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After talking with Solange, but before going to check in with Gerard, Hannah decides to stop by and see if Solace is still in Amber.
Although she's more somber that she was on waking, she still hasn't thrown off her hopeful mood. There is a lot to be done, all to good ends, if she can just keep up with it all.
So Hannah, bag in hand, knocks on the St. Cyr's door.
There is a pause - a rather long pause, which is unusual. Normally the efficient Gaston (or perhaps the egregious Pert) would open the door within a few seconds.
Then the door opens, and it is Lucas standing there, dressed in dark trousers and a silk smoking jacket, embroidered all over with exotic blooms - lotus and lilies among them - on a dark green ground.
He looks a little surprised to see Hannah for a moment - and then his expression clears as he sees the bag she carries.
"Ah, you're not part of the procession of cousinly pulchritude that seems possessed of an overwhelming desire to wend its way to my chambers all of a sudden, are you? You're here in a professional capacity, I see. I'm afraid she's no longer here. I can, however, offer you a drink - or are doctors like the fabled policemen who never drink on duty?"
"I can drink water or juice," she says with a gamely grin.
Lucas stands back, and then ushers her in, and along to the living room. The corridor and rooms seem rather emptier than on her previous visits.
Hannah looks around curiously.
"Juice .... I think I can offer you pomegranate and raspberry, which I find an excellent pick-me-up. Or there may be some orange juice - Nanny Starch had Gouter squeeze some fresh every morning for Hope - and for Solace. As for water ... well, I have something which I try to pass off on myself as Italian mineral water - con gasso - but the bubbles are really too large to deceive the discerning palate, even if the taste passes muster. Or I believe I have some still Kolvir spring water. Whichever you would prefer."
He looks at her enquiringly.
She smiles at some memory. "Pomegranate, I haven't had that in so long. If you have some, I'd love that."
"Cerainly," he says obligingly, and strolls across to a cupboard. When he opens the door it proves to be cork-lined, for keeping things cool. He takes out a tall flagon that contains a rich red juice and pours two glass goblets, then takes one across to Hannah and hands it to her with a little bow, retaining the other for himself. As he promised, it is an excellent pick me up, fresh and tart with the raspberries adding a hint of rich sweetness.
"Pulchritude... that sounds like some kind of flock," she laughs.
"Minus a consonant and with the sort of vowel shift the Anglo Saxons favoured and you have it," says Lucas.
"So you've got her back to Xanadu already, hm?" she asks.
"No," says Lucas. "Xanadu would have been my choice for her, but she preferred to accompany the children, who are now under the protection of my mother." His face is suddenly grave, and the light, sardonic tone is gone.
She turns from her study of his room, looking surprised. "You sent the children away? Why?"
The dark eyebrows lift, and his free hand reaches up to touch the mutilated ear, now half-hidden by his hair.
"You've heard about the attack at the coronation masquerade? My lasting injury might strike you as faintly humorous, but at the time, serious doubts as to my permanent recovery were entertained. Then Solace has been attacked twice ... and Paige's children were saved only at the cost of their father's life. We're playing 'Ten Little Soldier Boys' here, my dear Doctor; I had no intention of waiting for someone to decide to take out my children next."
Hannah blinks at him a moment. "Wait. Just hold on. Can I look at you?" she asks, motioning to his ear.
"One always trusted you were doing that anyway," sighs Lucas. "After all, what is the point of one going to great pains to present one's most aesthetically pleasing appearance if no-one looks? However, I trust you are requesting permission to become ... ah ... more intimate with a certain portion of my anatomy. Not the one that has been most admired, I must say but then ... any port in a storm."
Hannah gives him a doctor's dry half-grin at this little monologue.
He hesitates, and then lifts the hair revealing his mutilated ear.
Already the clear silhouette formed by the sharp card is a little distorted, as though the flesh is making a valiant effort to regrow.
Hannah does a visual observation before she gently runs her fingers over the injury, and then along the skull behind, up through his hair. She repeats her manual inspection of the skull with more pressure, going slowly to make sure she doesn't hurt him - or if she does, she can pinpoint the pain source the first time.
She steps away and picks up her drink and sips. "I don't know anything about how you lost part of your ear. I don't know anything about the coronation masquerade, or your life being in danger, or Solace being attacked. I certainly don't find an injury to your vanity humorous - your vanity is part of your defence, and we all need a defence. I'd be better educated if you could tell me about all that, especially the part where Solace got attacked twice," she says, looking very serious.
"Very well," says Lucas. "After Random's coronation, there was a masquerade ball. I was rather fetchingly attired ... but of course, cela va sans dire ... "
He indicates two comfortable chairs where they can sit.
Hannah sits and looks at him with more than a little concern.
"At the height of the merriment - and before one of our noble guests had been discovered drowned in a champagne fountain, I believe, we were subjected to a sorcerous attack by Dara - an old flame of Corwin's, a descendant of Benedict's and the mother of Merlin - who she clearly felt was staying out far too late and getting into bad company. She shouted some threats, made some rather vainglorious boasts, I believe, managed to restrain herself just short of laughing after the fashion of "mwbwahahaha" threw a handful of metal playing cards at the assembled mass and vanished in a puff of smoke along with her cohorts - one of whom, incidentally, was here earlier, paying his respects at the funeral." He frowns - there is clearly something here that troubles him.
