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"Saving the Thumbs for Later"

The Eight Year Gap 118-126 PPF


Recorded for Posterity by Iain Walker.
Notes typed up by Jane Winter.


Session 2.6   Index   Session 3.1


The Beginning of the Gap Years

Ibrahim goes to Shadow Renaissance (formerly Shadow Moro) to begin the process of guiding it out of totalitarianism as their new leader, Colonel Nazir.


Tristan checks on the babies in stasis in the fortress shadow, Everything seems to be in order there.

That done, he then tries to search out other points where people returned form the Land of the Dead with the intention of sealing and warding them. As he does this he considers the longer-term possibility of cutting out the infected bits of Shadow and making them into separate, uninhabited, Shadows where the returning memory-shards will be unable to harm anyone.


A little later, Damien brings Tristan and Ibrahim together and suggests that they separate the Beloved Zombies from the babies in the stasis Shadow and give them homes of their own.

Tristan admits that he has already moved Isabel.

Eric and Nitocris are also moved into their own barred, sealed Shadows with high-tech protection.


Beltaine and Tamarind continue their trip through shadow, enjoying their attempts to get Beltaine pregnant.

At some point, Tamarind, wandering off on his own, finds that he has been shifted into another Shadow, from which he cannot shift back out. He waits.

After a while, a masked figure of Bleys' size turns up. Tamarind concentrates on a mental Trump to elsewhere and tries to Trump away. Before he can do so, the figure says a word that somehow disrupts the link.

Tamarind begins to concentrate on the Pattern, to help him resist magick.

Unfortunately his concentration is disrupted as the figure beats him to a pulp; they are much stronger and faster than he is. Just before Tamarind passes out, he manages to rip off the figure's mask - it is indeed Bleys underneath. Tamarind passes out.

When he comes round, he's in the same place, with lots of broken bones.

He painfully Trumps Damien, who, when he takes the call, proves to be in Amber. "Bleys did this," he says, indicating his condition.

Damien comes through. He casts a healing spell and generally patches up Tamarind while keeping watch. As he binds Tamarind's wounds he notices a ragged wound in Tamarind's chest. When asked, Tamarind can't recall how he got it. It looks rather like the wound you'd expect from a Land of the Dead spike...

Damien Trumps Tristan for a consultation.

At the same time, Tamarind Trumps Beltaine. He gets through before Damien, and the two of them go through to her, disrupting Damien's Trumping. Then Damien begins to Trump Tristan again.


Elsewhere, Tristan takes the call, and the situation is explained to him. He has the life-force lens on him and at their request comes through. He inspects Tamarind with the lens. Alarmingly, Tamarind has lost nearly all of his life-force - the amount he has left is barely detectable.

"What did Bleys want it for?" we wonder.

We discuss this for a while and conclude that he didn't just do it for the hell of it and most likely wanted it for Fiona.

Tristan thinks we should make an effort to Trump Bleys before he goes to ground again. With this in mind we Trump off to Amber.

Upon arrival, Beltaine Trumps Ibrahim, who takes a break from dictating in Shadow Renaissance and comes through.

We gather as many people as possible, but when we try and Trump him is seems that Bleys has disappeared behind his barrier again. Damn.


Ibrahim wants to know whether Brand can make new life-force transferring spikes?

"Only with access to Pattern powers..." says Brand predictably.

Tristan reluctantly agrees to let Brand into his head again. The idea is to use a spike in the same way that Bleys did to give Tamarind back some life-force. Tristan estimates that Tamarind has at least (or only) seventy years of life-force left.

Tamarind wonders why Bleys bothered to wear a mask.

Beltaine asks Tristan if he could send things out into Shadow to find Bleys, or track him somehow.

Brand suggests that Tristan create a Shadow trap - a Shadow of Destiny where Bleys will eventually end up.

While our response is considered, Caine transfers Brand into Tristan so they can get on with spike production.

Beltaine puts Tamarind to bed.


Some time later, Tristan and Brand have produced two spikes, one to go into the 'donor' and one for the recipient. They are black and silver, removing and infusing life-force respectively.

Tristan suggests trying them.

Damien suggests healing spells to deal with the inevitable nasty wounds.

"Say, couldn't this be useful for the Beloved Zombies?" wonders Beltaine. This point is lost on none of us...

Brand is decanted back into his Shadow body by Caine.


We go off into Shadow to test the spikes.

We find a hospital and check in. Tristan and Tamarind are put onto drips.

Tristan falls on the black spike without waiting for anaesthetic. Ouch.

Tamarind hurriedly sticks in the receiver spike. Ouch again.

Tristan feels something flowing out of him while Tamarind feels warm and tingly. Through the lens, Tristan sees his own life-force diminishing and Tamarind's growing with a visible flow of life force from the silver to the black spike, like arcing electricity.

"It's very slow," he comments.

He lets the levels of their life-forces equalise, then they stop as Tristan pulls out the silver spike. Ouch yet again.

Tamarind notices that Tristan now has some grey in his hair.

"How much did you give me?" he demands.

Tristan equivocates.

Ibrahim suggests that if Bleys took something from Tamarind, he might also have put something into him.

Tamarind says he'll walk the Pattern.

Ibrahim suggests that Brand, Caine and Tristan also take a look at him.

Brand is put back into Tristan so that they can go out and create a Shadow trap for Bleys. Caine, Damien and Ibrahim accompany them.


Beltaine and Tamarind head back into Shadow and continue their efforts.


The rest of us go to the Shadow where Beltaine and Tristan met Bleys. Brand 'rewires' the Shadow so that all of its magick will essentially come crashing down on the intended trappee as soon as he turns up.

"Is there anywhere else Bleys might go?" Tristan asks Damien.

"Medmenham," says Damien.

So Tristan, Damien, Caine and Brand go there to trap it, too.

Ibrahim (remembering the Noble's Rot) begs off on the grounds of not wanting to suppurate unnecessarily.

The rest of them put up with the sores of the Nobles' Rot. Caine, smug shapeshifter that he is, seems unaffected.

Damien, who of course knows the place very well, gives Brand tips on how he can rewire the magick here in Medmenham. Brand makes conditions there such that the Nobles' Rot will go into abeyance until Bleys turns up...

Another week is spent spreading traps for Bleys through various likely Shadows.


This done, Damien gets Tristan and Ibrahim together and suggests reviving the Beloved Zombies using the life-force transferring spikes.

Ibrahim asks for a postponement - he has a duty to get Shadow Renaissance back on its feet first. He made a vow, and feels he should put the living before the dead. But he'll help them if they insist.

Damien notes that since we have experience suggesting the process is safe to use on Family members, they should do Eric first, giving them another chance to observe the process.

