Recorded for Posterity by Iain Walker.
Title for this session by Matt Fitzgerald.
Session 1.6 Index Session 2.1
The Gap 113 PPF to 118 PPF
Damien, after returning from the land of the dead, has his hair back, but some teeth are missing and everyone is still missing the last joints of their little fingers which were 'sampled' in Chaos.
In the Castle...
Flora is bustling around trying to get people to get dressed up and ready for the Jubilee, which is very soon now.
Tristan gets dressed and goes to see if Random wants him to do anything. Random does not. He is getting dressed in the full formal regalia ready for the Jubilee.
Tamarind gets ready.
Flora informs people that the Jubilee will consist of two parts - a part in the Throne Room after which we (the Family) will stand on a balcony as a big parade goes past. All the Amber nobles will assemble in the Throne Room. Random will make speeches and announcements, then we will adjourn to the balcony.
Flora wants to stick Altair in a frilly, girly gown. "No," says Altair.
She finds her Navy dress uniform instead. However it has not been used in a while, if ever, and needs cleaning. Flora gives orders to a servant who runs off and returns with an exact pristine duplicate of Altair's uniform. Flora bustles off as Altair puts it on. Altair goes and lurks (hides) in the Library.
Damien is in the Infirmary sitting at Nitocris' bedside.
Flora enters and bustles at him. Damien looks up at her, then looks away again. "I'm busy," he says.
Flora looks scandalised. "You must come," she says. "King's orders."
"I'm busy," Damien repeats.
She says she will have some 'appropriate' clothing brought here. A servant runs off and collects some, returning in a few minutes.
Damien has the best physiotherapists in Amber summoned, then takes Nitocris off to his rooms and puts her to bed in one of his guest bedrooms. He tells his servants that two of them are to be with her at all times, and also arranges with the Castle Guard for two guards to also be outside her rooms at all times.
A servant arrives with the clothes Damien left in the Infirmary.
Elsewhere, Ibrahim is not wearing his normal desert robes to the Jubilee, but is instead dolled up as General of the Cavalry, because he is. He and Caine have consulted regarding security for the Jubilee. Ibrahim goes and inspects the troops. They are looking good. Ibrahim can see observers and snipers scattered over the castle rooftops and overlooking where the ceremony will be; nothing looks out of place. Good.
Tristan arrives at the Throne Room early. He chats to the arriving nobles. Are there any new laws they would like? Would they like duelling banned? "No, it's traditional," is the general response. 'Damn,' thinks Tristan.
"It will interesting to see how the Jubilee goes," comments Lady Marianne Karm (the head of House). "Given that Amber has not had a Jubilee in millennia."
Tamarind also arrives in the Throne Room but rather than mingling lounges on the balcony, sitting on the balustrade. He composes a light air on his lute, and observes.
In the library, Altair notices Margot arrive. "You hiding too?" Altair asks.
"For the moment," replies Margot. She is wearing a Ranger's dress uniform. They talk. Apparently Flora tried to put Margot in a gown too.
They raid the drinks cabinet, chat, and then go down to the Throne Room.
Ibrahim turns up in the Throne Room too.
Lord Issac Fulleri chats to Altair about ships. Not simply to make conversation but of the idea that a Family member with Navy connections and the head of one of the major shipbuilding concerns in Amber may have something to talk about...
Tristan covertly checks for shape-changed people among the nobles present. To his surprise he finds two - Lady Jessica Charenton and Lord Maximillian Urien. Tristan tells Ibrahim to watch Maximillian and to arrest him if he tries to leave.
Tristan then approaches Lady Jessica and asks her to come and talk about the taxing of her estates. She looks resigned, but lets Tristan lead her out into a corridor 'so they can talk privately'. Tristan shows her a document and when she looks at it he clubs her over the back of the head. She looks surprised and falls over.
Some guards are called over and Tristan has her put into a cell on charges of treason, impersonating a noble, tax evasion and escaping from lawful custody.
From examining her with the Pattern, Tristan thinks she is Perrund Burin, an arsonist. She has met her match now, boom boom!
Tristan returns to the Throne Room alone. Tamarind and a few others notice this.
Tristan then approaches Maximillian and tells him they need to talk about taxes. He leads Maximillian off and repeats the process he used on Jessica - show him a document then club him about the head. 'Maximillian' falls over. From examining him Tristan thinks he is Kenton Jeritic, a slaver.
Tristan returns to the Throne Room again and tells Ibrahim what is going on. Tamarind, noticing this a second time, Trumps Tristan, who briefly explains the situation. They cut the Trump link. Tamarind scans his Trumps.
Tristan, acting out of paranoia, scans the guards too, but none of them are impostors.
Ibrahim wanders over to Caine.
Margot points out the things that are going on to Altair. Tamarind Trumps Altair. "That is really lazy," she says.
Tamarind tells her Tristan is apprehending criminals and traitors.
"More," she says, "this is Tristan. Did they tie their shoelaces wrongly?"
Tamarind explains who they are.
Altair says Tristan's prison shadows are like Swiss cheese.
Tamarind notes that it was the CfV who broke them out.
They break the Trump link. Altair tells Margot what she has just learned.
Gerard and Julian enter together so Tamarind Trumps them to tell them what is going on.
