Interview With Gerard


Vere arose early to begin the task of compiling and cross-referencing the list of returned, slain, and missing warriors of Amber, and while working let his hindbrain consider the problem of whether to arrive early at his father's office or not. On the one hand, it would give him a chance to speak with Gerard before Aisling arrived, and perhaps make his position on the overriding importance of Gerard's recovery clear. On the other hand, Gerard already knows his opinion on this matter, and arriving early would give Gerard a chance to give him direct orders on what he could or could not say during the meeting....

Gerard is waiting in his office at the appointed hour to meet Aisling. [I know Vere is planning to attend the meeting. Is Solange?]

As the layout of the castle and the use of the rooms has changed in the last few years, Aisling may need a page to help her find Gerard's office. She will have noticed that some of the stairways are laid over with boards and carpet set up as more-or-less permanent ramps so Gerard can get around in his wheelchair.

[Vere, Aisling and Solange, if she plans to attend, can write entrances and we'll run from there. If Vere and/or Solange plans to get there extra-early to talk with Gerard, we can run the conversations concurrently.]

The scant hours Aisling actually slept last night were spent shivering in nightmares... But breakfast was quite pleasant, and after all, today is yesterday's "tomorrow is another day". And some of the clothes that were delivered work; she likes this outfit with the linen side-ties bodice-blouse and the caramel skirt.... Competant-looking, but not so military. She told them it was ok to not bother about the streamers for now... She's just shifted them away to fit into human clothes. Her hair gained a faint wash of red-orange from this, but it's still lavender, and doubtless most wouldn't notice the difference.

Aisling's perfectly happy to employ a page to show her to Gerard's office, and arrives on time. "Good morning, Prince Gerard," she says to him with restrained brightness and a quick graceful bow.

Vere enters mere seconds after Aisling, almost as though he had been waiting for her arrival. He has his long hair bound back with a black leather strip tied in an elaborate Celtic knot, and is wearing a blue tunic over gray breeches, and a black leather belt. This morning he has foregone his normal leather boots for a comfortable pair of slippers, and he appears much more relaxed than he was last night in the crowd of new relatives.

As he enters he nods quietly to Gerard and Aisling, and moves to hold a chair for Aisling in front of Gerard's desk.

Aisling takes the seat with poise, though perhaps Vere can tell she feels Gerard is bulky enough, and wishes the bulk of the desk wasn't between them in addition to that.

"Good morning, Aisling, Vere," Gerard says, putting aside some paperwork.

"Father," Vere replies.

"Vere," Aisling says with a nod and a slight smile.

"Dame Aisling, I wish you a good morning." Vere smiles with sincere pleasure.

He gives Vere a look that's hard to decipher. "Shall I call for some tea or shall we speak directly of healing and such? If you think you might want tea, we should call for it first, because I suspect we'll be speaking of things that might kill your appetite."

Aisling gives him a look sparkling with suppressed merriment, 'what he doesn't know'-based... And very quickly it slides down to sober and she drops her eyes and says, "Tea would be quite kind, thank you."

If Vere noticed Gerard's look he doesn't give any sign of it. "I'll send for the tea, Father," he says, and rings for a servant.

He'll stand quietly near the door until the servant arrives, then makes the request in a low voice, and then moves to a chair that allows Aisling to see both Gerard and him without having to turn her head.

This surprises a smiles out of Aisling for him; somewhere in there she was expecting him to hover all through this, too.

Tea arrives after a few minutes and everyone may have tea if they like.

Vere will pour for everyone, and will politely inquire as to how Aisling prefers her tea. Naturally, he prepares Gerard's tea exactly the way his father prefers it.

Gerard takes his tea with a little honey, for those who care about such things. The small teacup looks somehow incongruous in his hands.

Aisling takes her tea with a little honey as well.

Aisling's certainly not going to spend the minutes waiting for, and drinking, tea looking at the woodcuts of ships on the walls. She makes pleasant conversation, "Were there good times in the last five years? I have heard much of the struggles and trials..."

Vere smiles, "We have all been concentrating on the problems," he says, "But there have certainly been good times mixed in as well. While Father would be a more impartial judge than I, it seems to me that on the whole the Family worked together very well under very difficult circumstances. Cousin Folly was a major factor in this, in my opinion, she is an amazing young woman with a true concern for others."

Aisling is nodding and smiling. Clearly she has already had her own delightful encounters with Folly.

"However, everyone contributed." [Vere] pauses, and then adds, "In their own fashion and according to their own interests, of course."

Gerard makes noncommittal small talk about various things that happened over the course of the five and a half years he was in charge. Vere notices that his father omits some of the more difficult and sensitive topics (e.g., Wind Grove).

