I think we need to be aware that he is someone. I have many missions in life, but one of them is not falling into the same traps of pride based secrecy. At least, no more than strictly necessary. Oh, and Benedict confirmed that the woman is the Queen of Tir, so we know that much. She'd appeared to various others and I'd seen their sketches as well, but I don't think she's appeared in anyone's dreams."

As the lunch and the meeting wind down, Brennan says, "It's been good to catch up with you, cousin. I'm looking forward to the ball tonight, and as I said, rest assured that every Ruby in Xanadu will be in attendance."

"I love a good crowd," Edan says. "I am happy to be part of the social event of the season- at least until we are upstaged by the big news." He smiles. "Always a pleasure, cousin Brennan. I will see you tonight."


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Last modified: 15 March 2017