Editing The Beach at Adledross West (section)

===Donovan and Desri and Fey Ancient History===
“I mention it because Donovan walked the pattern and heeding the visions he had during the experience went to help my daughter Desri on heist in Nu Yark.  She is criminally inclined.  What they found, unexpectedly, was the Arden Stone.  Thats a power artifact of great antiquity, being a Fey power construct before the creation of Amber.”

Pulling a cigar from a separate case, lighting it, offering one to Realmer.  The sweet colorful Urala smoke is exhaled in a series of smoke rings.  Seeing Benedict using the drug is another surprise. 

"Its ancient history of course, and as a sorcerer you might know, that in boundless Chaos there were many shadows, regions of existence, ones that the inhabitants of short lives might deem permanent but they were flimsy as the wind.  A mere million years here and there and they fade away.  Creatures of chaos are not bound by time, or shape, or order, or structure. The rock Kolvir was such a place.  A continent, a forest, a mountain with caves.   And in the land lived Fey races.  Their leaders were a collection of great fey, elven, nature oriented, and infused with the powers of chaos.  Their King and Queen, and a few of their brothers and sisters were Lords of Chaos.  I do not know who Titiana's king was in Chaos but she was the queen.  After the pattern was created shadows of the fey had Oberon and Titiana as kings and queen of the Fey. The Arden Stone was central to the powers of the Fey in Chaos for endless eons."

"When Dworkin picked their realm and Kolvir to forge the primal pattern it threw all creation into flux.  And the Fey, original inhabitants of Kolvir, were linked to the Pattern and so was the Arden Stone. As long as they had the stone they were a power equal to the pattern.  Dworkin and the Unicorn bore Oberon there and he grew there.  Titiana was his wet nurse. He grew powerful, as fey and as a Lord of Chaos and the first person to walk the pattern beside Dworkin and the Unicorn.  soon he left and wandered the new shadows.  When he returned to raise a kingdom, daughter-wife in tow, Titiana and her sister Cyrene were there. Cymnea hated them both on sight.  It never got better.  But out in Chaos, somewhere, was Titiana's true husband.  He had been away when Amber was created and was severed from her by the forces of creation."

"I tell you this because Donovan and Desri have returned to Amber.  They had quite an adventure of it.  My brother Kibar and Bley's son Nicholas helped in the heist and helped fight of autoduelists and various other threats. They met my brother Hamilton, a Lord of Mandalay and an instructor at Rasak, and he traveled with them for a time. They met with Random and I and for technical reasons the Stone was unable to pass Trumps so they had to take it by foot, or by Kibar's autodueling car at least. Donovan promised to meet Random on the far side of Mandalay at Rue Katal so the army that would have been the King's progress instead for marched there.  Random, Dalt, Macsen, Arloxedra, and I waited there.  Vance with a fleet in space.  We had our own encounters.  Ill tell you about them in a moment."

"Donovan, Desri, Hamilton, and Kibar met and negotiated with a force of Fey Dragons from Ang Ri.  They met Fey and Adask fey that fled Chaos and the Abyss to follow the call of the Arden Stone and had to fight some of them.  Then they met a force from Mandalay led by Elfwine and a force from Adagalask led by Julian that arrived at the same time of course.  They tried to convince him to take the stone to Mandalay or Adagalsk. He refused Julian, his father, who nearly drew blade on him to seize it.  Ninartes had in fact ordered him to murder Donovan and Desri if they denied him the Stone but he didn't in the end.  After that they took the stone to Mandalay. In Mandalay, much to our surprise, Adrian just wanted the stone to visit Ygg.  And he told Donovan how to convince the stone to travel trump.  So rather then meeting Random and all of us at Rue Katal he trumped to Amber and installed the stone in Arden.  Random was pissed purple and blue.  He wanted the stone installed in the Castle Amber gardens.

"The others pieces moving were a huge force of Chaosians that crossed the Abyss determined to teal the stone. Bleys and his pet warbands and war gods, including forces led by three of his own shadows, Blays, Blake Fisher, and Brandy Amberton, met them near Chaos and destroyed them.  In the celebrations Bleys got to drunk and Dara of all people delivered him to Random and I.  A force of Regorian space warriors tried to reach the stone but Vance, Agrom and Vander destroyed Regor's space force. And CHAD forces led by King Arin and Sir Reltorious obliterated another army of Azcla.  Dalt and Macsen met a force of dark Fey from out of the Diaga Sway.  There were a number of smaller fights.  Historians might call it a war.  But once the Stone was installed in Arden, it as all over.  Donovan won.  "


Realmer accepts the rum coffee and drinks some as Benedict begins speaking; his reaction of slight surprise could have been from the drink or that Benedict was confiding in him, but Realmer made it appear it was the rum coffee by staring into the cup a moment before carefully trying another swallow. He listens to Benedict and sips his coffee quietly. 

