Spring, 1889. Greater London.
Sister Sunshine thinks of the Archdruid of Canterbury as "Uncle Larch."
The Party gathered at their respectable West End boarding house to discuss further the Mongol attack on the wedding and their trip to Tibet. Po mentioned that Temujin was another name for Genghis Khan. Po: "China is very big. We will climb lots of mountains before reaching Tibet. Ramsey and Steele agreed that they would like to study mountaineering. Penrington volunteered to ask at the Explorer's Club (the Society for Geography and Foreign Studies) for experienced mountaineers who could provide training. Po started teaching his class in Mandarin (and Buddhist Philosophy) for Ramsey, Forester, and Sister Sunshine; Miss Costorari excused herself from the first class so that she can visit a few Chinese curiousity shops. Mr. Smith sequestered Mr. Steele away in his workshop so that new installations could be made into the mechanical man's arm.
At the SoGaFS, Penrington first asked in the sitting room and then checked out the resources newly opened to him. He learned that those members of the Explorer's Club skilled in advanced mountaineering go to the Swiss Alps in the Spring. He copied down the half-dozen top-notch names and the addresses of their two base-camp lodges, in case the Party found itself in Switzerland.
In the Hall of Oddities, the hunter found objects spread out rather than displayed. Each artifact was tagged with its donor's name, being still their property and not the Society's. Nothing appeared to be of museum quality and there were no explanatory labels. Some of the items were truly grotesque. There was a cat skeleton covered in lapis lazuli tiles, some locked books titled in Arabic, several shrunken heads and some small shapeless statuettes, etc.. In amongst them all, Penrington found another piece of a prayer wheel. The label said 'Col. Lynn Selby-Forth.' The design on the fan seemed to be a stylized 4-legged creature. For a shilling, the hunter got one of the staff artists to make a sketch of the segment and its design.
In the Reference Room, Penrington found collections of explorer's journals, separated by geographic area. Both China and India were well represented. There was no section for Tibet. The hunter searched and found Selby-Forth's journals. He had been a member of the 82nd Brigadiers, campaigning in the Far East. Making inquiries downstairs, Penrington found that the colonel currently resided in London, at 59 East. He wrote a request for an interview to the colonel, using Society letterhead.
Settling himself to read, Penrington started on the Selby-Forth journals, knowing it would take several days to get through them. Anxious to see action, S-F had rotated through divisions, ending up on campaigns in Burma and China. He had been present when Anglia first took lowland, rice-producing, Burma from the warring states. He'd served under the man for whom the Anglic fort at Rangoon, main city of lowland Burma, was named. [Burma is the peninsula between India and China.] And he'd been part of the expedition that made it furthest into China when Anglia put down the first Chinese rebellion.
Miss Costorari visited Chinatown in SE London, finding it noisy and crowded and laced with earthy and exotic smells. She noticed that the Bobbies traveled in pairs in the area; one pair was certainly trailing the gypsy. Satisfied with the 'protection' of an escort, Miss Costorari slipped between the carts of live animal vendors and cooked food vendors, wending her way towards the more permanent shops of produce, textiles and curios.
The first such curio shop featured small statues of a fat man and wall hangings of paper and cloth. Dragons and the colour red were evident features of Chinese art. She entered, causing the door chime to tinkle. The smell of burning incense assaulted her nose as the wizened proprietor with a long straggling beard and drooping mustaches greeted her, "Heh-ro, heh-ro!" She asked about maps and was directed to a wall hanging with pictures of mountains. She asked about prayer wheels and was directed to the fat statues that turned out to be incense burners. She examined most of the contents of the shop, the proprietor staying carefully at her elbow.
At the second curio shop, the proprietor seemed the same as the first, yet different. His drooping mustaches were longer and his Anglish was good. By greasing the wheels of conversation with a touch of silver, the gypsy heard, "Ah, Fabled Tibet, a place of stories, you know. I do not carry much from that part of the country. Li Wak Chan whose shop is just down the street is from Chengdu and may carry more. I specialize in northern China."
