As the Amenti disburse to go about their alloted tasks, Brianna takes Cliodhna aside. "Cliodhna, it is very important that we talk. Come with me." Without another word, she turns and walks down the hallway until she reaches an unused store room. She waits for Cliodhna to enter before following, shutting the door securely behind them. Brianna leans against the door, her arms folded, looking thoughtfully at Cliodhna for a time before speaking.

"You worry me, Cliodhna." She finally says. "After finding out who your father is, you've put him upon a pedestal. I think you now see him as the father you have always wanted, instead of the cruel dictator he really is. Take care that you do not blind yourself with your own disillusions, Cliodhna. Do not let your mother's sacrifices be for naught. Have you forgotten everything she taught you? How she taught you to fight Markova? Do you think that she wishes you to have forgotten everything now? No! This is what you were raised for! It is you who will bring him down, you are the only one who can!" Brianna moves towards Cliodhna, eyes filled with emotion.

"I understand your pain, I truely do, but you have to open your eyes! He will come for you again, but not as a father welcoming his daughter home, he will use you for his own purpose! That is all he ever does with anyone! Even your mother, and I pray she has not been blinded by her own emotions to see it. He is a manipulator, he twists words until you do not know right from wrong or dark from light, so you cannot listen to him or you will fall!" Brianna looks searchingly at Cliodhna for any sign that she is getting through to her.

Cliodhna's mouth hangs open in surprise at Brianna's words. Her face goes through a series of emotions-- first sorrow, then lowered eyebrows in scepticism, then thoughtfulness, and finally she gets a stubborn set to her jaw. "I know what I was raised ta do, Brianna-- I heard it every day o' me life! Argue! Destroy! An' ye saw me the first time I layed eyes on him-- I was ready ta do as I'd been trained. But then I spoke with Mother, an' what she said seemed ta fit with somethin' Ahuru said...even the Lady of Fate. That he can be saved! Changed! Look at me? I'd tear down the current IRA leaderhip with me bare hands if I could, an' I WAS the leadership once! Ye don't know what a drastic change that is! I'm a product o' my father's genes. If I can change, he can!"

Cliodhna holds her hands behind her back and paces. "So ye think o' him as only a 'cruel dictator' an' a manipulator? Sometimes strong leaders who make great changes are perceived as that...especially by the side they're fighting..." Cliodhna trails off while looking at the wall. Then she turns and faces Brianna. "He is not a 2-dimensional villain, Bri. He has done a lot o' good." Cliodhna folds her arms. "I could tell ye a story-- one that would shake Amon's foundation to the core-- an' Ahuru could verify its truth so ye'd know that there is somethin' good in him that can be saved." Cliodhna watches Brianna patiently.

"Cliodhna!" Brianna exclaims. "He killed hundreds of thousands of men and fed them to his own people!! Tell me, what good has he done? What is it you hope to redeem him with? Truely, I must know that you know what you are doing and are not acting out on blind faith and hope. Markova is a Malfean! If he wins, the world will succumb to Oblivion. Whatever his intentions, that is what will come about! He cannot change what he is, it is much too late for that now, if you open the doorway for him, we are all destroyed. All of us." Brianna looks at Cliodhna with sad eyes.

Cliodhna looks intently at Brianna while she speaks, but finally Brianna sees something crack in Cliodhna's defenses and her shoulders sag a bit. "Oh God..." Cliodhna turns and puts a hand to her forehead. "He probably doesn't even realize...everythin' eaten by Oblivion..." Cliodhna stands with her back to Brianna for a moment while she collects her thoughts, and then turns back again.

"I will speak with him-- I will argue with him as I have been trained to. If I can't get him ta see the errors o' his ways...then I will have failed. Then I will..." Cliodhna pauses and Brianna can see a sudden fire blaze up in Cliodhna's eyes. "Then I will obey that bitch! That bitch who cares about nothin' except that her precious idea o' time will be repaired!" Cliodhna takes Brianna's upper arms in her hands. "She doesna care about familes...she doesna care about lovers...we are all simply chess pieces that she moves around on her board!! She will have me lose me father, lose me mother...possibly lose my dear Memnon...and then pat me on the head an' say good job! Now ye're one' o' the good guys!' Well I don't want an eternity without Mem! An' I don't want ta be an orphan, Bri!!" Cliodhna's hands are shaking and the tears start falling, and the strength goes out of her legs. Cliodhna crumples to the floor onto her knees with her face in her hands, weeping.

