You don't know how long you've been unconscious, but it has been a while based on the stiffness in your limbs and the rumbling in your belly.  Your head hurts too, as if you'd overindulged in mushrooms or strong wine, but there's no trace of the head wound that your memories tell you to expect.
            You are flat on your back in the grass in a forest unknown to you.  Not so far away are the remains of a horse, perhaps yours, but not recognizable any more. Scavengers have feasted on it, and not in the last few minutes either; white bones gleam in places where either rot or hunger have cleaned them.
            When you left Amber, it was fall. But all the signs your father taught you tell you that here, it is spring.  There is no sign of the Black Road, or that it ever passed through this place.

Robin will pull out her trump of Julian and attempt contact.

The trump is warm and there is no life to it. Robin cannot reach Julian.

Robin will seek the Black Road in shadow. Failing that, she'll make for Arden.

There is a freshness to everything that is indescribable.  The birds are singing, the flowers are starting to bloom, the sun is shining, and new life is everywhere. Everything is slightly damp, as if dew-covered, including the remains of the horse.
          There is no sign of the black road or its effects.  Robin walks in shadow trying to locate the black road, but is unable to find the appropriate shadow-stuff to take herself to it.  After some effort, she becomes convinced that if it does exist, she can't get to it from here.

[Post missing -- Robin finds a horse]

The new horse is strong, sleek, and intelligent.  The tack is a little showy, but one takes what one finds.  The horse is accoutered with a picnic basket containing a fine lunch.  Some shadow picnicker will be sorry you've found this horse.

Robin eats! She stops just this side of the horse, consumptionwise. (How long does it take Robin to find Arden in shadow, to the extent that "How long..." can be part of a meaningful question on the topic.)

Given that the position of the sun is a malleable factor in a shadow walk, you use the only metric available.  It takes longer than it would take Daeon to get bored, but less time than it takes Robin to get hungry again.

[Post missing]

Arden.  A vast cathedral of green.  All your life it has been your father's domain.  It has suffered much since Eric took the throne.  You look over it, and it looks like the Amber of your childhood--a place of unending wonder.
          You find several landmarks.  A stone fallen just so against a stream bed, two trees which have grown into each other.  A cave with a stream in it.  You are continue into the forest and are, at a guess, no more than a day's walk outside the range of normal ranger patrols when you spot a thin line of smoke to the east.

Robin guides her fresh, unchewed horse toward the fire. She'll unship, hitch the horse and cover the last half-league or so on foot, approaching carefully. She wishes to see before she is seen. Before beginning that final leg of her approach, she'll ask the local birds what they can tell her of the place where the smoke rises and any people who may be there.

Birds are not bright.  There are definitely people there, closer to a nestful than a flock.  The people are quiet and are not afraid of the fire. They aren't disturbing the animals of the forest.
          This is not Bela, your father's favorite hunting hawk (who usually has a train of thought that runs "food, food, food, rabbit! dive, eat, 'I am mighty!' food, food, food. 'I wonder why it got dark?'")  What random forest birds find interesting enough to remember is what it is.

Making a mental note not to try threatening the people with their own fire, Robin proceeds.

You approach the smoke which comes from a small campfire in a clearing next to a stream.
          You spot three of them.  Two men sitting across the fire, grilling a brace of coneys.  Halfway up a nearby tree you spot a third.  He seems younger than the other two.  He is clearly supposed to be on guard, although he doesn't seem very good at it.  He doesn't notice you.
          The young one is the only one you don't recognize.  The other two are Thorn and Bay.  Thorn was a Ranger who retired after the burning of Garnath.  Bay you last saw on the day you left Arden.
          You'd guess they've been camping here for a day or two.  At this distance, they are out of earshot.

Robin will creep within earshot. She'll actually make a project of getting rather close - a stone's throw in the *woods*, meaning, close enough that you'd be more likely to hit your target than some tree on the way to your target. But she will throw no stones. Rather, when she judges that she has snuck as close as she can sneak, she'll whistle a common ranger signal.
          Rather, when she judges that she has snuck as close as she can sneak, she'll whistle a common ranger signal.

Earshot is obtained, as is a stone's throw.  The kid is rather green.  You'd've caught you long before this.
          "That's just it, Thorn, it's not like it was.  It may be fine for you, but I'm not ready to retire.  I just won't take..."

[*One Ranger, others here?*}

Bay looks at Thorn and Thorn glares at Stick.
          Bay says "More stragglers."
          Thorn leans back whistles in reply.  As you are a stone's throw away, he is looking in your direction.  You are still concealed, but you think he'd detect any movement.

[*All clear, report in*]

Pride is in play here, as well as caution. Robin is mindful that, if she recalls correctly, she's been through a lot of strange things recently and there's no guarantee that she's done with them.
          Also, this is Arden, and for all she knows these are shadows of the Bay and Thorn she remembers. [Though I suppose if one were going for that First Book Feel, shadows of Bay and Thorn might themselves be rangers.]

They are all three wearing armbands with a muted white unicorn on a dark green field.  Rangers don't.  They aren't militarized.

Robin gives the *Don't do anything rash* whistle and stands up. She also smiles.

Thorn sees you first, but Bay, who had his back to you, is on his feet and turned around with surprising speed. Both of them look surprised for a moment, before other reactions kick in.
      
"Robin," says Thorn, in a tone of half-shock, half delight.

"I told you she wasn't dead," drawls Bay. "She's too ornery to die." But he means it as a compliment.

Sticks now has his bow aimed at you, but Bay says, "Put that down, kid.  She's one of us."  Sticks looks at you suspiciously before releasing his aim and jumping out of the tree to join the three of you by the fire.

"Come on," says Bay. "Sit down, have lunch, and tell us where you've been for the last four years.  We've missed you in Arden."

Robin shrugs.

