"Now These Her Princes Are Come Home Again"

SESSION 3.14 : A Mutually Agreeable Solution?


Session 3.13   Index   Session 4.1


Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.


About four months after taking back Amber, we have removed God from many shadows through use of The Eater. Then The Eater has been stopped. For now.

Gerard has been investigating where the residents of Amber who Etienne deported have been deported to, but has had little success so far.


Out in shadow, the bird of desire carrying our message heads towards Etienne.


Jihx suggests going to Ahnel to remove God from it, too. This suggestion gets The Eater all excited, but then Jihx decides to wait until we hear back from Etienne before doing anything that might be construed as hostile.

Skyrie ponders letting The Eater feed in Hell.

Skyrie and Jihx also ponder on going to visit Hell to have a bit of revenge on the demonic residents and the city of Dis. Skyrie thinks that using the Pattern to teleport directly into Hell may be a way of getting to Hell without having to be dead.

Whippoorwill is worried that if they try this they may all end out in the same situation as before, i.e. dead and stuck in Hell.

Gerard suggests that any attempt to get into Hell should only go ahead if Arun assists, as he is the only one who had any powers in Hell. Also, Arun will be necessary to create new bodies for Godofos, Lillian and Vialle.

Arun goes off and makes new bodies for everyone, using the Connor and Nemain templates for Godofos and Lillian, and a normal body for Vialle.

The others go off into shadow and attempt to shift shadow into Hell. Unfortunately, all attempts at moving towards Hell results in our coming up against the non-Real 'moat' around the area of shadow Etienne has sealed off. We decide to give up attempting to shift shadow into Hell for now.

Skyrie goes off to research an 'Opening A Gate To Hell' spell, similar to the one Etienne used previously. Unfortunately, he can only really do this in a shadow with a God, so there is some considerable dodging of God's wrath while he works on this...


In her area of shadow, Etienne receives a bird of desire carrying a letter from the other Amberites. She reads it, then consults with God regarding the terms listed in it.

Etienne is of the opinion that although she and God are safe at present, it is entirely possible that at some point in the future the others may find a way, or develop the power, to break through the wall around her shadows, which will not be a good thing.

She thinks that freeing Godofos, Lillian and Vialle from Hell is a reasonable request, and departing from the home shadows of the other Amberites is also a good idea.

God wonders whether the Amberites can be trusted to keep any promises they make.

Etienne is unsure about this. Etienne and God also agree that they do not like the idea of being unable to expand God's realm any further, which is one of the more highly emphasised parts of the letter. God tells Etienne that as His most favoured servant she has His full authority to negotiate with the Amberites on His behalf.

They decide to release Vialle as a show of good faith, but to keep the others as bargaining chips in the negotiations. Etienne decides to set up a cross-shadow video-conference as the best way to conduct said negotiations without putting herself into the hands of the Amberites.

However, as Etienne and God consider this, they decide that releasing Lillian would be better than releasing Vialle, so Etienne uses the Pattern to obtain a brain-dead shadow of Lillian (a peasant who suffered a very bad head injury; this Etienne heals by magic, leaving the comatose body in her palace). This done, she goes down into Hell to collect Lillian's soul.

Lillian is still up to her knees in the boiling blood of the River Phlegethon. She appears less than pleased to see Etienne, hovering above her. Etienne tells her that she is to be released. She asks why, so Etienne tells her about the negotiations and about her being released as a show of good faith, as well as to carry a message to the other. Unsurprisingly, although not happy to see Etienne, Lillian does not object to being taken out of Hell. Etienne takes her hand and they leave Hell, where Lillian's soul is placed into the shadow body.

She looks down at herself and pats her lower legs, as if to confirm that she is not actually still up to her knees in boiling blood... However, notices the rough peasant's smock the body is wearing, and seems to quickly recognise that the body she is now in is not hers, and says so. Etienne tells her that her cousins will explain all.

Lillian is given a list of instructions on how to reach shadow 'video-conferencing'; Etienne intends to set it up so that it is a Shadow of Destiny which the others will be unable to avoid passing through if they head in its general direction.