Ibrahim understands Damien's desire that Eric be used as a guinea pig instead of either Damien's or Tristan's girlfriends (and almost doesn't sound sarcastic when he explains this). But asks for six months to sort out Renaissance first.

The others agree to wait...


Some months later...

Tristan is in Shadow when a mynah bird from shadow Medmenham flutters down.

"We got the bastard! We got the bastard!" it pipes.

Then another bird arrives, from the 'babies-in-stasis' Shadow.

"Alarm! Alarm!" it shrills. Damn. Tristan shoots it.

Then he Trumps Damien, who is at the Priory interviewing tutors for Sebek. When Tristan explains the situation, Damien asks them to come back tomorrow and goes through.


The two of them quickly use the Trumps to assemble a force - Ibrahim, Margot (who is also working in Renaissance to help Ibrahim) and Caine.

Ibrahim Trumps Random and Tristan Trumps Tamarind.

When he takes the call and has the situation explained, Tamarind and Beltaine come through the link clad in dressing gown and wraps.


When he gets through, Ibrahim goes through to Random and tells him what has happened. That done, he Trumps Tamarind.


Tamarind and Beltaine shift shadow to find some clothes. Also, some armour and weapons.

Tristan sends a message by bird of desire to Benedict. 'Amber in danger', it reads.

Damien tries to Trump Altair but can't get through to her.

Tamarind scans the Trumps. Only Caine's and Ibrahim's (as Ibrahim Trumps Tamarind) are active. He takes Ibrahim's call and brings him through.

It's decided that Tristan will head for the babies' Shadow, and Damien for Medmenham.

Margot and Ibrahim join Tristan. Beltaine and Tamarind, and Caine, will go with Damien.

Flora and Brand are Trumped and brought through. Then Tamarind Trumps everyone else and brings them through, too. The situations are explained to people as they arrive.

The baby-Shadow party consists of Tristan, Margot, and Ibrahim. The rest (Beltaine, Tamarind, Damien, Caine, Flora, Esmée, Deirdre, Caleb, Julian, Gerard and Brand) go to Medmenham.

Caine has a Trump of Medmenham, so we use it and go through. Tamarind has the life-force transferral spikes, borrowed from Tristan.


We arrive near Medmenham Abbey. There is a lot of magickal energy concentrated there. Damien runs towards the Abbey, followed by the others. Gerard falls behind with his peg leg and is carried by Tamarind. Esmée turns into her war form - a golden-armoured cat-humanoid with gold-feathered wings - as she goes.

The focus of energy is in the Abbey cellars, where the old inner sanctum was.

"Which way?" demands Tamarind.

"Down!" say Damien.

We head down to the cellar.

Upon arrival we see that a figure is hanging in mid-air, barely recognisable as Bleys under the tertiary-syphilis-like pustules of the Noble's Rot. He is unconscious. A mask lies on the ground.

"How many of them are in there?" Beltaine wants to know.

Damien uses Fiona's life-force lens, and reports that he thinks it's just Bleys.

Damien sticks the 'draining' spike into Bleys.

Tamarind sticks the receiver spike into himself. Life-force flows from Bleys into Tamarind.

Beltaine suggests to Flora that the other team might be in need of back up, if Fiona is in the babies' Shadow.

Flora nods and Trumps Tristan. When she gets through she sends Esmée, Caine and Deirdre through to the other group.

Tamarind suggests that when he's up to normal levels, we give Brand a top up. Damien agrees.


Tristan, Ibrahim and Margot race through shadow.

A little later, Tristan is Trumped by Flora, and Esmée, Caine and Deirdre are passed through the link and join them.

"You should go to Medmenham later for a dose of Bleys' life-force," Caine tell Tristan.

Tristan looks dubious. "Did Bleys actually take Tamarind's life-force for himself?"

Caine says he doesn't think Damien's seen his father through a life-force lens before, so there's no way of telling.

They race through shadow, and before long arrive at the barred fortress Shadow. Which is no longer barred, and has had all of its technology changed. Tristan warns the others of this.

They sneak in. There are no signs of other Shadow trails in or out.

The defences of the fortress are inert, and the doors are blown open. Dead defenders are draped on the walls, with no obvious marks of violence on them.

"What spells do other people have?" Esmée asks.

Everyone except Tristan reports that they have a selection ready.

A quick scan of Ibrahim's magical alarms on the entrance shows that a dozen beings entered, one humanoid with the others being large quadrupeds of some kind.

They enter the fortress and sneak towards the chamber where the babies are in stasis.

"We've been rumbled," warns Caine shortly, and throws a dagger.

It hits something invisible - or rather, very well camouflaged. A big tiger-like thing with a green and black tiger-striped exo-skeleton and a praying-mantis-like head shimmers into view and leaps for them.

"It's in psychic contact with someone," Caine notes.

Deirdre fires a crossbow at it.

Ibrahim hits it with his Pattern blade, cutting it deeply.

Margot does a little less damage with her sword.

Another blow from Ibrahim sends the creature crashing to the ground.


Back in Medmenham, the magick-users are all feeling rather ill by now. The others all feel fine.


Not enjoying the first signs of Noble's Rot, Beltaine Trumps Deirdre when she gets through goes through and joins her and the other team in the fortress shadow.

Tristan says they should proceed hard and fast.

Caine says that he was unable to trace the link the thing had.

They hurry towards where the babies were, Beltaine summoning a sword and dagger from Tir-Na Nog'th as they go.

"Has anyone tried Trumping Fiona?" she asks.

"Her Trump is active," says Caine.

"Can you block it?" asks Tristan.

"Not a hope in hell!" he responds cheerfully.

Ahead, Tristan senses lots of power - like that in the life-force draining spikes.

Beltaine senses magick ahead too. She attempts to tune in to it, to try and turn it off. The magickal alarms installed when the place was first set up are going off all over the place.

The doors to the baby room are melted. There are presences lurking by the door, more of the invisible tiger creatures.

Ibrahim uses his lightning-bolt bracer to shoot one. It dies. The one behind it is lightly fried and becomes visible.

Caine heads for the remaining one and grabs it.

Tristan tries to hit it, but his sword bounces off its armour.

Esmée casts a spell and the final one stops moving.

Deirdre beheads it.

Caine breaks the neck of the one he's tackling.

The lightly-crisped one leaps for Ibrahim and is cut down.

While this happens, Beltaine attunes her magick to the power ahead. The magick-user is definitely Fiona; there is magick there, intermeshed with something else. She is unsure that she can stop it. It 'sounds' very similar to the blood-sucking device Abraxas Nangonya had. She also senses a warding protecting Fiona. On more familiar ground here, Beltaine attacks it, shattering it.

"It's her magick," Beltaine mutters to the others.

They all pile into the stasis chamber. A large magickal circle is inscribed in the centre, with the babies' bassinets arranged at nodes in the design. There are spikes in the babies. In the centre of the circle is a woman who looks very much like a female version of Damien.

