Shades Of The Loom/Part 1

The Year of the Snake, Mercury Era of the 1st Epoch of the Dragon-Blooded Shogunate (a few centuries before the Great Contagion). Fallstavia

It's my daughter fault that my wife died and I'll never forgive her for that. I'm not sure where she went but I'm glad she's gone, the worthless girl. She was never any good at anything, not even when she was on her back for me.

"Navia...it's time to attend the Hinge Conclave. Are you ready to go?

The young Chosen of Secrets involuntarily crumpled the secret on Division Official Letterhead in her hand. A great shudder wracked her body as she fought for control. It had been a mistake to read it and an even bigger one to ruin departmental property but her Sifu had the courtesy to say nothing. Her eyes gleamed wetly when she looked up at Bent One Winged Angel, but she managed a smile.

"Of course, Sifu. I have the charts right here...somewhere...oh, there they are!"

Navia ducked her head guilty and swallowed hard. There were reasons Secrets Caste Sidereal rarely looked into their own lives. She had never measured up to any standard, had failed to keep her father happy, and was even directly guilty for what he secretly blamed her for. She knew she deserved her punishment, even if the other Chosen told her how wrong it was for her own father to have punished her in that way. Somehow, his methods seemed so much less important than the fact that she really was responsible for her mother's death. She had always been a failure.

As she was failing now. The Essence-wrought paper of the charts sprawled in all directions as she managed to bump the loop of heavenly ribbon off the collection. In a feat that even impressed herself, Navia caught every one before any touched the ground. But looking stupid in front of your Sifu was a Very Bad Thing.

Bent One Winged Angel did not look particularly impressed. Navia didn't blame him. She didn't impress herself either.

She had Exalted at the unusually early age of 10 but, for a reason only found in unknowable places in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy, she had not been found for training until she was almost 15. Perhaps that caused an impossible deficiency in her education for, despite the sorcerous teaching techniques of the Maiden's Children, Navia was still struggling after 5 years in her department. Her fighting techniques were faulty, her calligraphy substandard despite having excelled at it during her Shogunate education. She could not untie her tongue when she needed to and even her unpracticed eye could see the disapproval and quiet disgust on the faces of her coworkers.

"Then let's go." At least Bent One Winged Angel managed to avoid looking resigned most of the time. She knew because she watched him constantly. The Sidereal was a thousand years old but so handsome. He wore a gleaming white robe wrought from Ambrosia, garnished with starmetal and jade trappings of one kind or another. His dark hair was closely cut but meticulously full and well combed. Only the smallest lines in his face showed he was any older than she was now. He was so dreamy.

It was exceptionally hard when she failed him for Navia secretly loved her Sifu. If only she could win the favor of a God of Fortunate Circumstance and make sure Angel never looked at her file. When she had, she'd turned red from what was written there about her dreams and desires.

"Am I...what should..." Navia's tongue fought her and she ground her teeth in frustration. Damn his good looks and her clumsiness. "...Sifu..."

"No, you don't need to do anything but watch, Navia," Bent One Winged Angel said, a little sympathetically. All the Secrets Caste Sidereal had great skill in knowing exactly what she meant, what she meant to say. She thought a prayer to Iosaro, Goddess of Unprofessed Love, that Angel never looked too closely at her heart. She would die if he knew what her feelings for him were.

Navia looked down at herself and felt unworthy. She was not a particularly tall woman, not exceptional or athletic either. Sidereal training had toned and put muscle on a body that had always stayed thin on its own. Her luxuriously full red hair was her one pride and joy, a blanket of flame that caught the slightest breeze and fanned behind her in a pleasing way. She was also pleased than her murky brown eyes, her least favorite trait, had changed into the brilliant forest-emerald when her Exaltation had woken inside.

See? She was pretty, she'd always been told so, though of course all Golden Children were. Yet no matter how pleasing her appearance, she always disappointed people. If only she could make her Sifu happy. If only she could stop failing at everything. Even the scars on her arms attested her incompetence, a badge of shame that thankfully had gone unremarked on in the Bureau. She was glad no one noticed that a few were recent.

