Shades Of The Loom/Part 3

The 1st Day of Ascendant Fire, 750 in the Year of Our Empress. Fallstavia

"So there you are, you old crone."

Iselsi Navia didn't look back toward the speaker for two reasons. The first was that she stood in a most magnificent park, part of the extended grounds behind the Cerulean Lute of Harmony. The view was spectacular as the park gently rolled with hills, trees, grass and flowers, ending just before a quicksilver canal. The water gleamed in the light of the Unconquered Sun and Yu-Shan beyond was a marvel, even to a tired, jaded Bronze Faction Sidereal.

The second reason was that she was perfectly aware of what Chejob Kejak looked like and knew there was no need for them to stand on formality in private. That he had addressed her so told her how their conversation would proceed. She was privately glad, for Kejak had a very winning way about him when he wasn't enshrouded in his duties.

"I should have known you'd be late. You always used to be, whelp." Navia allowed for a chuckle, one Kejak shared with her. Her memories of Orloria Kessen, her predecessor were adequate enough for them to continue to share the humor that had marked the relationship between Kejak and who she'd been.

"I seem to recall a rather inexperienced girl who flinched every time her name wasn't said softly. It wasn't that long ago."

Navia leaned back on the park bench and sighed as Kejak stepped around and settled down next to her. The weight pressing on her insides was just at the point of being unpleasant. It wouldn't be too long now.

"1700 years?" she asked offhandedly, though she knew the answer. Her hands resting on her rounded stomach felt movement and she smiled. "Give or take an Era. It is the 13th Epoch, after all. I was born in the First."

"When will she be born?" Kejak asked softly. His lined face looked so weary these days. It grieved Navia to see how hard the weight of Creation's responsibility had been on her mentor and friend. Navia reached over and lightly patted his leg, showing about as much affection as either of them were comfortable with.

"Soon, I expect. I've chosen not to know this time."

"This is what happens when you use a Wanting and Fearing on yourself," Kejak said with a slight grin. "No, I don't fault you for doing it. Da'nashay helped us catch Elated Fury, didn't he? Even if the Lunar got away, it was still better progress than we could have hoped for. And you seem to be pleased with the consequences."

"Da'nashay is a good man," Navia said, nodding in agreement. "And he is a good match for me. As often as he's out in the field, I would only see him every other year even if I was a Dynast. Compared to other people in the Division, I have it very easy. It helps that Rhiann took after her father and joined the Legions as soon as she was able to, following in his footsteps. She's a Colonel now, as dedicated to her father, perhaps even more dutiful than he is."

"I'm not surprised," Kejak said. "She reminds me quite a bit of you."

Among the Chosen of Secrets, it was no secret that the work of Fate was Kejak's whole life. Like any peerless bureaucrat, he was as efficient and excellent at knowing all about his co-workers as he was in doing his job. Navia understood that it was slightly more personal when it came to her, because Orloria Kessen had been his Sifu. Either way, he took the effort to get to know his fellow Chosen and she appreciated that effort, whatever the motive.

"Thank you," Navia said. "I imagine she will be surprised to have a sister. She just turned 147, you know, and this will be her first sibling."

"I know. You never chose to bear more children, something I entirely understand given our workload in the Convention on Prophecy. I'm surprised that Iselsi Navia chose to now."

Navia remembered the two lunar eclipses nearly a year ago and smiled in satisfaction.

The early days had been hard. She'd had every expectation that Rhiann would turn out to be the Pivot Child, had been calling her Yezenjen all the time she carried her. Then the day came that she went into labor and she knew the coming child could not be the Child.

There was no difficult test to discern the truth. She'd been to the Loom of Fate and had yet to meet herself one last time. Labor clearly hadn't happened to her future self yet so it left only one logical explanation. Yezenjen was simply not ready to be born yet.

Strange though. She'd spent months trying to trace out that Second Circle error, the paradoxical Exaltation that served as the primary sign of the coming of the Pivot Child. She hadn't found it. Oddly, the disturbance smoothed itself...almost as if a Sidereal had straightened the matter out. Except for the handful of Ronin, all the Chosen of Destiny were accounted for and none of the Ronin were known to operate in on the Blessed Isle.