Beltaine recognises her from the 'You Made It So' vision she had.

The presences of other insect-tiger creatures can be sensed.

Tristan looks through the spyglass. All one hundred and twenty-six babies have been drained of life-force. The woman in the centre has more life-force than he's seen in anyone - more than one hundred times that of an Amberite. He also sees, through the lens, that there is a big disk embedded in her chest under her clothes. And that the black 'blob' inside her has grown many times over.

Caine says he has already used her link with the cat-creature to poison the flow of life-force.

Beltaine says she's killed the magick circle.

Esmée casts a spell, and a swarm of magick wasps fly over to Fiona and begin to sting her.

Beltaine runs towards Fiona, sword ready.

Tristan shoots Fiona in the throat with his crossbow. Black ichor leaks out.

"You are too late," says the Fiona-thing in a hollow voice.

Beltaine begins chanting a Ghostsong spell as she runs.

"Three ... two ... one," says Caine to no-one in particular.

"My eyes!" shrieks Fiona. Caine's psychic buds have done their work again.

Ibrahim reaches her, and sticks Chrysanthir in her brain. He suggests trying to catch her spirit.

"Uh-huh," says Caine, who does not appear sure that sure he can hold it. He sticks in a dagger to initiate contact anyway.

Beltaine gives him two of her soulstones to help him contain Fiona's soul.

"Pull out the spike!" yells Tristan. The thing doesn't seem to be dying despite the wounds it is taking.

Ibrahim moves up, and strikes off the head of the receiver spike.

Deirdre and Margot pepper the figure with crossbow-bolts.

Ibrahim tries to shatter the rest of the spike.

Beltaine tries to Trump Brand.

The body of Fiona melts into a black puddle.

Tristan sees that life-force and Anurerishkigal are both still there. He and Ibrahim start removing spikes from the babies and throwing them into the black mass.

"No-o-o-o..." gurgles Anurerishkigal.

Caine and Deirdre hack at it, to little effect.

Beltaine reaches Brand, and tells him we need reinforcements - bring Tamarind, Damien and the spikes.


In Medmenham, they have just disconnected Bleys and Tamarind, and so they pile through the Trump link. Tamarind is now back up to his pre-Bleys level of life-force.


In the fortress, Anurerishkigal tries to cast a spell, but Beltaine screams, disrupting it.

Tristan senses Anurerishkigal now has less life-force, and life-force is dissipating all around us from the spikes in the black puddle. But it's tainted.

"Don't stick the receiving spike in you!" he shouts.

Esmée Trumps Random, and when she gets through brings him to the fortress too. With him he brings the 'soul-scissors' we took from the lab of Professor Branarien.

Tristan, who has worked out how this device functions, takes it from the King and uses it to slice into Anurerishkigal's soul. Through the life-force lens he can see that it and Fiona are too closely merged to separate.

"It's weakening," he says.

It tries to cast another spell, but Beltaine manages to deflect it too. A bolt of anti-life-force shoots out from it at random.

Damien removes the spikes from the rest of the babies and adds them to the collection in the black mass.

The black mass explodes.

Beltaine goes desolid, taking Tamarind with her. The rest of us are splattered with black goo. The psychic presence of Fiona/Anurerishkigal is/are gone too. It feels as though it/they died, but were not fully drained of life-force. It seems to have been a retreat to the Land of the Dead, by committing suicide...

Caine, however, has trapped some of it in two of the SoulStones Beltaine lent him. They are now jet black (these two were formerly the rose and red soulstones). He offers them back to Beltaine, but she says he is most welcome to keep them.

Esmée casts a spell on herself and becomes clean.

Damien does the same. Then he checks the babies through his life-force lens. They are definitely all dead.

"Can we go now?" asks Beltaine.

Tristan says we need to bury the babies.

Random is ready to return to Amber.

Tristan asks him for instructions.

"Bury the babies, find out what you can, and as for Bleys - drain him until there's nothing left," orders Random.

Damien asks that Bleys be left with just a trace of life-force, "so that he can go out on his feet."

"No!" says Ibrahim at once.

"No, too dangerous," agrees Random.

Damien turns away.

"I would like to make a plea for mercy on Bleys' behalf," says Tristan.

"So would I," says Beltaine, sounding rather surprised about it. "I don't think he would have agreed to ... this," she gestures around the room.

Damien turns back.

Ibrahim admits that if Bleys knew anything he could tells us...

More discussion follows, but Random is adamant. He says the reasons for mercy are strong, but Bleys is too dangerous to live. He chose to make himself an outlaw again.

Damien asks what the legal position is.

Tristan admits that the King can still order a Family member's death without legal remedy. Ah.

Tamarind gives Random the receiver spike and a rescued donor spike. He asks him quietly to let Brand receive some of the life-force from Bleys. Random agrees to this.

"Deirdre, too," he says.

Caine uses a spell to clean up the room. The black gunk is now in a pile. Caine asks for a barrel. When one is provided he transfers the black gunk into it and seals it tightly.

Random gives Ibrahim the spikes, with instructions for Brand and Deirdre to be given a share of Bleys' life-force.

"What about Eric?" asks Beltaine.

Random gives permission to try and revive Eric by transferring life-force from Bleys, if Ibrahim wishes. Then he Trumps back to Amber.

Ibrahim goes round closing the eyes of the babies, openly weeping.

Beltaine and Tamarind Trump off to the Abyss and throw in the barrel full of black goop that was collected.

"Farewell my children. May your spirits find light on the other side," murmurs Ibrahim.

No one mentions that we know for a hard fact that they won't find any such thing.

Margot is also weeping openly. She goes over and hugs Ibrahim. The small bodies are covered with blankets from the bassinets.

Tristan says a tomb will take time to build, and we should carry out the King's orders first. He goes, with Ibrahim and Margot, to fetch Eric.

"Meet us in Medmenham," says Damien, and gets out Flora's Trump.

"I think we should be there - well, be with Damien - when Bleys dies," Beltaine suggests to Tamarind. They Trump to shadow Haven.

Esmée, weeping openly too, pulls out a Trump, concentrates on it, and vanishes.


Damien Trumps Flora and passes Caine, Brand and Deirdre through before going through himself. Tristan, Margot and Ibrahim join them. Beltaine and Tamarind also arrive from Haven.

Beltaine suggests we contact Benedict - he might want to be here if one of his brothers is going to be executed.

Tamarind Trumps him and he does in fact take the call, coming through once the situation is explained to him.

Tamarind then contacts Llewella to fill her in on what's happening too. When things are explained to her she thanks Tamarind for telling her, but says that she doesn't feel her presence at the execution is necessary.

Gerard tries to contact Altair but can't get through. "Must be asleep," he comments.

