Nooks the size of small rooms are set against the walls at various heights, many unreachable save by flight or ladder, most furnished to serve various different purposes – study, sleeping, reading, and so forth. Light gauzy curtains may be drawn before the assorted sections, to screen them for privacy. On the main floor, a ring of comfortable ivory-hued seats, in various styles and types to suit different species, along with small matching side tables, surround like satellites a central dais hidden by a blue-green drape. The "Procession" theme continues in the hanging ceramic braziers tinted silver, descending in a graceful arc from crystal-accented black velvet ropes fastened to the ceiling. On close inspection, other dark ropes are visible, crossing from various points on the walls and ceiling, though their purpose is not readily apparent. Arc-shaped black floor candelabras glitter with similar dangling crystals, providing additional lighting for the chamber after sundown.

The door leading out of the tower chamber opens, revealing three Eeee: a master mage, an apprentice, and a richly dressed noble whose eyes widen at the sight of the Exile waiting outside. "Farewell, Lady Merieta," the black mage says to her, and she nods to him, looking flustered as she flutters off.

Envoy bows to the noblewoman as she passes.

The lady gives a little wave to the Aeolun, looking alarmed, and hurries out of the antechamber. The black Eeee shakes his head slightly, then bows to the Exile. "Good evening, Mage Envoy. I am sorry to have kept you waiting."

Entering the chamber, Envoy bows again – this time to Cyprian. "It's no problem, I'm used to waiting. I was hoping you could help me understand some information I was recently given?"

"Certainly. Come in." The mage gestures to the open door, then waves the apprentice off. "Joff, you may go now. I understand Mage Envoy won't be needing my professional services."

Envoy takes a seat near the Mind Mage. "Your previous guest seemed shocked to see me," she comments.

The apprentice bobs his head in acknowledgment. "Thank you, sir." He tarries at the exit to gawk at the Exile, then remembers himself and strides briskly away.

Envoy shifts in her seat, a bit unsettled by the looks she's gotten. People haven't gawked at her like this since she was rescued from the circus.

"I suspect a great many people would be. A large portion of the Babel population – not to mention the outlying provinces – witnessed your actions in the last of the mage-generated dreams. And of course, you cut a unique figure even without that connection. When people who dreamed of you see you in the flesh, it must give them pause." The Eeee smiles for a moment, then adds, "Thank you, by the way. I am grateful for what you did to stop the High Princess – and the renegade mages."

"It was my duty," Envoy says, blushing. "I originally just wanted to save Morpheus. It looks like you may have a Goddess living in Babel soon anyway though, if Sunala's avatar comes here to her temple."

The Eeee mage snorts. "Goddess, indeed. She may have some power, but she is no true manifestation of the Dark Lady. Magery created her, and could unmake her, given the chance. It is my devout hope that the people of Babel will come to see these dreams – and the products of it – for the callow manipulations they were." He smiles wryly after finishing, running a hand through his headfur. "I sound quite the fanatic, do I not?"

"Not really," Envoy says. "Most of the fanatics I've encountered so far in Babel don't bother explaining their beliefs, and haven't been … well … the brightest of people."

Cyprian chuckles. "Much of what people believe in does not hold up under even their own attempts to explain it rigorously. But I don't believe the Kindly Ones are what you wished to discuss?"

Envoy nods. "Not directly, no. But an Oracle of Barada told me of a way to repair the damage done to my mind. It involves recovering … or else just finding … the essences of each sub-sphere of Earth, which also correspond to each of my lost Aspects. Once found, I was to bring them to a powerful Mind Mage whom I trusted, so that the repairs could be made. Since you are the only Mind Mage I trust, and who also knows what I was like before my loss, I wanted to ask you if any of this sounded possible?"

The Eeee mage quirks an eyebrow. "Far be it from me to question the wisdom of an oracle," he says, mildly. "Nor does it sound impossible, though I question what is meant by the 'essence' of each sub-sphere. Can you tell me the oracle's exact words?"

Envoy nods, and quotes, "Listen, for I will make to you clearer, To heal yourself, you need pieces from four mirrors. Four aspects, four elements, four realms of your sphere. Gather together, and bring them all here."

