The proposal for the memorial for the Sundering was the candle boat ceremony and a concert organized by Reid. Gerard approves of this idea, since the Council doesn't seem to have had any other recommendations on it, and sets Reid to putting together the concert. How does Reid plan to organize the concert? Who does he invite to participate? Will there be any new compositions?
Reid will gather a collection of some of the better musicians he has encountered from various styles and venues around the city to build his core ensemble. A lot of these will be quite skilled at their instruments, but have been passed over by those who take their musical cues from Barenthkov or Rein.
These will be the foundation players, and can carry the bulk of the performance if necessary. Reid will take solos where they make sense, and will serve as bandleader. He invites any interested family members to lead in a song or two if they'd like, but upon soliciting interested parties, will arrange the order of performances so they have a nice emotional arc in the event as a whole.
Folly would like to sing a duet with Sandra, if Sandra is interested. They can do an existing song of Reid's choosing or compose something new.
Since Folly is teaching Sandra songwriting, Reid will ask Sandra for an original melody, then he will come up with an arrangement that suits the backing band (and might give her tune a bit more polish). All in an attempt to build Sandra's confidence in her newly learned skills.
Ossian will not perform in the concert. "Sadly I will not have time enough for rehearsals when the ceremony draws near, I suspect."
He sets Ossian to organizing the ceremony with the candle boats, including procuring the needed goods, arranging for the launches, and the like. What will the ceremony be like? How do Reid and Ossian coordinate their parts of the ceremony, and how do they coordinate with Vialle?
Reid will discuss his ideas with Vialle and solicit her opinions.
Ossian suggest that the ceremony starts with the concert. At the end of the concert everyone can walk down to the harbour in silence, and then place their candle boats in the water when the tide starts to go out, each boat marked with the name of someone lost in the Sundering.
Reid gets together with Ossian to discuss possible performance locations near the harbor. He agrees that there should be some separation of the two events, but he wants the flow between them to be smooth for all parties involved (ie Gerard). He also wouldn't want the mood generated by the concert to be broken, only to try to be solemn once they reach the waters edge.
Ossian agrees completely with Reid in those matters. "Your taste is perfect, cousin."
Ship owners should stay on watch on board their ships, so the ships don't catch fire.
(I presume that there are enough places where you can reach the water easily. Otherwise high quays will be a problem that needs to be solved.)
The boats:
Ossian designs a rather simple boat to be folded out of cardboard.
Think one of those clever one-piece cardboard constructs. He then goes
shadow-walking to find a shadow where they can cut the cardboard into
the right shape easily. A modern earth-like shadow with a factory
producing cardboard boxes. Everyone gets to fold their own boat from a
flat, pre-cut piece of cardboard. With instructions of course. They
should be able to produce a large amount of those fast.
The candles are small squat ones; cast, not dipped. Also found in Shadow.
To finance the above purchases Ossian will rely on finding valuables of one kind or the other in Shadow. (Standard procedure?)
Conner takes up the job of dealing with the Golden Circle ambassadors. Having been in a position not too different from theirs in Rebma, and having returned, he brings fresh assets to the problem and is able to ease many of their concerns, at least for the time being. [the excellent card draw helped.]
The research that Vere and Conner are conducting into the Tritons brings up little about their status in Rebma, but Nestor does come up with a book detailing the anatomy of Tritons that seems to have been based on a vivisection of one. Conner realizes the two he encountered were reasonably tough bruisers, but he could have been up against something much worse. There is no meaningful information on Tritonian masks. If Conner wishes to do further research, he'll have to figure out who to ask.
Lucas' investigation into the tax collector gets a lucky break when his assistant, afraid of the Regent's justice, turns his boss over to the long arm of the law. With solid evidence, what does Lucas propose to do? (Besides have his balls ...)
[Lucas]
Have him tried with the full force of the law, making sure I get the
credit for it. =)
Worth knows both the tax collector and the assistant -- they're retired Naval men -- and is convinced it's a frame job, or so he tells Paige.
