Dannan Departure

Once Jovian is away, Julian turns back to Robin. "There is so much we need to speak of, and now is neither the time nor the place for it. But there are two things I must speak of now."

Robin's green eyes look up into Julian's blue ones, sad because there is indeed so much to say and she hopes that there will be time - someday. But now is now - something that Robin has always understood.

"The first is the matter of children. You must avoid having them at all cost. Both your mother and your grandmother died in childbirth; the risks to you are too great. I know it may embarrass you to speak of such matters, but you are your mother's daughter, and I do not presume to judge your conduct as long as you behave with reasonable discretion." There's the slightest twitch about Julian as he says that last, then he recovers. "But if you should find yourself with child, come to me at once."

The surprised blinking of Robin's eyes indicates that this subject came out of nowhere for her. Her first thought is that it seems a little late for this kind of warning, Dad. Not that Robin was planning on breeding anytime soon, but hey, she's a big girl. She could've experimented any time in the last few... decades!

Yet, she must admit, however late the warning comes, it still comes in time. There are no little Robinikins in the world yet. A brief flicker of sadness courses through the Ranger - as it looks like there will never ever be any little Robinikins in the world. This thought, of course, leads Robin inevitably to the who'd-want-'em-anyway stage, and she is done.

The Ranger nods her thanks to her father. Both for the warning and for the offer of aid.

"And the second thing is your brother, Daeon. I know you have been troubled by the fact that I have never introduced you to him. If you think I have preferred him to you in some way, you are mistaken. I have mistrusted his intentions towards you; he has not treated his half-sisters on his mother's side as sisters. If he were to seduce you, as is his wont, the consequences could be disastrous. He often leaves his dalliances with child afterwards." Julian searches Robin's eyes to make sure she has taken his meaning.

Robin's eyebrows go up and she makes a little sucking sound as the thought penetrates. Love kills indeed. Yikes.

"Do not think that he will come to claim Arden if I should perish. He is tied to his mother's home. Jovian might have followed me in Arden, but he has chosen another way, as you have seen. If I should perish in the war that is coming, you must hold Arden, Robin; you are the only one who can."

"But... Father, Prince..." Robin's voice gets husky and her eyes start to tear, "I... failed you on the Black Road. And since then... I couldn't... Brita... how can you trust me after that?" She chokes up, and starts to shake.

Julian puts his arms around his daughter, and sighs. "That part of the war is over and the Road is destroyed. How you fared in your last battle is not the issue. You lived, and that was a victory. Now you must plan your next battle."

Robin folds into her father's chest desperately. Through his arms, Julian will be able to feel a quick tenseness flicker through Robin at the words 'you lived'. But a quick quiet nod follows his words.

He waits until Robin has calmed a little to continue.

The Ranger swipes the tears from her face, takes a deep steadying breath and looks back up to her father.

"As for Brita, she has the love of Arden in her bones. Had things been different--" and Julian's eyes flicker for a moment, "--but they are not, and she does not know what she would need to know to hold Arden as she is now, and as she will become when the war starts. You can do this, Robin. You must.

Robin lowers her face, and her eyes flicker slightly, as she ponders possibilities, methods, things being not different. After a brief moment, her jaw firms up - getting a set to it that Julian recognizes as his pugnacious daughter getting her stubborn up. "Okay," she whispers, her voice still a little hoarse. Then stronger.

"Okay." She looks back up at him. In her green eyes is the glint of one of Arden's premiere trackers, warriors and wardens - on the job and ready for anything. "If that's the way it is, then that's the way it is, sir."

One half of her lips curve in a smile that promises trouble to the enemy. "What war?"

"The war between the goddesses of Arcadia," says Julian. "Artemis, Daeon's mother, is one of five sisters who rule a realm of several shadows called Arcadia. They used to change their roles depending on the season, I think, but I cannot be certain. In any case, I was foolish enough to sire Artemis' children, Daeon and Dione, and she used them to obtain a permanent rule over all of Arcadia. With Dione dead, and Daeon gone, her rule is weakened. Once Calliste's children are grown enough--and that will not be long--she will make war on Artemis and Daeon. That war will spill over into Arden, and anyone caught in it unwittingly is likely to die."

