The Diaries of Cordelia Chan

Neraveraine - 6-1:3:9 27645

This months market was better than last, and several of the traders who'd been at the market before last had returned, including the wine seller. This meant I could restock, buying two gallons of wine this time, and one of the spirit. I also bought a selection of cakes and fruit, and a jar of scented oil. Having completed shopping in the market I retired to the grove as has been my habit of late. It had been hot and I must have fallen asleep, as I was awoken by the sound of whinnying horses. This was followed a couple of minutes later by the appearance of Palrity and four locals, two male and two female. She started by half apologizing and reminding me I had made an open invitation. The reactions of her companions was significantly different. The two males didn't know exactly where to look, torn between avoiding looking at me, wanting to look, and avoiding looking at any of the girls, all whilst going the colour of beetroot. The girls weren't much better, except they added shrieks of outrage regarding my lack of morals or decency to the proceedings, at least until Palrity told them to shutup, which resulted in them opening and closing their mouths like fish out of water. She then selected a spot, put the pack she was carrying down, extracted a blanket and spread it out. As she removed her dress she demanded to know if Marcel was going to join her or not or was he going to spend the afternoon standing there like a Polerram Tree. I asked her if she was going to introduce her friends, who were now trying to find somewhere to sit where they could avoid looking at either of us. Even Palrity who still had rather conservative underwear on seemed to embaress them. She named each in turn, before ending on "this is you've never actually told me your name and she's not from here but from a place called Amber". I smiled. "Touche. I'm Cordelia. And have you told them where your from." One of the girls found her tounge and snapped "She's from Callderar". I laughed and said "I don't think so but if she doesn't want you to know who she really is I'm not going to force her to." Palrity blushed with a mixture of fear and embarressment. Marcel now found his tounge and was about to pick a fight until Palrity stopped him. "Don't. Look I brought you here because I thought you wanted to go swimming, not to start a fight. Now please just sit down. She is correct. I'm not from Callderar although my family does have a residence there. I was born and raised elsewhere and came here to go to school. Can we now drop the subject please."

The other three were still looking decidedly uncomfortable, and even Marcel was undecided as to what to do next. Their concept of "swimming", probably a nice ride in the woods followed by a little paddling had suddenly been turned into something else. They hadn't bolted yet but it was touch and go and I was still lying on my stomach. Whilst I'd been watching these three I hadn't been paying attention to Palrity and Marcel. My attention was attracted by the comotion caused by her trying to remove her brest binding, which she resolved by a low blow which caused him to sag to the ground. This was followed by a wailing apology and the statement "I'm sorry but a lot of things happened last restday and she gave me an education I can't forget in a hurry. Its not you but its made me think and, and I want a tan like hers, and there's only one way to get it, and I'm sorry but you wouldn't stop, and I'll make it up to you later, but please let me do this. You can take off your jacket and boots if you want. No one's going to see, and she won't tell." "You can either use my name or find somewhere else. Refer to me as something the cat dragged in again and I'll trip that little memory engram. I'm sure it'll have interesting effects on both Marcel and the rest of your friends." Marcel glared at me, starting the "What have you done to her" rebuke he never completed verbally, closely followed by Palrity's shriek of "Don't look into her eyes", which of course by the time she completed was far too late. He opened his mouth then closed it again too stunned to speak. Palrity rounded on me, although she knew better than to meet my gaze. "What did you do to him?" She was flushing, her skin rippling as she fought for control. "Nothing, well nothing permanent and nothing he'll be able to tell anyone else. Now calm down, your frightening your friends and I don't want to have to perform three memory alterations if you lose control, although from the looks on their faces I may have to make them forget everything that's happened here so far." I stood up and turned to face them. There were more gasps, the girls hands flying to their mouths, and Edwin rapidly averting his eyes. "Now you three have a decision to make. You're either going to get modern very quickly or you're going to leave. If you opt for the latter I'm afraid I'm going to modify your memory so that you have no recollection of this afternoon's events and impose a compulsion to ensure that you won't return. The modern option is that both Halwin and Urrula will remove their dresses and under garments although they can keep their petty coats on, and both Marcel and Edwin will strip to their trous. Now I'm going to count slowly to 10. If I don't see clothes coming off by then, then I'm taking it you're leaving and will act accordingly." I got to five before there was any movement. It came jointly from Halwin and Palrity. Halwin asked Urrula to untie her dress and Palrity started removing Marcel's jacket. Urrula didn't move. On 7 there was a begging "Please Urrula I want to stay" and Edwin started to remove his jacket. On 8 Palrity moved over to her and started to unlace her dress, Marcel having taken over the removal of his jacket. Nine came and went with no movement from Urrula. On Ten she let out a sob and turned to run but Palrity had reached the same conclusion I had. She held her until the sobbing died then slowly undressed her.