Aisling's perfectly happy to natter about some family picnic or other happy nonsensitive memory that might get offered.

Vere joins in with a description of Lucas and Solace's wedding, and some amusing anecdotes about their daughter, Hope. He seems quite at ease, and has a rather surprising, but dry, sense of humor.

After everyone has finished their tea, Gerard says to Aisling: "You suggested last night that you have some form of healing that you think might restore the use of my legs. It's a gracious offer. I've had this injury a long time and it will be difficult to heal. I have a good idea of what it will take to let me walk again. If you told me some details of what you can do, I could tell how much your kind of healing would help me."

Vere listens quietly without comment. He sips his tea, and does not allow any emotion to show on his face as he waits for Aisling's response.

"I have in the past turned most of my attention to gross injuries, with speed knitting together bones, gashes deep and shallow... This was in a main part due to my environment, as it was a war, and I was by necessity a fly-by-night operator. One of the jobs I am most proud of involved rescuing a man who had been stabbed up through here" she gestures from a point above the hip to somewhere below the breastbone, "nicking the spleen and piercing the diaphragm, and then had been trampled by one of those clawed horse-things. The main bit of interest in this is that when he went feverish from peritonitis after the initial excitement was over, I was able to bring him through it... I believe I can help in managing pain, as well; help with a kind of 'body moving to rightness' generality rather than merely the specifics I have studied, for the body wishes to become itself again...

"As I said yester-even, I believe what I do is lend my own skills. It is harder for men than for birds, and among men, it is harder for those with ...great strength of character. I do not think I could offer you quick healing, but I think I could offer you quicker..."

She's trying her best to be open about this, meeting his eyes, though it is odd to try to speak honestly of this which she has never really spoken of to anyone... Her left hand is spread on her knee, the crippled right drawn in near to her.

Vere listens intently without comment, but it's clear he's focusing more of his attention upon Gerard than Aisling at this point.

"Have you ever healed badly broken bones? What do you know of how bones work?" Gerard asks.

Aisling nods without hesitation, with almost a relieved air. "Oh, yes. The man I mentioned, in the trampling, picked up rib damage and a shattered lower leg bone... Now he doesn't even limp. And of course, as a shifter, I have a truly visceral feel for how it all hangs together. I've done a lot with healing bones."

Vere nods thoughtfully.

Gerard picks up the teacup again. His large fingers wrap around it; it looks very small in his hand.

It's an everyday cup, but even the everyday cups here in Amber are made of exquisite bone china. Gerard drains the last drop of tea out of it, slurping slightly, and then slams it down on the table. There's a crash, and the cup shatters into thousands of tiny fragments, each no bigger than the moon of a child's thumbnail.

Vere does not react at all when Gerard destroys the cup. It's unclear whether his control is really that good, or he knows his father well enough to have predicted what he was about to do. Or both.

Aisling jumps, literally, there's several inches of air between her bottom and the seat, and her hand grips the arm of the chair with a bony clutch so that she doesn't land with an ungraceful bang, and she's very pale and her eyes are huge, and it seems that she was more on edge than she was letting on.

There's an echo-y silence as Gerard brushes his hands together to get rid of the shards.

"That," he says, "is what the damage to my legs is like. The bones in my hips, too. Not in one place, through the whole bone. They're not quite dead yet, those bones, but they're dying. Have been for five years. They're not replacing the marrow properly. Have you any experience with something like that?"

She's still gripping the arm of the chair with a deathgrip, and anything other than the fine walnut might be left with impressions of her fingernails, but her focus on him is complete, and she's looking into his eyes, and after a bare beat she says unwaveringly, "Not yet."

For a brief moment a look of admiration flickers across Vere's face, to be instantly replaced by a carefully neutral expression.

"I've thought a lot on my legs these last five years. There was a time when I thought I might have to shatter them all over again to heal them. If we found someone who could make those repairs to my legs, d'ye think you could keep me from bleeding to death while they did it?" Gerard asks.

Aisling's not getting any less pale. She closes her eyes for a moment, then looking into his eyes again, "I would not hazard your life on it until I'd had some time to see what I could do-- what you'd allow me to do."

Vere waits for Gerard's response, still not allowing any of his own thoughts to show on his face or in his body language.

"The other thought I had was to amputate the legs and regrow them. D'ye think you've skill and strength enough for that?" Gerard asks.

Aisling looks at him for the space of several breaths, and then looks down at her hand, willing it to unclamp, and she brings it across to clasp her forearm and looks up to Gerard and inhales and says, "That would still leave the problem of your hips. Why don't you let me see what we can do together there, and then we can decide on courses of future action?"

Only the most perceptive of individuals, or those who knew him very well indeed, would realize that something about this exchange amused Vere. To anyone else he would appear to be watching Gerard and Aisling with detached interest.

