The Amber castle at night is unlike many castles. Though more quiet then during the day the work continues amongst the servants and some of the more nocturnal guests and royalty. Laundry is being done, supplies are brought in. Staff meetings amongst the servants are probably just as intense as any of the more royal interviews. I thought of these and other things as I walked the dark hallways. So much like a living thing, this castle of castles.

As I walked the shadowy corridors I kept to the left side better to keep his sword arm exposed on the right. My green cloak hung limply on my slight frame clad all in black. I could have quickened my pace I wanted to temper my footfalls to maintain the quiet. Silence and darkness were always brother and sister. I had experienced much today with my meetings of relatives new and old. The revelations of these meetings clambered for my attention. Istopped my silent soujorn momentarily and placed these events into a drawer in my mind's eye. I marked it urgent and imagined shutting the drawer. Use of guided imagery, and other artful techniques of the mind had always served me well. I wanted to focus on the tasks at hand and distraction I could presently ill afford.

Continuing my walk I came back to the plan that I’d recently formulated. The first, I knew, must be research. Time has once again become my enemy. Restricting my actions, narrowing my options. Data had to be collected, information gleaned if the plan was to be final-. A servant interrupted my silent sojourn to ask if he could light my way. Strange that I did not even see the fellow approach. The ways of the castle are known best to those who work them. I responded with a kind but firm negative. Saying that I knew the way and thanked the servant just the same. The servant’s familiarities were unsettling. Knowing were I was, and I not knowing.

At length I arrived at the familiar double doors that were the entrance to the Amber castle library. Silently opening the doors I shut them behind him. My needs were pressing but I took the time to balance the crossbeam so that the doors were not barred, but opening them would drop the beam onto the floor. Sufficient maybe for a warning. The recent additions of new relatives and the unknown variables they contained prompted me to such securities.

I went about the bookcases searching for information regarding the Courts of Chaos. Geographical, political, sociological, biographical, treaties, wars and whatever else...it didn’t matter so long as the main theme was of Amber's opposite. A who's who of the courts complete with pictures would have been most informative, but I took whatever I could find. Daylight found me still reading, still processing what could be found.

The sound of the crossbeam falling alerted me to dawns arrival. Somebody else had decided engage in some formal research. A small, red-haired woman resembling Fiona carefully stepped over the fallen beam and entered the library. I could see there were differences between Fiona and this new arrival. Her features were a little sharper, more defined, her ears had definite points. Perhaps she was Elvish. It had been several decades since I had spoken that language. It took me all the way back to the lands of Antiheron.She briefly nodded in my direction and began searching the bookcases, obviously searching for something.

I nodded in reply. Realizing that dawn had arrived I took the stakes of books I had amassed around the study table and placed them back on the book shelves where I’d originally found them. I worked quickly, recalling each book’s place in the myriad shelfs within the library. A fringe benefit of an eidetic memory.

As I went about replacing books my curiousity about the unknown red head increased. Damned if she didn’t look like Fiona.

It's none of my business, the guards have obviously cleared her. I shouldn't pry. If she wanted to say hello she would have. At length I shrugged, Nobody ever accused me of being smart.

I wandered over and introduced myself, "Hello, I'm Flavel. I don't recall ever seeing you in the library before, is there anything I can help you find?"

She smiled up at me, "I'm afraid I'm new here. I was looking for anything on some place called the Courts of Chaos. Would you be able to help me with that?"

A small grin played across my face. Sometimes life just gives you the perfect script. Adopting a librarian personae I said, "Why yes, I would be able to help. It's a very popular topic. Frequently checked out. It's unfortunate that our selection is somewhat Spartan on this subject, but this may change soon. Follow me please."

I led her through the Bookshelves, grabbing books without looking and handing them to her. All the while I kept a running monalogue describing the titles and briefly elaborating on their contents. As we collected the books I politely asked as to her name, if she was new to Amber, how she was enjoying the castle, and other politely innocent questions to show my interest in her welfare and well-being.

I think I managed to impress her as she answered, "My name is Faile and I'm very new. I just arrived last night. Excuse me for asking, but would you know of a Prince Flavel?"

