"I think you'll find they'll cope without issue.. it's part of the reason I supplied the tractors, both the John Deere's and the 2 wheel ones,, with full sets of attachments. Mechanization does have it's benefits."

What she said was true, with the new equipment they would not be counting on a strong back and a handful of tools, just the one tractor could get done in a day what would have taken Kenneth a week or more.

But it still felt wrong.

He nodded to Cordelia and Mack in a way that suggested that he knew that he had been corrected. "Alright...so assuming that we are all in, that we all want to help, we still need to...walk on this Pattern? What's that?" he asked with a cock of his head.

"The Pattern. It's sort of what it says, its an inscribed Pattern, somewhat akin to a Celtic Maze, with one way in ,one one edge, and one way out, from the centre. Crossing any of the lines that de-mark the Pattern is instantly fatal. You simply cease to exist.
Describing it's traversal is difficult, it really has to be experienced, and the first time is the worst.
The best analogy I can come up with off the top of my head would be to liken it to running a marathon, then completing an Iron-man, then an extended Iron-man <extend all stage distances by 50%> all without being able to rest or stop. It is also the definitive test of whether you are a member of the family or not as only family members can walk the Pattern.
To walk the Pattern you need to prepare. From the centre of the Pattern you can go anywhere you can imagine, which in and of itself can cause significant issues. To avoid a lot of the consequences, the first and only thing you need to think of when you reach the centre is your room here.
This means you need to learn it in every detail so you can visualize it exactly. We take a very dim view of neophyte family members wandering about shadow, which means if we have to come and fetch you there will be consequences. With this in mind you have the best part of 2 days to prepare.
"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Sun 12 June 2022.

Cathal sits back, obviously trying to sort his own emotions out at this turn of events.

Edward speaks up at her last comment...

To this point he was casually observing from behind the main speakers.
He looked calm, and gave no reaction to the talk of different worlds and Earths.

"Ms. Chan, You mentioned needing our help, and mentioned we needed to walk the Pattern to assist you... but you also mentioned consequences if we don't do exactly as instructed.

Is there any point where we loose our freedom to choose our actions?
Are we giving up any of our liberties if we walk this Pattern and assist you?"

Edward is calm, asking these questions like he might do in a business meeting, or a negotiation session.

The pace at which the conversation was changing was dizzying. Rhiannon thought of many of the same questions, and even brought up a big one, but she still had a hard time keeping up. Maybe because every answer had such deep implications and because it seemed so many of the others knew so much more than she did. Different Earth's, shadows - whatever those were, reflections - ditto, a royal family that spanned multiple worlds, and her own membership that came with some kind of obligation. It was coming from s many places, she just wanted to scream.

"Cordelia" Rhiannon stood up and turned to face her hostess. "Before another person asks a question specific to themselves or their plight and thoroughly confuses me even more, could we please pretend that some of us know absolutely nothing about any of this. Myself for instance. Please, from whatever the beginning of this is, explain about this royal house, how we are related, how many planets it spans- I cannot believe I just said that out loud - and please oh please, what's a shadow, a reflection and what's this pattern? Pretty please."

Kenneth nodded in evident support of Rhiannon's question. While he had been slowly gleaning at least some of what their hostess had said, he still felt like he was in the dark.

"Let me see.. The Pattern. You must have been asleep, as I just answered the same question from Kenneth, well mostly, except there are 2 Patterns , one in Amber and one here.
How we're related, I thought I covered that as well. I believe you're all offspring of either my Aunts or Uncles, my Uncles most likely, and Cathal just admitted as much, at least in his case.
How many Shadows the Family spans, absolutely no idea. We rule in Amber, and possibly my half-brother still rules in the Courts, but I've no idea of what's happening there as I can't get there and Trump doesn't work either.
The Golden Circle, Amber's primary trading partners, well they're all independent Kingdoms, ruled and governed for the most part in their own right.
True Earth and Mizzurian Earth you know about, beyond that there are a few other shadows I know about both as places where the Family trades on a regular basis, or used to, or where I, and therefore Carnelian, trade currently.
Note my use of the word Shadow..
Shadows can be worlds, but worlds are not Shadows. Shadow can be anything, or almost nothing. It can support life , but not necessarily life as we know it.  It may be life of any sort or form, or life in any form can be absent entirely. Entering a given Shadow could kill you in an instant or be eminently hospitable or not even with an atmosphere that supports human life.
Then there are both the Abyss and UnderShadow, which are both different to Shadow and to each other, and incomprehensible to most."