Their arrival had woken me but their nervousness and fragility meant I still had to be careful. To allow the tension to dissipate I chose to leave them to it and dived into the pool. When I emerged half an hour later, they were more relaxed, but still a little uncomfortable with the situation. Palrity offered me a goblet of wine as I stood dripping on the rocks. She'd changed her underwear for a short skirt, her confidence insufficient to be completely naked. I eyed the wine suspiciously as I took it.

"I haven't drugged it if that's what you're thinking." 

I sipped it. As wines go it was pretty good."Thankyou. So did you really come here to go swimming or was that just an excuse to embaress me?"

"Yes and No. I did want to go swimming but now I'm not so sure. I thought everything would be easier." 

"Look on it as a learning experience. Ingrained cultural taboos are much harder to break than you think. There are places where very little has changed in thousands of years despite the best efforts of small groups and there are other where they change very rapidly indeed. War, religious conflict, or massive environmental devastation, or lack of it seem to play a great part. Where they exist or have existed change seems to be more prevalent, probably as a result of having to adapt to survive or die. Even within my own culture my current lack of clothes in this context would be viewed as abnormal by all bar a very limited percentage of the population. And even I have my limits, so you're not going to make love to Marcel anywhere where we can see or hear you, assuming you can actually overcome that taboo as well."

She made an "Oh" face, then stammered a very half-hearted "I wasn't going to." I smiled and sipped my wine.

It was about 20 minutes later that the next episode took place. Palrity anounced that she had come here to go swimming and that's what she was going to do, and if she was going swimming so was everybody else. With a certain amount of effort she cajoled everyone, except me, to line up along the edge of the pool where I'd both entered and exited, made them all hold hands, and then giving a count of three expected them all to jump in. 
The problem was that whilst Marcel, Edwin, and she did the two girls didn't, resulting in them being pulled in on top of the rest. What she hadn't checked was who could actually swim and how deep or warm the water actually was. This therefore resulted in chaos as several bodies hit the cold water all at once, then realized they couldn't reach the bottom. 
By the time I'd reacted both girls were screaming and floundering, as was Marcel, and Edwin whilst afloat wasn't looking happy. This forced me to enter the water by jumping over their heads. I grabbed Urrula and hauled her to the bank leaving her clinging for dear life to a rock, then turned to see where the rest were. Edwin had also made it to the bank but didn't appear able to climb out, Marcel was fighting Palrity and threatening to drown them both, and Halwin had disappeared below the surface. I dived where I knew there were no rocks and scanned about. The water was quite clear so it wasn't difficult to locate her. Grabbing her under the arms I hauled her to the surface. 

Time was now of the essence. The fastest way out was the closest edge but it was also the steepest and I couldn't climb out holding her. I screamed at Palrity that this was no time for being nice. If she didn't want her friend to die I needed her help and now. She got the message, reverted to her reptilian form and hauled Marcel bodily out of the water. This caused Urrula to scream, feint and lose her grip. I screamed at Palrity to grab Halwin, and as I felt her take the weight dived after Urrula. As I surfaced I saw Edwin hauled out and left in a heap. She then turned and grabbed Urrula as I climbed out. "Turn her on her back, cross her arms, then compress her chest a couple of times until she coughs. If she doesn't cough after two or three compressions turn her on her side and wait until I can get to her." As I'd been speaking I'd done the same with Halwin, except I knew her condition was far more serious. Having pushed as much water out as I could I tipped her head back, pinched her nose, took a deep breath, then exhaled as forcefully as I could into her mouth. Then is was a quick change of position, palms together, heal of hand into center of sternum, two compressions, breath. After the second repeat I heard Urrula cough from my right. It took 5 more repeats before I got the first indication of a response from Halwin. I repeated the breath and was rewarded by a cough and the expulsion of more water. I rolled her onto her side and held her steady, whilst she coughed the remaining water from her lungs. I looked around to find out what else was happening. Marcel was lying where Palrity had dropped him. He was either unconscious or dead. Edwin had backed away and way now cowering amongst the trees. Palrity, now back in human form but without her skirt, was standing over a rather white and violently shaking Urrula. By the mess surrounding her she'd lost control over most of her bodily functions. Palrity looked in as much a state of shock as Urrula did.

"Palrity go check on Marcel, I'll deal with Edwin and Urrula. Halwin, you need to lie still for a while. You're not going to die but your body will need several minutes to recover before you even think about sitting up. Now I need to go and deal with Edwin and Urrula. Please do as I ask."