Damien holds out his hand for the donor spike, and Ibrahim hands it over. Damien suggests to Brand and Deirdre that Eric's need is greatest. They grudgingly agree, and Eric is fetched from his place of storage.

However, when the receiver spike is driven into Eric, the life-force does not flow into him but simply dissipates, flaring away from the receiver spike as if it were in empty air.

Tristan and Damien quickly realise this and stop the process. Clearly some kind of 'spark' will be needed to bring people back to life...

So the spike is inserted into Deirdre instead, and life force begins to flow into her. It takes an hour to siphon off half of Bleys' life-force into her. During this time Esmée, looking rather more composed now, Trumps back to Flora. Then Brand takes his turn, and he too is topped up.

And as this happens, Bleys' life-force gradually trickles away to nothing until he becomes an empty shell, like Eric. Still breathing, but to all intents and purposes dead.

Damien quietly asks the rest of us to step outside. We do.

He takes Wilkes and shoots Bleys between the eyes. The body does not even twitch.

Beltaine looks in on him, worried.

Damien emerges. "Brand, how are we going to get him down?" he asks.

Brand walks into the snaps his fingers and the body crashes to the floor.

"Viking funeral," suggests Damien. No-one argues. However, Damien does agree that the ashes should go into the Abyss...

By now, the mages among us are feeling increasingly ill as the Noble's Rot kicks in more and more, but Damien insists on finishing the procedures here in Medmenham. He builds a pyre, lays Bleys' corpse atop it, then uses a 'Hellfire' spell to ignite it, the magick of Shadow having been released for general use now that Bleys has been released.

As the pyre burns, Tamarind surreptitiously Trumps off to Haven and brings back some bottles of restorative, which he hands round.

An hour or so later, Bleys is ashes. His Pattern blade remains untouched on the pyre, but his Trumps have all been destroyed by the fire. Damien collects the ashes into an urn, and picks up the Pattern sword.


Tamarind Trumps everyone to the edge of the Abyss. Damien throws the urn in. Then, unexpectedly, the Pattern blade. Most of the elders (and many of the party) look aghast at this wanton destruction of a unique and priceless weapon. As the sword falls, there is a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder from the depths of the Abyss, which gradually dies away.

"I think we're done now," says Damien, quietly.

"Err ... you are talking to us?" checks Beltaine.

"Of course," says Damien.

Ibrahim says he intends to take Eric back into stasis, then go properly into mourning, so he'll be heading back to the fortress Shadow.

Tristan says he'll stay here a while, then join Ibrahim.

"I'm sorry it ended this way," Tamarind tells Damien.

Damien just grins at him, and Tamarind moves away.

Damien says he needs to talk to someone, then he'll join Tristan and Ibrahim.

Tamarind offers to take him as far as Haven.

Damien accepts this offer. Tamarind Trumps Haven and everyone other than Tristan goes through.

Tamarind tells Tristan he'll come back for him in a while, then follows the rest through to Haven.


In Haven, Beltaine heads outside, collects a few purple koalas to cuddle then goes and stares blankly at the lake.

Most of the others head off in their own directions.

"Heavy, man," Caleb sums up the situation as he leaves, shaking his head as he says it.


Tristan spends half a hour standing by the Abyss, then wanders off, finds a glass of wine behind a rock, and summons Corvallin. He goes up into the castle, and collects a present Bleys once gave him. Back on the edge of the Abyss, he drinks a toast to his dead brother, then throws the glass and present into the Abyss.

Corvallin then heads back off into Shadow, and Tristan waits for Tamarind. Who shortly collects him.


Esmée wanders out to the lake to comfort Beltaine.

"If I ever get the urge to go back to Tir, please just shoot me," sighs Beltaine.


Ibrahim waits in shadow Haven for Tamarind and Tristan.

After they come back, Tristan, Ibrahim and Margot shift off into Shadow, taking Eric with them.

They put Eric back into stasis, then head back to the fortress Shadow full of dead babies. Upon arrival, they kill off the surviving unconscious creatures, then Ibrahim goes into a display of traditional grief, tearing his hair and rending his clothes. Margot gives him a funny look.


Beltaine and Tamarind are deeply unimpressed that she is now afflicted with the syphilis-like Nobles Rot from her time in Medmenham. Which, unfortunately, needs to heal naturally rather than through the use of magic.

Beltaine curls up in bed to recover, and Tamarind looks after her.


In Medmenham, Damien goes and sits by his mother's grave for a while.

"He's gone," he tells her. He sketches some plans for a mausoleum, then moves off into Shadow a bit and Trumps Ibrahim.


In the fortress, Ibrahim, Margot and Tristan are making coffins.

Ibrahim takes Damien's Trump call and Damien comes through and joins them. He shows them the mausoleum plans.

Tristan is quickening the time-flow here, so that it soon ceases to be a slow-time Shadow.


"Maybe the others might appreciate it if you joined them," Beltaine suggests to Tamarind.

He agrees that this might be a good idea, and Trumps Tristan. When Tristan takes the call Tamarind goes through. And helps build coffins.


In Haven a little later, Beltaine wakes with all signs of Noble's Rot gone, and goes for a swim in the lake. That done, she goes off to visit Sebek in the Priory's Velocidrome.

Sebek has written a song ("I eat criminals...").

She teaches him some simple keyboard tunes, then Trumps back to shadow Haven.


Tamarind asks what we should tell the other children.

We discuss this, then decide to answer any questions they ask truthfully, but not to burden them with the knowledge right now.

Ibrahim tries to Trump Altair again. This time he gets through and explains the situation to her. She is not happy. Once she's had a little more time to get her head together, she joins us.


As soon as he decently can, Tamarind leaves the fortress Shadow and wanders through Shadow for a while, composing a lament on the flute. Then he returns to Haven to find Beltaine waiting for him.

"That was all too freaky for me," he admits.

She agrees.

Neither of them can feel any real grief for the babies, though they are horrified by what was done.


Some time later, the funeral of the murdered children is held in the fortress Shadow.

Tristan decides a mausoleum like the one designed by Damien 'has always existed' nearby. Margot plants trees around it.

All the Family turn out for the ceremony, even Llewella. Julian brings Princess Felicia.

Random makes a long impassioned speech about hope snuffed out and opportunities lost, and the children are laid to rest.

Again, Tamarind and Beltaine leave as soon as they can.

Tristan burns the fortress, a pyre for the guards who died defending the children. He then, to the best of his ability, blocks the Shadow off from things such as Trump.


The next day, Bleys' memorial service is held in the Cathedral of the Unicorn in Amber.

Again, Random performs the eulogy.

Given the circumstances, it's a deeply hypocritical occasion.

Damien stands briefly at the end. "I think my mother would like to have been here," he says.