Kenneth did not exactly look convinced, feeling like he was no closer to understanding than he was before.

"This Pattern, which you said was somethin' like...a maze that could easily kill us, along with some kind of hellish super marathon, you want us to try to attempt it, two days from now?" He asked soberly.

"And if we pull it off, we can maybe help you...fix the Shadow, which would help fix the world's that we came from? Is that right?"

Rhiannon groaned in exasperation. "You're going to have to forgive me for being slow, it seems. Describing a thing is not the same as telling me what it is. Let me have a go at saying what I understand, you can make corrections, how's that?" She stopped herself from mentioning how terrible Cordelia was at explaining anything. That would be rude. But Rhiannon's patience was wearing thin. Cordelia had the same problem as many of her University professors. They knew their topics so well that they didn't realize others lacked the same foundational understanding.

"So you and your," she held up a hand, "forgive me, our family rule a place called Amber. And the Golden Circle is a group of trading partner nations. Lovely. And I gathered that Amber is not on this planet, but one of these patterns is. And it seems you are using the word, shadow, in place of planet so am I correct in assuming this isn't a different planet at all, but maybe a different - um, I don't know - dimension or some alternate reality?."

"Your explanation of the different Earths made no sense, but I can I surmise that those too are different dimensions? And these patterns... Lovely, they are inscriptions in the ground that someone can walk along and when they do they can be sent anywhere on heaven and earth - and this shadow I suppose. But that doesn't tell me why it's important other than a deadly litmus test for family membership. And if you said so somewhere in that alien phrase stew that that's been bubbling about for the last ten minutes, do forgive me for not seeing it amid all the other world shattering revelations. Thank you."

Cassandra, who had returned to eating and listening to the conversation had paused at a sudden thought. Swallowing her mouthful, she once again turned to look at Cordelia, pointing her fork she began speaking.

"You said what we could lose if we refuse, what you haven't said is what we get out of this if we help." She said matter of factly.

"Well other than warm fuzzy feelings." A sharp smile flashed across her face at that statement "I don't get those very often"

"Yes. I walked it when I was your age with 24 hours to prepare. It's not that difficult, we'll it is, and my daughter walked it when she was 15, so you shouldn't have any trouble."


"As I said I've no idea how to fix Shadow, as I've no idea what exactly how it's broken.
Fixing Shadow won't fix anything that's happened to any given Shadow. We don't have the power to turn back time."

"Yes, we, as in the Family, rule in Amber, but myself and my father also rule here in Carnelian.
The Golden circle are a set of Shadows that are Amber's primary trading partners, but Amber is also a Shadow in its own right.

Ff you wish to view a Shadow as a dimension or alternate reality then do so but a Shadow is both more and less than either, so neither term correctly encompasses what a Shadow is or can be."


"My descriptions of the various Shadow Earths are correct in and of themselves. As I said earlier I'm trying to describe colour to blind men.

Walking the Pattern and then transporting yourself from its centre to anywhere you can think of or imagine, is but one use of the Pattern.Although that is the only use you can make of the inscribed form.

It has a number of other uses, one of which is it allows you to move between Shadows, almost at will."

"There are a number of things, some tangible, some not.
Firstly you get to find out what you're truely capable of, rather than hide in either an underground bunker or a variety of apartments you don't own.

Secondly you gain access to the one thing that is your heritage, which is the Pattern, and the benefits that come with that downstream.

Thirdly you also gain access to a level of training you wouldn't otherwise have, which in both Rhiannon's Nathaniel's, and your case means learning how to fully exploit your Trump abilities; which reminds me I need to talk to the three of you sooner rather than later, and before the blocks on your ability I installed expire. I fear you three may be in for a rough couple of days.

And possibly last, but may be not, you gain access to resources you can only dream of."

Despite the flood of new words and concepts, Kenneth could at least see and understand a measure of the "resources" that Cordelia was referring to. They were surrounded by opulence, and while he had never aspired to be wealthy, he did know that wealth on that scale could make all the difference for a loved one. Plentiful and nutritious food, health care, warmth and safety. That he understood.

