A Case Of Trust

Sanguine. Bloody, yes. Optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation, no.
 
The 36 hours has stirred in me something between disquiet and dread. It is obvious--and I believe everyone sees it--that a force/cabal/interest is moving specifically against Amber and our infrastructure. This is not the out-and-out warfare of the war with Chaos. This is bloody terrorism, and the terrorists have some new/old power we have no defense against. Not yet. Their ability to slip in and away in a heartbeat doesn't even register on our senses, magical or otherwise.
 
How do you fight against something like that?
 
They haven't even released a manifesto or demands or anything that outlines why they're doing this. They are running this underground, which, damn them, is smart. The more who know a secret, the sooner it will be known to all. It is a plural entity. I'm fairly certain of that.
 
What we know so far is:
 

They are utilizing some sort of transportation power that is unknown to us. It has to be based on something, though, even if Aunt Fi can't sense it. It doesn't run on Logrus or Pattern, but that's not the limit of powers in the metaverse.

The attacks are specific. Their targets are both in the public eye and serve as warning that Amber cannot protect its own let alone the general public.

They have a historically Amberite mindset which considers those outside their group as not worth consideration. Their lives are grist for the mill. Consider the savagery of the attacks on the caravan and especially the shipyard. If the ships were the primary focus, they ringleaders could have blown them up without such a cost of life. Since that wasn't the case, the attack was statement, and a vicious one at that.

They did something which pissed off Dalt. The information I have on Dalt is extremely slim, but generally his rage is focused on Amber, and specifically the Family. I surmise that the terrorists tangled with something within his purview, and he took umbrage. Or they made overtures to him, as kindred spirits, and they were close enough to the Family that it set him off instead. I lean toward the former only because he didn't attack me, even after I importuned him, so he's not without reason. What is interesting is that Red Mask begged Ty and Blake to help her get away from the madman. As if she was surprised Dalt came for her. As the kids say, LOL.

Both Red and Black Mask are female facing. They have a thing about matching catsuits, which is, frankly, stupid on their part.

All this does nothing to disprove my hunch that the BTA is involved. Jasra and Julia fit all the criteria. A possible source for the power could be the Keep. It feels unlikely that Jasra or Julia would dip their toes into that particular power source (after what happened to Brand), but when grasping for greater power, would they leave one in Jasra's control untapped? I'm trying to not focus on Jasra, Julia and the BTA. We don't have enough information to nail them to the crimes, even though the attacks do benefit them directly. In the absence of any other group we are aware of who might profit by the attacks, they must be our focus. No, they're not the only group. I would consider the remnants of old Kashfa's family. Both Amber and BTA screwed them over because we wanted their mineral resources.
 
And this brings me to my issues around trust. Who can I trust? Or we, rather. We have the new entries to the family. Blake has ties to the BTA, and probably no love for Amber. Bleys placed us all in a very bad light with Blake. If basic respect of personhood can't even be managed, why would he stick with us? Again, the Elder's propensity for seeing everyone as not worth consideration has bitten us in the arse. I thought Blake was going to try to blast Bleys there and then. On top of that, Blake seems to be respected by the BTA--Jasra and Julia specifically. Respect goes a long way. If I am right, all that Blake has seen in this side of the Family is extreme entitlement. Is that the norm? Of course. Is it something that hurts us? Yes it really does. Will it change? Probably not, as the Elders don't see a problem. It isn't as if I can drag them to therapy.
 
How about Theo? I have barely exchanged a handful of words with him, but trust isn't something that is second nature to him. Even if he had an abundance of trust, being yanked out of his world and into our freaky-deaky renfaire without so much as a "by your leave" doesn't instill anyone with good feelings. Thanks, Dworkin. Dworkin has an excuse, though. He's insane. The one thing we know about Theo is that he's a extremely well-trained killer, much like Blake. Watching them work the ambush scene made that abundantly apparent. When one is always looking over one's shoulder, one has issues with trust. Everyone's an enemy and a target. Which all comes back to around to the fact that we don't know enough about them or the way they'll land to put our trust in them. Theo might not have backing by the BTA, but it doesn't follow that he's willing to follow the Royal Family with any loyalty. At best, the gentlemen are neutral parties.
 
Lastly, we can't trust our Elders. Not that they're consciously working against Amber's interests, but their old worldviews make them our own worst enemies. Bleys and his inability to respect anyone's person. Caine's inability to see anything but targets. I wasn't expecting him to go after Dalt like a hound after a rabbit, which in retrospect was a miscalculation on my part. Fiona has a difficult time seeing possibilities of power or ways of living that aren't based in the static nature of what is and used to be. She's the avatar of the Pattern, and it doesn't give her any flexibility of mindset. Even mom, who is known for her flexibility as a survival skill, can't see possibilities out of the hierarchical norms. I could go on.
 
I respect Random's giving us the job, unprepared as we are, simply because we can look outside the box if needed. Even we "young ones" see everything as rocks befitting our particular hammers.
 
Does this mean that our attackers have a rightful grudge against us? Quite possibly, but until they announce their demands, no dialogue is possible. All we can do is try to stop the bleeding. And suss out their next target. All of this means we can't lean on our parents/aunts/uncles in this matter. They're not suited. We might not be either--I certainly don't feel that I am--but there is no one else. I think the question we "kids" have to ask ourselves is: What do we hope to achieve in fighting back the terrorism? Return the status quo? Understand the issues we've ignored for too long? Or simply retribution against our enemies? This is important for us to know.
 
Thus, pot of coffee in hand, I'm in the small library trying to figure out what public location with military or faith significance within the GCKs might be. This is an exercise of searching for a needle in a haystack. But it's the only defense we have to mitigate the bleeding.
 
I do not feel up to this challenge.