Meanhile the day before, Aaron revels in the post-war plundering of Spectre-heads, Ray walks through the camp looking for people to help, and Jonny takes his car to an artificer to be worked on. The artificer looks the car over, offers an estimate, and he and Jonny haggle for a bit before agreeing on a price. The artificer tells Jonny to leave the car with him overnight and he'll have it ready first thing in the morning. Jonny thanks and him and returns to the battlefield.
The soldiers are told that they have the rest of the day to get healed up, or whatever they need to do, and the cohort-members see Cliodhna moving about the field with Brianna and Atepa. Aaron decides to go spend his day with Kara, Ray departs with the intention of checking up on Susan, Jonny returns to his Mama, and Cliodhna, Brianna, and Atepa embark on their day of horrifying adventure in the Labyrinth.
That night after leaving Brianna and Atepa's room in Swar, Cliodhna decides to sleep at the Blue-Moon Cairn near her grandparents. The next morning she waits until her grandfather is alone, and then the two of them have a conversation. Cliodhna asks him if her mother loved her father. Her grandfather gets a concerned look on his face for a moment, so Cliodhna interjects and tells him about the vision of her mother being in a Roman camp laying on a bed of pillows, and how she figured out that her mother must be with her father in the Summerlands...so she was just wondering if her mother had ever told her grandfather that she loved her father. Cliodhna's grandfather thinks for a moment and then shakes his head. "I really don't know, m'girl," he says. "I don't remember her sayin' as much...I'm sorry Cliodhna."
Cliodhna nods. Her poor mother, keeping her feelings hidden from everyone her whole life! She wondered why her mother would do that...and why especially she would preach endlessly about how her daughter should never let herself fall in love! Maybe she was just angry that she and that Roman soldier had only had one night together.
Cliodhna continues to ponder this as she thanks her grandfather and zips back to her fetter in New York, and again while she's walking back to the camp. So many questions she has for her mother! How long will she have to wait before she can ask them?
Cliodhna soon finds Aaron, Ray, and Jonny-- fresh from picking up his car from the artificer-- and is relieved to see that none of them are injured. They are soon joined by Brianna and Atepa, and then the group realizes that they've been missing Richard for a past couple of days. They decide they better look for him immediately, and Atepa volunteers to be the one who sends out his Fatalism to search for Richard, as Brianna looks to be a little tired this morning. After a moment Atepa begins to speak. He tells them that Richard is located across enemy lines...in the territory the Spectres have been pushed back into. The cohort look at each other in surprise and alarm, and quickly make for this place with Atepa leading.
Cliodhna falls in next to Brianna-- putting her arm around her more confidently today-- and asks her how she's feeling this morning. Brianna moans that she has a hangover and is still depressed about her vision of Atepa, and wasn't able to get restful sleep. Cliodhna nods sadly, and keeps her hand at Brianna's elbow to steady and guide her until she's regained some strength.
The group sneaks into Spectre-held territory using their various arcanoi, and Atepa again activates his Fatalism. "He is just ahead...but you will not like what you find." The cohort continues on warily, and at last they see a sight that disgusts and angers them at the same time. Spectres have taken the bodies of those Hierarch soldiers who they've slain-- or just captured-- and impaled them on long, upright poles, and set balefires burning in their chest-cavities...and Richard's body is one of them. The group sees a small bunch of spectres milling around, looking up at their victims while grinning and pointing, and finally the cohort can take it no longer and charge in. The battle isn't even close-- the spectres are torn apart by the furious legionnaires.
Once the last spectre is dead, Cliodhna and the others with blades begin hacking the poles down. As soon as the bodies touch the earth, they, mercifully, begin to dissolve quickly. Aaron and Ray take what spectre-heads they can salvage, and the rest wait until the Hierarch bodies and balefire are completely gone before they hurry back to Hierarch territory in sombre moods.
Meanwhile, in the Labyrinth...
Markova stands before his officers pacing back and forth. He tells them that he needs to know who a particular Wraith is, and describes what Cliodhna looks like, and that she was with Brianna and Atepa. Daniel grins and steps forward. "My lord, I know who she is! I know all about her! She's a centurian named Cliodhna McPhearson..."
Markova cuts him off with a sharp gesture. "Cliodhna McPhearson..." he repeats, looking into space and trying to remember where he heard that na-- "AMBER!!" he roars, and stomps off to their bedchambers.
Amber looks up with surprise when Markova bangs into the room looking very upset. "What's wrong, Claudius?
