Angharad: Green Tomatoes Harri

There was something wrong with the soil in the south fields... Not that this was terrible news. The soil there had always been less than fertile, filled with pockets of sand and clay. Still, Corwin looked less than pleased, his thumb running over the hard green skin of the tomate that should have been only firm, and a deep shade of red.

"Green tomatoes are nice, fried," said Harri helpfully. "With bacon."

She was in a sunny mood. Despite the problems with the crop, it was always a delightful to walk out over the firlds with Father, to talk about the land, the clearances, and the work in progress. Their own lands were well organised now, and the small settlements were beginning to sprout up in the lands that had been allotted to nobles. There were roads ...

Although Harri still loved to ride in the primeval forest with Wolf. She was down to a single guard now, so much had her fighting prowess improved, and so confident were people, after three years, of Wolf's ability to protect him. Kip was now the pony of choice for the noble children growing up in the castle, and Harri had graduated to a dainty white mare called Starlight, who had been trained to tolerate Wolf - even at his most playful.

But days when she could walk and talk with Father, while Wolf foraged for rabbits around them, were to be cherished. And this time, Harri had something important to ask, although she was prepared to wait until the vexacious matter of the tomatoes was settled.

"Yes, but they're no good for canning, and a full red crop will feed more people than a pale green one. If we want to move in a hundred more families next year, we'll need to open up these fields." He glanced over his shoulder, studying her out of the corner of his eye, and she thought she could see him smile.

"Well... ask. You have a questioning look on your face." He rose, dusting off his pant legs as he looked over the field of nothing but green.

Harri drew a deep breath.

"It was something ... someone said the other day. Lord Assumpt ... you know, the new one who's a bit of a fop. I heard him asking Master Idolwyn if I were your only child. And Master Idolwyn said ... that I had a brother.

"Father ... where is Merlin? Why does he never some here? I can't remember meeting him - ever! And yet ... one day all this should be his."

She looked up at her father worriedly.

He looked down at her. In spite of her sudden groth spurt, she was still well over a head shorter than him. He pressed a hand onto her back and pressed her to walk on with him.

"No, Harri. This will not be his one day. You are the heir to Avalon. The people know you, and they like you, and you are the child I had the fortune to raise." He found a low stone wall and settled onto it, waiting for Harri to seat herself next to him. "You met Merlin a long time ago... But I would be surprised if you remembered. It was days after you were born."

"Oh," said Harri, sitting down. She made the finger click that meant, "Please come, Wolf. I need you" - a sound that would bring him if he did not have anything particularly important that needed doing.

She was silent for a while, drawing her thoughts together, and then said, "So ... where is he now? Why doesn't he come and visit us? Or do you see him in Shadow?"

Corwin contemplated a moment. "Harri, what is a long time to you? A month? A year? When I told you your cousin could visit in two years, you said that was forever... Do you remember?

"When you are older, a long time gets much, much longer... A long time for me is a handful of decades. For someone your cousin Martin's age, perhaps one.

"Not long after you were born, Merlin walked the Pattern. This worried us, because he wasn't all Amberite... We thought it might kill him. He did it anyway, and then wished himself away, out to shadow. He said he might be gone a long time, to figure out what he wanted from his two sides. And he was as old as Martin."

Harri stared down thoughtfully at her feet.

"So ... if he's all right, he might come back soon? I'd like that. I like the idea that I have a brother ... that it's not just me."

She looked at her father. "You'd like to see him again, wouldn't you, Daddy?"

"Of course I would." He put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "And I would have liked it if he had stayed in Amber or New Avalon longer, or kept in touch... But there's something you should understand." He thought a moment, then motioned out to the green tomato field.

"Sometimes... people are like plants. You can't have them everywhere. They don't thrive in all climes, or with all neighbors. Amber was a place that didn't quite work for Merlin. New Avalon as well. One day it might... But not right now.

"And who says it's going to be just you forever?"

"Mama," said Harri unhesitatingly. "Everytime I do something wrong. And especially now, when I'm making such a fuss about Alexius coming. But I do want everything to be as perfect as possible for him.

"But I don't think she really means it.

"Perhaps tomatoes are just the wrong crop for this soil, Father. Perhaps we should try linseed. You know how useful the oil is ... "

She stole another look at her father. "If you don't mind talking about it - what was he like? Merlin ... "

Corwin crossed his legs, again carefully weighing his words before handing them over to Harri. "Merlin was very proud... But he was also very confused. For years, he had been told what I was like, what Amber was like, and then he got to see it... and it wasn't what he expected. I wouldn't say he was disappointed in us, but I think he had been preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best. He found neither."