The mage listens, his green eyes intent, throughout the recital. At the conclusion, he frowns thoughtfully. "Was that all the oracle said?"

"There was also a bit about my having to decide where these realms are for myself," Envoy says. "And that … the gods have an answer in mind, but it may not be the best one."

"Were those the exact words?" Cyprian asks. "Forgive me, but often in prophesies among my people, the precise words are vitally important. It is a good thing your command of my tongue is more capable than most non-Eeee. I assume this oracle spoke to you in the Eeee language?"

"It … I'm not sure it was a real experience," Envoy admits. "They were in Eeee, here are the exact words, after I asked about the realms:"

Envoy adds, "I asked if I needed to choose my own answers too, and heard:"

The mage frowns, nodding when she continues. "Not a real experience?" he queries.

"I can't remember the journey to the Oracle's shrine, or the journey back. It was as if the Yodhbarada put me to sleep and I dreamt it, but I woke up just as tired as if I hadn't rested at all," Envoy explains.

His mouth twists. "I cannot say I like the sound of that, given all our recent experiences with dreams. Still … it seems it was in dreams that you sustained the injury, so a dream-riddle may well prove the answer. Here, let me write this all down." The dark bat fetches a couple of wax tablets from his desk and returns with them, jotting down the riddle. "I am sure it makes no difference to you, but I think better with a reference before me."

"I write things down often," Envoy says. "Just not for my own reference. The report of my experiences in the Dream Realm and in Babel took up quite a few sheets, but I'm sure the High Council would have asked for one anyway."

"No doubt. Those of us who admitted to any kind of view of events have been instructed to do as much," the Eeee concedes with a wry smile. It takes him a few minutes and a couple of times of Envoy repeating pieces of the riddle, but he transcribes the riddle word-for-word, obtaining the Aeolun's original wording in her questions, too, while he's at it.

The Eeee taps his stylus against the tablet. "One last thing, if I may – were there any non-verbal cues that you noticed? Gestures the oracle made, curious events in the environment? The presence of any out-of-place elements, for example?"

"The Oracle didn't say anything herself, other than 'Listen'," Envoy explains. "The riddle … was whispered on the wind. It was raining too, with thunder and lightning, and my mane was blown by the wind once."

"The Oracle seemed rather young, as well," she adds.

Cyprian writes the words "wind", "rain", "lightning" and "thunder" down on the second tablet, then smiles wryly. "That's another foursome. But we may be inventing that one. Let me see, what foursomes did she speak of?" He writes them down as he ticks them off. "Mirrors, Aspects, Elements, Realms." He pauses after that. "She mentioned realms in two contexts, did she not? Physical locations, and realms of 'your' sphere."

Envoy nods, "Realms of Fire, Water, Earth and Air that were 'far and away', where the essences of metal, plant, stone and soil would be found."

The mage nods. "Living essences?" He muses. He jots down, "Dragon, Child, Probe, Father", and underneath them, "Fire, Water, Air, Earth", then "Metal, plant, stone, dirt." Aloud, he continues, "With our non-verbal set, 'Wind, Rain, Lightning, Thunder' we've got four sets of four, which is auspicious, but perhaps not our ideal final set of four. There are the four physical realms, as well – actual places?"

"I chose to view them that way, yes," Envoy says. "I think they relate to Bosch, the Sea of Sand, Moltpaa and the realm of Isetis."

"Curious. The riddle doesn't give us much to work on with them… I'll admit my first thought was of the other planets, as that would be about at 'far and away' as one might get. Why did those locations come to your mind?" the mage inquires.

"Bosch is a chaotic realm, where reality … burns," Envoy says. "There is an artifact called the Black Sword lost within it, made of meteoric iron, that has been sought after by those who fight for Order. The association with the Aspect of Dragon fits, as she hates chaos."

"Somewhere in the Sea of Sand is the source of Rainbow Water, and perhaps the original plant from which Mage Barabbas found the seeds used for his own tower," the Aeolun explains.

"I've seen the heart of Moltpaa in a vision," she admits. "And indeed there appeared to be some sort of stone essence there. Air magic freezes out into a physical form in the lands of Isetis, and there is a Sanctuary of Ice at its heart which may contain the essence of soil."

Cyprian listens curiously to her conclusions. "What of the mirrors?" he asks, when she is done.

