After Ragnarok

Brita finds herself alone on the shore.

Brita gazes across the Lake of Memories at the mountains of Jotunheim, her eyes catching first on the front peak containing Grandma Grid's cave. She breathes deep and her eyes drift shut as the wind off the lake takes her back to her youth. She listens for the rustle of the wind through the large pines to her back. She strains to hear the laughing gurgle of the Brook of Youth as it splashes over the small cliff to the left. The quiet path to Idayoll should lay to the right, climbing abruptly up over a small rise and angling into the forest. The Silent Palace should be a half league beyond the tree line. As she crests the rise, she should be able to see the spire off the East Tower... her favorite room in the Palace was at the top of that tower, her Mother's old workroom. From that tower, one can see Jutenheim and the Castles of Asgard, even Valhalla.

Brita opens her eyes, gazing across the Lake of Memories. She blinks once and turns towards the path Home.

The rustling of the wind through the pines and the babbling of the brook are there, but as Brita opens her eyes and turns up the path, a disturbing sight greets her. The East Tower is not visible from the rise. She lengthens her stride, quickly eating up the distance to the family home. She slows as she nears the last turn. On a deep breath, she inhales... only forest smells. Hesitantly, she rounds the bend in the path and stops as she sees only more trees. The Glade of Echoes is not there. Did she take a wrong turn? She glances back down the path as she reviews her trek here. No. This is where the Glade should be, where the Silent Palace should be. Where is her Home?

Asgard. Brita sets off at a run, heedless of the branches, jumping the brooks of her past and the deadfall of the present. Woodcutter Lanai's Hut is not under the Great Winter's Oak. The Goat Farms are inundated with pines and scrub brush, not even a stray post to mark passing of the goat pens.

Brita's mad rush slows as she climbs the final rise before the Valley of Asgard. She pauses, bent over with her hands on her knees. Her breath comes out in short, anxious bursts, not because of the run, but because of the tight, hard knot growing in her chest. She closes her eyes briefly, drawing on the lessons of Master Ngyen to regain control, then slowly straightens and walks up the Last Hill of Asgard.

As she reaches the top, she gazes out over the Valley now littered with tall pines crammed into almost every foot of the valley floor. Their height gives the illusion that the dip of the valley does not even exist.

The palaces and castles of her family are gone from her view. The forest goes on and on, undisturbed, as if the Nine Worlds had been remade. Not even the clearings where the castles and palaces once stood are left.

Brita plops to the ground, cross-legged. The steep face of the Hill of Ascension mocks her from the opposite side of the Valley, its slopes wiped clean of the Great Hall of Valhalla and the Palace of God-Grandfather Odin.

Where are they? Her Home? Her family? How far does this Damage extend? Do the Ice Giants of Jutenheim still breath the North Winds? Does Midgard still exist beyond the missing void where the Bifrost Bridge once stood? Yggdrasil - she had seen it on that trip to Paris with Mother - it still stands. Should she go there and trace the Root back to a New Asgard or will she find that same Root hacked off at the trunk? Brita sits, staring across the quiet forest, waiting on the Last Hill of Asgard.

After a time, Brita picks up the scent of two people coming toward her. They are not her family on either side, but are definitely human.

[From what direction is the wind?]

[Toward the sea. I'm guessing the sea is to the west, making the wind out of the east, but am willing to be told I'm wrong, as the map in Crossley-Holland isn't helpful.]

Brita rises to stand facing the breeze, still waiting.

After a few minutes, she sees a man and a woman coming toward her. They're dressed in rags, and seem to be a bit in shock. They look at Brita as if they're expecting her to attack them.

The man raises his hand to his mouth and calls, "Hello!"

Brita's stance relaxes in response to the shock and fear. She waves and calls back "Hail, Survivors!" and she will wait patiently atop the hill for the two to approach.

They climb up the hill, stumbling a little. Brita suspects it's been a while since they've eaten well. When they arrive, the man says, "Hail, Lady! I am Lif, and this is Lifthrasir, my wife. Since the fires began, and we hid in the roots of the Great Tree, we have seen no man or woman or god but you. How did you survive?"

"Survivor Lif, Survivor Lifthrasir," Brita nods in greeting. "I survived by dint of my Father-Lord Vidar's planning. How long has it been, since the Fires of Ragnarok? You look hungry." Brita's mind is racing - her Walk endowed her with a control over Shadow, right? Could she see to her People's well being? Yes. Although she still feels a chill in the slight breeze, with the silver shimmer of the Pattern before her, she is certain that if she turns back to the forest and looks just There, to the right of the path from Idayoll and set back from the front line of trees, there is an apple tree laden with the first fruits of an early harvest. Beneath it lies a rabbit burrow with a fat rabbit growing lethargic from its latest meal.

