Corisande: Cori And Harri Bunking

Random nodded Alexius along, and Corwin brushed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow. You get to see what a royal dinner is like." They left, leaving Corisande and Harri alone.

Once Cub's Sire was gone, Wolf nosed the Girl's skirt, where the silver box was hidden. He sat in front of her, waiting.

"Yeah, I know. How do we get this back to your dad before Uncle Random gets up, Harri?" Cori said. She pulled the box from her pocket.

[Just a wee note-- the case has to get back to Random, not Corwin.]

[Yes, but Corwin is a safer route to Random than handing it over directly.]

Harri grinned suddenly.

"We make sure that the one who delivers it can't be questioned, of course," she told her cousin, sinking to the ground and throwing her arms around Wolf's neck. "Don't we, Wolf?"

She looked up at Corisande wickedly. "Not only will Uncle Random not be able to question Wold - he won't want to question Wolf either. And he will be really pleased to have his case back ... "

Cori shook her head.

"He'll know where it came from, because Wolf was with us. Not that it matters," Cori added glumly. "Uncle Random doesn't like Crispin at all anyway. It'll be forever before he lets us come back up here."

Wolf's expression at Cub's statement could only be explained as "exactly."

But at the Girl's concern, he looked back to Cub, taking his cue from her.

"He knows it's one of us anyway," pointed out Harri. "But if Wolf takes it back, he'll never know which one. In fact, he might think it's me because Wolf is more likely to do things for me."

"True. But will your dad think we're a bad influence? That's what Uncle Random thinks--that we'll lead Alexius off the straight and narrow, like he has any trouble finding his way off it whether or not we're around."

Cori handed the cigarette case to Harri.

Wolf opened his mouth, reaching to take the case gently from Cub.

Harri inserted the case gently into his mouth.

"Now," she said. "You understand what to do." She spoke as though this were a given.

"If there are any problems," she adds, "you are to set the case down, and howl - and Corisande and I will come at once!"

He could not bark, so he nodded his furry head, as he bit down gently upon the silver case. He raised his nose, sniffing for the scent of Random. Once he had the scent to follow, he padded out softly to go find him.

[And wolf wanders off to his own thread...]

Cori watched Wolf's departure, and as soon as he was out of sight, fell back into the chair as if her wobbly knees would no longer hold her up. "Thanks, Harri. I owe you one."

"Well, we both owe Wolf, I think," said Harri fair-mindedly. "He'll get the case back if he possibly can ...

"Now, where shall we sleep? You know - this bed is huge! I think it could probably take me, you and Wolf too! What do you think?"

"I think you're right," Cori said, examining the bed. "Assuming Wolf doesn't stretch too much. Do you think he'll mind?"

"I don't think so," said Harri, giving the bed a careful inspection. "He somethimes stretches out beside me, but if it's too hot, he sleeps at my feet. Of course, Mama says he's not really meant to be on the bed at all, but fortunately his hearing is good enough for him to jump off. Mostly."

She went to the wardrobe at the side of the room and opened it. "Oh good - my nightdresses are here ... I think mine will fit you - we look to be about the same size around, although I think you're a bit taller. We'll have to share the wash ball - and ask the maid for another toothbrush."

She turned and grinned at Cori. "Is it fun having a twin? I've always wanted a sib ... and a twin must be wonderful!"

"It's not the same as having a sister, since we can't share clothes. But it's good having him around. He understand things. And he's really good at everything. You should see him and my dad fence." Cori grinned.

"He's always got a lot of ideas about fun things to do. And being his twin means I always get to go. Like today."

She reached out for one of the nightdresses Harri was sorting through.

"But it's hard keeping him out of trouble sometimes."

Hari laughed. "He certainly seems ... lively," she agreed. "I thought I would die when he pulled out the case!"

She began to pull her clothes off, folding them hurriedly and piling them on a chair. The gesture spoke of an upbringing where there were servants who would tidy the clothes, but who would also demand a degree of repsonsibibility from Harri too. Then she scrambled into the white nightdress she had chosen, designed more for warmth than comfort. She disappeared to perform her ablutions - which also gave Cori time to change.

By the time Harri returned, Cori was changed. She'd neatly folded up her own dress and set it next to Harri's. Her coltishly long legs were folded up under her, but Harri could see that her guess about the nightdress had been correct.

"Wolf's been gone a while. I wonder where Uncle Random is."

Harri, knowing even less about the Castle layout, shrugged.

"Wolf will find him," she said with calm confidence in her companion. "He's awfully good at tracking. He taught me too, only he nearly despaired when he realised I couldn't track by scent very often."

