An envelope had arrived at Yoor's house. It contained two pages of neatly written text and a little note saying 'in response to your inquiry,' with regards from the Council bureaus.

"Very good!" Torly took the papers from Yoor with eager hands.

"Yes." Yoor gave her a wry grin. "I have looked through them and understood almost one tenth of it all. It mostly consists of references to other documents. So I guess this is not so much the answer to our question, as our reading list for the coming weeks."

"Excellent," Torly replied, completely undaunted. "The library has not seen much of me this year, anyway. It's about time. I understand I will have charming company?" She looked at Yoor with an elegantly arched eyebrow.

"Very charming," Yoor affirmed, his blue eyes twinkling up at her as he bowed.

*

Dust drifted lazily through the reading room, like tiny fairies floating from window to lamplight, making their home on ancient tomes and worn wooden shelves.

Torly sat with her head propped up in her hands, dark curls pooling around her shoulders as she stared down at the parchment before her. Several scrolls lay beside her elbow, as well as stacks of papers, open books, rolls of bamboo slips, and more papers, some of them pushed in between the pages of leather-bound volumes, as markers or just as parts of general disarray.

Torly ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back. But her eyes were still fixed on the scroll before her. She looked up only when the commotion at the other side of the table caught her attention.

Yoor had pushed back his chair and stood up. He flashed her a glorious smile, then turned to walk out.

Torly followed.

Yoor was waiting for her in the sumptuous antechamber, pacing impatiently across the ornate mosaic floor.

"So?" Torly asked. "You have found something? Something good?"

"Yes!" Yoor replied, all aglow. "At least I think so. I hope so. I can see it coming." He began to gesture, arms spread wide. "It is still very much in the mountains. They are grand. And otherworldly too. And within them, the Transition is happening. I will not call it that, of course. But there will—"

"Yoor!" Torly interrupted. "What are you doing? What are you talking about? Did you read any of these texts at all? Or have you been dreaming of illusions and stage magic all this while?"

Yoor looked startled. For a long moment, he just stared at Torly. Then he bowed his head. "I have indeed," he confessed, "been dreaming about stage magic all this time. I am sorry. No. I cannot be sorry." A radiant smile crept irrepressibly back into his face. "It will be great. You'll see," he beamed.

"But I do apologize," he continued more soberly, "for leaving you alone with all these documents, these procedures and officialdoms. I can see that I am really no help at all."

He scratched the back of his head. "Perhaps I should formally excuse myself from this duty. So at least I won't go on disappointing your hopes. And if you need help, let's try to find it elsewhere. But I can't do it, I am afraid. I can be a stage artist, a magician of dreams. But not a scholar of the law. It is beyond me."

Yoor took a step forward and wrapped his arm around Torly's waist. "But then who will follow through on all these inquiries? You, on your own? You seem to be surprisingly good at it, concentrating for hours on end. Have we discovered a hidden talent in you? A secret passion, even?"

Torly laughed. "I would not go so far as to call it a passion. But it is true, I do find it much more interesting than expected. Difficult, yes. But also fun, a bit like a riddle or a treasure hunt. You find one hint first, and then another, and that leads you to some totally unexpected place, one that is really hard to reach, even. But once you get there, you triumph! You have made your discovery! And you hold your next clue in hand, and it is urging you on... quite exciting, in a way."

Her fingers dug into Yoor's pearly hair. "Even though I would much prefer to go treasure hunting with you, together." She sighed. "But perhaps it makes sense if you stick to what you do best. And what you love."

Torly stood up straight and put her hands firmly on Yoor's shoulders. "You have my blessing. Go be a dreamer." She placed a solemn kiss on his forehead.

When she pulled back, there was a sparkle in her eyes. "While I will dive into ancient writings and cryptic messages, to emerge gloriously at the end of my quest, in possession of the amazing power to register a grouping. And, of course, to make the wheels of history turn!" With a last daredevil wink over her shoulder, Torly ventured back into the labyrinth of dusty trails on which the past had created the present.

