Shen looked deeply the card Luke had given him, being careful not to animate it but still finding himself entranced by the image. Luke had captured him in paint and paper, and the Rheari, as well, to which the artist had never been. The work was beautiful, the colors so rich, even in their pale greys and greens, the details so alive, it was almost as if Shen could take parhen in the grasses shown there. It was so remenisent of his birthplace as to nearly bring him to tears if he thought too forlornly upon it.

Despite the mesmorizing quality with which his home shadow was represented, the image on the trump was clearly dominated by his form. The Rheari was represented, but the card was of Shenrakari, substance and spirit, animal and immortal. The stories he had shared with Luke during their time seemed somehow infused into the strokes on the card, although Shen considered this might simply be his association between the tales of his earliest memories and the memorable and reflective process of the sitting.

He had spent some thought on the dangers of having trumps made of him. There were now five of them in existence, and, according to theory, there always would be. Those holding them could not simply rip them up or burn them if the threat of their being taken from them arose. Perhaps, he had thought, only someone with physical access to the Pattern, and the time to get to it, would have any chance of preventing a card from falling into malignant possession. Knowing as little as he did about trump, Shen was aware that someone more familiar with them than he, if they managed to gain control of one of the cards, could use it to attempt to harm him.

This notwithstanding, Shen decided it was worth it. Nariaken and the rest of his tribe had felt too far away for too long, and he had hoped that this might be a step toward keeping them closer. Besides, he wanted to know that she would have a chance, at least, of reaching him should she ever have the need. He tried not to think that if he had only pushed to do this sooner, certain losses might not have occured...

It was really for Nari that this had been done, and for the hope of bringing his two worlds at least a bit nearer to each other, at least in his mind. Had there been only one trump, as Luke has originally misled Shen to believe, Nari would have gotten it. As it turns out, Luke later had the grace to not only mention the four additional copies, but let Shen decide to whom two of them would go. Shen had felt Salome was an important choice for the first, and for the other had been torn between Griffin and Leiko, eventually leaning to the latter. Luke had kept his copies for himself and Cecily, with which Shen was more than satisfied. Both were people he felt should be able to reach him if they ever had the need, and were in touch enough with the rest of the group, generally speaking, that they could extend that ability if necessary. The mutual link between he and Luke, of whom Shen had kept a trump, was something else that seemed like it might be of use.

Now, Shen sat and unwound from his visit with Leiko, during which the pair wandered out of Amber just enough to test Leiko's understanding of animating his new trump. Shen prepared himself for his second return to the Rheari, upon which he and Salome had planned to embark in the morning. His last visit had found his village less than well, although it was clear that they were surviving, at least, and looking for a new situaion. He contemplated his ideas about how he might assist them in that regard, as well.

Shen also thought for awhile on the travel itself. Unlike his first return home, made via the Pattern's unique effect, this journey would take him to the Rheari via a path he'd never taken before: that of actually shifting shadow to get there. Shen imagined changing Arden into the Rheari, aspect by aspect, tree by tree and stone by stone. He understood the idea, and had even practiced his shadow shifting quite a bit, but the concept was still sat uneasily with him. How could he shift into a shadow with the right stars? Or into a shadow where the winds blew exactly as they must? Experience had taught him that these details seemed to sort themselves out somehow; in your mind you know where it is you wish to go and who and what you must find there, and focus on the aspects of it that you can call to mind. The rest seem to take care of themselves, unless you deliberately want to change them. It just worked.

Shen was pleased to be travelling with Salome. Honestly, it was probably the first real span of time they would spend together since Shen was a tiny child. Honestly, that was a little overwhelming. Time hadn't really given Shen the luxury to find out very much about his mother so far. The repair and management of Amber was demanding on everyone, especially with things in their current state. There had been too much to do, too many more important matters than re-establishing family relationships.

Shen paused for a moment to wonder if that was what went wrong in Amber the first time.

Salome had, since his return, been very warm and loving in her words with him, but also somewhat distant and private as far as sharing the particulars of her own life. Even to Shen, whose people usually remain strong and spry well into their elder years, having a mother who looked and sometimes even acted so youthfully put an odd spin on their relationship. Perhaps he was just reacting to the absence of a parental role from her. After all, she hadn't really raised him, so she made no presumptions, thankfully, about trying to start doing so now. But that was just it, they reached the point slow in coming in many parent-child relationships where it becomes almost one of peers, except they never worked through the parent-child part. The result was a strange duality in Shen were he almost felt a deeply rooted need to cling to his long lost mother, but also a well established understanding that she was essentially a stranger, and one with a background and thinking very different from his own.

He was grateful that Salome had spent the time in the Rheari that she had, lived with Eris for as long as she did, and even had the reasons for coming there that she had. It helped Shen to know that, different from him though she may be, she at least knew ways of the Rheari, and its people, and knew them well. It enabled him to feel at least largely understood by someone else who was involved with Amber and all of the issues it brought. In this way, Salome was also a big part of the unification of his worlds and his life.

Shen hoped the journey home would be a nice blend of the elements of his life that represented this unification. He looked forward to the time with Salome and with Nari, both in the home in which they all, at least at one time, belonged, and time to discuss the future and deliver the trump. He was, of course, a bit concerned about what he might find upon his arrival, but there was not much else he could have done. He simply had to hope for the best.

It was late, and Shen was ready for sleep. He cleared his mind, settled into a short parhen, and laid down to rest and dream of taking it again, before long, in the grasses of home once again.