He adds, "I could defeat Artemis or Calliste in combat, but they are formidable opponents. Artemis' bear shape is particularly dangerous. But even their lesser troops would be dangerous to wanderers in Arden. It will not be a safe place for the leisured wealthy of Amber, if it ever was. And so I must close the borders to keep the people safe.

"Have you any other questions before we rejoin your brother?"

"Uh, yeah. Just one. No, wait. Two. Are you alright, Father? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"I am as well as can be expected under the circumstances. These last few weeks have been--difficult." Then Julian smiles at Robin, warmly. "The thing I most hoped for was to find you well and unharmed. Having you at my side in Arden in these troubled times is all the assistance I could desire."

Green eyes practically ignite with happiness. The Ranger throws her arms around her father and quickly kisses him on the cheek. "Oh, Dad. I'm so... glad to be with you again too." For a moment, Robin just holds herself there, little frissions of joy running up and down her nerves.

But eventually her second question niggles it's way to her lips.

"Aannnndddd...." She really doesn't want to know but she has to ask. "Who's in charge of Amber these days?" Robin bites her lips apprehensively as she waits for that answer.

"My youngest brother, Random. The Unicorn presented him with the Jewel of Judgement after the battle, and I was one of the first to kneel to him. He will be crowned soon, and we must be back in Amber in time to attend his coronation."

"Shit." Robin says in that flat voice that is often the last sound on the black box.

Julian arches an eyebrow that invites Robin to continue.

The Ranger drops her arms from around Prince Julian, her face immobile, her eyes flickering eerily. "He was too far away from me. It was too crowded. I couldn't put a knife in his ribs. So I ran." Her voice is still and uninflected.

Without conscious volition, one arm raises and Robin rubs a spot over her heart. Her brows furrow momentarily. Then her gaze darts to Julian's face. "It won't be child-birth that kills me, father. It will be our King."

"Why do you say that?" Julian asks.

"The Road," she murmurs. "I know. Shadows lie. Visions are incomplete. Or misleading. I could have been changed while I was sleeping. Or dead. But... Random. His name followed me through the darkness, sir -- his, Brand's, Corwin's -- but it was Random who ended my life therein."

"Those visions I have seen have some truth to them, but they are a distorted mirror, sometimes reflecting the truth but more often than not what is in our own minds," says Julian seriously. "The fact that it was a twisted shadow of Random that--attacked you--on the road may mean much, or it may mean nothing. Perhaps it is someone who looks like him that is a threat to you, or someone in his service.

"In any case," says Julian drily, "I find myself not unhappy with the outcome of your failure to assassinate Random. We can watch your back, and keep you away from Random--there are neither card games nor musical venues in Arden, and I look unkindly on his cigarettes--but I would have been hard pressed to defend an unexplained assault on the Unicorn's chosen. And should Random's resilience have failed him, we would have had an unfortunate situation on our hands in Amber."

A wry chuckle escapes Robin, and her eyes sparkle with humor. One arm goes back around her father and she hugs him companionably. "Thanks, Dad. Yeah, I'm kinda glad I didn't get any knife action in either. It... would have been fear moving me, nothing else. And I don't like feeling like I might have been set-up as a Random-seeking missile. So yeah. Watching. And lots of distance between me and the King. That would be good. Until I can figure out all that smoke-ridden mess I saw on the Road."

Her lips press flat at the memory, but then she obviously pushes it from her mind. And grins up at her father. "Deep Green, Dad. I am soooo glad you're back." Her other arm goes around the prince and she squeezes hard in affection.

Julian smiles affectionately at Robin, returning the squeeze.

"Okay." Releasing him, Robin pushes her hair back with one bandage hand. "I'm good now. Thanks." She smiles, her animation and color back to normal. "What next?"

"I will still need to survey the location of the battle briefly, but I am reasonably certain of what I will find. Someone--preferably Jovian--will have to return Siege and Avis to Fair Isle. I hope to avoid any further entanglements there. Then we will go home," Julian says.

Robin snorts -- she can just imagine. Bad enough that she's 'Julian's daughter' here, but someone there might notice something else. And if this place has a tendency to matrilineal descent... yep, entangled indeed.

And the Ranger very very much just wants to go home with her father.

He adds: "Do not mention Gerard's injuries unless you are directly asked about them. I do not want to lie, but Gerard's situation presents some complications, even beyond those we have already seen. It would be better if he himself could decide how to tell Corvis about his legs."