"Wrong?? It's your little sister, that's what's wrong! She's the leader of the cohort that's been giving me so much trouble!" Markova strides up to Amber, pointing his finger at her. "I need YOU to go talk some sense into her, Amber." A look of worry crosses Amber's face but quickly vanishes.
"An' how will I do that? Can ye send me ta her?"
"I can." Markova states. "Be ready in an hour." Markova stalks back out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Amber lets the air rush out of her lungs in relief. She has no idea what to do now! She has to find some way to satisfy Markova, and not turn her daughter from fate's course. What can she do...what should she say??
Amber paces back and forth with worry, and then remembers Markova's huge scrying-bowl in his war-room. He uses the scrying-bowl to show his men strategic locations in the Shadowlands to pop out and attack. Amber grabs a shawl-- these togas are so chilly!-- and hurries to the war-room.
Thankfully, she is alone in the room, and walks quickly over to stand before the bowl-- hands clenching the rim. She doesn't have any idea how to activate the thing, but stares into the black water hopefully. The minutes pass and nothing happens, and Amber begins to grow anxious. Time ticks by...what is she going to do?? Finally she can't stand the tension anymore and throws her head back, staring up at the ceiling. In her mind she cries out for the Mother. "Gaia! Hear the prayer of yer child! Oh Great Mother, what am I ta do?"
"Amber..." that familiar and majestic voice fills her mind, and she falls prostrate to the floor. "Rise, daughter, and look."
Amber struggles to her feet and looks into the water of the scrying-bowl. The water immediately changes to reveal...some kind of...building filled with ancient Egyptian-looking people, but the building is modern. "The Met," the voice states simply, and Amber nods-- eyes wide open taking everything in. She knows that name-- she's heard Markova talk about the Met recently.
Then the bowl seems to zoom in on one particular person. It is a man...a very large and well-muscled man who appears to be Egyptian...or maybe his blood is mixed with another race's...it's hard to tell. He seems to be in some position of leadership, as his costume-- or what he's wearing of it-- is more ornate than the other men's, and he has a very fine sword and bow slung across his back. She looks at him carefully. He seems REALLY familiar somehow. "Who is this, Great Mother?"
"One of mine...son of The Mother of Turtle in his last life. Tell your daughter that he will help turn the hearts of the Amenti of New York back to him who is the Favored Son of my Consort." And as the words fade, so does the water in the scrying bowl.
Amber's head hangs down and she closes her eyes. But how will this satisfy Markova? "So I send my daughter ta find a man...ta find...a man..." Amber begins to grin a naughty grin. She knows exactly what she's going to do! As she quickly returns to the bedchambers, she goes over Gaia's words in her head so she will know what to tell Cliodhna when she sees her...when she sees her!! She was so worried about what she was going to do that she overlooked the fact that soon she would see and own daughter! Amber laughs out loud and clasps her hands together. She thought she would never see her child again! OK, OK, to get a hold of herself now...Claudius will be returning any minute.
Amber thinks again about Gaia's words. "She said he was 'One o' mine'..." Amber thinks. "Then he was Garou in life...good, good. Son o' the Mother o' Turtle...I KNOW that title, now who was that...let's see, Marie was the Prophet, I was the Horn-Blower...Sanki! Sanki was the Mother! This must be one of her sons! Oh even better for my little Cliodhna! Now, the Favored Son of my Consort?" As Amber is puzzling this one out, Markova enters the room again and holds his hand out to her.
"Are you ready, my dear?"
Back in New York...once the cohort reaches the camp, they decide they should patrol of the perimeter. After they've been scouting for a little while, they can suddenly hear the sound of dogs barking far off in the distance. As the others turn towards the sound of the barking, Cliodhna is held in place by something...appearing in front of her that in actuality only she can see. It seems to be...a person...Cliodhna squints her eyes, and then they fly open and her hands go to her mouth. It's her mother! Cliodhna falls to her knees-- the strength gone out of her legs-- and begins to weep.
Brianna notices Cliodhna doing this, and rushes to her side-- bending down and asking if she's OK-- but Cliodhna doesn't seem to be able to sense her at all, so Brianna waits beside her in concern.
Amber-- surrounded by an inky-black nimbus-- reaches out to her daughter, and when they discover they can touch one another, they reach out their arms and cling together in a tight bear-hug, both mother and daughter weeping freely. When they finally stop, Amber holds her daughter at an arm's pace and studies her smiling emotionally.
"How are ye appearin' ta me, mother?" Cliodhna asks, wiping her eyes.
"I don't have long, love. I was sent ta give ye a message...a task."
Cliodhna interrupts her. "Did ye ascend from Turtle's back, mother? Please tell me ye did!" Amber's face falls for a moment, and then she looks steadily at her daughter.
