DespiteTheUnlikelihoodDearReaderIProfessThatThisIsAllTrue

From IMiA

Juliana checks her blonde curls one last time before stepping out the door. They were behaving nicely, set up on top of her head, like they should. She smiles at her reflection, surprised by how much younger they make her look. Not that she needs to look any younger than her 85 years, but she could easily still pass for 30, if she tried.

She walks out to the carriage where the printer waits. The driver helps her into the carriage; her 'partner' hadn't even bothered to get out. She tries not to roll her eyes, and smiles at him instead. Business is business and this was exactly why she'd formed the connection to begin with, however abhorant she found it.

"Benjamin," she greets, seating herself carefully out of his reach across the carriage.

"Ana, all dressed up for the Count? One would think you'd had your fill of Counts, already," he drawls. Juliana narrows her eyes at him as the carriage starts moving.

"I hope you're not suggesting my dear departed husband wore me out on Counts, Ben," she says, looking away to arrange her cloak. "Or are you speaking of the current *Viscount*? I don't believe my nephew would like what that would suggest." She looks back up at him with cold eyes. He is Gavin's friend, after all.

"Nevermind," Ben mutters, and straightens himself up a bit.

"So, what did you tell him?" she asks, before the binder can say anything else to annoy her.

"I told him we'd have to order a special run of paper."

"That's it? Is this a vanity book? Does he have the money to just toss away on this if it does not sell? Does he have someone who is going to spread the word about it for him?" Juliana demands.

Ben shrugs. "He's got money. Fools and their money..."

Juliana smiles. "Very well then. What is it about? Is it *dirty*?"

"I haven't seen it. He's cagey. You know, he's nobility, he isn't supposed to be writing."

"No, he's not. But I'm not supposed to be selling, either, so, to hell with those rules. Hopefully, he'll be more relaxed knowing I want to keep my secrets too. Did you tell him who I was?" she asks.

"No. Figured if he didn't want to do business with a woman he could tell you to your face," Ben laughs.

"How kind of you," Juliana sneers, and is unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes. The carriage rumbles to a stop in a nicer area of the City, and Juliana pulls her cloak hood up to hide her face. She motions for Ben to get out first, refusing to put herself in groping range.

He gets down and she follows him to the door, where Ben knocks heavily. Juliana winces and looks up and down the street.

The house remains silent for a few moments, then a few moments more. The door opens suddenly with a wave of heat and light. A young man in the livery of one of Amber's finer social clubs greets the pair. "Good evening. If you would please follow me, the master is expecting you."

The lad turns and leads them to a small side room, sparsely furnished with expensive goods. Inside is a roaring fire and, in one of the three wingback chairs, sits a man. He is wearing a linen shirt and riding pants and boots, and his dark hair hangs in tight curls around his face. He rises when the Ben and Juliana enter.

He looks at Ben. "And this lady is the partner of whom you spoke?" He bows towards Juliana.

Juliana carefully lifts her hood back so as to not damage her curls, and curtsies.

"She is, my lord, and she knows where we can get the paper, secretly," Ben says.

"Well, not secretly, my lord, but for the right amount of money we can make people believe it is for some other purpose," the lady smiles. She speaks in a refined manner, but there is a slight country twang behind it. She hesitates a moment and gives Ben a glance before she says, "I'm Juliana Merrick, my lord," and she offers him her hand.

If Rodrigo is annoyed that Benjamin did not introduce the lady, he makes no mention of it. He takes her hand and bows over it, turning it palm down and kissing it lightly. He seems to assume that this is correct behaviour and does not make a show of the task.

"I thank you for your concern for my purpose, Doña Merrick. My name is Rodrigo Diaz." He looks around. "Please, sit my friends, and I will send for refreshments." Rodrigo does so and the servant provides them.

Juliana slips her cloak off and spreads it over the chair. She sits, straightening out the light blue, empire cut gown that matches her eyes.

"Doña Merrick, what have you been told about my project?"

She turns her full attention on him and smiles. "Very little. That you wrote it. That it would be best to keep the family name off of it. I'm horribly curious, I must admit. You seem a bit too young to have memoirs, my lord." She takes a drink. "Will you tell me what it is you've written?"

Rodrigo smiles. "I have written a wicked book and feel as spotless as the lamb."

"A lamb, my lord?" she grins. "But you would rather not be a black sheep? How wicked is it?" Her eyes twinkle.

"The wickeder, the better," Ben tosses in.

"Quiet yourself, Benjamin, I am not in need of encouragement." He sips from his own glass. "It is, Doña Merrick, a book of measured amounts of wickedness. Enough to cause a furor, but not so much that it would bring shame on anyone to admit to having read. I think it should be called 'The Adventures of Two Gentlemen of Amber Abroad."

