House of Cards Contributions Log

Two Gentlemen of the Isles

posted by Ginger at 09:51 PM, February 10, 2003 | Filed under : NPC Dialogs | Comments and Followups

The long-awaited reunion between Julian and Gerard, two days before Random’s coronation, wherein much is discussed.

“Julian! We’d begun to wonder whether you’d make it back for the coronation. I was worried when you didn’t come back with your boy Adonis. Where have ye been all this time? I tried your Trump but you didn’t answer.”

“I have been a number of places, Gerard. Arcadia, for one. The Isles, for another.” <pause> “I see that you have nothing to say to that. Gerard, when did you plan to tell me?”

“Tell ye which?”

“There’s so much to tell that I’m not sure where to start. Corvis, for one; your son for another; your ‘daughter’ for a third; Ysabeau—need I continue the catalog, or have you found your tongue yet?”

“Oh. That. Yes, it’s time we had a talk about Ysabeau, and past time, I daresay, if that little blonde lass who calls herself your daughter is who I think she is. I’ve kept my share of secrets and such, but you’ve not come full clean with me either, Julian. And ye needn’t take out yer peevishness about yer boy on me, either. Ye know full well why I never spoke of Corvis or Vere or Solange while Dad was alive, the same reasons why this ranger Robin was never seen nor heard until now. And I’ve had no chance to tell ye since the war started.” <pause> “Although I suppose I prefer yer snorting and stamping to the goggling I’ve had from our brothers and the crying from the girls. Horn and hoof, ye’d think I’d lost my head, not my legs.”

“Gerard—”

“Ah, Julian, it’s not the way I’d’ve had you find out. Any of it. But there it is. So tell me what took you back home and we’ll sort out what to do about all of it.”

“Let me start, then, at the beginning. I followed the path my son had taken into the near Arcadian realms, not into his mother’s haunts as he planned, but to those of his mother’s sister Calliste. I suspect he was weakened by some unnatural influence as he ran his course, because he was quite ill by the time I found him. Calliste had cornered him and so I bargained for his life. You know what price she demanded, of course. Had I not had so many other concerns, I might have fought her rather than surrender what she desired, but I thought it might be her enchantment. Now I think otherwise. But in any case, I agreed to her demand and provided the necessary service.”

“Oh, Jules. Ye didn’t. Not again.”

“Unfortunate, but necessary. This time I will not make the mistake I made before—but we will discuss that later. As it happened, some time later, someone attempted to contact me via my Trump. I accepted the contact and found it was Robin, who was herself in the Isles, along with my son Jovian and his flight of riders. Apparently their paths crossed there.”

“I can only imagine.”

“I wish it were that simple. Vianis has led a rebellion against Corvis in your absence. Jovian and Robin rescued Avis and a young Knight of the Stag whom I gather is her paramour from the dungeons of Ladytown. In so doing, one of the two of them had to break a great magic of one of the priestesses, and thereby seem to have ripped a hole into a storm-shadow over the city. I suspect the island will drown, and told Corvis as much. Further, Vianis has opened Ysabeau’s tomb. You will know as well as I what that means.”

“Aye. I thought my presence there would have put all that down after a decade or three, but the influence lingers. Perhaps it’s better if the temple does drown. Ye said ye spoke to Corvis? How does she fare?”

“As well as can be expected under the circumstances. She and her loyal supporters have retreated to Fair Isle, which they still hold. Corvis misses you dreadfully, and she asked for word of you. I did not tell her anything that I had not seen with my own eyes. She and Avis also asked for word of Vere, which Robin was able to give.”

“Well enough. Ye have duties in Arden such that ye cannot go back to the Isles. I’d send Vere, but he’s had no chance to take the Pattern, and he has oaths that lie elsewhere as well. I’ll have to put the choice to him meself. And speaking of sons and choices, have ye heard how your lad Adonis fared?”

“Indeed. We stopped at Ruby Falls on our way here and Pistil advised me of the retreat from Heather Vale. I plan to ask Random to close Arden.”

“Close Arden? Julian, are you sure?”

“Arden will soon become too dangerous for anyone other than the Rangers. Worse, my son has dallied with a number of the Rangers of late. And, as you may have heard, with one of his cousins. There will be war in Arcadia between Artemis and Calliste unless I can prevent it, and if one of her grandchildren can be invested with power to defend her, Artemis will not hesitate to steal the child. There is too much at stake here. And perhaps it is time for me to redress my old errors.”

“Perhaps you’re right. But still—Jules, you can’t shut out a problem by agreeing not to talk about it. It failed with the Isles and it’s like to fail again here.”

“I do not propose to ‘not talk about it’. Closing Arden buys us time to take other steps. But enough of that. Tell me how you went back to the Isles, and how you came to foster Ysabeau’s daughter.”

“About the same as you on that last question, I imagine. Ysabeau was ill unto death and about to give birth to her child. She fostered the child to me and I gave her to my friend Worth, who had wanted a child but was afraid his wife was barren. I let Worth think she was mine lest someone come looking for her, and I’ve treated her as mine, and always will. As it seems ye have done with her sister.

“This was all out of the Isles, of course, by the terms of our agreement. But when Ysabeau knew that the childbirth fever was like to take her, she begged me and threatened me, as was her wont, to take her body back to the Isles. Perhaps it was the fear of her dying curse, or perhaps something other—it hardly matters now—but I did as she asked. Corvis was high in the ranks of the priestesses then, and married to Avis’ sire. She became High Priestess and her fool husband got himself killed—on his own, I might add, while I was safe in Amber—and, well, ye know.”

“Yes, of course. That was the cruelest part of our bargain.”

“‘Twas what was needed. And with Ysabeau gone, it seemed that Corvis and I could undo some of the harm that had been done. So I stayed there for a time, and Corvis and I were wedded, and she gave me Vere. And sometimes she told me of the efforts they’d made to stamp out the old worship. I never told Solange about Vere, and I never told Vere about Solange. I suppose Corvis knew something, but it was never a thing we discussed. I never meant to take her back there.”

“Nor did I mean to take Robin there. But she has gone there now, and so may Solange.”

“I suppose I must tell Solange all the truth now and let her take her chances. But Solange is a good girl. There’s not a drop of malice in her.”

“Robin is her mother’s daughter.”

“Aye. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

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