The woods will yield some forest onions and herbs as well, she is certain. "Come, we will find you something to eat." Brita says to the two and turns to walk back down the hill noting the crisp red peeking from the green folliage of the apple tree.

It takes a bit longer than Brita anticipated to find the lazy bunny, but soon, she and Lif and Lifthrasir are eating apples and watching the rabbit turn on a spit over a crackling fire. The sun is going down in the west.

While Lifthrasir watches their dinner, Lif tells his tale: "The winter was long and terrible, and we knew it was the end of all things. The gods went to war against the giants. The Midgard Serpent was black and fell. The Fire Giants set the world aflame. We found our way to the great tree, and sheltered in its roots. We fell asleep there, and we don't know how long we slept. When we woke up, it was spring. We came here, and have been looking for other men or gods who survived since. You are the first we've seen."

"Most of that is the way Ragnarok was supposed to be, but the total cleansing of the land.... You have seen no structures, either? None of the remnants of Asgard? The Silent God Vidar was supposed to survive - kill the Wolf Fenrir and Survive" Brita is wondering what she will do with these two Survivors. Should she take them back to Amber? What if there are others? Where is her Father?

"We haven't looked very far," says Lifthrasir. "Perhaps there are clues in the valleys, or in the places where the halls of gods were."

She gives the rabbit a turn. "It should be done soon," she tells Lif.

Brita is quiet, watching the rabbit cook. "I will go tomorrow and explore the Hill of Ascension. You may come with me if you wish or remain here and rest."

"We will see what dawn brings," says Lif. "Unless there is some reason not to, we will come with you."

The rabbit is tasty, and it is with full bellies, if heavy hearts, that Brita and her two companions lay down to sleep.

Brita is restless and cannot seem to keep her eyes closed for more than two minutes. She tries practicing the breathing rituals for calm that Master Ngyen taught her, but her mind keeps circling back to the Missing.

Finally, in the coolness of the night, she rises and moves away from the banked fire and the sleeping couple. She stares up at the familiar stars circling overhead. Thor's Hammer shines low near the Western horizon, its duty of fending of the Ice Giants of Winter nearly done. High in the sky spin the stars that show the Silent God with his sword raised behind him preparing to strike the approaching Wolf Fenrir. How could the Weavings of the Norn be wrong?

Brita sighs and pulls out her cards. Shuffling through she finds her Mother. By the light of the stars circling above and the banked fire behind, she concentrates on the image. /Mother/

Fiona responds at once. "Brita. Where are you? I've been worried."

"I am in the Forest of Idayol, Mother, or at least what is supposed to be the Forest of Idayol." Brita's shoulders sag. "I have only found two Survivors of Ragnarok and all has been remade into back to the Beginning. We are going to examine the Valley of the Gods tomorrow and the Hill of Ascension, but I... I don't know what to do, Mother."

Fiona's voice is evenly pitched: calm and reassuring. "You should take a few days to look around and see what you can find. Time is passing quickly in Asgard, as it always has, so you will be able to return soon to me, or to Amber, in any case. I know you need to search for your father, and I would not deny you that.

She pauses for a moment. "Should I come to you?"

A sigh. "No, Mother. I will deal with this. I will call you again in three days time. Have you or will you be returning to Amber?"

"I plan to do so, but plans can change, as we have found. I will take your call in due time, though it will not be three days for me," Fiona says.

Brita nods at the response, then - realizing that her Mother may not be able to see her well in the backlit darkness - says, "May your Battles be Won and your Journeys end Triumphant, Mother. Until Third Day," and she passes her hand across the card before returning it to her deck and her inner jacket pocket.

Again, her eyes lift to the stars swirling overhead - the same patterns, but different now. /Or is it just me, my Pattern, that is different?/ Brita returns to the fire and her slumber.

The [rest of the] night passes uneventfully, and in the morning, Lif and Lifthrasir are ready to follow Brita wherever she chooses to go.

Brita takes off back up the Last Hill and down into the Valley of the Gods. Her stride is initially long until she realizes that the couple is having a hard time keeping up. She slows and begins to take in more of the surroundings as they move among the tall trees. She takes the path along what should have been the Warrior's Way, with its temples to the Battle Gods like Uncle Thor, aiming towards the Hill of Ascension.