But was he willing to literally risk his life over it?

Cordelia may have assured him that it was "easy, but nothing she had described had sounded easy at all, and the cost of failure was apparently instant destruction. Was wealth worth that sort of risk? Potentially...

He had risked a lot for far, far less in the past.

And was he really going to just turn around and go home at this point?

He knew the answer in his gut.

"Alright, I'm in" he declared, feeling a little rush of adrenaline at the decision. Whatever was going on here, it almost had to be better than where he was coming from.

There were still so many questions in Rhiannon's mind. Based on the the answers thus far, she had no confidence they would be answered clearly. She felt like the answers would come as events unfolded. It was like being on a train, traveling across the country side. The destination was known but not fully understood, but it didn't really matter. There was no exiting the train until the end, but even then there was no way back. The end wasn't a place but a state of existence, and the ride there was a transformation that had already begun.

It all reminded Rhiannon of the moment she realized she could magically transport herself to places through pictures. Her whole idea of reality changed. the fact that she seemed to be alone in having this ability made her feel special and even invincible. That was until she learned there could be terrible consequences to playing with that power. This was so much bigger. Though she couldn't conceive of what she would do with these new abilities, she wanted them. But more than the abilities, and the connection to a royal family, and the promise of unimaginable resources, she wanted to understand it all.

"Is that what we're doing now?" She was responding to Kenneth's declaration that he was on board. "We're deciding if we want to go ahead or go home? If that's the case, I'm in too."

Cassandra rolled her eyes at that statement, her living conditions didn't bother her, sure it could get annoying at times but she was content. And it's not like she didn't have money.  Most of the benefits Cordelia mentioned weren't all that interesting but...

"I suppose learning more about 'Trump' would be useful" she paused "Yeah sure, I'm down to help ya."

That and Cordelia had given her a full set of ID documents, Cassandra wasn't one to let favors like that go unpaid

"Okay then I'll leave you to process everything, but before I go there are a few odds and ends you need to know about.

Breakfast will be available in the Guest Dining room, that's the one on the opposite side of the corridor, between 8am and 9am. Lunch is served between 12:30 and 1:30, and dinner at 7:30pm.

If you want anything in the mean time then you can order room service via Zou Yan.

Zou Yan, also has a copy of your itineraries, but for reference,

The morning of the 6th is scheduled for Walking the Pattern. This should give you enough time to adequately prepare yourselves, and learn your rooms in enough detail to be able to clearly picture them.

The morning of the 10th is an introduction to the use of Trump and late afternoon on the 17th the Expo Opens, so I expect you all to be available and suitably attired.

There is a breakfast meeting on the 15th to further discuss things Expo related, and then the are the two Expo Balls, one on the morning of the 18th and one in the evening. Ladies will require evening dresses for both, and gentlemen tuxedos. You will be expected to dance at both functions, it comes with your status.

In the meantime make yourselves comfortable, make use of your assistants if you need to, and I'll see most of you later.

If Rhiannon, Cassandra, and Nathaniel would care to join me for 5 minutes in the dining room there is an issue I need to urgently discuss with the three of them specifically relating to their Trump abilities."

With that she gets up, taking her bowl and coffee, with her and heading for the door.

Rhiannon, didn't wait for anyone else. Apparently her abilities were not common among all the other guests and she was very interested to know more. When Cordelia headed for the door, Rhiannon was close behind.

Cassandra followed after Cordelia with the other two guests, this was sure to be another interesting conversation.

Machk gets up, goes over and refills his camp cup with coffee and hot chocolate, then takes a plate and liberally piles it up with sausage rolls.  He takes one step over to the door, and then turns into the meeting area, "Kenneth, I'm headed up to the roof, get some fresh air an do some disgestin.  If ya wanna grab a plate an join me, be happy to discuss all the nonsense that was dumped on us."  He looks at everyone still in the library, "Same for the rest of ya, sorry, didn't catch everyone's names.  Sounds like a handful of us have bits an bobs already, an different levels of comprehension of the rest.  Might do some good to compare notes so to speak."

<I've created a new thread for the continuation >

Kenneth shamelessly followed suite and also loaded up another plate, along with another refill of his drink, and followed Machk up towards the roof.