I spoke briefly with Engela; unfortunate, that she is unable to accompany us to Arcadia. In many ways, she has been far more useful than Rex, and the main reason I've tolerated Rex's presence to date. I took over guiding the ship through Shadow, and taught Ariadne how to traverse Shadow over the next few hours.
The most important revelations of that leg of the journey came from Sean and Nayda, who came up to speak to me as I continued to guide the ship towards Arcadia. Nayda revealed that she knew where Coral was, and I was torn with a moment of indecision. Should I let Nayda guide us straight to Coral, or press on to Arcadia? I decided on the latter, for two reasons. First, if my plan was successful, I would have independent verification prior to trusting Nayda. Second...Nayda had been held prisoner when Dalt offered that information. Dalt would thus be the most current source. There was a third reason, but it was more sentimental, and thus minor. Dalt had lost his life due to my plan, and thus lost his opportunity to take revenge against Amber. If I was successful, I could offer his shade the chance to make one final blow against them.
The second piece of information was the implication that Corwin's son Merlin, and not Rinaldo, was the person who coupled with Coral at the center of Begma's Broken Pattern. I was dubious at first, but on reflection I feel it to be a credible possibility.
Nayda also hypothesized that the ritual used to destroy Begma could also be used to shield a Broken Pattern - on that issue, I am far more reluctant to believe her. The citing of Corwin as a character witness did little to sway me towards her side. I agreed to consider the option (I didn't have much of a choice but to consider it).
The most shocking information, however, was imparted by Sean. He stated that there is a second Pattern, and implied that is was Corwin's creation. Given that Amber's Pattern has at least three different manifestations (four, if you write Begma off as a lost cause)...I shudder to consider the larger implications of a third power involved in this struggle. The nature of a triangle means that no matter which direction you face, two of three can strike at you from behind. I retired early, to consider the ramifications.