Ibrahim talks to Caine, who has, it seems, already worked out what is going on.
Ibrahim then goes off to have a chat with Lady Solange Charenton and Lord Hymel Urien (Jessica and Maximillian's heads of House respectively).
"Bloody shapeshifters," says Margot.
"Oh, where's your sister?" asks Altair, mustering all of her innate tact and sensitivity.
"Helping to organise things with Flora," says Margot.
Tamarind Trumps Random, who is in an antechamber, being robed with the full Amber Robes of State. He tells Random the problem and what is being done about it. He says he'll have Fiona check Random's personal guard.
After breaking the Trump call, Tamarind then surveys the room for any other signs of dodginess. There don't seem to be any.
Ibrahim tells the heads of Houses Urien and Charenton that the people they thought were their relatives are not their relatives at all, but impostors.
Damien sits with Nitocris a while longer.
Tamarind Trumps Damien, and gets through. He tells Damien that more escapees from Tristan's prisons have been impersonating nobles, but everything seems to be under control. Damien declines a short cut to the Throne Room. Tamarind drops the Trump link.
Tamarind then Trumps Caleb. "Yo, Tam-man," slurs Caleb. He seems to be in his rooms, and is obviously very drunk.
"There are traitors in the Throne Room," Tamarind tells him.
"Well, that comes as a surprise to nobody," slurs Caleb. Tamarind explains in a bit more detail, then brings him through to the Throne Room, making sure Caleb won't just plummet from the balcony as he appears.
Damien sends down to the Museum for Egyptian artefacts which are in store and on display to brighten up Nitocris' room and hopefully stimulate her memories. He feels another Trump call coming on, and takes it.
It's Flora. She appears to be in the foyer of the Throne Room. She says he ought to be ready now, and that she is sure he has done everything he can "for poor Nitocris."
"I'll be down when I'm ready," says Damien.
"As long as that is in the next few minutes, preferably before the King arrives," she says, definitely not taking 'no' for an answer. "And don't forget to change."
"When I'm ready," says Damien again.
"And that will be in the next fifteen minutes?" she asks.
"Only one way to find out," responds Damien.
Flora sighs and breaks the Trump contact.
In the Throne Room trumpets blare in a long and impressive fanfare.
The assembled Amber nobility moves to the sides of the room on each side of the red carpet which leads from the doors to the thrones on their dais. Julian, Caine and Gerard head towards the throne end of the room. Margot and Altair follow, as do Tristan, Ibrahim and Tamarind. Caleb also weaves his way in that general direction. There is a lot of shuffling about as people move into position.
The huge doors into the Throne Room swing majestically open. The palace major-domo slams his staff of office into the floor with a resounding boom and announces, "Their majesties, King Random and Queen Vialle of Amber."
Stately music plays in a long, impressive fanfare. Random walks slowly in, Vialle on his arm. They are both in the full Amber robes of state which those who were there recognise as the same ones used for Random and Vialle's coronation, a hundred years ago. Random is wearing the seven-spiked Amber State Crown with the emeralds at the temples. Vialle is wearing a smaller but still very impressive crown.
Behind them come Flora and Esmée, Fiona and Bleys, and Brand and Deirdre.
They all make their way down the length of the Throne Room, where Random and Vialle mount the dais to their thrones under the huge green and white unicorn banner that adorns the wall above.
Flora looks a bit irritated. Esmée looks tired.
At this point Damien, having changed in two minutes flat, Trumps Tamarind and arrives in the Throne Room before Random and Vialle sit down. Flora gives him a Look.
As Random and Vialle arrive at their thrones, Caine holds out a hand and Benedict appears in a purple Trump rainbow. He looks tired and drawn. "Recently dried out," mutters Altair.
People look and gasp as Benedict appears.
Random glares at Caine for upstaging him as he and Vialle sit. Caine looks suitably contrite. Random whispers something to Vialle.
Everyone turns to face the thrones.
There is some shuffling about amongst the Family as various people try to avoid various other people.
Random stands up.
"His Majesty, King Random of Amber," booms the major-domo.
Everyone bows.
"I am pleased that everyone is here," says Random. "And that we have come through these hundred years - and these last few days especially. I hope we will prosper for the next hundred years, and the hundreds of years beyond that."
He talks on, reviewing the events and accomplishments of the last hundred years - Gerard and Vialle's sterling work during Gerard's regency; Tristan's return from his long exile; the new age of peace and prosperity; the expansion of the Golden Circle; the appearance of so many of the younger generation; pulling together against the Dragon; defeating the CfV; learning the truth - however disturbing - about death.
He says he has decided, upon advisement (he glances at Tristan) that it would be advantageous to declare an order of succession to the Throne of Amber. Damien looks at him intently when he says this.
"In the event of anything happening to Vialle and myself, Princess Florimel will succeed me. In the event that Princess Florimel is also unavailable, Prince Ibrahim will succeed me."
Damien smiles. 'This is good,' he thinks.
"Also," continues Random, "a number of family members have returned from shadow, or death - Princess Deirdre, Princess Fiona, Prince Bleys, and Prince Brand." He indicates them.
Bleys steps up onto the dais and swears loyalty to Random (again). He also renounces any and all claim he might have to the throne of Amber. Damien laughs internally at this, if a little incredulously. There is some clapping from the audience, but also some hissing, as Bleys swears loyalty. Tristan glares around but cannot spot who is hissing.