* * *

In the depths of the mountain, the miners kneeled on the ground in dense, huddled rows. Their breath was bated, and their hands clasped together anxiously in front of their chests.

The mage stood before them, arms raised. A raw, alien voice broke from his throat, an arcane chant, an ominous incantation. With the last haunting sound, dark smoke billowed forth from the folds of his robes, flowing down between the miners, pooling into a gloomy lake at their feet.

All of a sudden, lightning struck. It hit the rock right above the mage, outlining his figure against flaring brightness. An ear-splitting roar of thunder rolled through the tunnel.

In the deafened silence that followed, the haze on the ground turned pale, an eerie gleam that seemed to penetrate the stone itself, making it insubstantial, see-through. And deep down in the abyss, shadows moved.

The miners shivered.

The rock itself seemed to groan and growl. And while the tunnel roof began to glow like lava, the wraiths of the deep were climbing up toward the humans.

"Repeat after me!" The mage's voice rang through the tunnel like a divine command.

And the miners obeyed, a confused, anguished chorus.

A fiery glow descended from the ceiling, a golden light that came to envelop their heads, then their shoulders. With each word of the magical oath, it sank down deeper, closing protectively around their bodies.

Beneath them, the demons advanced, hungry hands outstretched. A first ghostly claw reached above ground, right between the miners and the mage's feet. A disfigured head pulled up.

The chorus grew frantic. "... to bind and hold my life, ever loyal to this mine and its owner."

At the very last word, the magical fire touched ground, sending red hot flames out toward the monsters. They reared up with an ear-splitting screech. Writhing and whining, they fell back down into the darkness.

The miners watched in horror as a bottomless pit opened beneath the ghosts and swallowed them all.

* * *

"Why do you think I am running a warmlings oven?"

Kaya grinned broadly at Lasa as she helped her pluck the last winter berries off the brambles in the courtyard. "It makes me go around town with my cart a lot, talking to loads of people. I get to know them, they get to know me, and sometimes they even get to know each other better. Of course they all already have their friends and neighbors. There is a whole network of people, each knowing someone who knows someone. And I have so many entry points into that web!"

Lasa was getting an invisible pedalcart ready.

Kaya obligingly shoveled hot stones inside. "In the moons before solstice, which are so very cold, I'll even be doing several rounds a day. What could be better for passing on a message? I'll be meeting hundreds of people every day! I can tell them all about the Choosing!"

"Yes!" Lasa's eyes were shining. "I'll help you! You need more people." She started pedaling her imaginary cart, shouting, "Warmlings, warmlings! Come, everybody, buy your warmlings and hear the latest news! Very good news! Very important news!" She pulled up to Lunin and started selling him hot stones together with hot stories.

Kaya watched her. "She is right, actually. We need more people. It can't just be me in person, talking to everyone."

Pulan gave a low, thoughtful whistle. "We could go sometimes," she suggested, looking at Cahuan. "We'll trail along, and when we have heard Kaya talk often enough, we might also be able to do it ourselves."

Cahuan wagged her head, then turned to Lhut, meeting his eyes. Lhut gave her a little nod and a one-shouldered shrug. "Yes. Let's try. I definitely want to be in as well. We won't be able to do it every day. But if enough children volunteer to keep things running at home in the meantime, some of us can go and talk about the Choosing."

Pulan and Som exchanged a glance, then nodded decidedly. "We're in."

Kaya looked at them proudly, as if she herself had carried all that courage and commitment into these young souls. Which maybe to some extent she even had.

But Kaya's thoughts were already moving on to another potential source of support. "We might be able to recruit more people once the gatherings have started. Those who volunteer. Those who stand out."

Kaya's fingers were drumming a steady beat onto her thigh. "Yes." He eyes were aglow. "I think we can make it."

She stood up. "As soon as the Mountain grouping raises its flag in Varoonya, we'll go!"