Alexius: Getting Back

On one side of the carriage, the conversation was lively, lead on by Bleys and a seemingly endless line of questions about New Avalon, its culture, its castle, its food, drawing a dialogue out of Harri. Next to Bleys, though, Crispin was silent, caught in a sullen cloud of one who has been ratted out.

Cori let her father chatter with the guests, dropping in a comment here and there to let them know that she was paying attention to the conversation. She was still trying to figure out what to make of Wolf's dislike for her father, and Crispin's sullenness.

She had changed into a lovely if somewhat confining dress, one Aunt Flora had picked out for her some time ago. Cori wasn't certain that the color suited--as she'd told Harri and Alexius, she didn't care for pink--but it was far better than the clothes she'd been wearing all day. And Bleys had said nothing about that, which meant that whatever Crispin had been caught at was trouble indeed.

Cori shifted in her seat slightly and looked out the window.

Wolf sat quietly, wedged in carefully near Cub to separate her from the Boys, and keep her far from the Red-headed Man. He continued to stare at the Man, whining softly and butting his head against Cub's hand until he had her attention.

Harri was answering Bleys' gentle questions with serene readiness. Cori's green dress fitted beautifully - and Harri, who wore clothese until they were patched and darned to oblivion, was surprised to hear Cori describe it as 'old'.

But she was conscious of Wolf, and at last broke off to ask, "What is it?"

bad bad bad

Wolf's unhappiness was evident. He offered a small growl of warning to Cub, his head indicating the Man, then laid his head in her lap, as close was possible without climbing into her lap himself.

"He must not like carriages," Bleys concluded, surprisingly wise for the man that abhored small animals, and in spite of the most piteous of pleadings, refused to have pets in the house.

The carriage came to a rest before Castle. Crispin popped out second only to his father, then turned to help the girls make their treacherous way down the three fold out steps.

On the Grand Plaza that was the entrance to Amber, Corwin and Random were waiting, smoking in spite of being in their finest.

Cori let her brother help her down, and waited for her father to greet his brothers before offering a curtsey to the King.

Harri leapt down lightly and then remembered her dignity, a little too late. Hastily, to hide her lushes, she turned and began to assist Wolf to jump down to - not that she expected her father to be decived for a moment.

Alexius had been quiet throughout the carriage ride. Bleys was obviously and understandably curious about Harri and Wolf. He knew when to keep his mouth shut.

Or at least thought he knew when to do so.

"Father" Alexius finally said, getting out of the carriage, and giving room to his three cousins and uncle.

"Alexius..." Random nodded, then motioned the troop to head inside.

"Maury's getting the gang all assembled. Dinner should be on in a few minutes. Your mom's waiting."

He lead them to a sitting room, one of the many in Amber, places set-up and maintained for the singular purpose of being able to sit and look busy while one is waiting. Vialle was sipping at tea. Crispin studied the seats, and took a loveseat against the wall. At least it would spare him from having to sit next to Vialle, Random, or Bleys while he was in his funk.

"Hello, Aunt Vialle!" said Harri cheerfully. "We're not late, are we? Such a splendid ride!"

She dropped into the seat nearest her aunt (with room for Wolf to sit beside her).

Cori greeted her aunt dutifully, then went to sit by her brother. To the others she seemed less enveloped in Crispin's sullenness than lost in her own thoughts, as far away as if she were wandering down a yellow brick road.

"Mother" Alexius said warmly, joining his mother in a cup of tea. After their experience at the Mansion, he sorely felt the need to do so.

"Anyone else want some?" he turned to look at Harri and the Twins as he loaded Social Tea cookies onto the saucer with his own draught. "Mmm. Chai?" he asked Vialle as he inhaled the scent.

"I'll pass," said Random, settling into an armchair to the left of his wife. Corwin and Bleys found seats as well, taking a moment to claim a plate or a spot of tea. A moment of silence passed before Random spoke.

"So-- how was the ride?"