Brianna's own eyes fill with tears when she sees Cliodhna's suffering and she immediately drops to the floor beside her, putting her arms around her for comfort. "Shhh...Cliodhna" she murmers, stroking Cliodhna's hair and rocking her as she would a child. "Where did this come from, hmmm? Since when was the Lady cruel?" She pulls back to look at Cliodhna in the face to gauge her reaction. "Without her help, how do you think you would have met Memnon? Or your mother become pregnant when she visited Markova's tent? The Lady does not punish her followers, Cli. Everything is happening for a reason, we have to trust that as long as we do our part, it will come out for the best. Doesn't your family share the protection of the Great Turtle? Do you believe he would give you to the care of someone who would purposely hurt you?"

Brianna takes a deep breath and tries to organize her thoughts more clearly. "Your thoughts are pulling towards Oblivion even now. Hopelessness and dispair are it's tools, you musn't succumb to it! Please, Cliodhna, be strong. You were raised for this, you are the only one who can do it. The Lady has given you tools to fulfill your destiny, one of which I am sure is Memnon, she will not take him away from you, especially now when you need his strength the most!"

Cliodhna gratefully lets Brianna hold her-- feeling comforted, and grateful for such a comforter as Brianna in the absence of her mother. She wants to kick herself for losing control like that, but at the same time, it felt so good to finally give vent to the deepest fears she'd been harboring since she first heard that two of their cohort would die...or at least that's what she interpreted the words to mean. She wipes her face hastily. "Ah Bri-- are ye so sure?? I look in yer eyes an' see that ye mean all ye say-- I would give ANYTHIN' to know that Mem will be all right...that we will not be torn apart!" Cliodhna's eyes are fixed on Brianna's as she speaks. "But what of the two that will not return?? There are so few of us now-- who could it be??" Cliodhna feels panic try to take hold of her again, but fights it.

"Gaia sent me ta find Mem," Cliodhna nods, looking off into space for a moment. Then her eyes find Brianna's again. "But I heard the Lady say that Mem would replace the Guardian-- somethin' like that." Cliodhna shakes her head. "I can't even begin ta imagine what that means!" Cliodhna looks off again. "Our family WAS under the protection o' Turtle, but Mother left him. I don't know if that protection is forfeited now."
Cliodhna is silent for a moment, and then looks at Brianna with a smile. "Everythin' ye say makes sense ta me when it comes outta yer mouth, Bri." Suddenly Cliodhna laughs. "The Lady did well ta bring ye an' Ahuru together! I would be lost without ye...Ahuru's cryptic messages would have me crawlin' inta the Labyrinth without yer comfortin' ones ta follow them!" Cliodhna sits cross-legged on the floor. "Hopelessness an' dispare are of Oblivion, but they are also human emotions, an' I'm human enough. But ye're right..." Cliodhna shakes her head and slumps her shoulders with a bitter smile. "Aah that my men could see me now, cryin' an' carryin' on like a wee babe after receivin' me orders! How many times did I get inta their faces fer the same foolishness!" Cliodhna looks up at Brianna with a sheepish smile. "Some leader I am, aye?"

Brianna smiles back at Cliodhna, immeasurably relieved to see that her words had the intended effect. "We all have doubts, Cli. Just, promise me that you'll come to me next time you are feeling this way.. letting your negative emotions fester will only cause them to grow." She squeezes Cliodhna's shoulder and smiles again.

"As for the two that will not return..." Brianna gets a faraway look and her eyes become clouded. "I.." she shakes her head. "I thought I remembered something, but it's gone now. Somehow I'm not worried about it. Ahuru won't let anything happen to us." she unintentionally blushes a dusky red when she speaks his name and looks towards the doorway, out where Ahuru must still be standing with his son.

Cliodhna grins and puts her finger under Brianna's chin, lifting her face so she can inspect the blush. "Aaah Bri-- look at that red face! What are ye thinkin' about yer man out there! Naughty Bri!" Cliodhna laughs harder when she sees that her words are worsening Brianna's blush. Cliodhna drops her hand, still grinning. "Ah well, I can't talk! I'm lucky me face isn't permanantly red with all the blushin' I do!" Cliodhna sits and looks at Brianna for a moment, and then shakes her head slowly while smiling. "Brianna, ye sure do know how ta chase the demons away. I promise that if I feel the panic settin' in again, I will pull ye aside an' speak with ye. I'm sorry I didn't think ta do it before-- I'm so used ta havin' ta deal with my feelin's alone. Ye remain so calm an' unaffected all the time...ye'd make a fine leader, Bri." Cliodhna's eyes shift to the door, and she thinks about the men standing just outside.

