Lord Tyvin led us through the construction of New Avalon's castle until we exited onto a semicircular patio area. I watched as we went, noting the way, the wooden crates and sounds of construction, and the way everyone bowed to Tyvin. Those were all things to remember. I wasn't sure how long I'd be here, but I was already assured it would be an impressive place when it was completed.

The patio we were on was large, easily fitting a party of 50 people I would guess. There were ten separate stairways leading down to a small forest below. I blinked a little, realizing that the forest was entirely enclosed inside the high castle walls, a part of the castle, really. There was one tree in the center that stood taller than the others, next to a clearing, almost as if it marked something, but from the patio, I couldn't see what.

Walking next to me, I could see Datura relax once we were outside. "It'll be pretty here," she told Tyvin. "It is, at that." She still seemed scattered, as if her attention weren't entirely focused for more than a few seconds at a time, but the terror was gone.

Tyvin led us down the stairs into the forest. The part he took us through was more of an orchard, with trees bearing fruit that looked like apples covered in tiny pink spots. He pulled one from a branch as he walked by. "Help yourselves." He looked over at us as he continued. "Well, the spells I have up only guard against the Logrus when it comes to detection of the Pattern in my blood, and I'm not detecting any Logrus power in either of you. What I *am* seeing is the Pattern in each of you, so this," he gestured at his face, "isn't really necessary."

As we watched, his features shifted. I nodded and smiled as his long blond hair shortened and darkened to black, and his stature shrank a few inches as he became stockier. In only took seconds, and Merlin was there instead of Tyvin.

I was still smiling as I spoke, "So you shift your shape, like Saivu? I hadn't thought of that." After all, I knew *something* was up, but that particular reason hadn't occurred to me for some reason.

"My real name is Merlin," he introduced himself. "Some people in Chaos have big problems with this place, so I go under an alias while I'm here in case any of them show up. It makes it easier on me politically. Sort of helps maintain my neutrality." He smiled and gave a quick bow. "It’s a pleasure to meet you both."

"More of a pleasure now than our first meeting," I said, as my smile slipped into a grin. "Just remember, Saivu didn't have a problem with you…"

Unlike myself, Datura was out and out surprised at first, although there was something else, perhaps recognition, flickering across her features for just a moment. Then she bowed in return with a smile. She didn't respond, as Merlin was still talking to me at the moment, instead occupying herself with picking one of the strange fruits.

"So, as I understand it, you came here looking for me. For information. What do you want to know?"

I shrugged. "Its hard to explain, really. I heard of Amber for the first time a few days ago, from Saivu. He told me what he knew about it, and that I've walked that Pattern, and I wanted to learn more about it." My shoulders rose and fell again, as I realized that it sounded weak. But true. "You were the person from Chaos that he could think to ask, so he showed me who you were, and we started looking."

He seemed satisfied with that, and turned his curiosity to our companion. "I'm not sure why you're here exactly, but you are welcome to stay." He surveyed her for a moment, glancing from her blade back to her face. "That sword looks a bit like my brother Jolath's, and its got a similar looking enchantment on it as well. Do you know him?"

She shook her head, mildly intrigued. "Not that I'm aware of. I don't think I've heard the name, at least. This sword, well…. She's called Pyracantha, and she wasn't always a sword. It’s a longish story, and a bit odd. Well, really weird maybe. And I don't think its relevant."

He nodded, and glanced between the two of us. "So, who are your folks?" he asked, his expression frankly interested. "Where did you grow up? Tell me your life stories, if you want. I'm curious." He took a bite from the fruit as he walked leisurely through the trees.

I bit my tongue, not really feeling like going into my life history, and glanced at Datura, letting her go first. I figured that with the amount she said every time she started speaking, she'd be a natural.

But she remained silent for a long moment as well, and then looked up and over at me, realizing that she was trying what I was already doing. She didn't resist long, laughing a little. "I guess I owe it to you, to talk first, having dropped in like that -- and it seems like you already know each other at least a little bit."