A wake follows. Beltaine, Tamarind and Ibrahim sing sad songs. This is the first time we've heard Ibrahim sing - his lament is not bad at all.

At the end of the wake, Margot approaches Ibrahim.

"I don't think I want to sleep alone tonight," she says.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

They leave together, and go off into Shadow.


The Eight Year Gap Resumes...

Tamarind and Beltaine spend nearly all their time in shadow away from Amber.


Ibrahim and Margot spend their time in Shadow Renaissance.


Finally, Beltaine does become pregnant. This means they have six weeks before they will need Caine's intervention.

"I wonder if we should - well - get married," says Beltaine hesitantly. "I mean, a wedding might cheer people up a bit."

Not one of the greatest marriage proposals of all time, but... "It might be fun," Tamarind agrees.

They return to Amber to make plans for a hurried wedding, as well as for the necessary scientific and mystical procedures.


Beltaine is somewhat nervous when the time comes for Caine to split the embryo into three, but in the end all that happens is that he holds her hand for a while, she feels a little woozy, and that's that.

It's clear to everyone that Tamarind is much, much happier about these babies than the test tube ones created by the Council for Victory.

Caine tells them that the third child (based on the original, unmodified embryo) will be a girl. They decide to name her 'Chalice'.


Beltaine asks Random to give her away. He says he will be delighted. Then he realises that he's going to become Brand's foster-grandfather and suddenly needs a drink.

Other Family members get dragged into the affair.

Esmée is (of course) Maid of Honour, with Margot and Flora as bridesmaids. Altair prefers to be an usher.

After much thought ("Hmm, let's see - who didn't cause my wife to get syphilis?") Tamarind asks Tristan to be his best man, and Ibrahim to be the Honour Guard.

Damien ends up as Chief Usher.

All the small children get to be bridesmaids and pageboys. Gerard is to conduct the service.

There are a lot of disappointed young Amber noblemen and women when the wedding is announced...

As the wedding approaches, Beltaine has a couple of 'real' Tir-Na Nog'th dreams:


And shortly, the wedding day arrives.

Beltaine wears a silvery, apple-blossom white gown, with the spray of 'dream blossom' in her hair.

Esmée has chosen to wear lilac, Margot pale blue and Flora primrose - all spring-like colours.

Gerard conducts the ceremony in a happy, booming voice. Michael (who helped raise Tamarind) is at the wedding, as is Lucian, with tears in his eyes; he seems very happy.

Vows are exchanged.

"I do."

"Yeah, I do, too."

Rings are also exchanged. Vialle has a little cry.

"I now pronounce you man and wife," says Gerard, a little huskily, surreptitiously wiping away a tear.

Tamarind turns to the guests. "Party!"

Beltaine throws her bouquet, which is caught by Margot. After a few seconds' looking surprised, she grins at Ibrahim evilly. He does not look noticeably disturbed.

The party is a huge success, with even Tristan dancing.

Sebek enjoys himself greatly, though he does knock over Eleanor and Esmée as he dances. He also manages to hit Julian with his tail. Julian doesn't fall over, but merely glares.

Damien gives Beltaine a small silver key. "It's not your wedding present - the thing it unlocks is," he says

There are many wedding presents:


After the honeymoon, Caine 'transfers' the minds of Brand and Deirdre into the chosen embryos. Because the embryos have very little brain at this point they start out unconscious, then gradually 'wake up' as the pregnancy continues until they are fully conscious at birth. Brand and Deirdre in their new Amber-blooded bodies have the same amount of life-force that they had before, in their shadow bodies. This arises from the way in which the transfer was done.

Tamarind takes Brand and Deirdre's old shadow bodies back to Shadow 'Sleeping Beauty'.

As the pregnancy continues, Tamarind monitors Brand's Trump on a daily basis.

Beltaine keeps a psychic eye on Chalice, trying to boost her a little beside her advanced 'brother' and 'sister'. She can tell when Chalice starts to develop a mind.

The pregnancy proves uneventful, unless you count the odd 'black melted baby dream'.


Margot and Ibrahim continue their work on Shadow Renaissance.


Tristan and Damien continue to bring up the Children and continue their Beloved Zombie research.


At the expected time, Beltaine goes into labour. "Drugs," she says. "Now."

Esmée, who like most of the family is a fully trained doctor, delivers the babies.

Brand and Deirdre are clearly self-aware at this point, but physically helpless babies. Chalice is a normal baby.

Beltaine tries for normal mother-child bonding with Chalice, but not the two 'changelings'. She and Tamarind are, however, caring towards all three of them,. They are raised in Amber, but with some trips to fast-time Shadows.

After a year, Brand and Deirdre are both talking and toddling about. At this point Beltaine separates Chalice from them so that she doesn't grow up with a huge inferiority complex.

Soon after Chalice's birth, Beltaine re-creates for herself the dream of the temple and apple-tree place where her 'dream wedding ceremony' took place. She puts an image of Chalice and herself into the setting. "This is my daughter, " she says/thinks to the vision. "I'll bring her to see you some day."

The Family members who weren't warned in advance of the plans for Brand and Deirdre's rebirth seem to take it tolerably well. Once they get over their initial shock.


After a year, as part of his recompense for throwing Fiona's body into the Abyss without permission, Random asks Tamarind to create a couple of SuperTrumps of Clemenstown, and to teach him a few Advanced Trump skills. This Tamarind does.


Damien teaches Ibrahim the 'Militia' spell, and Ibrahim promptly builds muskets with the spell hard-wired into them.


Julian and Felicia's wedding day arrives.

Esmée organises, and everyone is invited.

The wedding takes place in castle Arden, which is bedecked with white bunting and flowers, and has flags flying from every available point.

The Rangers have a day off, and all attends, as do Felicia's family from shadow Aretskya.

Gerard again conducts the ceremony, and Caine is best man. Esmée, Margot and some Aretskyan women are bridesmaids, while Ibrahim acts as Chief Usher.

The wedding all goes smoothly.

The reception resembles a feast crossed with a country fair, with bonfires, beer tents, archery contests and other amusements for everyone, especially the Rangers.

Julian is seen to smile. Caine tells lots of embarrassing stories.

Benedict mooches around. Beltaine introduces him to Chalice.

Damien saves some cake for Sebek.

And Julian and Felicia go off into shadow for their honeymoon.


The Next Generation

As the eight years come to an end, the Children are twelve, as are Brand and Deirdre. Chalice is about ten.

By now Damien and Ibrahim have begun to teach those children who wants to learn about swordplay and marksmanship, and to provide training in magick for those who are interested in the arcane arts. Margot also assists in this. Damien has also started taking those of them who wish to come on his collecting expeditions. All of them have come on at least one expedition, and some of them (Angelique in particular) have come along as many times as they can get away with.

