Summary: Buffy visits Tir-na Nog'th and receives hints of her destiny.

Disclaimer: All of these characters remain the property of their owners/creators. . .I'm just borrowing them for a spell. . .

Rating: PG-13, for violence and themes.

Time Frame: Post third season BTVS (alternate timeline), and a few months after the events in "Diplomatic Measures." Fourth story in the "Unicorn and the Slayer" series.

Archiving: Be my guest, but e-mail me (eilandesq@hotmail.com) to let me know. . .I like to know where stuff I write ends up and I might want to see what else you've got.

IN THE CITY OF DREAMS

Part II

BUFFY

I stepped in front of Corwin, stood up straighter than usual, and gave Rinaldo my best level stare as I asked quietly, "King Rinaldo, are you here to challenge me?"

Rinaldo blinked, then smiled at me with enough force to make me tingle a bit--Merlin had warned me about Rinaldo's inherent charm, and he hadn't been lying. I managed to keep my poker face, and Rinaldo waited for a moment before speaking: "I got a Trump call from Fiona, telling me that you were taking a journey to Tir-na Nog'th and that you would need an experienced guide. She asked me to serve as that guide, and I agreed."

"Really? I would have thought that my banishing your father back to the Abyss would have been a dealbreaker for that sort of arrangement." My voice was calm, but I know that my eyes were flashing anger at him--the experience of facing Brand still haunted my dreams at times.

Rinaldo sighed, and I could see sadness in his eyes as he replied, "Buffy, my father died on that precipice in Chaos--Caine did the honors, and I put paid to that debt. I'll admit that if his scheming had managed to get him back, I might have welcomed him with open arms--I'll never really know. As things stand, he failed, and you beat him in a fair fight, in which he made the mistake of underestimating you." He shook his head sadly, and added, "If you'll recall, you have reason to seek vengeance against me, for my attempt on Bleys' life. Fiona has indicated that if I help you in this matter, she is willing to forget that indiscretion on my part--if you'll do the same, that would be more than enough reason for me to lay aside whatever ill-feelings I might have about you thwarting my father's return."

I turned back to Corwin--who nodded once--and back to Rinaldo. I studied him carefully: Corwin had warned me more than once about trusting members of the family unreservedly--himself included--and this man had tried to kill my father. After a few moments, I sighed and extended my hand. "Welcome to the expedition, Rinaldo."

Rinaldo stepped forward, and I felt a moment of anxiety before he clasped my hand firmly, then released it. We were silent for a moment, and I coughed nervously and asked, "So, how do you recommend we proceed?"

Rinaldo looked over to the stair, which was still silently waiting, extending up into the now fully visible ghost city, and replied, "We can go whenever you are ready--I will keep my mind clear, to attempt to avoid distorting whatever visions your own mind might produce. I have my own means of escape should the city fade, so Corwin can simply monitor you through your Trump and give you escape if need be." He took a few steps away from both me and Corwin and drew his sword, looking at it and commenting, "Also, Werewindle should come in handy if the visions prove uncommunicative at points."

I nodded, remembering Corwin's story of his trip to Tir-na Nog'th during the Patternfall incident. Rinaldo sheathed his blade and nodded to Corwin before suggesting, "It might be best if I lead the way--and please, call me Luke--these days I save 'Rinaldo' for formal occasions."

I had no problem with that, and turned to clasp arms with Corwin. He smiled at me, then pulled out my Trump and stared at it for a moment. I felt the contact come, and I opened my mind to it, feeling Corwin seem to sit in a corner of my thoughts, watching but not otherwise intruding. I smiled and released his arm, then turned to follow Luke.

* * * * *

LUKE

I led the way, keeping a steady pace as we progressed up the ghostly staircase. It was a clear night, so I wasn't particularly concerned about a sudden fade derailing our plans. The stairs--in spite of their appearance--behaved like actual stone steps, allowing me to hear the gentle whisper of Buffy's shoes scraping against them as she followed behind me.

I hadn't just run over to Amber on a moment's notice when Fiona summoned me and told me what was going on--she gave me a day's warning, and I used it wisely. As soon as she broke the Trump connection, I had Merle's Trump out and was calling him. He responded almost immediately: "What's new in Kashfa, Luke?"

I don't know how he always knows it's me these days, and I'm afraid to ask. "Pull me through--I need some information about a relative, and fast."

He reached out and clasped my hand, and I found myself in the mouth of a cave looking out over a cloudbank. Merlin was sitting in a comfortable- looking chair, next to a glass table with a Mai-Tai sitting on it. He gestured, and the ring on his left hand flashed briefly before a second chair and Mai-Tai appeared across from him. He smiled and invited, "Sit down, take the load off--you look like you've just seen a Fire Angel."

I sat down, sipped the Mai-Tai--which was excellent--and replied, "Worse-- Fiona called me up to ask for a favor."

