Bathsheba’s Diary part 21: The Council of the Realms

in Brave New Worlds

Goat 3659

Ellas remains reasonably peaceful – Dalt and his merry band seem to be doing their job of keeping the werewolves in order, and the Amazons seem to be keeping to their borders (more or less).

The negotiations for the family AGM are continuing – Flora now wants to have a ‘pre-meeting meeting’ ostensibly so we can ok her choice of venue – the Hilton hotel in Paris, Babylon.

Corwin seems to be using Flora as a mouthpiece to throw his weight around – wants to be known as ‘His Majesty’.

How shallow.

21^st Goat 3659

Morwaith came over to see about setting the gem – almost immediately we hit a problem. He claims he is tied to Weyland’s fire gem, and it’s reacting badly to the Moonstone. To ensure the setting will last, he needs to walk the Pattern to attune it to himself.

Not very comfortable with this, but there is no alternative according to Morwaith – I’ll just have to grit my teeth and accept it. I do, however, take him down via the cave entrance, rather than the shortcut. Petty, perhaps, but I’m not good at trusting.

He also mentions about ‘brushing up’ on military skills – after he’s been through the best we have, I suggest that he may like to pit his skills against mine.

We decide on wrestling to start – the difference from before the ritual is amazing – I’m still quicker, but he is a lot stronger and faster than he was.

We move on to fencing practice – he has a few bad habits which I point out, but on the whole, up to family standard.

Trump call from Peter re the final preparation for the family AGM – as Morwaith is here already, include him in the call. The pre-meeting meeting is going ahead in a few hours.

Ask Luke if he wants to go – which he does, though he still uses the ‘As you command, my queen’ response which pisses me off no end (and he knows it).

I need to get changed, so am the last to arrive. I step into a hotel suite (very tasteful) and am greeted by Flora with insincere smile and carefully delivered put-down – about my dress sense and lack of femininity, what else. Peter is there, and seems to have joined in Flora’s perennial refrain with adolescent enthusiasm.

Also present are Merlin (looking sulky, though he brightens up when Luke steps through), Morwaith, Terisa, Asmark, Aylwin and some redhead female – another little sucker from the family thorn bush, no doubt.

As we go through the foyer, some stranger comes up to us, claiming to be a relative of Khitan called Omar. The sensible option would be to drag him somewhere and hide the body afterwards, but for some reason no-one does anything, or evinces anything more than mild interest. He follows us in to the Conference Room.

Flora never did have much of a grasp of security – probably why she never progressed past housekeeper to Castle Amber.

Morwaith leads off the conversation with the joyous news that he had spoken to Dark (Dworkin/Wirminbone/whatever) who had told him there were ‘too many patterns so all but four have to be destroyed’ Which overjoys us all, as one can imagine. Omar pipes up that he has a Pattern of his own – well, sort of, but his ‘situation is different’ – like we care. His shadow is called ‘Nur’ apparently, meaning ‘Light’.

We then spend a merry half hour talking about Shadows and suchlike – some quite interesting theories (from Morwaith, mainly) about the process of how they are formed, and the impact of Pattern realms on reality and the stability of reality.

What no-one is saying (but everyone is considering) is – who will go? Will it be my realm? Should I attack first?

A great start to a new Universe – not a year old yet, and the seeds of destruction have already sprouted. It struck me later – back home – that this smacks overwhelmingly of Dworkin’s manipulation, this setting realms against each other on the pretext of saving the Universe. After all, if you do nothing, you must want the Universe to tear itself apart, so we have a moral right to destroy your realm. Sick in its simplicity.

Of course, if one were uncharitable and a bitter and twisted cynical bitch, one could say that this is Dworkin having a hissy-fit about the fact that his shiny new universe isn’t exactly to his liking, so he wants to smash it and make another one – might have more luck without Alaric there to bugger it up.

But this comes to me later. In the Conference room, we order lunch ‘to see how the food is’ – well, it’s obviously going to be fine, but I think there’s more behind this meeting than just to ok the venue. Not that I mind – it’s a long time since breakfast, and the discussion is sometimes quite interesting.

