GAME START

A servant had come and stoked the fire and deposited a tray with some freshly squeezed juice, tea and scones for her to enjoy as she perused the volume she had chosen. She often wandered the shelves and let her finger trail along the spines until a title, or cover piqued her interest enough for her to pull it down and take a look. Her choice this morning was a small volume, bound in a reddish brown leather with a gold embossed leaf title, "The Blades of Alexander".

She had just settled into her chair near the fire when one of the two double doors to the hallway swung open and a man entered.

Her Uncle Caine was a flamboyant dresser by nature but today's outfit even had more flair than usual. He was a Musketeer in bright green to her eye.

He spotted her, "Ah, good morning, I see I am not the only one who gets a jump on the day." He plopped into the chair beside her, "What's that you have there?"

"Good morning, Uncle." Kaylana closed the book, marking her place with a finger between the pages. "I'm not really sure yet what it is, but the title is 'The Blades of Alexander.'" She smiled. "Judging by the first page, though, it's either fiction or someone trying to turn history back into a story."

"Alexander? One of Oberon's siblings wasn't he?" Caine said trying to recall the family tree.

"Which do you prefer, fact or fiction?" Caine asked with an intrigued look on his face.

"Fact or fiction?" Kaylana considered the question. "I like the concreteness of facts, and because of it, I'm tempted to say that fiction doesn't really do anything to keep you alive and healthy - but that would be hypocritical of me. A good three quarters of music is fiction and that's generally how I get the funds to pay for meals and rent back home." She leaned back into her chair and rested a thumb against her lips. "Yeah, I think I'll have to go with fact."

Caine regarded her with a sideways glance over his steepled fingers, "Indeed. You will find little enough factual in this place, best look elsewhere for fact or truth. The book you hold is likely no more than a fairy tale."

"Nonetheless, I am glad to have found you here, I am remiss it that we have not become better acquainted I suppose and perhaps if I can impose upon your solitude for a few moments we might rectify that situation."

Kaylana chuckled. "Uncle, you only asked for my preference, not where I intended to look for it." She sets aside the book. "I'd love some company; I'm usually far more social than this," she gestures around the library, "but I thought no one else was awake. Is there something in particular you'd like to talk about?"

Caine regarded her with a sly smile, "Of course... but I am rarely so direct as all that. Let's begin in the beginning, how long have you known of your roots?"

"Dad was always in and out, but we didn't sit down to discuss all of this," Kaylana made a casual gesture off towards the rest of the palace, "until he came to get me." She smiled slightly. "As I understand the timeline around here, he didn't *quite* pick me up on his way home from the war, but it wasn't long afterwards."

Caine nodded, "Ah then your quest for knowledge in this place," he gestures vaguely at the room around them, "Is most understandable."

"And what did your father tell you about the family?"

Kaylana shrugged. "Stories, descriptions, memories. That kind of thing." She smiled faintly. "And what sounded like a warning he'd given before, to be cautious who I trusted."

Caine laughed aloud at this, "I am sure... that's the family motto after all."

Kaylana grins. "As I recall, he said something very similar."

Caine shook his head, "True enough, sad but true enough...we are a mad lot, all of us."

He paused for a moment gazing into the fire, "It's rather a bit colder than it should be you know?"

"I'll have to take your word for it, Uncle," Kaylana said truthfully. "Surely it's no secret that I'm never here for long." Caine was about to reply when the door to the Library opened to admit Ambrose.

Caine and Kaylana turn in their chairs from where they have been speaking by the fire. Kaylana hold s a medium sized tome upon her lap, a finger inserted to hold a page. Caine is dressed in an outfit making him rather more outlandish looking than normal... like an overdone musketeer.

Caine hails him, "Ah another wayward relative come to share the fire."

"'Wayward?'" Kaylana asks with an easy laugh. "Uncle, you make it sound like waking up early is a sin around here." She's wearing a red and white printed blouse, the top three buttons undone, and a pair of black jeans with several simple but decorative patches on the knees and around the pockets.