I got up and walked past Urrula. At the moment she wasn't going anywhere, but Edwin just might, and I needed to stop him. I also didn't want to have to resort to erasing the whole incident. It would be better if they new exactly who Palrity was and knew they could trust her. 

"Edwin listen to me. I know you've had a shock and at the moment you can't decide if what you saw was real, and if it was whether it's going to come back and rip you limb from limb. You're also doubting whether you can trust me or not and whether I'm another one of those in disguise. Now with me what you see is what you get; I don't have Palrity's shape-shifting ability. Yes that's right. I know somewhere your brain is processing this, but at present you're not consciously believing what your eyes and other sense are telling you. Now I could take the very easy way out and erase this whole episode from your memory. Now I know you don't believe I can do that but I assure you I can. I also assure you that if you bolt into the woods you'll not get very far and also will leave me no choice in the matter.
Now you're wondering why I'm telling you all this, given that the most probably out come is that you'll bolt into the woods. There in lies the heart of my problem. You see I either have to erase both your and Urrula's memory or  neither of your memories and I prefer the second option. The second option is also the hardest to accomplish since I'm temporarily going to have to suppress Urrula's memory of what happened, but that will mean she will need someone to lean on later and you've picked the short straw on that one
Now I'm getting tired of talking which means it's decision time. So you can either bolt into the woods or you can get up and come over here. "

He didn't move. "Now I'm sure we've been here once today already. I'm going to count to ten. If I reach ten, well I'm sure you can work it out. One!"

I got to six before he moved. "Good. Now pick Urrula up walk round to the other side of the pool and wash her, and lose her petty coat, and make sure you wash her properly. I'm going to check on Marcel."

I checked on Halwin as I passed. She was breathing normally but her chest hurt and she wanted to go to sleep I forced her to sit up which induced another coughing fit. I told her she couldn't go to sleep yet. Palrity was siting, cradling Marcel in her lap. She was crying. I bent down and checked his pulse. It was regular, if a little weak. I hugged her.  "It's a difficult process growing up, especially if you're not comfortable with who you are. No one died. Now you have to do the difficult part, the first step of which is talking to Edwin, and the sooner the better. Now I'm going to have to go and get Halwin into dry clothes so turn Marcel on his side, cover him with a blanket, and leave him to sleep his concussion off. I want everything else resolved before he comes round."

It took me half an hour to get Halwin into her clothes. All she wanted to do was sleep. I knew I'd have to let her at some point but I also knew it was dangerous for her to do so. Once clothed I had no choice. Urrula was clinging to Edwin who was standing waist deep in water. Palrity was standing at the edge of the water, in a state of self pity.

"I told you to talk to him not wallow in a state of self pity. Now go and get dressed then make sure Marcel is warm. Edwin I'm going to come and join you if that's ok."

It took another 10 minutes, and a little mental manipulation to get Urrula to let go of Edwin, then get her washed. I sent Edwin to get dressed in the meantime then carried her out and told him to dress her. I needed to put some clothes on; the time in the water plus the drop in temperature caused by the lengthening shadows as the suns rays were blocked by the trees meant I was now feeling cold.

Having dressed I re-assessed the situation. Marcel was still out, but Palrity was dressed. Edwin was dressed, and Urrula was wearing a dress if nothing else. She'd also regained a little colour and wasn't clinging as much. Halwin was also dressed but now out cold. The situation wasn't good. Halwin I could cope with, she could ride double with me if necessary and I doubted she was now in any danger. Marcel on the other hand I had no idea about and until he regained consciousness we were stuck here.

As it turned out we weren't stuck for that much longer as Marcel regained consciousness about 30 minutes later. He wasn't completely coherent and was confused about what had happened, which was actually a blessing as it enabled Palrity to get him dressed without him reacting adveresely to her presence. My next problem was what to do with them. I didn't want them returning directly to school. They need adjustment time where I could keep an eye on things, which meant not here. I initially considered an inn but that had its own problems. What I really needed was a large house and servants, this would enable the horses to be looked after, them to all to heve their own rooms if they wanted them, and everybody to get fed and a change of clothes. With Marcel conscious I sugested it was time to leave. I expressed concearn about Halwin and suggested that rather than return to school we went to the house of a friend of mine. She was away at present but I had the use of the place if I needed it. The only problem was it was a little over an hours ride away. There was a general muttering at this but they agreed. We reached the horses and I put Halwin on mine, which meant hoisting her dress about her waist. The horse she'd originally riden, like both Palrity's and Urrula's had side saddles, which meant I couldn't have slung her over the saddle or strapped her in anyway. I mounted behind her and once the others had done likewise we set off.