"Anyway, I had the misfortune to be struck by one of these playing cards, which sliced through my ear. Not, perhaps, the most lethal of injuries and yet ... " He frowns again. "The damage they inflicted on many people appeared to have been disproportionate," he says slowly. "Some died ... I myself was unconscious for one ... perhaps two days. My memory of the whole evening ... and subsequent days ... is a little hazy. The Chaosian Knight of the Ruby, Aisling - it's dead too now - was instrumental in seeing that I pulled through, I believe.
"It was a little time after that when the attacks on Solace occurred. Two ... you witnessed the second. Not sorcerous - Merlin checked her out. But we believe someone attempted to make contact with her by trumps. Solace has Amberite blood, cousin - but she's not strong. The effect of such contacts, it seems, is to weaken her ... something that became alarmingly apparent after the second attack - or attempted contact if you prefer. To tell the truth, there's no evidence that there was malicious intent behind it per se. Nevertheless, it increases my already heightened sense of vulnerability as regards my children.
"The most recent attack, however, was for me the deciding factor."
"Let's start with Solace. You think her fainting spells and the headaches that follow are really injuries being caused by someone trying to contact her by trump, based on Merlin ruling out sorcery. And someone might think they can do that because Solace is part of the family, or someone may be doing it on purpose. Has anyone else in the family ever spoken of experiencing anything like that? What evidence do you have that Solace is part of the family? Brita can tell by smell, you know." Hannah smiles at that.
"And she did," says Lucas. "Solace bears the faint but pungent whiff of an Amberite in Brita's estimable nostrils. And, mercifully, her mother has escaped the strain - have you met my estimable belle mere Lady Vesper, or does that unparalleled joy still lie entincingly before you? Most of our cousins flee in terror at her very footfall - Vere, however, takes great delight in cultivating her. I am thinking of giving her to him as a wedding present."
"I have not met your mother-in-law, but I look forward to the challenge," Hannah claims.
Lucas blinks.
Hannah smiles confidently.
His face grows more serious again. "Brita also told me - the night of the children's concert - that she believed Solace's illness was the result of a trump contact. Her father suffered a similar attack - he too has Amberite blood, but distantly. Some rumours suggest that Solace's father was not Lord Vesper but Eric - my suspicion is that the link may be further back in the Vesper family than that."
Hannah nods. "Well, this certainly opens up whole new lines of speculation. What does Solace have to say about all this?"
"To be honest," says Lucas, "we did not have time to speak of it much. I have endeavoured to protect her from anything that might unsettle her - within limits. She is desperately upset by the thought that her beloved father Lord Vesper might not, in truth, be her father. Evidence that tends to support this, I have kept from her while her state of health is so precarious. Honesty, I have long held, might be the best policy - but discretion runs it a close second."
Hannah presses her lips together. "I believe you care about your wife Lucas, I really do, but she might not thank you for holding information back from her that would change her decision making any more than you might appreciate her keeping things from you that might change yours. Well, Solace might thank you, but she wouldn't mean it. I'm not saying you can't present things in the least upsetting way. Solace doesn't strike me as having a fragile mind, Lucas. Solace strikes me as someone who feels like she should act that way."
"It must be wonderful to be a medical person," says Lucas admiringly. "To be able to see so deeply into people's souls by a few simple examinations of their physical ailments. I feel I have so missed out on understanding my wife and her needs by merely living with her here in Amber and sharing with her the trivial experience of bringing two children into the world together. Whereas if I had talked to her for a couple of half hour appointments, I would have come to a far deeper understanding not only of her physiology but also of her psychology.
"Although I would remark that it is not any especial indication of fragility of mind to be upset if your graceless husband shares with you his remote suspicion that your beloved Papa might not have supplied the loins which gave you life.
"And do you really believe that the doubtful knowledge of her Amberite descent would have dissuaded her from her decision to be with our children come what may?"
He smiles at her. "Have another drink," he urges.
Hannah shakes her head. "I'm sure it sounds very condescending for me to tell you what you already know. Getting upset is unlikely to kill your wife, in my professional opinion. And you don't really believe her father is not her father, you already said so. What a loop this family would be thrown through if Eric was her father, though, and Solace so weakened."
"Thanks," says Lucas shortly. "That's another good reason in getting Solace out of Amber and Xanadu - before the assembled Family can start playing their favourite round game of Speculation. Her mental fragility may be deceptive to outsiders ... but her modesty is, I can assure you, quite genuine. It gains an added piquancy from its close proximity to my overwheening vanity - which you've already been so kind as to remark upon. And while it might not kill her, it would distress her greatly to have her origins up for common gossip."
"I wasn't actually suggesting hanging out an announcement. I just find the assumptions that surround this family... thick. Very thick. You can be upset with me all you like, but if she's receiving trump calls that are harming her, she deserves to know that, so she can make decisions like how she might like to seek help. I don't think anything would keep her from the children, Lucas. That wasn't what I meant," Hannah explains.