"That sounds just fine to me, although you might sell more if you called it Two Rakes of Amber Abroad. Adventure is then implied, as is *wickedness*," Juliana suggests.

Rod nods. "I was thinking of a stealthy approach, underpromising and overdelivering. I am hoping that people will come to the booksellers furtively looking for it by name, because they have been told of it and have to find out for themselves."

"Do you think that will work? I want as many readers as possible."

Juliana clearly takes a moment to think it over, enjoying her drink. Then she nods. "I do believe it will work, my lord."

"Let's discuss business, shall we? My lord, you and I may need to push Benjamin in a certain direction, because, you see, I do believe people are going to want to know who wrote the book. If this is done right, it will be cause for much speculation. You need a bookseller who either does not know who you are, or who can be trusted to safeguard such regardless of the number of coins one shoves under his chin. So it is my belief that you should not tell anyone else - I shall get the paper, and Benjamin shall have to hire out a presser, which I think should not be a problem, since it is my understanding Ben has no little experience as a printer."

"I'm right here," Ben notes. "And...

"Yes, I know," Juliana cuts him off, and keeps talking to the Count. "Ben prints and binds and sells to the few booksellers in the City. They don't know the author, but they make whatever profit they manage. This is good for Benjamin, because the next time someone wants to publish anonymously they will find him. This is good for you, in that it narrows down those who might have exposed your identity to those you have told now, which is a powerful incentive for one to keep her mouth closed. Beside which, I have no desire to have word flare through the City that I'm selling paper our of Moorefield - my house, sir - which has three mills and where almost all the fresh paper in Amber is currently produced." She finally stops for air and tilts her head at him quizzically.

Benjamin looks like he hasn't considered any of this.

"And there is no need, when you have made the carrot so enticing, to remind Benjamin of the stick." He turns to Benjamin. "I see why you brought her to me. She is the perfect accomplice for our little endeavor." He raises his glass towards Juliana. "Benjamin has proven himself shrewd, my lady. He brings you in to sharpen the deal and to sweeten the bargain."

The Count's demeanor becomes more serious and he places his glass down. "Now, I know why I, myself, wish to publish this book, but I assume that you have reasons of finance for yourselves. Let us discuss the price, and the timeline, so that we can dismiss those details and speak of more pleasant things."

Juliana, for her part, starts high but in the end is not unreasonable. She seems quite intent on making herself a tidy little profit in the whole business, though. For someone so young, and a woman no less, she is a remarkably skilled negotiator. Benjamin is not half as good at it as she is, and she ends up stepping in to assist him, a little. It seems to amuse her to hold back long enough to make him ask her advice.

As Rodrigo is clearly interested in the success of the negotiations, he does not drive too hard a bargain, nor prevent a profit for his partners. However, merchant princes of Amber are skilled in negotiation. Rodrigo offers Benjamin several options in terms of payment, investment, terms, and rights that are complicated enough that Juliana's rescue is required. It's quite clear at the end who is the junior partner.

"Doña Merrick, can we ask you to play the intermediaries role in this matter? It seems as if Benjamin should not come here himself if we are to protect my anonymity from those who would attempt to follow him." Rodrigo smiles. "Benjamin may soon be very popular, as you suggest."

"I suspect he will, if your book is any good," Juliana adds, and he'll note that none of her profit is tied up in whether the book sells or not... except for possible future printings. "I'd be happy to. It would give me a little adventure of my own to light my boring widowing days."

She smiles at Rodrigo over her glass, and drinks again.

He lifts his glass and says "to our conspiracy, may it provide all of us with what we wish!"

Benjamin raises his glass as well.

Juliana raises her glass. "Indeed," she agrees, and drains what's left in hers.

"And now Benjamin, I think we need to part company. If we are to protect you, we need to minimize your knowledge of details that can put you at risk. Doña Merrick, can you stay for a few moments? There are a few logistical details to finalize. I will, of course, arrange for a carriage for you."

Juliana nods. She seems perfectly comfortable with that. Ben hesitates just a moment, and asks Juliana, "If you're sure?"

Juliana waves him away. "I'm sure I'll be just fine, Ben." She shoots Rodrigo a very amused look, and then smiles back at her 'partner'. "If I'm not where you expect me to be, you'll know where you left me."

Ben seems to take this at face value, and bows his thanks, absenting himself from felicity.

Juliana turns her attention back on Rodrigo once they're alone. "You realize I'm not leaving until I've read it," she grins, but it's obvious she's quite serious.

"Are you quite sure? I don't expect to finish it for several days, yet." Rod is smiling.

"You don't even have it done yet?" she asks, all false astonishment. "Your arrogance, my lord, is extreme. Setting about to sell a book you haven't even finished writing, unbelievable. I fear if I stayed I'd but slow your progress to a crawl." Juliana moves to sip from her glass again, but finds it quite empty. Her scowl is at odds with the tone of her last sentence, as she holds her lonely glass out to the Count.