It is as she passes the place where Uncle Thor's temple would have been that Brita sees it: a glimpse of stone under the overgrown brush and bushes. Lifthrasir's sudden gasp at almost the same moment suggests that she, too, sees something.

With Lifthrasir's gasp, Brita is instantly on guard. She moves between the pair of Survivors and the stone, on a line of sight from Lifthrasir. All of her senses on high alert, she presses forward into the brush to examine the stone.

Brita recognizes the stone quickly. It is part of the old temple building.

/Ah! so, overcome not remade./ Brita thinks, then /Drat! Wish Robin were here./ Brita examines the area around the stone, sniffing here and there to see if the smell reminds her of a certain Vale after it was Taken. Her thoughts also spin towards the Vanir gods - could one of the Nature Boys have done this? "Survivor Lifthrasir, Survivor Lif - did you find any other ruins in your return?"

Lif shakes his head. Lifthrasir says, "No, Lady Brita."

On a closer examination, it is as if the remnants of the temple have been overgrown for a long time. It looks like Heather Vale in some ways, but it doesn't smell like it.

Brita blows out her breath in a huff. //Well, that blows that thought.// She touches the stone gently. //Could I be doing this?//

Brita rises from her crouch near the stone and scans the area again. She then turns and begins to lead the way onwards towards the Hill of Ascension.

Lif and Lifthrasir follow her.

The path should wend around Aunt Eir's Temple of Healing (the Valiant Dead Vikings do two things in Valhalla - drink and fight) and up through the Palaces of the Gods to Grandfather Odin's Valhalla.

Brita finds that the buildings are all in similar condition, with stone remaining, but no wood. In many places the stones have given way to time and nearby growth and fallen. It is as if all the ageless centuries have finally caught up to Asgard. Lif and Lifthrasir are wide-eyed and nervous.

Brita spends the rest of the day examining the Hill of Ascension. She follows the fallen stones in ever widening arcs from Valhalla. Her demeanor is somewhat closed although she monitors the progress of the survivors and times her more in-depth examinations to give them a chance to rest.

Occasionally Brita or the two survivors find something interesting. Lifthrasir finds a golden chessboard in the ruins of Valhalla and shows it to Brita.

Brita fingers the small dent on one corner of the board. Cousin Magni was not pleased the day she beat him at this game. He threw the board half way across the room... "You can keep this, Survivor Lifthrasir. It may be useful to you in the future."

"Thank you, Lady Brita." She takes the chessboard and puts it in her pack, almost as if awed by it.

As the end of the first day nears, she leads Lif and Lifthrasir back to their camp. "Survivor Lif, I would see where you have travelled from Yggdrassil tomorrow," Brita says as they gather forest herbs for a dinner of stew.

"Of course, Lady," Lif says.

They find another plump rabbit and cut it up for stew, and eat well, and then sleep well under the stars that night.

[Does Brita have anything she wishes to do before she starts for Ygg in the morning?]

One small thing. Before beading down with the others, Brita makes her way back into the valley, moving by memory along the old ways back to where the Temple to the Silent God once stood. She finds a largish, flat stone mid way down what would have been the main aisle. She kneels before the stone and takes out the chalk she has brought with her. Gazing up at the over-arching trees and the stars twinkling beyond, Brita prays - /Father, hear me, your Daughter. If you still walk this World, grant me a sign./ She then wipes the stone off and begins to sketch. The Power of the Pattern glows bright in her memory as she pushes the chalk along the surface before her and into the shape, the form of Lord-God Vidar. After several hours, the details are there. She sits back, glances at the sky once more, then takes a deep breath and reaches out to hold the edges of the stone tablet. She begins to concentrate on the image before her.

For a moment, Brita can see her father. He stands outside somewhere, in a forest, under the stars. "Brita?" he says. "My daughter?" Then his face is wracked with pain, and the contact fades and the stone tablet cracks in her hands.

Brita's head hurts. So badly, in fact, that she feels like she might lose the contents of her stomach. But she knows her father is alive.

/Finally/ Brita thinks as she steadies herself with one hand to the ground and deep cleansing breaths. Then her eyes snap open. /He was in pain. Why? did I cause that?/ Brita rises slowly, thinking about what she saw of the forest her father stood in and the stars he stood under, comparing it to what she has seen here. Where there any scents she was able to pick up?

