Time has passed since we last looked in on our heroes: it's now July the first, or thereabouts. Things have been mostly stable in that time - Sir Ten and Victor have both been seeing Desiree occaisionally, Soraya is still missing and Miles is moping... the usual.
Our heroes have however learned some things in that time. Magda has discovered a great connection to her past lives after killing Forkas. Milton has spent the time studying computers and has gotten quite good at it. Desiree has learned Opening from Sir Ten (who can't refuse her anything). And Miles is now the Seer of Radcliffe, and has learned some of the powers of the Focus. To wit: by looking through it one can ask a what-if sort of question about the person or thing being looked at, and get a glimpse of the future. By focussing the sun through it, one can burn writing suitable for magical applications. It also has two powers that Miles does not know how to invoke: it can produce what is described as a tone of truth, and it can in some manner show a vision that the viewer needs to see, although only once for any particular person.
To get back to the story: everyone has been invited out to Caer Nausett for the fourth of July weekend, and it is the afternoon of the second when people are fetching stuff and heading for the boat when Soraya finally returns from the Dreaming, where she had been asleep for months due to an unfortunate berry accident. Needless to say, the reunion with Miles is a bit odd.
Anyway, everyone gets onto the ship and travels out to Cape Cod, except Milton who is going in his Porsche. On the ship Jason and Jenny run around a lot except for about five minutes after being admonished not to (oh yeah, there are normals along on this trip, some enchanted, some not). Desiree talks to Sir Ten at the bow for a while, discovering that he doesn't like Victor and is unsure what to do with himself now that he doesn't have a burning mission. Some fragile discussions with Soraya are had as well, broaching "the demon question".
Caer Nausett is a beautiful seashell castle overlooking a fishing village, and a big port as far as the fae go. The market holds things from many far-off ports, including tins of regret. Miles buys one. The locals are wild pookas and redcaps and such from Provincetown, piratical eshu, and boggan fisherfolk. Many tents are pitched on the beach, including a big one for Lucia and her court. Miles stakes out part of that.
That night there's a big feast (this in in fact true for the rest of the weekend, so we're just not going to mention it much) including much roast seafood and live snails in escargot sauce for the sluagh. Did we mention Priscilla came as well? Really almost everyone we know has come to the party.
After dinner there is dancing and Miles and Soraya and Desiree make a few attempts to help Johnny impress Amanda, but fail. Then Miles is cajoled into playing his pipes (at which Magda drags her children and husband off safely out of range) and everything degerates from there, leaving most of the populous hidden in tents or out in the dunes.
The next morning some are up bright and early (Jenny: "There's people sleeping out in the dunes. How come we don't get to do that? And they don't have any clothes on!") Magda spends the morning playing in the water with her family. Desiree goes for a walk on the beach and runs into Victor, who gives her a pheonix feather. They also watch a bunch of eshu row around after a huge white sea serpent without catching it.
Then Miles decides to organize a volleyball team for Radcliffe and cajoles Desiree, Soraya, Johnny, and Magda into joining (though Magda is not very happy about it). Other teams include the Boston team with Victor and Sir Ten, Baron Kenmore's mostly spastic team, a bunch of eshu pirates, and a team from MIT.
Player Notes:
Maggie got a blunderbuss. -MIN
Miles saw Jenny Ann playing catch with a chimerical ball. -MIN
Milton occasionally attempted to impress Priscilla, though in a depressing, pathetic, sluagh kind of way. -MIN
Desiree wangles an introduction to Duke Brinesnout, who invites her to
spend the night at the castle. -ALH