"It doesn't seem that long, somehow," as if she were speaking to classmates at her tenth reunion. "The Steward of Arden sent me off to follow the Black Road. I did that. Had some trouble, got out of it and came back. Unless I miss my guess," she concludes, grinning, "you went and won the war without me. Tell me all about it."

"Won the war? Depends on how you define won, I guess. Haven't seen hide nor hair of Prince Benedict's army since it left. But they did manage to get rid of the Black Road," says Bay. "It's been gone these four years and more.  We'd about given up on you coming home."

Thorn adds, "It went away when they had the earthquake in the city.  Wiped it clean away, like there'd never been any road there."  He takes a sip from his canteen, which may or may not be laced with something stronger than water. "Things have been going poorly, and it looked like the Rangers needed me, so I came back and re-upped. When things got bad in the city, they started sending us kids, like Sticks here."  He gestures at the new ranger with his thumb.

Sticks takes up the tale: "Ma'am," he says, having noted the seniority that Bay and Thorn automatically accord you. "It's like Thorn and Bay say: there was an earthquake, and fires, and part of the fleet went down. I'd been a sailor, but when the shipping dried up, I had nowhere to go and no money, so I came to Arden and joined the Rangers. I knew I'd eat well, and if there was another earthquake, I didn't want to have a building fall on me and end up a cripple like Prince Gerard."

Robin pauses to take in the information, especially about Gerard.

"Thorn," Robin says. "I believe a building could fall on *him* before he spotted it. I know he's young, but don't you *train* them?"

Sticks looks embarrassed, Thorn shakes his head, amused, and Bay just shrugs.

"And who came up  with those armbands? And which direction to find my (here just the slightest pause) commander?"

Thorn looks at Bay, and Bay looks back at Thorn.  "Robin," says Thorn, in that gentle way some people have when breaking bad news, "Prince Julian went with Prince Benedict. Nobody's seen him since Prince Benedict left."

"The badges," says Bay, "are new.  When things got so bad, Prince Gerard started settling people in the borderlands, and they were encroaching on Arden.  Badger, you remember what a hothead he was, Badger kept messing with the settlers and got hisself killed.  There was a whole mess of trouble: Prince Gerard sent his daughter, who'd been riding with us, and a couple of her cousins to investigate. Finally they settled on giving us a new commander and putting us under the Crown badge, since the war ain't officially over yet."

Sticks, who looks increasingly uncomfortable, says, "Lady Brita tries to do right by us."

Bay says, "She *tries* to do right, but she don't know what she's doing."

Thorn says, "It's not the same as if ..." and stops and shrugs.  Robin can hear the unspoken *it were you.*

"Thorn!" Robin says sharply. "You too, Bay. I am sure Lady Brita commands the rangers as befits her station."

Thorn hangs his head a little and Sticks looks relieved. Bay doesn't have the good grace to look ashamed.

She softens.  "But tell me more about her. And about her command."

Sticks takes up the tale.  "They say she's the daughter of Princess Fiona.  Princess Fiona's never been back to say either way, but who'd lie about such a thing? And I've sparred with her, she's strong and quick like Prince Gerard, or at least Prince Jerod."  Bay nods in agreement with that last.  [Robin knows that Jerod is Eric's son, if little else about him. Julian's comment was, "Eric was once too young for subtlety, too."]

"She took over," Bay continues, "after Wind Grove, where Badger got hisself killed. Before that Lady Solange -- she's Prince Gerard's own daughter -- rode with us for a while, but there was a lot of hard feelings about Wind Grove, so she don't ride with us no more. Not her fault, though; Badger was a damn hotheaded fool, even if his heart was in the right place.

"I don't know where she was raised, but she's a little woodsy herself, but she don't know the ways of the Rangers. She tries real hard, bless her heart, but she just don't know yet.  And we got a lot of new Rangers, like Sticks here, and she don't know how to teach 'em right."

Thorn says, "Folks like Lady Brita, you understand, but she didn't say anything when the Regent made us wear the Crown badges. And we do a lot of escorting merchants in Garnath these days. We're Rangers, Robin, not traffic directors. Needle tries to advise her, but I don't think he realizes how mad a lot of the old-timers are.  Avid was Badger's friend and he talks all but open rebellion against her. Nobody says anything -- it would be too cruel to Lady Brita and we all think Avid's just blowing smoke."  Or at least, Robin can tell, he wants to think that.

Bay says, "If this badge shit goes on, he'll be blowin' less smoke, and more folks'll be listenin'."

"Well then," Robin says. "First you take me to Avid. Then to Lady Brita. And please keep talking - I've been without decent talk for...some time now."

When everyone is ready to go, Robin rides out with the men (and the boy).  She'll keep everyone talking as much as possible, wanting to pick up as much news and rumor as possible on the way.

It will take Robin and her merry band close to a week to get back to near Arden.  Either or both of Avid and Brita may be on patrol, or Brita might be in the city representing Ranger interests on the Regency Council, which she sometimes has to do. Brita has some kind of scheme with maps and colored markers that shows where various Rangers are expected to be, and is apparently usable even by the illiterate majority of the Rangers. However, if Robin gets close to an enclave, someone will spot her, and that will cause all kinds of ruckus. All three of the Rangers defer to Robin's lead on how to handle that.

