Caine asks to see Silas and Bree. They meet him in a storeroom of Castle Amber.
He says it has come to his attention that Bree is a gifted shapeshifter and knows the Courts of Chaos. He says there is a security situation and would like some assitance…. He says the Crown will provide material and ceremonial benefits for undertaking this mission, and asks what she wants. Bree just says she wants to be welcome and trusted….Caine is being charming, which is very unusual, this is in fact the most charming Bree has ever seen Caine, and it is scary….
Bree agrees….
Caine then starts the briefing…."It involves Brand…."… He says there are many Brands…. or many who claim to be…. however, there is a "Brand Prime…. He had a wife…her name is Jasra, of Chaos and has a long history…. and she occupies a Citadel. called The Keep of the Four Worlds. She also has a son named Rinaldo, aka "Luke".
He says the job is to make sure that Jasra and Rinaldo… and Brands… will never be a threat to Amber. Ane he wants Bree to look into this matter. And if there is a credible threat, he wants the threat to be eliminated. If they are not a threat, then right a report on how tha conclusion was reached.
Bree agrees and Caine extends his hand to shake on it. As they do, she gets a sense that this was some kind of Faerie bonded pact, which is odd…
They leave and pass by Flora and Llewella….. The latter does some kind of magic trick to disguise their conversation.
Flora asks if Silas will attend the 80th anniversary of the coronation of an old Duke… they mention that Silas attended school with his grandson. It will be using old style court clothing.
After they leave Bree uses shapeshifting to send a detatched flying eyeball to follow them, with strict instructions to not get near Caine. It makes its way back to her after a few minutes and its info confirms they did see Caine.
Gerhardt apparently was offered and declined the job of head librarian of the Royal Amber Library. He later accepted the job when offered by Oberon.
Gerhard wants to study the lock for hiding the Jewel of Judgement. The Seal of Jeroth is the key or not. it is a metaphysical thing maybe.
Gerhard can see the vault… he can activate it but can't quite figure out how it works. It is like a switch, and requires no energy…. even though that makes no sense…
Gerhardt goes to his estate off the edge of Kolvir. It is a small place. There is a letter waiting for him. It is from Oberon, saying he would like to speak to him, and please stop by next time in town and set up a meeting. The letter is about a week… He puts his sample of Uru in a secure holding spot in the estate. Then goes to Castle Amber….
Oberon has a spot on his calendar in about an hour….. while waiting [[[Gerard]] wanders along and joins him in a quick meal. They chat, Gerard asks about Isabelle. They agree she has been odd recently. Gerard mentions he has been trying to set stuff up in the Navy to run itself for a time so he can go for a walk about away for a time. Gerard mentions he plans to take his walkabout on the Grand Staircase. Gerhardt mentions he too plans on exploring the stairs, and the agree to head out together in a few days.
Gerhardt recalls asking Bleys about his name
Gerhardt meets with Oberon…. he pulls out some plans of the castle, and goes over plans for some kind of transportation/communication network throughout the Golden Circle. The other thing is to look at Amber itself, given its conditions of the city, what kind of improvements can they make as far as plumbing, electricity etc to improve the city, using the spark technology and what it would cost.
Bree visits Dalt's military compound where he is planning to assault Amber., where she talks to Rinaldo. She reveals who she really is. Rinaldo tells her about Dalt and his origin. Rinaldo is convinced Oberon is a dictator, and Amber is a bad place….She tries to convince Rinaldo that Amber is not as bad, and that as a pole of existence, destruction there would be bad. He argues that makes it more vital that Amber not have a bad ruler. Rinaldo says he needs Brand to be whole again before he can have this conversation. Rinaldo suggests that IF he became convinced that it was best not to attack Amber and instead get in good graces with them….. he could offer a sacrificial apple (Dalt). IF.
Silas makes plans for the upcoming social event. He reaches Dayle by icon and invites her, she says she'll think about it. While attending to getting an outfit made in Amber, he runs in to Gerard. Gerard asks if SIlas has ever thought about being an Admiral. He wants to get away from time to time, and Caine hasn't been handling much in terms of Navy stuff latesly. Silas declines, but recommends Natasha.
Gerard tracks down Natasha and makes the same pitch. She accepts.
Silas investigates the fake Rinaldo's apartment in San Francisco. He searches it and finds two trumps, one of a castle and one of a guy. Silas being who Silas is, attempts to contact the person. The person grabs him and pulls him through and then throws him to the ground, and has a dozen guards train guns on him. The person reveals himself as Dalt. Dalt starts asking about guard rotations on Castle Amber. He does identify the trump artist as Rinaldo. He asks Silas to stand up, but Silas opens a portal to undershadow beneath him and falls through, though he is shot twice, once in the arm and once in the gut. Silas closes the portal behind him but a guard managed to slip through. Silas hits him with a knockout dart, then moves in undershadow until they are outside the place with the guards and finds a spot that is unseen and comes back. He trumps Caine, whoh pulls him and the sleeping guard through. Silas then passes out. He wakes up having been patched up and then talks to Caine. Caine knows who Dalt is, has the guard interrogated though he doesn't appear to know much. Silas goes back to the apartment and calls in Merlin to look at the computer equipment. Merlin says he can't break in without a missing encryption key, likely on a USB drive. Merlin reveals that he knows Rinaldo, identifying him from a badge, but knows him as "Luke". He says Luke is a nice guy. Silas leaves a team thoroughly searching the apartment and returns to Amber.
Oberon asks Gerhardt to open the vault where the Jewel of Judgement is stashed. He retrieves it.
There is a large explosion in Castle Amber, an explosion blew upwards and made a hole to the roof. The explosion was in Merlin's room….
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