Audience with the High King. Hard.

At Dreamsoft, people are freaking out in the hallways, calling in all the information they can. Faris tells everyone how heroic Rey was. Rey is pleased, because that's reputation he can cash in on. He's also pleased to receive a $500 candy store gift card, and even more pleased when he discovers that the tale is ticking off some of the more arrogant Sidhe, who are grumpy about a Pooka showing them up. He starts regaling children with the story.

Sonya calls on the nearest Fianna Galliard to give her the story, then tells her, "We need information." The Galliard tells them about fae and Fomorians. Together, they theorize about what might have happened. Etherites are attractive to fae. Perhaps a Fomorian was able to free itself enough to channel itself through Evil Ambrose's dreams.

The Hermetic comes back to give Ambrose the box back. Apparently, the Avatar isn't Nephandic. Maybe someone was using him to summon the thing? At a loss for what else to do with a lurking Avatar, he suggests they put it back. "Maybe it manifested from you and whatever happens to it, happens to you," he offers to Ambrose.

"You know, Hermetics can be very unpleasant people sometimes," Ambrose grumbles.

The Garou dress for the audience. "S'pose I'll have to wear my Sunday best," Jonas sighs. "I wonder, early Sunday or late Sunday..."
"Try Easter," Sonya tells him firmly.
"Oh man!"

Mark stops by to warn Ambrose about his apparent draw with the wrong sort of people. Ambrose tells him about the MiBs from the day before, and the strange pin they both wore on their collars: a tower, crown and sword. It occurs to him suddenly that they might be part of Tillingtast's clique. On another note, he considers putting a compass on the Avatar box so it can point where it wants to go, if it so chooses. Mark is aghast, but Ambrose explains he just doesn't want to drag an Avatar around where it doesn't want to go. He asks the chantry head about it, who's unsure of the wisdom of communicating with Avatars via compass.

"Well, it's not right to just leave it in a box," Ambrose points out. "But it could be dangerous to let it out. So I figured this would be a happy medium." The chantry head sighs over Etherites, and suggests he talk to a Mind or Correspondence mage about communicating with the thing.

Ambrose --like most Etherites just as excited about formal parties as wild adventures--dresses to the nines: waistcoat, tails and all.

The Garou, having some experience at the proprieties of visiting powerful supernatural beings, arrange a gift of fine liquor for their host. Sonya barders stories to the Fianna in return for some aged scotch.

Everyone meets at Dreamsoft, and Faris takes them via trod. Ambrose demonstrates the compass-box, just so everybody's aware that he's carrying around an Avatar.

The High King's great castle of Tara is hidden behind the facade of an Adirondacks resort. They're escorted in to their rooms and given a loose itinerary. They're to meet the king, have dinner with the high court, an audience before Parliament, and then there's to be a ball on the third day.

"I didn't bring anything to wear!" Aila laments. But that's no problem--the wardrobes are magical. The majordomo throws hers open to reveal ball gowns. "How can I fight in this?" Aila wonders.

"Don't be naive," Sonya answers. "We don't fight in anything."

Rey is grumpy about having to look fancy. On the other hand, they have bells to summon servants for any need, and bowls that fill with whatever you like to eat--which means Rey's is overflowing with sweets. He likes that!

Aila sums up, "This place is awesome...oh, these beds are comfortable!"

On their way to meet the High King, they walk past murals of the Accordance War. Ambrose notices the picture of Caliburn, which prompts him to ask about Oberon and the sidhe. The other fae explain to him about sidhe and their reincarnation trouble.

The great hall is naturally magnificent. They're introduced to King David and tell him about the Autumn Queen. He asks Ambrose about his "special favor" with her. "She smiled at me," Ambrose recalls, with a shy smile. "And waved!" Murmurs go through the assembled court. Apparently the fae find that impressive.

The king clears the court, then, and asks them about the Fomorian. He talks with Rey about his newfound folk hero status and desires to knight him--on account, David says, of it irritating Duke Dray. Rey reluctantly agrees. "I confess, I have mixed feelings."
"I trust not regretful ones."
"Oh no," Rey assures the king. "Not regretful ones."

David talks to Jared about his repeated involvement with this group, commenting, "Telling." When he asks about the Circus, Rey answers. "I'm not often moved to honesty, but that place was as close to Hell as I've ever seen." David asks them again what they thought of the Autumn Queen. Ambrose raves politely about her. He thinks she meant well. Sonya thinks she's mad, and tells the king about the ring she wears that's part of the Hunger Stone. Ambrose prints out a copy of the document he got in the Circus.