The Count collects her glass and takes it to a sideboard. He pours a dark beverage from a decanter into two smaller glasses. "Arrogance I will always admit to. 'False humility is it's own arrogance', or so says the prince of aphorisms. Perhaps I am in search of a muse to drive me to complete the book." He hands her the glass. It smells heady.

Juliana closes her eyes, slowly inhales through her nose and makes an appreciative noise. "The devil's in the details," she says quietly and sips, then sips again. Her blue eyes track his movements. "I think something else drives you and it has nothing to do with muses, but I won't ask, if you remember not to ask me things, later."

"How soon should you deliver the completed manuscript to Benjamin to begin his print run?"

Juliana shrugs. "That makes no difference to me. It will take him some time with some help to set up the... 'machinery', so the sooner you get it to him, the sooner it is printed. Though it will take at least seven days before I can get the paper into town - I don't know all the specifics of how this is done, but I suspect you will be cooling your heels for some time while he gets enough printed to start the fires burning."

"I can sometimes be impatient, when there is a thing I know I want for myself. Who can be otherwise? I want Benjamin to have a large stock of volumes to sell, both to bind him to our arrangement and so that he is not hurt financially by bootleg editions from his competitors. Don't mention that to him, he has enough to worry himself about.

"Ah," she nods, "bootlegs. I had not considered that." Her brow furrows in thought, and she rubs her palm flat against her forehead.

He changes the subject. "Would you like to read the manuscript, Doña Merrick?" His eyebrows are slightly higher. "I would appreciate your perspective on it."

Juliana nods. "I would like to read it, yes. I'm not a great book lover, so if the perspective you want is of lonely widows who don't read a great deal, I'm sure to provide that." Her eyes sparkle with amusement.

"Then come with me." He smiles and beacons to her from the doorway.

"Shall I keep my more critical opinions to myself?" she asks, getting up to follow him. She takes her drink with her, although it's near to gone now.

"I would be disappointed if you held yourself back. Some things one should throw oneself into wholeheartedly. The reading of a novel is one such thing." He turns and looks at her. "I have every expectation of facing harsh criticism of this work, and I am not worried that it or I will wither under it, Doña Merrick."

"I certainly hope your talent lives up to your audicity, my lord," she smiles. She follows where he leads.

He leads up the stairs to a bedroom. There is a box with a large stack of papers in it next to a writing desk. A sideboard holds glasses and bottles, and the bed shows the signature motif of one of Amber's more prominent furniture makers. Rod cocks his head and looks at her.

Her eyes take in the room before Juliana looks at him curiously, blue eyes measuring, and then starts past him toward the desk. "Did you scribe this yourself, or did you have someone do it for you?" Her blue gown just sweeps the floor behind her.

"That's a fair copy from my final draft. Would you like something to eat? It may take you some time to read through it."

She nods and looks back at him, curls bouncing. "Something light, though, please. Like fruit?" She pulls out the chair and sets her drink down. She pulls the papers over in front of her and looks to start reading.

Rodrigo steps out into the hall and returns shortly. He sits on the bed and reads a bound volume.

Some time later a servant arrives with fruit, soft tropical fruit that is moist without being juicy. It doesn't come from Amber. Juliana makes appreciative noises and eats with one hand while she turns pages with the other.

The manuscript, which looks to be ready to send to the printers, is written in a neat hand. If the rest of the manuscript is the length of the first few pages, the book should make a single volume of some heft, but it should not be too costly to produce. The hand of the scribe is neat and the lettering is very clear.

The book starts with the protagonists, two nobles of Amber, stealing aboard a small but elegant sloop that is being held under guard at Begma's royal docks. The two quickly overpower the guards, toss them in a dinghy, and slip out on the tide. Laughing, the one calls on some minor magics to raise a wind. The two banter as they sail the trade routes towards Deiga. The story is quick paced and well-written.

The tales go on: adventure, carousing, wenching, the righting of the occasional wrong, a side trip to Weirmonken ("to see what those goatswivers really do there..."). The climax is in Eregnor, where Lord Helios saves the narrator (Lord Risk) from death at the hands of the southern savages at risk to his own life. The revelation that Lord Helios of the easy smile and abundant talents is a Prince of Amber in disguise is both satisfying and expected at the end.

The bright beeswax candles have had to be replaced by the time Juliana finishes.

She neatly restacks the pages and looks over at the Count. "Well, you can write," she says, as if she is surprised. She smiles. "I think this will sell just fine. The xenophobes should especially love it. I hope your one prince will protect you from the other." She raises an inquiring eyebrow.

"So you assume I have his permission?" He stands and steps over towards her.