Bleys steps down, and Fiona steps up. Random welcomes her back to Amber (as she swore loyalty on the edge of the Abyss and has not acted against Random or Amber since then, no additional swearing of loyalty is required). There is applause as Random does so.
She steps down, and Deirdre steps up. She swears loyalty to Random (re-doing in public what was done in private after her and Brand's return from the land of the dead). Random welcomes her back, too. Deirdre steps down. There is applause as she does so.
Brand steps up. He too swears loyalty to Random, and, like Bleys, then renounces any and all claim he might have to the throne of Amber. As with Bleys there is some clapping and some hissing as Brand does so. Again Tristan cannot locate the sources.
Random thanks everyone for coming and things begin to relax a bit.
Tamarind introduces himself to Benedict. Benedict nods but does not otherwise respond.
"Good to see you again, Benedict," says Bleys, holding out his hand. Benedict looks at it but makes no move to shake. Bleys withdraws it. Damien grins.
"Can we hope to see more of you?" tries Tamarind.
"No," replies Benedict.
"Good to see you here this time," tries Tamarind.
Benedict nods.
Tamarind offers to give Benedict Trumps of people he hasn't met. Benedict nods. Tamarind gives up.
Benedict acknowledges Fiona, Flora, Julian and Gerard, and bows to Random. He nods to Margot, Esmée, Caleb, Ibrahim and Altair. But not to Damien for some reason.
Random says that, as a final thing, there are some Royal Pardons to be handed out. They are as follows:
Then we can all leave. There is a ceremonial filing out.
Tamarind introduces Benedict to people he doesn't seem to know, i.e. Altair. Tamarind says she was invaluable in defeating the CfV. Benedict nods.
Altair offers him a drink. Benedict somehow has a glass in his hand. What a lush.
We all arrive on the big balcony which forms the top of the portico to the main doors into the castle from the main courtyard. Chairs are arranged in front of the large, imposing statue of Oberon looking down into the (large!) main courtyard. Flags of Amber are flying from the several flagpoles over the portico. The weather outside is perfect, sunny and bright, but not too hot.
The Family is seated in age order, with children seated by their parents. Tristan, not wanting a fight to break out, offers to swap with Damien. Damien's gratitude wins out over his suspicion and he finds himself seated next to Caleb, who is still drunk.
Below, the parade begins. It starts here and will wind off all around the city below to return here to the castle again. There are marching bands, soldiers in dress uniform, floats from most of the organisations in the city (the ones from the Amber Navy and the richer trade guilds are the most impressive) and things of that nature. There are people from all over the Golden Circle there too, not just inhabitants of Amber. The parade looks like it will be going on for a long time.
Caleb slumps beside Damien, looking bored (and drunk).
Servants wander about serving champagne.
The parades and march-pasts continue. And continue.
Then there is a tinkle of breaking glass. Esmée has dropped her champagne flute. She is sweating and appears to be in pain. Her right hand looks as if the skin, while still skin-coloured, is liquid...
Damien jumps up. "What's wrong?" asks Gerard, concerned.
"We need to get her inside," says Damien
Two of Esmée's fingers fall off. They look more like blobs than actual fingers. When they hit the floor they start to crawl away. Ibrahim captures them. Where the fingers detached from just looks like the same skin-coloured liquid; there are no bloody stumps or anything.
Damien wraps her hand in a cravat and picks her up. She feels floppy and boneless. Urk.
Tamarind is concentrating on a Trump.
Damien indicates to Caine that he is needed. "Get Tristan," he says.
Brand, Julian, Margot, Altair and Tristan follow Damien inside. Caine brings the escaped fingers. Julian seems not terribly surprised by the revelation that Esmée is a shapeshifter, more concerned about what is happening to her. We all Trump off to Tamarind's shadow, the fast-time villa.
As they arrive Esmée's lower arm (wrapped in Damien's cravat) falls off. Damien catches it.
Tamarind asks her how she feels. "Numb," she says.
"Can you do something magical?" Tamarind asks Damien. Then he tries to initiate mental contact with her. He can sense her fear and confusion and numbness. Her aura feels fragmented. He tries to radiate positive emotions at her.
The detached hand and lower arm is writhing in Damien's grasp. He can sense no magical effects.
Tristan cannot sense anything wrong with her Pattern imprint but he too can sense that her aura and life force seem fragmented, as if she is somehow subdividing.
Tamarind touches her detached fingers and tries to make mental contact with them. He does. They have independent psyches, but feel as if they are part of Esmée. They feel as if they are subdividing too. "We need to unite these psyches," he announces.
Tristan brings the Pattern to mind and radiates Pattern energy about himself, with Esmée in the radius of effect. It seems to do little good, so he stops.
Altair wonders if a place in which shapeshifting was easier would help? "No," says Tamarind emphatically.
Instead, Tristan attempts to shift shadow to find somewhere where shapeshifting is difficult or impossible.
In Amber, Ibrahim is continuing to watch the parade. He has an idea, and Trumps Tamarind. When Tamarind takes the call he suggests that Caine's anti-shapeshifting poison might help.
"That's a poison," says Damien, joining the link.