That was interesting. First everyone seems to assume I know Datura, then she assumes I know them. And I was really just a stranger here. But I felt trapped somehow by their assumptions, and frustrated because it meant they thought I knew things I still didn't understand completely.

"So, should I babble on for hours about the books I read when I was a kid, or should we take turns? I think I'd rather take turns." Datura easily answered her own questions. "A little here and and a little there."

The flow of words never really stopped, only paused for brief moments as she sought the next bit to say. "Where to start? Ok, I think we should start with parents, because you see the Pattern in both of us, and unless my father was lying about that, or wrong, that means we've both walked it, or can, so we're both descended from the royal family." She clarified both with a gesture, motioning between myself and herself. Her speech was rumbling on, faster and faster, as they spilled from her mouth.

"At least I hope I'm right. I did walk it, a few decades back. And I haven't seen my father since then. I was raised pretty out of the way, mostly by a nanny -- that's how my sword happened, kind of. Except that's a long story. How she wasn't always a sword. To start at the beginning, it was from a book I'd been reading, have you heard of it?" She glanced between us, then seemed to realize she'd never told us what book she was talking about. "Emelissa Crystalfire -- well, it was a picture book, but one of the ones with a complex story, the sort of thing that I could become completely immersed in, at that age." The title didn't help me out, and I didn't see any recognition from Merlin either. This didn't stop Datura.

"Well, she brought me a dragon, after merciless pleading on my part. And I losst Pyracantha and found her later, and how she turned into a sword is another story. But I'm babbling now. Dreadfully sorry."

She didn't really pause after the apology either. "I was going to start with parents, right? I didn't know my mother. I still don't at that. For all I know, I could've been grown in a tank of green stuff. Keelith was a mother to me, but I'm not sure what's happened to her now. I would have gone to look for her long ago, but I guess I'm frightened. I don't know what could've happened to her, and if I don't look for her, I don't have to think about it. Its one of those things, the way we pass our memories by… so many layers of regretting or forgetting and simply not thinking at all. But my father came to visit, every so often." Finally, she had arrived at the meat of the matter.

"He's my link to Amber and the whole mess, I suppose, by blood if nothing else. I don't know whether you know much of the family, or whether you know anyone besides Prince Corwin at all." She glanced up at me, then over to Merlin. "Have you heard of Prince Brand?"

I could see from Merlin's reaction that I should be taking this differently -- I swore his eyes nearly popped out of his head -- but the stories were still just that to me -- stories. "He is the one who allied with Chaos in the war against Amber, correct?" I tried to confirm. "His was one of the few names in Amber that Saivu knew to tell me."

"Brand?!" Merlin finally gasped. He took a deep breath, stopping to lean against a tree until he regained his composure. "Brand. Wow. Well, I can't imagine anyone wanting to lie about that." He dragged himself back up straight again, asking, "So, just out of curiosity, how much of his plan were you privy to? Its been awhile since Patternfall happened, so its not that big a deal anymore, but the historical aspect of it intrigues me."

I was curious myself. "I'd be interested too. I know very little about much of the history -- only what Saivu was able to tell me."

Datura frowned in thought, then raised, startled. Her large eyes were pale and wide with shock. She looked from me to Merlin, utterly confused, her fruit untouched and forgotten in her hand. "Daddy was working with Chaos? He should've at least said hi -- I'm half glad he didn't, but then, I haven't seen him in decades." Her brows drew together again a little, a question seeming to cross her face before she continued.

"I'm afraid I don't know anything of his plans," she apologized, clearly bewildered. "What and when was Patternfall? Some weird shit has happened, but I've been a political dropout. Or maybe its just that I never dropped in. What did my father plan? And do you know what he's up to now?" She was hesitant as she asked, the final word given a subtle emphasis, almost as if she knew what was coming and was trying to denying it before anyone could tell her the truth.