Voronika: "Where is Tibet?"
Proprietor: "Somewhere over on the west side of China. I have this coin... " He showed her a round coin with a square hole. The character imprinted on it seemed to be similar to that for "luck." It also seemed to have a design like an ox missing its horns.
Voronika: "What is this symbol"
Proprietor: "It is like a cow. Not what we would have put on our coins. It is said to come from Tibet. Why do you have an interest in Tibet?"
Voronika: "I have an interest in prayer wheels."
Proprietor: "Those are used in western China for talking to gods."
Miss Costorari commented on her travels.
Proprietor: "The gypsy wanderlust, I see?"
Voronika: "Yes."
Proprietor: "Ah, it is one way to deal with having to face being - uncomfortable - in a place like this."
The gypsy bargained for the coin and decided that paying five times its worth as silver was a good price for a rare coin. It was, however, not ancient, in good condition, and without a history detectable by her powers.
She continued to examine the contents of the shop. There were various carved dragons and a couple of wall hangings with a circular motif of animals around which were 5 characters.
Voronika, gesturing at the scrolls: "What are these?"
Proprietor: "The Chinese zodiac. These scrolls came all the way from Cathay. The characters represent the five elements, each representing a different Power of Person in the Universe."
They proceeded into a limited discussion of astrology. Voronika learned that the elements were Life, Health, Power, Vitality and a fifth concept difficult to translate into Anglish but incorporating the notions of Air, Wind, Travel, and Speed.
At the third curio shop, the gypsy found the designation "Chan" and a sign saying the shop was closed. As she tried to peer into the window a throat cleared behind her, "Is there a problem, Miss?" Voronika turned to face a pair of policemen and endeavored to learn from them the shop's hours of operation. The bobbies clearly found her a Suspicious Person and took her off to the local precinct for questioning. Towards evening she was released and hired a cab to take her home.
The next morning Po's Mandarin class took a field trip to Chan's curio shop. It was still closed. Po conducted the investigation in Mandarin; none of his students had enough background in the language to understand. A nearby duck vendor said that Chan's shop had been closed since the day of the wedding. "Chan was hurt. I don't know anything." At a garment store: "An ox cart fell on him." At a noodle vendor: "Chan was taken to the hospital."
The Party pooled its knowledge of local hospitals. There were two possibilities, an upper class establishment and the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, more commonly known as Bedlam. Resigned to the inevitability of visiting the madhouse, the Party made its way thereto. This area too was noisy, with moans and cries of distress. Only the poorest and most injured would come here for treatment. Sister Sunshine pulled her druidic robes close about her, feeling sick herself, wanting to alleviate the misery around her and knowing that her powers would be sucked dry in mere moments with so many needing healing.
The gypsy asked the admittance clerk about a "Mr. Chan, crushed two days ago" but got no appreciable help. Wandering the wards and seeing that the only people here were in such bad shape that they could not leave, Miss Costorari and the druidess were able to determine two possible candidates. Sister Sunshine stopped a nearby nurse and requested permission to try and cure the first one. Somewhat baffled, the overworked nurse said, "Do what you like," and hurried off. The druidess prayed for the spell. The Chinese man woke, and, speaking Mandarin, asked for water and complained about the itching under his casts. Po introduced himself and learned that the man was Li Wak Chan. As Sister Sunshine and Miss Costorari began the process of removing the more limiting casts from the formerly-injured man, Po questioned him about the incident that landed him in the hospital.
Chan's eyes opened wide as he remembered. "I saw, I saw... Oh, boy. Oh, no! Let me out of here. He will come for me!" He started to struggle out of his cot.
Po: "He?"
Chan: "You do not know The Dragon? Manchu. The man behind all that goes on in Chinatown."
Po: "You've been here for two days. He has not yet come."