She leaped into bed and pulled the sheets and blankets up. "For Wolf it must be like teaching a blind person who speaks a foreign language," she said thoughtfully. "He's been awfully patient ... "

She flicked back the sheet for Corisande to climb in.

"Now do come and tell me everything about Uncle Brand's Mansion," she said coaxingly.

Cori climbed into the bed beside her cousin and pulled the sheet and blanket over her.

"We rode over after breakfast and came in by way of the back garden. There were all sorts of plants in the garden--I'd never seen the like. Some of them looked a bit dodgy, but none of them tried to eat us or anything. We had to shatter one of the boards on the windows to get in. We started in the breakfast room. There was a place laid for one, but the china and crystal were all dusty. He had nice taste in china, too: the pattern was very pretty. And I looked at the champagne flute--it had the prettiest etchings in the crystal."

She added, "Nobody had touched it all since they boarded the house up, I guess. Everything was still intact, just like he'd left it one day and was due to come back."

Harri gave a delicious shudder.

"That must have been ... scary!" she said. "As though you could just turn round - and there he'd be!

"Did you stop there? Or did you explore further?"

"No, not at all. Next we went into the foyer. There was a breeze up in the top, in a dome, and the chandelier was swinging in it. I don't know where the wind could have been coming from, either, since the place was all boarded up. And the dome was painted in all swirly colors, like something you'd see in a dream--it was hard to look at. The perspective was all wrong. I wonder if it was somewhere he'd been ..." Cori trailed off.

Harri was silent for a moment, and then said quietly, "Chaos?

"Father won't talk about it much - but once he said that things were hard to look at and the sky was strange ... "

"Maybe," said Cori. Her voice dropped and was suddenly quite soft. "My dad doesn't talk about that either."

Harri simply nodded and was quiet for a long minute.

Then she said, "It must have been awful ... at the end. And earlier too, for Father."

She gave a little shudder, which Cori could feel under the blankets and then, with a clear determination to change the subject, asked, "So what else did you see?"

Cori took a deep breath, and her volume and strength of tone returned to something approaching normal. "Then we looked in the front parlor. He had some books there. Not much else. So next we went upstairs, and we found his trophy room. That's where most of the stuff came from. There were all sorts of things in them. You name it, if it was strange, it was there."

Harri was listening breathlessly.

"Did you ... did you take anything?" she asked at last. "Or did you leave it as it was? And will you take Alexius and ... and me?"

"Yes, yes of course we'll take you." Cori gave Harri a secret smile of pleasure. "We picked up a sack full of things, like the knife and the necklace. And then we went on to the bedroom--Brand's bedroom."

"Really?" asks Harri breathlessly. "What was that like? Was it ... decadent?"

"It was all velvet hangings and pictures of people I didn't know. The bad hadn't been made, like he'd just vanished right out of it!" Cori's voice grew more intense and her words grew faster. "And, and, and there was an apple on a plate, and it was just a little brown, like someone had left it there overnight!" she finished with an excited flourish.

"Ohhhh!" Harri's eyes widened. Then she asked, a little more prosaically, "Do you think it was tramps?"

"If it was, they left a lot of expensive things they could have taken intact," Cori said. "There were footprints in the bedroom--it was dusty--but nothing else appeared to be taken from the parts of the house we saw. And," she added, quietly, "it is rumored to be haunted."

"Ghosts don't leave footprints, though," said Harri thoughtfully. "I do think it sounds thrilling though ... It will be wonderful to see it ...

"You know, if I were Uncle Random, I think I'd've had it pulled down, wouldn't you? Just ... in case."

"How do you know ghosts don't leave footprints?" Cori asked.

She turned Harri's question over in her mind. "There has to be some reason. We'll have to find out what it is."

Harri nods, snuggling down in the bed.

"I think," she says sleepily, "I'm going to enjoy my season in Amber!"

She is quiet for so long that she might have fallen asleep. But then she says suddenly, "I do hope Wolf remembers to push the door closed ... "

"I'm sure he will," Cori said sleepily.

She thought about resuming her tale and decided against it.

[I'll be waking you girls up after one post from Alexius.]



The morning came quickly, when one slept upon a mountain. Corisande and Harri stirred as the sun streamed in, and they heard a strange tapping coming from somewhere. It wasn't a servant, Cori knew, because servants always announced themselves... and the knock wasn't on wood, Harri knew. Their eyes opened to the sight of a fully dressed, yet still shivering, Crispin, crouched before their window. He tapped again, teeth chattering within a smile.