Ibrahim wonders if perhaps the CfV messed with Esmée's shapeshifting abilities. Damien passes this on to everyone else. Ibrahim breaks the Trump contact.
Damien finds a sealed container and puts Esmée's hand in it. He puts his cravat in too rather than try to wring it out.
Caine takes Esmée's other, intact, hand and appears to be trying to bolster her efforts to hold herself together.
Back in Amber, the parade continues but the elders are not paying as much attention to it as they were. Bleys and Fiona are whispering. Random looks concerned but is paying attention to the parade because he is the King and so has to. Ibrahim pays attention to the King's safety.
Tamarind and Altair mindlock the errant bits of Esmée, but they are dividing and subdividing all the time so that while, individually, their minds are weak, eventually the numbers will become too many to handle.
Damien asks whether Esmée's concentrating on her own Trump would help, or if we could reintegrate her by concentrating on her Trump and bringing her through. The Trump Artists present say no.
Tamarind, before Damien can suggest it, suggests that Caine put Esmée's spirit in another body - he volunteers his own, before Damien can volunteer his. Caine nods. He takes Tamarind's hand in his free hand and Tamarind feels something moving inside him as Esmée's spirit flows from her into him.
Tamarind feels the fingers of his left hand go numb. He points this out to the others. "We need to get her round the Pattern," he suggests. His little finger drops off as his left hand turns liquid.
Caine has a Trump of the guardroom at the entrance to the Pattern room. He concentrates upon it.
"Let's go to the Pattern room," says Damien. "Someone keep Esmée's body together" (Altair is onto this) "Tamarind walks the Pattern and I walk behind them to pick up the pieces." This is accepted as a plan.
Caine passes Tamarind/Esmée and Damien through, then comes through himself.
Caine orders the guards there to stand aside and Tamarind sprints for the Pattern with Damien close behind. Damien sacrifices his shirt to wrap Tamarind's left arm, which is starting to suffer creeping disintegration.
Tamarind steps onto the Pattern, with Damien a few paces behind.
Upstairs, Random glazes over as if getting a Trump call. "Hmmm," he says. "Tamarind and Damien are walking the Pattern after Trumping to the guardroom with Caine. It appears Tamarind has Esmée inside him and is now suffering the same affliction as her. They are trying to cure it, it seems."
Deirdre looks concerned and asks to be passed through. Random sends her down to the guardroom.
Out in shadow, Tristan's attempts to find a shadow where shapeshifting does not work seem to be meeting with little success. He feels he is making no progress towards anything, simply moving.
Tamarind makes his way along the Pattern. It does not seem to be helping in stopping Esmée's disintegration - he can feel numbness spreading up his left arm. He can feel that Esmée is trying to help. He also notices Deirdre come in and watch from near the start of the Pattern.
He pushes through the first veil and his memories begin to flash past from childhood to now. But unlike last time, now they are mixed with flashes of Esmée's memories. He can feel that she is getting flashes of his memories, too.
Esmée growing up in Castle Arden, being scared of Julian, being ignored by Julian, being jealous of Margot for all the attention she got from Julian...
Tamarind feels his body changing shape, out of his control. "It's my shapeshifting," says Esmée inside his mind.
Close behind, Damien sees Tamarind's form changing, to Esmée, then to a golden-furred leopard limping on three legs, then to Esmée's war form, then to various animals and people...
Mentally, Tamarind tells Esmée that this is interesting, and almost makes it worthwhile having bits of himself fall off and crawl away. Esmée's response to this is not recorded.
Flashes of Esmée learning magic from her mother. Her coming to really resent Julian. Her walking the Pattern for the first time (this gets rather recursive for a while).
Tamarind's left arm falls off. Damien catches it, and rescues various bits that fall off and try to escape. They wriggle.
Esmée out in shadow, where she comes to teach herself shapeshifting as a rebellion against and escape from Julian. Esmée meeting Damien and falling into and out of love with him; there are some rather graphic memories involved with this. Esmée meeting and becoming friends with Beltaine.
Tamarind gets very short of breath. Esmée is exerting herself and this is drawing on his reserves (which are not the greatest) over and above the effort required to walk the Pattern. More bits fall off. Damien catches them. By this time his entire left arm has gone, and he is starting to lose his shoulder.
Tamarind/Esmée reaches the Final Veil. It is extra-double-plus-hard for them, and they almost do not make it through, but finally, after a major struggle, they do. Tamarind collapses in the centre, almost unconscious. He now looks like a one-armed cross between himself and Esmée.
Damien also slowly pushes his way through the Final Veil and falls to his knees besides them. It was bloody hard for him too, not having slept in nearly two days.
Tamarind fumbles for his Trumps.
"We need a slow time shadow," says Damien. "To give Tristan time to find somewhere where this doesn't work."
Tamarind grips Damien with his remaining hand and uses the Pattern to go to the boring slow time shadow where he stored the comatose shadow Deirdre and shadow Brand which the spirits of the real Deirdre and Brand now inhabit. He brings Damien along with him. Plink.
Tristan feels that his shadow shifting is not getting anywhere. So he stops and Trumps Damien.
In the slow time shadow (a featureless grey plain extending to the horizon under featureless grey sky; there is no source to the dull illumination and although clearly outdoors the place has a sense of confinement as if one is really indoors) Tamarind mentally suggests to Esmée that they might try the Abyss, as it scours things away. Esmée is incredulous. Just as well Damien didn't hear.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Trumps Caine, who is still in the Pattern room.