Etienne takes Lillian out of the walled area of shadow with the message, then Trumps the Amber arrival courtyard. Once contact is made, Lillian is passed through the Trump link to Amber. Etienne waits to make sure that Lillian is not immediately shot down by the guards (she is not), then drops the Trump link and heads off into shadow. As she goes she asks God to move Vialle and Godofos out of where they are in Hell and place them into Limbo (the first circle of Hell, a pleasant place for virtuous pagans) for the time being.


Before long she finds a pair of shadows which should form a basis for the 'Video Conferencing Shadows' she wants. A pair of high-magic, high technology shadows, both named Earth. She modifies one to be the Shadow of Destiny the others will arrive at, giving it a magic-friendly environment at the same time. The other shadow has God within it, and once Etienne is done is also Trump proof and very difficult to get to with normal Pattern. Technology works in an identical manner in both shadows, and the only link between them is an inch wide shadow path between them containing a network link, through which the video conferencing will take place.

On each side of the shadow path is a modern luxury hotel, each with modern video conferencing facilities. The hotel for the other Amberites resembles the Sheraton Hotel New York. The one for Etienne resembles the Sheraton Hotel Rome. Etienne ensconces herself in the Jacuzzi of Sheraton Hotel Rome and waits for a response from the others...


It is noted at this point that Skyrie never made a pledge of loyalty to Gerard when he arrived in Amber, what with Gerard being dead at the time and all.


Meanwhile, Whippoorwill is wandering through shadow experimenting with his new Pattern powers. He conjures up armies to see how big he can make them and how many men he can move through shadow. He discovers that he can lead up to about thirty thousand men through shadow, all the way to Amber. He also discovers that he can summon up his vehicle, his minions and his horse, at any point in shadow.


Caitlin is also in shadow, doing things, having got bored with Amber.


Skyrie is still in shadow researching his 'Opening A Gate To Hell' spell.


In Amber, a servant brings Jihx a note from Gerard, which says that a message has arrived, and asks Jihx to meet him in the Blue Conference Room. Jihx makes his way to the specified location, and arrives to see someone who looks a great deal like Lillian, though in peasant garb.

He greets her, Gerard, and Arun, who has also turned up since the message was sent. Arun appears to be holding the hand of another copy of Nemain; in reality he is merged with it, moving it and keeping it alive. They greet him in return and Lillian confirms that she is who she appears to be, and relays the story of her release by Etienne.

Gerard reads out the message from Etienne:

'...Head off in this direction and you will come to a shadow where we will be able to negotiate without you feeling threatened by myself or God. I have released Lillian as a sign of my good faith.'

It is signed, 'Etienne'.

Arun offers the new copy of Nemain to Lillian as a better substitute for her old body than the shadow she is currently inhabiting. She accepts this kind offer, and is transferred into her new form. Her body is detached from Arun, and Lillian moves around and stretches, seemingly getting used to its being slightly different from her own body (much as everyone else did).

There is a brief discussion about whether we should go to the meeting.

Lillian wants to betray Etienne and stick her with her sword many, many times.

Jihx expresses sympathy with this view but states that if he makes a promise then he will feel obliged to stick to it - for himself.

It is agreed that, regardless of the outcome, attending the meeting would be of benefit to us. Lillian agrees with this opinion, then leaves to walk the Pattern.


Gerard Trumps Skyrie to pass on the news.

Out in shadow, Skyrie takes the call and the situation is explained to him. He sounds disappointed that Etienne has not agreed to the terms, just to negotiate further.

Despite this, and because he has not progressed far with his research, he goes through the Trump to Gerard in Amber.

Gerard then attempts to Trump Caitlin. They follow the normal Trump, resist, Trump protocol, but this time Caitlin continues to resist. Gerard looks irritated. After a further iteration of this cycle, Caitlin finally deigns to answer the call. Gerard is a little put out by the resistance, but passes on the news. Caitlin also comes through to Amber and joins everyone else.

Gerard then asks Skyrie to draw a Trump of Whippoorwill so that he too can be brought up to date.

This is quickly done, and the sketch is used. Whippoorwill is passed the same reports as everyone else, and also joins the rest of the group in Amber.