There wasn't really anything I could do. Or say. She had obviously adored her father, and this was going to crush her. And I remembered those feelings very very vividly, only I never had a father to adore. Just a brother.

Merlin let out a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. "I think we'd better sit down for this one. Come on, there are a few stone benches just ahead." He moved past the trees and gestured for us to sit on the ornately chiseled marble benches. Datura sat, hopelessness beginning to creep into her expression. I wasn't in the mood to sit, standing off to the side, my arms crossed as I watched and listened.

Merlin didn't try to couch his explanation in niceties to make it any easier for her to digest. "Well, the short form is this. Brand basically conspired to destroy Amber and the rest of the universe and remake it in his own image. He lied to and tried to kill just about everyone in the family…" He paused for a moment, thinking, "Not that that fact alone makes him so much different from the rest of his siblings, now that I think about it. Still he conspired with Chaos to try to meet his ends, and did try to destroy everyone and everything but himself. He was totally insane. His legacy isn't a pretty one, I have to tell you."

If she wasn't hearing it for the first time, she was a damned good actress. Her eyes grew wider and wider as Merlin spoke, and she seemed utterly horrified. "He did… wha…?" Disbelief mingled with shock in her delicate features, and her gaze sought some sort of escape from me or Merlin. At the mention of Brand's insanity her eyes closed, and there was a tiny grimace anda sort of a nod as if she accepted that one fact. "Shit…" The word was a mere whisper.

Merlin didn't really wait, plunging on into the worst of the story. "And something else I guess I have to tell you… At the end, when he was on the verge of taking everything out, he… ah… he was killed." He moved, about to put an arm around her, but hesitated for a moment, watching her. "I'm sorry for you, believe me."

All color had drained from her face, and she sagged into Merlin's embrace, his arm settling about thin shoulders. The fruit fell from her hand, rolling away before coming to a halt, still untouched by her teeth. For a moment she wavered there, seemingly about to faint, but then she began to babble a frantic stream of words that kept her conscious.

"So *that's* why Dad wasn't responding when I tried to Trump him… earlier, that is, before I called Damara. You know, I can be he was… that he died… and that he was off his rocker and all… you know, I already knew that… I mean, but it doesn't make any sense. Tried to destroy the universe? Like, the *universe*? I mean, they were all trying to take over Amber for a while, right? But why the hell, well, he was nuts of course, but why the hell… gods… shit…" She shook her head. "Ever notice that the cursewords rely on whatever's important to us? Theological and biological. All the good ones at least… but I'm off on a tangent and making no sense, and you probably think I'm crazy too. Maybe I *am* crazy too. Maybe this is all a dream. Are you going to psychoanalyze me? Wait until the wheels stop spinning out of control before you take apart my head. I am so sorry. Gods." Her voice seemed to splinter, shattering as the tears dripped from her eyes. "I'm not out to hurt anything. I know I'm a wreck right now. I'm all topsy-turvy. This is so fucking bizarre. I'm sorry for going off like this. Oh!" Her eyes lit on the abandoned fruit, lying in the dirt a few feet away. "I dropped my apple!" She stared at the fruit helplessly.

Merlin held her gently, while I just stood there, stiffly. Datura's reaction, her grief, made my memories of Agrivar surge to the forefront. I knew that they were just memories… just a reaction to Datura's grief. But it affected me nonetheless, and I sat down on the edge of the bench abruptly. My hands crept up my crossed arms, touching the armbands that settled there. My touchstone. "I am sorry for your loss," I murmured.

Merlin offered her a handkerchief, and she simple looked at it for a long moment. Then, instead of blowing her nose, or drying her tears, she picked up the apple and cleaned it carefully.

I thought Merlin was going to speak, but then he let out his breath, saying nothing. Finally he murmured, "I know it’s a small comfort, but something good did come out of all of it. Since the war, everyone has really stepped back and declared a kind of cease fire, or permanent truce. Everyone on the Amber side of things, anyway. Random is King now, and things are so much better than they used to be." He squeezed his arm around her in a comforting hug.