Sticks explains with some enthusiasm how Lady Brita regularized the rotation and schedules of the Rangers. Julian had all of this done before, of course, but apparently he took about 90% of the active force with him when he left, and even with Rangers like Thorn coming out of retirement and the substantial number of young new recruits like Sticks, Robin thinks it must be hell trying to stretch the forces to cover the forest.  However, the Black Road has been gone since not that long after Robin disappeared, and the number of new things coming through Arden is much less.
          Piecing together what she hears from the three Rangers, what seems to have happened is this: in the aftermath of what the Rangers refer to the Sundering, which is the earthquake and storm event in which Gerard was crippled, a number of sons and daughters of Oberon's children seem to have picked up the reins of power. Of the names mentioned, the only ones Robin knows are Jerod FitzEric, his sister Cambina, and Random's bastard Martin. It is this council, ruling in the name of the crippled Gerard, that does much of the actual work of running Amber.
          The Sundering seems to have cut all the trade routes (Robin would say "shadowpaths") and apparently the council has had a lot of difficulty reestablishing them, a task which has occupied much of their time and attention.  Sticks can offer a great deal of city gossip about the council and its members if Robin is interested, but he seems nervous telling stories in front of Robin unless she encourages him.
          There is no mention of Robin's brothers or her sister Dione, but Dione's a child, Daeon's as likely to be wearing one of his useless prat personas as not, and Julian would have taken Jovian with him. And indeed, Thorn reports rumors of Julian summoning dragons to take to war.

[Does that sound like something Dad would do?]

[If he were going someplace nasty, maybe. Or maybe they're confused and remembering that encounter with wyverns a few weeks ago, or is that years ago now?]

Robin will estimate Sticks' *potential* to some day be a decent ranger. If it is low, then she will merely bear him.

Robin is going to bear him. Dad would never have let this kid join the Rangers; he'd have sent him on to the Guard or the Navy or something (anything!).  He's a hard worker, but he really isn't woodwise.

The even more important questions - has the game population bounced back from the war and Sundering, what's the relative density of strangecreaturesoutofshadow in Arden these days, does moss still grow predominantly on the north sides of trees - she'll put to Thorn and Bay.

Game population is up in the deeps, but the Garnath border areas and parts near the mountains are overhunted to Thorn's way of thinking. Too many people in Garnath.
            Very few critters out of Shadow since the Black Road went away, Bay reports. You still get them now and again, but more like things were before the troubles all started and King Oberon vanished.
          Moss still grows on the north side of trees, Sticks tells Robin proudly.

Since Robin is perfectly entitled to be in Arden, there is no need for skulking about and trying to avoid "enclaves" - except insofar as doing so may be amusing and instructive. She'll ask her followers to think back to the last time they saw the pins on the map and recall as best they can the location of Avid's pin. That's the direction she wants everyone to head.

Avid was on a circuit across the deeps of Arden, but finding him is something of a guess. What does Robin think the odds are of her path running across his in such wise that they meet?

Excellent. Firstly, what Robin wants, Robin gets. Secondly, Robin knows woods generally and Arden specifically. Thirdly, she knows not only general ranger "doctrine," to the extent it exists, she also knows little habits of your VIP rangers.  Lastly she can talk to birds. And recognizing that your ordinary everyday bird can be a bit frustrating to get details from, she'll slip off for a day or so and conjure herself a much more *reliable* bird to scout for her.

OK, sounds like a plan.  [gets out card deck and draws]

It takes Robin less than the expected week to get back into near Arden, even with the delay of a day to conjure a new friend to hunt for Avid. Robin quickly realizes she is able to shift Shadow and conjure more easily in Arden than she expects, and this eases the group's passage.

Another half-a-week and her merry band finds Avid's one night as they are making camp. Avid is alone with another new ranger, Rain -- Robin has never met her until now. Both look very surprised at seeing Bay, Thorn, and Sticks, much less Robin.

"'lo, Avid," Robin says. "How goes your patrol?"

"Well enough," says Avid, though he's clearly surprised to see her. "Better now that you're here.  All of you."  He looks at Bay. "You're more than three weeks overdue -- Lady Brita's been in a tizzy. Sent out all kinds of riders looking for you."

Rain, the junior ranger, offers you all dinner and watered wine from her skin.

Robin thanks her. She has many pleasant inquiries for Avid, all with an eye toward drawing out any complaints he has.

Avid, under some encouragement, makes his complaints. They are in large part the same things that Thorn and Bay talked about, including the encroachment of settlers onto the Arden border, the militarization of the Rangers, the use of the Rangers as escorts in Garnath, the limitation of patrols into the deeps of Arden and in general the diversion of their services from a protective force for the forest to paramilitary force governed by the Regent.
          Avid's view of events at Wind Grove is different: the settlers, he claimed, illegally encroached on Arden, and Badger was a martyr for trying to force them back. Thorn and Bay agree about the illegality of the encroachment, but they have already expressed their opinion of Badger's actions and methods privately.
          Avid reports with some relish that Wind Grove burned afterwards and Robin underhears *I did it*. If the others do as well, they are polite enough not to mention it.
          Avid has little use for Lady Brita. He feels she has no knowledge of Ranger traditions and duties, and gives in far too easily to the Regent's demands, when she ought to be resisting them. Perhaps she is ambitious in the city and using the Rangers as a stepping-stone to further advancement under the Regent. She has inadequately trained the new Rangers (Sticks and Rain look uncomfortable) because she simply doesn't know what she's doing. The shift from Arden patrols to Garnath escort duty is proof of that.
          Not quite spoken in all this is a certain dislike of the Regent. (It was not the Regent's sailors who came ashore in Garnath after the burning, but Caine's. Gerard, it's said, flirted with Bleys and Corwin before and during the invasion. Some of his fleets stood aside from some of theirs in the sea battles.) After Robin left, Avid explains, Julian gathered the troops in Arden with Random's help, under Corwin's orders. Eric and Caine were dead, of course. Gerard, who had stood by, was rewarded with the Regency.
          Bay and Thorn make some small defense of Brita: she is young, she takes junior role on patrols so she can learn, she is one hell of a fighter, and it's not really fair to blame her for not being the Steward of Arden when nobody else could have filled his shoes (they glance at Robin). And to be fair, Brita came out and took command full-time, unlike the Regent's daughter Solange, who was an occasional rider.
          Avid retorts that Solange didn't fancy herself a Ranger and didn't try to interfere with Ranger business. And do they disagree with his general assessment of how Brita is doing? No, they don't, but they have better hopes for the future than Avid.
          Sticks and Rain look really uncomfortable during this last part of the discussion.