Both her eyebrows go up at what that implies.

"But this is a work of fiction, my attempt to portray something of the nature of nobility in the form of an adventure story for the masses. Infused with small bits of my philosophy as medicine in a spoon full of sugar."

"Tell me what you would suggest I change to improve the book? How can I assure that it is passed from hand to hand and that everyone who reads it recommends it, except those who denounce it, thus raising its appeal even further?" If Juliana cannot tell why he is passionate about this, she can certainly tell that he is passionate about this.

Rod takes a step back and looks at the box of papers, as if it is a thing that might make a sudden movement.

"Sex. You need to go into more detail about the sex. This gentlemanly... fading, it's fine, but it's not going to help sell books. And if what people denounce it for is the sex, all the better," Juliana grins.

Rod loosens the collar of his shirt, and reaches inside. With a smile he pulls out a small metal key. He leans down and unlocks a cabinet beside the desk. "I have...suitable modifications to chapters three, five, nine, ten, eleven, and seventeen. I did not want to appear to come on too strong. I am glad you feel as I do about what we need to do." Even with his boots off, Rod is a few inches taller than Juliana. He is standing very close to her, and is looking into her eyes. He doesn't seem to be in a hurry to have her take the papers.

Juliana's broad smile is sincerely reflected in her eyes. "Well, sir, you seem to have thought of everything." There is just a hint of admiration in her look. "I do hope your talents extend into the realm of erotica. I'm given to understand it's not easy to demostrate with the writen word." She doesn't move away, or break his gaze, but she does reach for the papers.

Their fingers touch as he puts the papers into her hands. "How thoroughly do you want to explore my talents?" The room seems very warm.

"I think I'll start with the reading first, and then we'll see if you need to redeem yourself or prove your prowess," she smirks. Either way there is a hint of challenge there.

"As you wish. You shall shortly know more of my inner self." He smiles. "If all fails and I am found out, I shall have to claim that my editor insisted on the sex scenes." He runs his hand up her arm to her shoulder. "Please read on, Doña Merrick." He walks backwards to the bed and sits up against the headboard. He takes a pen and a pad of paper and begins working on it as Juliana returns to the desk.

Juliana sits and reads. After she finishes the new piece for chapter three, she gets up and pours herself a strong drink. She returns to reading, sipping away as she goes. She steadfastly concentrates on reading, and although the occassional small smile plays over her face, she doesn't look back up at Oisenmouth or give any indication of her thoughts until she's done. In fact, she seems perfectly capable of reading it all from a cool, analytical viewpoint.

When she has set the last sheet aside, she downs what remains of her drink without even wincing. "I'm not a professional, but it reads well enough to me. Some of it seems... improbable, but then, one would have had to suspend their disbelief long before."

Rodrigo rises, putting down the paper on the bed. From where she sits, Juliana can see that it has a drawing of some sort on it, rather than writing.

She does try to look around him to see what it is, all curious, before she looks up at him.

It's a pencil sketch of Juliana herself, sitting at the desk. It's a good likeness, and flattering.

"The convention is for the author to say 'Despite the unlikelihood, dear reader, I profess that this is all true.'" He smiles and takes a step towards her. "I left out the more unbelievable parts, because I did not wish to break my readers minds."

She laughs. "With your erotica, or with your great princely adventures, my lord?"

"Some would say the one is the other. But the book is fiction, and I have taken pains to disguise the truth even as the book claims to take pains to expose it." He smiles easily. "How much of it do you think is true?"

"It's just plausible enough for those who wish to believe to do so, and those who don't to wonder. And they will wonder," she muses, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes. Obviously she wonders.

Her eyes slip to his hair. "Is it naturally curly, or is it a tedious vanity?" she asks, reaching up to twirl a dark curl.

"My vanity you have just experienced, Doña Merrick. It is that I think I can make people think by way of my efforts at storytelling. As to myself, what you see is what there is to see." He shrugs. His hair is smooth and the curls are soft.

His hand slides to her waist.

"Ah, I wish you luck at getting people to think. Most don't, and even fewer have the capacity to understand what leads them to the conclusions they consider thought. Do you want them to think, or do you want them to believe?" She steps up so her body is close against his. Her thumb slips from his curls to run along his jaw, then under his ear. She whispers, "Making them believe is easier."

"After all you've read, you expect me to want to take the easy way?" He tilts his head towards her. He is only slightly taller than she is.

"I certainly hope you don't," she tells him. She reaches her hands around his neck.

He twists himself around slightly and she finds herself in his arms, being carried effortlessly towards the bed. As he places her on the rich beddings, she sees the drawing of herself. "This is the way you want me to take you, is it not?" His lips on hers make it difficult for her to answer.

[Fade to Black]

-- Main.LizTrumitch - 21 Dec 2004