Datura sagged into Merlin's arms for a moment, and then she straightened again, drawing her dreamy sort of dignity in around her. "Hey, peace is good," she said softly, more to herself than to us. "I don't know its really what I was ever going after, or any of us… maybe there are better words for that… but I guess my father wasn't like that at all. What did he want, I wonder? He always knew what he wanted, but it always *changed*. I think I'm still having a bit of trouble letting this sink in. That he's dead… yeah, I'm sad, but I can believe it. I didn't see him since I walked the Pattern. But that kind of destructive impulse…"

She fell silent for a few moments then, biting into the fruit finally, thoughtful as she chewed. "Maybe he could've. If anyone could decide to attempt something like that, it would be Daddy. Maybe I'm not qualified to understand." There was a quiet and stubborn sorrow in her expression, although her tone seemed indifferent. "I was never any part of it." She nibbled at the fruit, staring at the branches of the trees pensively.

After moments of silence, Merlin's eyes lit with some idea. "There's something I want to show you. Both of you," he added, almost as an afterthought. "It was created by my father and was really a direct result of what happened with yours. When Corwin thought that all was lost at one point, he drew another Pattern so that something of the universe could be saved. It turns out that the one in Amber survived, so the one Corwin drew was kind of a bonus. If it wasn't for everything that happened with Brand, it wouldn't even exist. That Pattern is here, in this orchard, just up ahead. Come on, I'll show it to you."

He stood, offering a hand to Datura, and she took it to follow him. I tagged along behind, as silent as Damara, and feeling a little like an afterthought.

The fruit trees slid into a grove of chestnut trees, and then at the center we found the one large tree, towering over the rest, that we had seen from the patio before. And in the center of the nearby clearing were the glowing lines of the Pattern, although far paler than I remembered.

It was what I remembered, and also not. The twists and turns of this one were unfamiliar to me. "Yes," I murmured, not quite realizing a spoke, "it was something like that."

Merlin was looking at us, not his Pattern, his face glowing proudly. "Well, here it…" he turned to look at it, and his voice fell away. "…is? What the Hell? Why's it so dim?" He knelt by the side of it, and took a closer look. "Its always been as bright as the one in Amber before this."

So what I remembered was correct, that one difference anyway. This one was as if the energy had been bled away from it, stolen almost. I think Merlin had the same thought.

He stood slowly, turning to look at Datura, gazing intently down at her. "If you've done something, or know what's happened here, then just come clean now. I'm not saying that you have, but *if* you have, tell us about it now and we will work something out. Well?"

I couldn't help but be surprised. I wasn't certain that everything about Datura was what she said it was… she was almost *too* innocent still… but I wouldn't have accused her of this either. But given how Merlin felt about her father, I guessed that was why he had.

Datura looked like she was trying to curl up into a tiny ball, her arms crossed over her chest defensively, her eyes wide and terrified. "I've only ever seen a Pattern once before," her small voice was pleading, "and that was in the dream city where I walked it. I haven't done anything consciously, anything at all to your Pattern here. I didn't even know there *was* one until just now. You made me think of something though. Has there been anyone else visiting here who has walked the Pattern of Amber but not that one?" She motions over at the faintly glowing lines. "Because I know that shadow gets more real for the longer we stay in it, so maybe that has something to do with the imprint, and it might just be a reality conflict of sorts. I didn't do anything consciously, like I said, and I doubt I could if I wanted to, and I have no inclinations to do anything anyway. But I figured I'd toss out a guess from your line of thought -- there's no way for me to discount it without ruling things out, and just saying 'no no no no no no' isn't going to help you any."

I was sort of surprised that she wasn't gasping for breath at the end of her speech. I'd followed most of it, I thought, and it certainly had made Merlin think.