"Bri-- this may sound strange, but when Mem an' I were alone on the ship-- before Ivory-- there were times when he so reminded me of Ahuru...or Amon, for that matter." Cliodhna ponders again, and then gives a little laughs. "It must be from Mem spendin' so many years takin' orders from Ahuru-- I should be lucky Mem can still carry on a long conversation!" Cliodhna flushes and puts her hand on Brianna's arm quickly. "Sorry Bri-- I didn't mean anythin' by that!"

Brianna chuckles. "It can be frustrating at times, but I realized something very important. People learn more from experience than from being taught. If Ahuru told us everything we must do, or explained all of his visions, he would be doing all of us a great disservice. Taking something at face value is entirely different than living through it personally. Sometimes I wonder if Ahuru has had to train himself to speak so little, so that he might not inadvertantly say the wrong thing." Brianna sighs softly. "He carries great pain on his shoulders, but he will not let anyone see it. If I had not been there to see his memories return I do not think I would have ever known." Brianna looks back to Cliodhna with a serious expression. "Don't ever doubt that Ahuru knows what is best for us. He has been here longer than almost anyone, and though we all must learn on our own, we can still glean wisdom from what he has to teach us."

Cliodhna looks at Brianna with sorrowful eyes. "Ah Bri-- that makes perfect sense what ye said about Ahuru perhaps havin' trained himself not ta speak very much. Do ye think-- once all this is passed-- that he will begin ta speak more? Ah goddess, what pain he must have...so many years gone by, an' me a new Wraith cryin' about losses that may not even happen." Cliodhna laces her fingers together in her lap and looks down at them quietly. "I meant what I said-- I will not let ye an' Ahuru down. An' not Amon...never Amon...ah Gaia, that he gets his promised reward!" Cliodhna looks up at the ceiling as if in supplication to heaven. "I hope he knows what he's doin', forcin' us ta stay outta that throneroom, Bri!" Cliodhna's hands clench into fists and she taps them on her legs. "Poor, poor man..."

Brianna nods. "His time here is not over yet," she replies. "I have seen him in a great throne room with a circlet upon his brow. I know that he will succeed," she says with simple conviction. "We must do our part but let Amon alone to do his. He has suffered more than any of us, I think." she says with a gentle, sad expression on her face.

"Ye've seen that??" Cliodhna asks in great surprise. "Amon crowned as some sorta o' king??" Cliodhna smiles, and her eyes unfocus as she gets a mental-picture of that moment. "How fittin'..." she murmurs. "An' how Mother would rejoice ta see that. An' Sanki..." Cliodhna looks at Brianna again. "Aunt Sanki! Here! I still can't believe it!" Cliodhna shakes her head. "Ahuru is a crafty one...I'm still curious ta find out who this second person is that he sent for ta help Amon! What a family reunion..." Cliodhna's jubilant mood suddenly turns serious again, and she sighs, placing her chin in her hands.
"Aunt Sanki doesn't know...Aunt Marie...Uncle Jack...I wonder what they'd think if they knew." Cliodhna is mumbling to herself now. "But ALL of them were there, an' they saw what I know now. HOW could they let Fath-- Markova-- take the blame for that all these years?" Cliodhna shakes her head, runs her hands over her hair, and then suddenly notices Brianna again.
"Bri-- it's so painful knowin' things that other people don't...knowin' things that would crush the reality someone believed in...an' tryin' ta decide if ye're gonna use that knowledge in the future. How do ye an' Ahuru do it?" Cliodhna holds her head. "Ah Bri it's so hard!!" Cliodhna shakes her head, and then leans forward, placing her chin on her fists. "Well...the only thing ta be done is ta wait. Ta trust me heart, as Ahuru said. Then I know I'll be makin' the right choice." Cliodhna continues to gaze straight ahead at nothing, her mind consumed with thoughts.

Brianna sighs again. "It is hard, very hard, to know the truth Cli. It's not something that comes easy, but I have had to learn to live with it." She puts her hand hesitatingly on Cliodhna's shoulder. "Are you ready to go back now? I'm sorry to have put you all through this, but it needed to be said. Remember that I'm on your side, Cliodhna. And I'm always here if you need to talk."