Brita didn't scent anything, but as far as she knows, that's normal. She has never heard of a trump contact causing that kind of reaction in its subject, nor such a backlash.

She couldn't see the stars to determine whether the constellations and the scenery are the same, but the greenery is very similar to that of the forest she's in. Her father could be somewhere in Asgard, or in a nearby shadow.

Not wanting to influence things through Pattern manipulation, Brita reviews what she learned from Nanna Clarissa to see if she could use any Sorcery to find her Da. She does not want to alter Asgard with her will for fear of finding a Shadow of the Silent God.

Brita recalls from her lessons with Nanna Clarissa that the easiest way to travel somewhere by the Principle of Space is to Part the Veil. Because she doesn't know where she's going, she cannot simply tear reality to go there. She knows that it is always possible to improvise a spell, if she can think of a way to apply the Principle, but no immediate application occurs to her.

/I want to go somewhere I do not know, but I do know my Father. Like the Trumps, I want to get to him. He knows I am alive - hopefully - from that brief contact. Could his thoughts draw me to him? or could I draw him to me, like one of Nanna's Filmy Creatures?/ Brita broods on the way back to the others.

Eventually, Brita returns to the camp and settles down for the night. The next day she will allow the Survivors to lead the way and will stay alert to the surroundings - searching for her Da without _Searching_.

Lif and Lifthrasir begin to retrace their steps back to the great tree. It will be more than a day's journey there, although Lif and Lifthrasir are moving more quickly now that a Goddess is helping them feed themselves. In fact, Brita thinks it will be at least two days.

During the first day, Brita neither sees nor scents her father, nor any of the other gods.

[Does the terrain stay the same? Same trees and such?] Brita is quiet throughout the trek, still mulling over how to get to her Father. /Parting the Veil won't do, for now, unless I could somehow use the link in my blood to find Da.... Perhaps the Third Eye? Could she use that to link to her Father, see what he is seeing perhaps to get clues as to where he is?/

The terrain is what Brita expects.

Brita keeps spinning around what she learned from Nanna Clarissa and Ambrose throughout the day, taking only a peripheral notice of the path they are taking. /A way to violate a Principle of Order/ she muses /One that will allow me to find my Father without knowing where he is precisely/. Her thoughts spin to lesson from a different source - the Gentleman of Science with the wild white hair. Reid had taken her to a lecture at the Royal Science Academy in some far shadow. The talk had been on celestial things that often cannot be seen but whose presence is felt by the way they curve space around them. These celestial bodies created wells in the Fabric of Space....not like those of The Blood bring Reality to the Shadows they reside in, curving the Shadow, anchoring it. Her Da must create a well, an anchor, just as she does. Perhaps...she need only find the two low points, the most Real points of this Asgard, and then cross to the other low point which should be her Father. But how to seek these low points?

As they continue walking, Brita begins to actively Seek certain items: from the streams they cross, two stones, worn by time and water into perfect spheres, an egg shell split in two by the birth of some small bird, and a location - a shaded glen in the deep woods, surrounded by tall trees.

Brita finds her location and the props and components she needs. Lif and Lifthrasir wonder a little at what she might be up to, but they do not question the goddess about her works.

It occurs to Brita as she makes her preparations that many of her kindred among the gods are at least somewhat Real.

[Go ahead and tell us what Brita physically does to cast the spell, and how long she casts. Use the Magic Formula page on the web site for reference: ]

As the sun begins to set, Brita settles Lif and Lifthrasir at a small camp site not far from her small glen. "I am going to spend the evening in an attempt to find the other gods," Brita tells the pair as they set up camp. "If I am not back when you awake, continue on to Yggdrasil, I will meet you there by the end of the day."

When the pair are settled with a fire and some food, Brita proceeds to the small glen. After pacing it off, she removes her jacket, folds it neatly, and sets it at the edge of the glen. It is somewhat closer to Compline now than Vespers, she notes as she glances at the darkening sky. She searches out a nearby small stream. Knealing before the water, she takes off her jacket and rolls up her sleeves. She takes the two stones and places them gently within the stream side by side and touching slightly. Her knife follows the stone. Slowly, she goes through the Ritual of Cleaning - beseaching the slight breeze to press away the impurities from the air, the earth to leach out the impurities from the soil, the water itself to wash all within it to its purest state. For this small stream, the entire ritual takes only a quarter of a watch. It ends with her arms in the water up to her elbows and her forehead touching the crystal cool surface, tendrils of her hair streaming with the current.