And now, nearly 150 years later, the sign of the paradoxical Exaltation had finally revealed itself. A Mnemon Exalt had been caught with a stolen Anima. She would have thought it flatly impossible if Kejak hadn't shown her the secret books of the Ghost Knives of Thiokol in her youth. The Mnemon had used one of the strange artifacts, lost to this Age, all those years ago to trigger the first occurrence of the Second Circle error. The Knife had siphoned the developed Essence of a recently Exalted boy of the time period, killing him, and in doing so woke the latent Exaltation in the murderer.

The last she'd heard, they were still trying to catch him. To think he wouldn't have been caught at all if not for his failure to master the Earth Dragon Style. The subtly flawed nature of his Exaltation had been concealable until he tried to take the last step. The Immaculates had discerned the source, thanks to careful steering by the Bureau of Fate, and they expected to have him in the year.

Navia hardly cared. The night the moon had been masked for a second time, she had slipped from Yu-Shan, traveled to the East and spent the night in Da'nashay's tents. Beneath the Resplendent Destiny of his wife, Navia hadn't been questioned for Da'nashay knew his wife was a skilled Sorcerer and wise in magics he knew little of.

"I wished to," Navia said simply. "It was time. Perhaps I miss being a mother...or maybe I wish I'd had the chance when Rhiann was young."

"If only our workload permitted that sort of role," Kejak sighed. "I'm happy for you, Navia. I hope she is everything you hope for."

"Yes. It's time for business now. Shall we?"

"To the point," Kejak said, nodding appreciatively. "First, I have a couple of co-signs I'd appreciate." He handed over a small stack of neatly organized papers in a leather binder, which she took along with the proffered quill and ink. With a perfect grace only possible with centuries of practice, her name in artful calligraphy began flowing across the page beneath the point. "Also, we're having...trouble with Epiphany."

"That new Ronin?" Navia asked, raising an eyebrow at her mentor. "I imagine the Division of Endings can manage one of their own. Death and Decisions can certainly take care of an upstart, that is her Sifu, right? How strange that we couldn't find her until now, though. She would be Yuffi Igadan's replacement which makes her...what, 20 years Exalted?"

"About that," Kejak agreed. "Are you familiar with the details of her case?"

"Not especially," Navia admitted. "The Convention on Prophecy has been preoccupying me too much lately. As you'd know if you actually stayed for all the planning sessions instead of doing your usual marathon round through all the other Conventions."

"Enough sass, crone." The corner of Kejak's mouth quirked up as he said it. "We picked her up in the South. She was part of a strange group of Exalts called the Daggers of Shadow, sort of an independent task force opposing the Deathlords."

"I can see why she's interesting to you then," Navia said, signing the last of the sheets before her. She closed the leather binder and handed it back to Kejak. "If it makes you feel better, E'lial has been trying to convince me that they're serious trouble too. I confess I have a hard time believing that the dead are that much of a threat to the whole of Creation, though."

"Maybe, maybe," Kejak said, absently thinking about something he'd seen recently. Navia didn't know what but Chosen of Secrets had to be careful to hide matters from each other and he wasn't bothering to be very careful. A sign of the trust he'd extended her...or was it something else?

"Go on."

"She apparently spent a great deal of time in the Underworld. Has a great deal of information, although I admit to some skepticism of her claims. She's proven remarkably resistant to indoctrination or to the seriousness of her duties here. There's concern over putting her to work, even though she just finished basic training, because her Sifu thinks she might run."

"Why discuss her with me?"

"For several reasons, Navia. You've shown a careful compassionate hand with Ronin before, to very good result. We haven't had a problem from E'lial in centuries now. More personally, though, her experience in the Underworld may bear on your present Convention."

"Stop trying to hook me like a fish, Chejob," Navia said, turning her head from the beautiful view to shake it admonishingly at the elder Chosen of Secrets. "You've offered me reason to be interested. Tell me why you're trying to."

"She's been in Heaven for more than a year. Not too many have the will to be that stubborn after that. Her hang up appears to be dealing with the old Hinge Prophecies, particularly the Pivot Child Prophecy. I know of your interest in those and thought you might find what she has to say...of worth."

Navia struggled to keep her smile in place. Because of her most exacting care, no one had ever discovered her commitment to the Pivot Child Prophecy. It was a remote coincidence that Kejak brought it up, genuinely not knowing. It was far more likely that he had somehow known all along.