Cori flipped back the covers and stepped onto the floor. She ran to the window and opened it so Crispin could come in.

"Wolf took care of the case," she said once Crispin was in the room. She remained close to her brother, both for warmth and to keep the aforementioned wolf away from him.

"It's Crispin, Wolf," said Harri, throwing back the covers and scrabbling for her slippers. "He's allowed - well, not by Father, but by me. So not a woof, or else people will catch him."

By now she had struggled into a warm over-robe in dark blue., and advanced on Crispin smiling. "Did you climb along the wall?" she asked. "You must have the most tremendous head for heights!"

"It was nothing," he breezed, though Corisande noticed how his hands were shaking. "I do it all the time, when I'm at home. It's been a bit trickier since Dad took down the trellis, but nothing I can't handle." He grinned at Wolf, daring a step forward to rub the wolf's ruff. "And thanks, boy. I'll snag you some sausage at breakfast."

"He likes sausage," returned Harri, with a morning caress of Wolf's ruff. "Unless it's too spicy."

She moved towards the window - and her eyes widened. "Goodness, I didn't realise what a drop it was! It was terribly dangerous!"

She turned to look at Crispin with respect.

Cori took her brother's hands. "You're cold," she said, relinquishing them and moving to the bed to pull off a blanket for him.

Wolf woke as the girls did, stretched out across the foot of their bed. He was on the floor and padding next to Corisande, ignoring her attempts to keep him from the Boy, as he interposed himself between him and Cub.

He looked at Cub at her admonishment, and remained silent, except for a low growl in his throat, which the Boy could easily interpret. His presence was tolerated. As long as he behaved.

"Wolf," said Harri, who had a gift for sublime understatement, "gets a little jealous sometimes."

Crispin took the blanket, staring down at Wolf for a beat too long. "Er... Yeah. I can see that. How jealous?" He slowly withdrew his hand, rethinking petting Wolf at all.

There was a noise from the sitting room, the sound of the main bedroom's door opening, and heavy footfalls sounding out. Crispin gasped, spun on his heel, dropping the blanket, and made his way back to the window.

Wolf, for his part, butted his head against Crispin, urging him towards the window and OUT.

"Wolf! Don't!" said Harri, with alarmed visions of Crispin being knocked off-balance and falling to the cobbles below.

"Go and distract whoever is in the sitting room instead!" she added, moving towards the door herself, with a worried look over her shoulder towards the twins.

Cori had dropped the blanket and was opening the window again for her brother, helping him out and doing anything else needful until she was sure he was safe and she could shut the window behind him.

Wolf scowled at Cub, then growled low at the Boy once. Then he stalked out into the sitting room, displeasure clear.

"Oh dear!" said Harri, following after Wolf, and preparing a smiling face for the early visitor.

As soon as she was sure Crispin was out of sight, Cori followed Harri away from the window.

The window shut, the tiny latch falling into place again. Crispin eased out of sight, leaving the bedroom free of his presence.

Wolf, Corisande, and Harri entered the sitting room to the site of Corwin lounging before a piled on plate of eggs and pancakes, enjoying a publication called the 'Road Atlas.' Corisande knew of it, though she never was able to read one... Flora held it in high distain as a rag mag, and Bleys got his gossip from better sources.

Corwin looked up. "Hello, girls."

"Hello, Father!" said Harri, advancing to kiss his cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

She slid into the seat next to him, starting to heap a plate with bacon, sausages and tomatoes, and then holding a sausage under the table for Wolf.

Cori had stopped to shrug on a spare robe, and so was a little bit behind Harri.

"Good morning, Uncle Corwin," she said pleasantly, and took a plate of her own to fill.

Corwin accepted the kiss, then set his paper aside. "I did," he replied evenly. "Though I think I missed the sound of hammers waking me up at four in the morning. How about the two of you? Wolf keep you up?"

Wolf curled up at Cub's feet, accepting the sausage with gentle teeth and then lying down to eat it. His ears perked up at Sire's words, and he lifted his head to look at him before shaking his head.

The sausage gone already, Wolf looked hopefully to Harri for more.

Harri, used to Wolf's appetite, slipped him another sausage.

Wolf explored a bit, I think," she said blithely. "But he was so quiet coming back in that he never even woke me. He pushed the door to and everything. He's awfully clever, Father."

She smiled at him, and then down at Wolf.

"And he'll be here to look after me," she said confidently.