"I did leave Turtle's back, yes darlin' babby." Cliodhna flushes a little at that old nickname, but continues her questions.
"I heard that ye are in paradise with...my father. Ye did love him then?"
Amber's face goes whiter-- if it's possible-- at her daughter's words, but then she realizes that if her daughter isn't about to kill her, she must be referring to the "Roman soldier" that she told Cliodhna was her dead father, and calms down a little. "Aye, Cliodhna, I am with yer father, an' I am happy."
Cliodhna smiles contendedly. "Ye should have told me when I was little, mother! I would have understood! I'm sorry fer interruptin' ye...please...give me the message ye came ta bring."
Amber nods and holds her daughter's upper arms, looking into her eyes. "Ye must go ta the Met. Find the captain o' the guard-- he is still loyal to Ahuru, and will be the person who rallies all the guards ta Ahuru'a side when the time comes. Ye'll know him when ye see him. Tell him he must come with ye an' don't take no for an answer." Cliodhna listens carefully to her mother's words, nodding. Then suddenly her expression changes to one of anger. Amber looks at her with raised eyebrows when the voice that comes out of Cliodhna's mouth becomes a hiss.
"Sooo...'Mother'...why don't you tell her the truth?! About where you REALLY are?" Amber looks at Cliodhna with her mouth opened in surprise, and then she figures out that this must be that power Markova had told her about where his minions are able to torment their Wraithly hosts from time to time. Amber decides to pretend not to be upset by this...creature...speaking through her daughter's mouth.
"I did tell her the truth, an' ye know it," Amber says folding her arms across her chest and smiling.
The Shadow-voice continues to harrange her with questions for a minute or so, and then asks, "Everyone says you're evil...EVERYONE. The fortune-tellers...Ahura...everyone she meets with the gift to see! Thry run from her in fear and shut their doors to her! What do you have to say to that?"
Amber smiles and leans in to kiss Cliodhn'a forehead. "Little Puppy, I do things that may appear evil ta others, but they don't know my heart. They don't know what I really do, and why I am where I am." Amber takes her daughter's arms again. "Don't believe what anyone tells you, Clee, because I am telling ye now that I serve Gaia."
The Shadow blinks-- feeling itself about to lose its hold on its host-- and quickly asks one last question. "Yesss...but how do you think she will react when she finally finds out where you are and who you're with??"
Amber looks up at the sky and replies softly, "God help us if that day comes." The Shadow fades away and is replaced by Cliodhna. Cliodhna is incredibly pissed-off at the Voice now!! How DARE it take her over just then and speak to her mother-- wasting precious time SHE could have had with her, instead!? And how dare it speak so to her mother!! She grasps her mother's hands in her own.
"Mother, that wasna me speaking just then! It was...ya see, we Wraiths have this Shadow..."
"I know, love, don't worry yerself, I know what it was. And I must go now. Be safe, find that man, an' never forget yer quest ta fight Oblivion wherever ye find it. I love ye..." And almost immediately after her last words, Amber fades back into the shadows. Cliodhna stares after her for a moment. She'd called Cliodhna by the loving little nicknames she'd given her as a child...that lullaby that always put her to sleep...the words echo quietly in Cliodhna's mind:
My darling child
My darling baby
My darling child
You gave life to me
My darling child
My darling baby
My darling child
You came and saved me
My darling child
My darling baby
My darling child
Gaia gave you to me
Me little ninja
My little dancer
Me little streetfighter
Me little chancer
Me lovely girl
Me lovely babby
My pride and joy
Me little puppy
Me little wolf
Me little lamby
My favourite girl
My angel babby
Me little ninja
Me little dancer
Me little streetfighter
Me little chancer
Me love me girl
Me love me babby
My pride and joy
Me little puppy
Cliodhna sniffles and quickly wipes at her nose and looks around. The men in the cohort are peering off towards the sound of the barking dogs-- Cliodhna notices that the dogs have gotten considerably louder-- and Brianna is watching her with great concern.
"Brianna, I was just visited by me mother! She gave me a message-- we have to get to the Met immediately." Cliodhna looks as if she's possessed the by need to get this task done now, but Brianna has concerns.
"Cliodhna, how do you know it was really your mother who appeared to you?" she asks warily.
"Oh it was her, Brianna-- I could touch her and even smell her! Also...she called me her "little puppy," an' that's what she called me when I was very young. How could it not be her?" Cliodhna asks impatiently. Brianna sighs inwardly. She knows Amber left Turtle to join Markova, so even if it WAS Amber who spoke to Cliodhna, how can they trust that her intentions are good? They can't take a chance like that...not now!
