It is a cool autumn day, and the gentle breeze carries leaves but as yet, no great chill. The fountain, and the strange hut by it, have been quiet for weeks. No explosions, no melting, no screaming. Now a red-headed woman in black, familiar to those who have seen Dirk's trump, stands staring at the place. She leans on a crutch and looks like she is resenting having to, but is probably in no state to stand without help. Behind her a young hospital orderly hangs back, having been sent away; he refuses to leave entirely, of course - he is good at his job.

Dirk walks over and stand quietly near her. His gaze follows hers.

Danielle comes near the fountain and offers a smle to garen "Good day General it's good to see you up and around. i don't know what state Amber was in when you left it but i hope it is better than the ice palace even in present condition"

This is the woman he has talked to; the woman in the trump. She gives him a glance, after a long moment, and a nod. "Young unethical guy." She stays slightly hunched up, left arm tucked into her robes. She likes black, to the point where apart from her bandages she looks like a raven would, if the raven were red-headed and worked as a lawyer. To Danielle, she says, "Colonel. Duke Benedict never managed to promote me. Not much more than that, anyhow."

Dirk smiles "My name is Dirk, ma'am. It's a pleasure to speak to you today."

Garin gives Dirk a grin. "Yes. Being able to talk is good."

Danielle hms "Forgive me I hate messing up titles "Danielee, grand daughter of Brand. i did not no any of the elders well however. i spent most of my youth outside of Amber. Who was the rather unpleasant mage we managed to dispatch? Should we expect more where she cane from?

Dirk says, "If you need a sword Colonel let me be at your service."

Garin looks at Danielle. "It's fine. I never wanted titles. I just wanted it to be simple." She shrugs, looks back at the tent over the fountain, then starts limping towards it, leaning heavily on the crutch. "But it's not. Only I'm good at working out what to kill and killing it. So I kept getting promoted. that mage... not a mage. A power. A thing of that place. Do you know what an elemental is?" She looks like she is in danger of falling over as she goes, but instead of asking for Dirk's sword, she sticks out her arm to ask for his support. Her left hand is enough of a mess to be counted as non-functional, bandaged up so that the missing digits are not easily counted - but she is probably missing several fingers.

Dirk gives his support without thinking. He listens to her words.

Filinia is muscular, but not toned. She leans on Dirk trustingly, without trying to press against him. Most of how she carries herself says she is made for one thing; being a court mage. From her neat shoes to her robes to the way she carries herself, she seems like she should be a polite conjurors of very expensive tricks. Then there is how she talks, and her tones say that she has seen a lot, and fought most of it.

Garin is muscular, but not toned. She leans on Dirk trustingly, without trying to press against him. Most of how she carries herself says she is made for one thing; being a court mage. From her neat shoes to her robes to the way she carries herself, she seems like she should be a polite conjurors of very expensive tricks. Then there is how she talks, and her tones say that she has seen a lot, and fought most of it.

Danielle hms "I could hazard guesses, but they would only serve to show I don't not know what one is precisely, or if i did I have forgotten it. No small annoyance, that"

Garin gives Danielle a glance, and then looks away and nods slowly. "You've got lots of elements, right? Flavours of magic. You get fire mages, water mages, hate mages, flower mages. I've known some who use things like paper and stuff. But really, big flavours. That was someone who doesn't work in more than one. So a real person, but also an elemental - she can't step outside ice and cold. But anything with cold in, she could manipulate. I'm a generalist, and I'm good at a few things, but in that place, I was out-gunned. Out-powered. It was a place of cold, and she is a person of cold. So I never found out her name, but I can tell you a few things about her."

Dirk is quiet for a moment. "I am a fighter, sailor, pirate, and breeder of penguins."

Garin gives Dirk a wink. "I'm a librarian."

Danielle hms "was she simply holding you for being in her domain as it were or was some larger agenda at work?"

Dirk smiles back. "You can chastise me for putting the books back wrong anytime."

Caught between two questions, Garin smiles faintly, and answers Dirk first. "I don't do books. I do archiving and information. Ask me about filing systems some time." Danielle gets a more considered answer. "I was not in her domain. I think. I think that place is part of a struggle - I was in a domain and she wanted my power to help win it. Because there's a central power and that feels different. You know how sometimes there's a thing and then the ruler of the thing? She wasn't the ruler. I should probably go back and speak to the ruler." Like she could, in her state. Like she thinks it is her responsibility.

