He leaned forward to clasp my hand.
“Father . . .” he said.
“Merlin.”
I looked into his eyes. I rose to my feet, still holding his hand.
“Do not get up.”
“It is all right.”
I clasped him to me, then released him.
“I am glad,” I said.
Then: “Drink with me.” I offered him the wine, partly to cover my lack of words.
“Thank you.”
He took it, drank some and passed it back.
“Your health,” I said and took a sip myself.
“Sorry I cannot offer you a chair.”
I lowered myself to the ground. He did the same.
“None of the others seemed to know exactly what you have been doing,” he said, “except for Fiona, who said only that it had been very difficult.”
“No matter,” I said. “I am glad to have made it this far, if for no other reason than this. Tell me of yourself, son. What are you like? How has life treated you?”
He looked away.
“I have not lived long enough to have done too much,” he said.
I was curious whether he possessed the shapeshifting ability, but restrained myself from asking at this point. No sense in looking for our differences when I had just met him.
“I have no idea what it was like,” I said, “growing up in the Courts.”
He smiled for the first time.
“And I have no idea what it would have been like anywhere else,” he responded. “I was different enough to be left to myself a lot. I was taught the usual things a gentleman should know-magic, weapons, poisons, riding, dancing. I was told that I would one day rule in Amber. This is not true anymore, is it?”
“It does not seem too likely in the foreseeable future,” I said.
“Good,” he replied. “This is the one thing I did not want to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to walk the Pattern in Amber as Mother did and gain power over Shadow, so that I might walk there and see strange sights and do different things. Do you think I might?”
I took another rip and I passed him the wine.
“It is quite possible,” I said, “that Amber no longer exists. It all depends on whether your grandfather succeeded in something he attempted-and he is no longer around to tell us what happened. However, one way or the other, there is a Pattern. If we live through this demon storm, I promise you that I will find you a Pattern, instruct you and see you walking it.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Now will you tell me of your journey here?”
“Later,” I told him. “What did they tell you of me?”
He looked away.
“I was taught to dislike many of the things about Amber,” he finally said. Then, after a pause: “You, I was taught to respect, as my father. But I was reminded that you were of the party of the enemy.”
Another pause. “I remember that time on patrol, when you had come to this place and I found you, after your fight with Kwan. My feelings were mixed. You had just slain someone I had known, yet-I had to admire the stance you took. I saw my face in your own. It was strange. I wanted to know you better.”
The sky had rotated completely and the darkness was now above us, the colors passing over the Courts. The steady advance of the flashing stormfront was emphasized by this. I leaned forward and reached for my boots, began pulling them on. Soon it would be time to begin our retreat.
“We will have to continue our conversation on your home ground,” I said. “It is about time to fly the storm.”
He turned and considered the elements, then looked back out over the abyss.
“I can summon a filmy if you wish.”
“One of those drifting bridges such as you rode on the day we met?”
“Yes,” he answered. “They are most convenient. I-“
There had been a shout from the direction of my assembled relatives. Nothing threatening seemed to be about when I regarded them. So I got to my feet and took a few steps toward them. Merlin rising to follow me.