She nods sharply in response to this. "Haven't yet, wasn't planning on it."

Julian nods. "Unless you have something else, it would be best if we joined your brother. The sooner we can determine what to do about the Isles--both in the immediate and longer terms--the better pleased I will be."

"Nothing else right now from me, sir." She says stepping toward Jovian and crew. "Oh, except maybe you should know that there was a red-haired floaty transparent moon-type storm lady around here a while ago."

Julian arches an eyebrow, but files that under "later".

[Jovian] gives father and sister some privacy, and seeks out Avis. "A moment please, Avis?" he asks when he finds her, presumably in the midst of something (deep conversation with Siege would be no surprise; if this is the case, he will not insist on privacy).

Avis is, in fact, speaking with Siege.

"We'll be returning you and Siege to your mother's place soon. My father would like to know how his sister-in-law would likely receive him - as guest, target, or something else again."

Siege looks a tad offended by the prospect of 'target', but Avis shoots him a quelling look.

"The brother of the Lady's husband, who is a god in his own right, is always welcome among the Lady's followers, as are his sons and daughters," Avis says. "Will he be able to summon Gerard and Vere?"

"With Gerard at least, he will be able to communicate," Jovian allows. "Summoning is another question. Matters are unsettled in the eternal city, and I am given to understand Gerard is sorely needed where he is, as the Lady is by her people. I do not know if Vere will be at hand in either respect."

She looks disappointed. Siege speaks. "Will you leave us then, with nothing?" He sounds unhappy.

Avis quiets him with a wave of her hand. "We have long suspected that Gerard and Vere left us to deal with troubles greater than our own. If the home of the Gods is unsettled, then how can we expect that we can bring peace to own house?

"That Julian, son of Rilga, had sent a daughter here caused great hope to grow in my breast. I had hoped that she would be invested with the mantle of her foremothers and could help us reunite the folk of the Danu. If it is not to be, then we must make the best of the fate we have been given.

"The real war, if I ken you correctly, is on another front. Could the forces of heaven use the services of a priestess of the Danu and a commander of the Brotherhood of the Stag?"

"It isn't quite like that," Jovian answers them both. "I was drawn by need to this place, on my way home from the real war. Matters are unsettled in Amber, but it is the more delicate matter of waging peace that awaits us there. But you..." And he gives a longish, studying look to Siege and Avis each in turn. "The Lady remains the Lady, and you two her strong right arm. You are needed by her side. The children of Rilga are deeply concerned with what has happened here, be assured of that. Our interest in setting things right here is not taken lightly. That is why Vianis had a battle fleet, and now has a fanciful collection of driftwood sculptures." The dragonman's gaze lays heavily on Siege at this.

"The spider's choice to use weather magics against my chosen was a profound and dangerous error. The damage caused when her magic broke upon my will begs to be repaired." He glances over at his father. "If I know my father at all, it will be, and other matters settled as well. I have no doubt that Gerard will take issue with how the Lady has been treated by her Chancellor."

The grandson of Rilga exudes quiet confidence even in his appeal. "Help will be coming, sooner rather than later. But you must stand fast for a while more."

"Do not underestimate the Spider, child of the gods. She fights better with words than swords. We can hold out for some time, and your destruction of her Armada is great news, but we are sorely pressed. The Danu need help, and as much of it as we can get. If the Holy City cannot spare it, then better we perish than you let paradise be risked. I only ask that you promise us succor or vengeance, whichever is needed."

Siege replies. "Don't listen to Avis. We'll hold, demonrider. If only so that I can show my brothers what it looks like to see a witch-queen brought down in a ball of demonfire."

"The Danu will have help as soon as help can be spared," Jovian avers, "which ought to be sooner rather than later, as I said. I do not think the sons of Rilga will leave matters here to go from bad to worse." And, accepting Siege's confidence, he turns to regard his father from a distance discreet enough to let him conclude his quiet moment with Robin.

As Robin approaches the Dragonrider and the Danu, there is color to her cheek, pep in her step and a twinkle in her eye. Despite everything, all is right in Robin's world right now.

Julian finds parchment and pen and writes a quick note, which he gives to Avis for Corvis. She still seems cowed by his presence, although not by that of his children. Jovian arranges for Avis and Siege to be returned to Fair Isle via a swift dragon courier. Julian mounts behind M'corli and has Kourin take Robin. Julian orders a straight flight towards Ladystown, and after a while orders an eastward turn.