"It was really interesting," said Harri brightly into the silence that followed his question. "The vegetation here is quite different from that in Avalon - isn't it, Wolf? We saw these lovely blue bushes ... I forgot to ask Alexiuys what they're called. But they're quite spiky - bushes, really, and the flowers have little flast blue-purple faces ... "

She showed every sign of being able to elaborate at length given the smallest encouragement.

"Harri's really into wildlife," Cori said from her spot in the corner. Apparently she wasn't as far gone from the conversation as she seemed.

She caught Alexius' eye and smiled at him.

[I'll hold a response until we hear from Alexius]

Alexius chuckled, taking one of the cookies and dunking it before answering. "I was hard pressed to name everything that Harri came across." Alexius admitted. "Although I did suggest to her." he smiled to Corwin's beauteous daughter "that the library had a couple of books on the botany of Amber."

"But those blue flowers were Cobalt Prides." Alexius said after a moment, as if remembering it from a long forgotten lesson.

He took a sip of the chai and smiled once he removed the cup from his lip.

Crispin finally shovelled out from under his sulking quiet to add to the conversation. "And Wolf had a good time... Lots of good game out there."

Vialle sipped her tea, as the three Elders exchanged looks. They were parentally bland looks, patented and tested for when they were exchanging rapid amounts of upspoken data through the use of eyebrow movements.

"So," Random finally said. "Who do you think gets the golden turkey?"

Alexius chuckled. "I'd vote for a tie between Wolf and Harri. Certainly not myself." he grinned, and took another cookie and dipped it in the tea.

"Not beginner's luck by any stretch either." he added quickly, glancing over to Angharad and her lupine companion.

Cori glanced at her brother, then turned her attention back to the adults. She had a sinking feeling about what Random had just said, but she certainly wasn't going to draw attention by responding to it.

She was also keeping an eye on Wolf to see what his reaction to all this was.

Wolf lay across Cub's feet, his gaze resting upon the men. He had offered a soft growl to Bleys, and a baleful grin, until that elder sat elsewhere. Then Wolf's gaze moved to Sire and he lay there, watchful, and close to Cub.

Harri stroked Wolf pensively. At times like this, she had long since decided, it was best to stay as quiet as possible and wait out the storm. When she was younger, she had developed the trick of bursting into tears and sinking to the ground to hug Wolf and bury her face in his ruff.

She had a suspicion that this would not be a good idea here.

Crispin's expression had shifted as well. Bland, for the twin, but also guarded. He watched his father as he sipped at his tea thoughtfully.

"I would say Angharad," Bleys mused. "She certainly does have that fresh, innocent look down pat."

"I don't know..." countered Random. "I think Alexius has shown some talent for that."

"It must be Vialle's genes," said Corwin. "Lord knows he doesn't get it from you. I'd throw in my lot for Wolf, but we know he's not in this contest."

Vialle remained silent.

Cori shifted forward in her seat and looked at her father. "If you're gonna yell at us about something," she suggested, "you could just get it over with now and not ruin dinner. It is, however, customary to tell criminals what they're going to be punished for before you hang them."

Her gaze shifted to the King. "Isn't it, Uncle Random?"

Alexius took a long sip of the tea and ate a cookie thoughtfully.

"My fiery haired cousin is right." Alexius said, favoring Corisande with a smile that he had mostly reserved for Angharad as of late.

"We're ready to hear it. All of us." His eyes looked from Wolf and Harri, to Crispin and Cori.

"Sir" he added, respectfully.

Hari simply stayed quiet, and tried not to let the perverse pride she was feeling show. Bleys (and he should know) thought she was the best at deception.

Still, what was going to come next was not likely to be much fun.

Wold simply sighed, a remarkably human sound. The woof he offered to Sire echoed the Girl's be-done-with-it sentiment.

Vialle lowered her tea finally, and spoke in a careful, moderated tone.

"Corisande and Alexius are right. And yes, we will have this out now. You're fortunate I convinced them a private correction was better than one in front of all the finery of Amber.