Merlin winced: "That's never fun--what did she want you to do?"

I shrugged, "Bleys apparently got a daughter from somewhere, and Fiona wants me to hold her hand while she takes a tour of Tir-na Nog'th--" I saw Merlin smirk, and snapped, "What's the joke?"

"Fiona wants you to take Buffy on a trip to Tir-na Nog'th." Merlin's expression was impassive, though I could see a slight twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah, her name is Buffy--so what? Some parents should be banned from naming their own children, but I don't see what the problem is." I was annoyed, and a bit edgy about why Merle seemed so damned amused by my situation.

Merlin sighed. "I've got a story for you, and it's a doozy." He gestured again, and two more Mai-Tais appeared. I raised an eyebrow, and he added, "Trust me, you'll want them."

I shrugged, took another sip from the first Mai-Tai, and listened as Merlin began to tell the story as he had heard it from Buffy--and again from Corwin to confirm some of the details. At first it was simply interesting-- I've often wondered whether the laws of probability are more or less suspended with regard to the royal family of Amber, even with regard to things that they are not trying to influence--but when he revealed the identity of the mysterious force who had been manipulating Buffy's shadow, I paled and began drinking the Mai-Tais more energetically. Merlin noticed, and his tone was more gentle as he described the climax of the conflict between what was left of my father and the newly discovered member of my family. When Merlin had finished, I blinked and looked up at Merlin for a moment before whispering: "My father was defeated by a wet-behind- the-ears teenager who had walked the Pattern for the first time less than six hours before?"

"Makes your head spin a little, doesn't it?" Merle was being damned supportive, all things considered--he had no reason to feel any love for my father. "Apparently, Brand helped the process along a bit by feeding all that power into the Hellmouth while Buffy was there and her abilities partially activated by the stress of her brief death--she soaked it up like a sponge. Once she walked the Pattern, then realized that Brand wasn't all powerful in that time and place, she had the confidence she needed to defeat him. Not quite as difficult as defeating him when he had access to all of his powers, but impressive nonetheless."

I nodded absently. I wasn't inclined to hold a grudge--Dad screwed up and paid the price, and he had certainly forced Buffy into the situation. On the other hand, there was a remaining practical problem. "So, Fiona's sending me to see someone who has not one but *two* reasons to hate my guts? Nice lady--suddenly I wish I had gone after her instead of Bleys."

Merlin snickered. "Bleys has been willing to let you off the hook--Fiona would have you serving as a harem eunuch somewhere." I shuddered, and Merle added, "I've had a long talk with her--she wanted to meet someone closer to her age for some perspective, and Dad sent her my way. She knows you're not gunning for her father any more, and she's nowhere near as vindictive as a lot of our relatives are. Turn on the charm, let her know that you're not after her, and that you'd like to make peace with her. Worst case scenario--she charges at you howling for blood. You're older, more experienced, twice her size, a fully trained sorcerer, and you're lugging around Werewindle. No worse than even money you'll kick her ass."

"Your confidence in me is heart-warming, Merle." I took another slug from the third Mai-Tai, then looked back at Merlin. "She's been a professional demon hunter since she was fifteen? * Before * she walked the Pattern?"

Merlin nodded. "She's good, even with her limited training from our end of things. Random sent her out on a diplomatic mission a while back, involving single combat to secure a trade deal. She KO'ed a woman taller than you and almost as strong with her bare hands, in less than fifteen minutes, without either of them being seriously injured."

I whistled. "Not too shabby. So Fiona and Benedict are tutoring her personally?"

Merlin nodded. "You know Bleys--he's not around much, and Fiona and Benedict like talented prospects, particularly ones who don't mind training hard. Compared to what she's already been through, even Benedict probably doesn't intimidate her all that much. She's like her dad--above average at almost everything. Once she's fully trained, she's going to be a powerful ally--and a very dangerous enemy." He raised his glass to me and suggested, "If I were you, I'd make sure she ends up the former as far as you're concerned. Cheers!"

Merle can be a pain in the ass, but his judgment is generally spot on when he's got good information--and he apparently knew Buffy almost as well as anyone in Amber did. I prepared for the journey, and was about to leave when a sudden matter at home diverted my attention and almost made me miss Buffy's departure. It took a convenient Trump and a five minute sprint to get me there in time.

I was taken aback when I saw her--Merle had described her as petite, but the young woman scowling at me was little larger than Fiona: hardly the image I had expected for the person who had become the de facto Battle Maiden of the House of Amber. A moment's study dispelled any doubts I had that she was all Merle had described her as, though--she had the same confident look that one of my uncles would have before facing a dangerous battle.

I followed Merle's advice and turned on the charm, and Corwin did me a favor by not nudging her in the direction of paranoia--which, to be fair, is not an unreasonable attitude when dealing with family members. I still appreciated the fact that Corwin had not simply dispatched me when we were forced into fighting one another--he is a man of honor, and his rather significant role in my father's death does not change that in my eyes.

