SailorsScholarsAndDiplomats

From IMiA

Juliana comes up and slips her hand around Sean's elbow as soon as he's left alone. "Come, Commodore, let me introduce you to Miss Devereux."

O'Donovan winces, and frowns slightly at her.

"And I promise, I have no secondary motivation other than to see her social acquaintances increased." She smiles up at the big sailor.

He relents. "Very well, lead on, your grace."

The Duchess is dressed in a navy blue sheath dress, which is well away from the more traditional style she's been sporting since their ascension to the Dukedom. The top edge of this strapless gown is accented with woven silver ribbon, as is the hem. There is a single slit along the left edge, which stops just above the knee. Everything about the gown speaks that it originated outside of Amber and likely won't last long at the center - a luxurious waste, unless she's going to send it back when this is over. She has matching navy gloves tied above her elbows with silver ribbon as well.

Juliana has also given over her usual lady's braids for a different hair-style entirely. Her golden blond hair has been pressed straight, and hangs in a sheet down her back to end in a neat line just at her hips. Her only jewelry are the small diamonds hanging from her earlobes, and a single larger diamond depending from a thin navy choker around her throat.

With the heels she's wearing, she stands even with her husband at around 6'2".

Though he has gotten gussied up for the evening, O'Donovan is still a broken mess. He walks awkwardly, with a sturdy cane. The lingering traces of bruises color his face and hands. He wears a new eyepatch which matches his blue naval uniform.

Juliana slowly leads him over to the young Miss, who doubtless can see them coming and from Juliana's smile, will know that she intends an introduction.

Evelyn had found a quiet spot near the doors that led out into the gardens and had paused to admire the art gracing the wall. There was a glass of wine, largely ignored, sitting in her hand and one had to wonder if she hadn't been about to slip out the doors when the painting caught her attention.

Seeing the Duchess approaching, Evelyn turned to see if there was anyone past her more worthy of the Lady's attention, and then turned back to watch their approach with a faint, polite expression.

Young, maybe in her early twenties, Evelyn Devereux was a slim girl with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. Compared to the people approaching her, she was petite and would have no choice but to look up - way up - to meet their eyes.

Tonight the dark hair was elegantly coiffed with a few artistically arrange curls hanging loose. Like the Duchess she wore little jewelry, and instead of trendy her gown was classically fashionable. Simple and cut conservatively, it could have been considered demure if it weren't a deep, dark scarlet. The dress brought out the color in her cheeks, which colored ever so slightly more now that she found herself the focus of their attention.

The duchess's eyes twinkle with some repressed mirth. As they reach Evelyn, Juliana says, "Commodore, let me introduce you to Miss Devereux, who I gather comes from a family a scholars and would doubtless find knowledge of your travels to be fascinating. Miss Devereux, this is Commodore O'Donovan, who had the awesome task of transporting the Duke and I more than once while we served the crown in shadow."

"I am pleased to make your aquaintence, ma'am," O'Donovan says with a nod that ends in a wince -- apparently he has forgotten a sore spot he should have been treating gingerly.

Evelyn bobbed in a small, polite curtsey, murmured a 'pleased to meet you' in response to his greeting, and winced empathetically when he did. She looked tempted to sit him down but had the good sense to realize that fussing would be unseemingly behavior.

"Let me assure you that any rumors I was made commodore simply so I could command a second ship to hold all of her Grace's shoes are quite baseless." His grin is a flash of white teeth against his dark skin.

"I would never have believed any such nonsense." She replied, seeming quite serious until the smallest smile broke through at the corners of her mouth. The smile threatened to take over completely and she ducked her head shyly, peeking out at them from behind a curl of dark hair.

"That's a good thing, because I have twice as many hats and I do shoes. And then there are the Duke's books," Juliana teases with a smile. "So, Miss Devereux, what do you do with your spare time?"

"Well.... like the Duke, apparently, I have a great many books." Evelyn answered with some care, not at all flippant or glib. "But with tutoring and my own studies and projects, I account for most of my time." She could have said more, but she stopped and waited for their responses first.

"What sort of projects, if I might ask, ma'am?" The Commodore is clearly intrigued.

Juliana, who started looking thoughtful when Evelyn mentioned tutoring, raises a curious eyebrow.

Evelyn glanced back and for between them. "My own, to start. I translate journals or tablets or other things found at historical sites to try to place them within the context of their times or identify their creator, and as a research associate I help other graduate students with their senior projects. Mostly when it's with the earth sciences, botany, geology.... but it could be anything, and sometimes there are private clients who have things they wish to learn about...." She gave a very small shrug. "I spend a great deal of time at the library."