//J'lin has seen enough// Canareth tells Jovian. Canareth, and all the dragons, seem much calmer than you would have expected this soon after a major battle in which several of their number were hurt.

The flight of great dragons crosses back over the water towards the mainland, flying into the sunrise. The vast forest of the mainland is dark and is almost palpably hostile to intruders. Luckily, it does not attack the wings of dragons which overfly it.

With three pattern initiates manipulating shadow, the trip is remarkably swift. Shadow forest becomes deeper, grander forest, the green changes, deepens, and richens. The sun becomes larger and more golden, and the birds over the canopy become more familiar. With a final nudge, Julian adjusts the shadow and things feel different. Cool. Right. Arden.

On gold Hoshith, Robin stretches her hands out over the forest. The smile she sends to Kourin is full of joy - Robin is flying home with her father. That Hoshith and Kourin have made that possible, and that they are close to Jovian, gives Robin warm fuzzy feelings for both. Though the warm fuzzies are for the moment being swept along in waves of excitement. With a low undercurrent of dread at being once again close to Amber.

Under Julian's direction, the dragons fly north over the unmapped deep green forest. It is surprisingly refreshing and the dragons seem positively happy.

//J'lin says we should set down in the valley ahead. He says it is where the army was after they returned.//

[Are they still there, or any part of them? Is anything going on down there, or is the valley vacated by now? When is now, anyway? And can I drop you off anywhen?]

[Robin]
[Smoke from campfires?]

No smoke from campfires. The valley appears to have been vacated.

Jovian can't tell there's anything wrong, but Robin notices that the heather that gave the vale its name is gone, replaced by deep green overgrowth. In fact, the whole valley is overgrown, in a way it should not be after a matter of at most a few weeks.

"Huhn." Robin breathes out. Her brows furrow slightly as she takes in the green. When Random asked her for a staging area, the Ranger was betting that a part of Arden would have to be sacrificed. This doesn't look like the damage she'd expect from her family and an army.

But... maybe, she's slipped in time again. A trip of a double handful of days was how long here in Amber?

The girl reaches out for a sense of the Vale she knew.

Robin thinks something is definitely different about Heather Vale, but she'd like to be on the ground to really check it out.

//Are you sure this is where the army was camped?// Jovian asks his dragon, surprised. A force of that size would leave signs - crushed grasses, freshly turned earth covering fire- and cesspits, cleared underbrush to keep fires from spreading.

The Shadowflyer concentrates for a moment on the flow of time, checking himself. Two weeks, less a little, since his father trumped home from the shade of Ygg. Even if the army was prepared to move out of the valley immediately, there should still be some signs. Either something was happening to heal the valley more quickly...or something was wrong with time....

//Canareth, ask Dad when the Shell we are.// The tone of his mental 'voice' speaks volumes about how much the question costs him.

//Amaranth says M'corli tells him that J'lin thinks we are on time. Something else is wrong. He wants a wingleaders' meeting on the ground.//

//Good enough. Pass the word to put down, and that nobody goes for a walk in the woods for any reason.//

//This place must grow very fat herdbeasts.// Canareth adds casually. He does not sound hungry. Yet.

//We can ask Dad about hunting, but I have a hunch he'll send us off in near Shadow.//

Alighting in the overgrown Vale, Jovian clamber's down the bronze behemoth's side and picks up M'hall, L'tarn, V'laren and Kourin with a series of crisp, businesslike looks. They converge on the spot where Julian is standing by Antrith as M'corli dismounts by touch.

"All right, so how long ago did the army move out of here?" the dragonman asks his father point-blank, looking from him to the rambling growth around them and back again.

"That's a very good question," says Julian, "and one I hope to have an answer for soon."

He picks a blade of tall green grass from the ground and tastes the end of it. His eyes narrow, and he spits the blade out, surveying the clearing where he had described the command camp as being to Jovian.

Jovian observes this, and is troubled by his father's reaction, but is unable to derive any deeper meaning from it. The grass he's used to is rather higher in boron, after all.

As Hoshith's wings stop beating and the gold settles, Robin flings her arms around the dragon's neck. "Thank you, Hoshith. Thank you very, very much."