"Now that you're home, Robin," says Avid, "what do you mean to do?"  What he hopes she will do should be reasonably clear.

"Avid, if you don't like the work, why not just quit?"

"I didn't quit when Eric was king, did I? I'm a Ranger, not a goddamn traffic cop, but if someone is trying to drive out the real Rangers by turning them into cops, I won't let them," says Avid, indignant, perhaps, at the questioning of his commitment.

"Ain't no other work, either," says Bay.

After a time, the gathering should fragment somewhat as people turn to different cleaning duties and such. (Robin fully expects to observe this happening.) At that point she quietly buttonholes Thorn.

"Three weeks overdue, Thorn?" Her tone conveys her lack of enthusiasm for other than a straight answer.

Thorn looks like he has been waiting for this with some mild dread. "We got out in the deeps and it was like we fell down a hole or something. We traced our steps back and we weren't where we came from. It was like one of the Marked Places, 'cept nobody'd marked it. When you showed up, though, I knew you'd be able to get us home. I'm glad it's only three weeks."  *For them, anyway.* is the unspoken bit.
          [Marked Places is the Ranger term for natural shadowpaths, which Julian had marked. Some of them are one-way. Used to be they were mostly one-way *into* Arden, not one-way *out*.]

Robin gives Thorn the 'I thought I said I wanted the real story' look and says, "You didn't say anything about being lost when I found you. And I make Sticks as high strung - not a boy to keep things to himself when he's nervous."

"You think he knows from lost?" Thorn says.

Robin shrugs.

"Besides," says Thorn, "Avid's shitting you about the time. We were lost for maybe three days."

In the morning she gathers everyone together.

"Whoever is supposed to be on patrol, keep to your routes. Whoever is supposed to be returning, come with me. I make no promises."

Robin sets off for whatever passes for Ranger World Headquarters with whoever she has in tow.

Avid and Rain are close to the end of their tour, and are ready to return to an enclave as well. Everyone packs up and follows Robin.

* * *

Martin and Brita continue on the trail, riding hard to catch up to the missing Rangers and whoever (or whatever) is with them.
       It's close to sundown when Brita spots the man in the tree. Martin drops back and touches her arm, and Brita knows at once he has seen the fellow as well. He jumps down out of the tree, perhaps thinking he hasn't been seen, and heads off into the brush. Martin leaps from his horse and is into the brush after him like a shot.

[Does Brita follow?]

[Can Brita follow on horse back or at least circle around on horse back? If yes, Brita would do so. If she cannot follow on horse back, she would follow on foot. Was she able to get enough of a glimpse of the one in the tree to determine it is Sticks? How about blood scents?
       As a side note, Brita is in her customary red jacket with white fur trim. Her hair is plaited down the sides - pretty much like my trump picture.]

[Sticks, whom Brita doesn't recognize, stinks of man-stink, not Chaos-stink.]

That's a relief!

[Brita will have to follow on foot; there's too much evergreen undergrowth for her to take the horse and the horse path runs perpendicular to the direction Martin and Sticks are heading.]

Brita follows Martin after dropping the reins of her horse over a low branch.

[GMs] Brita drops her horse's reins over a low branch and follows Martin. He's hot on the trail of the scout, who is apparently headed back to his camp. (This is a real failure of Ranger training, if this guy is a Ranger -- and he's wearing the badge -- and Brita may well be wincing.)

Brita is making mental notes on new training activities entitled Brier Fox and Brier Rabbit...

Robin and her band of ranger-y stragglers have found a camp for the night. It is the turn of the unfortunate Sticks to take the watch, and he stations himself in a tree off the main trail again. Robin has very little hope Sticks will spot anything before it spots Sticks, but at least she won't have to talk to him this way.

Robin long since accepted that to put Sticks on watch was to establish a Come Get Us shift, so she pays the kid's failure no mind. But she sleeps more lightly when he's on watch, and has a weapon to hand.

As the others are setting up a camp and preparing the evening meal, Sticks runs back into camp, breathless, and says, "Two riders, following our trail!"

And not far behind him is what must be one of those riders: a blond fellow of middling height, garbed in outdoor gear except for what the players would describe as loose-fit jeans. He's not wearing the Crown badge of the Rangers, but he is wearing a sword-belt, and has a wicked-looking blade in his hand. He looks over the Rangers without recognition, although he clearly knows the uniform and the badge. He frowns, as if trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who is in charge here.

[Forgot to mention: the young man also looks familiar, as if Robin has seen him. Recently.]

Immediately behind him is a tall redheaded woman with the look of a warrior, also armed. She is wearing a red jacket with white fur trim, and her hair is pulled into two plaits that streamed behind her as she ran into camp.

[Brita] AAGH! RED ALERT! RED ALERT! Brita is BLOND :)

As Martin comes out into the clearing just ahead of Brita, he stops short, and looks around, perhaps trying to get a grip on the situation before acting.

There are five people in the small camp in various stages of dinner and site preparation. Brita recognizes Thorn, Bay, and Avid, who are all Rangers of relative seniority, although she doesn't know Sticks or Rain on sight. The younger Rangers are both wearing the Crown badge, though. The fifth person is a blonde woman who carries herself with a certain natural dignity and to whom all the others are clearly looking for a lead. She smells to Brita like Family.   There is no stink of Chaos.

[Brita will note that she never refers to it as a "stink". It is just a "scent".]
          Brita would stop with and place a hand on Martin's arm to draw his attention. Upon scenting family, Brita will look directly at the blonde and say, "You are of Amber." With only a slight pause, Brita turns to Martin, "It is good that we have finally found the lost patrol." although the family hears "...found you."

Robin takes advantage of the not-remotely-redheaded woman's interchange with the blond man to give him a good hard squint, trying to place the face, or body if that's it.