"To be honest," says Lucas, "I don't think her knowing my belief as to the cause of her attacks will help to defend her against them. And therefore the knowledge of what they probably were would not be of benefit to her. On the other hand, my mother knows she has been attacked, and Maman is shrewd enough to have put this particular jigsaw together. She'll watch out for more attacks."
He sighs faintly. "And I thought it was more likely that any trump attack would be directed against my humble self. Well, that's overwheening vanity for you."
"And you wish it had been. Why couldn't magic block the attacks?" Hannah asks. It's an open question - more of a desire to understand than a suggestion.
"I don't understand the theory that underlies either trumps or magic," says Lucas. "At least, not well. You'd need to discuss that with one of the experts ... I'd recommend Paige for trumps, Merlin for magic.
"For the last few years, trumps have been rather moot - they didn't work after the Sundering. Doubtless those volumes should have been my constant study - but there was an awful lot of rather more practical matters to concentrate on - like feeding people.
"After the Sundering, those of us with Pattern tended to use it as best we could ... there was never any question of Solace walking the Pattern when it was in existence, and now we have Patterns again, she lacks the strength to survive."
Hannah nods at that.
"As far as I can discern, all three arts are linked ... like forms of communication. Many Shadows have different languages, all used for Communication. Was yours like that? Frequently not just spoken languages - languages that can be made up of gestures - or written symbols on paper that bear no intrinsic relationship to the sounds they shape. Yet all serve the same purpose and, of course, all ultimately derive from Thari. It may be that trump, pattern and the different branches of magic operate in much the same way. Could magic block a trump? I suspect not. I have Pattern, but I still have less fondness that I used to in my heedless youth for mirrors. Do you have any idea of how difficult it is to tie a decent cravat without the use of a looking glass?"
Hannah just looks at him for a long moment before taking a drink of her juice. "I didn't see myself in a mirror until I went to finishing school," she finally says dryly.
"No-one," says Lucas, with studied gallantry, "would ever guess."
"My 'Shadow' has thousands of languages, written, spoken, gestured and otherwise. So, Solace and the children are with your mother, your mother understands Solace has been attacked, and your servants are with them as well? Is there anything I can do for you?" Hannah asks, hoping she won't regret it.
Lucas' eyebrows arch. "How very generous," he murmurs. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I rather think there is."
He rises to his feet. "Come with me," he says.
He leads her through the rooms oh his suite to his study. Here, a map is spread out on the table. When she look at it, she will see it is a simply drawn but accurate map of the town of Xanadu at the foot of the mountain.
"This," he says, indicating a slight promontory, "is where I am intending to build my new home. I shall have people in place, supervising it construction and so forth, but it may be that I will be busy, travelling between Amber and Xanadu and possibly further afield. Once things are more settled and the house is completed, I will be able to bring Solace and the children to Xanadu. At least, such is my intention.
"It would be of great assistance to me if someone in the family was prepared to make sure that what I shall be bringing my own small family to will be a healthy and secure environment."
Hannah just looks at him with amused incredulation. "You want me to secure Xanadu?" She starts laughing. "Of course, of course I will. I think security is actually the King's job though, and he wouldn't want me stepping on his toes. But using my post of Minister of Health, I'll make sure all the ditches get dug, that we have a community education program so people know the proper steps to take not to spread disease, and that we get a team of medical professionals lined up to make sure everyone has someone they can go to for help. It's going to be awhile before it's up to 'modern city' standards for drainage and water use though, I hope you understand." Hannah explains, holding her laughter in now.
"Thank you," says Lucas. "Don't feel you have to worry about national security on our behalf. I was actually thinking more in terms of ensuring that the drains - when they get built - didn't stop forty feet short of the building and that no-one zoned a bordello across the road. I might find it wonderfully convenient, but Solace wouldn't like it."
"Really? I'm sure Solace would just pretend it wasn't there. None the less, I somehow doubt a whore house could afford the property, if all the family is rushing down to make first claim. Or is it finders keepers? This could get very interesting for Random - how do you deal with property in a place where there is no owner? Well, the king owns it all, I suppose, doesn't he? Have you paid the King? Does he know you're doing this? Are there people there already?" Hannah smiles, just full of questions.
Lucas interweaves answers between the hailstorm of questions.
"Yes, she and I would both know it was there, whatever she pretended, and it would make her unhappy. I don't know - but probably, if it's within reason. More family settling in the town will encourage trade and economic growth. Random is indeed the owner - we will, I imagine, hold in fief from him. The payment he will exact is traditionally in terms of service. No, not yet - although Martin's apprised of my intention. No-one there yet but there will be shortly."
He smiles as he begins to roll up the map. "And doubtless my people in Xanadu - when they arrive - will be on hand to answer your questions."
"Well, good," Hannah smiles, "because I'd hate to not have answers. It was educational having this little chat with you, Lucas. Drop me a note when you get to Xanadu and if I'm in town we'll sit down for another."
"Most certainly," agrees Lucas.
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LIV: Planning a Voyage | Index | LVI: Setting things in Motion
