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Lost in Shadow

Those who held onto the card found themselves elsewhere.

Septima, eyes wide, focused on her surroundings, trying to get some sort of handle on the situation.

The two of them found themselves on a featureless plain, no more than a few dozen steps in any direction. Surrounding the plain was a grey - no, white - no, brown - no - a fog, of some indeterminate colour, roiling with no discernable origin or force.

Catryzna's first reaction was to utter an unladylike word. Followed immediately with an excuse me.

"I am sorry cousin, but it seems my spell backfired. I was hoping to bring the one who interrupted the trump contact to us. But either he had planned against my attempt or we didnt have enough power to make it wotk. Or it just was a flawed spell to begin with. Things like that are not easy to guess."

She looked around, noticing the fog surrounding them both.

"Where we are now, I have no idea just yet. Perhaps we should use our senses to check our surroundings."

Thankful that her safety locks had prevented the magical energy from sapping her she looked around, studying her surroundings with magical sight.

"The simplest solution would seem to be to try one of your other Trumps. We both have Trumps of Niall," Septima laughed quietly at the memory of the card shower in Amber.

As the two spoke, bits of the mist seemed to be almost reaching for them. Bits of it broke off and seemed to solidify briefly before rejoining the mass of mist encircling them.

Septima brought up the Pattern reflexively. "And what is this, I wonder," she said quietly.

As the Pattern formed in her mind - Catryzna could almost see it form - the mist solidified again, forming into trees and grass and ground, until the two were standing on a small island of green amid the mist.

"Sensitive stuff," Septima said, glancing around at the new landscape.

Catryzna nodded. "Too right. Makes Shadow look positively Real."

"I wonder..." Septima began to move forward, keeping the Pattern in her mind.

As Septima moved forward, so too did the greenery, the mist either turning into land and trees, or giving way before them. It was hard to tell which was fact.

"Hmm." She stopped moving and turned to look at Catryzna. "I find this all fascinating and would love to explore, but if you desire to return to the others, we might try a Trump."

Catryzna shrugged and smiled. "Trumps we can do. Anyone specific in mind?"

Septima's eyelashes flickered in vague surprise. "You know our relatives much better than I. I had met none of them before today. So I will leave the choice up to you."

Catryzna shook her head. "I know mother, and one or two others. Mother's off after Bleys, and probably won't be too amenable to a Trump contact, but I can try, if you like."

"If you think she will be busy, we could try Prince Gerard. He seemed a solid, dependable man," said Septima.

Catrynza nodded, but smiled wryly. "And, unless I'm misremembering, he went with mother to apprehend Bleys. Probably just as dangerous. Did you want to try to contact one of our age mates instead? If not, maybe we can get a hold of Benedict."

"No, of course we can try to contact one of our peers," Septima said. Suddenly she smiled. "And we do both have trumps of Niall," she added, her dimple appearing as the smile widened. "But whoever you'd like to contact will be just fine."

Catryzna nodded, and looked around. "I think, though, that one of us should keep a good eye - magical and otherwise - out for trouble. Might I suggest I do that, and you call Niall? I can probably hold off physical threats for long enough to let you get free of the call, and I know I can hold off magical threats."

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