In any event, Buffy consented to receiving my assistance, and we bade Corwin farewell and began to ascend the ghostly stairway. I've been in Tir- na Nog'th more than probably any other Amberite other than my father, and the key to getting there--if you don't have a handy Pattern or friend to get you up there fast--is not to look down. Even an experienced warrior who can receive a charge from twenty bloodthirsty barbarians with an amused smile on his face can find it a bit unnerving to ascend the ghostly stair, which shimmers and seems to distort distances on the way up. At one point, I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Buffy's eyes were carefully fixed on the center of my back--Corwin had obviously briefed her well. I smiled reassuringly at her, and we continued our ascent.

* * * * *

BUFFY

He looked back at me once, to make sure I was all right. I suppose that one of my aunts or uncles might have chosen to take offense at the implication that I couldn't handle a little stair climb without being checked on, but I thought it was nice of him; admittedly, I wouldn't want to face Corwin after I did a thousand foot header off the staircase if I were him, either.

Climbing the staircase was weird--Corwin had warned me that the experience would be different from any similar climb I'd had before, but I hadn't been prepared for the actual experience. I tried listening to my heartbeat and measuring my steps, but my senses felt muffled, and I found that I had a hard time keeping count of my steps, though my feet fell and rose regularly as we continued to climb. Before I knew it, we had reached the top, and Rinaldo stepped aside and let me see the view: a shimmering, ghostly image of Amber City as it would appear from the great seaward stair on the face of Kolvir, which Corwin and my own father had fought on so ferociously many years ago. It was beautiful, and I just stood there and looked for what felt like a pretty long time before Luke cleared his throat. I turned, and he commented, "I know how it feels--I had never seen Amber in person when I first came up here, and I couldn't stop looking. . .but we're on the clock."

I nodded and asked, "All right, you're the expert--what now?"

Luke frowned and his brow knit for a moment before he replied, "Your dream didn't give you any blatant clues other than to come here, from what Fiona said. There's no time to search the whole city, and even the most important locations will take more time than we have. . .we need to narrow our search down, somehow."

"OK--that's the what, now what about the how?" I wasn't coming up with any ideas, and I glanced edgily at the full moon as it continued to cross the cloudless sky.

"You'll need to enter the right state of mind--block out everything but your purpose for being here, without overly obsessing about it, and allow your instincts to guide you." Luke replied, walking next to me and smiling reassuringly as he explained: "Blocking out other concerns will cut down on the number of irrelevant visions you have--not getting obsessive about it will keep your own mind from distorting the message that you're supposed to be getting." I must have looked puzzled, because he seemed to think again for a moment before saying, "It's like how dowsers--water finders-- with real power have to work. They need to concentrate, but if they're *too* fixated on finding water, they'll start picking up readings that aren't real, or true readings that don't do them any good--like water a thousand feet down in solid granite or over the horizon. Your Pattern abilities work in somewhat the same way--they give you the detection ability you need, but you have to keep it from being distorted by their ability to actually warp reality and destroy what you're looking for. . .am I making any sense here?"

I smiled at him. "As much as I'm going to make of it without giving it a try--you'd make a good teacher, Luke." I looked at Werewindle hanging at his hip and asked, "How much help can we get from that sword if the visions decide to be dodgy?"

"Two, maybe three times in the course of the evening, and only for a few minutes each--it's not an exact science." Luke looked down at his sword and frowned before looking back up at me and shrugging. "You'll have to pick your spots, which means trusting your judgment. Didn't you used to make a living using your abilities to kick ass and have divine flashes of inspiration?"

I laughed bitterly and waited a moment before replying, "Yeah, that was me-- Intuition Girl. I don't suppose you ever made love to your significant other--who just happened to be a vampire--and caused them to lose their soul, after which they murdered one of your best friends and tried to destroy the world, did you?"

Luke blinked, then thought a few moments before saying quietly: "No, actually. On the other hand, did you ever have to have your marriage to the woman you'd been promised to since you were eight years old annulled when it turned out that she was your aunt, and that she'd been knocked up by your favorite cousin--who you'd just recently reconciled with after trying to kill him for years and imprisoning him in a crystal cave?"

I blinked, then stared briefly before studying my fingernails for a moment. * Merlin left out a lot of the good parts * I looked back at Luke, smiled, and said simply, "OK, maybe I *don't* have the worst intuition in all of creation--why don't we give this a shot?"

Luke grinned and bowed slightly as he inclined his head to the path into the city. "After you, milady."

I shook my head in bemusement--it had already been a long day--and took a moment to clear my mind before looking ahead and walking briskly towards the center of the city.

. . .to be continued.

As always, comments are welcomed and desired