"The only Amberites who have visited here recently who haven't walked it are the two of you," Merlin indicated Datura and I. My mind was already wandering down that path, trying to understand with my limited knowledge, what might have happened. "Neither my father nor my brother has trumped anyone through recently, and our frontier security would let us know as soon as anyone tried to walk through Shadow to get here."

My mind caught on that last one, whirring away, but I didn't interrupt. Not yet.

"You can't use Pattern within a couple hours ride from here, so guests can't come in announced. No, only the two of you…" His voice trailed off, his eyes unfocussed, lost in thought for long moments.

"I meant, what if we were disrupting by just being here? I don't know if that's possible, of course, but its just a wild guess." Datura stepped a bit away from the Pattern, looking back at it. I'm not sure what she was expecting, but nothing changed.

I knew what I wanted to say. Merlin had made a mistake in his reasoning. But Merlin managed to begin before I had the chance to speak.

"Well…" he sounded melancholy, "The whole point of New Avalon and the castle are to provide protection for the new Pattern. If it gets much dimmer, it looks like it will all have been for nothing. Damn! Lord Tyvin worked his ass off to make this place great." He looked back at the castle, where the sun had slipped behind its walls, casting shadows among the trees of the grove. Then a worried frown creased his brow as he looked back at the Pattern. "I wonder what would happen if this Pattern just ceased to exist? Would this place be nullified somehow? Interesting…" The frown slipped away into almost thoughtful as he sank down to sit on the ground cross-legged. He rubbed his temple with his right hand, an almost smile making it to his lips as he looked as if he spoke to himself.

"Merlin." I paused, waiting to see if he responded.

He didn't look up. "Yes?"

"*I* just walked in," I pointed out bluntly. "There weren't any alarms,and then we were just there." I knew I'd been shifting right up until we were in the hallway. It didn't stop two miles out. I just kept walking until I got where I wanted to go. "Remember, that's when Lord Tyvin saw Saivu… you didn't have any warning that we were arriving, did you?"

"What?" That expression of shock was back as he looked at me. "How could you do that? Its impossible to use Pattern so close to New Avalon. Just as you can't use it in Amber. This day has just been too much. Maybe you've got some kind of power over Pattern that I don't understand."

I laughed before I could stop myself. "I didn't even know what Pattern *was* until Saivu told me I had it."

"What does Saivu look like, anyway?" Datura interrupted abruptly.

"He's got black hair that hangs down into his face, he wears a lot of blue," Merlin answered almost automatically. "I don't know. Why do you want to…" He paused, his expression turning inwards. "Excuse me a moment, I think I have to take this. Enjoy the grove here." He stood and started to walk away, then paused to add, "Just don't try to walk this Pattern. Its…" He winced, muttering, "All right, I'm coming, I'm coming."

His focus shifted to a point in front of him as he walked away. "Oh, its you. What's so damned important?" And then he was gone, out of earshot, leaving me with Datura.

Silence descended for a few moments, as two hawks danced above us in the dusk.

I realized that Merlin hadn't finished the description he'd jumped in to provide, so I completed it for him. "Saivu's good looking, and cute, and a bit boyish. Very charming. I've only known him a few days. Not the strategic sort."

Datura simply shrugged. "I was just wondering if he were anyone I knew is all. I don't think so."

My gaze slid back to the Pattern, and I frowned in thought. I wondered if my confusion was because I didn't know enough, or because things weren't behaving the way they should anyway. "Can you do anything? Near it?" I asked. "I've never been anywhere I couldn't, so it really didn't seem odd that I'd just walked in. I was searching for Merlin, and then well, we were here and Lord Tyvin was attacking Saivu."

I was beginning to sound like a broken record, but really, that was all I knew. And all I knew how to do. It seemed rather like Datura knew a good bit more than I -- having had a father to train her before she walked the Pattern in the first place. So I urged her, "Go on, try it."

