Editing TheStarsAreRight:CarlNote3 (section)

=='''Recovery? (Conclusion)'''==

'''REDLAND'''

[Anytime you don't want to go into detail about something I know, but Jack has forgotten, feel free to give it the ol' "Carl tells Jack about x", if you like. I'm hoping I didn't send this multiple times, I'm, apparently, having connectivity problems.]
 

"Well, it sounds like Pentheus is on the back burner for now. This is probably for the best, as it is my understanding that I am their only adherent, and clearly it will be some time before I'm an adequate advocate. It is true, perhaps to my detriment, that I would typically choose to appease rather than fight. It is my read on history, that war is the greatest suffering that man can inflict upon himself, and that nearly every victory is Pyrrhic. I've probably said it before, and for that I apologize, but, put another way, outside of sport, conflict is always a negative-sum game, while business is always (expected) positive-sum. Of course, this grants that you value both sides in the exchange/conflict, and perhaps that is (properly) not the case in our situation.
 

"As to breaking the bond between Rebecca and Auda, that sounds like something I'd be interested in facilitating. Though I'll never claim to be a particularly gifted judge of character, my read on him, is that he is abusive and unstable. A nice young lady, like Ms. Hopkins, should not be subject to his depredations.
 

"What deal, did I make with Mr. Usher, do you know? Did I agree to line up this third candidate? One of the things that is most disturbing about my ... memory issue ... is that it may cause me to fail to fulfill my obligations, and a man who reneges on his obligations is worthy of nothing but contempt."


'''CARL'''

[Got that.  We can skip the bigger data dumps, tho in general, I prefer to spin the tale out; I find that so often, *how* something is told is as important as *what* was communicated.  And I only got this email once, for what it’s worth.]
 

Carl purses his lips unhappily.
 

“I made my own deal with Usher,” he says, slowly.  “Your deal was … to convince me to perform my task in secret, and not tell those who are affected by it until after it is done.  Which feels dishonest to me.  I don’t like it, and frankly, I’m rather relieved that you don’t recall all that right now.  But I promised, and I will follow through.  You will have met your end of the bargain.”  He frowns.

'''REDLAND'''

[I agree. I don't mind yakking about stuff endlessly (as you know from the incessant Pentheus stuff!) Also, since Carl will often have a different viewpoint on what has happened than Redland would have had, hearing about his past from Carl will have a large effect on how Redland perceives his own past, which could, conceivably, be interesting.]
 

"What's the old saying, 'if two people know it's not a secret,' or something like that. Well, on the plus side, now you're the only one who knows, so maybe things are looking up!
 

"So, the lining up the 'third candidate' is something we need to do on top of our agreement with Mr. Usher. Hmmm. What's our status on that? Do we have a timeline and a plan of action? Any way I can help facilitate this, or is this something Rebecca and Auda will have to accomplish on their own?" 

'''CARL'''

Carl looks relieved that you didn’t probe further.
 

“Good question,” he says.  “On the one hand, though Usher *can* facilitate breaking the link,  I don’t think he can do it unless Auda and Rebecca are willing and agreeable and go to him to do it.  I’m pretty sure Henrik and Rebecca would agree but I don’t believe anyone’s spoken to Auda about it – at least not since you and I talked to Usher.  Breaking balance links is dangerous, possibly deadly. There are very real risks involved, not to be taken lightly.
 

“On the other hand, there’s not much point in doing that unless and until we’ve some expectation that the candidate – whose name I keep forgetting, for which I apologize! – is herself willing and able to join the fight and stand at Auda’s side – for whatever reason, noble or selfish or what-have-you.   That is both a personal and professional concern for Auda.  And for all of us, really.”
 

Carl stirs a bit.
 

“I believe you and Henrik were talking about that, but I wasn’t a party to the conversations.”  He smiles sadly.  “Henrik has gotten reticent around me, ever since he accepted the position of Auda’s general, so I don’t often know his side of things.
 

“You might want to look in your journal, which is there on the shelf.   I haven’t read it.  Much as I was tempted,” Carl smiles, more genuinely this time.