Gerard reiterates the situation to us all. He reminds us, as Skyrie has already mentioned, that Etienne has betrayed us with a trap before, so we should be careful. He suggests an advance party to scout out the suggested meeting place beforehand. He looks pointedly at Caitlin as a suitable candidate to cope with any trouble that may be waiting.

Whippoorwill suggests that he would be a useful companion as Etienne does not know him, and he does not have a history of being directly betrayed by her.

This plan is agreed upon. Caitlin and Whippoorwill are to leave for the shadow Etienne has specified (or at least in the direction she has specified). While they go, Skyrie will make a full Trump of Whippoorwill in the form of a bone mask so that we can maintain Trump contact with them both in case they need to make a hasty exit.


Shortly after Caitlin and Whippoorwill leave Amber and start shifting shadow, they come across a large and rather strange war machine waiting for them in the woods. The machine is steam powered, appears to be around forty tonnes in weight, heavily armoured and covered in bizarre weapons - pincers, circular saws, gas dispensers, water cannon, poison gas dispensers and so on - but has no guns. It looks like a cross between a tank, a crab, and something out of 'Robot Wars'.

This machine is accompanied nine soldiers in gas capes not unlike Whippoorwill's, four of whom Caitlin has met before, plus five others, as well as a horse. Caitlin correctly guesses that this is Whippoorwill's doing.

She asks if she can drive. Whippoorwill agrees that she can. They climb on board, Caitlin takes the controls, and they speed off through shadow at thirty miles an hour, blowing their steam whistle, practising with the weaponry and generally being about as subtle as a not very subtle thing.


Jihx, working in shifts with Connor and Nemain and swapping with them when he gets too tired, keeps a Trump link open with Caitlin.

Skyrie continues with the Whippoorwill mask, carving it out of bone.

Gerard watches, and comments that this is a very different form of Trump to the one he is used to.

Skyrie says that bone masks are more durable than card, and that is why he uses this medium.

Once the mask is complete he gives it to Gerard, but requests it back when he has finished with it, for 'further refinements'.

Arun wanders off.


In the Castle basement, Lillian walks the Pattern, goes off to rest and then shifts off into shadow to find her assorted equipment.


After around a day and a half of shadow shifting, it appears to Whippoorwill and Caitlin that they are getting to where they need to be.

Shadow around them has become very built up, with skyscrapers and roads and higher and higher technology. Traffic moves around them, some of it containing very angry drivers, who honk their horns and wave their fists at Whippoorwill's machine. At first, Caitlin retaliates against this rudeness with her usual gusto - and then shadow shifts away as police cars and SWAT teams arrive. After that Caitlin does her best to ignore the New York road rage and the authorities appear to leave them alone. And with a final shadow shift they reach a city of hugely tall buildings, round a corner, and pull up outside the New York Sheraton Hotel.

They cannot sense any God in this shadow, the Trump links with Jihx and Gerard are still open, and neither of them have any bad feelings about impending danger. They and Whippoorwill's troops disembark from the machine. Whippoorwill is of the opinion that the car parking valet is out of his league with his machine, so the valet just guides Whippoorwill's machine off around the corner towards the car park. The others enter the Hotel. The doorman, utterly unfazed by all this strangeness, opens the door for them.

Jihx and Gerard send messages to the others informing them of what has happened. And over the next few minutes everyone else arrives and joins in the Trump links to observe what happens. The people joining the links also includes Queen Moire of Rebma, here in her official capacity to take part in the negotiations and dressed in a long hooded cloak.


Inside the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel Caitlin (in full combat gear) and Whippoorwill (in his gas mask and cape 'Womble suit', albeit with the gas mask flipped over his back) attract some attention. People get out of their way.

They walk over to reception, where Caitlin bangs on the bell to get attention. She smashes the bell into pieces, and cracks the marble counter-top it is standing on too. A very nervous receptionist asks how she can help.

Caitlin gives her a list of possible names for them to be booked into the hotel under. The receptionist sidles off to a computer some distance away from Caitlin and consults it.

Then Whippoorwill notices an 'AmberCon' sign which is on the board displaying the conventions and meetings currently being held at the hotel, and points it out to Caitlin and the receptionist.