"In the Dream Realm, each of my Aspects had a mirror which reflected them," Envoy says. "I lost my Aspects to break free of Inala, so the metaphor of broken mirrors would seem to relate to each Aspect. The essences would mirror an Aspect, I think, or else the quest to find them would require using the attributes of the appropriate Aspect."

"Or using literal mirrors, or reflective objects," the mage remarks. "Reflective metal, for example. Reflective dirt, though, could be quite a stretch. The riddle also mentions 'pieces' of four mirrors brought together. Perhaps whatever the four items are, they combine to form one whole, just as your four Aspects intersected to create you?"

Envoy blinks. "I hadn't considered that. I thought that's what the magic part would take care, not the objects themselves."

"The last part of her riddle directs you to 'Find fitting answers, and the gods your cleverness please.'" The dark bat underlines the words idly with his stylus. "I surmise that the more elements you pull together from the oracle's words, the better off you will be. Satisfying some but not all of the pieces will not be as useful as meshing all of them. Especially if 'easy answers are in vain.' That suggests that anything easy to obtain would be inappropriate."

"It was very hard to develop my Aspects in the first place," Envoy says, nodding. "I would imagine it would be at least as difficult to recover them."

"Exactly. Let's try to look at this from a different angle… " The mage taps the butt of his stylus against the tablet. "The type of object involved seems to be the only plain part – metal, plant, stone, and dirt. If we assume – and, ah, I am getting into trouble already by assuming – that they pair to your aspects in the same order they are given, Dragon-fire-metal. That's what brought you to your Black Sword. To be perfectly honest, I find that an unlikely answer, if only because the Black Sword is rumored to be the antithesis of magic. Of what use would that be in regaining it? And if the sword reflects the nature of Dragon, that would put Dragon in opposition to magic, as well. Hardly an auspicious start, given your goal."

Envoy hmms. "I have trouble coming up with anything that would be a living essence of metal. And if the objects need to be magical in some way, then that should rule out other worlds, shouldn't it? Unless I need to find Sifran artifacts."

"I would not go so far as to say that the objects must be enchanted, or innately magical. I just would not, myself, look for something that was supposed to annihilate it. Sifran crystal might be appropriate, for example. The stuff has odd properties when interacting with magic. Perhaps that could be your 'stone'," Cyprian suggests. "If you could find a Sifran crystal that somehow had properties of air, and reflected Probe's personality."

"Those sort of things would be dangerous to remove though, wouldn't they?" Envoy says, sounding unsure. "I wouldn't want to take some critical element of a Sifran device."

"Some crystals are not part of any apparent device. Perhaps your friend Morpheus could help you with that. He shaped the Sifran crystal Lady de Bellefeuille wore, did he not?" the mage inquires.

Envoy nods. "I was going to ask him about all of this once I made it back to Caroban. I think the School of Dream may need my help negotiating with Morpheus about what they'll be allowed to do in his realm. The Yodhbarada also said that Morpheus himself might be able to repair me, since he did so once before."

"'His realm'," the mage murmurs, with a wry smile. "Then that seems advisable." He studies the tablet again, toying with the stylus, writing 'silver' under the word 'metal' and 'mirrored gemstone – obsidian?' under 'stone.' "I rather like the literal reflection angle. I suppose there may be a mirrored type of plant out there somewhere,but dirt seems unreflective no matter how you slice it."

"I think that would depend on how one defines dirt," Envoy says. "And reflection need not be of a visible light. In a land where magic is a solid, who knows what the soil will be like?"

He scribbles the appropriate planet names beneath hiswords, "Abaddon, Ashtoreth, Sinai, Behemoth," and then, puts a big "OR" and writes Envoy's suggestions.

"Any thoughts on the Mind Magic aspect?" Envoy asks, trying to peek at Cyprian's notes. "Whatever the elements are, a Mind Mage is supposed to use them in some sort of ritual. At least, the Yodhbarada mentioned that … not the Oracle."

"'Bosch, Sea of Sand, Moltpaa, Isetis.' And under them, 'Black Sword, Barabbas seed, stone, dirt from Isetis.'" The mage frowns at the tablet, then tries, 'Abaddon steel, Ashtoreth plant, Sifran crystal, Behemoth clay'. "That hardly adds up to a cogent whole, either." Cyprian glances to Envoy, and nods. "Ah, I meant to ask you where you drew the mind magic reference from."