Dirk says "You need to heal for sometime. I wouldn't go back out there too soon. "

Garin gives Dirk a nod like she heard him and might even listen.

Danielle hms "It says something that she tried to take what she wished versus engage in negotiation even if it is that trust is at a premium of course with reality playing fast and loose up to and including one's own memory it doesn't take much to see what that would be. What was the first indication that all was not well?" she nods at dirk's words "Traveling into unknown dangers not at full strength is not a wise idea"

"I had been hiding in that place for a while, trying to find out what I could. Once I started using magic more, I pretty quickly found that someone was tracking it. It didn't take long to go wrong." Garin reaches the door to the tent, and shoves it open with er crutch, leaning on Dirk for a moment.

Dirk takes her weight and lets her lead. "I have a question?" He holds the tent open.

"Go on?" Garin can take interruptions, it seems. She looks over the inside of the tent without apparent judgement.

Dirk says, "Who is the current youngest of the nine princes of Amber as far as you know?""

Danielle has clearly gone over her quota in the question department and let's dirk have his turn

"Of those who live? Not nine any more, but Prince Random. Short, stabby. Drinks a lot." Garin shrugs. "I think I ended up in a different universe, though. Because where I was from, a lot of things that seem to hold together just wouldn't have worked. Magic feels different." She makes her way over to the red hair and the red cloth on the edge of the fountain, and looks at Danielle, eyes flicking over the de facto haircut.

Dirk nods "I want to meet my father. I am sure he's a douchecanoe . I mean he's a Prince of Amber after all."

Garin shrugs. "I've met all the living ones I know of. Maybe there are more. There are some question marks over others, in the ledger." She peers at the red circle, and then at the fountain, now ice-bound once more. "So, I think this is a general conduit, and I think we want to get the other end to whoever is in charge there."

Danielle hms "So suspicions that were dealing with alternat overlapping realities may be correct. Buildings here one day gone the the next. Time that starts and stops...We were able to communicate with yourself and the barman via trump. There were other trumps were there not?" she looks at dirk

"I've never worked well with Trumps," Garin reminds them. "Nobody does, but the royal fmaily. So be careful about that." This may be news to some.

Dirk taps his pocket "I found them and this signet ring. So there are a few yes."

Garin looks at the tapped pocket. "Show me the ring?"

Dirk holds out his hand "here." He's wearing it.

Danielle hms "Weneed to find a way to use the conduit to actually find the ice palace. Wandering through fog on a wish and a prayer is not exactly efficient. unless of course you know the way bacj

Garin takes the ring as she answers Danielle, "Right now? I'm not going to push. But you can usually ... well, I'd set up something to chime with the conduit at this end, so I could look for something similar at the other end. That blackness, though? It was weird." She sets to studying the rink.

*ring

Danielle nods "We've managed to survive this long. I don't see a particlar need to rush and further injure yourself though i am willing to help, if I can"

Dirk says ", "whose ring?"

The red-head holds the crutch by putting her arm under the part she had under her shoulder a moment ago. Her ruined left hand comes up to touch it, and then she shrugs. "I don't feel anything important there. It's not a King, not anyone I know - maybe it's someone who means something to themselves." She shrugs. "But it's not giving me any kind of read. Although I'm half-blind right now. I'd injure myself in pushing magic.

"

Dirk takes the ring back. "ok. who ever it was had your trump."

Danielle hms "Well, it's a plan of sorts to find the end of conduit. so much is broken I hadn't much of a notion of how to start. I'd try to detemine which area of the city was most stable"

Dirk nods "and I need to start the criminal underworld."

Garin smiles slightly. "When you start the underworld, tell me who turns up." She looks at Danielle and says, "I can do it my way, but... like I said, magic seems different here. Do you know what magical contagion is? Similarity?"

Danielle hms "Again, logical assumption here but I assume it's one type of magic either currupts or subsumes another"

Garin sags. "Not quite. If you have two very magically similar pendulums, and you link them, you can get one to slow down, and slow the other, because the rate of change is changed for both." She gives Danielle a wry look.

It is not long, however, before Garin has to head away to rest - no matter how powerful or subtle a mage, her body has taken a beating.

Dirk is just listening.