They Walk: to the apex of history

Back at home, Ambrose and Mark file reports and are informed that they'll be getting a visit from House Quaesitor. Oh joy.

Well, it's better than the Euthanatos.

The pack tells the tale to the sept, filling them in on the tainted Mokole and the Black Spiral pack. They learn the Nephandus shaman is called Sings of Nothing. He's from a tribe in the northeast US, hasn't been seen since the 1940s. Even before then, he was mostly encountered in the Umbra's far realms.

The Quaesitor is named Lady Alison. She is pretty, blonde, blue-eyed, and so very British. After meeting Mark and Ambrose and listening to their adventures with the enthusiasm of a librarian who wants to get out more, she decides to come along and observe them for a while to determine whether they're traitors or victims. They agree, figuring it's an acceptable alternative to brain-melting enchantments to discover Technocracy or Nephandi sympathy. She shows them her wand, which the Quaesitor masters of the rite have stored a Gilgul spell in for emergency occasions. They don't find that reassuring, but she stows that away, hoping she'll get to use it on that Dreamspeaker Nephandus.

Ambrose sheepishly brings up Goratrix to her, knowing how the Traditions don't like having their black memories brought up. She tells him to relax about it, and promises to see what she can find on the man.

Her scary Janissary bodyguard, Damon Stirletti, catches up to Ambrose in his room to very politely inform him that Damon may kill him if anything happens to Lady Alison. Ambrose quite sincerely thanks him for the most civilized death threat he's gotten. "It's very kind of you to warn me." The stoic Janissary is taken aback. "Do people try to kill you often?" "Oh yes, but most of them aren't nearly as polite about it." Deciding to set that aside, Damon explains that the Lady is somewhat impetuous and that he believes her decision to accompany them is based partly on a chance for excitement. Ambrose had already figured that out, and promises to do his best to look out for her.

As soon as Damon leaves, Dante drops in (literaly) to tell him that the Iteration X girl was born Awakened, and has a twin sister who was likewise. Both of them were taken by the Technocracy, but went AWOL around the age of eight. They should be around 15 by now. They were born in New Mexico on a reservation. He gives Ambrose a map of their reported locations, which forms an interesting pattern.

Dante asks about the Janissary who just left. When Ambrose tells him the man's name, Dante's impressed. He says Lady Alison is the Hermetic Order's youngest Master. Imagine that: the only impetuous Hermetic is assigned to Ambrose's case.

With the paperwork taken care of, everyone meets at Dreamsoft to proceed to Tara. Ambrose takes Lady Alison and introduces her to the others. Aila offers to break her knees if she comes after Ambrose.

When they reach it, they find Tara fortified and prepared for war. Jared's friend, Sir Gaius Meldin (Sir Guy, he introduces himself), makes known his stress over helping Dierdre prepare for the wedding. They notice Sir Guy has buckhorns.

Escorted into the audience with the High King, Rey discovers he is now Sir Rey of the Many Colors of the Shining and Noble Blade. Quite a mouthful. He thinks it's hilarious.

When asked about herself, Danielle can't get her story straight, telling the king three different stories before Rey finally knocks her into her seat and tells the story he heard from her. David, irritated, notes the irony of a Pooka speaking the truth for her. Rey gets it, yeah, thanks.

David calls on the Crystal Circle. They pull out her memories and show themto everybody. Sonya offers to consult with them on shifter physiology. The sorcerers offer to show other memories in Danielle's head. Taking them up on this, Sonya asks to see her early years.

Danielle and her mentor both had the vision of her coming to Chicaggo. They sat and talked it out, agreeing that Danielle should go as she was younger. They also get the impression that her mentor was sending her away for safety. They also see her eat her dead mother--all of her. The Balam having told Sonya they could do whatever they felt necessary, Sonya talks to the fae about Danielle's pact with the Thing in the Lake. They want to study her.

Ambrose talks to Sir Tristan, who says he's doing well. He met Dierdre, who wanted his opinion of color schemes because she felt a true fae would have an exquisite color sense. She was displeased when he disagreed with her choices. And the Nockers on Victoria Station believe they've figured something out.

So, to Victoria Station then! Aila is excited to see the Moon up close. The head of the space station's Nockers is named Clank. He starts drawing charts--they got the Great Machine open and found a Tristan-shaped hole inside.

"Two guesses," says Clank. "It's either a death beam cannon to kill our enemies, or a radio tower. I'm actually thinking a radio tower. Kind of disappointing."

"The only difference between a radio tower and a death beam is how much energy you put through it," Ambrose comforts him.

The Nocker looks at him thoughtfully. "I'll talk to you about that later."

The fae discover that Etherite iron doesn't hurt them. Ambrose thinks nothing of it, explaining that it's purified iron that Etherites use for precision tools. When they want to know what that is, he explains about the theory of alchemical gold and Platonic ideals--that essentially, purified iron is iron that has been brought into resonance with the ideal of iron.