"Thank you Sifu," she said, after a while of walking. "What is this Conclave about?"

"It's a Hinge Conclave, as I said before," he said, not so sympathetically. "You must learn to mind your surroundings and remember everything you hear said. You should already know what this is about. The Hinge Prophecies were a collection of possible futures down the Bronze Path, in which Creation could turn in a number of directions."

He was not happy with her. He was never happy with her. Sometimes she wished he would just yell at her or hit her like her father had and get it over with. At least then he would feel better and she would feel worse and maybe then she'd try hard enough to succeed at something. Anything.

"May I ask which Hinge Prophecy this is about?" Navia hoped that was a good question, one that would cover her lack of foresight and show interest in the subject matter. The truth was, Prophecy was rather uninteresting to her. She'd much rather return to the libraries of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy. The secrets of the world were fascinating and she could easily see herself spending the next thousand years reading them all. Not that her department would let her. No, paperwork was So Very Important.

"The Pivot Child."

"That's pretty far down the list," Navia remarked thoughtfully, inwardly gleeful as her brain produced a vestigial memory of the Hinge Prophecies. "Are we that close to having them all traced out?"

"We are," Bent One Winged Angel chuckled. "We've had a hundred years since the Usurpation to work down a lot of the possible futures down the Bronze Path. At this point, only the unlikelys are left. Wish they were all as easy as the Fulcrum Hammer, though. It's nice when we find possible threads that can't occur in any future."

"Then I'm glad I get a chance to watch a Conclave, before we stop doing them."

"There will always be a need for a Conclave now and then," Bent One Winged Angel remarked dryly. "But in essence you are correct. Creation is more stable than it's been in centuries under the Shogunate. They should be good for a thousand years at least and we could certainly use the recovery time. You weren't alive during the Usurpation but there is still damage lying around we won't be able to fix for at least another century, that's how much of it there was."

"I can imagine!" Navia said. "My grandfather told me about it. He lost half his family back then." She looked up at the sunny sky, a reminder that the present Shogunate Era was not the way it had always been. Strange, that even a century after the overthrow of His Chosen, the Unconquered Sun still dominated the Games of Divinity. She hoped the rumors weren't true, that He'd allowed the Lawgivers to die so He'd be less distracted in the Games. The thought filled her with a terrible sadness and fear.

"Who will be there?" Navia asked at last, desperate to end the unbearable silence that stretched between them as they walked the golden streets of Heaven. The Shimmering Tower of Falling Stars was still some distance away, the Manse where the best prediction had always been done in Heaven.

"Only three others. The Pivot Child isn't considered likely enough to warrant a full Fellowship. From the Department of Endings, we have Concluding Emollient joining us. Also, Nuche Keru of the Cerulean Lute of Harmony. Sept Green Ivertre from the Journey's Caste will be the last, though we may have a Chosen of Battles joining us. It depends on what's needed. Others may attend."

"Chejop won't be there...will he?" Navia couldn't help but duck her head again at the sharp glance her Sifu shot her. "I'm sorry."

"You can't avoid him forever, Navia. There is no secret in the universe that can do that."

"I don't want to avoid him forever," Navia said. "...just until he forgets I ever existed." A ghost of a smile flickered on Bent One Winged Angel's face, despite the low volume she'd muttered with.

"In Heaven, you aren't just Navia. You'll never be just Navia again. Here, you're a Sidereal to the Gods and that has a kind of meaning you can't get away from. To other Sidereal, you're more than a coworker...you're someone they've known for thousands of years already."

"They knew Orloria Kessen," Navia grumbled. "I'm not her, I've never been her, I don't even know her."

"You are as much her as anything is anymore," Angel shrugged. "You inherited her Exaltation when she perished against the Wicked Man of Sands. She and Kejak were friends, in a way that's almost never seen in Heaven. You may not know him but he knows you and he's going to react to you that way."