Turning to the dragonrider behind her, the Ranger smiles though there is an obvious concern lurking in her emerald eyes. "Kourin? Thank you and welcome to Arden. Though... I'm afraid that there's something up, so that my welcome can't be what it should. If you'll pardon me a moment?"

As Kourin passes along the notice that a meeting is in the offing, Robin smiles with one corner of her mouth and nods.

Robin scampers down Hoshith's side. But the minute her boots hit soil, she's down on one knee quickly examining the land, the soil and the plants. Her head cocks and nostrils flare as she takes in the scents born along on the wind. Blue fire begins to trace along her nerves as the Ranger uses all of her senses to try and figure out what happened here.

Robin closes her eyes as she scents the grass and the soil. For a moment, she experiences a touch of vertigo, as if she's having double vision. Then it clears again and she's in the strange place that both is and is not Heather Vale, and Kourin is standing beside her.

Standing the Ranger brushes her hands off on her leggings and strides toward where the rest are gathering.

Julian looks to Robin as she strides over to where he and Jovian stand. "Robin. Do you sense what's happened?"

Kourin has stopped to examine a small tree, perhaps six feet tall and small enough in circumference for a man to grasp. "J'rim," she says, "look at this."

The trunk of the tree has grown partway around it, but part of the metal is visible, enough to make it clear that the tree was once a spear. Ranger work, Robin thinks by the look of it.

Jovian crouches to examine the spearhead in the ground, then siezes the shaft/trunk firmly and straightens his legs and back with steady power, increasing only enough to free the thing, not enough to send himself staggering when it releases its hold on the earth.

He presents the spear-tree, head up, to his father. "Benedict's staff isn't actually flowering in that trump portrait, is it?" he asks with a wry twist at the corner of his mouth.

"I sense something, sir." The Ranger answers. "I think this valley is two different places. One was..." Robin gestures over to Kourin's tree, "or may still be Arden. I don't recognize the other." Robin doesn't sound very happy about that at all.

A Julianic eyebrow joins the dragonrider's quirky expression, and he meets his father's gaze squarely again. "Overgrowth, yours but not yours...is Daeon up and around fertility-godding again? I presume his...dalliance would have been before he left Arden." He sounds skeptical of the idea himself, but it's what he's got to work with.

"No," says Julian. "Daeon hasn't the power for this kind of working. This smacks of his mother. She must have caught his scent as Morgenstern brought him here and followed."

V'laren is kneeling at one edge of the clearing, examining a small cairn. "J'lin, take a look at this." Robin recognizes it as the sort of cairn Rangers leave in a place where one of their numbers has died.

Robin's eyes get steely. Her brother's mother or no, that's going to count against her in the upcoming war.

Jovian lets a long, weary gaze settle on the cairn. One war to another to another...and this one among gods, whatever that means, which can't possibly be good for the lands they're tied to. He shakes his head slowly and looks away, lost for a moment in his own depressing thoughts.

Julian says, "That's a death-marker, V'laren. A Ranger has died here. We are in no immediate danger, but this place has become perilous. The Rangers must have retreated."

That irks the Ranger even farther. She sacrif... gave this place to the King. Not to any old two-bit bush floozy who skulks in.

He turns to Robin. "We shall move on to Ruby Falls. There are caves in the hills just to the east that will serve to host the dragons for a little while. We will learn what has happened here and from there move on to the city."

[OOC: Post 7 per this map]

"Sir? I wasn't getting regular reports from Ruby Falls, but... something Prince Gerard said. He mentioned that those hills weren't healthy and suggested that Brita and I shouldn't go poking around in there." The twist of Robin's nose indicates how she feels about the Regent telling her where not to go.

Jovian looks curious at this. "I suppose that bears at least an investigative sweep. If the hills aren't safe for some reason," he adds, looking to his father, "would there be a suitable cave system on Kolvir's seaward face?"

"The cave systems beneath the castle are off-limits," Julian replies, "and there are none suitable above it. I am not aware of any problems that would affect dragons in those hills, but perhaps something has changed in my absence. If the caves near Ruby Falls are unsuitable--and they are too cramped for use as anything more than a waystation--I am afraid Canareth and his kin will have to sleep outdoors."

//It won't be as warm as the beach.// Canareth opines.

//At least it's spring now,// Jovian commiserates. //It'll be getting warmer. Anyway it's only temporary; we'll see about getting the wings home as soon as we can.//

Either way the answer comes back, he mounts up, signalling the other riders to follow.

