ILIARA
Recantation
'Tea leaves I've given up,
And that crooked line
On the queen's palm
Is no more my concern.
On my black pilgrimage
This moon-pocked crystal ball
Will break before it help;
Rather than croak out
What's to come,
My darling ravens are flown.
'Forswear those freezing tricks of sight
And all else I've taught
Against the flower in the blood:
Not wealth nor wisdom stands
Above the simple vein,
The straight mouth.
Go to your greenhorn youth
Before time ends
And do good
Key 14. The figure in this card seems at first more a girl than a woman, despite her silver hair. Seated, she seems almost dwarfed by the wedding gown she wears, all lace and crinoline and pearls. Her skin is dark, the color of well-creamed coffee, and her eyes are golden. Her hands, small, delicate and artistic, manage to give the impression, even in a card, that they are always moving. Her entire visage is one of peace and tranquility. There is a large blue bowl at her feet in which one of her bare feet soaks, and the other foot is laid gently and seemingly without pain upon a bed of coals. In her right hand she holds a pitcher as if to pour more water into the bowl, and in her left she holds a paintbrush. Iliara is the oldest living child and only daughter of Queen Dara. Her father was the Chaos lord Borel Hendrake, and Iliara, like Merlin, was born before the Breaking of the World and the redrawing of the Great Pattern. Lacking personal ambition, Iliara prefers to live her life in seclusion in a comfortable shadow near to Amber. There she constructs works of impossible skill and beauty and offers a haven to any in need. Iliara is not political and will aid and harbor anyone who asks so long as they treat her with respect. She is also not usually averse to reading the fortunes of others or to drawing Trumps for anyone who desires one.
In fact, recently, Iliara's neutrality has come into question. Some, especially those loyal to the Queen, feel that she is far too neutral, and that the time has come for Dara's daughter to decide where her true loyalty lies.