"I can't live up to expectation like that!" Navia cried out, dancing out her agitation, startling a small party of a half-dozen Gods. Whispered comments and rude little sounds made her stop at once and hang her head until they were well out of earshot.

"Navia, settle down." Bent One Winged Angel shook his head at her. "You're going to have to get used to these things. You are a Chosen of Secrets, handpicked by the Maiden Herself. No one saw your Exaltation and, what's more, there's no record of it in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy. Like it or not, you've been called to a special job that only you can do and you already have the highest recommendation any Sidereal can have. Get used to it."

"Yes, Sifu," Navia said with as much humility as she could emote. Honestly, she didn't feel humble, she felt unworthy. But, like he said, it was time to get used to it.

They made the rest of the trip in silence. Navia used the time to try to put together some composure. By the time they reached the Manse, she was doing a credible impression of her Sifu. Now if only she could keep it up when people were actually talking to her.

Bent One Winged Angel met up with Sept Green Ivertre outside the Shimmering Tower of Falling Stars. The green-haired Chosen of Journeys nodded to both of them, even her. That was nice of him, and unexpected.

"So, it's the Pivot Child we're looking at," Sept Green said, as the three of them stepped into the celestial lift that began carrying them hundreds of stories into the air.

"Apparently," Bent One Winged Angel answered. "Not very likely but important enough to warrant this Conclave. All of the Hinge Prophecies are, of course."

"Well, I don't want the world to end," Sept Green muttered. He grinned a little when Navia snickered despite herself. "And if a child could save Creation, then we need to know the details in case that Hinge comes true."

The doors of the celestial lift opened up to the vast skies of Yu-Shan. It was night-time, Navia realized, amused that Luna had taken the lead so suddenly. Five years she'd been in Heaven and still that was hard to get used to.

Sidereal stood about the complicated orrery that spun a flat plane of Creation around the stars and the Incarna, each busy in his own task. It was a little strange to realize she was the only woman here. It was stranger to realize that none of the other Sidereal had even noticed her. For a girl like Navia, with her past, her gender and everyone else's would always be salient, something to notice in every social setting. But these Chosen were far too preoccupied with uncovering Destiny to think about these kinds of things.

It was one of the few comforts she had in the Bureau. At least among the Chosen, she would always be safe. They might discipline her but they would never use sex to do so. That shame would finally be in her past.

"We're about ready to go," said an older man, slender and graceful in his blue Stardust robes. Nuche Keru was in the same generation as Kejak, having Exalted within a century of him, and his lined face looked frighteningly competent. Navia privately thought there was something suspicious about a Child of Venus who wasn't friendly.

"We are ready to go," said Concluding Emollient. She'd met the Chosen of Endings only once before, at an inter-departmental social function, but he had shown her a rare kindness by delicately informing her of a social blunder she'd made in greeting Nara-O too familiarly. He had quickly taught her the proper address and how to make it up. Out of every Sidereal up here, he was the one she was most glad to see.

The last Sidereal, obviously a Chosen of Battles by the red-threaded starmetal mail he wore, was not one she recognized. He didn't even look at her, not that she could really tell beneath the helm that concealed his face. Whoever he was, the Son of Mars looked like he'd just gotten back from a battlefield.

"Then, surround and prepare." Navia moved next to the orrey and began laying out the charts where she knew they needed to go, adding the Ivy Manse calculations to those already penned down on the paper of other departments. Around her, the Sidereal closed rank and stood circling the orrey. She could feel the Essence raising the hairs on the back of her arms. Of course, that could be the Manse.

"Let's have the first line," Nuche Keru said. Although Bent One Winged Angel was nominally in charge, as the Secrets Caste usually were, Nuche Keru's reputation as an astrologer was already legendary. She knew he'd worked on almost every Conclave after and including the Great Prophecy. Maybe that's why he didn't look friendly. Maybe he'd seen too much.

"Born from the Dragons, meant for the Sky," Angel quoted. "Though you should know, you're the one who wrote it down in the first place." A couple of the Sidereal chuckled at that. Nuche Keru did not.