The blond man (man being the real identifier, not blond, since you all are), whom we shall henceforth call Martin, because that's his name, looks at Brita, then at Robin, then at Brita again, before relaxing a little. He does not sheathe his blade.

Robin cannot place him exactly, but she is sure she has seen him, or someone who looks very like him, quite recently.

"Why yes, I'm of Amber," Robin begins quickly. "Arden really. I was a ranger in Prince Julian's day. Milady."

Brita raises her eyebrow at being called Milady.

Robin begins to bow slightly, catches herself and tries a curtsy. It's quite a sight with the crossbow dangling from one wrist. She looks sidelong at her companions for their reaction.

The whole lot of them are looking at Robin and the two newcomers with a range of looks running from alarm to fascination. They all know the woman, although they don't obviously recognize the man.

Brita does neither, although she does sheath her sword. "Thorn, Bay, Avid." She nods at each in turn. "We are glad to find you and the rest of the patrol alive and well."

"Lady Brita," says Thorn. "Avid here says we've been missing for weeks. Is that right?"

[Assuming a positive response on Brita's part]

"We didn't know we'd been gone so long, but things can get funny in the deeps of Arden, I guess," Thorn replies. He's glancing back and forth at Brita and Robin, trying to get a feel for what's going on without much success.

Martin has apparently decided during this exchange that the situation is safe for him to sheathe his blade. "I don't believe we've been introduced," he says to Robin and Rain. "I'm Martin, Martin FitzRandom." And he walks over and offers a well-manicured hand to Robin.

Brita in turn says "And I am Brita, daughter of Lord Vidar of Asgard and Princess Fiona."

Robin can't help evincing an instant of dismay at the condition of Martin's hand, but, familiar with the concepts of both politeness and discretion, she masters it.

[FYI: Julian is also well-manicured. He has calluses, but he never has filthy, ragged nails. Either that or the shadows are lying for him.]

[You are saying that Martin's hands are entirely similar to Julian's in the sort of work that they show?]

[Not entirely, but Martin's hands show the calluses of a swordsman, and at least one other pattern. He is well-manicured in that he keeps his nails clean and doesn't bite them, but rather has them filed neatly. These are traits which he happens to share with Julian, whom I simply can't imagine biting his nails.]

"I didn't give my name before," she says to both visitors. "My name is Robin. I've been gone from Arden these four years. You might say I was lost in the manner that Thorn reports."

There's a momentary flash of distress across Martin's face at that last, but, familiar with the concepts of both politeness and discretion, he masters it, and actually bows over Robin's hand, as if they were at court. "Lady Robin," he says, and smiles as if at an inward joke.

Robin tenses a little, in case of attack. Since none comes, she half relaxes.

Perhaps he caught that, or perhaps he realized that he was indiscreet, because he smiles and says, "The joke, Lady Robin, is on me," before turning to Rain.

Robin and Brita can tell that all of the Rangers are somewhat relieved that that seems to have gone all right.

Martin then turns to Rain, who also offers her hand, saying, "My name's Rain, Lord Martin," and Martin bows over it, too. "Madam," he says to her. Rain blushes.

"Avid," says Bay, "put a little more stew on, since we got company for the evenin'. I'm Bay, this is Thorn, and this here's Sticks, and that's Avid with the pot, yer lordship" He indicates each of the men by thumb to Martin, whom he clearly does not expect to recognize them.

Bay then turns to Brita. "Ma'am, I reckon our patrol needs to report in. You wanna take our report now, or after supper?"

"We can eat first, Bay, but I would like to hear how you came to be lost. Perhaps while we eat, you can give us the story of your travails."

Brita turns to Robin as she accepts a seat around the fire. "I have heard much good about your leadership with the Rangers. I would be honored to discuss the changes we have been implementing to get your opinion. I have been trying to make the Rangers more efficient in these lean times."

Robin has brows too, and narrows one at the word "efficient."

"Milady has me at a disadvantage in a discussion," Robin avers. "I hardly know what these times are."

"Well," Brita pauses, "I and my cousin and mentor Master Reid only arrived at Castle Amber after the events known as the Sundering, but the lean times I refer to are the fact that the Rangers are depleted in ranks while most of the forces are out supporting the elder Amberites. Having patrols go missing for months at a time and losing leaders such as yourself has hardly helped the situation."

"The rangers never had many leaders like me," Robin says, "but it must be hard all the same, just losing men who knew their way around. Arden has always been a tricky place for outsiders.
          Here her eyes dart toward Sticks.
          "And it sounds like Arden's gotten trickier."

After the meal and whatever stories Bay and the others wish to relate of their adventures, Brita will turn to Martin and suggest "Perhaps we should plan on attempting a return tomorrow. Are we in Arden or not at the moment?"

Martin, who has been polite but distant since introducing himself, nods once, abruptly. Then he says, glancing sidewise at Robin, "Yes, I think we are, but I can get us back if we're not, so it shouldn't make much difference.  And I think we should get back to Amber as soon as possible. Who knows how long we've been gone?"

Robin says, "I'd like to hear more about these missing patrols."

Brita glances at Martin with a 'what's up with you' look before responding to Robin, "Well, there is not really that much to tell about the missing patrol. There was only one main patrol that we noted as missing, consisting of Bay, Thorn and Sticks. They did not report in as expected and I began a systematic search for them through as much of the known patrolling area as I could. When we were unable to find any real trace of where the patrol had vanished to, Folly - one of my cousins - suggested using cousin Jerod's hawk Kina to track the area. I wanted one of the more Pattern-wise of my cousins to come along as well and thus Martin accompanied me. It is through his efforts that we were able to find the trail. We lost Kina at one point. I do hope she was able to find her way back; I would hate to have to tell Jerod I lost her."

Martin arches an eyebrow at the use of the term "Pattern-wise", and glances about at the others. His eyes rest for a moment on Robin, as if gauging her reaction to the term. "Jerod can yell at me all he likes for losing Kina if he'll just come home."