"Ah, you are here for AmberCon?" asks the receptionist. "Then there are rooms available for all of you and conference facilities are standing by."

Whippoorwill asks her how the locals communicate with each other when out of normal earshot. He is introduced to the concept of cellular phones. He asks where he might buy some, and the receptionist points him to a largish shopping area that adjoins the lobby. He goes off to purchase some cell-phones. The shopping area actually contains many small shops selling all kinds of high-priced goods, but Whippoorwill only buys twenty cell-phones before returning to reception. In another shop Whippoorwill purchases a large handgun. He hands out a mobile phone to each of his people and (from reading the manual, which is in a script him minions do not understand) teaches them the basics of how to use it.

Caitlin takes the room keys from the receptionist.

Whippoorwill is concerned as to how they are to go to their rooms on the twentieth floor.

The receptionist points him towards the lifts, and he and everyone else heads that way.

At around this point a small purple-edged hole in space appears directly in front of Caitlin and the apparently disembodied head of Skyrie pops through it into this universe (through a Trump gate he has created). He wants to know about the meeting-place shadow. He can feel that it is quite real, with high technology, high magic and has somehow been manipulated to draw us towards it when we walked in its general direction. There appear to be no traps or deities, at least in this area. Skyrie withdraws back through the gate, which closes. The locals are now, unsurprisingly, even more wary of Caitlin and Whippoorwill!

Whippoorwill then goes to practice with the elevators. He eventually figures out how they work. Caitlin is, of course, entirely familiar with the concept of lifts (and for that matter mobile phones) but is having far too much fun watching Whippoorwill struggle to want to assist him. They get into the lift and begin to rise up towards the twentieth floor.

En route, to demonstrate the limitations of elevators, Caitlin uses the Pattern and causes a power cut. The elevator stops. Whippoorwill asks how they get out of this now. Caitlin mentions the more interesting routes of forcing the doors or climbing out onto the roof, but then also points out the more conventional emergency telephone. Whippoorwill tries the emergency phone.

He talks to the emergency operator, who tells him that engineers are working as fast as they can to restore power. Then Caitlin exerts herself and uses the Pattern again, and turns the power back on. The emergency operator is pleased to take the credit for this miraculous quick fix. And the lift arrives at the twentieth floor.

Caitlin, Whippoorwill and Whippoorwill's personal guards make themselves at home in the large, luxurious suite of rooms which Etienne has arranged; there are a dozen large bedrooms, a big living room area, and very well-equipped conference facilities. A slimy hotel employee shows them the facilities and helps them settle in. Whippoorwill summons room service and prostitutes to the suite. Caitlin does not partake of the latter.

And they wait, with everyone else watching over them via the Trump links they still have up...


In the Sheraton Hotel Rome in the next door shadow, Etienne becomes aware that someone who looks like Nemain, but with teeth filed to points and wild hair, and a green-haired man who she does not recognise, along with a large party of thugs, have arrived in the Sheraton Hotel New York.

She gets out of the Jacuzzi and prepares for the negotiations.


In the New York conference suite the video conferencing system switches on, revealing Etienne. She greets the people on the New York side.

After some initial confusion, Etienne realises that she is talking to Caitlin in a copy of Nemain's body. They exchange pleasantries and Caitlin introduces Whippoorwill.

Gerard, Lillian and Jihx come through the Trump link from Amber and join the party in the hotel, while Connor, Nemain and Moire remain in Amber and keep the links open. Skyrie makes a quick Trump sketch of the hotel suite, opens a Trump gate to that location, and sticks his head through to observe.

There is some more confusion as Etienne works out which of the two Jihx's, two Nemain's and one Connor head poking through a Trump gate is whom.

And discussions begin.

Etienne explains that her position is based on the belief that she and her God cannot now take over the whole of Shadow and that we cannot get into her 'Walled Garden'.

"Yet," says Lillian.

"Well, I cannot take over all of Shadow yet," responds Etienne. She expresses her desire for a permanent truce, and says that she is willing to agree with all of our proposals, including releasing Vialle and Godofos and withdrawing from all of our own shadows, but says she cannot agree to the blanket ban on expanding the realm of God. She wishes to be able to expand the realm of God into shadows away from Amber (which she concludes Amber has no interest in or claim on), but is happy to avoid any other shadows that Amber wishes to mark in some manner.