Chan, in rising panic: "Get me out of here!"
Po: "How did The Dragon's attention come to you?"
Chan: "I saw him meet the [name Po does not recognize]."
Po: "I don't know that name."
Chan, stumbling: "Of the - tribes from the north."
The nurses failed to notice as the druidess finished removing the cast.
Po: "You witnessed a meeting? With a Mongol?"
Chan: "I saw them in the alley behind my shop. I have heard of the Mongols although they have not invaded our lands in a generation."
Po: "Mongols and Manchu don't get along, traditionally."
Chan: "Don't talk about him or you die. He sends dragons in the middle of the night."
Po: "From where?"
Chan: "I don't want to know!"
Leaving the hospital, the group tried to keep up with Chan but he was in panicked haste. Po grabbed him. Chan started to yell (still in Mandarin) that Po was one of "them." Po let him go. Chan raced off. Po and Miss Costorari ran after him, back towards the main street of Chinatown. Chan vanished into the crowd of Chinese. Po climbed to a rooftop and started to leap from building to building, following the disturbance in the crowd caused by Chan. Miss Costorari stopped to await the others who were slowed by the fact that the druidess - when trying to move quickly - started limping. The gypsy could keep track of Po by the pointing fingers of the crowd in the street as they watched the boy jump from roof to roof.
Forester, seeing the pointing crowd, muttered, "Oh, not again. I swear that boy should be a chimney sweep."
Seeing Chan duck into a building, Po crossed the roof towards the back to check the alleyway and then start down. Suddenly he saw, slithering out the back door, an eight-foot long, bright red, Chinese dragon. It seemed to have a satisfied expression as it looked both directions along the alley then - vanished in a puff of smoke. Po had already released his hold on the building, intending to land on the dragon, but instead ended up sprawled in the narrow street. The back door was closed and locked.
Around front, the Party found Mr. Chan's shop. The door was opened so they entered. Someone spotted a pair of bandage-wrapped legs lying in an inner doorway. It was Chan, clearly dead but without a mark of violence. His eyes were wide open and his expression like he'd been scared to death. Mr. Ramsey noticed on a shelf above the body another piece of prayer wheel. It had a symbol like a curled serpent. As Mr. Forester stepped out to summon a bobby, Miss Costorari asked Mr. Ramsey to give the prayer wheel piece to Sister Sunshine for safe-keeping. Slightly puzzled the druidess took the artifact and slipped it into her sleeve.
Outside again, Po noticed Forester and kept his distance as the tutor found a policeman, "There's a fellow that looks dead in the shop," and brought him back. "What's all this then?" Looking around, the bobby addressed Sister Sunshine who told him that they'd stepped into the shop and spotted the body but that "It appeared that my prayers would do no good here." Miss Costorari and Mr. Ramsey both exited the shop as the bobby politely questioned the cleric and the tutor, noting down the latter's address. The gypsy decided to head back immediately to the boarding house, pleased that her assumption that the police would handle the druidess gently and thus not discover the bit of wheel had worked.
Forester found himself wondering if he was developing a reputation with the London constabulary for bringing bodies to their attention, this being the 3rd such incident.
Back at the boarding house, Our Adventurers discovered that the symbol on Chan's piece of wheel meant "dragon" and that it fit next to the piece with the snake symbol. Po acknowledged that that was the order in the Chinese zodiac.
Several days later Penrington kept his appointment with Col. Selby-Forth, taking along a bottle of scotch as a gift. The door was opened by a pretty, very strait-laced young woman. "Grandfather is expecting you, Mr. Penrington." Led to the garden, Penrington saw that the colonel was an old man confined to a wheelchair. "Penrington? Colonel?" the invalid questioned. "Serjeant," the hunter replied, offering his gift. The old man smiled, "The doctor says I mustn't have any... but, since it's a gift..." He poured out two glasses.