"I have another question for ye," says Gerard. "Why do you offer me healing and none to Benedict, who is closer kin than I? For that matter, why do ye not apply your skills to your own injury?"

Aisling flushes a bit, and looks down at her hands. Softly she says, "I have exchanged no more than ten non-war-related sentences with Benedict in my life. Among those was a suggestion that perhaps I could help replace what an ancestress of mine is rumored to have taken. He said," looking off into the distance, as Benedict, "'It has been inconvenient.'" Looking down again, "He has not spoken with me. As for myself, the two days since I lost this have been intensely busy, but I suspect that were it laid bare it would be coming along well."

She twitch-shrugs a shoulder, "You are none of you really kin to me."

Vere lifts an inquisitive eyebrow at this statement.

"Really?" says Gerard, very conversationally. Aisling can see that Vere comes by it honestly.

That didn't come out like she meant it to, she thinks with a kind of desperate regret. She glances quickly up at Vere, who could have turned into a cabbage since Gerard smashed the teacup for all she knows, and what she sees does not reassure her. Her bank of "looking Gerard in the eyes" courage is failing her, and so she returns her attention to her lap, her hand kneading her upper arm, her legs tightly crossed at the ankle, but her Chaos-trained voice still clear, "It has been generations since any of my line have known any of yours in any but passing acquaintance," she says, and then there's a pause in which her brows draw together as she realizes that's not quite accurate... But it's true the way she means it. She swallows, eyes closed, chin nearly on her chest now, voice nearly whispery, "If I share any traits with you, it is only because I have chosen to do so." Drawing in a breath, "I ask only that I be judged by my actions."

Vere puts warmth and reassurance into his voice as he says, "That is all any member of this Family can ask, and a courtesy I have extended to all of you, as much for my own sanity as for any other reason. If I were to wait for every blood relative to prove themselves to me, and to regard every one of you with suspicion and mistrust, I would never get to sleep at night for worrying about potential plots." He pauses and regards her for a moment before continuing, "Please do not take my manner amiss. I value self-control and rationality in myself, and this is sometimes interpreted as lack of interest or disdain. I assure you this is not the case."

Aisling glances up at him once during this, and then looks to him again when he stops, with a wan smile meant in turn to be reassuring, "Your manner today does not distress me." and then looking faintly heartsick once more, "But I am not one of your blood relatives, save for an accidental speck imparted to me, on which I thought only in the last few years. I am a different kind of creature from you, like the hare from the rabbit. I do not have the strength to deny the kindnesses your family grants me for this forgotten tinge of blood, but I do not feel it is quite honest that I accept them. And I am trying to be honest." She looks at Gerard, "Judge me by this. Full knowing, I nearly died twice in the past three days for your family and your countrymen, and one of those days I spent unconscious. I will swear that I will do you no harm..."

Vere nods thoughtfully as she speaks, but looks to Gerard for his response.

Gerard has arched an eyebrow somewhere in the middle of all this talk between his son and Aisling. It's not Julianic, but he is Rilga's son, and the resemblance shows.

"Have ye no thought of what my father might have sought to gain by offering you the mantle of kinship with his sons and daughters?" he asks.

Vere sits back in his chair, considering this, with something of a "Why didn't I think of that before?" expression upon his face.

Gerard turns that unJulianic arched eyebrow towards his son for a moment as if to say something, but whatever communion passes between father and son is not obvious to Aisling, except that Gerard has some satisfaction in the matter.

He turns his attention back to his niece some generations removed. "You say you don't feel honest in accepting the boon of kinship and kind treatment from us. My father did things for his own reasons, but nary a one without three or four different motives for the doing. Why do you think he might have asked--or compelled--you to become one of our kin instead of-- other options he might have had for dealing with ye?"

"Never compelled. Allowed. Agreed." Aisling quickly suggests.

Gerard adds, "This is a question you may wish to think on and return tomorrow to answer."

Aisling thinks for a moment or two. "If you would have me put a name to Oberon's choices," she says carefully, "I might suggest that he suspected that I would bring more good than harm to his family. And that, at the time, he was much bemused by thoughts of repair. As for kinship, he seemed... given to sentiment and reflection." Aisling reflects a moment herself with a slight unhappy frown. "It is the work of days and years to come to half an understanding of him, though."

Gerard looks as if he agrees with that last bit, at least.

She looks up, summoning a tinge of brightness, "But his reasons are not my reasons. I am not asking that you treat me unkindly," and there's a suppressed sparkle of humor to her eyes, "merely suggesting that dealing with me as a distant member of Prince Benedict's line is likely to be far from the mark. But as a Knight Commander, have you-- either of you-- other questions that I can endeavour to answer to the ease of your hearts?" she looks from Vere to Gerard, hoping that they can just get much that is most troublesome out onto the table to be dealt with.

