The Diaries of Cordelia Chan

Shadow Earth 30 ^th June 2003

Today had been much like any other work day, that is until I returned from the Dojo and collected my snail mail. There were two items I noticed immediately. The first bore a Japenese stamp and postmark and the second was a fine paper envelope with a New York postmark and a wax seal. Whilst the first was not a common occurance, the second was definitely not the sort of thing that usually turned up in my mailbox. Depositing, the rest of the mail on the sideboard, I fixed myself a drink and opened the second of the two envelopes
" Evelyn Flaumel cordially requests the presence of Ms Cordelia Chan at her Independance Day Ball at her Westchester(NY) residence on 4^th July 2003."
Downing the drink, and pouring another I read the invitation again. There either had to be a mistake or one of my ancestors was having a joke at my expense.
Nobody I currently knew, and I knew most of the mid echelon and a few upper echelon socialites in the Los Angeles scene, had ever (to my knowldege) met anyone who had met Evelyn Flaumel. There were stories, and if they were correct, she owned at least 30% stakes in most of the top 100 public companies in the US.
Still, there it was, a hand signed invitation to the Independance Day Ball of one of, if not the richest woman in America. Then, as if I'd been drop kicked, I was hit by the realization that the ball was just four days away.

Shadow Earth 4 ^th July 2003

The ride from the hotel was torture, not of the physical kind, but the mental. Was my hair going to stay up, was my makeup okay, was this dress just a little too revealing for the occasion? I have fond recollections of the trouble Marcus had retrieving all the pictures of me in a particularly revealing dress taken as we attended a charity ball, and I was not going to make that mistake at my own expense.
Given a little more warning I could have arranged to have my credit limit bumped, but with the hotel bill, air fare, and limousine rental, I'd had to skimp somewhat on the budget for the dress. The choice had been this years fashion by an up and coming designer or last years fashion by a name. I'd opted for the name rather than chance fate - it had played tricks on me before.
Imagine my chagrin then as the limousine pulled into the driveway of the Westchester Estate, to be greeted by a serene mansion in a sea of perfect green and gravel with not another vehicle of any description in sight.
Surely I'd not misread the invitation. Frantically opening my purse, I pulled it out, and read it yet again. It definitely said 4^th July, and today was definitely the 4 ^th July.
The limousine halted in front of the porch, the driver got out and came around to open my door. Nervously I got out, this would never do I told myself as I climbed the steps to what was now becoming the yawning maw of a set of double white doors. Composing myself as best I could I pulled the bell cord.
I had to rapidly compose myself again, when the maid opened the door and greeted me by name."Miss Chan. We've been expecting you. Ms Flaumel is in the drawing room if you'd follow me please." Too stunned to do anything else I followed.
As we entered the room Ms Flaumel rose from the chair she'd been reclining in"Ah Cordelia. I see you are appropriately attired and on time too."

Evelyn Flaumel was easily one of the most attractive women I'd ever had the pleasure to lay eyes upon let alone meet. Unfortunately my reply was not the best of opening gambits " I thought I was invited to a ball but there appear to be no other guests"
"You are correct Cordelia. You are invited to a ball but not here. It's at the family Estate and we shall be leaving shortly."
"You have more than one residence then?"
"Yes. Several in fact, but none like the palace"
"Palace? Sorry I don't understand."
"I wouldn't worry to much. Everything will become clear later."
Whilst we'd been talking she'd shuffled through what appeared to be a deck of large cards, drawn one, and had been half concentrating on it. In front of her a rectangle about 7 feet by 3 feet drawn from a rainbow and suspended in mid air had appeared. Inside the rectangle I could see what appeared to be a large empty room. Taking me by the arm, she said "Shall we go?" and propelled us through the "opening".

Amber - The Spring Ball

The room we arrived in was a lot bigger than it first appeared, and we were not the only recent arrivals. Another distinctive woman with flame red hair and green eyes was accompanied by a much younger plainer auburn haired woman with red eyes attired in, from what little I know of European and fashion history, would be classed as an Elisabeathan ball gown. There was also a regal gentleman who appeared to be missing part of his lower arm, who was accompanied by a gentleman in a rather out of fashion tuxedo. The other two acknowledged Evelyn, as we crossed the room towards the double doors, but they called her "Flora".
She greeted each in turn but I could sense she greeted the woman, whom she called Fiona, only out of courtesy and not with any fondness. Each in turn introduced their companions. The auburn haired woman was called Isla, and the gentleman Archibald. Both seemed somewhat taken aback by my dress, although Fiona ignored me, and Benedict looked me over as Marcus had done when I'd first met him.
By the time we entered the ballroom, Florimel, for it turns out that is her real name had forgotten I was there, whilst Benedict was running what were obviously well rehearsed chat up lines. Archibald seemed completely out of his depth and nervous, whilst Isla appeared to be reasonably comfortable in the situation she found herself. As we entered the room Benedict grabbed a couple of drinks from a passing servant and passed one to me, steering me towards a chaiselange in a more secluded area of the room.
Fortune chose to smile on me as we were about to seat ourselves for a small man with touselled hair, in an ill fitting suit appeared and requested to speak with Benedict on a matter of some urgency. Spotting Florimel I excused myself and made my way towards her. Upon reaching her I hovered, listening to the conversation, until she noticed my presence and palmed me off on to a young man by the name of "Martin". He immediately set about making it very clear that "baby sitting" new family members who had little or no inkling of their powers, responsibilities, or heritage was not his favorite pastime.When I inquired what he meant by "new family members" he said I'd find out tomorrow afternoon, for Random had called a family conference and we were all to attend. He then stalked off leaving me alone again.

I now had a chance to study the room, although I wish I'd had a chance to study fashion history. I would guess that the majority were dressed in what would be late 19^th / early 20^th century formal wear, although some of the younger ladies were in 1920's style dresses. Both they and I were attracting a certain amount of attention, from older women complaining about our lack of morals, from their male counter parts wishing they were 20 years younger, and from the 20 somethings who wanted only one thing. I declined several offers before making the acquaintance of Fionyard, the second son of the owner of the third biggest mercantile fleet in the city. He appeared to be in his late 20's and was happy to spend the evening talking, dancing, and generally acquainting me with life in Amber. As he hadn't made me an offer and not being 100% sure of the social etiquette I chose not to invite him to my room, although I did notice Florimel leaving with one of the 20 somethings that had propositioned me earlier.

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