Cliodhna nods. "Aye, we'd better get back and start doin' our part ta help Amon." Then she looks down for a moment, and Brianna can see she's wrestling with her feelings again. "Bri-- ye said ta tell ye whenever I have fear. I have ta confess somethin' ta ye. Mother was never countin' on me findin' out Markova was my father when she trained me ta fight him. I think-- when we were livin'-- that she hoped I would never find out before my task was completed. She'd always ask me, "Are ye sad ta have never known yer father?" an' I'd always say, 'no...I'm lucky ta have a mother, an' Grandfather an' Gran, an' so many aunties an' uncles.'" Cliodhna pauses. "So many children o' Garou are never raised by father OR mother, or even know their parents-- what with all the fightin' the Garou are always involved in...never gettin' inta committed relationships...havin' babies ta bolster their lessenin' numbers. So many die while their children are raised by Kinfolk. But Marie's children had her an' Jack...Memnon an' his brother Turok had Sanki an' Two-Feathers...it was a different situation for our circle-- everyone had a mother an' father."

Cliodhna's voice grows sad. "It mighta been different fer me if they hadn't-- not that I woulda ever wished that on them--" Cliodhna glances up and makes a little sign that Brianna doesn't recognize, but gets the feeling it's to ward off evil. "-- but I was painfully jealous deep down inside. Mother said father was a Roman soldier who had been killed by Amon when Amon destroyed the Roman army, so she never had time ta get ta know him-- she claimed not ta even know his name!" Cliodhna puts a hand her to heart. "That hurt me so much, Bri! I was an accident...the product of a one-night stand-- while the other children were all wanted an' knew their fathers' names!" Cliodhna takes Brianna's hands. "Well now I KNOW my father's name! I know that I was created outta love. I may have still been an accident, but...was I wanted or loved? Markova doesn't even know I'm his daughter, for God's sake!" Cliodhna realizes her voice has risen to a louder volume than she meant it to, and she takes a breath.
"Everythin' is fated ta be. I was fated ta miss the father I never knew, and want ta know him. I think because this desire is so strong, that will be my tireless motivation when arguin' with him. Someone else may give up much faster than I because they'd have nothin' ta lose in his destruction, but I would be losin' me father. Do ye see? 'Tis not a bad thing that I want ta know him." Cliodhna takes a deep breath. "It will be my load ta carry if I fail, an' carry it I will." Cliodhna squeezes Brianna's hands and waits breathlessly for her to answer.

Brianna nods slowly, remembering Ahuru's words. What does it mean, that Markova knows Cliodhna is his daughter, and yet says nothing to her? Brianna suddenly feels a cold pit of dread in her stomach, but pushes it away and smiles at Cliodhna. "I know, Cli. You are exactly as you are meant to be, and I'm sorry I wasn't more sympathetic with you earlier. I know how it feels to want to know who your parents are. Mine died when I was so young I can't even remember what they looked like! But I always wondered.. what they were really like, and if they would have been proud of me." Brianna gets a sad, faraway look in her eyes then turns back to Cliodhna.

"Ah Bri-- I didna know..." Cliodhna pulls Brianna in for a tight hug, and then releases her-- remembering how earlier she had been crying in Brianna's arms because she, herself, was afraid of becoming an orphan. Cliodhna is silent for a moment as she ponders this. "I'm sure they musta passed on ta their reward, then, if ye haven't found them here...an' who would NOT be proud ta be the parents o' Lady Brianna!" Cliodhna smiles. "Lady Brianna...that sounds a bit more respectful, don't ye think?" she asks, eyebrows raised. Cliodhna thinks again-- her eyes seeming to study the construction of the room.

"Bri-- I'll call ye Bri in private--" Cliodhna grins, and then goes back to her serious expression. "A last fear fer ye ta try ta dispell...if ye are able..." Cliodhna sighs. "If all o' this turns out the way Ahuru has foreseen, what will there be ta keep all of us here? Will our passions ta the Skinlands still hold? An' if not, will they...could they change ta keep us here-- all together? Somethin' happened ta my priorities when I fell in love with Memnon. Suddenly the IRA...the caern...it all seems so distant. Like I've passed the torch on ta the livin' ta take care o' their own problems, ye know? My passion is Mem now, an' I hope that will be enough fer this place ta keep us here."
Cliodhna smiles a haunting smile and her eyes stare into space. "I suffered from terrible nightmares after Mother joined Markova...but since Mem has..." Cliodhna blushes, "...started sharin' me bed, I've had only beautiful, beautiful dreams. Sometimes I see me an' Mem as we coulda been in life had we chosen different paths-- married with wee babes! Other times I dream of a gentle, lovin' Markova, talkin' with me an' teachin' me things...Mother playin' a soft melody on her pipes nearby. But recently I dream of all of us livin' in a palace together-- ye an' Ahuru...Mother an' Markova...me an' Mem...Amon an' a woman I suppose represents Issa...Ray an' a woman who seems familiar, but I'm not sure from where...ah, Bri. Do ye think any o' that last dream could come true?" Cliodhna puts her chin in her hands again and exhales.