Vere pauses before speaking, looking towards his father for either permission to speak or a sign that he should wait and allow Gerard to proceed.

Gerard nods slightly, indicating that Vere should proceed.

Vere returns the nod, and regards Aisling thoughtfully for a few moments before speaking. "I am certain that you realize that there will be many questions asked about your history, and your reason for choosing Amber over the land of your birth. Had Oberon survived then none would dare go against his fiat that you be accepted, but such was not the case. However, I do not wish to cause you pain or embarrassment, and I am fully aware that most of these questions are by right ones that you need to account for only to His Majesty and your fellow knights. I therefore feel that it is important to begin by making it clear that I do not believe that you in any way owe us answers, and I would not wish to ask anything that you are not perfectly comfortable answering. So might I begin by asking you to establish the parameters of what I may or may not inquire upon at this time?"

Aisling thinks for a moment or so, and says, "There are aspects of my stay here that I would rather not discuss in detail until we know each other better, but I recognize that, are we to work closely together, 'twould be better that dark worries did not hang between us. Pray, ask your questions, Vere."

"Thank you, Dame Aisling. The most serious question, of course, is the reason for your transferal of loyalties. There is always a certain level of doubt present when such a transference occurs. Understanding the reasons behind the transference might go a long ways toward assuaging such doubts, and preventing concerns that where such a transference has happened once it might happen again."

Vere is watching her closely, as much for her emotional reactions to his questions as to her words themselves.

She looks kind of bleak; like a plummeting man who chose to step off the cliff. Then she looks not-bleak, politely interested and engaged in the discussion, and how pleasant for you that you were watching closely and caught all that...

Vere nods a small gesture of approval of her control.

"There are, of course, many reasons that I came to prefer Amber to the corner of Chaos from which I hail. I was never terribly happy among the beings of the Court that hosted me..." Aisling frowns slightly, looking into her memory. "They were a difficult and dangerous assortment, and I had little incentive to get along with them, for there was no real place for me there." She looks back at Vere, grounding her thoughts again. "More importantly, I found that Amber was a place entirely unlike the very basises of Chaos; a place founded in kindness and decency." Her expression does not accept even the hint that this may be a laughable suggestion. "And her people, and especially her royalty," Aisling tilts hand and head slightly, acknowledging Gerard, "reflected this. For all the stress and strain of those years, it was still warming to watch your family deal with each other, and with the other people here, the care you gave such things..." She glances down, slightly flushing again. "It seemed like a good way to live." She could no doubt go on, but she stops here for the nonce.

"Thank you. It is a lovely story..."

Aisling glances up to see if she is being mocked, and finds she is not:

"...and one that I choose to believe. I agree with your analysis. However, do be aware that not everyone here will be so accepting. Some prefer cynicism when confronted with statements such as these. Unfortunate, but better that you are prepared."

Her polite blankness momentarily holds agreeing humor... Some slight tightening around the outside corners of the eyes, mayhap. Perhaps it occurs to Vere that she's had quite some years to think this out.

[Vere] considers for a moment, then continues, "What you have said of Chaos does not sound encouraging. Was there nothing there of nobility or love?"

This stops her, and she blinks several times and her brows draw together slightly. She thinks for some long moments, hand lightly resting at her lips in a posture that helps shield her expressions as under a more and more strongly-held blankness they flicker from thoughtful to melancholy to stony; though I suspect that even Vere, tricked out as he is, can only see open blankness moving towards fundamental blankness.

"Nobility could indeed be found, in individuals... As well as any other element in the chaos. But love..." She trails off, turns her distant look on him. "In truth, Lord Vere, I would need to know what you consider love to be."

Vere blinks, apparently surprised at the question. "I suspect," he says carefully, "that there are as many different answers to that question as there are individuals to ask it of. For me, love is placing the welfare of another above your own. It is finding one without whom you are incomplete, an incompleteness that you had not realized existed before they entered your life. Love inspires you to reach the limits of what you can be, and to push past those limits to become more than you ever thought possible, so that you match the image of yourself you see within your lover's eyes. Love forgives all, and sees no cause for forgiveness. Love inspires unity without possessiveness, trust without fear, passion without end. Love...." Vere pauses, blushing very faintly, and clears his throat. "It is," he continues, "In short, an emotion of great power, and not to be confused with mere desire."

Gerard merely smiles slightly at this, although which part isn't clear.

He has not interrupted the dialogue and shows no inclination to do so.