"What is it your mother told you to do?" Brianna asks finally.
"She told me that we must go in and talk ta the captain of the Amenti guards-- tell him that he needs ta come with us. Apparently, he will be the one ta convince the rest of the Amenti in New York to follow Ahuru in the future, so we need ta remove him from the corrupted Met for a time." Cliodhna answers, looking off in the direction of the Met urgently. Brianna thinks...if Markova has a hand in this, what would he be getting out of us obeying Amber?
She can't think of anything, so she turns to Atepa and asks him to do a Fatalism reading on the cohort's future. Atepa closes his eyes and concentrates, and the voice of Ahuru resonates from his throat. "One member of the cohort will soon be lost...but there are two others who are to become your companions..."
Brianna presses him further. "Is the captain of the Amenti guard one of them?"
"Yes." Ahuru answers simply.
Both Brianna and Cliodhna visibly relax at these words, but before they can decide what to do next, they can now SEE the dogs-- called barghests...thousands of them...charging towards the camp. Cliodhna temporarily forgets her quest and takes charge.
"Soldiers of the Hierarchy...ATTACK!" she shouts, and suddenly the place where she was standing-- quiet and peaceful for a time-- becomes a whirlwind of fighting. The soldiers attack the barghests valiantly-- Aaron and Ray both salvaging a barghest-head each-- but after a few moments it becomes apparent that the army is going to be overwhelmed soon. Cliodhna reluctantly calls for the retreat, and the army runs back towards the city...all except for Aaron who does a slow retreat for a time, reluctant to stop fighting.
They start running past tall buildings, and then after a few moments the barking stops. Cliodhna orders the army to halt, and she and some other "fliers" turn and survey the scene behind them. It appears that all the barghests have run into the buildings and are waiting there. Cliodhna tells the commanders to keep their troops ready and watching the buildings, and she and her cohort will go speak with Paul.
Just as they're about to leave, Aaron-- who all day had been acting funny...not wanting to do anything with the cohort, just going off by himself and giving the impression that he doesn't care about anything or anyone except for himself -- finally announces that he's leaving, and puts in a few insulting words about the Hierarchy. Cliodhna-- fuming-- watches him go, and then announces to the cohort that he is a deserter, and-- should he return-- he should be treated as a traitor. The group is stilled into silence as they make their journey to the Twin Towers.
The cohort finally arrives at the Twin Towers and are shown up to Paul's office where he is still conferring with the anacerons. Cliodhna tells him what has just happened with the barghests-- the attack, the retreat from overwhelming odds, and the dogs hiding in the buildings. Paul paces and thinks for a moment, and then turns to face the cohort. He tells them that the Hierarchy has their own barghests, and that they and their handlers will be sent to the front immediately. When Brianna tells Paul her hunch that the dogs may be waiting for something bigger to come out of the Tempest, Paul nods slowly in agreement...and then tells them to go have Ash and the rest of the Doomslayers destroy the tree in Central Park. If something big comes through and pushes the Heirarchy back past the tree, they might be able to free the creatures locked within the tree, and then all hope will be lost. The cohort looks around nervously at one another. It is the moment of truth-- will they be able to safely destroy the tree?
Lastly-- as if as an afterthought-- Cliodhna brings up Aaron's desertion and says that were he to return, he would not be welcome in her cohort again. Paul paces again looking angry, and then announces that Aaron IS a deserter, and will be arrested on sight...but, unbeknownst to the Wraith, no has need to worry about Aaron any longer, anyhow. After he left the cohort, he went to Kara's house as she had finally learned how to turn him into a Risen as Angelo had been for a while. Aaron means to return to the world of the living and resume his vengeance upon his enemies. And-- Kara being successful in the end-- he does.
The cohort goes to Ash quickly to give him the message. Ash nods and says that they will do it, but when Cliodhna and Brianna ask how they're going to do it, Ash admits that he's not quite sure...yet. Cliodhna says that the group will stop by to lend them a hand after they finish some business at the Met.
At last the cohort can go to the Met to attempt Cliodhna's quest. Everyone is now able to go invisible, and so they do. They enter the Met and look around. Guards and other Amenti are walking around purposefully-- most of them barely wearing anything at all. Cliodhna scans the crowds until...yes, she thinks that must be the captain of the guard. He's definitely decked out more ornately than the other guards, looks larger and stronger, and carries on him a good-quality sword and a strong-looking bow. Cliodhna pulls the chain of invisibles into an empty corridor and becomes visible again, and the rest follow suit. She tells them that she believes she has found their man, and they follow her back out into the main walkway.