Dinner and Desert

A personal prayer to the Unicorn from Constance, daughter of Julian, pt 22

I speak with Llewella’s daughter, Nerine, to get a level on dress for dinner and ask if it could be arranged for William and I to be on either side of Princess Fiona’s chambers. William later asks me if my request was based on specific concerns about our Aunt’s security. I assur him that I’d been asked to be mindful of her security and I knew him to be a strategist and an expert swordsman.

I change into Rebman dress for dinner. They are laid out for me in my colours of green and violet with jewellery to match. I see my reflection in a mirror and start to feel – uncomfortable… alright, exposed… wearing so few clothes and even the jewels I wear around my neck do not compensate for their loss. So, I augment them with Glamour and that raises my spirits before I walk towards dinner.

We are met outside of the dining room with a collection of mostly Rebman women but there are a few men scattered among them. We drink from small covered cups – I am fascinated by how things are done in this so foreign environment.

I am seated between Llewella and Nerine and opposite Scylla of Rebma. There are many table conversations and they have been well briefed. The Queen’s niece, Cirein Cròin, asks after the identity of my mother and I reply that, alas, I am not privy to that and that my father had never seen fit to name her. I had been raised almost entirely in the Forest of Arden. I comment on the beauty and craftsmanship of her jewels and then turn the conversation to whether Rebma has an equivalent of Arden.

The answer is ‘yes’. The Kelp Forest leads out deep into Shadow and I wonder to myself if this was perhaps an analogue of my Great Forest. She goes on to say that Power Words can be used effectively there. Nereids are the denizens of the Forest. There are also what she describes as ‘Deep One humanoids’ who are devotes of the ‘Old Ones’. I suppose both of these unknowns require capitals. There are immense structures off deep in Shadow and some Rebmans do go that deep.

At the close of the dinner, Queen Moire announces that she will allow Fiona to walk the Rebman Pattern, with the condition that the Amber Army does not come to Rebma. Fiona looks quite satisfied. Then the Rebman men withdraw from the table.

Scylla asks me directly why Prince Julian and Prince Benedict have not visited Rebma for many years and yet princes Random and Brand had found the time to visit. I explain that their duties to Amber’s military and the protection of the Forest had kept them from much that they enjoyed. Mindful of politics and my red-haired aunt sat nearby, I make no mention of Amber’s civil war – which I am sure she is quite aware of. I do say that the actions of Prince Brand against Martin of Amber has made my father more cautious about my safety, thus I had spent virtually all my life hidden in Arden.

I speak of our adventures in the Thelbane, of how we had met and interacted with the ghost of our grandfather, the late King of Amber. I smile and say that I prefer the dead to remain dead. She responds that only Dark sorcerers would dabble with the dead and there may be folk who dabble in Dark magic at the Court – I will pass this onto my family, this is a threat.

On that worrying note, the dinner party breaks up and we go to our chambers. My prayer to the Unicorn is particularly fervent.