When he gets through he suggest that he (Ibrahim, that is) go to a fast-time shadow and once there hang some spells to put bodies in stasis while a solution is found. Caine says Altair, Julian and Brand are currently in Tamarind's fast-time shadow.
In that shadow, Altair is losing the battle to keep Esmée's body together. Brand is helping but it is clear that even he will lose in the end.
Altair asks Julian to Trump Fiona.
Damien is getting ready to Trump Julian, but before he does he gets a Trump call. It's Tristan. "Any luck?" asks Damien.
"Doesn't look like it," he replies.
"We are in a slow time shadow," says Damien. "Walking the Pattern didn't work."
"Well, radiating Pattern didn't work either," responds Tristan.
"There is a difference," notes Damien.
"We'll keep looking," says Tristan determinedly. He drops the Trump link.
Then Tristan Trumps Bleys.
Damien concentrates on Julian's Trump.
Ibrahim Trumps Julian and comes through to Tamarind's villa. He says he will hang a stasis spell, and goes off to one of the other rooms in the villa to do so.
At this point, Julian is Trumped by Damien. Damien tells him to pass Altair and Esmée's body through to our slow time shadow. We need more time for Tristan to find a place which stops the process. Julian tells Damien Ibrahim's plan.
"Tell him to hurry," says Damien.
Altair, Esmée's body, Brand and Julian all go through the Trump link to Damien.
Tamarind holds his and Esmée's Trumps and they concentrate upon them. This slows the disintegration down a little, but not significantly.
Julian Trumps Fiona, and she comes through the Trump link. She begins to help Altair and Brand hold Esmée's body together.
Damien Trumps Caine. Caine takes the call and he and Deirdre also come through to the slow time shadow. Damien summarises the situation for them. Deirdre looks very concerned for Tamarind.
Elsewhere, Tristan gets through to Bleys.
He tells Bleys that he is trying to shift to somewhere where shapeshifting will not work. Bleys looks dubious, and says he doesn't think this is possible. Shapeshifting is a Real power that works anywhere, even on the Pattern. But he will give it a try anyway. He comes through to Tristan.
He stands still and concentrates for a while. "This way," he says confidently, leading off.
In the fast-time villa, Ibrahim finishes hanging spells and finds that everyone else has gone. He Trumps Damien. From Damien's point of view (twenty-five times slower than Ibrahim's) only a few minutes have passed. Damien brings Ibrahim through.
Deirdre blibbers a bit on seeing Tamarind. "How can I help?" she asks.
"Stop them leaving," says Tamarind, meaning the errant bits of himself.
"Join them mentally and help them keep themselves together," says Damien. Deirdre does this thing.
"Get Esmée back in her own body, then put her in stasis," says Damien.
"Have you asked them?" asks Ibrahim (meaning about his plan).
"It's a slow time shadow. I haven't had time," says Damien.
Ibrahim asks Tamarind and Esmée. They say yes.
Caine transfers Esmée's spirit back into her own body.
"we'll fix this," says Damien ... mainly to Esmée, let's be honest.
Tamarind's shape immediately snaps back from the Tamarind-Esmée hybrid to his own, but he is still missing his left arm and a big chuck of shoulder; it looks almost as if something big has bitten his arm off at the shoulder. The numbness in his shoulder he was feeling as his body liquefied fades as the flesh visibly re-solidifies until what is there just feels normal; there is no pain or blood.
Esmée's body twitches as her spirit flows back into it. Tamarind smiles at her and she smiles back. She looks at Damien. Damien has a very intense expression but tries to smile at her. Then Ibrahim's spell goes off and she freezes in place. Ibrahim realises that the spell only worked because she let it.
Esmée's errant bits are still active though, trying to escape and fragment further.
Ibrahim uses another Stone Binding spell to freeze the two sets of missing parts in place. They are put into two separate piles so they do not get mixed up.
In shadow, Bleys and Tristan realise they are getting nowhere, so Tristan Trumps Damien.
Ibrahim's spell seems to be holding Esmée and stopping any further disintegration.
Tamarind gives Deirdre a rather shaky one-armed hug. She hugs him back fiercely.
Ibrahim thinks of Dr Mesmer's mosquitoes and Esmée's itchy arm. But Esmée said she was not bitten.
At this point Damien feels a Trump call coming on. He takes it. It's Tristan. Damien tells him what has happened.
Tristan wants to come through but when he suggests this Damien suggests we need to research what happened to her in Amber. Damien has no ulterior motive at all here. Tristan says he will go back to Amber, drops the link to Damien and Trumps Gerard.
Tamarind says he thinks this is a uniquely personal problem for Esmée. He suspects that the trauma of recent days has triggered this, and says her shapeshifting was learned in response to her upbringing. She didn't want to be what she was, and thinks that this is something similar, but more extreme. He speculates that this is a psychological escape mechanism, given a physical form, arising from the trauma she suffered in Hell/Aximia. Brand nods sagely at this. Julian is more expressionless than normal.
"She needs to work this through," concludes Tamarind.
Damien suggests that we need to keep her in a confined area so bits cannot escape, and someone needs to be in there with her - inside her mind with her, that is.