The fae ponder the possible effects of this rarified iron on Dauntain.

They take Tristan to the Great Machine, where Ambrose puts Tristan's heart back in (this idea of carrying around somebody else's essential body parts still weirds him out). The Machine fires up, sending a pulse into the Dreaming...and that's it. The Nockers are disappointed. Tristan seems just fine.

When they return, the Crystal Circle calls Ambrose in to show him Danielle's conversations with the IX girl. Odd that she knows so much about the Croatan tale. Ambrose suggests they ask among all the Croatan kin they've been gathering up if anybody knows of a young native girl with no name but cybernetic implants...or of twin girls who went missing from a New Mexico reservation about 15 years ago.

He wonders how they got away from Iteration X. It's not exactly easy to turn tail on a Convention whose membership you carry in your head. Sonya considers it: perhaps, if they're kinfolk, their bloodline did something.

The Garou take their mage friends to the Apex of History to see what they're supposed to see. It's an Umbral Vista, a place where the spirit paths carry you above landscapes that show you histories and futures and strange far-off places. The Apex of History shows the punch line--the inevitable destination of the future. The Garou see the Apocalypse when they look out toward the horizon. The fae see Winter. But the mages see...nothing.

Baffled by the reactions of the Garou and fae, who are in turn baffled by the mages' insistences that there's nothing there, the mages try harder, discovering that if they concentrate, they can make futures appear--any future they can imagine. Well, that's not how it's supposed to work either, so some of the pack step over near the mages to see if they can get a perspective on this odd vision. When they get near the mages, their own visions of the inescapable Apocalypse vanish. The fae, trying out this strange phenomenon, have the same experience. Get close to a mage, lose the landscape of the future. Experimenting, Sonya tugs Faris off to the side, and finds that it doesn't work without being near a mage.

It's perfectly reasonable to Mark and Ambrose, who scoff at the idea that the future is set and that it must be bleak. Ambrose is offended at the implied dismissal of personal will, and especially the lack of hope inherent in such a vision. For that matter, he admits that he's not all that impressed by the prophecy either. Oh, it's not that he thinks it's false, but he calls it a "suggestion" rather than destiny. Destiny, he claims, is just a fancy way of saying "what you choose to be."

Faris thinks that might be the point. The mages don't believe in predestined futures, and their wills are powerful enough to make their beliefs change reality.

On their way out, they pass through a theatre where a shadow play is being performed. They watch as a lizard, a raven, a coyote, and a wolf run across paths to a building on the moon, which explodes. "I don't wanna blow up the moon!" Rey complains, at the same time that Ambrose exclaims, "You're gonna blow up Darkside Moon Base?"

The others look at him in shock. He explains that the Technocracy has had a base on the dark side of the Moon for decades. Then the film starts again. From the center of the base's remains, Arcadia rises. "I don't wanna blow up the Moon!" Rey says again.

They think about this briefly, until the shadows start up again: a Crinos werewolf, just standing there. Sonya spins to see the Black Spiral pack at the rear of the theatre, one of their Ahrouns standing in the light beam, drooling. But they don't attack. "There's a force field," their Theurge answers Sonya's wary look with a wave at mid-air.

Sonya uses her Hidden Secrets Gift, and discovers the second Ahroun is hiding the fact that he has trace amounts of decency--a family he cares for living in Canada. It's possible to appeal to his honor.

Faris tells them they're in a no-conflict border realm, while the redneck in Crinos bangs his head repeatedly off the force field. The Theurge sighs. Sonya nods in agreement. "Yeah," Peter says, "that'll make us intimidating later on. Thank you, Cletus, the slack-jawed yokel."

"Is his name really Cletus?" Ambrose asks in something like awe.

"No," Peter answers, looking vaguely annoyed by the obliviousness of such a question. Then another werewolf cuts his own tongue off. "Meet Bleeds-for-Fun," Peter introduces with false cheer. "He bleeds for fun. Anybody else want to embarrass me?"

Aila begins to ask a question, but Peter interrupts her by grabbing Bleeds for Fun and pouring silver dust into his mouth. He comments on his low tolerance for stupid BSD stuff. Then, considering briefly, he summons a Paradox spirit. It glowers at the mages. Ambrose waves at it. "It won't hurt us here, you know." Aila shoos it away, literally: "Shoo! Shoo! Bad spirit, this is the wrong place for you!" It edges away to the exit, looking shifty.

"Even my spirits..." the Theurge grumbles. But he says he just wanted it to catch the mages' scent.

Well, they can't accomplish anything else here but looking stupid, so Peter chases his pack out, growling at them when they're reluctant to move. After they've gone, Sonya ushers her own pack out thoughtfully. Jonas is apparently thinking about the same thing, as he pipes up with the suspicion that they're meant to underestimate the Black Spiral pack.

Ambrose offers the tidbit that he's heard summoning Paradox spirits can rebound on the caller, if the spirit slips its leash. They're not meant to be summoned, and they don't like it. The werewolves take that under advisement.