(Formal notes from Ilk - Shadow has been destroyed, so the evacuation was required and returning is impossible.) ----- Cagliostro starts a defensive structure building up at the top of the twelve-mile ramp from the desert to the planet. Some people are assigned to look over the edge every so often. The edge effects are being analyzed, particularly for environmental drainage. Some airplanes are -shifted-, and lost, and some serious flight pattern changes and some panic. The squid sends a communique via the Hippocampus - "Thanks", plus gibberish about things going away, stability, and other things even less well understood. Jodo resets the mountain fastness and resumes normal Castle operations. Giso the Seer has pulled his own eyes out and has gone somewhat insane. Cagliostro has assigned him a regimen of lithium and therapy. Nasr al-Din is already wandering out the desert. Alhaserus has stepped up and helped with the transition, masquerading as a local. ----- Out of time: Things have settled down, Cagliostro gets a message through Jodo that he has a visitor who would very much like to meet you. Jodo is uncomfortable with the visitor, who raises his hackles. He's told he has to take her name "on faith". She knows Cagliostro by name, and apparently showed up in town with no record of being anywhere else and then walked unerringly to the castle. Cagliostro brings Janus (or Gil or Calla) and Mistress Janice to the meeting. Janus recognizes her, drops his guard and hugs her. After they re-establish professional distance. Faythe identifies herself as the person in charge of the place, to Janus's surprise. Faythe is in charge, and agreed to someone named Samantha's request for more cities. It's not how she envisioned it, but she wasn't all that sure of her vision. Faythe cautions the group that those who live here worship here, and those who live there may find themselves moving in that direction without knowing why. She isn't sure if it's part of the nature of the place or not. Cagliostro talks to Faythe about the world-as-it-was and the world-as-it-is, and the Sea of Thought. By this time, a sculpted model has been set up of the world-as-it-is and nearby cities. Cagliostro is invited for lunch - the area fades out, and a stone tower fades in. A large table sits in the center of the room, covered with all sorts of foodstuffs. Mistress Janice tries magic, fails, looks panicked. She calls Cagliostro "father", and Faythe discusses the importance of family. Faythe says she's been busy elsewhere, but she's been doing what needs to be done. She's been cleaning up her grandmother's tower, things are still a mess. Faythe inquires about whether Cagliostro and Mistress Janice are having children - and then, to make things clear, together. Faythe has quite a hamster fixation, and is willing to go on about them for some time. Janus slips Cagliostro a note mentioning that the previous king of Amber before Neville - who ran the family that he and Faythe are members of - had a firm edict banning interfamily relationships. Faythe is the product of an interfamily relationship. Janus adds that those who are products of interfamily relationships, such as Cobalt, are usually kinder than those who are not. She turns and leaves, no fading happens. No doors, but a stairway. Kitchens, a full apothecary in one corner, well cleaned after last used, no dust. Next floor: a rumpus room, heavy-duty furniture, somewhat abused, soft things on walls. Try up - above dining area is bedroom, observatory, temple whose focus is a large blue stone, past an aerie, then a painted observatory. No room has windows. Or bathrooms. Cagliostro tries his cards - they feel warm, and he can't get a connection. Janus says they have to be cold to work - Cagliostro suggests chilling them. Chilling is tried; only one card is cold - Colin's. They try longer. Mistress Janice pokes around the alchemical lab, and Cagliostro examines the workbook. It's very detailed, in three or four different hands. There are some things that Cagliostro isn't famililar with, and some things that he would expect to resolve a different way. Cagliostro duplicates the book, flipping from page to page.