The food is good, but the redhead woman (called Ann, apparently – Alaric’s wife – or widow, now) toys listlessly with a lettuce leaf. When she orders ‘just an undressed green salad’ I’m a bit surprised, but when the salad in question isn’t enough to keep a small hamster going, let alone an Amberite, I’m really taken aback.

Having a closer look at her, I notice how scrawny she is – when I quiz her about her lack of appetite, she gets very defensive, smiling tightly and telling me ‘it’s all she wants’. Admittedly, when it comes to tact I dance in size 7 hobnailed boots, but there’s something wrong there – and I don’t mean her getting the vapours every time Dworkin’s name is mentioned. Still, she and Peter are whispering and giggling like a pair of schoolgirls so she seems to have some enjoyment out of it.

We talk about memory – who we remember, if there are gaps and what it means. Morwaith (I think) says that Roger is trapped in old Amber – though I don’t know how, or what we can do about it. There isn’t a great outpouring of concern, to be honest, but maybe, when we’ve finished destroying three-quarters of the Universe, the survivors may do something.

The meeting drags on – despite my best efforts to get Omar to bugger off, no-one takes the hint (especially not him). I get less and less tactful, and am actually making some headway until Morwaith suddenly declares him ‘his new best friend’ – ok, appoints him as assistant, but the general gist is the same. Maybe Morwaith lost his alcohol tolerance when he gained his martial prowess?

Of course, now, short of lifting him bodily and throwing him out of the door, there is no way I can get rid of him. I despair of the family sometimes.

We talk of realms in a meandering way until Flora decides to (finally) do her chairmanly duties and talk about the event we’re supposed to be here to discuss. We decide on a date – Halloween, in Babylon’s calendar – New Year's Day in ours (may as well celebrate it whilst we still have an Amber). Hurrah!

Flora whitters on about table decorations and I can feel my mind shutting down. Peter suggests roses as a throwaway comment, which she pounces on with unseemly glee – ‘because Corwin’s symbol is the rose’.

Someone please pass the sick-bag.

We move on to security – what a laugh. Considering some unknown relative of a seriously dodgy sorcerer just wandered in with us unchallenged, I can’t wait to see what Flora thinks are security measures. She does try and flatter me by referring to my ‘unrivalled expertise’ in the area, but quite frankly, having been on the receiving end of her jibes for far too long, I’m not impressed by her sudden reversal. She doesn’t notice – score one for sincerity, there.

When we drift into ‘orders of precedence’ (aka ego-masturbation for the terminally self-important), I give up completely and chat to Terisa. She’s actually quite interesting to talk to – very sharp, very intelligent and not as stand-offish as I’d thought at first. I extend an invite to Ellas at some future date, if she wants.

The meeting is finally drifting to a conclusion, so before everyone leaves I grab a word with Aylwin. I ask him to do a reading about the Deirdre thing – obviously I give him a précis of what’s happened. He promises to do so as soon as he can.

Everyone drifts off in little groups – either home or to explore Paris’ nightlife. It seems a waste to go immediately, so I ask Luke if he wanted to go somewhere. He pulls the ‘as you command’ gag again and it’s all I can do not to brain him.

We go for a meal and a floorshow of some kind – all very good, he seems to know Paris fairly well. Whilst having a drink in some bar, I explain about the Deirdre thing (can’t hurt to have a second opinion) He goes a bit funny at the mention of Brand, and politely declines going anywhere near the Void – for obvious reasons, he and Brand having had a slightly worse version of the traditional Amberite family relationship. He does offer to do me a reading, but gives me (me!) a short lecture on the perils of loose talk when I tell him I’d spoken to Aylwin about it – ‘because his loyalty doesn’t lie with Ellas, does it?’

Pompous prig – as though I hadn’t known Aylwin for ages and couldn’t calculate people’s integrity.

We finish off with a walk along the river – I’m still worrying about the Deirdre thing, so when he says something about holding my hand I look at him blankly. He says ‘OK, maybe not then’ and keeps walking.

I’m still annoyed with him about the lecture and the ‘as you command’ retorts, but this rejection seems to have hurt his feelings. We hold hands for the rest of the walk – it’s fairly trivial but it seems to please him, one small gesture of affection from an emotionally- stunted ice-queen.

Your choice, Luke, I always felt it was the wrong one, but it’s the one you took.