Piotr's Ramblings
In which the universe fragments and people coalesce during Rinaldo and Valentine’s wedding as the power of the jewel dissipates upon Eric’s death.
A techno-armoured Bleys trumps Peregrine and falls wounded at his feet. A Bubblegum Crisis Flora trumps soon after to check he’s OK. More strange Trump contacts follow. Luke discerns that different calls have distinct tinges of a particular colour to their aura.
Eight are identified - like the prime facets of the Jewel Of Judgement.
Home. King Eric dies, Siren distraught. Benedict unwilling Regent. Bleys weakened by Eric. Florimel embittered at losing chance to be Queen. Julian relieved. Gerard OK. Caine strong. Fiona (unique and remembering all shard realities) rescued from jewel convalescing. Corwin comatose, Moire pretty much also.
Oberon king, Deirdre checking our disappearance.
Random (turns out to be unique) with JOJ fragment in eye, King after killing a weak Corwin.
King Benedict crippled, Marshal Bleys wounded, techie Flora, icy Julian (Random, a grim one-eyed Sharika and Fiona disappeared when Fiona destroyed the JOJ to throw back Chaos & demons) Piotr died ten years before.
King Brand strong despot, Bleys wall-ornament. Julian ill in Arden. There was an Ariana but no Alice.
King Finndo, Osric, Benedict, tiny shadows. Finndo Pattern-construct close to Logrus.
Random was king, Vialle died in childbirth and Random is now missing. Bleys is regent for Random's child and heir. Lots of other family are watching to keep Bleys honest.
King Finndo, Osric, Benedict, Young Eric?, used to be a Shar and Piotr.
Siren discovers a young version of her beloved Eric (from Indigo?).
Demon incursions are worse. Weyland badly hurt during a battle between Angels and Demons. Piotr helps to heal him with advanced shape-shifting and absorbing destroyed demons, "crunchy, but empty" and angels, "small, but full of energy".
Mandor counsels that the demon incursions could be resolved by bringing the Logrus and Pattern closer together.
Peregrine forges an armour-like harness of Weyland’s scales bound by strands from Ki-Rin’s mane forged in Ra’s fires and quenched in Mandor’s blood (Moire’s contribution?). Despil’s offer to wear the harness and embody the Logrus while moving it is accepted.
The move is successful. Green Oberon dies. Red-Violet Logrus/Thelbane winds up in the roots of Ygg and very unstable.
Piotr's RamblingsSo there we were at Luke and Valentines wedding what a lot of sitting around doing nothing wearing a thrice damned suit after the wedding there was a party and I was drinking and talking and doing stuff but then it got a bit boring because I had talked to everyone so I went to the private area where it was just me n Shar n Perry n Alice n Luke n Valentine chilling and a thumping thing started and I havent been to Powells which felt like loads and loads of people bumping into me and it looked like it was happening to everyone else and me and Shar nearly tumbled into each other but this girl appeared and shes called Siren and is kinda cool being from an alternate Amber so shes got the same Mom and Dad and she likes the young Eric that hasnt been fubared by the Jewel so hes cool as well so I need to go see them to bring more happy time and go see Shar and her new bf and talk with Julian more coz he knows all kinds of cool stuff and go look after Mom and teach Siren the way there and apologise to Julian for letting people know about the Wood Pattern and then there were all these other people in the room as well Luke recognised everyone else so kinda took charge and so we went round introducing ourselves to each other then Bleys trumped Shar and threw his Trumps at her because he was being taken by demons but we were able to Trump him and rescue him but he was really hurt by the demons and Shars trump from that deck showed her as an Avenging Angel of Death with this really cool looking Pattern sword with a black blade that radiated menace and Siren was able to stabilise Bleys but couldnt heal the wounds or regrow his eyes so I joined in and there was this icky demon influence that Siren could hold back so I started on the repairs and Shar likes him so its all good someone got a Trump call and Flora was in trouble so they all rushed off to sort that out while I fixed Bleys and while they were there they found out that Eric had died and we think tried to fix the problems caused by the Jewel going boom and I need to tell Perry about Fiona's warning about growing Jewels being like raising children and that caused realities to collapse and people like me and Shar and Siren who had been hit by Jewel fragments when it exploded got consolidated into single entities as did Fiona but she had all the memories of he other selves where we only had one set but all of us had had a dream which was a memory of a n alternate self who is from one the newly formed compacted realities which all have a different colour to them when you Trump them and time kinda runs differently and I wonder if the are places we haven't guessed about yet and theres these two fish in a tank and one says to the other how do you drive this thing and theres a very different history in some of them and I offered to share my strength but Fiona said no because she didnt know if shed be able to control her side of the energy drain but this was after we had been visited been visited by Diedre from the green place who was all happy to have found us because it meant that her Oberon hadn't killed us and she wasn't going to get it from the Primals who are really cool apart from Ra Mom is one of them for letting us get killed so we decided that we shouldnt go there then people went all over the place looking for advice and thats when I went to see Fiona and told her about the dream I had before the Jewel exploded where I was walking the Wood Pattern all the Primals have created a place of power and theres five of them and thats neat Fiona said I should talk to Julian about dreams but he said it wasnt relevant and a nifty explanation why and they wouldnt let me have any code red at the reception and I kept forgetting to get some proper clothes and loose the suit and its useful to wear clothes rather just shift them because you can loose them in interesting ways and then everyone was back together and we shared info and