"There was a lot to write. You should know. Oh, my mistake, only Concluding Emollient was there." The not too subtle snub quieted the other Chosen and Navia desperately wished she could be somewhere else. She didn't like it when her fellows fought. "Might as well read the whole thing outright first. Angel?"

                       The Prophecy of the Pivot Child
                       Born from the Dragons, meant for the Sky,
                       Serenity, disillusionment and recognition and reverence,
                       Peace she will bring, against the Hammer she stands.
                       Before her, the light gathers, the day of remembrance,
                       With hands that bring judgment, she will know her place,
                       And through it, bring salvation to all.
                       A Hinge of the world, upon her fate turns,
                       Against fallen light and conquered darkness, she’ll champion,
                       Through brotherhood, love and faith, life’s chance.

"There's no question the Child will be a Celestial Exalt," Concluding Emollient said. All attention instantly went to him. Eyes moved back and forth between each other and, one by one, they reluctantly nodded.

"Born from Dragon-Blooded parents," Nuche Keru added. "Or at least one parent."

"Yes, I think we can feel the line's mined out. Shall we move on?" Sept Green Ivertre didn't look as rude as he sounded, Navia thought. He was only impatient to get to the meat of the prophecy. Now that she was watching a Conclave herself, she knew why they were so eager. There was something thrilling about mapping the future, about knowing for a fact what would happen if this thread became true. Maybe Prophecy wasn't so boring after all.

"Serenity, disillusionment and recognition and reverence," Bent One Winged Angel said.

"A cycle of faith," Sept Green said with a frown. "A spiritual journey. She'll learn, discover what she's learned is false, see the truth and come to genuine faith."

"Good," Nuche Keru nodded. "So far, it's fairly personal. What else?"

"Peace she will bring, against the Hammer she stands," Angel said.

"This is big," Concluding Emollient whispered. "When this happens, many things will end and many things will begin."

"She'll be involved in a great conflict," the mysterious Chosen of Battles said. "No, two conflicts for the Prophecy."

"She has the potential for actually establishing peace across Creation," said Nuche Keru, clearly marveling at the idea.

"I'm worried about the Hammer," Concluding Emollient said.

"We know what the Hammer is," Bent One Winged Angel said. "The Fulcrum Hammer. They are the only Hinge Prophecies that reference each other and, in fact, contradict each other."

"Not necessarily contradict," Nuche Keru argued. "It's possible they interlink in ways we don't understand yet."

"There was no future we could see in which the Fulcrum Hammer came to pass," Concluding Emollient said matter-of-factly. "Which makes the Pivot Child Prophecy even more unlikely."

"Shall we get on with it?" Sept Green sighed. "There's a lot to do and I don't want to spend all night..." he looked up as the Sun abruptly rose, chasing Luna from Her lead. "...all day arguing about it."

Navia watched the proceedings in absolute fascination. One by one, they mapped out each line of the Prophecy with an eerie intuitive understanding that each seemed to share. She knew the Charms they employed, even if she didn't have them herself yet. With one exception.

Her Caste Mark was showing by the end of the Conclave but there was one thing she knew for certain. Auspicious Prospects of Secrets, the one useful Charm for this she knew, confirmed every conclusion. Everything they said could happen would happen that way, if it happened at all. For the first time, Navia felt like a true Sidereal. She was in the know, understanding prophetic words in a way no mortal could. It was remarkable, it was incredible. It made her dislike of Prophecy before seem...childish.

"Are you ready to go, Navia?" Bent One Winged Angel's hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped. Now that was embarrassing. When all your co-workers seemed to be able to anticipate everything before it happened, when you worked for the Bureau of Fate, especially for the Division of Secrets, being surprised was just lame.

"I suppose I am, Sifu," Navia sighed, turning back to look over the side of the Manse, out over the breadth of Yu-Shan. The banner of her flame-colored hair caught a heavenly breeze and waved, its own little flag among the sea of heraldry out there. "I have a lot to think about."