But what was his purpose in telling her? Was he looking for her reaction? How much did he truly know?

"You are correct," Navia replied. "Did you know that I was at the Conclave that mapped the Pivot Child? It was my very first time seeing Prophecy uncovered before my eyes. That experience is what helped cement my commitment to the Bureau and our goals."

"I know," Kejak said. "That's why I thought you might be ideal for this matter. Would you mind?"

"Of course not, you lazy whelp," she said fondly. Chejob was smiling too, a smile that reached his eyes. If anyone in Creation could fake sincerity, though, it would be Kejak.

She would have to take the chance that he knew nothing. She was hardly in a position to kill him if he did. Even at her best form, she was not his equal and she was rather encumbered at the moment besides.

Yezenjen kicked inside her, reminding her of 1700 years of purpose.

"I would be happy to right now, in fact. I don't have another meeting for a few hours. I think I'll stroll down to the Division of Endings and have a talk with her."

"Very good," Kejak said approvingly. "I need to get going. The war in the Threshold is heating up and the Scarlet Empress is thinking of committing more forces to the conflict. Events in the Threshold are going to get very dicey soon until this war is straightened out."

"I don't expect the Realm to win," Navia said shortly.

"I'm not certain I do either," Kejak chuckled. "But any losses on their part will be minimized to the satrapy Thorns. We're hoping the war will do something much more important, namely flushing out Exalts in hiding all over the place. Perhaps we'll even catch some of those Deathlord agents we've heard rumors of. Assuming the Gold don't botch it, which I'm afraid is a possibility." The elder Sidereal sighed and rose from the bench. "I don't know that I'll have a chance to see you again before delivery. If it were necessary, I would see the stars favor her birth but it's obvious they already do. I suppose all I can offer is my best wishes and congratulations."

"Thank you, Chejob. I'll be in touch."

The leader of the Bronze Faction stepped away with a brisk stride. He was an important man and he had many matters to attend to, after all. Navia understood it all too well, for she was a part of the Bronze Faction's Inner Circle. That status left little time for anything else.

Navia awkwardly climbed to her feet and called for a cloud. It wasn't a far walk but she was just heavy enough that her feet would hurt by the end, and it was difficult to avoid waddling instead of walking. It was not dignified to waddle in Heaven, at least in public view.

The journey went swiftly and Navia thought on what this young Ronin might know of the Pivot Child. She dismissed her concerns of Kejak from her mind, knowing how futile they were. If he knew, he knew. If he did not...a few days would hardly be enough time for him to uncover the truth now. Once Yezenjen was born, she would be safe and that was very near.

Her cloud touched down at the entrance to the Violet Bier of Sorrows and she walked as slowly as she could to keep a little poise. Gods passing to and from the building gave her a respectful berth, owing to her rank, her Caste and her age. Navia politely avoided eye contact, sparing both the Gods and herself the tedium of the usual ceremony.

The dim halls, lit only with purple hued glass lanterns in places, were dark and mysterious and not even the Division of Secrets knew all of the ones found here. It was often said that Jupiter's Children knew when but only Saturn's Children knew how. In all, this was her least favorite department among the Divisions, not so much because of its purpose but because of it's pro-Solar propaganda.

"Ahhh...Navia, so good to see you." Death and Decisions approached her and greeted her warmly, shaking her hand with enthusaism, if not reserve. The Chosen of Endings was two centuries older than she was but had served loyally on the Capital Convention Fellowship they'd been a part of for several hundred years. He'd recently been promoted to a manager in the East, a task she did not envy in the least. As one of the few staunch Bronze Faction Sidereal in the Division of Endings, she had little doubt he would encounter nothing but friction and obstacles in trying to help manage matters over there.

"Decisions, it has been a decade or two, hasn't it? How are you?"

"Settling in. Good thing, too. The war between Thorns and everyone else isn't going so well. We're keeping a close eye on it, though. How far along are you now?"

"Any day," Navia said, smiling with the usual presentation of persona pride that every expecting mother developed after being asked that question the first hundred times. "I'm glad. I feel dreadfully out of shape. So tell me about this new student of yours. Epiphany, isn't it?"

"So Kejak sent you," Death and Decisions said, as if relieved. "She's driving me crazy. She finished the basic training just a week ago and, somehow, she's still stubborn. I'm half-afraid that if we take our eyes off of her, she'll jump through a Gate and go to ground in Creation somewhere."