Paige has it on good authority that the tax collector is known to be a good man. She questions what "solid evidence" Lucas has. Maybe the assistant is turning over a scapegoat? She'd like Lucas to look deeper than just one squealer. "Afraid of the Regent's justice"? If he's not guilty, what's he got to be afraid of?
After about six weeks or so of Robin lounging about in Amber, Gerard comes up with a bright idea. If Robin doesn't want to go to sea, why doesn't Paige take her on a land trading expedition, to wherever that Shadow she likes is? Would Robin be interested? Would Paige? If she doesn't evince some interest in the trading trip, Gerard will start to gently encourage Robin to go to Arden.
How does Brita arrange things if Robin comes to Arden? How does she if Robin goes off with a trading caravan?
Brita is well aware that one's parentage can push one into fields that may not be all one wants out of life (case in point - her potential inheritance of Idayoll from her father and having to lead her people). She is more than willing to let Robin do whatever she might want to do (stay at the castle and play, go on caravan - although Brita wishes she could travel as easily in shadow). Hopefully, Robin will make her wishes known to Brita (either in person or in the many messages flowing between Arden and Amber). Brita will encourage Robin in whatever she choses to attempt, but she will ask that if Robin choses to go on caravan that she will first come and explain to the Rangers the importance of this journey. Brita is sure that Robin can make the Rangers understand that she is not abandoning them, but is doing this for the good of all.
Robin appears after about a month, hears Brita's suggestion that Robin ride off into the wilderness while Brita actually does the ranger-commanding, and assents.
Interpret this as "starts marking the new shadowpaths".
Assuming Folly (or someone) mentions to Brita her thoughts on crops for Amber, Brita will look into whether there are sugar maples in Arden. She does not feel it would be successful to get the Rangers to allow tapping of the trees, but will ask Robin if she has any ideas. "I was thinking that maybe we could transplant a few of these trees to Garnath or at least closer to the settlements such that the settlers could tap the trees. I doubt seriously that the Rangers would feel tapping trees in the Ranger job description; but they are so territorial about Arden, I also doubt they would allow any one in to tap the trees even though it would be beneficial to Amber."
Vere sends a sailing expedition north to look for survivors of a missing Naval vessel. The vessel is believed shipwrecked while on Naval business. Despite some searching, the three vessels find no evidence of any survivors of the wreck.
Alan Leclaire's wife continues to recover from her near-fatal stillbirth.
Family jam sessions continue, as do boys' night out at Red Mill, to which Conner is now invited. [The lads play poker and hazard, as well as other games of chance. Non-family seats are given to friends such as Nestor and Worth, and a sprinkling of would-be movers and shakers.]
It seems to Conner and Robin that Amber is somehow just a little shabbier than it was before they returned, although neither of them could say exactly how ...
Gerard modifies his usury decree to allow the clubs to loan at interest for membership dues only. Red Mill, which was one of the hardest hit of the clubs, suddenly seems to be in better financial shape. No one says anything openly, but Martin and Lucas seem a tad smug about the matter.
Paige will ask Michelle over drinks one evening what she thinks might've gone down there...
Michelle shrugs. "They got money from somewhere. You did it. Why wouldn't they?"
The charity drive to open a school in the docksides starts to move onward, with Folly at its head. Vialle suggests starting with a charter school, and a single suitable building is found and rented with the charity funds Folly was able to raise which also supply a stipend for teachers. Conner supplies materiel for the school and a single charter class is established in the fall, after the Sundering anniversary. It's heavily oversusbscribed; everyone wants to have their child learn to read.
Conner checks in on the school from time to time, and starts aquiring materials to keep that one running and start a stockpile for the next one.
Lucas will contribute funds to this endeavor from his own pocket.
Extra charity for the school comes from an unexpected source. Heap donates some scrap paper ends that are unsuitable for use in printing, and some ink to go with them. He also does a small run of something like a McGuffey's reader chapbook for the school.
[Lucas]
Yay!
Folly is overjoyed. She stops by his shop to thank him in person.
Paige is supportive in anyway she's needed and comments that if this goes well enough, eventually, they should look to the rural communities, too.
[GMs]
[It will take many years to get effective public education in Amber city,
much less the provinces.]