"Why don't you take some time to do that, then?"

Her Sifu's offer surprised her, caused her turn back to look at him wonderingly again. He smiled pleasantly and inclined his head toward the celestial lift. The other Sidereal had departed at some point and she, so lost in thought, hadn't even noticed them leave.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Sifu."

"I find the Loom of Fate to be the perfect place for meditation and contemplation," Bent One Winged Angel suggested. "I know you have paperwork but paperwork can wait. I can see you've caught a bite of what we were doing and I think it's important that you take the time to digest it."

"You mean...time off?" Navia blinked, feeling as she did so that her eyes were huge.

"A few hours won't cause the Forbidding Manse to collapse," Angel chuckled. "Take the rest of the day off. Think things over. Perhaps the Loom might even show you something important. It does, sometimes. It's Primordial work and not even we fully understand it."

"Thank you Sifu!"

They rode the lift down together and Navia was lost in frantic thought. She'd only been to the Loom a dozen times or so and she'd never been there alone. Each time, it had been for one reason or another. She shuddered involuntarily at the memory of that time she'd spent 3 days straight weaving Destiny with her Sifu. She'd slept for a whole day straight afterwards and then spent the next three days trying to catch up on the paperwork she'd missed from sleeping through the work day.

From what she understood, she had quite a bit of Destiny implementation ahead of her. Joy.

Bent One Winged Angel strode off to catch a dragon boat, leaving Navia by herself. There were plenty of Gods about, so close to the Jade Pleasure Dome and the Bureaus, but for once she didn't stop to stare at any of them. With quickening steps, Navia set off for the Loom of Fate and it was all she could do to avoid running.

The plain white dome came into sight quickly enough. It was the most ordinary, boring building in all of Yu-Shan. Navia loved looking at it because she could actually concentrate when she was. The rest of Heaven had so much eye-candy that it was amazing she remembered her name by the time she got to work each day.

Navia hurried into the building, walked briskly down one hallway...then another...then took four left turns and found herself before the Loom of Fate.

Standing on a balcony, she saw the myriad wyld threads of possibility threading into a Pattern of such impossibility that her mind hurt trying to grasp it. From the Pattern, great shimmering folds of the Tapestry spun out, for the most part finished thanks to the industrious work of the thousands of Pattern Spiders working hell-bent on the Pattern. Only a few hundred or so were spared to deal with the already-finished Tapestry but she could see each working double-time to tidy up a loose thread, fix a thin point in the weaving, or patch a whole by sewing new material over the old.

Each thread contained a person's life, a thing's existence, some facet of Creation. Once again, as she had the first time she'd been here, Navia had to lean on the handrails of the balcony for support. All of existence was right there. Could you even imagine what would happen if a fire got in here? Or...someone who meant harm to the Tapestry?

"That's what you are going to prevent."

Navia spun at the voice, blushing despite herself. She was allowed to be here, she was! She hated that her first reaction to surprise was embarrassment.

But then she forgot all that in a second when she found herself staring...at herself.

But not herself. No, Navia had never looked like that!

The serene woman before her looked scarcely older than she was but she carried herself with a poise and confidence Navia had never dreamed possible. She wore a simple green Stardust robe, styled in a way of the new Immaculate faith, and a small pendant with strange runic heraldry hung from her neck. More surprisingly, she was...entirely bald.

"The Loom of Fate encompasses all possibility," the other Navia said, gesturing, taking in the whole of the Loom with the small motion. "Here, one can catch glimpses of the past or future, of what could be. It was built by the Primordials, the great Engine to drive Creation forward, and no one but they fully understand its workings. It is capable of things we know should be impossible, though. For instance...it is even possible to meet oneself. As I did, when I was your age."

"So you're a future me?" Navia wondered aloud. She was astonished at the transformation. She couldn't imagine cutting the beautiful red hair that was her father's only gift to her. But the steely determination in her eyes...yes, Navia wanted that.