Aisling has turned her distant gaze to a spot between Vere and Gerard, such that they are both in her peripheral vision, though she may not be seeing anything in the room, for she is wrapped in her own thoughts... When he finishes, she exhales in what's almost a sigh. Then after a few beats, she says gently, passing on from consideration for him, "I found nothing like that in Chaos."

"What, then, is the foundation for loyalty in Chaos? Why would those who sent you here not expect you to turn on them if a better opportunity presented itself? I ask this not merely to better understand Chaos, but also because it might have a bearing on any spies who still remain among us."

Aisling might have, two days ago, objected at that. Today she knows more. "Affection, need... Machiavellian plotting..." she offers the last with a sour twist to her features. "For the first, such is the fundamental on which Chaos and Courts are separated. For the second, perhaps my Count does not believe that I have truly joined you. I attempted to leave him with that impression," she twitches a shrug, blank again.

Vere nods thoughtfully. "I am certain I need not point out the dangers of such a course," he observes. "While it gives you a possibility of gaining information for Amber's benefit, and allows for you to pass on to him information that serves Amber, the position of an agent who is telling both sides that they have her loyalty is precarious, at best. But you must make these decisions according to your best judgement." Another of his pauses...

"I would be pleased if I managed to deter him from creating someone else to send here to see how I am doing... But at the moment, I find that our lines of communication have been severed," she is frowning, more distressed by this than she lets on.

...before he continues, "Would your Count be anyone we have heard of, or would his name mean nothing to us? And would it be useful for us to know his relationships with other factions in Chaos?"

Aisling is shaking her head slightly. "It would have been quite useful to know his relationships with other factions..." (and her tone says, to the tutored ear, that she didn't, and that she hurts/is bitter about that) "He is a very private being, his Court far separate from the rest. I know very little of Chaos."

"Indeed?" Vere tilts his head slightly, regarding her. "You were kept isolated, then? Interesting."

Aisling folds her hand over the other with deliberation and grace, and thus without quailing asks, "What is it in this that catches your interest, Vere?"

"It depends," Vere replies, "Upon whether the isolation is due merely to the Count's desire to remain apart from other members of Chaos, or whether there was a deliberate policy of keeping you, personally, isolated and in ignorance of Chaos. The latter might indicate that you were regarded with a certain level of distrust from a very early period. Or, of course, it might mean that you had been specifically bred and educated to be sent to Amber as an agent, and it was desirable that you have no useful information if you were discovered and interrogated. Merely an observation."

"It seems unlikely, but it is possible," Aisling says noncommitally, once more in the position where she keeps half an eye on each man in the room.

Vere smiles slightly. "I am hardly in a position to offer useful opinions about these matters," he admits. "You have spent your life with these considerations and potentialities. Forgive me if I overstep, I have an unfortunate tendency to allow intellectual curiosity to run away with me."

Aisling grants him a slight smile meant to show that he had not offended her.

He glances at Gerard briefly before continuing. "Might I enquire as to what sort of information you were sent to gather about Amber, and a general sense of what information you did indeed pass on? And did your mission entail anything other than information gathering?"

Aisling has a wry little twist to her lips, looking off to the side, and then she looks attentive again and says, "Mayhap you will find this hard to believe, for I yet find it hard to believe; but my mission was never defined beyond "learn more of Amber." I spent a lot of time on the Amberites in residence, what they did, what secrets they held, what people thought of them; and then there was a lot on the structure: customs, laws... Tax laws," she chips in with amused pained remembrance. "Economy, library, landscape, the people who dealt with the Amberites... And of course, everything about the war and troop movements and supply and morale and so forth. How Eric ruled.

"Any suggestions I offered as to other activities than information-gathering were met with blankness."

"I see. The obvious inference is that it was, in fact, purely an information-gathering mission. In fact, it might have been thought that anything other than that on your part might have jeopardized your cover. Amber must have seemed a very curious place to a Lord of Chaos, I can understand the desire to gather information. And I certainly do not regard seeking information as a hostile act." Vere considers Aisling with a pleasant smile for several seconds before continuing.

Gerard also favors Aisling with a smile. He seems content to follow the conversation, rather than add to it.

She's overwhelmed! She actually smiles back! ;)

"A few more minor questions regarding your mission here. How did you arrive in Amber, exactly? And how did you receive orders and send information. And might I ask exactly what sort of suggestions as to 'other activities than information-gathering' you made?"

"I hitched a ride with a group of Prince Bleys's, unbeknownst to that worthy. I exchanged letters with the Count via a bird of blood which existed between us, which could be summoned by either... Which I could not summon last night, much to my dismay," she adds. "As for the last, there was the possibility of sabotaging the war effort, in ways both simple and not-- the first few years of Eric's rule, especially, offered many situations that could have lead to deep inter-familial strife."