Brianna smiles. "Why, that sounds like Paradise, Cliodhna." She looks around the room, at the faded gray walls surrounding them, then down at the hands of her corpus. "But this... this is an in-between place. Still filled with danger, and pain, and heartache.." she glances at Cliodhna again. "I'd like to think that eventually we will find our Paradise, but I don't believe that it will be here."

Cliodhna nods, remembering something Ray said while he was arguing with Markova-- just after Cliodhna was told that her mother had joined Markova. Something about how they had all gone from a world full of war, death, and pain, to an afterlife filled with the exact same. "Yes...here in the Shadowlands we could never have a lastin' paradise." Cliodhna takes her chin out of her hands and smiles at Brianna. "Go raibh mile maith agat, cead mile beannachta...may the Lady make yer paradise in the same place as mine, Bri." Cliodhna starts to get shiny eyes, so she hurriedly stands and straightens out her clothes while blinking quickly, and offers Brianna her hand in standing up, as well.
Cliodhna studies Brianna for a moment. "Is there anythin' ye fear, Bri? Anythin' ye'd like ta get off yer chest at all?" Cliodhna gives a little laugh. "I'm sure fer someone in yer position that'd be like givin' away company secrets, but ye have my ear if ye need it." Cliodhna folds her arms and watches Brianna.

Brianna chuckles wryly. "Lets just say that I'm glad you are the one to face Markova this time and not me. He would tear me limb from limb if he ever got a hold of me again."

Cliodhna raises her eyebrows. "Ever got hold o' ye AGAIN?? Do ye mean ta say he's had ye as his prisoner, Bri?? What happened? Tell me everythin'." Cliodhna looks at Brianna with intense concentration.

Brianna's face turns haunted. "No, not as his prisoner. But.. the first time we stopped him from waking, the Cohort I belonged to...we travelled to L'Harago and from there entered Markova's dream, each of us. First he spoke to us as a group but when he could see we were standing united before him, he separated us." Brianna swallows with a mouth suddenly dry and rubs at her eyes.

"He...he tried to get me to join him, to help him to Waken, and I refused. He stopped trying to convince me, and instead, he offered to send me back in time, as a mortal woman, to be with Ahuru in life." Brianna looks away, hands clenched. When she turns back to Cliodhna, she can see the intense longing and regret in Brianna's eyes. "I almost said yes, Cli. I almost helped destroy the world because I wanted the chance to spend a mortal life with Ahuru. At the time he offered, I did not know that Ahuru would be returning. I thought him dead and gone and lost to me forever. I almost said yes. Almost." Brianna covers her face and takes a deep breath, trying to banish the painful memories. "But then I heard Ahuru's voice in my mind and I knew that somehow I would see him again, and not to dispair. If I hadn't heard him, I would have given up, I know that I would have." She drops her hands and looks back at Cliodhna.
"He hates me for denying him what he wants. He hates me for working to stop him. And I think he hates me because I was so close to stepping over, and yet still I managed to refuse him." Brianna shivers. "You saw him in the Amenti Embassy. He would not let me go again if he had me in his grasp."

Cliodhna's lips are in a tight, thin line as she listens to Brianna's story-- her eyes fiercely intense and her hands balled into fists. "So...he takes the thing that ye secretly want the most an' offers it ta ye...an' what he hates the most is ta be refused..." Cliodhna begins to pace with her hands clenched together behind her back. "He must have some sorta mind-probe-skill...he was a Mage, so I'll not deny that anythin's possible fer him." Cliodhna continues to pace. "I must go in with a clear mind, intent upon my purpose. Anythin' he offers me must be analyzed carefully-- especially when I think I'm gettin' through ta him." Cliodhna stops pacing. "An' I must never make it sound like I'm refusin' him...I must be very careful how I answer him."
Cliodhna gets a sly grin on her face. "Now how to use his own tricks against him...there is much he wants." Cliodhna snaps her fingers. "I'll speak ta him as one general to another." Cliodhna smiles at Brianna. "There is much here ta think on, an' time grows short." Cliodhna grips Brianna's upper arms. "Thank ye, Bri! Thank ye! Ye've given me a kick in the ass that I've been in sore need of! When the time comes, I will be ready." Cliodhna releases Brianna's arms and starts heading for the door. "Now let's get out there and lead an invasion!"

Brianna follows close behind, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Continued...