Penrington proceeded to tell of seeing the Selby-Forth prayer wheel piece. For a moment the old man was baffled, not recognizing what was meant until the hunter showed the sketch he'd had made. The colonel said, "It was a very strange thing, that. We'd been fighting up - Kangdoo is quite hilly, you know. Our four-pounders had just cracked the ridge, but the gooks were dug in and died to a man. We were scouting the remains when we found a shell of a building in which sat an old man. The gooks had not bothered him and he wasn't a rebel. He had nothing; was wearing only a loin cloth. I gave him a blanket. He spoke a vile form of Mandarin. I understood maybe one word in three. But I think he was thanking me. And he passed me that piece of wood. He called it 'kalachakra', I think. I showed it around but what did those eggheads at the university know? And the museum was not interested in it without an 'educational story'."
Penrington: "What do you know of Tibet?"
Selby-Forth: "I think it's not a place. It's a tribe of people. Not Chinese. The Tibetans have a little more eyebrow ridge. You can find Tibetans in Kangdoo." Penrington proceeded to get as thorough a description of Tibetan appearance as the colonel could manage.
Penrington told about the prayer wheel piece the Party had found in Timbuktu. Interested, the colonel poured them each another scotch.
Penrington: "I'm a curious fellow looking to go out towards China and maybe find out more about these prayer wheels. Maybe we'd get enough information for a Society display."
S-F: "I'd like to know just to know."
Penrington asked for the loan of the colonel's prayer wheel piece.
S-F: "I could use a favour. You look like a man of action. There's a lieutenant courting my granddaughter at a deucedly slow pace. I see her moping around and I don't like it. Could you set a fire under him? Get him to declare himself properly."
Penrington: "This is not generally my line. But I'll try."
S-F: "Tell him what he's missing. He's in the 8th Rifle. Lt. Eversole. Hasn't seen any action yet."
Penrington: "Should I speak to the young lady about this?"
S-F: "You know how women are. She'd take it the wrong way. Light a fire under him."
On his way out, Penrington did stop to make the girl's acquaintance, learning that she lived with her grandfather, her parents having been killed in an airship crash 4 years ago. [The Wings of Cardiff went down 4 years ago.] Penrington left wondering if it were possible to make the young lieutenant jealous.
Back at the boarding house, Penrington tried to recruit match-making ideas from his fellow adventurers. The hunter himself seemed rather reluctant to go out to the base proper to make inquires about Lt. Eversole. Po wanted to explain what he had learned about the late Mr. Chan.
Po: "After witnessing contact between the Manchu and a Mongol, Chan was assaulted with an ox cart."
Ramsey: "An ox cart seems an extremely clumsy weapon."
Po: "Mongols come from NW China. NE China is Manchu land. Chan believed that there is a Manchu in charge of the Chinatown underworld."
Forester: "He deals with trogs?"
Penrington: "No. With Chinese criminals."
Po: "This Manchu used very strong magiks against the people. Chan simply observed that meeting and was therefore assaulted. He was killed by this Manchu."
Sunshine, objecting: "But there was no sign on him. No indication of violent death."
Po: "There was mystic energy. A red dragon left the establishment."
Forester: "Why do you think then that this Manchu killed Chan?"
Po: "Chan said that the Manchu uses dragons."
Penrington: "I could shoot this Manchu fellow. Do you want to get the girl engaged to the guy?"
Po, winced then described the disappearance of the dragon. "It might have been simply Manchu magic so that he only appeared to be a dragon. The dragon shape will always frighten superstitious Chinese."
Ramsey: "Why should we deal with this Manchu?"
Po: "An evil man must be dealt with. It is not coincidence that the alley meeting between Manchu and Mongol was near the Foremost Dealer of Tibetan artifacts."
Penrington: "Po, you know a lot about these places. You are not from Mongolia, Tibet or Manchu?"
Po: "No."
Ramsey: "Then you traveled as a child?"