"May I see her?"

"If you want to," Decisions said doubtfully. "I suppose you can decide how much aggravation you want to take."

"I'll be fine, thank you. If you'll take me to her room?"

"Of course, Navia," he said at once.

Navia fell in beside him and thought about how quickly Death and Decisions complied. Clearly old habits died hard and she'd been his manager for several hundred years, even if she no longer had any direct authority over him. It was a mark of respect and it pleased her to have it.

They stopped outside of a door that looked like it could have been any other door in this black maze. The Chosen of Endings knocked once on the door. "You can go on in. I have some other things to take care of. I'm sure you can handle her but feel free to find me in my office if you need anything else."

"Thank you, Decisions. I understand the Mistress of the Infinite Dark is putting on her yearly festival next month so I'm certain I'll see you there, if not sooner." The Goddess of the Night Sky was prestigious and important enough, both in Heaven and in the Bureau of Fate, that every Sidereal in Heaven was more or less required to show up. It was one of the few times everyone got to see each other.

By that time, the Pivot Child would be born and Navia's plan put into action.

Death and Decisions walked away and Navia opened the door quietly. It wouldn't open all the way and she had to squeeze her uncomfortably large bulk through the narrow aperture. Her irritation diminished when she saw the cause was immense stacks of books everywhere. She knew many of the texts very well. She'd written some of them.

"You must be Epiphany. Good morning," Navia said politely to the somber young girl reading in the corner. She looked rather like an urchin, a misfit too strange to use chairs or sit in a normal way. Lying on her back, her feet braced against a wall, the purple-haired, purple-eyed Chosen of Endings didn't acknowledge her entrance in the slightest. She merely turned a page.

Then Navia noticed the immensely oversized Starmetal halberd in the corner. She smirked skeptically at it.

"May I sit?" Navia said, asking the sullen Chosen of Endings.

"Why?" the Ronin said in a tone of plain annoyance.

"Because my feet hurt."

Epiphany set her book down and rolled her head backward to catch sight of her, not even bothering to roll over. Then, she did and came up on her feet, looking embarrassed. She moved several stacks of books from a chair and carried it over to the entrance.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were pregnant," Epiphany apologized. She settled on top of a stack of books, disdaining another seat. Navia thought about saying something but knew the Essence-wrought paper of Heaven would not be the least bit ruffled from the young Sidereal's weight.

"The Chosen of the Maidens have great responsibility...but mortality never leaves us entirely," Navia said, settling down with a relieved sigh. "Her name is Yezenjen."

"Lion of Heaven," Epiphany said, as if by rote. She grinned at Navia's raised eyebrows. "Just because I'm a provincial doesn't mean I didn't pay attention over the last year. Besides, I knew Old Realm before I even got to Heaven. Bold name for a kid, though. Hope she lives up to it."

Navia looked at the Ronin with her Auspicious Prospects of Secrets...and she knew she had found the last key to the puzzle, the last mystery. Perhaps today, she would be meeting her past selves to share information she'd learned...only she hadn't learned it yet. She could tell herself of the signs to look for, to know when the Pivot Child should be born...but the knowledge had to come from somewhere. At last, she had found its source.

Navia made a choice. She made the Lesser Sign of Jupiter and invoked several Secret Charms to render their conversation absolutely private, even in the heart of another Division's own halls.

"She will and more, I'm certain. She is the Pivot Child."

"Excuse me?" Epiphany blinked at her...and slowly her mouth opened. "You aren't kidding. You really believe you have the Pivot Child?"

"I know that I do," Navia said. "What I do not have is an understanding. Please...share what you know with me."

"Why would you think I know anything about it?" Epiphany said nervously. Her attempts at subterfuge were strongly motivated but quite ineffectual against a Sidereal of Navia's skill. Navia allowed for a tiny smile and rested her hands on her belly.

"Child, please do not make the mistake of thinking my...present limits hamper my intellect. I was there when the Pivot Child Prophecy was made, 1700 years ago. It is a Prophecy I have followed carefully ever since. I know you have something to tell me and you will do so. Here, now, in confidence."

"Why, so you can ignore the rest of my warnings like everyone else has?" Epiphany yelled, the bitter anger in her words echoing off the walls of her room.