Vere nods. "When did the idea of changing allegiance begin to appeal to you? Clearly you did not begin your mission here with that intent."

"Of course not," Aisling says. She closes her eyes then, sighs slightly. "It would be about three years ago for me that I accepted that it would be sweet to live with you openly and honor-- honestly. Before then I had of course noticed your fair points, but I had not made the leap," eyes open by now, and glancing at the faces of the two.

"How, exactly, did you make that transference of loyalty?" Vere asks, "I know that King Oberon was involved, but I do now know the details of what occurred."

"Oberon apparently tumbled to me late in the game. The morning he revealed himself, he sent Martin and Dara to my home, and Martin brought me to him. We talked, and then he sent me to Chaos to allow me to prove myself. I arrived there after the army... It was an odd passage. I'd be quite interested, actually, in hearing how the army was assembled and dispatched...?"

Vere glances at Gerard. "I regret that I cannot answer that question, I was not brought to Amber until after the army had already been sent into the field." He pauses to see if his father wished to comment at this point.

"That's a longer and less interesting telling than the one we're having," says Gerard. "You'd do better to ask Julian or Random, or maybe Benedict or Bleys. They were there."

If he weren't in a wheelchair, Gerard would be looking at his feet.

If she knew him better, Aisling would be over patting his hand. As it is, she just looks very faintly dismayed to have accidentally brought the conversation to such an area.

He shakes off that mood, and asks Aisling, "Where was your home in Amber? Mayhap it's still standing."

"I lived in a forgotten little cranny under the eaves of the castle... It's still there, but it has been stripped bare." This also bothers her, ye watery types see. "Cozy and secluded; until Martin and Dara appeared." And now she'll avoid it like a wild mother and a human-handled baby... Ce'st la vie. She's aiming for upbeat, "And then there were some burrows, which in the way of burrows have likely been either occupied by something new, or have collapsed; and a couple rented places in the city, which no doubt provided landlords some interesting finds when rent went past due four and a half years ago..." she smiles and shrugs.

"You like your privacy," Vere observes.

Aisling gives a little half-shake of her head; that's not quite it.

Vere notes the gesture and files it for future consideration of exactly what her various places of residence might have meant to her if not privacy. The possibility that multiple refuges equate to increased security springs to his mind immediately, but he stops himself from following the siren of speculation and returns his attention to the conversation of the moment.

"You might find that you will have to fight for it in the future. I have a suspicion that many of the ladies who consider themselves the moral arbiters of Amber are going to attempt to put social pressure on the female members of the Court to behave in a more conventional manner than has been the case during the Regency, and quite possibly even more so than before the reformations undertaken during the Regency. I foresee an attempt at a social backlash. It should be interesting to observe, but those who allow themselves to be concerned about the opinions of others may find themselves forced to choose between conformity and a certain degree of ostracism and disapproval." Vere has allowed a hint of his own disapproval of such self-appointed arbiters to color his voice during this statement.

Aisling is smiling. "I expect a certain degree of ostracism and disapproval," she bows her head a bit to easier draw a strand of her lavender hair between her fingers as she meets their eyes. "I hope I can gather what few benefits of that there may be, but I shall have to play this by ear." She smiles particularly at Vere, "Thank you for your warning. It gives me another reason not to let on how fluid my form is..."

"If there is anything I can do to assist you in settling in among us do not hesitate to ask," Vere says. "And if you have any difficulties with any particular individuals I will be happy to discuss proper responses with you." He pauses, then follows up her last statement. "Just how fluid is your form? Are you a full shapeshifter? From Prince Benedict's briefing on the battle it appears that you were carrying messages at a very rapid pace and between forces that should have been extremely difficult to reach without extraordinary means of transportation."

Gerard continues to follow the conversation with polite interest, although the bit about military strategy perks him up a bit.

"I am a full shapeshifter," Aisling affirms with a smile. "I can be anything... In Chaos. In Amber, things are a bit heavier; and there are limitations. But as for the battle, that was easy; a bird travels with far more speed and range than a human, and I spent my time either as such or in the air-walking lionish form, or in another form that commanded the air."

"Fascinating," Vere says. "How common is such an ability among the dwellers in Chaos?"

"Shifting? All but the weakest beings can do it. Not so many can do it as well as I." This is one area where she's not the least bit apologetic, and the air of engaged interest is nearly accurate.

Vere raises an eyebrow. "Very interesting indeed. Do you think that the blood of Oberon has aided or diluted your powers?"

She's stopped again, finger lightly tapping her lips in thought. Unless she's faking it all, this does seem consistent with the "never considered Oberon's blood" claim. "...I couldn't really say," she hazards after a bit. "There wasn't anybody else like me to compare myself to."