Gerard suggests that this sounds like it would start an immediate land rush, as Amber and Etienne each scramble to claim as many shadows as possible.

The others agree that it is not acceptable.

Skyrie points out that Etienne has to make a bargain with each of us individually.

At this point Gerard points out that although that is true, Queen Moire has agreed to abide by any pact that is made here.

In Amber, Arun leaves his physical body and in invisible spirit form passes through Skyrie's Trump gate into the New York Sheraton. Once there he expands out and begins to learn what he can about the set-up here.

Much debate ensues between the two conference suites, which, in summary, leads to people having the following positions:

No-one other than Etienne seems to think God's Law is either an Absolute Good or something that should be extended over all of shadow. Etienne definitely does not think that keeping the good which can be brought by spreading God's Law across shadow should be confined only to the area she has walled off.

Skyrie's Trump gate is closing every so often as the Trump sketches he is using to create the link lose their power and he has to draw another one. This is also tiring him out at quite a fast rate.

A compromise of allowing Etienne and God a quota of one hundred shadows per Amber year is suggested. Gerard sounds interested in this idea, but is concerned about how it could be monitored to ensure that God is only taking over a hundred shadows, and not thousands, or millions.

He also asks Etienne what has happened to the population of Amber she deported. Etienne tells him that the Amber population she removed is now under her rule and is 'Living peacefully in God's Garden.'

Etienne summarises that she will stop attacking Amber in exchange for us not attacking her. Then she points out that she still has Godofos and Vialle. What do we wish to exchange for them?

An argument as to who has the upper hand at the moment ensues. Etienne argues that she can attack at will and there is little we can do to stop her. We argue that she has been forced to retreat, and we can unleash The Eater again at will.

There is further argument about our differing moral positions. Lillian, Caitlin and Jihx state that they are not willing to exchange any number of worlds per year for Godofos and Vialle. Gerard does not answer that question directly. Etienne is unhappy that we are willing to condemn Godofos and Vialle to an eternity in Hell rather than give up a tiny number of shadows out of the infinite number we can reach.

Whippoorwill asks whether he would be attacked and sent to Hell if he entered Etienne's Garden. She says that his visiting safely could be arranged, even if he did not submit to the will of God. Such things have been done before.

Skyrie asks to negotiate directly to God. Etienne states that she is the mouthpiece of God, and that as long as that is the case how He speaks to them is irrelevant.

Caitlin gets bored of all this talk, which really seems to be coming from two fairly fixed positions with each side trying to convince the other of the rightness of their cause with no real wish to compromise, and passes back along the Trump link to Amber.


In the background, Arun has returned through Skyrie's Trump gate to Amber, and during one of the intervals while Skyrie is re-drawing his Trump gate sketch, told Skyrie what he has learnt. He has found Etienne's single shadow path to the neighbouring shadow (which is, it turns out, in the basement of the hotel) gone through it to there, sensed God, and thinks it likely that Etienne is there. He tells Skyrie that he thinks he can hide them from God while they are there, and suggests that they could go through to the other shadow and capture of kill Etienne.

Skyrie suddenly changes his position in the negotiations to agree with that of Gerard, makes his excuses and leaves. He talks to Caitlin and convinces her to go back and re-join the negotiations, mainly to keep them going so that he and Arun have time to act. She returns through one of the Trump links to the New York Sheraton.

Skyrie quickly sketches the lobby of the New York Sheraton and he, Arun and The Eater go through it, then run to the basement. At the mouth of the mini-shadow path Arun mentions that there is a guard on the other side that he needs to deal with before they go through. His body slumps to the floor and Skyrie can sense his spirit passing along the shadow path.

After a moment he returns and with their permission shapeshifts Skyrie and The Eater (as well as his own body) into long, thin, snake-like forms; he also shapeshifts their psychic auras into something different to their normal 'shape' which he thinks will hide them from God. That done he leads Skyrie and The Eater through the shadow path. As they go through Skyrie radiates Pattern energy about himself in the hope that this will help to make them harder for God to detect.