"That won't be much good if she deliquesces away in five minutes," points out Altair.
"The anti-shapeshifting poison?" Tamarind asks Caine.
"You must have separated the components - the poison and the shape-shifting inhibitor," says Damien.
"Er, yes," says Caine, slightly taken aback. Doh!
Tamarind takes Julian aside and with much genuine tact tells him that Esmée became what she is rather than be the daughter she thought she was to Julian. That is, second best and ignored.
Julian allows that he was not the father he could have been.
Tamarind says that only he - or possibly Damien - can help her now.
"You realise ... that what she experienced ... in that hell ... was not the way ... it was," says Julian.
Tamarind realises, from Esmée's memories, that this is true. She saw him as neglectful, distant, cold and favouring Margot, but not some hideous abuser. "She does not actively hate you," says Tamarind. "You need to show her that you care. You need to convince her of this or lose her forever."
Julian looks sad.
Tamarind says he will not repeat any of this to the others unless is becomes necessary (necessary for Esmée's sake, one assumes).
Julian seems grateful for this. He and Tamarind rejoin the others.
Tristan arrives back on the balcony beside Gerard. The parade is still going on below. He updates the others on what is going on, then watches the parade. "How long is it likely to last?" he asks.
"Another couple of hours," he is told.
Servants appear to be propping up Caleb at this point
Tristan sends servants off to tell people off to investigate Esmée's movements and also find out what Dr Mesmer had been doing recently.
Damien suggests that the best person to be in Esmée's head may be himself, or Margot, or...
Tamarind suggest that Damien build the bridge to Esmée for Julian. "I was thinking that," says Damien. "Unless someone was going to try to stop me."
It would appear that no-one was planning to.
Tamarind says that he is tired and not thinking clearly.
Damien points out that he has been thinking more clearly than the rest of us. "And for myself, thank you," concludes Damien.
Fiona says that there is not much else she can do here. Damien thanks her for what she has done. She nods, and leaves by Trump, vanishing in a purple rainbow.
Ibrahim Trumps Tristan, who is still on the balcony. Tristan takes the call. Ibrahim tells him we need quick shadow transport. Tristan quickly obtains Random's slightly long-suffering permission to leave the balcony once again and comes through.
"You mentioned shifting shadow?" asks Tristan.
We explain that we want somewhere enclosed with the same magic of shadow as here, to keep the binding spells intact.
Tristan asks if we could put Esmée in a shadow body to save wear and tear on her own? The rest of us think this is a good idea. Especially if her shapeshifting could be more easily contained with Caine's formula that way. Brand and Caine seem to think that this is a way forward.
Tristan uses the Pattern to summon a stretch-carriage of his desire, all glossy black, drawn by eight large black horses, with a single coachman. The quite surprises Tamarind, who had thought that this shadow was utterly empty. We all climb aboard and off we go.
Tamarind is wrecked at this point, but when Damien suggests Deirdre take him back to Amber he says he wants to see it through to the end. "Fair enough," says Damien, who thinks he has more than earned it.
Tristan shifts shadow with a speed no more than normal, but carefully keeping the magic the same so as not to destroy the spell on Esmée. After a bit we arrive in an inn beside a rough road through conifer woods. Beside it is a big rubber ball with a door in it. As we come up the inn sign seems to read 'The Ball and Conifer', but upon arrival it turns out the inn is named 'The Traveller's Rest'. However, there is a large red cross crudely painted on the door. Tristan decides it is a false alarm and there is no plague. Or it means something else entirely in this shadow.
Caine lends Tristan the Trump of the shadow Amber where Tamarind started when he was looking for the bodies of shadows of Amberites. Damien volunteers to go with him. Tamarind tells Tristan of Esmée's happiest memories - learning to ride, helping an injured badger, being in Amber, big parties, being with Damien. This guides Tristan's choices. He and Damien Trump off.
Upon arrival Damien notes that she should have a body looking like her own was before she started melting. And not the bleached buzz-cut version Tamarind found last time. Tristan starts shifting shadow and before long they have four comatose shadows of Esmée, all of which meet Damien's criteria.
They Trump back to the others.
Upon arrival Damien approaches Margot, who looks nervous, but lives with it. "Is there anything I can say to Esmée?" he asks. "You were talking together, trying to work through what happened to the two of you inside Aximia. I'm not asking for myself, but for Esmée."
Margot nods jerkily, and mentions the badger and how she was happier leaving Arden.
Tamarind tells him what it was like having ones body dissolving. Several other people listen with morbid curiosity. Damien notes that he has been hung on a meat hook, dissected, eaten by piranhas and so on. He'll live. But it is useful to know, thank you.
There is a discussion of how to keep Esmée's spirit from flying apart any further.
Damien decides that we want a Dream Walk. A dream environment which will restrict her disintegration. A mixture of a binding and a dream possession/sharing sort of thing. Damien asks Ibrahim to get 'The Dream Diaries of Randolph Carter' from the library in the Museum. Tristan has got us into a fast time shadow. This is good.
Tamarind has staked his claim to a bed in the inn. Damien does likewise. Margot and Julian also stay behind.
Tristan, Ibrahim, Altair, Deirdre and Caine all Trump back to Amber.
