"I am sorry if you find this odd....but surely you cannot imagine 9 children and one woman were going to storm in and take Amber?"

Twin Sister of Avda of Hendrake. A bit of an oddity in House Hendrake, she has chosen the study of healing magicks over the traditional family profession.

"I have just learned to accept what happens in life and move on, it is a waste of effort and time to do otherwise."

Born into Arakasi, the House of spies, she was sent to Amber during the Patternfall War in the hopes that she could locate and make off with the Jewel of Judgement. She wandered the palace, unable to find the Jewel (it was in use at the time), and soon found herself falling in love with the kingdom at the other end of the universe. She realized, then that she was unable to betray it. Banished for her failure, she roamed Shadow, eventually settling in Amber. She 'went straight', and became an apprentice seamstress, later inheriting a business in the district of Amber City known as Little Chaos.

"Let us see who is the more trusting, the most sincere. Give me the signal, and I will open this seal. My faith is the only thing that protects me."

The daughter of Faiella and one of Oberon's disinherited sons, she was raised in a noble house of Amber as the daughter of a servant. Upon her father's death, the king discovered the secret of her parentage and had her banished from Amber. In the vast expanse of Shadow, she discovered God and faith, later founding her own order, the Cistercians. But despite her newfound faith, Cisteria's memories of the family and her betrayal by her own mother have caused her to harbor a deep-seated hatred toward the royal family and their ways.

"You freely slander this family and this kingdom. You succor and consort with the enemy... the very forces which are currently plotting to unravel creation. You spit on us all and try to undermine the good we, united for once, are trying to accomplish. And yet, you have the gall to come before us, speaking of your innocence? The only reason you still live is because I was curious to find out why you came back."

The mysterious girl rarely emerging from her room is how most of the family knows Desdemona. For the fifty years since her mother Fiona's death, she has rarely seen the sky, preferring life in her rooms and laboratory and receiving only the king and Prince Julian as visitors. The recent troubles have breathed life and purpose into her, and her desire to learn the ways of the universe have carried her farther into the unknown reaches than most would dare go. Her devotion to her family is, as always, her driving force.

"How about telling me what I need to know to avoid looking like a complete idiot?"

Joss is the long-lost son of Gerard, until recently thought to be the deceased son of Gerard. He served a short stint in Amber's navy, unknown to everyone but his father, but he was shipped off into Shadow during the struggle for the throne. When Gerard was named Regent of Amber, he sent for his son, but Joss' journey homeward was interrupted by the Shadowstorm that resulted from Oberon's repair of the Pattern. He found himself in an eddy of Shadow, a sort of Bermuda triangle where wayward ships drifted in and became trapped. Years of residence there gave him some control over the place, though not enough to escape on his own.

"I'm not bothered by any of that formal stuff. It's just a pain in the ass as far as I'm concerned."

While wandering Shadow one day, Kandice came upon a person who appeared to be of substance, but was not from the Courts. They claimed to be from a kingdom called Amber, the one, true kingdom of which all others...you get the picture. She returned to Chaos and told of her discovery to the king, thus the first reported contact between Amber and Chaos. As a reward, she was given her own House, thus creating KandiceWays. She is a favorite of King Swayvil and was recently named the Courts' interim Ambassador to Amber in Merlin's temporary absence.