Because Because Because Because Because...!!! (Mint & Winnow)

"Why thank you for clearing up this misunderstanding, Miss Hubbard. I shall accept the token." Mint signs the papers with a flourish.

"I have always appreciated Queen Melificent's attention to detail. I value a Monarch who takes care of the little things and leaves the big things to take care of themselves."

Mint's toothy smile suggests that she is in fact a big thing who should be left to take care of herself.

Once Miss Hubbard departs, Mint settles in for a bit more spellcasting. Once that spell is complete she holds it in her mind uncast and asks Winnow, "What would you like for lunch?"

"Surprise me. My tastes are startlingly eclectic. In fact, I should have brought a piece of that bird back. We could have had wing." He smiles, Buddha-like, from his seat on the floor.

Mint takes a rake and a large back out behind the house and rakes up two large bags of leaves. She brings them in and sets them in the kitchen. She grabs an axe and walks a bit out of sight of the house then returns lugging a medium sized tree. She uncerimoniously places the tree on the dining room table and then dumps the bags of leaves alongside it.

"You did say surprise you." Mint says, wryly.

Before Winnow can actually dig into a meal of bark and leaves, Mint activates the spell which she has held in abeyance.

Mystical energy dances forth and transforms the tree and leaves into a vast and diverse array of foodstuffs. Wing of giant bird, Manticore Steak, Poached Roc Egg, and a vast array of other oddments some of which Winnow might recognize from dinners at Castle Amber and some which seem entirely new even to him. Everything is perfectly prepared and beautifully presented upon wooden serving platters. Several wooden bottles even contain a variety of excellent wines, ales, and meads suitable for the feast.

Mint seperates out a portion of the bounty which seems specificaly suited for transport and later meals and packs it carefully into a travelling bag. Jerkies, dried fruit, nuts, hard breads and hard cheeses feature prominently in this portion.

While Mint eats with gusto it becomes rapidly apparent that she won't win any eating contests with Winnow at the table.

"The Civilized Culinary Cornucopia serves two or two thousand depending on how much raw material I start with."

"The key alas appears to be a merely a key to the fullest extent of my ability to analyze it. Karlsen or Fiona might find something more, but then again they might not. Father always did insist on having the best possible equipment."

If Mint's small tin friend and beloved childhood toy has not yet returned by the time she finishes eating, Mint will go looking for him. He should have made it back by now.

The little tin man appears halfway through the meal, with no particular news about the Council. Turns out Hubbard briefed everyone on the Pretender Ivmo XIII, insisting he's a lunatic backed by foreign interests. Other than that, no real news.

"Lunatic sounds half right. I would judge him half lunatic and half wit. Did Miss Hubbard mention which foreign interests? Mint asks her metal minion.

She did not.

After lunch Mint becomes boring again. She takes the time to write out reports in triplicate about the events of the last several days including everything which she is permitted to share. She seals each report in a seperate envelope with a wax seal and addresses one to General Benedict, One to Commander Diana, and one to His Royal Majesty King Random the First of Amber. The reports are mostly identical except that the one to Random also includes a short bullet point summary of important points in case he decides not to read the entire document.

Once completed she asks Winnow to pass the letters on to the Guardsmen in Amber for delivery via his Trump of Amber.

After finishing that task she shuffles out her Trump of Julian and spends a half hour patiently but forcefully staring at it and willing him to answer.

(OOC: I'm assuming Julian does not answer. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

After this she turns her attention to Winnow again.

"My plan at this point is to ignore the changes in local politics for the time being. They are deadly dull and may reflect a change in multiple Shadows rather than a targetted effect. Also I have means of insuring that things here do not get too far out of hand in my absence. Instead with your help I want to focus on the Key. My spell will take us to a place where we can hire horses for the Journey. From there I want you, if you are willing, to seek whatever this key fits. If, as I suspect, this starts to take you away from Iv then I will want to act to secure this Shadow before I depart it. Once clear of Iv we hellride to the destination until we reach it or recieve a Trump call. If this works for you we will leave in a bit under four hours from now."