He looks at Robin again, "The shipping paths have all been closed since the Sundering. Jerod was working to reopen the Bellum way, but he and our cousin Solange have been gone for close to a year now." He doesn't have to say *I'm worried.*

 * * *

(Player of Brita goes on vacation so game fast-forwards with Brita staying in Arden and the rest moving on.)

* * *

If Martin has to shift any shadows to get Robin, Brita, and the merry band back to True Arden, he does not mention it to either of them, and Robin does not detect such. In a few days, about the expected time based on conversations with various members of the group, the Rangers reach one of the Ranger enclaves.
          Robin can tell that the Rangers have not been inactive; there's a map of Arden with lots of pins in it that someone will happily decode (the level of Ranger literacy is low, but the level of smarts is higher) and everything has been kept clean. There are no signs of disuse or sloth here.
          The word that Brita and Martin have returned with the lost patrol is quickly disseminated, and some newer Rangers are dispatched to other enclaves with the news. Older Rangers are all thrilled to see Robin, although many of them watch her with Brita and with Avid to get a sense for her behavior towards each.
          Martin is willing to overnight at the Ranger enclave after their late arrival, but he plans to return to the city at once. He would like Robin to accompany him, since he believes that Prince Gerard would like to meet her and hear her story.

[In a sleight of hand imposed by the GM, Brita has business to attend to in Arden that will take her exactly as long as Monica is on vacation to attend to.  Afterwards she, too can go to the city if she wishes.]

[Brita will go to the castle as soon as her business in Arden is completed, which I'm sure included some dissemination of information to the patrols on areas that might need to be avoided in order to avoid getting lost.... ]

Martin is an Amber Royal and a member of the government. Robin's not going to object. She does aver, tentatively, that the last she knew most of the Princes and Princesses of Amber were trying to kill each other.
 
"That's all done now, at least for the duration. Brand" and he reflexively scowls a bit at the name, "was behind most of the trouble and everyone else has lined up on the other side. They may fight over who rules afterwards, but they'd all rather have an Amber to fight over. In any case, the only Prince in Amber is the Regent, Prince Gerard. The other relatives -- cousins, and I have a lot of them, as it turns out -- have managed to restrain themselves from partaking of the family tradition of fratricidal violence." Martin's smile has more than a touch of wryness to it. "So far, anyway.
          "But you may rest assured that you will come to no harm, Lady Robin.  You're under my protection." And he really means that, as corny as it may sound.

"I thank you, My Lord," Robin says, sounding perhaps wary, perhaps confused, perhaps both. But she also sounds grateful, after a fashion.
          She'll put some effort, before Martin conducts her castleward, into discreetly gauging how other rangers than the ones she fell in with feel about Brita's leadership.

Their feelings are mixed. Brita, Robin suspects, has control of the Rangers to the extent that they support her.  There are a lot of things she doesn't know yet, although she's clearly striving to learn them. Many of the new Rangers are thrilled with her. The older Rangers seem to feel that she's very young and running the Rangers by wild-hairy-ass-guess, but many of them also feel that she tries hard and has big shoes to fill. A few, like Avid, would be happy to be rid of her.
Brita's support among the older Rangers, those of the Julian era, is there, but it's thin. It's possible that someone like Avid, or Robin herself, could sway them against Brita. But for the moment they seem inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Martin, although he's passably woodwise for a non-Ranger, clearly isn't a factor in Ranger politics.

[Robin will buttonhole some rangers on just what they may have told Brita and her family about Robin, including ahem gossipy rumors about her, if they get her drift. (Meaning the wild-ass claims that she's secretly his daughter or something.)]

Needle and Thorn and Bay assure Robin that as little as possible has been said of her to Brita and Solange before her. Needle says he's been asked about her, but he thought she was, well, not coming back (Robin reads "dead") and didn't really have much to say.
          No gossipy rumors have been spread, according to best information.
          Also, the old-time Rangers are collectively all very glad to see Robin, regardless of politics.

Likewise. Robin evinces genuine happiness to be home. (Arden.)

On the ride in, Martin is courteous to Robin, but he seems a touch preoccupied.  He does notice the quality of her horse, and asks where she found it, and about her adventures since she left Amber. Martin is generally willing to entertain questions from Robin on the situation in Amber, if she cares to ask any.

"I found the horse in Outer Arden, near one of the marked places," Robin says.  "As for adventures... You'll think me coy, my lord, but I can hardly say what my adventures *were*. I followed the Black Road, per My Lord Prince Julian's orders. I got into a fight, with just a single other ally against what seemed distorted shadows of your family. In the middle of the fight I found myself having something of a fever dream. At the end, you fired a crossbow bolt at me and I awoke."
          Robin lets that hang there for a suitably uncomfortable length if there is no response.
          "Tell me, Lord Martin, did you have much experience of the Black Road?"

"Enough," says Martin, and there's an odd weariness about the way he says it.  Then he smiles, and says "I don't recall meeting you on it, and I certainly don't recall shooting at you. And I can't imagine that meeting you wouldn't have made a memorable impression." He smiles, but his heart's not in the flirtation; it's reflex, Robin thinks.

"I'm just a Ranger, My Lord" Robin says, mildly. "Should I make courtesan demands for flattery on you, you should send me to gather firewood."

"I don't know the term 'marked places'," says Martin. "What are they?"

Robin takes the sort of time one would take if trying to explain a hazily-understood concept to someone smarter.
          "It's ranger talk, Sire. Arden is - strange. You can set off in certain directions and never find your way back. Or something can find its way *in*, to you, and afterwards you can never feel that you've tracked its path all the way back to its origin. 'Marked places' are those spots in the forest that we know lead - away. Or - here."

"Of course," says Martin, "you mean the natural shadow paths."  He pauses to take in Robin's reaction.