"I do not know anything of your warnings either," Navia said quietly. "You long for an ear here, a place of confidence that you can rely on. Here is one before you, willing to listen. Would you give up what you've been searching for a year now, just for a temper?"

Epiphany looked shocked. Navia leaned back in her chair, satisfied that the easy tricks of prediction that were second-hand to her would still impress one as young as this Ronin. She fixed her eyes on the Chosen of Endings and bent her considerable will to the weight of that stare. Epiphany broke beneath it, as Navia knew she would. The child's heart was divided between her frustration and her need and that weakness was simple to exploit.

"I didn't grow up in Creation, you know. I was born and raised in a Shadowlands."

"So I am given to understand," Navia said, though Kejak hadn't mentioned that part.

"What you don't know is that I often traveled into the Underworld as a youth, to explore and sample the mysteries of the grave. I've always been fascinated by it." Epiphany looked mildly embarrassed again.

"Unsurprising, given the Exaltation that awoke within you."

"What no one is willing to listen to is that I learned a great deal in my time there. I journeyed to Sijan and learned the ancient secrets of the dead. I even went as far as Stygia. The Blessed Isle," Epiphany added, in response to Navia's incomprehension. "Did you know there are stars in the Underworld?"

"I do." Navia was not entirely ignorant of the afterlife but she barely knew more than any Immaculate. It was not an area of expertise she had chosen to acquire, as she was enmeshed in too many plots and responsibilities already.

"Did you know they can tell the fates of the dead?"

"I've heard that," Navia said cautiously. "But doing so is very difficult, not to be casually trusted."

"Only if you don't know what you're doing," Epiphany sneered, her pride in her own accomplishments flashing across the surface of her face. "I learned well and much in the Underworld. And while I was down there, I learned of the Fulcrum Hammer."

"What do you know of the Fulcrum Hammer?" Navia demanded. The purple eyes of the Chosen of Endings opened wide beneath the force of her determination. For Navia's part, she didn't care to conceal the depths of her interest from this one. The child could already knew enough to expose her. Showing how important it was would not add anything.

"I can quote it from memory for one thing."

The Prophecy of the Fulcrum Hammer. Dragon’s byblow by a blow, Honor, disgrace and depravity and discontent, War he will bring, against the Pivot Child he stands. Before him life falters, green dies, color fades, With hands that scream, he will bring forth screams, And through them, destine all of Creation to die. A Hinge of the world, upon him fate turns, To light or the darkness he’ll deliver existence, But for him, the choice is already made.

"And I know that it's happened," Epiphany finished. "Just this last year. Which should be impossible, you know. It was supposed to have happened 150 years ago."

"Explain yourself," Navia said, her curiosity now laced with fear. 150 years ago? That was around the time the Pivot Child should have been conceived. What had happened?

"The Prophecy speaks of a Dragon's byblow by a blow. I know what that means now. Someone used a Ghost Knife of Thiokol to awaken their own Exaltation at the expense of another's. It's an incredibly inauspicious act on its own...but it's the correct meaning, I know it is. Doing so bridged the world of life and death and...well, it's said in certain very ancient texts that using a Ghost Knife can sometimes result in a lunar eclipse."

"Go on," Navia encouraged.

"Well, the Fulcrum Hammer Prophecy speaks of an imbalance so great that it veils the moon two nights in a row. It's the sign that the Fulcrum Hammer has come. But, see, that's the thing. According to the best charts I had to work with in my lab in Stygia, this should have happened 150 years ago. The Fulcrum Hammer should have then descended into the Underworld and risen to power there. But it didn't happen. I know that because...well, when I was down there, people were still looking for him, you know?"

"Two successive lunar eclipses did happen 150 years ago," Navia said calmly. "That was when my daughter Rhiann was conceived."

"I don't know much of the Pivot Child Prophecy," Epiphany said haltingly. "But the Fulcrum Hammer opposes her so I read up on it when I got up here. I know these two Prophecies are interlinked but I didn't realize they were so tightly tied. The Pivot Child is born when the Fulcrum Hammer comes?"

"It would seem so," Navia said thoughtfully. "But why was that not 150 years ago?"

"I have no idea," Epiphany said. "But I know he's come now."