O'Donovan seems a bit startled by this onslaught of academic activity. "So... you are an expert on research in the library, and your own work is on history... Your historical sites are in Amber?"

Juliana just gives the young woman an encouraging smile.

"No, they are in the Golden Circle countries. I thought once that it might be interesting to search here in Amber for what might br found, but the idea had little support." Evelyn shrugged slightly, not terribly torn up by then when there was so much else to do.

Sean blinks. "I think the history of Amber would be very interesting... but it's hard to think of a place with such long-lived inhabitants as having history. At least in the sense of having historical sites." He considers what he is saying. "I assume when you say 'historical site', you mean digging through the remains of something? Studying burial mounds and the like?"

Evelyn nodded.

"Yes, have you been to that site in just outside of the Begman capital, the one where they found the family groups all together?" the duchess adds.

"I've toured it, and others near it, although my field work is somewhat limited. Most of what I see comes to me at the University. Except for my year in Weirmonken, I've spent very little time in the dirt."

"Ah, Weirmonken, one of the few places around I have never been. I shall have to make it a point to get there, someday," Juliana says.

A glint in O'Donovan's eyes suggests the word "Weirmonken" has caught his attention, but he doggedly continues his previous train of thought. "So the Golden Circle histories -- do you work with materials which pre-date the establishment of the Golden Circle?"

Juliana looks curious.

Evelyn looked back and forth between them, nodding at the Dutchess' comment, but then answering the Commodore.

"It is rare to find things of that age, and the exact ages are sometimes fervently debated, but yes, I would say that we do, on occasion. The difficulty in this line of study is that so much of what is now, is built directly upon what was."

"And I suppose you don't have much luck getting the ghosts to talk to you," O'Donovan mutters, then his eye goes dark in puzzlement.

"No." Evelyn answered with a fleeting, bemused smile. "I can sometimes make stones talk, but ghosts are quite beyond me."

"Really?" the Commodore replies. "Ghosts are easy enough to raise. Though, mind you, not terribly pleasant. I wouldn't have the first idea how to make a stone talk."

"It is mostly a figure of speech," Evelyn assured him. "The cut of the stone frequently indicates the tools used, the type of stone, whether it is local or has been brought in, and then there are accidental markings from fires, wars... and deliberate markings such at etchings. It is a bit like forensics."

O'Donovan nods, fascination winning out over embarrassment. "Forensics, yes. Do you also do the equivalent of forensic sorcery? It seems like it would be very challenging to get impressions from objects that old."

"There is very little real magic in what I do," Evely smiled, "although forensic sorcery is an interesting concept."

"The city watch has several experts in it, you know. But I think they have problems dealing with things more than a decade or so old." O'Donovan tries to remember exactly what DCI Garrett has told him on the subject...

"Hmm... interesting." Evelyn tilted her head thoughtfully and let that conversation drop.

"Ladies, I must admit there is a major hole in my Shadow-born knowledge of Amber. I have the distinct impression that Oberon has always been King. Can that possibly be so?"

"When the royal family appears to not die, naturally, things like millenia become mere footnotes of history," Juliana says, and goes on a bit more quietly, "and if there was someone who ruled here before Oberon, it was so long ago that it isn't recorded, unless there are some etchings in the caves under the city I haven't heard of." Juliana shoots Evelyn an eyebrow at this last, but her tone, body language, and look suggest someone should probably change the subject.

"As far as I know, Oberon has ever been Amber's king." She gave a nod of deferment to Juliana and ended her part of the conversation with a sip of wine. Glancing around at the rest of the party before returning her attention to the Commodore and Duchess and waiting for them to speak next.

O'Donovan slowly shakes his head, trying to wrap his mind around the notion. "The world I grew up on," he says, "doesn't have much in the way of written records more than two centuries old. There are some old chants and songs that are surely older, some legendary figures. What you're saying is that when the eldest of them was but a pup, Oberon had been king of Amber... for centuries already? One man has lived through all the history of my people?"

"Possibly millenia. Yes. That's part of what makes the royal family special, and so fit to rule, here. Even us citizens live well extended life spans - it's part of the delicate balance in the Golden Circle, keeping everything friendly between ourselves and people who have a great deal to be jealous of," Juliana notes.

She wasn't entirely sure she understood the Duchess' point, but Evelyn nodded in agreement. Certainly no one was going to challenge the royal family and she had to agree with the Commodore. When one thought of it, the longevity of the king did challenge the mind.