"You know," he says mildly, "when Solange and I first heard the Rangers talking about you, I thought 'Robin' might be Julian's son. You're clearly not his son, but I've never heard that Julian was so careless of his Rangers that I think he'd send just anyone down the Black Road after what happened to him and Gerard. And you cut a reasonably mean shadowpath yourself; I was the one who followed your trail, so I should know."
          Martin brings his horse around just enough to look at Robin. "If you have some reason for keeping quiet about your heritage, I'll honor your wishes, of course. But things have been rough in Amber since you left. All the shipping paths are gone, the economy's gone south because there's no trade, and the city has always been a net food importer. There's been no word from Benedict and the rest of the family in all this time. And the one person who's been able to lay any kind of lasting path disappeared a few months ago while shoring it up."
          Martin's knuckles tighten slightly around his horse's reins. "We need all the Pattern initiates we can lay hands on right now.  "Let me know what you want to do before we get to the city."

Robin rides for a moment in silence.

"The interesting thing is that you hardly ever heard about children of the Princes and Princesses of Amber.  People do talk about that sometime, or at least they did before the war. Some have said, Lord Martin, that the Lords and Ladies of the Castle each loved mirrors so much they had no affection left over for younglings or anyone who would help make them. But let's face it, it doesn't require *that* much interest in others to get someone or oneself with child. Now, many misbehaving children have been warned by their parents that a Prince or Princess would like to eat them, so that's another answer sometimes given. Some say that there must be whole orphanages of Royal brats around, but that any Prince or Princess who loved a child would keep him as far from his siblings as possible.
            "What is *your* notion on the matter? I believe you are the only child of a Prince who was commonly acknowledged as such beforetimes."

[GMs] [Eric had a son and a daughter who were acknowledged during his reign, but that counts as "during the war".]

Martin may note that this last is the first time Robin has omitted honorifics when addressing him.

"A Prince who hid his daughter from his siblings would have been very wise; I have the scar to prove it. I'd like to think that with Grandfather dead, they'll all have grown up enough to give up their homicidal impulses, though.  But I don't know what they'll do about the throne yet, and if there's another fight about that, all bets could be off.
          "We have more than a dozen cousins that I know of. There are too many of us now; if we cover each other's backs, we should be able to stand up to any hostile relatives. As for the one relative who is known to be hostile to his nephews and nieces, he's dead. He just may not know it yet." And though Martin's still smiling, the smile's no longer nice. Robin has the sense of a predator whose attention is focused on her, although she doesn't feel that any malice is directed at her.

"Tell me about these cousins," Robin says. "For that matter, tell me about this hostile uncle!"

"Our uncle Brand is the author of our current misfortunes." Martin's hands are so tight on the reins of his horse now that he's white-knuckled. "He's homicidal, responsible for the Black Road, and allied with enemies of Amber. But that's a long story, and you asked me about our cousins, which is another long story.
          "Gerard's the Regent, and he has two children: Vere, who's been working in the harbor, and Solange, who's been doing, well, quite a few things. She worked with the Rangers for a while until the mess at Wind Grove, which I'm sure someone told you about. She's out of Amber right now with Eric's son Jerod, who was laying the Shadowpath to Bellum, and they're overdue by months. Jerod has a sister, Cambina, who's been rebuilding the aqueducts and handling public works since the Sundering. She's got an assistant named Ossian, who's an orphan, but he's taken the Pattern, so we know he's one of us. There's another orphan, Folly, who's a musician, and we don't know whose she is, either, but Grandfather said she's one of us, and that's good enough.
          "Then there's Paige, who's Bleys' daughter; she handled a lot of the property judgements and legal wrangling after the Sundering, but now she's at Court most of the time. You've met Fiona's daughter Brita already, and her tutor Reid turns out to be a long-lost son of long-dead Osric, whose story is so strange I'm pretty sure it's true. And Flora's son Lucas is married and has a little girl. Oh, and the rumors of Julian's son in the woods turned out to be, ahem, imprecise, unless you have a brother to tell me about."

Robin *heh's* to herself. A brother *in the woods* indeed!

"Those are the ones who have been in Amber. There's also Dara, who's descended from Benedict, and her son by Corwin, whose name is Merlin. They were both involved in Grandfather's counterplot against Brand.  Both of them planned to meet up with Benedict on the field, but I don't know how that turned out yet, of course."
          And he finishes with a flash of recovered good humor, "And you can tell your father I said so, of course."

Robin's brow wrinkles.  "Tell my father you don't know how the war turned out?"

Martin chuckles, as if Robin has said something particularly clever.

* * *

Martin and Robin make small talk the rest of the way back to Castle Amber. On their arrival, Martin requests that a message be sent to the Regent that he has returned, and he has urgent business to discuss. He also asks that a message be sent to Lady Folly that he has returned, and he would like to speak with her once the Regent dismisses him.
          Robin and Martin only have to wait a few minutes before a page returns with word that the Regent will see them at once. They are escorted up to Gerard's study, where Gerard is waiting for them.
          Robin has seen Gerard many times from a distance, although Julian never formally introduced them. He's a huge bear of a man and there is something spatially bizarre about him being stuck in that little wheeled chair.  There's a blanket across his lap that hides his ruined legs, but not so completely that Robin can't tell the wrongness of the shattered mass under the blanket. If Robin has a shred of compassion, she probably hopes that he never regrows any of the nerves because of the pain he'd almost certainly be in.
          "Since ye couldn't wait long enough to wash the dust of the road from yer feet, I ordered some refreshments brought up. Sit down and make yerselves comfortable." Gerard looks at Robin. "I don't believe we've met, lass."

Martin says: "Your Highness, this is Lady Robin, a senior member of the Rangers. She was with the missing patrol when Brita and I found it, and she has an interesting story to tell. I thought you'd want to hear it at once."