Brita continues her reforms with the Rangers. Robin is around, but she is mostly working on the shadowpath marking problem, and she seems to prefer to ride alone. Her mere presence works to quell some of the discontents of the more restive Rangers, but Brita doesn't think that the problems are permanently solved.
Brita will ask Robin to stay for a week in between her shadowpath marking treks. Brita will spend the week providing Robin with updates on what has been happening with the Rangers and with the Council.
Robin and Brita both think this maple tapping thing will go over in Arden like a lead balloon. It would be easier to grow stands of maples in either Garnath or the northlands, but it would take decades to have viable industry from it.
[Figures.] When Reid begins the paper making efforts, Brita will suggest that dead wood could be used in the process, but that's it.
[GMs]
Oooh, don't tell the Rangers you mentioned that.
Ossian and Reid put together a moving ceremony of remembrance for the fifth anniversary of the Sundering. The concert features Sandra's tune (among many others), as solicited by Reid, and sung as a duet by Sandra and Folly. Barenthkov has a new composition for the occasion if Reid wishes to use it, but, surprisingly, doesn't push the matter.
Brita will complement Ossian and Reid, Folly and Sandra on their efforts. She will have previously asked one of her shadow-walking cousins to have searched out some helium for her. The Rangers would have had their own small ceremony in which they launched ballons with notes/pictures attached to them.
Gerard gives a good speech at the dockside, in which the subtle hand of Vere can be detected by anyone well-versed in speechifying, and then the candles are set off in the harbor. Worth has arranged for the harbor to be cleared of most vessels for the day, so the origami candles float in the harbor until a stiff breeze, summoned, one assumes, by one or another of the family, sends them out into the sea.
When the wind starts to blow Ossian becomes angry, until he sees that the candles are not blown out. (As I assume they were not.)
Paige attends in the company of several notables of the Court and throws a small party in the Prince's Retreat ballroom, by invitation only for several of the ambassadors and other Court worthies... and of course her own Worthy.
Brita complements Lord Gerard on his speech and will complement Vere in private on his contributions.
Vere nods very slightly and says, "Father has excellent ideas, and a true understanding of what the people needed to hear. He simply requested that I assist him in shaping his speech for maximum effectiveness."
Gerard decrees a partial cull of the sheep in the north, and has the sheep brought to Amber to do it so that the meat can be consumed. It is, but no one is eating rare lamb. Paige and Folly go hunting for llamas, but are unable to find anything within the parameters of their journey. A second trip is scheduled for sometime in the spring. Meanwhile, fish and potato chowder is a remarkably popular food in the north. Gerard considers the possibility of another cull in the spring.
"Camels... those I can find, but they spit," Paige shrugs. "Maybe next time."
Conner keeps an eye on this situation as well giving his advice on the state of the herd as needed.
Still looking for something to do with Reid, Gerard suggests he act as a consultant on papermaking and inkmaking projects. Reid, he thinks, must have opinions about the suitability of paper and ink for various uses. Gerard has seeded a couple of ambitious former merchants with money for pilot projects. He explains to Reid that in general, he suspects that a cottage industry will do well enough, but that Amber will never generate exports.
Paige is willing to keep her eyes open for anything that Reid decides he needs while she travels...
Reid does some research and attempts to set up facilities for manufacturing. On the paper front, he begins with equipment to make 2 grades of paper: a pulp suitable for broadsheets and other mass printings with limited archival need; and a higher quality currently more suited to stationary and note cards used by the upper social ranks. Once the processes are in place, and some consistent quality is being produced, he'll look to expand the lines to include book quality and archive quality rag as well as another low end for general use.
He works with some of the local smiths to develop a paper cutting system to ensure consistent sheet sizes. He also tries to strike a balance between wood and linen for the paper that he hopes won't upset the rangers too much, but can still lead to a good product.
He does all of this in a consulting capacity, where the merchants will own the facilities, but he tries to distribute things a bit so no one merchant will hold a monopoly. Perhaps different merchants will have specific interests, such as supplying to the broadsheets or making stationary for the upper class.