"Well…" She hesitated a moment, looking around at the trees. "I've been told its not possible in Amber, and this is sort of like Amber, I guess. But what with the Pattern here being dimmed… I don't know. I'll try." She started to walk towards one of the chestnut trees, maybe twenty feet away or so. Her hands were clenched at her sides as I followed her, and by the time she reached it and we walked behind it, her brow was covered in sweat. Nestled between the roots of the chestnut tree was a tiny yellow flower.

Datura looked surprised. "Shit." She bent and plucked the flower, holding it aloft between slender fingers. Then she whirled around, looking over her shoulder at the Pattern. "Wait a minute, is it any dimmer?" She sounded like she was having trouble catching her breath, and panic wasn't helping.

The Pattern didn't seem any different to my eyes, although with night coming on I couldn't be absolutely sure. It was enough to satisfy Datura, however, and she breathed a little more easily. "For a moment, I was wondering if it was a chicken or egg question," she said, letting out a breath as she dropped to sit upon a tree root, legs crossed, and leaning forward in clear exhaustion. She glanced back where Merlin had gone, but we couldn't even see him anymore -- he'd disappeared among the trees.

I looked down at her, raising my eyebrows at just how tired she was. I'd never had that sort of difficulty with changing things around me, myself. I wondered if it were me, or this place. "Is it always that difficult?" I turned and started walking away. "Come with me." I motioned for her to follow, and then kept going, not really caring whether she did or not. After a moment's slowness in standing, Datura did follow.

I headed for a different tree this time, thinking about purple flowers. And as I approached it, trying to change my surroundings, I felt something… like a wall between me and reality perhaps, blocking the change from happening. I didn't push it, not wanting to tire myself out the way Datura had, and when we moved behind the tree, nothing had changed.

"Okay, so it *is* harder here than usual," I mused. "You could feel it resisting, right? So you don't think I made it dim, barging in here, d'you?" I glanced warily in the direction Merlin had gone, wondering if *he* was thinking just that. Then I looked back to Datura.

She was paler than when she had first arrived, and still looked a bit shell-shocked. I realized that the past several hours had been a bit of a rollercoaster for the smaller woman, and she didn't look like it was the sort of ride she was used to. I'd become immune to these sorts of things long ago. "You look like you could use a good drink, and a place to lie down afterwards," I said frankly.

"I could, yeah," she confirmed. "And I don't think so."

It took me a moment to realized she was referring to my question about barging in.

"If you barged into the general area, far enough so as not to have gone through all the trouble and messing with things so near the Pattern doesn't make it any dimmer, then I doubt its us. And I think I'd like that drink, if anyone here is going to offer, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea. I'm a cheap drunk," Datura confesses. "And I don't know whether and when shit is going to start happening again. Not that I wouldn't *love* to get utterly smashed at this point." She sighed, a gloomy confusion settling over her.

I could understand how she felt -- I'd been there before, just wanting to let it all melt away in a haze like that. But she had a point -- who knew what craziness would be coming next. I still didn't know where those creatures had come from in the first place.

We sat there for a few minutes, and then the light of a lantern coming towards us from the castle caught my eye. The woman carrying it headed straight for the Pattern, then looked around to find us by the tree. She looked perhaps a little familiar, but that may just well have been the breastplate identifying her as a member of the castle Guard. She was perhaps a bit older than myself, maybe ten years at the most, with short brown hair and eyes to match. She stood there, left hand resting on the hilt of her longsword in a comfortable gesture, not immediately threatening.

"Lady Datura? Lady Damara? Lord Tyvin sent me to see that the two of you were taken care of," she explained. "He said to apologize, but he had some urgent business to take care of in the castle. I'm Lieutenant Verana. So tell me what you need to be 'taken care of' and I'll try to get it for you and be on my way."

There was something subtle in her voice, some tone that I couldn't quite identify. Still, it had been a long day, and Datura was obviously about ready to fall over. So we took her up on her offer, and walked away from the dim remains of Corwin's Pattern.