The Moot

Horns blow and howls rise: the moot is called. The Corax gives a high-speed recital of her news. "It'll be a Galliard's deed by itself to remember that."

Sergei stands to remind them, "Prophecies are useful, but lock yourselves into them and you become weak." Then he turns to confront Jungle's Fury. "Why are you here?"

She thinks she was sent by Gaia, but she's terribly vague on the details. Her half-assed answers and self-contradictions begin to annoy Sergei, who looks like he's hovering halfway between amused and ready to kill when Sonya cuts in, prompting the Balam to tell the tale about her mentor sending her that she previously told Sonya. She tells a story about her mentor sending her, but it's not the one she gave Sonya, which does not make for a happy Shadow Lord.

Walking Hawk chimes in. He was "otherwise occupied" when the Croatan fought, but he knows the ritual to bring them back. Jonas opens his mouth to shout "BINGO!" when he feels Sergei looming behind him. "Let me get you a more respectful paper for your prophecy," Sergei suggests, pulling the one Jonas has doodled on out of his hands. Walking Hawk tells them he will help when he can, but his time on earth is limited.

The Wendigo remand Dances for the Spirits to the pack, because they'll need a Wendigo to help sing the Croatan Song. The pack tells them about the Sept of the Still Waters and Wonshii's journal. Sergei wonders: is 'Croatan's home' the caern, or the Homeland? The Garou who go there only see ghosts. The last visit was by some drunk Get, who never came back. Sergei looks at Aila. "Again, you are uniquely positioned. You seem reluctant to acknowledge this. I stress: false modesty or cowardice must end now." Aila clams up and looks shifty and grudging.

Sonya knows the "lord of the land": Rastov. She has been tracking his involvement since all this began. Sergei knows him, too. "Dracula's boy. Old boy." Olesya tells about their latest run-in with his couriers and Giovanni. Sonya fills it about Dr. Sinris and what Ambrose told them about Goratrix and the book.

"Well," says Sergei. "If it's faerie, then why doesn't our visitor tell us." He reaches out and rips someone out of the Umbra--a shifter who smells like faerie kin. Irish, by his accent as he pleads with Sergei not to hurt him. Sergei forces him into a seat. The guy, who says he's a werecat, warns them about the risks of putting a True Fae back together. After trying briefly to talk his way out (which is utterly unsuccessful), he tells them he was sent by the Dreaming--Luna in her Dreaming guise. He tells them that Ambrose being involved is a clue to where the faerie should be put back together.

Sonya recalls the vision of Victoria Station. "The queen's carriage house," someone points out. Then the bastet decides to sit quietly till the scary Garou gives him permission to leave. Sergei declares a break after hassling him, and drags him off, looking like what Sonya describes as "practically jolly. For Sergei." The pack takes the intermission to call Ambrose about Victoria Station.

A little while later, Sergei comes back with a shaken-looking Bastet, and says he's confident their visitor is telling the truth.

Wanders the South, a Wendigo Theurge, identifies another point: the Apex of History, a Realm where a climber reaches the top and sees their version of the end of the world. They call Ambrose about it; he knows about it from Alexis Hastings' book, one of the Vistas. He tells them he's on the way to England, for which Jonas mocks him--his usual "gay mage wants you for a love toy" comments, at which point Ambrose hangs up on him.

The Get start getting rowdy. Their pack's Ahroun keeps offering--insisting, really--on some stupid interpretations of bits of the prophecy, interrupting people when he doesn't like their ideas. Sonya deals with it before Sergei decides he should, by letting him express his opinions and humiliate himself in public. then she thanks him for his time.

Walking Hawk gives them a spirit axe, which damages a possessing force without harming the host. He also gives them Dead Paint, which is fetish paint the Wendigo made from a Wendigo's pain in order to track down their killer. This is the Dead Pain of Little Fox, he tells them, the sorrow of the Wendigo tribe at their loss for Middle Brother. It will help them track clues. Aila stammers her thanks and then apologizes. Sergei sighs heavily. "Video games will ruin your eyes," he tells her. Jonas snarks across the pack's mental link. Aila laughs, RF comments, and Sonya clears her throat.

The moot begins to wrap up. Aila asks the Cielican--Phineas Sullivan--if he knows any songs about Astarte. He knows one. The Corax returns with more coffee. They talk with her about the Black Spirals. She says she'll see what she can turn up on them.

Then they see Mark talking to Walking Hawk, who looks extremely uncomfortable when Mark pulls out a book and asks for his autograph.