Cassandra smirks as Rhiannon visibly flusters "How interesting, if you wish to visit Rhiannon do let me know I would like to join you." She inclines her head at Cathal's diversion "The one truly in charge is always the one actually running the business."

"Well that would help at least." Rhiannon gave Cassandra an appreciative look. "Better two of us in the lion's den than just one. But it would be fun. Girls night out?"

"I would suggest asking Charlie, I believe she's something of a regular in her holidays. She can get you in without any inconveniences or misunderstandings."

"Hello Madison. Good Afternoon." Not wanting to ask another stupid question, Rhiannon wracked her brain for some reference of a Charlie. "If you don't mind, who's Charlie? I don't believe we've met her."

"Girl night out indeed" Cassandra agreed with another smirk, she nods a greeting to Maddison.

"You won't have met her. She's currently in school but without doubt she'll be back for the Expo. As to who she is, she's Cordelia's daughter."

"Oh, I can't wait to meet her." Rhiannon nodded. Cordelia had mentioned that she had a daughter. If Charlie was a regular of a night club and in school it meant she was at least college age, probably about the same as Rhiannon. Cordelia didn't look nearly old enough, so the idea of it was just a reminder of the family's prolonged lifespans. "I'm sure she knows all the best party spots in Shadow"

"I couldn't possibly comment."

Rhiannon's face lit up with a surprised gasp. "Madison! Are you secret party girl also? If so, girls night is picking up steam"

"Without a doubt your idea of a party and mine are completely different. Whilst I'm familiar with the approximate context of your suggestion, it's not something that I'm actually interested in. Now Cordelia on the other hand may possibly be tempted."

"Really?" Rhiannon genuinely couldn't believe her ears. "So cousin Cordelia is a secret party animal? That's so brilliant. I suddenly have this image of her on the dance floor in a slinky dress and swinging a glowing sword. I love it." She looked over at Cathal. "Would you want to come chaperone?"

"Night clubs are really not my scene, and I doubt very much you'd need a chaperone. It's Cordelia's club and even if we were only with her daughter I very much doubt anything untoward is likely to go down. I would guess that any sort of action against the 'boss's' daughter or her friends would have serious consequences for the perpetrator."

"Oh my dear, Catahal. You do realize I was joking about the chaperoning, don't you?" Rhiannon turned to Cassandra. "I guess it will just be us with Charlie and or Codelia"

"Ah well, back to studying." Finishing her lunch, Rhiannon cleaned up her mess and headed up to her room. She had a lot of difficult lessons ahead

Cassandra laughed "Yes, it's a shame, we won't get to see Cathal on the dance floor" she teased Cathal before nodding at Rhiannon "Same for me," she says rising from her seat.

---
Arriving back in her room at 13:10 she decides to meditate until two to get herself back into the right state of mind. Just before it hits two up and stretches before settling back on the bed in a comfortable position, with one last deep breath she begins.

---

15:55 Cassandra opened her eyes with a grin ' Another one bites the dust', she flops backward onto the bed 'one more until I hit 5' she turned onto her side 'I think I should be able to do one more run before dinner, but I think I'll take a quick nap'

Lunch over people leave the dining room, returning to previous tasks.

Time winds forward to approx 19:20 when people begin to arrive for the evening meal.

Dinner is much the same as yesterday evening.

Madison, Isla, and Gabriel arrive just after 7:20, with the others drifting in over the next 5 minutes or so.

The menu tonight is Ministrone soup or carp pate for starter,  roast venison or roast pork with assorted vegetables for main, and summer fruits with cream for desert. There is red or white wine, or mead for those that want it.

Cathal is somewhat as buoyant as ever "So did everyone have a good afternoon? Anyone else close to breaking the magic half hour mark? Guess I'm going to need a lesson in what next from Rhiannon"

Filtering and shielding trump sources was both harder and easier than when she first tried to manifest the pattern. It was not nearly as complicated, but  it was just taking so long, making it exhausting. The good news was that she could take a break and not have to start over. It was dinner time.

Setting leaving everything in place, Rhiannon up and went to dinner at around 7:25. The elder cousins were already there and her peers were filtering in with her. They all looked like they had been struggling, but Cathal seemed happy.

"What put a bee in your bonnet, Cathal?" She took a seat next to him so she could hear his news. "I sense that you might have cracked it? Am I right?"

When asked, Rhiannon ordered the pate with the venison and the fruits for dessert. Red wine would definitely hit the spot.

Rhiannon clapped at the news. "Outstanding." Natsuki asking to join must have meant she had similar success. "And congratulations Natsuki." She sipped her wine.

"Right well, I think maybe we can talk in detail after dinner, but what's next is to use that pattern image to do something useful aside from consuming hours of your day. The center can be used like a lens through which you can see auras. People auras, and power source auras. They appear as shimmers of color around the source. What we have to do as a group is to view each other through that lens and take note of our auras. So you know that I am human and descended from Amber, so I will have those traces in my aura. Cathal is also from the Courts, so he should have something else in his. A random guard will be simply human, so that's how we'll know what the colors mean. The thing is that moving around or possibly even talking can break our concentration, shattering the summoned pattern. So we'll have to play around with it. But that means also that we should plan and discuss before we summon, so we don't have to speak"

"Sounds like a plan. Where do you suggest, one of our rooms, or somewhere else?  Your answer does spark a couple more questions but I'll leave them till later."

"Somewhere where we would all be comfortable, I should think. One of our rooms would be fine. As long as we can perform the pattern summoning."

"I don't think it matters. All the rooms are the same aren't they? Just to make a decision, we can us your room, Cathal."

Cassandra woke up from her 50-minute nap at 16.45 while there is still tiredness clinging to her she was determined to get to the 30-minute mark before she left here which by her calculations meant several more runs before she was there. With a determined nod to herself, she settled into the familiar position and mindset.....

18.09
Thankfully there was still an hour or so till dinner, pulling herself up off the bed, she twisted her torso to the left, hearing her spine give some satisfying pops. She decided to go clean herself up and change into something that wasn't sweaty, and maybe if she had time before dinner she would sketch for a bit.
-----

Cassandra drifted into the dining hall around the same time as everyone else. "Ah almost there another few runs, theoretically I will get them done before we leave... although you may have to drag me through the portal".


Cassandra laughs as she leaves heading back to her room "Have fun you three, let me know if anything exciting happens like loss of limbs"

In reply to Rhiannon Erica Kerrigan (msg # 64):




If there is nothing else then we can move on to what happens post dinner with Rhiannon teaching Cathal and Natsuki...