He takes his knowledge of using different materials in his art to make recommendations concerning ink as well. Factors to balance include consistency, cost of materials and how color-fast the different combinations are. Once again, a low cost, low grade ink can be sold to the broadsheet printers, while something more suitable to quills and pens could be produced for the stationary shops.
If there is, in fact, a merchant particularly interested in being a stationer, Reid suggests how trendy it could be to sell designer inks to the elite so that a certain lord or lady is the only one to have access to a particular color or consistency. For a price.
Things Reid considers while advising the paper trade:
Is there a suitable bleaching agent available in Amber for the higher quality paper?
[GMs]
I'm not sure off the top of my head what would be a suitable bleaching
agent. Reid is aware of the problems with high-tech processing methods: the
more complicated and technological the process, the more likely it is to
fail.
Is there a quarry and a mason local capable of cutting large, smooth slabs for pressing the pulp flat?
There has to be something either in Amber or in a very nearby shadow, because they're getting stones for that aqueduct from somewhere. I doubt the stones are cut from Kolvir, but maybe from the next mountain down.
If neither of those are local, Reid will try to find close shadows that can provide, which will of course drive up the cost.
Reid also looks into a variety of drying rack possibilities.
As he sees it, the paper making process is essentially getting a wood/linen pulp and boiling it in a large vat, adding bleach if necessary or available; pressing that pulp into sheets (large, flat stones are really handy here); drying those sheets evenly; and cutting to size.
There are, of course, details, but I think I've covered the basics.
[GMs]
Reid's experience in the old days was that no large-scale industrialization
ever worked in Amber, and clearly that's carried forward to at least the
time of the Sundering. Whether the papermaking enterprise will become a
successful industry now is questionable, but Reid's experience probably
doesn't leave him very sanguine.
Lady Vesper completes her commentary on the new antifeminist book. Within a few weeks, it's published by String, a printer formerly in the employ of Stout, who has recently struck out on his own. He makes a mark with low-end chapbooks, competing in Heap's market rather than in that of his former boss. Lady Vesper's book, again credited anonymously to "A Lady", sells as well as can be expected in the soft book market. Ossian and Reid note that their female students are starting to receive copies as gifts from female relatives.
Laughing, Ossian asks his students for their opinion on both the antifeminist, and the feminist books. "But remember; economics is not important, only beauty is." he adds.
Paige will read it and be sure to engage Lady Vesper on several of the points, almost in a regular fashion when she's in residence at the Castle. [Keen perceptions will catch that this is Paige's attempt at taking one for the team...]
Lady Vesper would be happy to discuss the matter with Paige when she has more leisure, but surely she can see that her daughter and grandchildren need her now. (And it's true that even though Solace hates it when Lucas and her mother fight, she does love her mother.)
[Lucas]
Um, I think I missed this... what is Lady Vesper's commentary on the
anti-feminist texts?
Paige set her to doing this to keep her out of Lucas' way. This was clever, but Paige is probably in trouble with the old harridan now ...
Heap receives another manuscript, which he again holds until Vere can review it. It's _A Guide to Surviving the Current Financial Turmoil and Improving One's Circumstances for Ladies_. He also mentions that he received a printing subsidy so that he could sell the book at a lower cost.
Its prologue, which clearly isn't meant for publication in its current form, contains a formal apology to the populace of Amber in general, and Vere in particular, about any confusion about the royal nature of the author. It identifies the author of the original manuscript, and explains that the current author (still unidentified) is not she.
This earns a long snicker from Lucas.
Vere smiles and shakes his head when he reads this. He presents the book, with prologue, to the Council at dinner for any comment, but makes it clear that he plans on allowing its publication unless anyone has an objection.
Since no one outside the Family had any idea that Solange was responsible for the original book in the series Vere considers the prologue unnecessary, and he removes the handwritten pages from the manuscript and places them in the bookshelf next to his bed before returning the manuscript to Heap.
Gerard asks everyone to consider trading in more small luxury cargo after hearing the recommendations on economics. The treasury is in no immediate danger, but the problem of the consumer economy and trade goods is real. Gerard makes no move to plant tobacco in the north, and privately tells Vere he thinks it would be a recipe for riots in the docksides.