At the other end of the path a man is standing guard. He is staring vacantly into space, and ignores them. Arun shapeshifts Skyrie and The Eater into their normal forms (though their psychic auras remain shapeshifted) and they run off out of the basement and into and through the Rome Sheraton Hotel. Skyrie can sense the presence of someone with a Pattern imprint high above, so they head for that. He continues to radiate Pattern about himself, and as they go there seems no sign that God has detected them.


Meanwhile, back at the negotiations Etienne is now agreeing to a fixed expansion of 'God's Garden'. Caitlin chips in with an idea of some expansion now, followed by a review after a fixed period to see whether what Etienne is doing is a good idea, after which we will decide whether to let God expand further.

The deal is hammered out as one shadow per year for one hundred years, with the whole deal to be reviewed after one hundred years. Further shadows can be incorporated into 'God's Garden', but these would require the agreement of the Amberites on a case-by-case basis.

And we all agree the deal. Everyone seems satisfied, and we all agree to communicate further so as to hammer out the details.

Etienne turns and leaves, beginning to shift shadow off.


Just as this deal is being agreed by all, Skyrie, Arun and The Eater reach the area where Skyrie senses the Pattern-imprinted person.

"Eater, eat!" Skyrie commands. The Eater begins to do so.

Arun and Skyrie kick in the door to Etienne's video-conferencing suite and leap towards where Etienne was. Etienne, however, has just shifted shadow away, leaving through a door to one side. Skyrie attempts to pursue her off through shadow, but comes up against a barrier at the shadow veil and has to stop.


From the Sheraton New York the others watch in a (largely) concerned fashion, having seen all this on the video screen...


Not far away through shadow, Etienne gets a message from God telling her that he is under attack in the shadow she just left.

"Well, that agreement lasted a long time," she comments. She begins to shift shadow at speed, heading for The Garden to start planning for war.


Etienne having escaped and The Eater having sucked in God and any other psychic presences in Etienne's shadow, Arun, Skyrie and The Eater return to the Sheraton New York by the same route as they left.

"What in the name of the Unicorn was that about?" demands Gerard.

Arun and Skyrie explain, then the deal that had just been hammered out is explained to them. Whoops.

Caitlin shrugs. She didn' really care about the outcome of the talks anyway.

However, it is agreed that an attempt to rescue the treaty is a worthwhile thing to do. Jihx summons a Dove of his desire, which flutters down onto the windowsill. A note is drafted and attacked to the dove's leg. It reads, in Gerard's handwriting:

'The attack was a mistake. The deal is still on if you are interested.'

With an additional amendment by Skyrie:

'Now that I am aware of the agreement I will abide by it.'

The dove is sent off to Etienne.


Not being very far away, Etienne receives the dove within minutes. She reads the note and writes a response:

'Ohh La La, talk about fickle. The agreement is amended as follows. I shall have one additional shadow to replace the one you just damaged.'

She sends the dove back.


Etienne's reply arrives in New York by the same dove. We read the note it carries. The increased demand made by Etienne seems reasonable to everyone. Gerard comments that he would have been quite willing to have let her have hundreds of shadows if she had wanted them. He pens another note, the main text of which is one word:

'Agreed.'

In smaller words underneath are added:

'Let us discuss details.'

This note is signed by all the Amberites currently in New York and Amber, and also by Queen Moire (Connor and Nemain are initially reluctant to sign, seeming happy to go along with Moire's decision, but they are in the end persuaded to sign too).


The dove is sent off again and quickly arrives back with Etienne.

A number of notes are passed back and forth between the two groups by way of creatures of desire confirming the details of the treaty:

And that being done, we all return to Amber. Phew.


And with the details of the treaty worked out, things start to happen. Within days Godofos and Vialle are returned to Amber, Vialle in a shadowite body, but sighted, Godofos also in a shadowite body.

The rebuilding of Amber begins.


The walls Etienne had constructed around people's home and other shadows are let down by her. She also returns everyone's equipment which they could not retrieve using the Pattern (i.e. those things which were not part of people's personal reality). She also gives everyone an urn containing the ashes of their original body...