"Correct," the monk Navia said, folding her hands together in a way that spoke of habit. "Of course, it's possible to meet a facsimile of yourself in the Wyld but there is no opportunity for us to discuss the metaphysical implications here in depth. There's much for us to cover now and little time. You have just come from a Conclave where you heard the Pivot Child Prophecy forecasted."

"That's right!" Navia agreed.

"This Prophecy will come true. And it will come true through you."

"Wait a minute...I'm the Pivot Child?" Navia shook her head, her mind still reeling from the ceremony itself. "That can't be, Destiny doesn't build Prophecy around us. We're the hired help, not the show."

"Correct," the other Navia agreed, smiling just a little as if giving herself permission to show that much emotion. What could have happened to herself to make her this way? How could she do it? Navia envied her serenity.

"Then how can the Pivot Child Prophecy come true through me?"

"Because the Pivot Child will be our daughter."

"No way!" Navia turned away from her monkish other-self and stared out into the Loom. Unfortunately, the infinite tide of Everything was not ideal for calming one's thoughts. Navia grimaced and looked back at herself. "I can't even imagine having children. Who's the father?"

"I don't know yet," the other Navia admitted. "But I will find out soon. You see, I know only what I'm telling you now because when I was you, it is what I told myself."

"No, no, don't start talking like that," Navia groaned. "Let's keep this simple. You have things you want to say to me so say them and I'll...sort it out later."

"Very good," the monk Navia said, nodding approvingly in just the way Bent One Winged Angel always did. It always looked clumsy when she practiced it in the mirror. On this Navia, it didn't look clumsy at all. "Someday, we will give birth to the Pivot Child. That Child is going to save Creation from the greatest snarl in the Tapestry imaginable, Navia, but it won't happen if we fail."

"I'm ready!" Navia said, knowing it was a lie.

"It will not be soon but that is just as well. For now, the most important thing you can do is train. You must excel, Navia, you must overcome our past, master the astrological houses of our Bureau, and, above all else, you must join the Bronze Faction."

"Well, it's not like I'd join the Gold," Navia sniffed. "You know who...our mother was. And what she did. They'd never trust a Sidereal who...led the others to her own Solar mother. Not even if Mother was a Night Caste who'd murdered thousands."

"I know," the older Navia said, sympathy in her eyes. "You must set aside your desire for absolution, Navia. Father will never forgive us. He will go to his grave resenting us and will answer then for his own crimes. That he may feel justified in his sins does not excuse them, nor does it excuse your obligation to grow beyond them. You must accept this truth, Navia, this Secret. You must move past it, as I did, or within a hand of years you surely will at succeed and cut deep enough to die. Set the blade aside, Navia, and focus on what is before you. Once you do, you will find life...much easier than it is now."

"You have no idea," muttered Navia. Then she blushed when she realized who she was talking to. The other Navia did not remark on the slip to her credit, or was that hers too? "So, is Kejak still...weird about us in the future?"

"There is much I could say of the future but I will not," the other Navia said, shaking her head slightly. "I do not know that you will be as strong as I have become if I give you these answers in advance. When I was your age, the Navia I met did not. Also, you could very well change what is for me if you choose to go in a direction I did not and that puts the Pivot Child in danger. By following what I am telling you, the Child will be preserved, Navia. That is all that matters."

"How can one Child really be so important?" Navia demanded. "If you're asking me to sacrifice my life to this...cause, I want to know why."

"Much will change in Creation over the next thousand years." Navia gasped at the number and what it implied about the woman giving it. "By my Age, Creation is sorely in need of a Savior. You will make that possible. I am also concerned about the Fulcrum Hammer, the other side of the Hinge Prophecy. Without the Pivot Child to oppose it, the Hammer will destroy the world. Yes, it is that serious, Navia."

"...why me?" she asked in a meek voice she couldn't help.