Then Mint takes a two hour nap and encourages Winnow to do likewise. Upon waking she peforms ablutions, casts one more spell which she holds in abeyance, snacks a bit and packs leftovers from the feast in a large basket for travel. She also packs away her small tin friend, whose spring by now has wound down.

Just before they depart Mint goes into her father's workshop casually grabs a pouch which she stows near the top of her gear and then almost reverently she takes an old worn cigar box and packs it carefully away hidden amongst the other things she carries.

"Ready, Winnow?" Mint asks before casting her spell.

Before Winnow can actually dig into a meal of bark and leaves, Mint activates the spell which she has held in abeyance.

Winnow smiles with delight, which mellows to guarded optimism as he picks up a piece of wing. "I won't be excreting bark and leaves in the morning, shall I? This food will remain food?" He shrugs and begins devouring.

Between bites, he says, "Reminds me of a joke Gerard told me. Do you know what a panda is? There is one in the Zoo, it's a kind of racoon-colored bear. Anyway, a panda walks into a tavern. In fact, this could happen in this shadow, I suppose. Still. The panda has a cocked and loaded crossbow. He orders a big meal, devours it, then fires the crossbow at the tavern-keep, then runs out the door."

"The tavern-keeper mutters, 'That's the last time I let that guy in here. Damn panda, he just eats shoots and leaves.'"

A pause to let it sink in, and Winnow roars with laughter. He continues eating and drinking, tears of mirth streaming down his face from time to time.

The key alas appears to be a merely a key to the fullest extent of my ability to analyze it.

"So we should be looking for a lock. Or a keyhole, anyway. Something unusual, but not mystical. I presume nothing in your father's workshop receives it?"

Once completed she asks Winnow to pass the letters on to the Guardsmen in Amber for delivery via his Trump of Amber.

Winnow does so, along with a cloth wrapped full of meats, cheese, bread and four bottles of beer for the men, with instructions and his thanks.

Winnow will join Mint in the Trump-staring at Julian, throwing his not inconsiderable will into it, to try to help reach him.

When Mint outlines her plan, he nods willingly. "An estimable plan." Winnow spends some time examining the key if Mint does not mind, touching it, smelling it, even tasting it delicately with the tip of his tongue. He raps it on several objects to fix its tone in his mind. He wants to internalise its essence of key-ness. He will then take a short nap, dreaming of Nimue, glad on waking for the usual placement of his armor. He will then meditate for the rest of the time, and rise lithely to his feet when Mint is ready.

"I am fully restored, thank you." Except for the bruises now turning shades of purple and yellow, but those are of little consequence. His armor races over his body to cover everything but his head and hands, and he fastens his sarong-as-baldric. He then takes the blanket-cloak brought from his room, and throws it about his shoulders, his armor forming loops and pins to hold it in place. He shows Mint the key in his hand, then his armor flows around it, locking it into his left palm, unless Mint objects.

"Ready."

As they approach the front door, both hear some banging sounds. Like hammers against wood.

When they step outside, they'll see the source of the noise. Just off of Mint's property, in the street, a pair of workmen have are erecting a sign. A pole now stands in the ground, with a small but steady-looking cairn at its base to keep it steady. Now an oval sign is being nailed into place.

Overseeing them is a familiar figure, all in black. Roberto, the Queen's champion. He notices them as they emerge but doesn't make any move forward. He does a little take, smiles and waves.

Winnow will key off Mint, but also walk slowly forward surveying the situation, trying to get a look at the sign.

He winks at Roberto, and smiles a secret smile.

(OOC: Mint had originally intended to depart by spell, which she still has ready, but hearing the sounds of hammers she will definitely go outside to investigate.)

Mint takes a look at the sign to see what it looks like before approaching the Man in Black.

"Have we met? You have a familiar look about you and yet I would swear we have not been properly introduced. I am Mintabilia Brandsdotor, more commonly known by the sobriquet Mint. My guest is called Winnow."

Mint offers her hand.

"Judging by the work you do I would guess that you work for the esteemed Queen Melificent. This makes me glad that we did not meet earlier today. I felt quite cross with her until I learned that the guardsman who violated my property was in fact an imposter. The honorable Miss Hubbard explained the whole thing and I am now quite content to put this morning's unpleasantness behind me."