She tells Skyrie that the flying castles he sent off to Hell to crash into the city of Dis and Lucifer have been destroyed by God.


Skyrie returns The Eater to the Avatar of Oberon at the Tower of Silence. 'Oberon' is not happy with the agreement that has been made by the others, but then neither is Skyrie, although he says he will abide by it.


Skyrie sends an apology to Etienne by creature of desire for attacking her during negotiations.


Caitlin goes off into shadow and finds some traces of her own body in her tower without doors. She talks to Arun and he is able to build her a copy of her original body, into which her spirit is transferred.

Not long after this, Vialle, in her new sighted body, asks Caitlin if she could have a Caitlin-based Amberite body grown from a tissue sample. Unfortunately for her, Caitlin makes it quite clear that her answer is a definitive 'No'.

So instead Vialle has Arun make her another body which is a copy of Nemain's, and transfer her mind into it. Arun does this as a matter of principle (his principles, that is), following which Vialle walks the Pattern, and begins to spend some time in shadow. She also asks Arun to teach her how to shapeshift. However, Arun refuses her, for now at least, wanting to see how she reacts to having walked the Pattern, whether she will be corrupted by its power or not, before doing so. He begins to arrange 'situations of his desire' out in shadow to test her...


Lillian also goes off into shadow and attempts to find some traces of her own body. Unfortunately, she fails to do so. However, she does return with some traces of Finndo, which she asks Arun to grow into an Amberite baby...

This he does, not without some hesitation, in return for Lillian's promise to draw him some as-yet-unspecified Trumps if he so wishes, and her assurance that she is not intending to bring the old Finndo back to life, but rather give him another chance at life. None of the other Amberites attempt to stop this taking place.


At the next full moon, Tir-Na Nog'th returns to the skies over Amber as it normally does. However, it is now bigger and brighter than it was before.


Caitlin and Jihx return to Ahnel and Derris and begin to rebuild them into the form they had before all this happened.


In the Fourteen Empires, Etienne returns the heart of the Well of Shadows to Skyrie. Millions of people Skyrie thought had been killed when Etienne took the power source of the Well of Shadows turn out not to be dead after all - the Infinite Citadel had been evacuated by its inhabitants before Etienne took the power source, thanks to the conversion of the Precursor Alexiun.

But as the magic of the Fourteen Empires had been changed to depend entirely upon God, who no longer exists there, the whole place, which was very dependant on its magic, is in quite a bad way.

Before long, Skyrie also cannot help but notice that with the removal of God by The Eater, people's souls are no longer reincarnating in the Fourteen Empires...

Etienne and Skyrie discuss her modifying the Fourteen Empires again to return its old style of magic back into place.


The population of Amber is now drastically different from what it was before. Before, Amber city had a population of about two million people. After Etienne's invasion (including the one hundred thousand who were burned at the stake) there were about 1.4 million native Amberites left, all of whom converted to Christianity (at least in word, if not necessarily in their hearts). Etienne deported half of these, and imported Christians from shadow to restore the numbers, that is, about 1.3 million people. About three hundred thousand of these new inhabitants left back into shadow when the Family returned from Hell and threw out the Emperor Otto.

That means that there are now about seven hundred thousand of the original population left (about 35%), plus a million of so Christians from shadow (who are normal shadow folk and thus greatly inferior to the original natives in terms of their physical and mental power). Amber is thus under-populated by several hundred thousand people, and is also almost entirely lacking in its old (non-Royal) nobility, who were killed during or immediately after the invasion...


As time passes and investigations are made, it becomes clear that Etienne has managed to take perhaps fifteen percent of the entirety of shadow behind her wall for incorporation into 'God's Garden'.


And before very long, Jihx discovers that Moire is pregnant again.

And not long after that, that Nemain is, too. She is ... evasive ... when it comes to naming the father...

Skyrie also discovers that he is soon to become a father, perhaps several times over.

Arun goes off into shadow and sets up the cross-shadow sperm bank he was thinking about, providing his services to many shadows with no men, or no fertile men, setting about fathering an army of Amberite children...


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