Conner agrees in general but wonders what luxuries would sell among the nobles and general populace. For his part, Conner looks for gemstones, both precious for the noble jewelers, and cheaper ivory or semi precious stone carvings for the cheaper markets. He also keeps a look out for some bottles of brandy mainly for his own bar.
Gerard is not looking for import luxuries so much as for possible trade goods, particularly exotic and unique things.
He's not interested in luxuries for you to sell in the depressed market of Amber. He's interested in, for instance, Conner buying things on his circuit of shadows, and giving them to Lucas to sell on his circuit. This makes Amber the source (as far as the purchasers are concerned) of the luxury goods, and places her back in the nexus position for inter-shadow trade.
Gerard also wants everyone to make their turnaround times on voyages faster. The need for royals in Court is less pressing, and those who can travel in Shadow are sorely needed for trade. The trade fees are helping the treasury, but it's the boost to the general economy from trade by fleet or the occasional caravan that Gerard thinks will really help.
Connor will see what he can do.
Ossian seemingly enjoys the new instructions for the travelling; he does like shadowwalking, but thinks looking for food is rather dull. He starts trading for expensive designer products, mainly china, glass and cutlery. If able, he will try to find manufacturers to make some of his own design.
Happy to be out of a job, or at least not as needed, Paige will gladly spend much of the season out of Amber. She'll try to use Heerat as a base of operations in looking for those sort of luxury items for the others to trade and as a point to distribute what the others find. With a small group, [and good card draws] Paige can make fairly quick turnaround with what the others are finding. She's also open to trying to find Gateway for the same sort of reasoning, and also placating the GC reps. [Having some quiet time at sea with Worth isn't a downside, either.]
Gerard forbids the Gateway exploration. People are needed on the established routes because the turnaround time is so much quicker.
Does Lucas think he could get an artisan community to create artwork that we can add to our exports? Or perhaps sheet music that all these fine and lovely musicians are cranking out?
Artwork can probably be exported in limited quantities, as can sheet music, to the right shadows. Portability is an issue for some types of art. Lucas could arrange with some of his cousins to find appropriate shadows to sell such goods in, or find out where on current trade routes they could be sent.
Who does Lucas ask to help him?
He'll toss it out at a council dinner.
Ossian will gladly carry some art objects on his trips. [who is surprised?]
A few weeks after the Sundering anniversary, Solace is brought to childbed. Following a difficult delivery, she gives birth to a baby boy. She loses a lot of blood in the birth, and has a high fever, and there is concern that she, like Alan LeClaire's wife, is permanently injured. Lady Vesper can hardly be barred from the castle under the circumstances, and sets up shop to help take care of her daughter and grandchildren.
[Jeremy: we need a name for the little boy.]
[Lucas]
Phillipe.
Lucas will also devote more time to the household, likely taking time from his attention to Garnath in order to do so.
Stout publishes _A Gentleman's Guide to Managing Family Estates_, by A Gentleman, which makes a third book in the antifeminist backlash. The guide explains how a gentleman deals with uppity inferiors, women both mannish and hysterical, and the difficulties of preserving one's finances in this difficult time. It sells well, given the softening book market.
Lucas makes no secret of the fact that he thinks Stout is a git.
Paige reads this cover to cover during down time on her voyages. She wants to make sure that she knows what to expect from theses "gentlemen".
Cambina reports the aqueduct project is beginning to wind down. The good news is that this reduces the drain on the treasury. The bad news is that it will throw a lot of men out of work. Some can be switched to the work on the collapsed wing of Castle Amber, but that will reduce the savings.
Conner recommends the shift over of labor. Keeping people employed and spending is an important thing in his opinion.
Paige urges keeping them working. She suggests the possibilities of better roadways to the outlaying areas, like Garnath.
Cambina also mentions something in passing to Ossian that he takes as a prediction of Jerod and Solange's imminent return. (If he questions her, as usual, she has no idea that she predicted anything.)
Of course Ossian questions her. But he won't press the matter.
Similarly, Conner makes the same kind of comment to Folly over a pint one night.
What is everyone up to these days?