Po, awkwardly: "No. Yes. I am - do you know of reincarnation? I am aware of several incarnations of my soul. I am not aware of all of their histories. I may have been once from Manchu. I have no memory of being from Tibet. But it has been said that Buddha was from Tibet and that I may be a relation of his."
Ramsey: "Who's Buddha?"
Po: [digression]
Po, reiterating: "Is there any interest in dealing with this Manchu?"
Ramsey: "Do we have to?"
Po: "He's killing people. That should be stopped." Turning to the druid, "Does Sister Sunshine have any contacts in the local Chinese community?"
Sunshine, startled: "No. I am not from London. My work has usually been in the Midlands."
There was a discussion of how far away illusions or supernatural creatures could be controlled. The winged monkeys, karkalanza, and djinn were all mentioned.
Penrington to Po: "What do you expect to get from the Manchu, if you find him?"
Po: "I've come to his attention. And the Mongol's he's treated with are willing to pay a considerable amount of money for me."
Ramsey, shrugging off the Manchu element: "We should try stating the problem: we want to get Po to Tibet and to learn more about these prayer wheel pieces. We still need a sponsor."
Forester: "There's a branch of the University in Hong Kong...."
Ramsey: "We need a sponsor out of Anglia. It does not count if we don't get recognition by the SfGaFS."
Penrington: "There's a vast dearth of information. However, I have learned that there are Tibetans in Kangdoo."
Po, in an attempt to prepare the newcomers for future events, demonstrated glowing and floating.
Penrington: "Have any of you been married?"
Forester: "I was almost married once. I asked, she said yes. Then she married someone else. I thought that she understood that I needed to finish my schooling...."
Po: "You should check the prospective bridegroom's intentions vs. many sweethearts."
Forester: "Does he have many sweethearts?"
Sunshine, quietly: "Po has a very cynical view of life for one so young."
Penrington: "I need to learn more about him."
The hunter searched out an off-base pub frequented by young officers. Lt. Eversole showed up the next night, an immaculate, precise, stick-in-the-mud officer. Penrington ascertained that the young man had a very planned view of life. In three years he would be a captain. He had a steady girl, "Miss Katie", who would become his wife. By the time he made major, there would be three children. Anglia was the pinnacle of creation and all's right with the world. Very cut and dried. But, as Penrington probed, he realized that, although the young man had a road map, he seemed to have no concept as to how the future was to be implemented. He didn't visualize transition. It would simply happen.
Penrington found that Eversole stuck to beer and would not get drunk, resided at the BOQ. Penrington obliging lost a game of darts to the young lieutenant. They both bought the appropriate number of rounds. All proper. All very routine. If fun could be boring, this was.
Costorari: "Are you sure this lieutenant is right for the granddaughter?"
Penrington, thinking back to her subdued and sober appearance: "Made for each other."
Again Penrington solicited suggestions from his adventuring companions.
Voronika visited her family to ask for a Chinese contact. The gypsies don't trust the Chinese. "They are always accusing other people of stealing. What are you looking for?"
Voronika: "Information or rumours on the Manchu."
Gypsy Uncle, making the warding sign against evil: "He's the head of crime in Chinatown. Fu Manchu. It is said that he works from a secret underground lair, or another dimension, or from far away."
Voronika: "Have you seen him?"
Gypsy Uncle: "It is said that no one sees him and lives. He has organized the criminal gangs. Very dangerous."
Voronika: "How can I find out more?"
Gypsy Uncle: "I know a young man who trades in Far Eastern goods. He is not married. You should meet him."
Voronika easily decided that said young man was "full of himself." He dealt in a variety of Chinese goods and mentioned puzzle boxes as an unique example. He indicated that he could obtain for her items of illegal purpose. Voronika decided to keep him at a distance.
