The Journal of Archibald Fortesque

22^nd March 1919

For want of a better reference I shall continue to use the dates as they would have been had I been home. Today has been filled with shocks and scandal, in fact it started with an event that has set tounges wagging and forced Cordelia to be the butt of much lascivious tittle-tattle all day even from those that I am supposed to call family, but I shall come to that in due course.

It had been a late start to the day, at least for me. My inability to communicate with the servants had made getting breakfast awkward and in the end I had followed one of them to a dining room in one wing of this castle on the second floor. In addition to the duke, whom all his relatives seem to call Benedict, Lady Fiona, and one other, introduced to me as Caine were present, although Random, who is apparently monarch of this realm despite him not behaving as such, and his wife Vialle arrived shortly after I did, and were duly introduced.

Whilst we ate, it was explained to me that the reason for my invitation to the ball, along with that of both Isla and Cordelia, was that we were offspring of family members, and the family having stabilized Amber post Brand's attempt to destroy it were now in need of additional assistance in Governing and managing the realm. It was at this point I received the first tumultuous shock of the day when the duke admitted that I was his bastard son. I shall freely admit that I did not know how to react at this point and I still cannot completely accept the truth of this statement.

The shock was futher compounded by the fact that our heritage would need to be confirmed which would happen tomorrow when we would be required to "walk the pattern" something which would be explained following a family meeting to be held in the library at 15:00 this afternoon, which all family members were required to attend. Coupled with everything else this left me rather disconnected from the world and I retreated into my own thoughts, whilst I picked at my breakfast, before returning to my room.

It had been a bright and pleasant morning, and with nothing better to do I had made my way onto the balcony, and had been studying the town and surround area, when I became aware of a subtle change in atmosphere and a presence on the neighbouring balcony. I had turned to receive yet another shock, for there was Cordelia on her balcony without one iota of clothing on studying the city much as I had been doing. I turned away noticing as I did so that I was not the only one who had observed her, yet unlike me most of the others appeared not to have the good grace to avert their gaze and some appeared to be avidly staring at her.

As I re-entered the room I paused and came to a decision - I would have no further part in this and no matter what the consequences would return to Londinium. Decision made I set about repacking my bag. I had completed the task when there was a sharp rap at the door and the Duke entered. He took one look at me, and my bag, and made it plain that I wasn't going anywhere except to see Random, and that whilst he had no wish to physically force me to do so, if I chose to not go of my own volition then he would use force to ensure I did.

I decided to call his bluff  and pulled my Browning from it's holster. His response was to simply close the door behind him and stand in front of it. I told him to move aside or I'd shoot him. He replied that if I was going to I'd have done it already. I pulled the trigger. There was a click and nothing happened. I tried again. Again nothing. He walked across the room and extraced the gun from my hand, some how flipping me onto the floor in the process. "Normal explosives including pretty much all varities of gun do not work here. Now get up, put your bag down and we'll go see Random shall we?" It wasn't so much as a question but a clearly veiled threat. I didn't see I had much choice in the matter.

I have to admit that Random is a charasimatic fellow, even if he appears ill suited to the role of monarch, and I did wonder how he achieved such a position. That said whilst the meeting started out somewhat frosty, by the end I had a much different perspective. It would seem that Random knows nothing about any of the three of us, so the meeting was primarily to talk through my life history to date, my career, my upbringing, schooling, and my interests, particularly the latter. When I got onto the subjects of  the Occult and Rune Law, especially in regards to the precepts of magic, he burst out laughing and then proceeded to speaks a few words shattering a couple of objects, create a floating ball of light, and place a simple glowng rune on another object, declaring that in such matters he was but a mere novice lacking the time to study the more serious and powerful forms of magic such as Sorcery and Conjuration. However, should I wish to persue my interests and turn them into a practical skill that could be arranged, on which note I was dismissed as he had the others to talk to before the meeting at 3. It has certainly given me something to think about.

The 3 o'clock meeting gave me more to think about and more reasons to not want any involvement with my relations, assuming that Benedict's statement regarding him being my true father are correct. Two in particular sets of events during the meeting, both occurring at the start, spring to mind but they are sgnificant for different reasons. The first was Gerards opening remarks on Cordelia's arrival and her retort in response, remarks that a gentleman should never make no matter what a ladies status may be, and the secod was the immediate reaction to the retort by Flora, Random, and Benedict, and the subsequent deferance of Random to Vialle's rebuke, her contradictory statements towards Cordellia, and Cordelia's willingness to obey Random's order and sit by Vialle, who I must admit I had not realized was blind until that moment.

The rest of the meeting was principly a meet and greet, introducing the three of us to the assembled family and the family to us. One question remains currently unanswered, who is Isla's father, for both mine, assuming that Benedict is my father, and Cordelia's are known, although Cordelia has not seen her father in 15 years, and who has apparently gone missing again along with Cordelia's half-brother Merlin.

Tomorrow we are to meet with Delwin in the Library at 10:00, for a tour of the castle, the city, and the Pattern room. Apart from being instructed to keep journals, a habit I have maintained since chidhood, we has also been instructed to thoroughly learn our quarters to the last detail such that we can clearly visualize them and return to them once we have walked the Pattern. There was a distinctly veiled threat that doing anything other than this would not be looked upon favourably and that if one of the family had to be sent to locate us it would not be with a view to returning us alive.

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