"How do you know?" Navia did her best to keep her impatience from her voice. She could not afford to spend all day here, make it to the Loom and then travel to where she needed to be in Creation to birth Yezenjen. She had meetings too but she suspected there would not be time for them.

"Because people were talking about it before...well, before Death and Decisions caught me." The child didn't look grumpy about it anymore but there was a sour hint around her eyes that spoke of her displeasure. "Anyway, the word in the Underworld was that the Fulcrum Hammer was coming very soon. So when I heard about the two lunar eclipses last year...well, I knew what it had to mean."

"Is there anything else?" Navia inquired.

"Just some thoughts I've had on the Pivot Child Prophecy, in contrast with the Fulcrum Hammer. Dragon-Blood seems to be important for some reason. The Fulcrum Hammer steals it. The Pivot Child is born from it."

Navia nodded, then winced as Yezenjen kicked a little too far down inside for comfort. "I already know he'll be named for his mother." That much had been pulled out of the extensive astrological work she'd done with E'lial. It had been difficult to probe the future without a third Sidereal but a century was a long time to try.

"You people up here don't seem to know much about Underworld Prophecy," Epiphany smirked. "So I'll clue you into a few observations. In the couple of cases I know of where Life and Death Prophecy touch on each other, there's usually the presence of the opposite. The Prophecies will contrast. What's that tell you?"

"Not knowing more of the Fulcrum Hammer and what it means, I would hesitate to say," Navia said coldly, not at all amused at the hint of condescension that lingered on Epiphany's voice.

"The Fulcrum Hammer steals his power at first. He comes about through a violent act. That tells me that the Pivot Child would have to be conceived in love. The Hammer forced his will so the Pivot Child cannot come about by compulsion. The Hammer is debased. I imagine one or both of the parents will be virgins."

"Close enough," Navia said wryly.

"What more is there to say? The Prophecies are linked. The Pivot Child's birth is almost certainly connected with the coming of the Fulcrum Hammer. I'd guess she'd either be born when the sign occurs or that she is conceived."

"She was conceived," Navia told her. "Rhiann was meant to be the Pivot Child but this mystery happened and the Hammer didn't come. When she reached adolescence, she Exalted as a Dragon-Blooded, which dispelled the very last hope that she was the Pivot Child. Such a one is meant for the Sky, after all."

"That's right, she is," Epiphany mused. "I bet she'll be a Solar."

"Don't be ridiculous," Navia said waspishly. "She's meant to save the world, not destroy it. You're confusing the two."

"Now who's being ridiculous?" Epiphany snapped back. "She'll be the savior of the world. Of course she's going to be a Solar. Who else could do it?"

"A Chosen of Serenity," Navia said and she was sad as she said it. "Nuche Keru, old and greatly wise as he had been, one of those who had forecasted the Pivot Child when she'd been a child herself, the Great Astrologer died last year, on the same night. It was true that he was not in favor in Heaven for his...well, to put it mildly, his enormously excessive use of astrology for all sorts of things. But he was a man of vision and his Exaltation will raise Yezenjen to certain success."

"How can the Pivot Child be a Sidereal? She's something out of Prophecy. I thought Death and Decisions told me we were outside of that."

For a single bone-chilling moment, Navia thought the Chosen of Endings might be right. The Sidereal were 'the help, not the show' as she'd once put it 1700 years ago. They had never been the subjects of Prophecy themselves.

But someone had to give birth to the Pivot Child. All of her own meditative study on her role in connection with Fate only proved that she was to be that mother. She'd found the father and her same connection with Fate had confirmed he was the one. If Prophecy could provide the Pivot Child from a Sidereal's loins, then the Pivot Child could be a Sidereal too.

Yes, absolutely. There was no question that she was right. She must be.

"Do not be so eager to embrace the hope that the Pivot Child be a Solar," Navia said, her tone still deliberately cool. "Whether the Child is or is not Nuche Keru reborn, if Yezenjen is a Solar then we are all doomed."

"So cynical," Epiphany said, rolling her eyes. "What's so bad about the Solar? I've heard about nothing but the crap they did the whole time I've been here but...well, even a lot of these books talk about how great they were. They could be again."

"No, they can't," Navia insisted. "Corruption is a part of their Exaltation, as intrinsic as their drive to righteousness. There is no power greater than theirs and they proved once and for all that they could not be trusted with that power."