She breaths deep and straightens slowly. As she draws her arms out of the cool embrace of the water, she grasps the two stones and her knife and draws them out, too. She leaves the stream and carries the two stones back to the glen. She sets the stones in the precise center of the glen under the small opening in the over hanging trees that shows a patch of the black night sky.

She pulls out her knife and holds it with her knees. From the wet strands of hair hanging down her temple, she draws one strand of blonde hair and then one of red. She twists the two strands together and holds them stretched between the fingers of her left hand. She runs the thumb of her other hand across the knife and lets the first few drops of blood land on the twined strands of hair. The next few drops go on the stone on the right.

She waits a few minutes for the wound on her right to stop bleeding and then gently adjusts the strands in her left to free the ends of the red hair. With one motion, she pulls the red and blond hairs apart. Separate my blood. She coils the blond strand, so like her Father's, into one half of the little egg then puts the two halves of the egg together so that a tiny piece of the hair is still sticking out. She cradles the egg together in her left hand, states Back past my birth, and pulls the strand out of the egg. She then rubs the bloody strand of hair on the left stone.

She sets the two strands of hair behind her, picks up the knife and plunges it into the ground beyond the two stones. She picks up the left stone and rises. Her eyes seek the sky above and she waits. About a watch later, the first star of her Constellation of the Fire God passes overhead. Like a stone seeks the lowest point in the water, the well of my stone is here. I seek the well of the Silent God. She then tosses the stone in the air, and, as it arcs over head and begins the downward trek, she performs a ritual Parting of the Veil with the stone ripping down the center of the pattern.

Brita realizes at once that she has far overextended herself, that she's cast her sorcerous energies much,much farther out than she meant to in the quest to find her father. Were she wise, had she known what she was doing, she might not have attempted a spell of this magnitude. But she did, and she holds the spell together through to the end, despite the drain on her endurance.

The stone rips down, and she catches a glimpse of a hill, one she remembers, several days' walk from here. Her father is sleeping beneath a tree on the hill. With him are Magni and Modi, who sleep each with one hand on the great hammer.

Cousin Magni and Modi. At least there are others.

But before she can do more than start to call out her father's name, the rift starts mending behind the stone, and it seals completely before she sees whether he heard. She refrains from thrusting her hand through, having seen the tip of the blade that fell to the ground when Cleph's rift closed with a sword halfway through it.

The last thing Brita sees before she collapses is the stone crumbling to dust in her hand.

When she awakens again, it is not long before dawn by the color of the sky.

[Card draw: the Eagle. You got a bonus for the description. The area of effect of that spell was the entire freaking shadow you're in, so you shouldn't have gotten anything at all. You did really well there. Bravo!]

Well. At least she saw him alive. She gets up from the ground and takes an assessment. [Is she rested enough to try to Part the Veil now? If not, she will make her way back to the camp with the others. If yes, she will make her way to the far hill.]

She isn't rested enough to Part the Veil. That kind of exhaustion is a little different from the sort of exhaustion that comes from physical overuse.

Brita makes her way back to camp. Lif and Lifthrasir are waiting for her, with a hearty breakfast of rabbit and roast herbs. "Did you find the other gods, Lady?" Lifthrasir asks as she cuts off some fresh meat for Brita.

Brita responds as she smiles her thanks at Lifthrasir and accepts the food with a small bow of thanks "I did, yes. I saw the Twins of Thor and the Silent God on the far off Hill of Ull [God of archery and the hunt] leading to Ydal [where Ull hunted]. We will attempt to contact them after reaching Yggdrasil."

Lif nods sagely. Neither he nor Lifthrasir ask how she plans to do that; they merely accept that certain godly things are beyond their ken.

Brita and her two companions spend the day trudging to the Great Tree. It's a long, hard walk for Brita, who feels quite tired after her magical exertions. But at the end of the day, she finds herself standing among the roots of the World Ash, whose branches extend beyond her sight above her head, and whose roots extend far beneath the black loam.

Brita goes down on one knee before the tree, a hand on the Root of Asgard. She turns back to the Survivors. "The solid strength of the Tree of Life renews us. It is a good sight. Where were you protected?"

Lif shows Brita a hollow in the roots.

Brita takes in the scent of the tree and the air. She uses a little of her strength to play her Third Eye over the area.

"We'll set up a camp in the Shadow, far enough from the Tree for a small fire. I must spend some time here. I will join you shortly."