Having mulled over the Party's suggestions, Penrington decided that judicious use of Forester's personal story could be used to urge Lt. Eversole to not wait too long to marry. Determining that Mr. Ramsey had some skill with persuasion and that he himself was skilled in conversation, the three would go to the pub and try to help Forester "drown his sorrow."
In the discussion, it was learned that Ramsey had spent some time as a conscript in the Egyptian military.
Sister Sunshine was brought in to enhance Penrington's and Ramsey's PRE, to assist conversation and persuasion.
However, although the meetings at the bar (Eversole brought a friend) happened as planned, Mr. Forester's lament of losing his Amabelle to William Turner ended up sounding more like a breach of promise case that he'd been gentlemanly enough not to pursue, rather than parallel to Lt. Eversole's case. "You're better off without her," the young officers told Forester. Penrington scrambled to try to make Forester's story fit Eversole's situation, unsuccessfully, and Ramsey started to get the officers' backs up. The hunter smoothed things over and the topic was dropped. The would-be matchmakers beat a strategic retreat.
A new tactic was plotted.
Ramsey: "If a man Eversole has not met were to start paying court to Katie...."
Penrington: "That's one option."
Forester: "But the only man among us that he hasn't met is Steele."
Penrington fantasized about a foreign prince to get the Anglish dander up. Both Ramsey and Penrington admitted to being able to disguise themselves, and the former claimed an expertise in some foreign languages, especially French.
Penrington: "We have to back away from him. It's time to look at her life again."
With another visit to the colonel, the hunter felt he could learn of an event - the Lieutenant's evenings out with Katie were as regular as clockwork - at which both young 'lovers' would be present. Perhaps flowers from an unexpected source. A bit of stairway gallantry. An anonymous love note. Enough to startle the young man out of his complacency while not giving time for the girl to be hurt.....
Penrington, musing romantically: "Eyes meeting eyes across the gallery at the opera."
Forester turned to Sister Sunshine: "Are you interested in music and the opera, Miss Davis?"
Sunshine, stammering, "I am m-more familiar with religious music. B-but I do like music."
The young tutor looked satisfied, having proposed a date.
Steele privately considered another option to himself: I could try meeting up with Eversole and somehow bringing up Katie's parents and claiming that I had intended to propose to her but my "accident" made that impossible. But frankly I doubt I could get the stick-in-the-mud to accept me as a "real person" instead of a mechanical device. Besides I was part of the crew down in the engine room. I had more interaction with the cargo than with the passengers. I probably never saw her parents.
Meanwhile, the druidess returned to Westminster Grove to consult with her father. There were no druids present just back from Tibet or China. However, the druid had been far more aware of the goings on at Madeline's wedding than he had let on at the time. He spoke of the Prophecy.
Papa Oak: "There were two voices speaking, alternating, interweaving."
Sunshine sorted through the first part of the prophecy, separating it into two.
"The Shatteredand
Reflects itself
in order to be one.
Accept the Mantle.
You shall go and come back again,
Ere you find the Mountain with his Head in the Clouds,
On your way to the Valley of Time.
Sok.
Those you bring with you,
Those you seek."
"Temujin in Bardo
comes to be one.
The Doom of the Moon now passes,
From younger to Elder,
From Moon to Sun.
La.
Leave your resentment.
Lu and Wangthang and Lungta.
Mustang Horse."
She looked at her father. "And then there was the second part of the prophecy.
'At this time the great red wind of evolution will drive you from behind, fiercely, unbearably, terrifyingly. Do not be afraid of it! It is your own hallucination! A frightening thick darkness draws you from the from, irresistibly. You are terrified by harsh cries, such as "strike!" "kill!" Do not be afraid of them! Heavy sinners will see cannibal ogres brandishing many weapons, shouting war cries, "Kill, Kill!" and "Strike! Strike!" You will see ferocious wild animals. You will be hunted by troops in blizzards, storms, and fogs. You will hear sounds of avalanches, flood waters, forest fires, and hurricanes. In panic, you will escape by any means, only to stop short on the brink of falling down a yawning triple abyss, red, black, and white, bottomless and horrifying.'"