Ibrahim has been teaching those of the children who are interested how to ride, and taking them out camping and hunting. He has also helped those who want a horse of their own to select a suitable animal and taught them how to care for it, insisting only that the children care for their own mounts, and do so properly.

Duncan, Luther and Beatrice definitely seem to like horses and riding, and do have horses of their own. The others, although Ibrahim's training does rub off on them a good deal, do seem to see horses more as a form of transport than anything else. Angelique seems to like hang-gliding best; Eleanor definitely prefers sailing; Octavius prefers to go by carriage; Carl just seems to have no great feelings about it one way or another.

The children have, by now, been told about their origin in general terms.


Ibrahim has also tried to introduce the children to the concept of shadow and to take them to see other worlds. One thing he did in particular was to take them to a world where Eleanor's appearance is the norm and the 'normal' looking children are the odd ones out, just to ensure that they all have an experience to match Eleanor's point of view. He seemed to use the trip as a learning opportunity for himself as well.

The rest of the nippers did understand Eleanor's problems pretty well already and so were not terribly keen on being dragged off to shadow 'Object Lesson' to be pointed at. "It's everyone else you want to drag off here, daddy Ibrahim," protested Beatrice, pouting. Ibrahim didn't let this stop him. Eleanor, though, seemed to like the Shadow quite a lot....


Chalice, Brand and Deirdre

None of Beltaine's children turn transparent at the full moon, but Chalice does seem to have inherited her mother's Voice talents, so Beltaine has taught her how to control them. Chalice has a very strong mind. She seems to be growing up happily, and spends plenty of time with the other Children. Soon after Chalice's birth, once Duncan had adapted and no longer needed him, Lucien moved into Tamarind and Beltaine's household as kind of 'principal tutor' for Chalice.

Brand and Deirdre do take an interest in Chalice. Brand seems to have an almost-against-his-will brotherly interest in her.

As they get older it becomes clear that both Brand and Deirdre's new bodies look more feminine than their original ones did.


Brand grumbles a lot about the time taken to grow up again, and how boring it is.

Beltaine tells him that he should be glad to have the chance to enjoy his childhood this time round - not a chance he gave her. She also encourages him to treat this as downtime in which he can just do stuff he usually wouldn't otherwise have time to bother with. Try and have some fun.


By the time she is ten years old, Chalice has become slender and quite tall, with a very fine-drawn beauty, long silver hair (true silver, that is, not blonde) and stunning violet eyes that seem to change colour according to her mood. She has a bewitching smile, though her expression is most often thoughtful and a little serious. She likes to dress plainly, but always in beautifully-made clothes and comfortable fabrics. She is the most beautiful of the younger generation of Amberites.

In terms of personality Chalice is serene and practical, and seems to be developing a rather intellectual persona in contrast to her intuitive, artistic parents. Chalice doesn't just want to know that something works - she wants to know how it works, and why. And how she might improve on it. Answering one of her questions inevitably produces at least three more.

Her best friend among the children is Eleanor. She is also often followed around by Miss Kitty.


The original children take to Chalice quite well; she is not, after all, in competition with them for the attention of their parents, given the distance Tamarind kept from them, certainly in the first few years of their lives. She and they get on well, and she becomes very close to Eleanor.

As for Baby Brand and Baby Deirdre, the nippers are a lot less sure about them, because although they look like children they talk and act like adults. Angelique and Beatrice take to acting not unlike Deirdre for a while, that is, acting in an adult manner. Then they get over it...

Brand simply does not make any real effort to fit in with the children. This also does not help them warm to him.

Deirdre does try a bit more to fit in with the other children, but just does not seem to know how to be a child, so that although the children do warm to her more, they do not warm to her anywhere near as much as they do to Chalice...


Separate Character Actions During The Gap Years

Beltaine Things

Later in the gap years, Beltaine asks Caine about the two black SoulStones. "They definitely contain parts of Anurerishkigal," he says. He keeps them in his pocket.


She also asks Caine to tell her if he found or will find Evander or anything related to him in Fiona's shadow. If he gives his answer as honest on his word, she'll be in his debt.

"I believe I may have found something which relates to your request," says Caine.

He goes away and returns with a spherical blue glass bottle about ten centimetres in diameter, sealed with some kind of stopper which is tightly bound into the neck. Inside the bottle is visible a swirling, faintly glowing whitish-grey mist.

"Here," says Caine, handing it over. "Do not break the seal on the bottle unless you want the contents to dissipate and fade away."

And from certain angles, under certain lights, the mist as it swirls inside forms the distorted face of Evander. Beltaine can sense that the bottle itself is magical, not entirely dissimilar to the warding which was used for holding in the black memory-sparks in shadow Moro. And inside it is a psychic presence, but a very strange one. It is Evander, the Evander she remembers from before, down to the slightly too simple feel she remembers from then, but now somehow hollow, as if whatever it is were entirely seeming and absolutely no substance. A psychic mask...

Beltaine looks at it intently for quite a long time, then sighs. "Thank you. When I can repay you, let me know," she says, rather sadly.

"I shall bear it in mind," Caine nods, and turns to go...

Beltaine keeps the blue bottle somewhere very safe in her and Tamarind's rooms in the Castle, and explains it to the rest of us when she gets the chance.


Beltaine has a house and so on constructed in the Trump-proof shadow Tristan built for her. She plants Brand's wedding present (a potted apple tree sapling which looks very much like a sapling of the apple tree from Tir-Na Nog'th) there as part of a meditation garden.

After losing or giving away most of her SoulStones, Beltaine discovers after a lot of moonlight meditation that the stones were only a 'prop' for her magickal abilities, not the source of them. However, she does need to meditate quite heavily at full moon, and ideally in Tir-Na Nog'th, for her abilities to remain at their fullest level.


Tamarind Things

Tamarind has looked into Trump suppression/draining processes, hopeful of recycling the energies from Trumps that would otherwise have to be destroyed (such as those in Brand's illegal Trumps). However, he finds that the Trump energy cannot be recycled into new Trumps with different subjects; it seems fixed into whatever form originally goes into the Trump. He finds that this energy can be carefully extracted and moved into a new Trump with the aid of another Trump-powered Device which he constructs.

As a result of this research he discovers that there seem to be two components to Trumps - the Trump-powered part that reaches out to the subject, and the psychic essence of the subject which guides the reaching out. It is this psychic essence which can be separated from the Trump-powered part and moved, but which cannot be changed.

Although not terribly useful (this movement does not, for example, allow Trumps to be copied), it does allow one to effectively turn a normal Trump into a super-Trump by transferring the psychic essence from a normal Trump into an 'empty' super-Trump.


Tamarind also succeeds in creating a Trump-powered Trump Defence device. It doesn't make the possessor fully Trump-proof, but does boost the wearers mental defences considerably, as if they were using the power of Trump Defence (so that it is of little use to someone who can already use Trump Defence, but is good for those who know little of Trump powers). He gives the device to Chalice, then makes another and gives it to Beltaine.


