QUINN'S JOURNAL                                                                    Sessions 71 & 72

Impressions more or less in the order they occurred.

Very annoying for the Mori to get that close. Of course, for Me, I imagine they sent the elite. At least the elite in magick evasion. I've killed enough of them to make them cautious. And angry. Quite a relief to get the promise of safety. Both a relief and an irritant when Brigid called me cousin. Better than prisoner or dead man but still... Elladan.

I'd really like the bitch a lot better dead.

Lots of questions:

Was that the first time she'd seen Benedict since she obtained her sperm sample or not? Had they decided on this course together?

Benedict dislikes her. A lot. Why not just butcher her and take the fetus, if he wants it? Possible answer: He does want the child, the only one I've ever heard of him fathering. And Dworkin has him too busy to raise it himself. And his 'job' is dangerous enough that, Jewel or not, he might be killed. Whatever you say about Brigid she can protect her child. With the family influence the kid might not be a total asshole... hm. Need the right person to look after the kid. Gerard?

Dangerous curiosity: Just how did Brigid get her sperm sample? Wearing a glamour? Medically, after Brand and Osric captured him? And did she help with that? If I  was Brand and going after Benedict, I'd hire her if I could. Shit, she could have raped Ben with the right drugs or spells... But if she had he'd probably have just killed her and showed up at Aretia demanding the use of a uterine replicator.

Brigid plans on having a tool-child with Pattern powers. Does she see the danger that Mori racism will shine through despite her orders (and the respect that any warrior fanatics have to have for Benedict) leading to alienation and rebellion? Amber is a lot looser that way.

Brigid seems to remember something of the Ysian hallucination. That wink. Naomi does not. Do Naomi and I have any chemistry? Do I want a Mori lover?

Bleys disappeared. Miriel thinks it might have been Trump, so it probably was. Mom said that it opened the person to the Power used to pull them out. I pulled Bob and Fred out with Pattern and the force that held them seemed to be some variation on Pattern. So did some Trump-ish Power grab Bleys? Hence the Stun On Sight orders.

Should have realized that Dee would be pissed off. I asked about contacting Brigid a while ago. She never answered, but going and doing it anyway stretches Easier to get forgiveness than permission too far. Especially when I bring a Mori into the Castle with me.

Still, it's Benedict's right to ask this of us. He's done a lot for the family. And the kid would be out there anyway, rejected by Amber and hungering for the power of his or her birthright. Brigid is more than capable of kidnapping Lora or Miriel or most any of us and using that as leverage to get her kid on the Pattern. Or just torturing the details of the defenses out of us. Better that the kid likes us, or some of us, and Amber itself. Puts the kid in a hairier version of my own position.

What the hell is going on with Megan the Telepath? Needs time to research and we have none.

A number of approaches to dealing with the Ysian army and navy. Can I cut the shadowpaths they're using? I don't know what the Baron uses to move through Shadow. Can he and his pull whole fleets or armies with them. Far as I know, only the Pattern can do that. "Natural" disasters: meteor strikes, meteorite swarms, pyroclastic lava eruptions -- big ones, the kind that cover four-hundred mile radii, big volcanic eruptions at sea, super-hurricanes, thousand-foot radioactive dragon-lizards... Hm, could I blind the valkauri with soot? Big forest fire, the right winds to carry it to them, then an electrical charge to make it stick to them. Might work over land; over water they'd just dive in. Attack their ships with the biggest sea life available? Earthquakes. Trump gate to deep Uranian atmosphere.

Wish Fiona were here. And where are Bree and Vaughn? Ander's back, where did they go?

QUINN'S JOURNAL                                                                 Session 73

Damn, I'm proud of my girl. I can't claim much credit for how she's turned out but I do get a fine paternal glow. Excellent notion, monitoring everyone and zipping people about. Not something that would have occurred to me. Note: check to find out how many Trumps I can monitor at once. Not the whole family, that's for sure.

War in Heaven. Oh SHIT.

Why don't Caine and Ander use the weather much in battle? Sure, I'm probably better at it and can do it from far away, but they could have raised their own waterspouts. Do I need to hold classes, Remedial Probability Tricks 101?

I'm amazed that Sander, Megan and Breann took the Baron down. More accurately, the Baron And His Sword. It looks to be the same order of artifact as Greyswandir and maybe the Jewel of Judgement. If so, why can't Dworkin or Ben use it? Dworkin did indicate that it is incompatible with the Pattern somehow, so that must be it.

I'm getting prone to kill first and question later. If only I'd Trumped Ben first. And why did Dworkin want the Baron alive? It's hard to kick myself too much on that one.

Hope Dee makes it. And now we need another Regent. Soon. Before the deal with Brigid falls through. But who? Caine, by seniority. Ask Dad what he thinks.

Maybe this Lanton fellow will be reasonable. He'd better be, I owe Kethos.