Robin notices that Martin hasn't bowed. But she drops to one knee.

Belatedly, Martin thinks of it. Gerard waves him off.

"Greetings, Uncle. You wouldn't remember me. Martin is right: I've been gone these years from the rangers on a mission for my father. I don't think I accomplished anything, but I want to help here if I can."

"Get up, niece. I don't hold much with bowing and scraping among our kin." And he rolls the chair over and takes her hand to raise her up.

"Your father must be my brother Julian, then." He looks at Robin's face for a long moment, perhaps seeking a reminiscence of Julian, or trying to puzzle out why she looks vaguely familiar. It seems to be too much trouble, though, so he abandons the effort.
          "We'll take all the help we can get. But what was your mission? And what kept you out of Amber these ... " he stops and counts "four years and more?"

"Father sent me to explore the Black Road as far as possible. He said you and he had already done so, but I think he thought our enemies may have known you in a way they didn't know me, so I might get farther. He also feared a new invasion. This was all just after Corwin...returned."
            "What kept me out of Amber was...being wherever I was. I encountered allies and enemies on the road. In fighting them I ended up - somewhere else. A city where they made a tower of giant sabers and streets of poured stone. It sounds clever at first, but the stuff burns like magician's paper. Some kind of temple that seemed short on gods. Catacombs beneath it and a Pattern. Someone there shot me with a crossbow. He looked just like my cousin here" gestures to Martin "but I met a lot of doppelgangers on my trip.
          "Or else I slept the last four years away. It did seem rather dreamlike. You know how you almost think there's a plot but then it isn't, quite? It was like that."

Gerard chews on that for a moment. "The Black Road is a strange place," he agrees. "I met things there that came out of nightmare, but some of them at least were real enough to break my bones." He looks down at his lap for a moment, then changes the subject. "Martin, did you tell her about the Pattern?"

Martin shakes his head negatively. "I filled her in on the basics, but I thought I should leave that part of the story until we were within walls."

Gerard turns his attention to Robin: "Martin told you about the earthquake.  What he didn't tell you is that the earthquake broke the floor of the Pattern chamber in two. No one has walked the Pattern in these four years, at least not that got any good of it. You can manipulate Shadow in Amber now, so we believe at least one other Pattern survived. But we've no stair to Tir and the magic of Rebma no longer holds sway on the stair, so we don't know what's happened to them. And Martin says he's seen another Pattern, but he doesn't think he can get back to that one to look at it."
          "Did Martin tell you about the shadowpaths?" At a nod from either Robin or Martin, Gerard says, "Good. If nothing else, we can use you to help with the trade routes, to move the fleets through Shadow. But I'm also concerned about the Rangers. Brita's worked wonders with them, but she's a young girl and I worry that some people try to take advantage of her inexperience. You have some connections there even beyond your father, or so I've heard. Would it suit you to go back there? Would you like to go to sea for a while? Or would you rather do something else entirely?"
          He is sincerely interested in what Robin wants to do.

Anyone with any sensitivity notes that Robin reacts to the prospect of going to sea the way a cat might.

The Admiral is, of course, somewhat disappointed.

"I'd like to find my father - if he's alive."

"Lass, we'd all like to find your father and the rest of the family. But we've about as much chance of finding him now as a little baby would have of leaving this room and finding the Pickled Grouse down in the docksides without any help."
          Gerard frowns. "If the Trumps were working, it would all be different. As it is, we just have to wait for them to come home."

"I can help with the Rangers, Uncle. To an extent..."

Gerard perks up.

"The rangers have always been pretty rough and ready, Uncle. It seems like people have been trying to make them less so. That means resentment among the best veterans. It also means an awful lot of new recruits who are just... hopeless."

"We could certainly use more help there. Perhaps you'll want to take a turn at helping with the fleets later," Gerard says forlornly. "The Rangers, though, we need them more settled. You'll have to talk to Martin and Brita and Lucas about the Wind Grove business as well. If Solange were here, I'd tell you to talk to her, but she's travelling with her cousin Jerod and we don't quite know when she'll be back." Gerard looks slightly more forlorn.
          "I'm sure you'll be wanting to go down and look at the Pattern chamber at some point, but you needn't do that tonight. You'll want a hot meal, a bath, and somewhere to rest tonight, I think. Are there any other questions you want answered, niece?"

"I hardly know where to start with questions, Uncle. But I'd rather know where to start with a hot meal, as you say."

Robin will take appropriate leave once she someone proves willing to see that she gets fed.

Martin takes Robin to meet Vialle, Prince Random's wife, who is acting as chatelaine in the absence of Gerard's daughter. Vialle arranges for Robin to have a late dinner while someone prepares a guest room for her for the night.
          As soon as he's sure Robin is settled with Vialle, Martin excuses himself.  Vialle is happy to chat for a long time if Robin is interested. She can pick up any of the standard family gossip she likes here. Vialle will also ask Robin what provisions she needs -- clothing and such -- as well as what she would like in her permanent chambers. (Vialle is the blind Martha Stewart of Amber.)
          This point is as good as any to mention something I forgot to mention on the way in. The tower which had formerly housed the family wing of the castle is partially collapsed and is in the process of being rebuilt. The family now lives in the former guest wing, and guests such as Robin and Conner are housed in rooms that were apparently closed before the Sundering but have since been reopened.

* * *

Brita would tag up with Robin after her audience with Gerard. Assuming no council meeting was held the night Robin and Martin arrived, Brita would mention to Robin "We need to introduce you to the rest of our cousins - at least those that are here. The council normally meets at dinner since everyone has to eat anyways. I figure we can alert them to these changes in Arden and see if anyone has any thoughts on what it means. With all the weird things happening to Amber, one would think that there is some kind of a pattern to be found - pardon the pun." [or divine intervention from the all powerful GMs would shed some light on the situation :)]

"I certainly want to meet my cousins," Robin says. "And I do get hungry."