Mandor who is a Primal said that what we could do was move the Logrus nearer to Amber and the Patterns and this would strengthen the remaining realities and they all were being attacked by demons but this would stop them from getting in but in order to do this we needed to get a sacrifice from all the Primals in order to move the Logrus well apart from one from the Serpent who sacrificed to create the Logrus so we went to find Wayland and he was in his dragon form but really really hurt because hed been fighting all these demons and angels or possibly fight on the same side of the angels couldnt really tell because the area was just covered in their bodies you couldnt see the ground or anything and he really needed help so I started the healing thing again and needed to eat to keep the energy flowing and there was all this handy dandy organic matter and that made everyone go eww which was cool and then we all went to see Ra for her advice and more stuff happened and Siren went off with Eric to his place and I was like all erk and where do I go coz we didnt know if wed still be able to travel between places after moving the Logrus and it was really really hard to decide but I decided that my best place would be with Siren and Eric and Osric and them but then we had to go to Mom and get her sacrifice and Siren had never been there but then she grew up in the Courts a bit rather than in Amber so maybe she never had the chance to visit and Mom who cut some of her hair off as her sacrifice and she lost I dunno some of her light and Perry made the box which was really a suit of armour to hold in the Logrus when Despil collected it to move it closer and that worked and we can still travel between the different places which means its less of problem doing all the stuff I want to but I need to work out how walk between places but maybe Wayland can teach me a something and the bestest thing is I didnt tired only done that once
Alice, standing by the reflecting pool in Thelbane Tower, looks down at herself and waves. Mirror Alice shrugs her shoulders and looks away.
"Keep your temper," Alice says to Mirror Alice, "remember the Caterpillar."
"Well yes, I know it's unsettling, " Alice admits, "but we've had training, you could say. You could say it if you wanted to. I know you don't. You're just sulking, but I can say it for you."
"It's more complicated this time, that's true, there are mirrors within mirrors. But that's good, because then you can see round the corners where the dark things hide. Plenty of dark things everywhere… Don't look like that. Just because Perry made a sword called EbenNacht doesn't mean… Well yes, I know what Humpty Dumpty said about names." She sounds a little piqued now; she crosses her arms and says in a superior, sonorous tone "Of course a name must mean something: my name means the shape I am. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost." Mirror Alice grins swiftly. "Though that's Piotr, of course, " Alice adds. "It just shows that Humpty Dumpty had never studied Germanic languages, because Alice is exactly the right name for the shape I am, too."
"And you, of course," Alice adds just before Mirror Alice can frown.
"I'd quite like to know what kind of a shape Despil means. A Logrus-charged and sentient-armoured shape. He probably has to pay it extra, I mean the name, to make it do all that work."
"I'm
beginning to learn what kind of a shape Brand means now. A dangerous shape, full
of flame and darkness and pain. A shape with rainbow-aureoled eyes that seek out
pawns in all the Ambers, now they know about them. What we need is a mirror for
those eyes, so they see themselves and turn away. Being a pawn is all right as a
start, but not any more. The board has grown bigger, up and down and under and
between, and the old chess moves aren't enough."
"Well, no, I don't know the new moves yet. I think we have to make them up. There's no point trying to recite How Does the Little Busy Bee when it turns out to be all about Crocodiles instead. We're swimming with crocodiles and flying with dragons, my girl, and there's no going back to the nursery." Alice huffs and adds, sharply, "You spent just as much time trying to get out of the nursery as I did, so it's no use trying to pretend otherwise."
Alice pauses and looks at Mirror Alice. "You know quite well what shape Peregrine means. And Luke. He's going to be King in the old home Amber, now." Alice pauses, and looks intently at Mirror Alice. "Yes, I agree. Somebody has to, though, and he was trained to be king of somewhere, so he might as well. And perhaps he's thought up some new moves to get him out of only being able to move one square at a time. All the same, he talks to Brand, and Brand wants to pick up all the pieces and set up a whole new game, I think."
Alice seems to listen for a while. "You're right. Listening at doors, and behind trees, and down chimneys. Apparently one of me was good at that."
"Yes, I know I have to talk to Ariana. It's just that she's she, and I'm I, and it's all so very puzzling. I don't know where to start." Alice pauses. "It's all very well to say start at the beginning, go on until you reach the end, then stop! That rather presupposes the existence of linear time, which I am beginning to have some doubts on, and as for the physics of the situation, I'm not sure how many dimensions are involved, and Mandor just looks mysterious and smiles in that Cheshire Cat kind of way when I ask him."
"I am not dodging the question. I am going to tell Ariana about Brand. She probably knows already, anyway… No, I said I'll talk to her, and I'll talk to her." Alice sighs. "You can be quite bossy, you know."
"Then another thing we have to do" counting off on her fingers "is find Merlin and have a word with him about the shape of the multiverse, because he probably has some good data available. No, I don't know if he'll need help reprogramming. It would be rude to ask, you know."
"And then there's work to do in Tir. And the Hall of Mirrors to look into. And a quick peek into the Rebmas. I hope you're on good terms with time, because we're going to need a lot of it."
"And I don't need to tell you about Fire Eyes." Mirror Alice looks up and smiles. Just for a moment, her teeth look sharp and pointed. Just for a moment.
Last edited 09 June 2003