From catwoman@indy.net
Fri May 10 11:07:04 1996
Subject: [AM] Karina's story (fwd)
 
 
Karina rushed in the house, yelling out "Mom? Dad?" No answer, her own 
words echoed in the empty house. She grinned. She knew they would be out 
for awhile & that would give her time to do what she wanted to do. She 
went up to her room & laid down her flute, she had just come home from 
her flute lesson. Her world seemed full of lessons lately. She had 
always been interested in music & lately she seemed to crave wanting to 
learn new musical instruments. She already was a very good piano player 
& had learned the drums, the guitar, & her latest passions were the 
harp & the flute. Her father had insisted that she balance her music 
with something that would provide her with excercise as well so she had 
also begun fencing lessons a few years ago as that intrigued her as did 
medieval history.
 
She walked down to her fathers study. She had already searched the rest 
of the house for her birthday present & had come up with nothing. This 
was her last hope. Her 18th birthday was today & her parents had been 
hinting that they had something especially wonderful to celebrate this 
special year. She could just wait til tonight, but somehow, Karina could 
never wait. She had to know now. While her parents had always been very 
nice to her & had always given her everything they could, there always 
seemed to be a wall between them & karina, a differance. Karina just put 
it down to the fact that she was adopted. She had always known that she 
had been adopted when she was just a few months old, but all her parents 
knew about her real mother was that she had been dying when she had 
given Karina up for adoption. Karina knew she would eventually try to 
find out more, but her life was so full these days she had decided it 
could wait a bit longer.
 
She walked into her fathers study. It was a sparsely furnished room with 
just the desk & file cabinet & a few bookshelves. There was also a 
fireplace with a couple of chairs in front of it & her father's one 
luxury in the room, a bearskin rug in front of the fireplace. Karina 
knew the one place there would be anything hidden would be in the file 
cabinet & that was locked. but Karina again grinned slyly. One day a few 
years ago she had discovered a movable brick in that fireplace & it held 
a key that she thought would unlock the filing cabinet. She went now to 
that brick & moved it & removed the key, all the while listening for her 
parents, although she knew she had some time before they were due home 
from work. She went to the filing cabinet & held her breath as she 
fitted the key into the lock & tried to turn it. It worked! She had 
known it would.
 
As she started thru the top drawer of the cabinet she saw that it was 
filled with files that appeared to be business files. She closed that 
drawer & went onto the next one. These appeared to be financial files so 
she also closed that drawer. She then pulled open the bottom drawer. It 
appeared to be full of momentos & such that her parents had saved ovcer 
the years. But wait....what was this? A file with her name on it? She 
pulled it out & opened it up. Oh, it was her adoption papers & birth 
certificate saying that she was now the daughter of Gayle & Ted  Stone. 
But what was this underneath it? She gasped. It was her original birth 
certificate. The date of birth was the same but under the mother's name 
it said Diana Heartland. And her fathers name was there! So her parents 
had lied when they had said they didn't know who her father was. Corey 
Amber was what it said. Amber, that rang a faint bell. Maybe her parents 
knew who that was & thought that her father wouldn't be good for her. 
but if they lied about this, couldn't they have lied about other things 
as well? Maybe her parents were still alive! There was nothing else in 
the folder. Karina laid it aside & continued thru the drawer. She 
reached into the back & there felt something cloth covered, in velvet, 
deep black velvet she saw, as she pulled it out, tied together with a 
silver cord.
 
On top was a letter that was addressed to her in handwriting she didn't 
recognize. She opened it up.
 
"My dearest daughter" it began "If you are reading this then your 
adoptive parents have kept there promise to me & you are now 18 & ready 
for the truth. I have long since died of cancer & so can not fulfill the 
promise I made your father so long ago, that you would receive this 
package unopened on your 18th birthday. Know that I loved you, my little 
one, & know that your father & I loved each other, but he had things to 
do. He always promised to be back when, or if he could. But he did stay 
long enough to see you born. His little Karina, who looks so much like 
him. Even when you were born, you had his bright green eyes & black 
hair. So open this package, even I do not know what it contains. He said 
I would be better off not knowing much about his past, but that you, as 
his daughter had to know. It is your heritage. I wish I could be there 
to see you all grown up. Just know that even now, I love you."
                                               Your Mother
 
Karina brushed the tears from her eyes as she felt the love of the woman 
who had given birth to her. Then her eyes turned towards the package in 
front of her. She slowly unfolded the soft black cloth. Inside were two 
small boxes & another letter. One box was black wood & the other was a 
silver jewelers box. She opened the letter first.
 
"My little Karina, this is your heritage. First opent the silver box & 
inside you will find my 18th birthday gift to you. I had it made the day 
you were born, to match a favorite piece of my own. Then open the black 
box & inside you will find some cards with pictures. Look thru them, 
find the one that draws you the most & concentrate. You will then find 
your true heritage. One day, my daughter I will return to you. Know that 
in my own way, I do love you."
                      Your Father
                      Prince Corwin of Amber
 
Karina looked at the boxes before her. She took the silver box in her 
hands & opened it. She gasped. Inside was the most beautiful silver 
locket pendant she had ever seen. It was shaped like a silver rose. She 
opened the locket. On one side was a petite little lady with beautiful 
blonde hair & blue eyes & inscribed on the picture was "Diana". It was a 
picture of her mother. On the opposite side was a handsome man & Karina 
was shocked to see that she was looking into an almost mirror image of 
herself. And inscribed on the bottom of that picture it said "Corwin". 
She closed the locket & placed it around her neck.
 
She waited for a few minutes as the excitement of the last few minutes 
all of a sudden seemed to catch up to her. She had no idea if her 
adoptive parents had ever intended to give these things to her. They had 
lied about knowing who her father was & they had never let on that one 
day she might know more. She drew a deep breath & went to open the black 
wooden box. She drew out the cards inside & started to look thru them. 
They seemed like Tarot cards, but she had never seen pictures so 
lifelike as those she saw in this deck. Also, there seemed to be more 
cards then there are in a normal tarot deck. Her eyes widened as she saw 
a picture of her father in them. She concentrated hard on it & she felt 
something, & then it was gone. She sighed. She had failed at whatever he 
wanted her to do. She halfheartedly looked thru the cards again. She saw 
many beautiful men & women, some who looked kind & others who looked 
downright cruel & made her shudder. Then she flipped the cards & saw one 
that she had at first overlooked. This man had kind eyes, very blue & 
sandy hair. His eyes seemed to look into her soul & she continued to 
stare. Her surroundings started to dim around her & the cards seemed to 
grow cold. She gripped them tighter, afraid that she would drop them 
with the sensations she was feeling. She heard a voice "Who's there?" 
She almost dropped the cards in surprise. "My name is Karina, my father 
told me to search for my heritage thru the cards." "Who is your father?" 
the voice asked. "Prince Corwin of Amber" Karina replied. The voice 
chuckled "My, my, you will be a surprise." He said "Come, grasp my hand, 
my dear cousin. Come to Amber" Karina reached out & took his hand. One 
way or another, she was going on an adventure.
 
Karina
 
---------------------------------------------------------
 
NRPG: I decided to leave it up to you Chris as to where & when I appear 
as I have read Judi's post & was unsure when you might want them to 
happen. Btw, my character will be dressed in black stirrup pants & a 
black skintight top with a low cleavage with the silver locket around 
her neck. She has long black hair, very straight & hiplength & bright 
green eyes. She is very pretty & has a very slender but well 
proportioned body.