Samantha's Journal, Session 15

I woke up in a strange bedroom – guess it wasn’t all a bazaar dream then. With a sigh I get out of bed. A note awaits me. It’s from Random; probably not good news then. (Though I’m not sure what would qualify as good news. Nothing I can think of this early.) I am to go see Flora for a sitting. Not too bad – this early, sitting is something I can do. I get dressed and head over to Flora’s. She apologizes for being a bitch yesterday. Forgive and forget is a nice sentiment, and I’m more than willing to forgive, but I’ve found the hard way that forgetting is a bad move. We will see.

Flora needs to draw me for some trumps. We go out onto the balcony where the light is better and she sketches for awhile. I look out over the city and it’s prettiness lightens my mood some. OK maybe mornings don’t suck too badly. After doing the basic sketches, she shows me how the trumps work. She does this by calling yet another family member. (After being raised an only child, the procession of new ‘relatives’ here seems endless. Could be worse, they could all be ugly.) Like the other males, this one was sweet to rest your eyes on. I liked him right away. His name was Merlin and he was immediately helpful. He showed me how a trump contact could be used to attack, and told me how to counter attack. Guess my normal pigheadedness served well enough as a defense. Willful, that’s me. When he found out that my parentage was uncertain, he immediately asked why some spell or another hadn’t been done. Flora looked as confused as I felt, maybe more so since she hasn’t been training for it much. Unfortunately it would require gathering the family together and seeing who I most resemble. He came through the card and wandered around abit. Flora talked him into helping her do the artwork since apparently he is an artist too. Shortly after came a message summoning both Merlin and I to the sale. The next four hours were not what anyone could call glorious. Remember I said mornings don’t suck too badly…. I was wrong. The people here use mostly swords, and have decided that I should use one too. My strongest strategy seems to be to let them hit me till they tire themselves out with the exercise, then run away. Too bad they kept brining in replacements when the current one got too tired. I got to ‘fight’ several armsmen, while Merlin got to spar with Random. I got to watch during the many times I ended up on my ass. I must admit they sure looked good. Might have even considered them delicious except that they are supposedly family and Random is married; and the armsmen didn’t let me sit and watch for long enough. After he was done beating up Merlin, Random decided it was my turn and so I spent some time getting whacked by him. This must have put him in a good mood cause he seemed pleased with me and invited me to lunch. I guess most people don’t stand still for that much of a beating. During lunch I broached Merlin’s spell idea and Random seemed to be receptive. He gives me a family tree so I can see the different branches (a scorecard! At last!. He then filled me in somewhat about Chaos. I then got to meet Random’s blind wife Vialle. She might not have normal vision, but that woman is NOT blind. Her nose is in good working order too and she sent Random and I off to the (different) showers. After seeing him look at her, she could have sent us to the same shower and I don’t think he would have noticed. The bathhouse turned out to be quite nice. A long hot soak and a massage made up quite nicely for the earlier beating. Now for a nap. While I was sleeping a stack of files arrived. They were case notes about when spies had infiltrated the castle. I spent some time looking through them. The methods used by the shapechangers were really quite icky. They would spawn off a bug and send it in to spy and get the information from it by eating it. No chocolate or anything! I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to be doing about this. For now I’ll just familiarize myself with the files and look for similarities. Later Random assigns a spy names Selene to see what I know and help me learn all the ins and outs. The evening proves to be informative as Merlin cast’s his spell and it turns out HE is the closest relative to me in the collection. This is bad news on a number of fronts. First it makes me start to believe that these people really are my relatives somehow. This means that all these gorgeous men are off limits. Second, by being related closely to Merlin, I either have Dierdre for a mother or Corwin for a father. If the rumors are true, both are alittle nuts right now. Dierdre at least has a reason. Unfortunately it’s more likely that Corwin is my father as a pregnancy is usually noticed. T find out for sure we’d have to get them in the same room long enough for Merlin to cast the spell. Unlikely at best. If that isn’t enough, Corwin’s little foray into incest has made everyone self conscious about being too nice or familiar with other family members. Nuts! All these nice looking men and I can’t even flirt alittle. That evening there is a coronation in Rebma. I go with Merlin, but we part company almost right away. Makes me want to smack Corwin if I ever see him. I’d probably have to stand in a really long line, behind people who have a lot more reason than I. Anyway….. I get to meet (…. Drum roll please….) yet another family member. Unlike the rest, this one is more in my boat. His name is Andre, and he also was co-opted without knowing his parentage. I told him about Merlin’s relationship spell. Since most the family was there, they all got rounded up and Merlin recasts the spell. This time Gerard got picked. The result was not strong enough to imply a fatherhood though, so it is likely to be either Caine or Julian, who were not there. It is hard to believe that only 48 hours ago I was blissfully sitting in the sun, with no further plans than to try not to get too sunburned. Almost looking forward to whatever earth shattering developments occur tomorrow. Do monkeys rain from the sky? Do I meet a good looking man I am NOT related to? Only time will tell.