Vere nods thoughtfully. After a moment he speaks a single word. "Dara?"

"Alas, the first time I met her was four days ago."

Vere raises an eyebrow. "So you have no opinions nor thoughts about her?" he asks in a tone of polite disbelief.

Gerard also perks up at this exchange. Vere, who knows his father well, suspects that this suddenly interesting topic forestalled Gerard's intention to wind things down.

"You did not ask me for my opinions on her," she replies in a perfectly matched tone of polite remonstrance. Noting Gerard's perkiness, though, she continues, "Dara struck me as a fragile being, who is now probably broken."

Vere smiles. "No," he admits, "I asked nothing specific at all. I merely stated her name as a question, to observe both what question you would read into a deliberately vague interrogative and what your response would be."

Aisling smiles slightly herself, an acknowledgement that they're on the same page.

His glance slides off her face and into the distance. "Fragile, and now probably broken. An interesting description. Could you elaborate upon it?"

Aisling mentally sorts her notecards and taps them square. "When she came upon me, in my estimation she had the advantage, since she was armed, with backup, and surprise. However, she still felt the need to belittle me, bespeaking, to me, a mind unsure of its grasp. I leaned on this flaw and found that in extremely short order it was possible to greatly unbalance her.

"Later, Merlin claimed that she wished to reposses him in her move to consolidate her hold over the Court of Borel, which were it true would have been a risky move almost bound to leave her with less leverage. Having learned that it was Corwin who killed Borel, I can imagine emotions at the moment... But this is all inferrence. Perhaps she merely managed to be raised immortal without learning to play the long game."

"It is not an uncommon failing, I am discovering. There is a certain mindset that demands immediate gratification and sees all problems as needing an immediate resolution, even among those whom one would expect to know better." Vere tilts his head slightly to one side and pauses for thought before continuing, "Still, there are things about her that do not seems to correlate properly. It is possible this is due to the difficulty of someone from outside Chaos attempting to understand someone raised in that environment." He smiles at Aisling again. "Although that only increases the interest in attempting such an understanding, of course. There is also the fact that I have very little information on her, merely hints and rumors. And these do not always correspond very well. For instance, the chronology seems completely indecipherable. How long has Dara been alive?"

Aisling grins. "I could not even tell you how long I have been alive. Time, I am given to understand, is an aspect of Order." Lightly, she continues, "But I would be interested to hear what you find inconsistent about Dara, for indeed it may be possible that I have a helpful perspective on her."

"Principally," Vere replies, "her motives seem either inscrutable or else highly fluid. She appears to change her purported allegiance with rather more frequency, and with less clear motivation, than one would expect of a highly developed mind. One might call her behaviour exceedingly chaotic, if one did not find that pun rather precious in this context."

Aisling shrugs. "Neither meetings with Oberon nor deaths of fathers are commonplace events," she says, and then glances at Gerard apologetically seeing as how Oberon was his father, and then remembers that it's been five years for him. "These have been chaotic times."

She is withholding any judgement on the state of Dara's mind.

"True," Vere allows. He thinks quietly for a few moments, running through a mental checklist in his mind. "What should we know about your retainer?" he asks.

Aisling's a bit surprised. "Ce'e? Ummm... He's never been human before, and he may make mistakes on all sorts of really basic levels, but his heart is good..."

"A good heart counts for a great deal, of course," Vere replies. "I would suggest that you might wish to speak with Vent about assigning a page to attend upon Ce'e and give him advice about being human, to ensure that no misunderstandings occur." He shrugs very slightly. "Merely a suggestion." He glances over at Gerard for a moment, then continues, "We have taken up a great deal of your time this morning, and I am certain that there are many things you wished to do. I am extremely grateful that you have taken this time, and I am even more grateful for your offer of assistance. Did you have any other topics you wished to touch upon before we adjourn this meeting?"

Aisling shakes her head wordlessly. Then, "There was nothing I would have desired more for this morning than spending it with you [pl]. I look forward to hearing the outcome..."

"We'll speak again later, lass. No one's going anywhere until at least after the coronation, I should think," Gerard says. "And thank you."

She looks to Gerard to see if he has anything to say, and when he does or doesn't, she stands and makes a deep and graceful bow to the two of them, and heads quickly out.

Vere stands and returns the bow. "A true pleasure," he murmurs. As the door closes behind her he remains standing and continues to stare thoughtfully at the door.

Gerard waits a moment, until Vere has had a chance to gather his thoughts, perhaps, or until Aisling is well clear of the door. Then he says to his son, "Well? What do ye think?"

Vere considers the door for a moment longer, then turns to face his father. "A very complex individual," he says carefully. "I like her, which of course should not be taken as a firm indication of anything. She is extremely clever, and very careful, and I think she is quite capable of projecting whatever impression she chooses. This makes reading her difficult, and leaves open the question of whether I am correct in what I believe I saw in her."