'''REDLAND'''

Redland seems mildly surprised by something Carl has said, but is apparently not concerned enough to interrupt.
 

"Well, as far as I can tell, Henrik was never blessed (or cursed) with the gift of gab. Also, as far as I remember, I was always much closer to Elwar than I was to Henrik. 
"Let's see, so the plan, is for somebody, possibly you or I, to put all of the pieces in place, so that Rebecca and Auda just have to meet up with Mr. Usher and go through some sort of bond-breaking ceremony. The main obstacles we need to overcome at this point, are to get Ms. Whatsername to agree to bond with Auda and to get Auda (and Rebecca) to agree to meet with Mr. Usher. Since Auda is such a pile of garbage, we're best served to cut him out of the plan to convince this poor lady to bond with him. Though I guess I wouldn't feel all that great about getting her to commit to anything without knowing exactly what a lackey he is.
 

"Anyhow, if we can convince her, this will probably be sufficient to convince Auda, which would probably be sufficient to convince Rebecca. So, really, all we need to do is get her onboard and the rest of the dominoes should fall into place.
 

"Is this something that we can take care of right away? Though I have a hard time imagining a good British girl wanting to associate with Auda."


'''CARL'''

Carl looks amused.
 

“From what I’ve heard, I doubt she’s either particularly good or particularly British.”  He blinks, “Or were you thinking of the lady in Cornwall?”

'''REDLAND'''

"Ah, Ms., er, Answell(?), Strickley(?) ... um, let's just say, the Principle of Aspiration. I liked her. She was a nice young lady. Like all people with memory problems, not to be trusted, but you know how it goes.
 

"Anyhow, I think I was just jumping to conclusions. I take it Auda's person is not located in England. Depending on how important you think it is, if she's in Europe somewhere, we can probably track her down relatively quickly. Otherwise, we can just deal with it when it's more convenient.
 

"What makes you say that she's not particularly good? At the very least, I suppose her alleged lack of moral fiber is probably helpful to us, in regards to Auda."


'''CARL'''

“I don’t know her at all, really.  If I recall correctly, however, she’s running a casino in Vienna, or some such thing.  From the report I got, she’s a sharp tack and a shrewd operator – but I know little more.”

'''REDLAND'''

"Hmmm. Well, Vienna isn't too far away. If we need to go to the mainland for any reason, it wouldn't detour us for too long ... though we may have to skirt Germany. I'm not sure what's going on there. The downside, is that we'd need to take a blasted boat to get to the Continent. Ugh." 

'''CARL'''

“We’ll take the boat train.  Get on in London, off in Paris.  It’s no less of a crossing, but at least you don’t have to move your luggage three times.”
 

He sighs.  “I wish Auda *were* here.   It’d make all this that much more straightforward.”

'''REDLAND'''

"Well, let's not get carried away. Wishing Auda was here is like wishing we had the plague onboard. I'm just joking, of course ... I'd much rather have the plague ...
 

"So, do we have a bunch of stuff to do in England? If nothing else, it'll be nice to be back on home soil."

'''CARL'''

“Seems to me,” Carl says, chuckling, “as if you just *did* have the plague!
 

“In England?  Let’s see.  I have three or four meetings to set up, which can probably be done within a day or two.  Then I have to go out into the countryside and germinate a couple of Fae sites, just like we did in New Jersey and New York …” he falters, “… which of course you don’t recall now. Well.  We can talk about that later.  There’s another three or four days.  Then I’m done with King business.  I’m happy to help with anything else on your list, like the search for Donal for example, but I should be done in England within the week, and then it’s on to Switzerland and, I suppose, Vienna.”

'''REDLAND'''

Carl finishes speaking and waits for Jack's reply ... nothing is forthcoming. Taking a closer look, it appears that Jack is worn out and has fallen asleep in mid-conversation.


'''CARL'''

Carl laughs softly to himself, and sets about cleaning up a bit before setting the journal by the bed and letting himself out.  One of us will be back to check in an hour or two.