Gently he said, "That was not directed at you."
She nodded her understanding, "True, you were pointing at the young man Po at the time. I am sure, however, that he would appreciate any insights you could give. It sounded like a description of dangers that far-flung adventurers might face. But the 'red wind of evolution,' 'from the from,' and the 'triple abyss' seem - unique. Do these mean anything to you?"
He shook his head. "These are the words of those far from Anglia." He chuckled. "Young Sanjay had quite a problem translating our concepts into his Hindi. When Brother Ash described to him walking through the Silent Grove, the path souls take under the Full Moon to their rest, well, it rather confused the poor lad. I imagine the description he will tell others when he goes home will sound to them as odd as a triple abyss sounds to us."
Sunshine smiled, "It's time I experienced some of those differences between cultures myself."
She returned to the prophecy. "As for the first part, if two voices were speaking, were they both speaking to me? Or was the first voice speaking to Po ... or someone else?" She quoted again, "'The Shattered reflects itself in order to be one. Accept the Mantle. You shall go and come back again, ere you find the Mountain with his Head in the Clouds, on your way to the Valley of Time. Sok. Those you bring with you, those you seek.'" Then she commented, "Madeline's friends have been talking much about climbing the mountains of Tibet, China, India. So the reference to a tall mountain does seem appropriate. But... is the "shattered" the prayer wheel that intrigues them so?"
He shrugged. "It seems more like a being, someone, rather than something. Unless the prayer wheel is a someone."
Sunshine nodded. "I had something of the same impression; that the 'shattered' was a someone. I have not had an opportunity to see if the prayer wheel is a someone. Perhaps Madeline's friends will allow me to rectify that soon."
"I don't understand the command to accept the mantle. I became a druid long ago so it would not seem to mean that mantle...." she looked at her father inquiringly.
He actually smiled and rubbed his hands together. "No, no, not that mantle. Not at all. Madeline was unsuited for that. Unprepared. It is much better that the fate of light and dark reside with you, you have much better training and understanding. It's good that you've now taken on that doom." He clapped happily. "Just think, you're going to be Aunt Sunshine soon."
Sunshine smiled, "A new little life belonging to Madeline and her husband will be a pleasure to see and hold. I'm sure 9 months or so seems like soon; you've waited a long time to become a grandfather, Papa."
She becomes serious. There is no criticism implied in her tone or expression. "Papa, can you tell me the reason that you did not take up the mantle of doom in the matter of light and dark. You have so much more experience, training, power and understanding than I do."
His eyebrows bushed together. "What makes you think I didn't?"
"I have a lot of respect for you, Papa. Perhaps my imagination is limited, but it seems hard to understand how a mantle once taken up by you could be better served by being passed on to Madeline or me. But -- if the gods say it is to be so, I will not argue."
Again she quoted, "'Temujin in Bardo comes to be one. The Doom of the Moon now passes, from younger to Elder, from Moon to Sun. La. Leave your resentment. Lu and Wangthang and Lungta. Mustang Horse'." Then she commented, "The Doom of the Moon seems clear enough. I felt, when Madeline first wrote about Dark Moon, that she should not have to bear the responsibility alone." Wryly, "It would seem that the gods more than agreed with me. As for how... Temujin, Lu, Wangthang, and Lungta all seem to be names of varying familiarity to the Chinese boy, so I believe I was right to try to associate with Madeline's adventurers." She looked away for a moment, "As for the rest... I am only human. I try to control my feelings, resentment, whatever." She returned her gaze to her father. "I do find myself wondering if all the odd sounds in the prophecy have meaning: sok, la, mustang.....?"
He shook his head. "I have no idea what those words mean. Bardo? Sok? They were important, but I have no idea how."
Next Run: Arranging a Proposal.
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III
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