"We know you visited Brand's Mansion this afternoon. Not being where you said you would be is a danger enough in itself. Going there is astronomically worse."

Crispin's eyes practically glowed red. "Had us followed..." he grumbled under his breath to his sister.

"Wolf would have known!" protested Harri, roused by this implied slur on the security abilities of her companion.

Then she caught the gazes of her elders. "At least ... unless you were very, very good," she admitted a little sulkily.

She reached down and gave a little 'why didn't you warn me?' tug on Wolf's ruff.

"He *did* know," Cori said to Harri. "That was who it was in the house."

She slipped her hand into her brother's. _At least they don't seem to know it's not the first time we went there_, she thought to herself. She didn't let the slightest bit of that small relief show, though--any evidence of it would only bring down more trouble.

"You know perfectly well there's *nothing* going on in there! It's just a bunch of old junk. If we'd found something dangerous, we would have left. We did leave, because we were worried about Lex and Harri."

She looked at the four adults. "What are you going to do to us?" she asked them. Begging and pleading wouldn't help; there was nothing for it but to face damnation, cursing her enemies with her last breath like the heir of Prince Bleys she was.

Alexius turned to give Cori a deep nod at her comments before turning to face the adults.

"We left because we thought there was danger. We decided that lingering was too dangerous, sir." he addressed his father in this. "and we got out of the place."

At Cub's words, Wolf sat up straight, an indignant look in his eyes. He added a whuff as punctuation to the Girl's words, and a nod. He leaned into Cub's lap, looking directly at Sire as he whuffed again.

"It was too dangerous in the first place," said Random. "And there's more than old 'junk' and books in there. Brand riddled his Manor with magics and traps during Patternfall. Who knows how many of them are still up?"

"But they're expired!" Crispin protested. "And if it's so dangerous, why doesn't someone just go in and disable everything?"

Vialle set her cup down with a sharp clink. "Stop. Both of you." She sighed. "We discussed what punishment should be taken for your actions today... Your fathers and Uncles are very creative in their list making. However, we have chosen to overlook this episode, writing it off to youthful brashness and an overabudnance of excitement from Angharad's visit. Next time, however... we shall already have our list ready."

Cori glanced back at her brother, catching his gaze. She gave the slightest shake of her head and squeezed his hand.

_We'll just have to not get caught next time_, she thought.

Harri bent forward to hide her espression of relief in Wolf's shaggy fur. Only Wolf was aware of how ragged her breathing had become - although Corwin too probably had a good idea.

Whe she was sure she was composed again, she looked up and said, "Thank you."

Alexius' eyes flickered between Crispin and his father, giving just a slight sigh as it seemed that they were going to escape serious consequences, this time.

"Yes, father" Alexius said, lowering his head, unable to look at the adults.

There was one last moment of silence, while the adults studied the relieved and penitent children. Finally, Corwin spoke up.

"Okay. Enough feeling bad. Just be glad you didn't end up getting grabbed by his ghost and hauled out to shadow."

Crispin tried, really tried, not to glare at Corwin. "That's a story they tell babies to make them eat their vegetables."

There was a dry sound, almost like a laugh, from Wolf.

Alexius nodded, looking a little relieved. His body language still tense, but he gave reassuring smiles to Harri, then Crispin, Cori and finally Wolf before returning to facing front.

"I eat my vegetables in any event." he ventured into the silence after Wolf's sound.

Harri gave a little shaky laugh, then rose and went to her father.

"I'm sorry, Father," she said penitently. "Especially when you're going away tomorrow and I won't see you for oh-so-long. And I will be good while you're gone."

Then she smiled. "Well, I'll try my best," she added.

Cori said, "Father," and looked at Bleys. It wasn't exactly a penitent look, but there was a certain respect in it for the adults. To her uncles, she merely nodded, and, after a moment, said, "Aunt Vialle," so the Queen wouldn't feel left out.

Alexius finished with another bow of the head, and awaited more words of wisdom from his father, mother, and uncles.