"How would you even know?" Epiphany sneered, shamelessly disrespectful to an elder. "You weren't alive then, I know that much about you."

"My mother was a Solar."

The admission rocked Epiphany and she almost fell off the stack of books she was perched on.

"You? You're a Golden Child?"

"The signs faded a long time ago," Navia said, although she could not deny that even now people responded to her with unusual warmth. "My mother was a Night Caste. Her name was Taking Chances and she...was the Inspector of the Night, the highest ranked Night Caste during the First Age. She killed thousands of innocents, ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and never felt the least bit troubled for it."

"I know they used to be bad but they could be better now!" Epiphany insisted.

"You didn't see my mother when they caught her," Navia said, her voice falling to a whisper. "She was so terrible, Epiphany. She...oh Gods." The memory, one she hadn't sought out in at least a thousand years, broke a tear through her composure. Epiphany's purple eyes were wide and she seemed to recognize just how bad bad had been, to elicit that reaction from a Sidereal as old and well-trained as Navia was.

The truth was that Taking Chances had been even more savage. The first one to die was the Lunar who had pierced the Anathema's disguise, having tracked the monster through Navia's own blood. The Sidereal had all lived, miraculously, but that was because Taking Chances hadn't been able to control her sadism. If she hadn't taken her time to draw out every moment of agony...Kejak would never have been able to drop her.

"When they brought her down," Navia continued in an intense whisper. "They did not chain her. They did not even attempt to interrogate her or find out what secrets she might know. The hunting party wore her down until she was too weak to resist...and then Chejob turned her into a pillar of oricalcum."

"Whoa!" Epiphany exclaimed. "Talk about harsh!"

"It made a very effective example," Navia said, returning to the present and the constraints of time. "I never forgot it. So do not tell me, do not speak so blithely about how the Solar could save the world. Nothing can ever come from their hands but death."

"If you say so," Epiphany said, still clearly unconvinced. Navia spared a smile of respect, that the girl remained so stubborn in the face of an elder's arguments. She would make a fine Chosen of Endings someday.

"I need to leave. I have an appointment to keep. But I hope to speak to you again, Epiphany. I ask only that you not discuss what's been said until after Yezenjen is born."

"Are you kidding me?" Epiphany laughed. "Sorry, but I still think she'll be a Solar. Hell, I doubt I'd be the only one to draw that conclusion either, if people just thought about it. If the Bronze knew...heh, you would never have carried her to term, just on the chance."

Navia bowed her head as she opened the door.

"Be well, Epiphany. If nothing else, we'll speak in twenty years. And then we will see who was right."

She walked as quickly as dignity allowed, for there was nothing she wanted more than to get away from this place. The ambiance of the Violent Bier of Sorrows pressed down on her, as if the Division building itself knew what she carried and sought to harm the unborn child. Navia drew a relieved breath when she made it to the streets and started toward the Loom of Fate.

Epiphany was correct about one thing. Yezenjen could not be a Solar...but she already knew one Sidereal who had believed she was wrong so powerfully to die for it. He might not be the only one. Navia nodded to herself in ironic satisfaction. Her final warning to herself now made perfect sense. No one could know any detail of the Pivot Child.

Her stomach twisted and Navia paused a moment. No, it wasn't her stomach that had twisted...

With a Sidereal Martial Artist's perfect mastery of her body, Navia gathered her control. She would be composed and serene, as she had been to herself. But her time was short. She had to reach the Loom of Fate...and then the Blessed Isle.

The truth was that Da'nashay and Rhiann knew nothing of her pregnancy. She hadn't seen either of them since the night Yezenjen was conceived, after all. They might never know, depending on how the Pivot Child Prophecy unfolded. For Navia had a plan.

Yezenjen would be given the best education a child could receive. Navia would become Iselsi Navia for one last time. She felt the prayer strip inscribed with the Ceasing to Exist Approach Charm beneath her dress and smiled to herself. It would not be pleasant for her but the child would be given the very best care possible.

Then, the Maidens willing, Navia would see her daughter save the world. She hoped so. Maybe then, the voices of Iriszy and Yelaren would at last stop troubling her sleep. Maybe then, the ancient pain of a father's contempt and a mother's hate would be gone. Maybe then, she would be proved right. Maybe then...Navia could finally have a little peace.