Siobhan sat in contented silence, claws clasped together on her desk. Kady on the other hand looked like she was about to have some sort of panic attack. Tar-Khal couldn’t sweat but if they could she would have been sliding off of her chair. She’d never seen another reddish Tar-Khal, and with Kady’s life experiences this was intensely alarming.

“So, married, I believe you said. Would you like to tell me whom it is?” Siobhan asked, a smile growing on her face. She was going to enjoy this moment. It had been a very long wait.

“Oh, you wouldn’t know him, I think.” Kady answered, a nervous chuckle punctuating the desperate sentence. She didn’t like this. She couldn’t see the old woman’s eyes. It was unnerving to say the least. She'd never been like this before, all mystical and the like.

“Oh, I think I would. I know many things. Mohk has shown them to me with age.” Siobhan answered, continuing the sly smile. Kady’s expression shifted. Mohk was a god of multiversal knowledge.

“I think you may have mistaken me for someone else. I’ve never lived around here.” Kady explained anxiously, Mohk might actually know what it was talking about.

“Oh, have I? Odd. I could swear you’ve lived around here for a very long time indeed.” Siobhan said with a shrug. The coins on her headdress shook and jangled like echoing voices throughout the room.

“No, I haven’t. I think I would remember something like that.” Kady replied curtly. The old woman was really starting to grate on her nerves. The way she acted like she knew everything.

“Oh, no, you probably wouldn’t. But I have to say, I’m a fan of your music, Kady. Your third album “Looking for a place to love” is one of my favorites.” Siobhan answered, humming a melody all too familiar to Kady.

Kady’s blood ran colder than it ever had before. Colder than the night they had fled. Colder than the ice caps of Liberum. Colder than the void. Siobhan smiled again.

Kady interlocked her claws in front of her. She needed to think. This was all wrong. Things were out of order, coming unraveled around her. They hadn’t created a contingency for these factors.

She needed to think. She needed to-, Kady froze. She’d noticed something, in the rafters of the workshop, above Siobhans head.

“W-What is that?” Kady whispered, shrinking away from the roiling purple mass that seemed to glint with a sinister starlight. She couldn’t tell where it began or ended, or if it even had a shape at all.

“I knew you would see it eventually. It is already written.” Siobhan answered, reaching up to run her fingers through the mass of darkness. Tendrils of darkness swirled down her arm and danced across her shoulders.

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“What are you going to do to me?” Kady asked, her body tensing up for a dash towards the door. They might need to skip this one.

“It’s not what I’m going to do to you. It’s what you’re already doing to yourself, Hakkal.” Siobhan answered, her claws gripping something within the mist. She yanked her claw downwards and a clear crystal case came along with it. She tossed the case onto the desk Kady was sitting at, prompting her to flinch.

Kady hesitated. The old woman had used the middle part of her real name. She read the case. It was Kady Kaltakas’ third studio album, and it didn’t exist in this world.

“That’s not possible. That can’t be here.” Kady stated, anger beginning to rise in her voice. This old woman was breaking the laws of reality, laws she had done quite a lot of work to maintain. Laws she’d sacrificed more than this woman could ever understand to maintain.

“Indeed. Last stop, Hakkal. End of the line. No more running.” Siobhan retorted sternly. She leaned forward and did something she hadn’t since she had accepted the gift of Mohk. Her headdress clattered onto the desk on top of the album case.

“You shouldn’t do that. You can’t show your eyes in front of other people. You’re committing a sin or something, I know that much.” Kady commented, sliding the headdress back across the desk.

“True, but I’ve committed no sin. I’m not in the presence of other people.” Siobhan answered, sliding the headdress back towards Kady. She didn’t move to touch the tinkling brass rings woven throughout the fabric. She was too busy studying the ancient woman's eyes.

They were eyes that had seen the rise and fall of more life than even her numerous years could have permitted. Mohk had given her that. But, what Mohk couldn’t give was the fierce determination she must have had to use it for this long. That was buried deep behind the wise old Tar-Khals eyes indeed.

“How does it happen? I knew we were getting close, but I- I must have lost track. We’ve been going for quite a long time.” Kady asked, realization sleeping past dawn and rolling out of bed at about noon-ish.

She reached into her suit and produced a device that looked like a third of a fishing pole. She flicked a couple of switches along the handle and a display flickered into life. It read .001 in bright green digits. Kady hadn’t been paying much attention after each jump. It had been a long time since she’d bothered to check how close they had been getting.

“Indeed, you have. Now, we can talk later.” Siobhan said, placing her headdress back upon her head. Kady slipped the device back into her suit near her waist as the duo waited for their husband to open the door. Kady could barely contain her excitement. This was going to be the last one.

Arnold Meats opened the garage door, flakes of frozen whipped cream sliding onto the floor and shattering into powder. Tom excitedly bustled in around him and shuffled up to the desk Kady was sitting at. Kady slipped him the album, nearly causing the young man to jump as Meats closed the door behind them.

“You two look very, uh, pleased I guess is the word. Something happen?” Meats asked, peeling the sticky parts of his jacket away from his overalls. The cream had gotten in deeper than he had suspected. His boots made sounds like ripping velcro as he pulled them away from the concrete.

“No, nothing I didn’t already know would.” Siobhan answered, still looking pleased with herself.