Into The Woods (Mint, the Kier)

"Truly an important man then to others as well as you, I regret that I never got to meet Lord..."
Mint pauses.
"Hmm, I don't believe that you have mentioned his name."

"Grandfather was named Kieral."

Nothing in the distance yet, still searching.

"Most of the other gentry referred to him as 'My Lord', or more commonly 'Sir'."

Turning to look at Mint

"Grandfather would have loved to meet you."

"Really? I'm flattered. Is it something about me in particular or would any of the cousins do?"

"Oh yes. Grandfather preferred discipline in his holdfast. I can sense that you would prefer such as well. I do not think Grandfather would have gotten along well with King Random."

"They do not sound much alike. Still I have only ever known Random as Amber's king and he has my oath. Still, I have however heard tales of former rulers. Did you know that Eric had Corwin's eyes burned out? I heard they used a heated poker."

Kierenne frowns. "Is that a serious punishment? Grandfather crushed one of my eyes once in practice. He said I wasn't taking the sparring seriously, so he didn't hold back. Once the bloodworms regrew the orb, I was always much more diligent."

Oh no. That was Cousin Mint who spoke. I didn't realize!

She glances at Fiona and then back to Mint. "I suppose without bloodworms, you cannot regrow an eye? How depressing for you."

So THERE! I wasn't intimidated at all. She didn't notice a thing.

I would love to take one of those worms apart and see how it does what it does.

"I'm told that even without blood worms those of the blood will regenerate from any injury, albeit not as quickly. Corwin eventually escaped and showed up in Amber later with his eyes. ...and an army.

If losing an eye didn't count as serious, then what did short of death?"

He turns to Mint, his eyes burning with zeal.

"The Usurper was shown mercy. When the rightful King of Amber showed him mercy, sparing his life, what did he do? How was Father repaid? He brought war to Amber and slew the King."

Returning to the distance

"The only serious injury is death."

Scanning back and forth for it, he adds softly "But the injury, healed, renewed, then let healed until the lesson is learned. Those are the lessons we will always remember."

Rightful king? He has heard a different version of things that I. Best to let others dispel his illusions. Mint stays silent for a bit to see if Fiona or Kierenne have anything to add.

"Corwin didn't kill Eric," offers Fiona, evidently enjoying the show. "As for rightful king--well, we all pretty much agreed not to argue, but Eric was illegitimate. Nor was he the eldest son. Fortunately, Benedict didn't want the job, else Eric never would have dared even think about taking the throne. Our father evidently wanted Corwin to succeed him, but then Corwin turned it down as well. So the Unicorn chose Random. And that, as they say, was that." She smiles, eyes twinkling.

Not looking away from his search, he does not comment.

History is always wrote by the survivors.

"Aunt, one thing about that day has puzzled me and more that just me. I have spoken to soldiers who served that day with Eric and served with pride. They confirm that Corwin and Eric did not fight direct. And yet none could tell me of the killing blow. Who or what exactly did finish Eric? Do you know"

Both of the twins turn their gazes to Fiona, all attention on her answer.

"Eric wasn't felled by any single wound," she replies coolly, "but by a multitude delivered by numerous warriors--invaders out of Shadow rather than Corwin's troops. When Corwin arrived, Eric was already mortally wounded, and the former threw his forces into the fray to defend Amber. The battle, as I assume you've heard, lasted a very long time and Eric was wielding a great deal more than his sword that day. My guess is, had even one of his wounds been a little less severe his natural vitality would have led to a full recovery--with interesting consequences, I'm sure. The fact is, Corwin and Eric seem to have grown beyond their endless feuding but neither one realized it until too late. Sad, really." She doesn't sound sad recounting this. Nor does she seem gleeful.

Aunt Fi gives the best oblique hints.

Mint loses her train of thought briefly to speculation.

"Invaders out of Shadow? Do you mean the Courts?"

{OOC - Feel free to adjust this question based on a GM's view of what Kierenne would know about the Patternfall war. I'm still unclear if the Courts themselves are common knowledge, or if it's called "the Patternfall War" by anyone inside the universe.}

[Some folks would call it the Patternfall War--others no doubt called in Ragnarok or maybe Gehenna--but you can call it that if you like. I've no problem with your knowing about the Courts, in the most general possible terms.]

Fiona shrugs. "More or less."

The carriage by now travels well within the foothills of Mount Kolvir. Mountain tops appear, at first in the distance but then closer as well as in nearly every direction.

And then--a castle soaring above the surrounding landscape, like a temple fortress of ivory. As the path exits the last fringes of Arden, a troop of mounted warriors await them. Their officer salutes those driving the carriage, then four take up positions in front of the carriage while another four bring up the rear. All bear the white unicorn, rampant, upon a field of green. It is worn as a badge by each.

By now the carriage passes a few farms dotting the region outside of the harbor city. And it travels now on a paved road in excellent repair.

Kierenne is more interested in the farms, and their abundance of cultivated plant life, than the city itself. He taps her brother on the arm. "Look how they have the food plants growing so close together. Even Master Nymon couldn't create enough light to grow them that densely."

"Nymon would surely lose his mind at the thought of all this light going to waste also."

Turning his gaze from Kolvir to the surrounding lands.

"So wasteful. But if you have light in abundance, there is no concern about waste, since you won't run out of it, you don't worry."

"Hrm. What if Nymon was using sunlight from the wrong shadow? Or rather... would sunlight from here, the original sunlight upon which all Shadow suns are just copies... perform better?"

For the rest of the trip, Kierenne experiments with a spell in her head, trying to pipe Amber's sunlight to other realms, instead of using shadow sunlight with her spell. Sometimes, flashes of light can be seen eminating from her hand, though during a brightly lit day this doesn't really mean much. "The trick is that Amber isn't shadow... we can't just move the light from one shadow to the other." <mutter mutter> "Oh, but..." <mutter mutter> "Yes! CASTING the shadow..." <mutter mutter>

"Did Master Nymon teach you your magics Kierenne?"

<mutter mutter> "Nymon..." <mutter mutter>

A brighter flash of light happens in Kierenne's hand. "Ah-HA!"

<mutter mutter>

Not wanting to interrupt her concentration he whispers "That was much brighter then Nymon's workings.."

<mutter mutter> "... maintain the opening... <mutter mutter>

Kierenne stomps her foot on the floor. "I can't get the stupid thing to stay open for longer than a few minutes."

"Oh, wait a minute..." <mutter mutter>

Staring intently at Kierenne's palms as she concentrates harder

Do it sister, you can do it. Feel it. You've got it....

His visible eyes widen as his twin makes steps closer to her goal.