The Best Laying of Plans (Fergus, Aiden)

"The morning will do, most like," says Caine.

Fergus turns back to the party to look for Llyr and imediately regrets it. The throng of people sets his sense of panic off and he heads to a secluded alcove away from the mass of the people, just as he had down at the previous party. The number of people had increased vastly since he had arrived and Fergus knew very few of the people there and without an escort did not know quite how to approach things.

To calm himself down Fergus turns away from the throng of humanity and starts to list all the things he needs to do not related to the Nexus trip to calm himself down.

I need to talk to Llyr about the second prophecy
I need to get the Twins to show me that card of Isabel
I need to talk with Great Grandfather Dworkin about my shifting ability
I need to get hold of an Amber Loadstone to test out here and in the Nexus
If I have time tomorrow it would be interesting to witness Winnow and Kieran spar with each other
I need to investigate the enchantment here in Remba, though that can likely wait
I need to get components for an enhanced version of my Amber camera.
I need to get some components for Mint's hot air balloon
I need to test out a proptype of a hydro-electric generator
Failing that I need to investigate whether steam power would work in Amber
Once that is done I can work on Aunt Flora's elevator
I probably should ask Random permission to found an Academy here first
I need to talk with Aunt Fiona about her investigations so far into the Pattern
Hopefully she can help provide input on measuring Pattern energy
I need to try and work out exactly how trumps work, likely as an offshoot of talking to Aunt Fiona
I need to investigate magic and how it works
I need to go with Winnow at some point to his home Shadow, though likely sometime in the future
I need to

With that Fergus feel a tap on his shoulder. He turns around to see who it is, shielding his eyes from the massed throng of the party.

Prince Llyr has a concerned look on his face. "You seem distraught," he says to Fergus. "As your host, is there anything I can do to help?"

Fergus feels embaressed to show his weakness but it is too late now that Llyr has already seen him thus.

"I'm sorry, I'm not used to this many people. I was OK earlier when there were less here, but it seems everyone in Remba has come to celebrate your birthing cycle."

Fergus shifts round as subtly as possible so that he doesn't need to look at the mass of people.

"I was hoping to be able to contact your" he stops himself briefly reconsidering his next word "friend in the sisterhood but didn't know whether you were free of your official duties yet."

"Sister Mircalla is on her way home at the moment," says Prince Llyr. "By now she should be close to the Isle of Gont, roughly half-way between here and Uberwald. My brother accompanies her and if need be I can put you into contact with him?"

Fergus brightens at the prospect of hearing the prophecy.

"Yes I would like that very much. Thank you for your kindness Llyr. Your brother, he is Corwin's son is he not, which makes him another cousin of mine."

"Yes, indeed. Give me a moment," says Llyr as he fishes out ( ) a card bearing a portrait of a young man and begins to concentrate...

[OOC Must wait until Triton's next post to continue this bit...]

Aiden makes a slow circuit of the Ballroom and the veranda opening onto the gardens looking for Mint or Winnow.
Looks like they've either left the party or are otherwise engaged. No worries. Nothing that can't wait till morning...Probably best anyway. It's getting late, or rather, early. It might be a good idea to get some down time before we start tomorrow.

Upon coming to the main doors of the grand hall, Aiden turns and goes through them, passes through the entry hall to the palace and mounts the stairs which lead back to the surface world above. He takes his time, enjoying the flowing movement of the underwater atmosphere and letting his mind wander. From time to time he stops to admire the colorful reefs and darting undersea life illuminated by the lighted globes along the stair.

After some time, he finds himself emerging into rolling surf and liquid moonbeams.
No matter how far from you I travel, you are always in my heart. Aiden smiles deeply and contentedly as he looks toward Amber.

Walking in quiet thought, he slowly retrieves the small deck of Trumps from his pocket and begins to thumb through them for the Trump of the small outpost in the hills near Amber.

In the foothills between Arden and Castle Amber, moonlight washes over all. The castle, brightly lit, looks like a dream image worthy of a thousand thousand childhood yearnings.

Two soldiers wearing the livery of Amber approach on horseback. "Halt! Who goes there?"

"Lord Aiden," he calls out, coming to an abrupt halt. "I require a horse."

The guards approach and get a good look at Aiden. He presumably uses one of the hand signals he should have been taught for using this entrance to Amber-- the one that indicates he is himself and not under coertion of any kind. Once done, the junior of the two guardsmen will dismount and offer his horse--a mare--to Aiden.

Fergus waits for Llyr to finish with the trump before thanking him.

"Again my heartfelt thanks for your assistance tonight Llyr. It has been very helpful to me. I hope that one day I can repay your kindness to me."

Fergus looks around and sees the miasma of people again and his heart sinks.

"I'm afraid the party is getting too busy for me now. I think Aunt Flora was going to take me back to the Castle so I'd best go and find her."

"Fergus!" Fiona approaches with a pair of guards behind her, flanking a woman he's never seen before in a gray cloak--not the most practical of garbs for Rebma. The stranger stares in every direction, mouth slightly open and blinking rapidly.

In Fiona's hand is something familiar--a monocle identical to that worn by his jailer in the Nexus.

"Are you going back to the Castle? Thought you might like to accompany us. Event keep getting curiouser and curiouser."