"Only the Maiden of Secrets knows that," the monkly Navia said, not unkindly. "But She must have her reasons. Surely, this is why we were Chosen, Navia. Do not despair at this responsibility. Instead, look at it for what it is; an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

"Correct. You don't fit in," the older Navia remarked bluntly. "You've never felt capable in your whole life so far. Our father raped us and thought nothing of it...and neither did we because we didn't think we mattered that much. Our scars prove it. That is what the Pivot Child means to us, Navia, what it will mean to you. It proves two things; that we matter and that our life is valuable. By our choices, Creation may be saved or damned. This is your opportunity to do something that makes a difference, for everyone. Will you take it?"

The older Sidereal's words swept her up and she gasped as her future unfolded before her. Through Auspicious Prospects of Secrets, she knew everything her older self was telling her was true. The Pivot Child Prophecy WOULD come true...if she let it. It was up to her to bear the child who would save the world. And apparently, she was the only one who could.

"I know you're scared," said her counterpart, even as the first ice-cold trickles of fear laced her veins. "I know this will be hard for you. But it will also be glorious. You will see so much, Navia, grow so much...there is so much pain ahead but so much joy." Tears glimmered beneath the serene Sidereal's composure and the other woman smiled at her. "I remember, Navia, what it was to be you. Oh...the Maidens bless you. Hard times will come but you're going to be so strong afterwards, stronger than you can even dream of."

"Really?" Navia asked. Yes, she was afraid of the responsibility, afraid of the future pain and dark things she saw lurking in the eyes of herself. But she also saw the hope that lay inside of her future self and she felt it rising in her as well. She'd seen the future now and she knew, one way or another, she was going to be okay.

"Really," answered another voice. Disbelieving, Navia looked behind her and saw herself...again. Only she was even more different. The monkish robes were still there but the wavy hair of fire she cherished had grown back, waist-length again. Most noticeably, beneath the green Stardust cloth, this Navia's stomach bulged, heavy with child. It was shocking to a 20 year old girl who had never thought of even touching another man, much less carrying one's child, to see herself pregnant. Yet this Navia looked even more capable, even more confident, radiant in her maternity.

"Are you...?"

"Older, yes," the pregnant Navia said, smiling with the same small serenity she had before. "And I carry the Pivot Child. As you will someday long distant. And as you will someday very soon," she finished, turning to the bald Navia.

The real Navia, the only one who actually existed at the moment, was having a hard time reminding herself of that. After all, both of these Navia's were only possibility. This was not a Prophecy she had to take up. By the Maidens, it would be the simplest thing to avoid when it came down to it. Just keep her legs together!

But here, looking at two older versions of herself, she realized what the monk-like Navia had said was true. She did have hope now. She could see with her own eyes that someday, if she chose to, she would carry the Pivot Child. In its own subtle way, the Loom of Fate had given her absolute proof that she could make a difference.

And she wanted to.

"Thank you, both of you," Navia said, suddenly overcome with tears of gratitude. "You've..."

"We know," said the oldest. "Now go, Navia. You have a long life ahead of you, with much to do and many things to learn. I'm afraid this Navia and I must talk privately, for what I have to say is not meant for your ears yet. Nor is any detail of what has happened here for anyone else to know. No one can know of your role in the Pivot Child Prophecy, Navia. Be content. As you can see, in time you will find out why and hear what I have to say to this one."

"I'll be ready!" Navia said fiercely. She couldn't be as composed as they were but she didn't have to be yet. She had maybe a thousand years before she needed to. But, by Heaven, she was going to, now that she knew she could. "Thank you both! I'll be careful and I'll make it, I promise!"

Both Navia's smiled at her, radiating peaceful contentment that washed away a lifetime of doubt, fear and frustration. Navia met their eyes one at a time, the monk-like Navia and the pregnant Navia, and then she bowed low. "Sifu."

Their smiles widened. Then, Navia turned and left the Loom of Fate. She'd had all the thinking she needed.

She finally knew what she was capable of. She had seen with her own eyes that she would be okay. The Navia of the future seemed...happy. That meant she would be too. That hope was worth holding out for, that hope and the promise of saving the world through a Pivot Child.