Cori quietly added a couple of sausages to her own plate, and some muffins from a covered basket. She broke one open and started to butter it, watching the exchange between Harri and Corwin without interrupting.

Wolf nuzzled Cub's knee once the sausage was gone, assuring her that he most certainly would not be leaving.

Harri offered a third sausage. Random's cigarette case had been returned, she knew - there was a confidence in the way Wolf walked that told her he had accomplished the task.

But she was also aware that there had been some communication between Wolf and her Father, as we might walk into a room and know from the silence and the eye shifts of the occupants that we had previously been discussed. It was not obvious, but Harri was used to reading subtlety where Wolf was concerned.

She was also aware that neither man nor wolf seemed prepared to discuss it with her.

Cori, too, seemed aware that something was going on. She finished buttering her muffin and popped it into her mouth.

Her eyes fell on the newspaper, and she took in the headlines.

Some were obscurred as he folded it up and placed it aside, but she did catching something containing Rebma's name and... Alexius? "Random's releasing Alexius from court today," said Corwin as he gave Harri several more sausage to feed Wolf with. "But I can guarentee you, he won't be doing that every day. You would have thought I was asking for him to chop off his leg and lend that for a day."

Cori resolved to ask Alexius about it later.

To Corwin, she said, "Crispin and I don't get to see enough of him. Uncle Random keeps him very busy. I hope we'll get a chance to see more of Harri, and that I can repay her kindness and yours in hosting me last night."

It was, she thought, a speech that Aunt Flora would mostly have approved of.

Wolf whuffed as a gentle reminder that Cub and Sire had not been the only hosts.

"Of course, you too, Wolf." Cori took a sausage from her own plate and offered it to her canine host.

Wolf took the sausage with gentle teeth and a soft whuff, and lay back down at Cub's feet to continue his breakfast.

Privately, Cori was quite sure that Aunt Flora would not have approved of that part of the conversation, but Aunt Flora had been wrong before.

"Perhaps we'll be able to eplore the lands around the Castle today," said Harri. "I'm sure Wolf would like that - he did seem to enjoy the run up Kolvir yesterday.

"I do want to explore the Catle too though," she added. She gave a little jump in her seat. "Oh, Father! This is going to be so exciting! When do you have to go back?"

"There's a dinner tonight, welcoming us." He took up his coffee and blew on it. "I'm staying for that, but I'll be gone tomorrow morning." He sipped, then set it down again, studying Harri's reaction. "It's sudden, I know. I wish I could stay more... But you'll have more than enough to explore, with or without me."

Wolf sat up again, leaning into Cub's leg, his head on her lap.

Harri's lower lip quivered, and she reached down to caress Wolf's head.

"It will be fun," she said firmly. "We've always talked about my coming to Amber and exploring everything ... "

Of course, in the talks, it had been Corwin who had been her guide to Amber ...

"You won't let anyone touch my room while I'm gone, will you?" she asked a little wistfully. "I know everything will have changed when I get back, with the whole new wing and the alterations to the main part ... "

"Not a brick will be touched," he swore, sounding as solemn as some of the men he had knighted, back during the fight against the Wyrr. "Nor a book stirred. I won't even disturb the lessons you left out on your writing desk."

Somewhere, an hour chimed. Corwin pushed away his plate and rose. "I have to get ready, girls... Court is starting in the next hour. I wanted to catch Random before it.

"Wherever you go today," Corwin looked at Corisande. "Be back in time for dinner. Dresses straight, mud washed, and a few bows in Wolf's fur."

To Corwin, Cori said, "Yes, Uncle." Then, to Wolf's annoyed response, she added, "except for the bows part."

Wolf sat straight upright, glaring at Sire. The bark was sharp and distinctly annoyed. He glanced at the Girl, and shook his furry head.

"He doesn't mean it," said Harri to Wolf. "You know he's only teasing."

She stood up and, stretching on to her toes, planted a kiss on Corwin's cheek.

"See you at dinner then. Straight dress and mud washed."

As he left, she turned to Corisande. "So," she said, "Alexius is free of duties. Will you and Crispin be able to come with us? Wolf can be our guard!"

"We should be able to come with you. Our father lets us set our own schedules, for the most part, but we have to show what we're learning. I think we could learn a lot at a formal dinner," said Cori.

"And I could tell you lots about Avalon," said Harri. "That would be someting new to have learned.

"Shall we see if we can find them? Wolf will know the way. And through the corridors, not the way Crispin came this morning!"

"Sure," said Cori, and polished off the last bite of her sausage. She wiped her hands on her napkin.