The flight to Ruby Falls is short and uneventful. Jovian, M'corli, and Kourin land so that Robin and Julian can speak with the Ranger holding of Ruby Falls. Ranger Pistil, who had gone away to the wars with Julian, has taken charge there since the Return.

Robin falls on the returned Rangers with shouts of joy, much laughter, tears, playful jibes, hugs and companionable thumps on the back as is approproate to each of her boon-companions.

Word of Robin's return spreads quickly through the camp, and both the Returnees and the older Rangers among those who remained come to greet her. If she is not careful, she'll end up staying the evening for a ceilidh, and Julian has made it clear he wishes to move on.

Robin is careful. Though she definitely wants to stay, she lets it be known that she's under the wishes of the Warden of Arden. The Ranger won't make any promises to come back - Robin will never make that promise again - but she lets the men known that as soon as she can, she'll be in the wilds of Arden, making her rounds and making trouble once more.

If she notices any arm-bands, she conspicuously ignores them.

None of the Returnees wear them, and none of the Rangers who were recruited before the Sundering either, as far as Robin can tell.

Pistil describes Daeon's return on Morgenstern, the arrival of Artemis, the vain attempt to prevent her from retrieving her son, and the retreat called by Vista. What remained of the forces fell back to Brita's Watch, but most of the outsiders have gone back to the city by now. The dead Ranger was Spar, one of Brita's recruits, who was slain by the Maenads.

Julian looks grave but unsurprised.

"Faranth shat a brick," Jovian mutters. "It's started, so soon. Do we go after him?" he adds aloud, to his father.

"We cannot," Julian says. "Arden and Amber require my complete attention for the nonce."

Jovian's mouth sets in a hard line, but he nods sharply and lets it drop.

Robin looks... impressed with Brita's efforts though perhaps a little sad.

Meanwhile, L'tarn leads a sweep of the hills near Ruby Falls and reports back that there are caves. As expected, they'll do for a few days, but L'tarn doesn't like them for the long term any more than Julian.

Once the Ranger's calmed down a little from seeing Arden becoming populated once more, she'll play host to the dragons and their riders - though carefully making sure not to step on Julian, Jovian or Pistil's toes. After all these guys saved her butt in the land of the Danu, the least she do is make them as comfortable as possible. Arrange for the 'herd-beasts', the water, the medicinal refills, etc. Start sounding out what kind of caves would be good for the long term - and arrange them.

Unless things have changed substantially of late, there are no herd beasts in the hills that will serve. And the caves are either there or not, and in this case they're not.

Although Robin gets the feeling from the riders as she sounds them out that they expect to return home soon.

She'll also take this opportunity to personally check on M'corli. And thank him for the good job he did for her.

He thanks her for getting him out of there.

Once the riders and dragons are settled comfortably, with some assistance from the Rangers of Ruby Falls, and runners have been sent to Brita's Watch with the news of Julian's return, Julian is ready to move on to the castle with Robin and Jovian. He suggests that Kourin fly up with them, but that the rest of the riders stay at Ruby Falls for the time being.

Jovian appoints V'laren to be liaison to Pistil and the Rangers, warning him and L'tarn to defer to Julian's officers but otherwise putting them in charge of the riders' encampment. "The dragons will need to hunt soon," he notes to his father. "We should have a word about where it would be best to take them." Whether this is meant to mean 'where in Arden' or 'where in near Shadow' is left deliberately ambiguous.

"There will be nothing suitable to hunt in the immediate vicinity," Julian replies. "Offshore, however, there will be some excellent fishing. Canareth and Hoshith can be provided for at the castle."

The word is passed to V'laren before Jovian mounts up to fly the thread over the castle.

Erm. That didn't come out right.

Hunh. Robin raises an eyebrow toward Jovian's blanket-mate. Looks back to her father. Ah well. Julian has actually served with Kourin, so he should know if she's up to it or not.

During the shadow flight, Robin's loaner riderwear has eased into something a little more rangerly and clean. So while, the stuck out tongue and curled nose clearly indicate how Robin feels about going to the Castle, she's pretty much ready otherwise.

And with that note, [Jovian] mounts up and turns his eyes to the great mountain, awaiting his father's word.

[And the foursome mount and fly away into another thread.]