 

Faile? Sounded familiar but I didn’t know why.

"Prince Flavel? Yes I know him. He comes here often enough. Has a lock of white hair, mismatched eyes, and a horrible sense of humor. Why do you ask?"

She looked at me and smiled, "And now you tease. Thank you though for the information. I appreciate it."

I grinned and essayed a short bow. "A pleasure to be at your service. I wish you a happy stay in the castle. Now though I find I must be elsewhere. "Take care."

 

With that I departed, heading to my quarters. She would eventually figure it out. Would be amusing when she did. I would have stayed and toyed with her further and eventually come clean but there was something filed urgent in my memories that seemed most insistent.

 

A short time latter in my quarters...

[Faile is my sister.

Random is in surgery

Bleys is wounded

Kit is unbalanced (what even more so then previous?)

A golden circle kingdom attacked by unknown forces.

-reference Seven Shores kingdom?

Fiona's experiments have upped the stakes.

               -Something greater to win, something worse to lose.

Fiona Husband:

  - Fiona's husband is still alive.

  - Fiona was/is married.

  - Husband is powerful enough that his aid is required.

  - Husband is probably from the courts.

  - Fiona has more then one kid (duh).

Something is threatening both the Courts of Chaos and Amber.]

I looked down at the feverish script I’d so far scrawled. For the seventh time I reviewed the drawer marked urgent in his mind's eye and compared it to what I’d written in distilled format. The words were there but the implications staggered me. The fact that I had just met Faile in the library and not had the sense to recognize her as my sister added a garnish of hemlock to an already monumentally bitter pill. Fiona had always been secretive but this was on an order of magnitude far and away above anything I could previously believe her capable of.

My stylus trembled and with an effort of will I stilled my hand. Dipping the writing instrument in the nearby inkpot I continued to write. My normally precisely controlled writing looked like abstract art.

[Why has Fiona's husband never contacted me?

  -Politicaly incorrect?

  -Maybe he doesn't know I exist.

  -Does he dislikes me, am I an embarrasement?

Why did Fiona not entrust me with this information?

  -Information dangerous to my person.

  -Didn't want me to run over to Courts of Chaos? Why?

  -Brand

  -Her Husband

  -Benedict

How did Benedict uncover these revelations?

  -Possible extensive spy network.

  -He's interrogated some person or persons.

  -Possibly he's a closet Chaosite. Hendrake is a martial house after all.        

Why is Fiona's marriage to her husband a secret?

  -He's a chaosite and it's politicaly incorrect.

  -They are both involved in experiments that are dangerous and unpopular.]

As he wrote, additional questions came to mind. Questions born of my recent library research, my talk with Shado, and trivia dropped at Fiona's dinner the other night.

 

[Why has House Hendrake become anti-Amber in it's leanings?

Reference Duncan (Hendrake?). Reference Duncan as Brand's son.

Reference Brand active in Courts of Chaos.]

 

A bitter thought came unbidden to my mind and I scribbled.

 

[Why was I raised as a Roman? Reference Shado, reference Court of the White Flame.

  -Shado is being hunted by something that projects Black Vortexes.

  -Shado is from another realm.

  -Salome speculated the Vortex is a gateway.

  -Something happened with Shado and one of her instructors.

  -Who was Arielle? Contact Julian or get his history.

Am I an experiment? If so, what for? What is my purpose?

What happened to Kit, Random, and Bleys?]

 

Looking up from my writings I pondered, What do I do? What must I do? Again I bent my head worked my stylus.

 

[Current duties & commitments:

  -Research team to explore shadow storms, vortexes, and portals.

  -Independent observor for Chaos / Amber negotiations.

  -Attend Duncan's Funeral.

Current Agenda:

  -Help Matt regain his humanity. Interesesting that he is a

   chaosite.

  -Help Shado discover her mother's (Arielle's) history.

  -Fulfill the K'tesh prophecy and rescue Matt's people.

  -Journey to Courts and determine if Brand is messing with House

   Hendrake affairs.]

 

Reviewing what I’d so far written I slammed my journal journal shut and laughed savagely. "If it was a poem I could not say it! If it was a song I would not sing it!"