The journey to the house was uneventful, and even Palrity didn't notice that I began shadow walking almost immediately or that the woods were considerably larger on the way out than on the way in. By the time we reached the house it was approaching half nine and rapidly dimming into twilight. I'd gotten everybody inside, assigned rooms, put Halwin to bed with a maid to watch her, and adjourned to the drawing room before Palrity voiced the fact that we weren't in Heraveraine any longer were we. I smiled and replied that no we weren't and asked her what had lead her to that conclusion. She said the fact that the servants seemed to be expecting us and were prepared and waiting when we arrived, and the fact the place reminded her a little of home at the Courts. I congratulated her on her deductions. The revalation meant that I had to re-assure both Edwin and Urrula that they were completely safe. Urrula was looking to Edwin for guidance, which was a good sign, and when I forced him to admit he'd trusted me so far and nothing untoward had happened, in fact quite the opposite, he was able accept that they were safe here and nothing was going to happen, that they would be able to spend a comfortable night, have a decent breakfast, their clothes cleaned, and in the morning we would be able to return to school, where I would sort out any problems caused by their absence overnight. Further discussions on the subject were curtailed by the announcement that a hot supper was served in the dining room.

Supper having been served, Edwin wanted to continue pushing things but I said I wasn't going to provide any more answers until everybody had eaten. Marcel also wanted to know exactly what had happened but likewise I forebade the discussion of the afternoons incidents until supper was over. Neither Marcel nor Urrula ate much, and Palrityplayed with her food, but Edwin found that his hunger got the better of him allowing me to eat in peace. When he'd finished I suggested we withdraw back to the drawing room where drinks would be served for those that wanted them. Edwin's first question, having got himself a brandy, was what exactly were we, not understanding that Palrity and myself were completely different. This required me to fabricate a story with enough of the truth in it that he could understand but that didn't tell him exactly what we really were. He accepted that the concept that there were different realities and that Palrity and I came from realities different from Heraveraine and from where we were now. He then wanted to know how we'd gotten here. I told him there were various means of moving between realities,  that Palrity currently used one method, and I used another. Beyond the fact that I could do it whilst moving, I wasn't prepared to say anymore. Then came the big question what exactly were we, particularly what was Palrity. I replied that I was as human as he was and that Palrity was a Chaosite, a being able to assume two forms one human and one reptilian. Their normal form was human, but in times of great stress or need they could assume their reptilian form for a short period of time, although it was very taxing and stressful.  Palrity opened her mouth to say something looking indignantly at me as she did so and enabling me to mentally tell her to shut up unless she wanted to explain in detail exactly what her real form was and how she wasn't really a demon and exactly how many forms and shapes she could assume. 

Unfortunately for me Edwin was just a little too smart. "What did you just do? She was going to say something?"

Lying was not going to be an option. "Remember our conversation at the pool, the one where I told you I could re-write your memory?"

He looked directly at me. Sometimes it was so easy. "Good. Now just so you know I'm not going to do anything at this time. Persisting with your current line of questions will mean I have to re-evaluate. Now change the subject."

"Ah. Yes. I think you've told us enough. Now if you don't mind I'm going to retire."

"Goodnight then. Sleep well. I will see you in the morning."

Now that one had made the move Urrula and Marcel followed. Palrity slumped into one of the big chairs  next to me, pour herself a large brandy, downed the lot, then refilled her glass. "You're not going to find any answers in there. And don't think about throwing it any where. That just creates a messy stain and a later guilty feeling over having done it."

"You think you're so superior don't you. Always have the answer. " She hurled the glass into the fire place and transformed into her reptilian form, curling her tail over her head scorpion like."

I didn't move."Oh sit down and stop being so melodramatic. You're so like I was 15 years ago it's embarrassing. Now bloody well sit down or I'll tan that bloody reptilian hide of yours. I bet a full orgasm in your current form would be a really interesting spectacle."

"Sorry. Say that again."

"Well after I leave here "

"No not that bit. The first part, the bit about the last few months."

"You mean how they've been an educating experience."

"You said you were from Amber."

"Ah I see. Amber is now my home, but I wasn't born there. I've spent most of my life in a different shadow. I didn't even know my father was from Amber until a few months ago, then an aunt I didn't know I had turned up, and the rest is history."

"So how come you can do all that shadow walking stuff and the combat and that teleporting trick."

"Some of it is down to the Pattern, and the rest is down to the fact that I've been studying Martial Arts of various forms for over 20 years."