In addition to the usual poop (occasionally accompanying her cousins on trade voyages, working with Sandra, going to pubs for music, hanging out at the Pickled Grouse), Folly keeps a close eye on the charter school, seeing what works and what doesn't, assessing needs, looking for ways to make things better. She peruses the Castle library for books on elementary education.
Books in the castle library on early childhood education are primarily aimed at parents seeking a qualified governess or tutor for their children.
She visits with Solace frequently, offering sisterly support. She is pleasant and courteous to Lady Vesper, figuring the last thing Solace needs is domestic discord. And she continues paying a lot of attention to Hope, who may be feeling just a little neglected, what with having an ill mommy and a helpless new baby brother.
Solace needs all the help she can get, and is grateful. Lady Vesper is (for her, anyway) magnanimous in triumph, and tolerates purple-haired urchins of no particular breeding better than Folly would have otherwise expected.
One day Folly returns from a trip dockside with a fluffy grey kitten, whom she names Fathom. He turns out to have the power to materialize in her lap whenever she sits down [not unlike my grandmother's cat].
Folly soon learns that most Amberites regard cats as working animals, not companion animals. She has to explain to the household staff that the cat is not to be banished from the family wing of the castle.
What does she do about a litter box?
She'll keep a box of sand in her quarters, refilled every few days, sprinkled with a few crushed herbs or white vinegar (or baking soda, if available) to cut down on the odor. She replaces her door with one that has a hinged cat-flap, so he can get to the box whenever he needs to. (I s'pose she could just have a cat-flap cut into the door she's already got, but I picture the doors to the suites as these big heavy somewhat decorative things, and she'd hate to mess one up.)
If there are large potted plants anywhere in the castle, I imagine those are getting used, too. :)
And of course, he can also slip outdoors and make his mark on the world, so to speak....
Vere continues management of the harbour, as always, and keeps an eye out for any reports which would tend to indicate the "reality loss" theory has any validity. He also is on the alert for any reports of unusual amounts or types of criminal activity. He continues meeting with M on a regular basis, and of course spends as much time as possible in the Library. He dearly wishes that he could spare the time for a long solitary voyage on the Psyche, but that doesn't seem too likely in the near future.
Sadly, no solo round-the-world boating trips for Vere.
There is still no conclusive evidence yay or nay for the reality loss theory. Conner and Robin can tell you that the place is drabber after the Sundering, but Gerard points out that it took a few decades after that business with the Moonriders for things to get back to normal -- or so he's been told, it was really before his time.
Robin and Conner can also tell you there are a lot fewer people, or so they think, but you knew that. Still, there are a lot of people left; the prewar population of Amber (boundaries fuzzy, possibly including Garnath but not including Arden) was estimated at not much under a million. Even a 10% loss in 5 years, which is the order you're looking at, still leaves a lot of people in the city.
What is Vere researching in the library these days?
Lots of light reading for pleasure. For one thing, Vere has embarked on a project to correlate several dozen texts on technology and magic from as many Shadows, to try to come up with a better understanding of exactly how natural laws vary from Shadow to Shadow, as the beginnings of an eventual "Grand Unified Theory of Reality."
As for other things Conner is up to, he tries to spend one night a week if not the weekend with Thalia and always has a gift from shadow for her on his return from his trade missions.
And at some point he aprroaches Martin with questions about Rebma and the Tritons.
That should keep him busy.
Lucas, since he will be spending more time in the Castle for the sake of Solace and the children, he will be doing more encouragement of artistic growth in the city, subsidizing different projects and assisting others as needed.
Does he work with any of his other cousins in these endeavors? Do any of the cousins in the city ask for his aid?
Yes, he'll work with his cousins, but it depends on who wants his help.
To combine this with the education thread, since Reid's private student pool seems to be drying up a bit, he could teach classes to small groups on occasion.
Personally, Paige is spending more time with Worth on a personal basis when their schedules allow. As mentioned above, she'll gladly make more trips this season, overland and on the sea.
She spends more nights in town at the Prince when she's home from voyages, but keeps her ear to happenings in the Court and the courts, through Liam and Lorring, as best she can.