Ambrose shows David the box after David asks him about his double. He wants to talk to Evil Ambrose. David asks, "Is that...a compass?"
"Yep!" Ambrose answers cheerfully.

David remains curious why Astarte waved at Ambrose. Rey and Jared prepare for their ceremonies; Rey goes for amusement value.

That night, Rey has a vision: a battlefield of fae, no later than the Middle Ages, in England. People in the battle keep yelling toward him for something, but he can't hear them.

When he wakes, he stands in the hall in his pajamas, pondering this while sucking on butterscotch. Jonas wanders by to chat, saying he's uncomfortable with sleeping alone in a big room.

The next day, the knighting of a commoner is big news. The Pooka eat it up. Rey hams it through the ceremony, just skirting the line of acceptability. He is knighted as "Sir Reynard the Up-front," which the Pooka find the most hilarious thing ever. It's etched into the sword the king presents to him: "Sir Rey the Up-front, Scourge of the Frost Queen." The Crystal Circle mumbles among itself.

As a knight pledged to the High King, Rey is a satellite member of House Gwydion, though he isn't required to take its oaths. He's given a suit of armor, which cheeses him off.

After lunch, Parliament meets. The group is summoned to the antechamber for consultation at the Parliament's pleasure. Rey naps.

And dreams: very very long ago, knights on horseback approach a wintery landscape.
He wakes grumbling.

Jonas wonders if it's odd. Rey grumbles about white woods. Ambrose reminds the fae that they told him about one when they found that cracked-open tree in that Welsh dream-asylum. Jared places it: Winterwere, Queen Lir, ruler of the Fuach, a half-Fomorian sorceress.

Evil Ambrose is escorted in, and then back out again a little while later. They call Ambrose in to see the box with his Avatar in it. Duke Dray tells him they think that Evil Ambrose was created by fairie magic rather than...however the Mirror Maze usually works.

Ambrose is sent back out, and the Garou are called in. Duke Dray keeps referring to them as "prodigals," which Sonya tells him is rude. He asks how they know their Ambrose is the real one. Aila responds that theirs smells right. He asks what they think of him. Sonya tells him that mages are dangerous. They bend fortune and fate around them. "So they like to say," sneers Dray. "So my Elders say," Sonya responds pointedly. He asks what their Elders think of their dealings with the fae. "They've said little," Sonya answers. "It's obvious to the Garou that we're in the midst of destiny. What happens, will."

The Garou are dimissed, and the fae are called in. The Ailil commend Jared before the Parliament, which Dray scoffs at, prompting the Ailil spokesman to respond, "Really." Dray complains that the Ailil are threatening him. A Pooka motions that Dray "sit on it." A second seconds, "Hard." A third produces a harrumphing machine, at which point the High King calls for a return to sanity.

They ask the fae about Ambrose and Astarte and get responses similar to the Garou's. The fae are dismissed.

The pack is called back in and shown an image of one of those odd magic vampires they fought in Chicago. The Garou confirm that it's what they fought. Aila asks what it is. A vote is made on whether to share the information, which is successful, so they're told it's a type of vampire called a Kiasyd, a sort of half-fae vampire experiment of the Tremere. They can be killed like normal vampires, and like fae.

They go back to the point of the cracked-open tree. Sonya explains the theory about the Fomorian channeling itself through the dreaming Evil Ambrose, and suggests that might be due to his method of creation. If the fae are right, that may even be why he was created. He could be a gateway to allow Astarte to walk out in the world to spread her message. The fae figure they'd best keep Evil Ambrose, then.

They return to the antechamber and hear an argument begin to build in the Parliament chamber; cries rise of "That's not possible!" and "You can't!" Then they all Ambrose and the others back to re-explain the theory Sonya just proposed to them, much to her amusement. Ambrose and Aila explain about Cara and the White Priestess. Her mystic position is such that Astarte's influence could have created Evil Ambrose unconsciously to suit her needs. The fae say they want to reach her through Evil ambrose, but they must call to her true nature to reach past the Circus's corruption and her madness. They lay a duty on the group, to find the 27 songs composed in her honor which will call her back to her self. They are lost, but "we've been told that at points, you may come across these. We would like you to gather them when you do."