As the pair head back down the slope of the hill, Brita sits down amongst the Roots, draws out her Trumps, finds the right card and begins to concentrate on her Mother's image.

Fiona's mental image comes through almost at once. "Brita?" She sounds as if she's been upset.

There are two others present with Brita's mother. One is Master Dworkin. The other is Brita's cousin Brennan, whose hand Fiona is holding. "Hel-lo, Brita," Dworkin says cheerily. He's holding Fiona's other hand.

"Great-Grandfather, Cousin Brennan" Brita is almost curt with her greeting as she is distracted by her Mother's tone. Her brow furrows. "Mother? What is wrong?" Brita is almost ready to come through the card in defense of her Mother.

Just to round out the picture, Brennan's visible mood is balanced somewhere between Fiona's upset and Dworkin's cheerfulness: He is determined-looking, and perhaps even a bit grim, but nothing about his expression would indicate any sort of danger.

He nods to his cousin, but does not answer for Fiona.

Fiona smooths her expression. "We were just discussing some difficult things, Brita. It's all right. Have you been able to get in touch with your father?"

Brita turns almost as red as her hair. "Not quite. I was able to determine where he was yesterday morning, but I used up my strength figuring that out. He was alive, at least. I was hoping to go there to figure it out, but I have not recovered sufficiently and I have two Survivors to take care of as well."

"Arcane work can be exhausting," Fiona says reassuringly. "To have found him at all, with your experience, is quite a feat. I'm proud of you, and so should your teachers be." She spares a sidewise glance at Brennan.

"Tell me what's happened."

"As I noted to you before, upon arriving, I found none of the structure of Asgard - the Palace of the Silent God in Idayoll was gone and none of the buildings in Asgard were there. I found two survivors who said they had hidden in the World Tree Yggdrasil through Ragnarok. We explored the Valley of Asgard and found some evidence of what was once there - ruins of the temples, a golden chess board. I decided to go look at World Tree Yggdrasil to see if there was something there to tell me where the others were. It took two days to get here. On the first night, I cast a spell to search out Father's effect on this Shadow Asgard. In the spell, I saw Father, Cousin Magni, and Modi under a tree on the far Hill of Ull. I was too tired after the spell to attempt to go to Ull, so I kept the course to the World Tree. The World Tree Yggdrasil still links the Nine Worlds," Brita sounds relieved as she finishes her summary.

Fiona says, "Let us hope it is the same Nine Worlds. I'd be careful about using that route to wander."

Brita nods gravely in response.

Dworkin says, "So you're going to see your father now, Brita? Are you going to come back and see me when you're finished?"

"Yes, Great-grandfather, I am going to see my Da, although it will likely be tomorrow here. I would like to come back and see you, but will not be able to immediately unless Mother remains with you for a spell. I have no Trump to the Center."

Dworkin says, "Of course you don't! You can't make a Trump of this place. It would be like, like trying to make a Trump of Ygg." He ponders for a moment. "More the reverse, actually."

"Perhaps I will have time to try a quick sketch of you, Great- grandfather."

"If you can manage that without a model, I shall be quite impressed with Reid's teaching and your mastery," Dworkin says.

Brita blushes slightly but nods. "I will attempt it anyways, Great-grandfather, although my skill may not be that great."

Fiona lets her old teacher finish his thought before asking Brita, "You are going to come here after you've talked to your father, then?"

"I will call one of you after I have talked to Da. If I get a chance to make a sketch of Great-Grandfather Dworkin, I will likely come back to the Center first; otherwise, I will call you directly."

"Very well," Fiona says. "I should be here some time longer. I will expect to hear from you within a few days your time, with news of your father." She smiles at Brita. "Give him my best, and tell him I think of him."

She adds, "And Brita, if you run into any more trouble, don't hesitate to contact me."

"Yes, Mother." Brita does _not_ roll her eyes.

Dworkin, not needing a sign to see the end of the conversation is at hand, says, "Goodbye, Brita. Come and see me when you're done!"

"Cousin," Brennan says companionably, by way of farewell. (He has been following the conversation between Fiona and Brita with interest, but politely kept to the sidelines.) "Look me up when you return to Amber; I'll fill you in on the rest of the story in Uxmal, since it will be finished by then. I'd give you a Trump, but that's not exactly my talent."

"I will have to make one of you at some point, Cousin Brennan. I will look forward to hearing how you fared with your Brother and Mother. Take care." and Brita closes the connection.