Harri nods, considering this.

"I suppose ... He must be a bit like me in a way. About Amber, I mean. Well, I don't think the worst of it. But I am a bit ... well, scared of it. And I hope it will be as wonderful as some of your songs ... It looks beautiful in the tapestry Alexius sent me."

She grinned suddenly. "One good thing - at least I know what you're really like - no-one's made up stories for me. Except the ones you told me yourself when I was little."

"And those aren't made up." He tousled her hair. "As fantastic as they are sometimes.

"Maybe he was a little scared of Amber. It's very intimidating to some. A very beautiful place, with a very bloody history. I think all he saw was the blood, and the beauty didn't make sense to him. Chaos is very different.

"I have his card, but he asked me not to contact him for some time. I've held true to that."

Harri nodded slowly, restraining the urge to ask him to contact Merlin - now!

"New Avalon will be different though, won't it?" she asked. "A new land - with the history we make for ourselves. Not bloody, like Amber's ...

"Perhaps Merlin could be happier here ... "

"New Avalon is young," said Corwin slowly. "And we don't have anyone of note in the shadows around us. As we grow, though, we will make them more real, more worthy of attention... and more demanding of it. Think of the Wyrr. They were formitable. Even Julian had a time pushing them back into shadow, and he did not use friendly methods.

"Merlin will come back, when he is ready. And perhaps he will be happy here. Perhaps he will understand Amber, and stay there. Or perhaps he will go to Chaos." He looked down at his daughter. "You've never asked about him before. Why does he come up now?"

Harri gave a wriggle. "Torquil was asking, actually. When he heard Master Idolwyn talk about my brother, he asked me what he was like, and why we never saw him, and if you'd banished him for some reason. I said that of course you hadn't ... and then I realised that I just didn't know. So I thought I'd ask."

"Torquil?" Corwin looked intrigued. "Why was he interested in your brother... You seem to be finding yourself in his company quite a bit these days."

"He's all right, I suppose," said Harri, a little diffidently.

She had a sudden feeling that her father wouldn't be pleased to learn about those awkward fumbling kisses behind the solar door, while Wolf had been out hunting. She hadn't liked them much - but Torquil said girls got to like it in time. She wasn't sure she would have time to find out - Wolf still growled whenever Torquil came what Wold thought was too close - which was about three yards.

"I think he just didn't know I had a brother," she added.

"Mm..." Corwin nodded, taking on that distant look that meant he was thinking. "And was Torquil worried about some protective older sibling jumping out of the woodwork?"

Harri chuckled. "Do I need one? I have Wolf, Daddy!"

She frowned, considering.

"I suppose Torquil did seem a bit worried. I don't know why. He gets silly ideas sometimes. Like the only reason that Alexius is coming here is to so we could be betrothed. I told him how stupid that was!"

"I would say." Corwin tried to repress a smile. "He would be here to see how the castle is coming as well."

Harri shot her father a look of outrage. "Da-ddy!"

Then she laughed and took an apple from her pocket, swinging round on the wall to see where the towers and crenellations where rising from the morning mist.

"It does look beautiful now, doesn't it?" she said, a little smugly. "And when the sun is shining on the sea too ... It's like the castle is bathed in gold ... "

"I'm glad you approve." He turned and looked as well. "What? You don't want to be betrothed to Alexius? You don't like blue boys? That's not very open minded of you..."

"Hmmm," said Harri. "Is he really very blue, Daddy? I don't know what Wolf will make of him ...

"And I like Alexius," she added. "No matter what colour he is. But boys ... and being betrothed and love and ... all that sort of thing - well, it seems very silly. I'd rather just go on being Harri-and-Wolf."

He tousled her hair again, then pushed off of the wall. "I think you're too young to think of such things. When such a day comes, I don't think I'll be making the choices for you. But just remember... You can't marry a wolf."

"No," agreed Harri. "But I think Wolf would make his feelings very plain if I married someone he disliked. And I think you and Mama would too. So I think I'll just have to wait a very very long time ... even in your estimate!"

"Good..." He stroked the back of her head, and began to lead her back to the castle. "And I think we can wait a very long time indeed for that to come about."