Ambrose makes a subtle glance at her mammets while contemplating the virtue of sin as well as to which tome she is holding and how far along she has gone in the reading of it.

"Aye, tis back to Amber, that I hast come. I take it that thee are some of Old King Oberon’s get. Well good marrow to yea then, dispite the unfortunate lineage that hast cast thee upon this shore. I take it from uncle Benedict’s description that yea be hist brethren Caine. Although I canst recall any such Lady that hast done justice in hist Trumps, ast yea dost fair maiden. Are yea family or courtier? I am Ambrose. Thy sovereigns cousin, most recently from shadows cast."

Caine cocks his head to one side, "Quite an accent there fella, you ought to see someone about that." He grinned.

"Ah young cousin Caine, your gentility ist noted. I do indeed feel like time hast moved on, yet given time I expect it to be back again."

"The Lady is my niece, Kaylana, and you must be Ambrose."

"And a fairer Princess of Amber wouldst be hard to find, Always shall I recall that it was thou who didst introduce me to such graciousness."

"Amber hast grown indeed since last I walked in this court as Prince Finndo's Squire. And dear Princess Kaylana, dear cousins, it is upon your rate as well as these good tomes I do quest. For in Amber as in the Courts the ways of the realm canst render its own dangers on thy health for lack of a proper guide along the ways."

Kaylana, who has been watching Ambrose with much the same look one might bestow on a green kitten, shakes her head. "There's a lot of history in here, Ambrose, and some of it is useful and some of it looks like eighth- or tenth-hand stories. For the 'ways of the realm,' you're probably better off with practical experience." She smiles a little and shrugs. "At least, that's my thought. What do you think, Uncle?" she appeals.

"Well said indeed," Caine nods vigorously. He cocks his head to one side regarding Ambrose, "Speaking of history, you are some of it... or so I had heard, what exactly did happen to Finndo and Osric?"

"Alas, at the time, twas but a young squire to Prince Finndo wast I. More full of noble honor than common sense. Still it was a grand battle. Some day over suitable elixir wouldst best be the time to relive past glory and folly. And canst thou give a reckoning ast to Young King Randoms bestraught? "

"Bestraught?" Caine guffaws, "You mean his children?"

"Certes, hast thy young Kings wife already been blessed, then his distraction is of a family matter. To confess, I didst leap to the conclusion that the more political venue of Ambers situation ist what hast warranted this forthcoming meeting."

Kaylana clears her throat quietly, but the look she gives her Uncle is amused. "If I follow you correctly, Ambrose, then the answer to your question is probably 'wait and see.'" She chuckles. "I hope you don't hate that answer as much as I used to. Have you been here long?"

Turning more towards Kaylana with a gentle smile "And ast to history, it bothers me to no end that thee and thine have gone so long without any in common. Canst I call upon thee to lead this, wayward relative, to a journey some time to this facinorous new Amber that hast bloomed as lovelily ast its young blossems."

"I think," Kaylana says with an easy smile, "that you'll find relatives far prettier than I, and definitely more familiar with Amber and its sights. I'm afraid that while I'm quite good at re-locating places that interested me, I'm not very good at finding places *other* people might find interesting."

"Splendid, I am so very tired of being entertained. It would be a greater pleasure to enjoy the company of someone that hast already decided what pleasures in this world wouldst best be used to pass the time. As any place that hast held your interest ist most assuredly new to my experience, what better way to explore the changes that time hast done. Prithee have your chaperone contact me as to when and where a suitable activity can be so engaged."

Kaylana lets out a low whistle. "Chaperone? I haven't had one of those since high school. How about this: I'll let you know when I have some free time." She smiles slightly. "I can't imagine you'll be difficult to find."

"The world hast moved on it seems, I will look forward to thy company" Turning once more to his cousin Caine. "And you sir can perhaps provide some gossip, hast the house of Karm survived the years? When last in Amber dwelled there was ill will betwix my lord Finndo and hist brother Osric. A matter of honor fortold. Hast the years favored Oberons favorites?"

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