Beltaine and Tamarind

Together, Tamarind and Beltaine have also done research into a psychic meta-concert. That is, linking their minds to become, together, something stronger than the sum of its parts. This takes years to develop, but by the end of the eight-year gap they have mastered it. It takes practise to maintain, and requires utter trust, honesty and opening up between the participants. Each person involved could, if they wished, badly hurt the other.

The metaconcert takes minutes to activate (longer if there are significant distractions), and requires physical contact between the participants. Because of the opening up and concentration required while the metaconcert activates those involved are really quite vulnerable while this is happening, and have very few defences. However, once the metaconcert is activated the combined mind of those involved is very strong - much more so than if they were just to crudely combine their efforts, as in a group Trumping.

In the process of developing the metaconcert and learning what it feels like, Tamarind realises that the seven-fold members of Family Jesdaril of Chaos were each in a metaconcert, though, he thinks, of a somewhat different, possibly artificial form, compared to that between Beltaine and himself.


Damien and Sebek Things

Random gives Damien a bag of Bleys' possessions given to him by Caine. The possessions do not include any Trumps or useful research notes. There is a Spell Rack ring, and various Empowered items, but nothing special. Damien offers Tristan his pick of it all. Tristan chooses one memento at random, and Damien throws the rest of the stuff into the Abyss.


Sebek acquires a birthday, mainly as an excuse for him to have a party, be the centre of attention and receive presents. Damien selects the date which seems to correspond most closely to when he and Nitocris found him in Venice.


In 121 PPF, Damien takes Sebek off into shadow, shifting so as to give him opposable thumbs, of which he is very proud. Damien teaches him to shoot a crossbow and drive a chariot. A few months later, the rest of us are invited to Shadow Plinius to watch Sebek in his first chariot race at the Circus Maximus. Damien asks people to avoid using probability manipulation to help him win. Sebek isn't an astoundingly good driver, but he's very good at motivating his horses ("Run fast or I'll eat you.") and has a knack for making other chariots crash. He is also the only driver who can catch up with his own horses if he falls off.


Towards the end of the 8YG, Damien decides that Sebek is sufficiently socialised to allow him to leave the Priory on his own, subject to the usual restrictions you might place on a child (that is, tell people where he's going, be back before dark and so on). He is doubtless going to get into trouble frequently, but the rest of us should be warned that there is a chance he will turn up unannounced on their doorsteps. Tristan and Beltaine and Tamarind are liable to be the main victims, Ibrahim less so.

Damien also sends a flier around all the pubs, taverns, low dives and related licensed and unlicensed establishments in Amber and the nearby towns and villages warning them of the direst consequences if they ever serve Sebek alcohol.

Sebek now being sufficiently socialised to wander Amber on his own, does so. He encounters some reptile-men known as the Siluriad, some of live and trade in Amber, who take to him and get him drunk. Damien has warned the innkeepers of Amber against letting this happen, but a group of large and hard reptile-men can be very persuasive. The Siluriad are not deterred when Damien beats up a few of them. Since they play the bagpipes as well as plying him with alcohol, Sebek likes them a great deal...


Sebek having essentially been created by Tristan as a creature to hunt down escaped criminals, when he is allowed to wander Amber on his own he is unable to ignore crimes he sees. This leads to what becomes known collectively as the 'Velociraptor Vigilante' incidents as Sebek hunts down, kills and eats assorted Amberite criminals. These incidents do not endear him to the Watch or the citizenry as a whole, leading Damien to once again have to take Sebek in hand and stop this behaviour...

The Lady Legislator gives Sebek and Damien a hard time over these incidents, but it does lead to Sebek being taught about Due Process, so that, although he still goes after criminals, rather than killing them he now hands them over to the watch for trial and so on...


Damien asks Tamarind if he will do a couple of Trumps of the Priory (or rather, of one of its internal courtyards), mainly so that Sebek can, if necessary, be returned home quickly and easily. Damien will have one of these Trumps, Sebek will have the other. Sebek also has a Trump of Damien, but is under instructions only to use it in emergencies, and not just when he is feeling bored.

With Tristan's permission, Sebek has also been given Tristan's Trump.


By 126 PPF, the nippers' opinions of Sebek have changed from what they were when they were four.

Damien has done his best to patch up any obvious ructions between children and velociraptor ("Sebek, apologise to Eleanor for breaking her painting. And Eleanor, apologise to Sebek for calling him stupid." "No." "No.") and made it clear to all the children fairly early on that while Sebek likes them, he isn't very socially adept, and he isn't as clever as they are, and that thus they may sometimes need to exercise forbearance. He approves of Beatrice's and Luther's approach. He keeps Sebek away from Eleanor and Carl, and avoids inflicting him on Angelique and Octavius more than is necessary.


Tristan Things

Firstly, Tristan, having had Brand in his head again, walks the Pattern. Brand certainly seems not to have tampered with Tristan's memory while he was in there.


After Tamarind's actions towards Fiona, Tristan, for a while, is rather cool towards him.


Then Tristan goes and gives Random grief regarding the fact that he broke his oath to Fiona (the promises of protection, that one will be dealt with in accordance of laws of Amber and so on involved in the oath of loyalty).

He sighs. "Yes, I did break my oath. Though it was not exactly my intention that things would go as they did!"


Tristan has had a huge and flashy, but tasteful, monument to Bleys erected on Kolvir by the other Family tombs.

Random has also had a statue of him put up in the Castle's memorial gardens.

There is, at present, no memorial to Fiona, as she may or may not be alive and an enemy of Amber.


Tristan spends a lot of gap time playing with the Pattern, creating a number of shadows of destiny for a variety of different purposes. In all cases if anyone wanders into these shadows a falcon of desire will come and fetch Tristan. For any of the Amberites the shadow is in no way a trap - they can leave easily through trump or Pattern. They will however receive a message pigeon asking them to wait there for a few days, please, and that Tristan will meet them soon. In all of this he is taking great care not to cast shadows - he does not want to find that all of shadow has suddenly turned into a giant trap infested horror. However, as Tristan does not have much of a life he does spend quite a lot of time building trap shadows everywhere he goes. The shadows he makes, and the results he achieves, are:


Tristan can now create permanent shadow paths, though not very wide ones. He asks the King's permission to make some shadow paths for the inhabitants of Clemenstown so that they can trade with Amber and the Golden Circle.