"If we're going exploring, we'll need rough clothes for that. I have my dress for tonight. Let me see if I can wear the riding clothes I had yesterday." The redhead went back into the bedroom to check the state of her gear.

Harri followed.

"I have breeches and a leather waistcoat back in New Avalon," she said wistfully. "Mother hates me wearing them, but Father has agreed they're much better for expeditions with Wolf.

"I can wear my riding clothes too, though - if they haven't been whisked away to be cleaned. And skirts aren't too bad if you're careful."

"Don't let Aunt Flora hear you say that. She has a particular interest in matters sartorial," Cori replied.

"Or maybe you'll be lucky and she won't be so interested in you."

[OOC: did the maids take the clothes? have they been freshened? or are they still there?]

Her riding outfit had indeed been whisked away, but there was another choice: a fine set of slacks and crisp linen shirt, with a neatly sewn jacket. It was one her father had ordered, long ago, that she'd never had occasion to wear. He had told her of formal hunts, chasing foxes and shooting pheasant, where dogs fetched the kill and the riders rarely got dirty… at least, not as dirty as when Wolf had her crawling through underbrush after a rabbit.

Corisande's outfit is gone as well, replaced by a subdued set of skirts and a laced up top. Not quite court material, but not quite made for hopping fences, either.

"Oh, excellent!" said Harri happily.

It took a little while to get ready, but soon Harri was standing in the room fully dressed, with her hair loosely bound into a long tail. She grinned companionably at Corisande.

"We'll just have to hope we avoid Aunt Flora, won't we? Wolf - if you sense a beautifully perfumed woman hovering near, or see a very lovely and determined lady ... warn us, and we'll hide."

Cori had donned her own outfit. Fortunately she'd been left her boots; they didn't really go, but they were what she had. She knew she'd never hear the end of it from Crispin, but there was nothing for it.

"Well, she doesn't like Uncle Random. We can always find him on the pretext of looking for Alexius. Either he'll direct us to Alexius and we can get out of here, or she'll stay away. Either one is a victory."

To Wolf, she added, "You could always lick her. She'd hate that."

[by the by, whenever you choose to wander, you'll be able to find Alexius and Crispin with Vialle]

Harri laughed.

"Don't give him ideas!" she warned.

Then she was out of her room. She didn't bother to give Wolf instruction. She simply accepted blithely that Wolf would know what she was looking for.

Wolf knew the Boy's scent... like the ocean on the wind. He sniffed, and then padded through the hallways to reach where Alexius was.

Cori followed in their wake.

But it was Crispin that Wolf found first... His eyes were cast somewhere distant, and he had the Look on his face. Corisande knew that look. He got it when Father went to shadow, and wouldn't tell them where he had been. He got it when one of the noble boys made a smart comment about Patternfall, and thier father's role. He got it when someone, anyone, had hurt him somehow... and he had decided to get a little angry about it. He didn't see the girls or the wolf, even though their paths threatened to collide.

Cori said, a little more loudly than seemed warranted, "Good morning, Crispin."

Crispin looked up, hesitating halfway through a step as he spotted his sister and cousin, and the large wolf before them. "Oh--" The look of lingering anger faded, or rather, was covered as he sketched a short bow and smiled. "Good morning! I was just heading down to the stables while Alexius finished with Vialle."

"That would be good," Harri agreed. "I want to see how my pony is this morning.

"He's rather special," she added. "There aren't many ponies who are entirely happy with a wolf loping alongside. Especially whe Wolf is feeling particularly playful."

Wolf aimed a nip at Cub's heels, catching the air just behind her, his teeth never coming quite close enough to touch skin. He woofed cheerfully.

Cori didn't exactly ignore the byplay between the wolf and her cousin, but her attention was on her brother. "Are we still going riding, or do we need to get home to our father?" she asked him.

Crispin understood the other question, she was sure.

He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, but then smiled. "I think Dad's likely to come up here. They're setting up for a big dinner in the hall. I think stopping by to see dad would be a good idea... We can bring cousin Harri!" He gave her a grin, and Corisande could see he was sizing her up as a good cover for their planned excursions. "Maybe.. after the ride, we can freshen up at the Manor, then ride up together."

"Harri," Cori said to her cousin, "why don't you and Wolf find Alexius? Crispin and I will wait right here for you."

"All right," said Harri cheerfully. She supposed twins did want to talk to each other alone. Perhaps Cori was going to yell at her brother because of the way he had risked himself on the window sill ...

"Come on, Wolf," she said. "Let's see if we can find Alexius!"

And she strode away, letting Wolf guide her.