She enjoys hosting Conner at the Prince, or joining Worth at the Naval for dinner and again finding Conner in their company. The repoirte gets rather sharp between the two of them, Paige's observations cutting to the quick and his quick responses striking just as deep. Yet all in all, it remains good natured, even if the conversation does get risque at times.
Ossian spends much of his spare time walking around in the city, talking to all kinds of craftsmen (and women), trying to give them some advice on design (well, the aesthetic part of it, not the practical) He encourages them to develop their own styles, rather than enforcing his own on them. The goal f this activity seems to be a small beautification of the city.
Anyone entering Ossian's rooms will find that he is working on a painting showing Amber from the entrance of the harbour. However, the skyline is different; there seems to be a lot more towers in the painting than in the real city. The design of the castle is also different (and probably impossible to build)
One evening at dinner Ossian says: "I think good aritsans and musicians and such are too expensive hire in the city today. If we want this city to stay grand, we should do something about it, so more people could afford hiring them thus adding to the beauty of Amber."
"Maybe we could lower the taxes for artists?"
Conner sends Martin a message asking if he will meet Conner for dinner at the Naval as Conner would to discuss certain Rebman matters with him.
Martin accepts.
Other than finding out that his grandmother and Rilga (and her daughters) are well, he has evinced absolutely no interest in Rebman matters since Conner's arrival in Amber.
Conner arranges a private dining room for them and greets Martin with his trademark smile when he enters. "Thank you very much for coming."
"You're welcome," Martin says.
Martin makes casual small talk while the two of you get drinks and order dinner. The staff clearly knows Martin, better than you might expect for a guy who isn't a member, but he is a royal.
About halfway through the drink/dinner wait, a junior officer brings a note to Martin and says "With his Lordship's compliments." Martin reads the note and tells the junior officer, "Please advise his Lordship I'll be happy to wait on him after dinner and family business." After the officer leaves, Martin shrugs. "Our work is never done."
How long does Conner wait before broaching topics of interest?
After the first course is done, Conner replies. "Well I asked you here to try and get another's opinions and advice on what happened to me in Rebma before I came here. Has that story reached your ears yet?" Conner asks.
"I heard that you got crossways with someone and had to make a quick exit, but the version I heard wasn't clear on how you did it."
Conner smiles. "Well I don't mind telling the story one more time. I'm getting quite at it. I'm thinking of commissioning a play." He chuckles. Conner then tells him the full story of the break in at Llewella's, the run in with the Tritons, and the escape through the tunnel. All the while he watches his audience for any reaction and leaves room for comments should he choose to make any.
Martin frowns at various points during the recital, including the bit about the Triton, but where Conner really gets his attention is the story of the tunnel.
"So it is real, and not just a figment of my imagination," he says. "I remember going through it when I was a boy, and coming up in the cave. There was no water, and I was afraid I was going to drown in the air. As I recall, Uncle Benedict thought it was pretty funny. After I walked the Pattern, I was convinced that he walked me out in Shadow somehow and my memories were playing tricks somehow, or I simply hadn't understood."
"Do you remember anything else about the tunnel?" Conner replies.
"Very little," says Martin, thinking. "I was very young. I was to stay with Benedict for a summer and get an idea of life on dry land in case -- in case I ever needed that."
"Anything about the sea cliffs and a castle on an island?" Conner asks. He describes the land beyond the tunnel in more detail to see if anything jogs his memories.
"I don't remember any of that. The cliffs, maybe, and I've been through enough castles in my life to have them start to blur together. But that doesn't sound like any of the ones I visited while I was staying with Benedict."
"Then I must take it up with Benedict." Conner nods. "Though I have few hopes he will prove to be talkative about it." He smiles. "Now, do you know anything about the Tritons or who might?"
"They serve the Royal family, as they have since time whereof memory runneth not. I had one as a bodyguard for a while." Martin thinks for a moment. "For more current information, I'd suggest you ask your friend Harga'rel. He's spent a lot more time among the Royal family than I have these last few decades."
Conner nods. "This I shall do. Thank you for your time, Martin."
Last modified: 15 Feb 2002