In Amber the parade has finally finished and now the time has arrived for the celebratory dinner/banquet/booze-up. All of us who have returned to Amber turn up in the main dining hall, apart from Ibrahim who speeds down to the Museum for the Dream Diaries. The others bring people up to date on events over dinner.
Tristan explains things properly to the heads of Houses Charenton and Urien, how their members had been subverted or replaced by CfV evil-shapeshifting. That's what happened. Sorry.
Tamarind flops into a bed in the inn.
Damien does likewise. Before he gets to sleep Tamarind comes to see him and asks him whether Esmée is fully in stasis, mentally speaking? Yes, says Damien, incoherent with approaching sleep. Damien points out that he is trying to sleep so he can prepare the spell when fresh. Tamarind goes away. They both sleep.
Damien sleeps for five hours (local time) before starting on his spell.
In Amber...
Ibrahim is let into the Museum and quickly finds the Dream Diaries in the Museum's library. He Trumps Margot and passes the diaries through to her, then returns to the castle in time for dinner.
At dinner...
"If there is a great threat to Amber should we bother to tell you?" Tristan asks Benedict.
"Yes," says Benedict.
Dinner continues.
A servant brings a three copies of a report for Tristan, Ibrahim and Altair. The investigations ordered earlier have been done. They say that Esmée had been doing her part with the preparations for the Jubilee. Nothing unusual, basically. Dr Mesmer allegedly came from the Golden Circle shadow of Appalonia, a place noted for the quality of the medics it produces. She joined the infirmary staff two months ago and had done nothing suspicious up to the point where she was killed by ninjas.
In the inn, Tamarind and Damien wake. Damien finds the Dream Diaries waiting for him when he wakes, left for him by Margot. Tamarind experiences the joys of washing and dressing with only one hand and arm. They breakfast on some of the inn's plentiful food supplies - tinned and preserved stuff. Tamarind checks on Esmée's state, and it turns out that she is psychically as well as physically frozen.
In Amber, dinner finishes and the Ball begins. All the great and the good of Amber and the Golden Circle are there.
Caine dances with Leonora Kesht, Caleb's mother, plus all the other women present. Bleys also dances with all the women there. Altair tries to stand on Bleys' feet when he is an arrogant git, but he is too fast and she misses.
Brand dances with about half of the women there - the ones who will have him. Altair is one of this half. Brand is more than a little out of practise.
Many women dance with Ibrahim, but several ask him where Damien is. Jaheira dances with several men, but seems to settle on a noble from the Golden Circle shadow of Roynova. She leaves with him, but as far as Ibrahim is concerned she is the head of the Clan so she can do what she likes...
Fiona dances with one or two people, mainly from Houses Charenton and Karm. Flora dances with all the men present, but favours none.
And eventually the ball winds down...
In the inn, Damien chants and forms the spell, using information from the Dream Diaries.
Margot wanders about. Tamarind talks to her. "How are you holding up?" he asks.
"I'll manage," she says.
"But it's hard," she says a bit later.
He talks to her about Esmée. She opens up to him more than she did to Damien, and also says more about herself to him than she has ever done to Tamarind before. From what she says, Tamarind gets the impression that she thinks Julian wanted a son, and thus raised her as such, investing everything in her and having nothing left for Esmée.
"That leaves you with an important part to play," says Tamarind. "What I have learned here will help with your sister."
"I've only really started to talk to her since ... this," says Margot sadly.
Tamarind tells her that Damien cares for Esmée, as does she, as her father. He was feeling melancholy this morning, he continues, "but now I shall compose something more up-beat."
He goes and does this thing, learning a bit more about living with only one hand while doing so.
It takes about three (local) days for Damien to put the spell together; if he wasn't already fairly well versed in magic of this nature it would have taken him considerably longer. He tries to make it harder to get out of once the target is in it, rather than harder for the target to resist in the first place. This is just in case Esmée has any second thoughts...
In Amber the morning after the Jubilee, Tristan pumps the prisoners (the impostors) for information. They won't talk. But Caine has already 'talked' to them. Hmmm.
Damien finishes his spell, then Trumps Caine and brings him through to the inn. Damien then Trumps Ibrahim and brings him through too. He wants him to deal with the Stone Binding spell he set up earlier. "I would do it myself," says Damien, "but..."
Caine Trumps Tristan and brings him through too.
Margot Trumps Julian in from wherever he has got to.
Tristan Trumps Altair and brings her through too.
We are all here.
Damien asks if anyone else has anything they can tell him that might help. Tamarind takes him aside and tells him things he got from his appreciation of Esmée's memories and his conversation with Julian. "I trust ... no, I know that as a gentleman you will not repeat any of this..." Tamarind concludes.
"Thank you," says Damien, nodding.
We all troop out to the big rubber ball which is tethered to the ground by the inn, and enter via its door.
Damien asks Caine to put both him and Esmée into the shadow Esmée's body after inoculating the body with the shapeshifting inhibitor drug. Caine nods and does this thing.
Then Ibrahim releases the Stone Binding spell on Esmée. As soon as he does, bits of Esmée fall off and start to crawl away. They are captured.
Caine transfers her spirit out of her real body and into the shadow Esmée. Once this is done Ibrahim re-Stone Binds her real body.