When offered the cigar, Realmer accepts it and lights it with a tiny jet of flame from his fingertip, inhales deeply then exhales smoke rings and smoke squares that rotate and collide to form a type of smoke mandala that soon dissipates into the morning air. When Benedict grows silent, then the silence lengthens, Realmer speaks.

“A fair amount to digest before breakfast. Let me first say I am honored that you would confide in me, cousin, and a bit surprised; I didn't think you had much regard for me due to your distaste for... some of my methods. In regards to Gangdis introducing me to Tesa, it was because I told him I wanted someone with particular skill sets to accompany us, and hers matched. And the Pattern... yes, I have been aware of the Will of the Pattern since I first walked a Shade of it in Ambir well over a century ago. Grandfather schooled me well in numerous things, including the Pattern and its ways, as well as other Powers, Ancient and Recent History and most recently, the Fey... perhaps he thought it prudent considering I am Adask Fey. Grandfather also informed me that my Fey Powers have been blocked by my grandmother, Verna; it is she whom I intend to seek out once I reach the center of the Pattern. Having those powers returned to me could prove useful in my future dealings with the various Fey races in my role as an Ambassador of Amber... or a Soldier of Amber.”
Realmer pauses to take a sip of rum coffee and a puff from his cigar, then he continues.

“It sounds like young Donovan is a man of action, perhaps even a man with a purpose... or maybe just a man trying to make a name for himself. King Random told me about him, his parentage and some of Amber's rocky history with the Fey before I attended Rasak. Quite an adventure he had indeed, by the sounds of it; makes me miss my adventuring years and crave the adventuring life once again. And since we are confiding in each other, I don't think Donovan did wrong by installing the Arden Stone in Arden; after all, that is where it originated from... but that is just my personal opinion. Then there's Julian... and Ninaatres... Julian's behavior only surprises me a bit, but not Nina's... some things grandfather told me recently about Adask Fey. Perhaps I should hold off on visiting them for the time being...” He trails off a moment.

“I thank you for the history lesson, cousin; the information will prove useful I am sure. And thank you for the report of recent events; it's good to know what's going on and who's doing it. In fact, it sounds like much has happened since I departed Amber... perhaps I should check in with King Random before doing anything else. Well, I guess there is this Graduation Ceremony that I'm supposed to attend today... maybe I should do that first. Unless you know something I don't.”

He gives Benedict a sideways glance and a quick smile, before raising his cup of rum coffee and taking a drink. Then he stands and stretches in the early morning light, the broad sword he took in the chest still hanging from his left hip. He takes a long draw off the cigar, holds it a few moments, then exhales a cloud of smoke into the fresh morning air.

Benedict nods, "The volume of what I know that you don't would take centuries to tell as they took millennia to gain.”

Leaning back,, he continues, “ As for your methods, do you think I have never had undead at my command? Or that I don't know how to create them? The skills are known. Brand could teach you much about their use. There are still few undead cats running around the castle someplace he created. And there is an Army of high functioning undead lead by a lich that are in my employ. Sevral million skeletons with full autonomous intellects and social skills, led by their own officers.  A whole army resurrected at once.  Vampire scouts. A variety of other forms.  Several hundred ghosts as intelligence gthers.  And the general staff is a collection of mind flayers and liches, lead by a War Leader Lich. One must fight wars with the material avaiable in the shadows the wars are fought in.”

“I don't like the methods because they creep near the method used by my two other brothers; Hinarik and Eater. both are First brood and live close to Chaos where undead are common. Oberon, Osric and I have long been concerned that necromancy close to the pattern might attract their interest. As it is Finndo spends a great deal of his time out that way keeping an eye on them as well as Borlak. You spent time undead. Maybe someday you will meet them. When you do, know that a deathwarent for them exists signed by Oberon, then Finndo, Eric, and Random. But Dworkin has said to beware of their death curses; they are attuned to death and might make potent ones"

"As for Rasak, school is done. On return the forces will be assembled and graduated. When they grasp the dagger it will transport them to their next posting. Mostly their homes. Yours will send you directly to Random. He is expecting you. One thing about the daggers. They are made to be improved. Most graduates never know that or try it. But you certainly will. They are created to be especially welcoming to additional powers. Yours however will have two special power already. You may summon me in need. Once. And by the teats of the Unicorn the reason had better be dire. And the blade will be extremely effective against someone wearing Rearden. Tesa will not be told but hers will be similarly effective against someone wearing Rearden. I suggest you never wear Rearden yourself. "

Standing, he extends a hand to shake and raise you to your feet. "Assemble your troops one last time. they should be rested while we seem to have wasted the night away in contemplation."