They return to talk about Ambrose and the gateway. "You Etherites do loan yourselves to the Dreaming. More than other Traditions..."
"Well," says Ambrose with a sigh.
The King amends, "The Verbena..."
"I was thinking of the Cultists, actually," Ambrose cuts in.
"Well. Yes."
A Pooka with a gavel says, "Oh hohohoho. Yeah."

Dray comments about the Garou being "noble beasts, needing only a guiding hand..." and finds five suddenly angry Garou staring at him. A Nunnehi representative cuts in to save Dray's life, and when Dray continues, he's more conciliatory. Someone makes a side comment about the "Hidden Ones," against which Ambrose defends himself: "They're stalking me!" Jonas makes one of his patented gay sex jokes, and then, miraculously, brings everyone back to the topic at hand.
"The Autumn Queen--the burning, smoking, stunning hot Autumn Queen (a Satyr cuts in: "Yeah")--wants Ambrose. Does that strike anyone as wrong? I mean, look at him!" Ambrose bristles, defending his ability to get a date. "you think women with goggles and electrical devices are attractive."
"Yeah," agrees Ambrose, looking pleased.

They discuss how Ambrose seems to keep drawing strange things to him, and how he's apparently some sort of nexus or gate. Jonas complains about the fae not weighing in on the Ascension War if they hate the Technocracy so much. Heck, Iterators apparently blow up just from looking at them!
"Not lately," Ambrose notes, then realizes something. "Damn. That's probably my fault. That Iterator I kept from going Marauder? She shared that with Iteration X. Sorry, guys. You've got an entire Convention that's reached a level of unbelief no mage has ever reached before."
This causes dismay, but the fae do agree that they should talk to the Traditions.

Then there's some worry about Cavendish, and more discussion of the Circus. The Nunnehi comment on their notable nature, and Sonya points out their totem and its relation to Aila, who tries to beg off. Sonya points out that she's more Croatan than any living Garou. "Don't you think so, Turtle?" Turtle nods.

The fae explain that they must repay the debt of the help the pack has agreed to give them, and they prefer to do it before it's owed. A Nunnehi brings out a medicine back. Found long ago, he says that no one has been able to open it. "It has been mentioned," he continues with a glance at the Crystal Circle behind the High King, "that you're the ones to open it. It's believed to contain sanity. Peace." It was found in the frozen north, he tells them, hinting that it might even be Sasquatch's sanity, and hands them the bag.

The fae don't get presents. "Of course you'll do this for the Dreaming."

To Ambrose, the High King says, "You're so screwed, we're just helping you out. But you can always ask for help if you need it. Within reaon, you know."

A Pooka stands. "I woudl like to request I be allowed to leave since I am not a Pooka and have been here the entire time." When everyone turns to look at him, he books for the door. It's Tim! he's the one who kept standing up and saying, "Haaaard."

Well, that's done. They're thanked and dismissed, in time to go to lunch. Rey refers to his new armor as "GDA," the goddamn armor. He gets many invitations to the ball.

Ambrose wants to talk to his double, whom he catches up with after lunch. "Evil" Ambrose is groovy with the situation; he tells Ambrose he doesn't envy him having to go out and deal with all this while he gets to hang out in the lap of luxury with Nockers. He apologizes for the evil book and all the trouble.

He warns Ambrose that there's some kind of power struggle in the Circus. Devyn's skimming from the books, trying to hoard power to become some kind of god or demon. Ambrose realizes suddenly that the Mirror Maze = Labyrinth. Both of them are repulsed by the thought, and decide to keep it quiet. Ambrose offers to help with the Avatar ("I've forgotten math," his doppelganger tells him. "I need it back." Poor Ambrose is horrified), and gives his double the box. He hasn't seen his Avatar yet; they're both curious whether it's the same, so he tells Ambrose he'll call when he finds out. Neither of them are quite sure how to work out what really happened.

Rey grumbles more about the armor, and has another dream: It's cold and he still can't understand the people around him. They speak to him as if he's their friend, and call him by a name that isn't Rey's but that seems familiar. They're fighting Fomorians; Rey pins one to a tree with his sword--the same sword he has now.

When Rey wakes, the sword is surrounded with a fading glow. He talks to Jonas in the hall again, and decides he'd better speak to Faris. Ambrose comes by, wondering if he can contact his double sometimes and whether they'll still feel the same thins. "It's kind of like having a twin, after he gets over the whole 'take over your life' thing."

The ladies at the ball are entirely charmed by Rey, and then it's back to Chicago. Rey tells Faris about the dreams and the sword on the way.