(OOC: Mint only saw Roberto through the Trump to Winnow earlier so he may well not have seen her.)

Roberto kisses Mint's hand with a flourish. "Delighted to meet you, milady. And so good to learn the name of this glorious fellow over here!" He indicates Winnow. "As for the sign, I was nearby so Her Majesty asked me to swing by and make sure it was put up properly."

By now the two workman have finished and the sign can clearly be read. It is made of hardwood, with nicely decorated letters carved into the wood and inlaid with gold paint. Above was the stylized crown of the queen--fashioned to resemble horns. The sign itself read:

After reading the sign, Mint stands gobsmacked for the better part of a minute.

Beloved?!? Beloved?!?!? Seriously? I hadn't realized that they had ever even met. She couldn't have...? They couldn't have...? She couldn't be...? Could she? I thought dad had better taste than that. Melificent? Nah.

"That would be mah father."

"Indeed?" says Roberto. "I wondered given your name. Well, that plus your coloring. Her Majesty isn't one for revealing a lot about her past, but did let drop now and then that she loved a man with copper hair once."

"Loved." Mint coughs. She coughs rather quite a lot actually sounding almost like a cat hacking up a hairball. She will accept assistance from either Winnow or the Man in Black if offered.

Once she regains her breath, Mint will continue. "Ah don't believe that ah caught yer name."

The man in black bows deeply. "Roberto, Queen's Champion, at your service."

"Really, ah'm rather fond of good service."

Mint smiles.

"Ah'm a bit behind in the local politics. Has her majesty an heir?"

"Not that anyone's heard of," is his reply. "Or at least not that I've heard in the past three years of service. But then, magic does tend to make one long-lived."

"You know, I don't know the identity of my Mother. I know that Father moved here when I was but a babe. No one here knows my mother. If Queen Melificent knew my Father before he moved here, do you think it is possible..."

Mint looks thoughtful.

"...do you think her Majesty might have met my mother?"

"All sorts of things are possible, my lady," says Roberto. "But I am no historian."

Mint sighs.

"Ah shall have to pursue this eventually. Ah do want to know of my ancestry. Ah'm especially concerned about the possibility however slight that my Mother might have some connection to those awful Unicorn worshipping heretics who have shown up lately. Father had a thing foah bad girls. Still ah need to leave soon and ah know that the wait for any sort of audience or information from Her Majesty must be weeks and weeks even foah the daughter of an old friend."

Mint absent-mindely flips the token she got from Miss Hubbard earlier.

Winnow watches the interplay, bows at the appropriate moments of introduction, and otherwise plays Mint's intimidating bodyguard.

It's fine if he underestimates Mint and focuses on me.

It seems a bit of a transparent ploy for Melificent to try to claim more legitimacy by linking herself to Brand. Next she will be claiming to be Mint's mother. More likely she has Mint's mother in a magically-poisoned sleep, awaiting rescue...or murdered her long ago.

Winnow will casually work his way into a position where he could engage Roberto in unarmed combat [Strength] if possible. He hopes that the man's acute combat skills apply mostly to his blades, and he will not be used to the no-mind void necessary to set up a completely non-telegraphed assault.

As Winnow repositions himself Mint gives him a look. It only lasts for a fraction of a second. It seems designed to convey some sort of information, while at the same time it utterly fails to do so. Maybe if Mint and Winnow had more of a history together the look would say something. They don't and it doesn't.

Winnow shrugs minutely and maintains his vigilance. He seems to ignore Roberto and says to Mint, "All right, this is your homeland, what shall we do next? Shall we talk to the Queen?"

[Does Winnow think he can get his hands on Roberto if he needs to? That is, does he think Roberto perceives what Winnow is doing?]

"While ah would love an audience with her majesty ah'm not gonna ask you to wait around weeks for it. Ah'll simply have to arrange something the next time ah'm in the neighborhood."

Does Roberto not know his cue? I'm guessing that Melificent wants to see me or she wouldn't have sent him here with that sign.