Sitting down again, Vere continues, "I believe she was honest in everything she told us, although she did maneuver the conversation upon occasion and did not answer everything fully. She is keeping some secrets, but that is to be expected. I believe that she likes and respects you, and truly wants to help you. I also think that your condition is beyond her experience. Whether it is beyond her ability is unknown."

For a moment it seems as though Vere is about to add something, but he apparently decides against it and with an openhanded wave of his hand he indicates that he is finished with his statement.

"Not having seen her ability myself, I cannot speak to that either. I dinna ken, though, why she's so bent on healing my legs. I suppose it would secure her place here with my gratitude--and yours and your sister's--but it seems a great deal of work for a reward I'm not sure is so great," says Gerard.

"I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am still my father's son even if," and here Gerard grins with a certain satisfaction, "my own sophisticated son sometimes forgets it."

Vere smiles and ducks his head slightly. "My apologies, Father," he says. Somehow it sounds more like, _I'm always pleased when you remind me of that fact_

He sobers then, and goes on, "I confess that I am somewhat blinded by my desire to see you whole once more, and that leads me to consider your healing as a matter of supreme importance, and to naturally accept that others see it the same way. And I have no difficulty in accepting that someone would view healing and aiding others as an endeavour worthy of quite extreme sacrifice. Especially if she has developed a burning desire to belong somewhere, and to prove herself." Vere smiles again. "You know my various emotional weaknesses, Father, even if I am able to hide them from most of the others. The romantic in me desires to trust her. All the more reason to be cautious about extending that trust, of course."

Gerard nods. "Final decisions about trusting her or not are out of my hands now," he says. "What do ye think my father hoped to gain by wooing her to our side? Apart from depriving the other side of her services?"

Vere smiles slightly. "From everything I have heard, King Oberon would have considered Chancellor Vianis to be overly straightforward. So it is difficult to know what he might have had in mind. I can postulate a large number of possible scenarios, ranging from the benign: he truly liked her and he wished her to be the forerunner of a post-war rapprochement between Amber and Chaos, to the sinister: he wished to use her services during the war and then vivisect her afterwards. I don't know enough about my Grandfather's personality to be able to determine the likelihood of where on that scale his true intent should be placed. That assumes that there is only a single explanation - it seems more likely to me that he had several possible scenarios in mind, depending on how events transpired and how she acted during the war."

Gerard nods.

Vere thinks quietly for a few moments before continuing, "There is a great deal of evidence that Oberon anticipated his death. One wonders if he considered the situation in which she would be left if she survived and he didn't, and if provisions were made for that eventuality?"

"Well," says Gerard, "he did leave Martin here, and Martin could vouch for his intentions towards her as he did towards Folly. We've accepted Folly on nothing better than his word--which is not to say I doubt him--but I placed a lot of trust in his interpretation of Dad's intentions towards Folly."

Gerard presses his lips together, then says: "It's not so bad that things have fallen out the way they did for his father; the trust everyone has put in him is politically convenient, but it doesn't look calculating. Perhaps it will be the same with Aisling. According to Ben, she did help in the battle. She's making an effort to be seen cooperating, which proves she's either sincere, or very good at appearing so.

"I want to believe her too, son, and not just for the sake of these old bones."

Vere nods agreement. "Her insistence that she wishes to be accepted on her own merits and not simply because of her descent from Prince Benedict is interesting." He pauses before adding, "I take it we have no evidence to indicate that she has walked the Pattern. Is it likely that she can do so? Or is the likelihood that her blood is not strong enough?"

"Ask that of the redheads, son, for they know more of such matters than I," Gerard says. "Before we worry overmuch about that, though, we'd best find a Pattern for her to walk."

He shifts in his wheelchair. "I know ye have business today; is there aught else you can think of, that I should weigh in my thinking about this matter?"

Vere regards Gerard thoughtfully before replying, "Nothing of importance, Father. As you have reminded me, you have far more knowledge and experience on these matters than I do, and it is mere youthful hubris on my part to seek to maneuver you. I will simply remind you that I have committed myself, and I shall not be distracted from the task." He stands and bows. "If you have nothing else for me at this time, I have an appointment with Jerod in the city."

"I would expect no less. Go on wi' ye, then, and try not to get up to too much mischief," Gerard says, cracking a grin at his son. "And if you think of something later, let me know. We both have quite a bit to do, and think on, between now and the coronation."

"I shall endeavour to contain myself," Vere replies. With a final nod he departs, to head for the stables, and thence into town and his meetings with Jerod and Conner.


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Last modified: 17 October 2002