"But you've only known of Amber for a few months how come  you can do so much. I've lived in the Courts all my life and I can't even get an appointment to be considered to study the Logrus, yet you've got all this Pattern stuff on a plate."

"If you want to continue this conversation then sit down." I waited until she'd done so. "I didn't get it on a plate. Walking the Pattern is not easy. Anybody who is not related to the family can't even walk it, and walking it is used as a test to prove that you are, and walking it is only the start. Compared to other members of the family I can do very little, sort of like an apprentice mechanic. I can change the oil, check the fluid levels, and put air in the tyres, but if I was asked to service the brakes or change the clutch I wouldn't have a clue."

"What?"

"Alright, let me try a different analogy. You know I've been learniing to sketch."

"Yes"

"Well compare to me the rest of the family are Great Masters, capable of painting any subject in oil or water colour or acrylic or pastel. Understand now?"

"I think so. So why arn't you  at school or something."

"I am. I'm learning to sketch."

"That's not what I meant, isn't there a school where you learn about the Pattern."

"Not that I'm aware of. Most of the time I have to find out how to do stuff myself. Various members of the family give me hints from time to time but its then down to me to find out how to do what they've suggested. Most of the time I manage it eventually. Anyway my learning to sketch has nothing to do the with the Pattern, that I'm learning so that I can learn about Trump. It seems its a pre-requisite that I can draw."

"So on top of everything else you get to learn Trump as well. I've got another 3 year here before I can learn anything useful."

The hairs on the back of my neck started to prickle. "Hang on a minute, something's not right." I concentrated, somebody was moving about. I drew my sword moved to the door and wrenched it open. there was apparently nobody there. "You can come out now Edwin. If I have to come and fetch you I'm not going to be happy."

A shape deteached itself from the wall a little way up the staircase. "I'm sure that eavesdropping on private conversations is considered rude and bad mannered. Exactly how much did you overhear?"

He shifted uncomfortably before replying. "Er nothing, I was just looking for the kitchens."

"Your ability to lie is abysmal. If you'd wanted something you could have just puled the service cord in your room. Now come down here whilst I decide what to do with you. You don't want to make me come and get you."

I sheathed the sword as he descend the stairs and crossed the hall. As he entered the room I paralyzed him.

"Whats going on? Why did you do that and how come you knew he was there?"

"Training mostly. Anyway he's also a shapeshifter although mostly untrained. What he's learnt to do he's done so himself. I think that both his parents carry the relavent genes but not enough for them to be active, and I didn't want him going primal. I've had one too many experiences of that already. Now he can't as I've blocked the trigger mechanism."

"How did you know he was a shapeshifter?"

"I read his mind earlier when he got all indignant and upset. It's just taken me a while to sift out pertinant pieces of information."

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Nothing. I'm going to install a memory engram to stop him repeating anything he heard whilst standing outside the door, then I'm going to remove the paralysis. Just so you know he's currently quite aware of everything that's happening, he just can't do anything about it."

"So you could just kill him and he'd be powerless to stop you?"

"I doubt it his subconscious is still active and he could possibly revert to his primal form if I tried to do that, I don't know enough about shapeshifters to cover all angles."

I installed the engram then released the paralysis. He tried to take a swing at me but he was clumsy and slow. I caught his fist then forced him to the floor. "You need to learn better self control and to recognise when you're beaten. Even Palrity would have no difficulty in dealing with your clumsy attempts. You may have what you think is a clever gift that allows you to sneak into the girls dormitaries, but that is nothing compared to what either of us can do, and after tonight you'll not get away with it any longer. You've almost been caught twice as it is, and now Palrity is aware of exactly why she had the feeling of being watched she'll be able to do something about it."

"The utter swine. I'm going to kill him."

She was out of her chair before he could even blink, but she still wasn't quicker than me. I grabbed her and forced her back into her chair. "No you're going to be civilised, no matter how many times he may have seen you naked before today. What's more your going to teach him to shapeshift properly."

"No. I won't. He's a liar and a cheat and.."

I glared at her and she subsided. "You will because I ask it and as a thankyou for everything I've done today. Now I suggest you go and talk to Marcel if he's awake. If he's not then finding you in his bed in the morning will give him something to think about."

"But ."

"No buts and don't argue. Off you go!"

I turned to Edwin. "Weren't you supposed to be watching Urrula?"

"Um. No. She's gone to bed."

"God! Men are so thick sometimes. Go and knock on her door. I'll guarentee she'll still be awake. And no taking advantage."

Nervously he got up. "You're sure?"

"Have I been wrong about anything else? Now shoo!"