"So..." O'Donovan falters, not quite sure how to ask the question. "How has Amber changed over the years? Has the city developed? Or just... shuffled a bit as stayed in one place, like a boat rowing against a heavy tide?"

"Well, this is an old district recently - in the last 500 years - turned more fashionable. This home is very new, by Amber standards, and was built here after a series of smaller homes were removed. I think materials aren't wasted, just put to another use - the inner stable walls are constructed of stone the neighborhood used for boundry marking. I'm sure there has been a good deal of change in the city, over the long term." Juliana look at Evelyn to see if she has anything to add to that.

"Given the lifespans of the citizens, change comes slowly, but it comes nonetheless." Evelyn nodded. "All societies evolve, as do their living places."

"So what sorts of changes have you observed over time here?" the Commodore asks.

"Keeping in mind the limits of my interests," Evelyn hedged with a faint smile, "the architecture bears the most visible changes. In any world you can tell the relative age of a building by the embellishments it wears, how abstract the details in its decoration, if it even has any, and what materials were used. I'm sure a student of that would be able to tell you the building's very designer, but tastes in how a building should appear change as each new generation brings its influence to bear. The nice thing about buildings is that they don't change so quickly as clothes and they last a great deal longer. "In addition to the preferences of the generations, as each nation was brought into the Golden Circle treaty there was an exchange of culture and an influx of symbols, myths and legends into Amber. Artisans came with these and you can sometimes tell an object's age by the prominence of these other symbols and styles. I'm sure someone with an interest in theater, dance or music could explain a similar trend. Amber resists change, but she does not exist in a bubble and I think the influence of the more vibrant realms keeps her from getting stagnant."

O'Donovan smiles warmly at the implied (if perhaps accidental) compliment. "Not a sentiment one hears that often in these parts," he laughs. "I don't know why it should surprise me so that a person could do work like yours without magic. Any decent captain can tell you who built a ship just by looking at it, after all, and at least something of its history. It is all, as you say, style and embellishments."

"Fashion, in a sense," Juliana smiles, but it's almost like she's teasing.

"Exactly." Evelyn agreed with some relief to know that she had been understood. "Every culture has its technology, every era has its fashions and the difference in Amber is that they proceed at a slower pace, and the influences that reach here are muted by Amber herself, whereas, in another realm, they would be more sharply felt. It makes the work more dangerous, if I may use the term loosely, because if you are too quick to judge, you could easily be wrong. The waters are ... muddier, at times, a bit like trying to discern details through a fog."

Evelyn has clearly warmed to the subject, though she's managed to keep her enthusiasm to a quiet, ladylike roar.

The Commodore nods. "I think I understand. I've noticed something similiar when I bring back tunes from far-off shadows. Sometimes I'll hear them again the next time I'm back in port, and they will have changed to fit with the local style of playing. The basic structure will still be there, but the more exotic bits will be replaced with standard Amber idioms, the 'extra' beats removed, and the holes filled in." He shakes his head. "And I can't help wondering. Maybe that version of the tune was here all along, and I just learned a weird variant on it that travelled out with sailors generations ago, and by bringing it back, jogged the memory of some old-timer who knew it all along."

"I think," Evelyn said shrewdly, "that it is strictly a matter of with whom you are conversing."

There is this brief pause as O'Donovan tries to sort out the logic of the statement, followed by an enormous laugh. "Isn't that the bloody truth!"

"I can say some of our treaties date well before a forming of the modern Circle alliances. Some of the esoteria you have to learn just to understand our obligations boggles. Luckily, the Duke likes to read," Juliana smiles. "I always liked going to Begma because they tend to tear the old things down and rebuild, alliance-wize, rather than let something sneak out of an ancient document to obligate them in a way they hadn't anticipated."

"That sounds prudent. I wouldn't think that surprises of the diplomatic sort are a good thing." Evelyn offered her opinion tentatively, not knowing much about treaties or diplomatic matters.

"It depends..." Juliana begins, but is distracted as one of the porters comes and whispers something in her ear. She turns back to the two of them with a smile. "Excuse me. Carry on without me," she says.

"Certainly." Evelyn bobbed in a quick curtsey as the Duchess left. She shifted her weight, peeking up at the Commodore and suddenly bashful all over again. She tried to hide behind her wine glass briefly, but it was empty, a detail she noticed when she tried to drink from it.

[If the other players have the rest of their conversation, they can add it here.]

-- Main.LizTrumitch - 27 Mar 2005