Random has no objections to his making a shadow path out from Clemenstown onto one of the major shadow paths leading to Amber which will allow this (it will be much easier for Tristan to make a path which goes out to join an existing path than to make a new path going out from and then back in to Amber). When Tristan tries it, he discovers that it is amazingly hard, and very slow, to create shadow paths to and from Amber itself, but not impossible. Tristan successfully makes a shadow path, a land route out of Clemenstown and onto an existing shadow path, a paved road making up part of a mountain trail into Amber. Because of the effort involved this path is only about large enough to pass a single horse and rider at one time.


He also attempts, as well as he is able, to 'cut out' the parts of shadow containing the remaining small holes out of the land of the dead from their parent shadows and wall them off from the rest of the universe. There are a few holes whose existence we know of, but whose locations we do not know. However, with some practice, Tristan discovers that he can shift shadow towards these using the Pattern. He does this and finds and 'cuts out' all the holes in shadow. The hole in Eric's tomb in Amber he just cannot cut out as Shadow is too tough there (it is considerably closer to the Pattern than the path to Clemenstown, after all). Because he can now track Land-of-the-dead apertures from a distance, and so was able to find and seal the one where the 'Caine-blob-to-be' came through, in the depths of the sea somewhere in the Golden Circle.

Tristan makes the 'cut out' parts as unreachable as possible. That is, they are Trump proof, hard to reach with Pattern, Impossigon proof, and a shadow of Destiny that no-one is ever likely to come to.


That done, he begins reading all of Brand's notes and trying to understand them. He hopes not to have to ask Brand's help over this.

He finds that he now has some idea of what the notes are talking about, particularly those parts involving Pattern and Sorcery, but there are big chunks, magic-related, about which he has not a clue. He gets the impression that he needs to increase his understanding of Empowerment.


Tristan occasionally checks people through the life-force lens for signs of the black taint and finds no signs of contamination.


Tristan visits Benedict and reminds him that he does have living descendants - the nippers. He asks whether he wants to help train them in swordsmanship, and also tries out a few words of demon on Benedict to see if he understands them...

Benedict appears not to understand the words of Demon.

He thanks Tristan for telling him of the nippers, and perhaps perks up a very tiny bit, but declines to teach them swordsmanship by default. "If any of them want to learn from me, let them come here by their own power," he says.

"Perhaps for the best," replies Tristan. "I was thinking of bringing your great grandchildren through here as part of their education about shadow. Any objections? That would be in a few days time if you wanted to tidy up a bit."

"Very well," says Benedict.

So Tristan organises a trip to Avalon for all the nippers. This does not include Brand or Deirdre.

He suggests that Angelique, Duncan and Beatrice (that is, the ones who want to become soldiers) spar a little and see if Benedict has any hints for them. Tristan also wants to see whether Benedict is concerned when Eleanor (inevitably) has some bad luck.

In Avalon, Benedict has all of the nippers spar. And he does give a few pointers, if not with any particular enthusiasm. He does not seem terribly concerned when Eleanor falls over and bumps her head, seeming to be taking the attitude that she is, after all, an Amberite, and thus quite tough...


Ibrahim Things

Quite soon after Ibrahim takes over shadow Moro, Tamarind rescues the spy he marooned in a nearby shadow (who, with no identity there and being unable to speak the local language, is now living in the gutter and quite grateful to be rescued) and hands him over to Ibrahim.

It has taken Ibrahim about twenty-one subjective years (seven Amber years) to guide the recovery of shadow Renaissance (formerly Moro) to a point where they can get on with things on their own, with a democratic government and a society adjusting back to normal. There are still huge deep scars in the social order, but he has done what he can to heal them. Journalists have been released and press freedoms restored. Professor Branarien, the shadow of Fiona, has been painted very badly.

Renaissance has becomes a personal shadow of Ibrahim's during this time.

Over his time there, Ibrahim also helps the people of Renaissance adjust to the realisation that other worlds do exist, along with some form of afterlife. At the end of the twenty-one local years he (with Random's permission) reveals his off-world origins to the natives and that he had come there to help them with their problem. Then he leaves...


In parallel with this, Ibrahim investigates the use of magic in life-force draining. He comes up with two main approaches, neither of which have been investigated in detail, but which may yield profitable results if it becomes necessary:


Every now and again Ibrahim checks the warding cage around the hole from the land which exists in shadow Renaissance.. This seems to be continuing to function as it should - the black memory-sparks inside are at a steady level, dissipating rather than building up, and showing no signs of merging or doing anything else unexpected.


After leaving Renaissance, Ibrahim checks on his home shadow of Kieri. Everything seems well there. There are no traces of 'blood curse fever'. Jahiera's family (the Kaliphs of Kieri) are all fine. Jahiera's granddaughter, the ruler of the shadow, is sixty or so, in the prime of life for the shadow and ruling well, beloved of the people, sponsoring hospitals and so on. Satisfied, Ibrahim leaves again.


Ibrahim and Margot are still very much an item by 126 PPF.


Altair Things

Altair circumnavigates Amber in 120 PPF, sailing out from the Amber shore directly eastwards from Amber City. Her expedition finds no land masses until, after 5300 miles or so, it makes land on the coast a little to the north of Clemenstown.


At Ibrahim's request, Altair has drawn Trumps of his horse, Naseem and his eagle, Tora.


Owen Things

Owen walks Corwin's Pattern in 123 PPF, disappears, and hasn't been seen or heard from since. Attempted Trumps calls get nowhere, and birds of desire return messages undelivered (as they do with Corwin and Merlin). He had said he would try to get in touch...


Margot has been doing social reform things in Amber.


Seven-And-A-Half Years Later...

And in 125 PPF, Beltaine begins to dream about crystals. A crystal landscape, with crystal spires, viaducts and other structures.

When she wakes, she describes the scene to Tamarind, who sketches it.

Shown the sketch, Brand doesn't recognise it. He also, when asked, denies having been the raven in their shared Tir-Na Nog'th dream of years earlier.


Beltaine's next dream, some time later, is of large crystal arachnid-like creatures striding across meadows and hedgerows. She wakes herself up, and once she's calmed down goes back into the dream to see what thy are up to. About twenty of them march across the landscape, each about twice the size of a man. They are trailing fine crystalline webs behind them. She wakes with a Bad Feeling and tells Tamarind of this dream, too.

They decide to talk to the rest of us about this rather than heading off into Shadow to look for the sketched scene.


In the next dream, again some time later, the crystalline creatures are spinning a crystal structure over a castle of some kind. Beltaine is now curious enough to try to make the dream last, and when she does she finds the castle faintly familiar. It could be Castle Rosa...


In the final dream, the night before the end of the gap period, she sees a tree, and a statue of Deirdre, both wrapped in crystalline ivy, with the crystal creatures moving about in the background. She's sure now that it is castle Rosa, but with crystal stuff growing everywhere...


That morning, Random looks grim at breakfast.

"We've had news from Rosa, something's happening..." he says.

"Yes," sighs Beltaine. "There's crystal stuff growing all over it."


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