To a nearby cabinet I walked and pulled out a bottle of gin. Removing the cork I ignored my usual precautions and instead tiltd it back and took several swallows. If I was your wife I’d put poison in your coffee. If I was your husband I would surely drink it. Who had said that? I saw that the cabinet contained several more bottles.

This time we're going to do it my way…

==================================

Taking four bottles of gin to my lavoratory I poured the contents into the water closet. I flushed it twice to ensure the contents were well gone. I then walked back into the room and set the bottles in strategic places to make it appear that I had been drinking heavily. To complete the picture I knocked over some of the furniture and went about making the place look dishevealed.

I didn’t feel like carrying about my most recent musings in my journal, coded or not, so I tore out the page I’d recently written in my journal and set it afire, smashing the ashes to powder and mixing them with a liberal dose of gin for good measure.

Stepping out into the hallway I headed for the Pattern with the bottle of gin in hand. There was route that Bleys had shown me of recent that seemed to bypass the guards. I walked there now, acting for all the world quite smashed, weaving and staggering. Reaching the staircase I dropped the pretense of drunkeness and hurried down the narrow stairs.

Soon enough I was at the ancient double doors. I paused and listened for sounds of anyone following, and taking a moment to stopper and pack away the gin bottle. Satisfied, I opened the doors and stepped into the huge underground room.

Waiting within was the sigil of blue fire that I knew to my soul as the Pattern. For a moment, it lay quiescent like a sleeping dragon from a fairy tale of abstractions and geometric shapes. It flickered slightly as if greeting me.

Striding over to the beginning of the pattern my foot hesitated at the beginning of the pattern's burning blue visage. I stopped and ran my finger's through my hair. Shook my head, and in general attempted to calm my suddenly racing pulse. "It's just like the first time I visited this arcanum arcanorum," I whispered. "Power and fear, fear and power."

Steeling my resolve I put my right foot on the glowing path. As exercises go this was about as much fun as walking on the back of a sleeping dragon.

"Fiat lux!"

As before, the crackle of resistance began to rise around me. Again, it pushed me, testing my blood and DNA....

I looked down on a sister I had never met. A vortex swirls into being, black and viscous as hidden sins. Benedict speaks of pride in a dual heritage. Pages saying nothing and everything...

The First Veil passed. The blue flames rose higher, rustling around my knees like the corn of the field surrounding my childhood home...

Imaginings of Rome of the White Flame. Memories of hearth fires in a Germanic province. A sacred flame flickered in a darkened temple. Mysteries within mysteries. The flame flickers in a cave as soldiers around him chant to Mithras...

The Second Veil passed. The blue flames rose ever higher, and reminded me of a dream in which I walked through a blue cloud, static and strange like sea mist come to land..

I lay asleep in my bed, drifting in a waking dream, tired from the day's exertions. I heared the voice of Fiona dimly. A man's voice, smooth and cultured, talking of rights. Of taking his son, his daughter, to the Courts. Fiona's refusal...

With a final push, I ripped through the Third Veil. I stood in the Centre, my body trembling from the walk that confirmed my mother's blood in my veins...

My breath came out unevenly from my ordeal. "You tease me with happenstance. What was and what might have beens." I accused the Pattern. I knew my words false but images disturbed me so.

I unbuckled my scabbarded shortsword and let it fall at the center of the pattern. I wouldn't be needed where I was going. Welcomed or unwelcome I wouldn’t be the first to shed blood. There was enough of that already. Too much suspicion, too many secrets.

I gazed out across the pattern. Breathing deeply I said to that which surrounded me, "Artifact of Order, you know my intentions. Please bear me thusly."

In a burst of magic, my world transformed....

 ****

I appeared in an exquisitely furnished study, the bookcases lining the walls filled with all manner of volumes. A man with brown hair, marked by a single white streak running through it, stylishly dressed, looked up. He smiled "Hello, Flavel. It's good to see you at last."

I stared at the man seated nearby. "So...you did know. I had wondered if Fiona had kept you in the dark as well." My voice trailed off as my head and eyes surveyed the room. "You have me at a disadvantage, you know my name...but your honorifics, address, and references are unknown to me."