The shadow body twitches and becomes incredibly tense as if it is trying to shapeshift, but cannot. Her eyes open. There is the sound of a bone breaking. Damien takes her hand and asks her if he can cast a spell on her. "Things will become strange," he says. "Please trust me."
Esmée slowly nods. The slowness seems to be as much from problems with this body as from reluctance. Another bone is heard to break.
Damien casts his spell and feels it take effect. Esmée is in weird dream-land.
Damien holds out his hand to Caine. He takes it and Damien feels his spirit being pulled from his body and passed through Caine into the shadow Esmée. Another of its bones is heard to break.
Damien's body collapses. And he is falling ... into Esmée.
The falling stops and he arrives ... hovering over what appears to be Forest Arden, but darker, the trees twisted into nightmare shapes. In the distance Castle Arden is visible, looking perhaps larger and darker than in reality. In the opposite direction, seeming very far away despite its apparent size, Damien's Priory is visible with, beyond it, something like Tamarind's villa. The colour of the forest is different around the villa to match that of Tamarind's shadow.
Sounds of barking are audible from below.
Damien drifts down.
A number of figures are visible running through the woods, away from Castle Arden and towards the Priory. They are all Esmée, but they are all different versions of her; clothing, hair, apparent age and general look all vary from one to another. They are pursued by many Stormhounds directed by a Big Evil Julian who is riding a Big Evil Morgenstern; he appears to be twelve feet tall or more. Each time a Stormhound snaps at an Esmée she splits up into more Esmée's who scatter away into the trees.
Damien pulls out Wilkes (his pistol) and shoots at the Stormhounds. It works, and a stormhound is knocked off its feet but seems otherwise unhurt. Then, as he can feel that magic works here, Damien begins to cast spells.
He confronts the twelve foot tall Julian and tells him that he is not real. Even if Esmée thinks he is. 'Julian' is not convinced. He lightning bolts Damien, which does not seem to do as much damage as it should, but does tumble Damien way off into the distance.
He zips back.
As he does so he notices that each time the running Esmée's are split into more by the Stormhounds they are shrinking. Urk.
Damien goes for Julian, who is now 40' tall.
As he does so he tells Esmée, mentally, that she should not be afraid because it is not real, that he loves her, and it is not how her father really is, and ... Help!
Outside, Tamarind and Altair are monitoring the dream session as the shadow Esmée's body continues to strain and twitch, breaking bone upon bone. They note the situation inside Esmée and judge this as not good. "Julian, go in!" they shout.
Caine facilitates this. Julian's body collapses as his mind slides out of his body and into the shadow Esmée.
Damien, inside Esmée, is trying to clear a passage for the Esmée's through the nightmare trees of 'Arden'.
Then another Julian appears, hovering in the air. Damien can sense that this really is Julian. He takes in the scene for a second, then his armour disappears, leaving him in shirt and trousers. He floats down in front of several of the Esmée's.
"Please," he says, "I was ... wrong."
"I am ... sorry. I would not ... treat you like that, ever. Please ... do not die."
"This is the real Julian," Damien tells the Esmées. "Listen to him."
Stormhounds fall onto the real Julian.
Damien tells Esmée that this is the real Julian. He witters on about how she is not alone, this is her real father and he is sorry.
Julian, from under the pile of Stormhounds, says sorry. Repeatedly.
As this goes on the numbers of Esmée's seem to be falling until there is only one, back at full size. The dream-Julian is shrinking too, smaller and smaller until he vanishes.
Damien tells Esmée that this is the person she should listen to. He is not the father she knew when she was young.
Esmée says she would like to talk to her father now.
Damien kisses her on the cheek, puts his hand on Julian's shoulder and says, "I'm ready."
He is plucked out of the shadow-Esmée's body and returned to his own.
We let the two of them sort things out.
Tristan carts the three other unconscious shadow Esmée's through shadow to a Nice Hospital Ward where they will be cared for, and may wake up soon.
Altair Trumps Caine and tells him not to eavesdrop on Julian and Esmée. He smiles in an 'as if I would' manner.
And we wait...
As it becomes obvious that this might be a long wait, at Ibrahim's insistence intravenous drips and the like are set up to keep the unconscious bodies going. Fortunately the inn seems to be well enough supplied to provide for everyone who is here now for quite a while.
A week later, Caine says, "They have finished."
He puts Julian's spirit back into his own body.
Julian and Esmée wake. They look at each other. Margot looks between the two of them. "How did it go?" she asks.
"Better," says Esmée.
Caine offers to put Esmée back into her real body, which is no longer disintegrating. She agrees, and in she goes.
The various bits of Esmée and Tamarind are also (carefully) released from their Stone Bindings. They are docile but show no signs of reintegrating with Esmée under their own volition. Although it can be sensed that they are still fragments of Esmée (all of them, including the ones that formed from Tamarind's body) they no longer seem to be part of her. This is proved further when Esmée fails to consciously reintegrate them. So she simply shapeshifts herself a new arm, becoming much thinner in the process due to the amount of body mass she has lost, but intact. Tamarind watches this a little jealously.
Esmée digs into a pile of sandwiches provided by Altair.
The others withdraw, leaving Damien, Esmée and Julian alone.
Hands are shaken all round, and Esmée kisses Damien on the cheek.
The three of them go into the inn, where Damien pours drinks.
Five years pass...