Finally I get to mean Aunt Fiona. There was me thinking she was avoiding me!

"By all means. I think Aunt Flora was going to accompany me, but we could let her know we're going on ahead."

Fergus looks briefly at the woman and then slightly longer at the monocle.

"That looks very like Mr Forrester's monocle. Where did you get it from?"

Aiden accepts the mount with a nod of appreciation and heads for the Palace. He takes his time riding along the hilly path, alternating between a walk and a slow trot, enjoying the majesty of the mountain vista, the play of moonlight and shadow, the soft Jasmine scented breezes wafting along the trail. As he rides. his mind wanders lazily to the events of the last 24 hours; not examining, not analyzing, not planning, simply softly alighting on first one recollection and then another - a buttlerfly of consciousness.
Some 20 minutes later, he reaches the palace stables, turns the horse in to the night marshall and continues his meandering course. Crossing one of the formal gardens, he alights a short set of stone steps leading up to a side entrance. Once inside, he follows the sconce lighted passageways, first right, then left, then left again, up a flight of stairs and then down a carpeted hallway of colorful tapestries to the familiar door of his suite. It's nice to be home if only for a bit. He turns the key and melts inside.

The woman in gray looks at Fergus with an utterly baffled expression. "Ferguson?" she says. Then shuts up.

Fiona lifts one eyebrow. "Hmmmm...how interesting." She sighs. "And now both Kier twins have vanished. We're going to have to do something about that." She looks at Fergus. "Did you know this," she indicates the monocle, "was magical? Never mind. I've told Flora to make our apologies. We really, really need to get back to Amber. Come along." With that she turns and starts out, monocle in hand and the woman in gray brought along by a pair of guards.

Over Fergus' head, what looks like a tiny clay bird of some kind 'flies' overhead and through a window. If he looks in the direction it came, he sees a well-dressed courtier looking startled, then a little frightened as another of Fiona's guards grabs a small wooden box from his hands and shuts it, before heading back to Fiona.

The guard and this woman obviously had a story to tell. If they didn't volonteer it then Fergus knows other ways to extract the information from their minds, though he suspects that the elders would be far more proficient at it than he is.

How does this woman know me?

"No I didn't, but then as yet I cannot see magic. It is interesting that more than person has one of these things. Perhaps when we get back to the Castle we can examine it in more detail."

Fergus follows his Aunt out of the party, pleased to be away from the throng of people and out of Rebma.

"I've been hoping for a chance to talk to you Aunt Fiona, mainly about your studies of the pattern. However events seem to be moving fast now that we have more important things to consider. Is there any way that we could intercept that bird?"

Fiona stops and looks to where ever Fergus seems to be indicating. "What bird?" She looks piercingly in every direction. She knows there shouldn't be any birds in Rebma.

There's no sign of the thing.

"Its gone now Aunt Fiona, but it was a tiny clay bird that flew over my head. That courtier that your guards arrested I think released it. I guess someone was trying to get a message out of the party, though what that message was and why now I don't know. It doesn't make sense to do it in the open unless it was urgent though."

Fiona looks a little bit around, looking annoyed. The guard with the box leans down and whispers in her ear. She nods. "Lets go back to the castle. I'm going to want to examine that box."

She turns and heads for the exit.

Fergus follows Fiona back to the Castle, aware that she is in a hurry and quite annoyed at the whole situation. He had been told earlier that some of the servants were spies, but he didn't think that perhaps some of the courtiers here were spies too.

I wonder whether there will be any repercussions of an Amberite arresting someone in Remba? Not my concern I suspect at the moment.

Fergus settles in to the coach next to Fiona and wonders why she didn't use trumps to get back to the Castle. He stars at the woman who called him Fergusson and tries to see if he can recognise her from anywhere. He has a good memory and he cannot recall ever having seen her before.

Perhaps she is a member of the cult that imprisoned me and has seen my likeness? That might explain her using the longform version of his name, Fergusson rather than the name he has used all his life, Fergus.

Determined not to wate any time he demands of the young woman.

"Who are you and how do you know me?"

Fiona has a large carriage waiting for them. They all enter it and it makes for the castle at a fast pace.

The woman in grey remains steadfastly silent, but seems to be observing everything around her, as if memorizing it.

After a short time, Fiona says to Fergus "Has anyone told you about Karlsen? Another one of your cousins. Doesn't live in the castle. I'd like him to take a look at these," she indicates the monocle and small wooden box.

Fergus is suprised that the woman does not answer him, particularly after being so familiar with him. Well if she remained silent then there would be other ways of extracting information from her, though perhaps not in a gentle way.

Another new cousin to meet. My am I blessed with family all of a sudden!

"Someone might have mentioned him earlier when I asked for a list of cousins, though I know nothing about him. If he can shed any light on what they do then I would suggest that we consult him. I might be able to tell what it does mechanically, but as soon as any magic is involved I'm not certain I'll be any help. If he lives in the town in Amber then perhaps we could call on him on the way to the castle."

Fergus pauses for a second and then decides to give the silent woman something to think about.

"If this one refuses to answer questions" (he nods at the woman) "then we may need to employ other tactics to extract the information we need."

[OOC - Mint or Winnow was asked earlier to list cousins for me and said that we would retroactively add any new additions to the cast so I'm assuming that they mentioned Karslen then]