"I suppose it could mean burning metal, wet plant, buried stone, and … aerated soil?" Envoy offers.

"I've got stone-air and earth-dirt linked, here… " The Eeee checks the original, "which is the order she listed them in. Mph. If we're to be really clever, these objects should add up to reagents that could be used in mind magic. I should check my notes and see what it was that I thought the ritual would need… "

"So, there is a Mind ritual that could apply to my situation?" Envoy asks, looking hopeful.

"It's a gray area. There are certain rare elements that can be useful in memory recovery when it is obliterated beyond normal means of detection," Cyprian says, standing to walk back to his desk, and sifting through some papers in a drawer. "Nothing I could easily scrounge up, here, and nothing I could guarantee would work. But I do recall one of them was a powdered rock, and another an herb. That could be stone and plant. Aerated stone by powdering it?" He offers a slight smile.

Envoy hmms. "I'm not sure memory is the issue in my case. I remember everything, it's just that the … parts … that used that memory are gone. I still experience emotions, but they are somewhat detached from my awareness, since my Aspects always handled the processing of them. I've found it difficult to effectively empathize with others since the damage occurred, and I've been nearly indifferent to killing or manipulating people."

"A kind of traumatic disassociation, then?" The mind mage pauses in his search, looking at the Aeolun. "A victim of amnesia may eventually recover his memories, without ever recovering the feelings that once accompanied them. As if the events had happened to someone else."

"I worry that some of my missing personality may have been replaced by elements taken from Inala or Blakat," the Aeolun says. "But … I haven't felt any pleasure at anything I've done since breaking away from Inala, and I certainly don't think I'm insane. But they were the dominant personalities active in my mind since losing the Aspects."

The mage blinks. "Inala has been in your mind since the destruction of your Aspects?"

"No, but she was in control of most of them," Envoy admits.

The Eeee resumes his rummaging. "Ah, here's what I found. Drat, the powder isn't from a stone after all. 'Silver Creen scales, killiam's breath' – that's an herb found occasionally in sky gardens – and 'powdered dragon's egg.' Those aren't the only reagents I would select, but those are the ones I do not have on hand or know where to get."

"They sound expensive," Envoy notes. "I don't know if the College will be willing to subsidize my treatment yet."

"They are expensive. And, knowing the College treasury, very likely not. Is your tuition paid for?" the mage inquires, leaning against his desk, the parchment dangling from one hand.

Envoy nods. "However, I don't know what sort of bill Inala ran up while she was in control of me, or if I'll be charged for the damage done to the College airship."

The Eeee grimaces. "True enough. However, since you were instrumental in putting an end to the rogue ritual, that should earn you at least a little credit with the High Council. Perhaps not enough to justify powdered dragon's egg, but nonetheless… Maybe we should get back to your riddle."

"All right," Envoy agrees. She could probably get the Caroban Watch to pay for the damages, after all. They were supposed to be watching out for Inala taking her over.

The black mage returns to his chair and studies the tablet again, making a face at it. "It seems to me that one of the key points is in the end – 'cleverness please'. How can we hook such diverse elements together? Sifran crystal is used in devices – perhaps a device that included Sifran crystal and the other three elements, and when activated, could help restore normal brain activity?" The Eeee shakes his head. "I think I'm reaching, here."

"It mentions gods too," Envoy notes. "I thought that might refer to planets, since it didn't seem normal to think of the Seven Sisters that way. But it also hints that the gods' choices might not be the best ones."

"Ah … another connection to the planets." He taps on the tablet. "When I look at that line, on the gods, my thought is that the creator of the riddle, in inspiring the oracle, had an answer in mind for it. But that the riddle was 'open to interpretation – if you can find a new solution that still fits in all the places, that will work just as well. Does that make sense?" Green eyes turn from the tablet to regard the Aeolun.

Envoy nods. "That was the impression I had as well. But since I didn't know how to get those answers to the riddle, I wasn't sure."

Cyprian pushes the tablet over to Envoy. "If going to the Gateway Tower is feasible for you, perhaps you should try visiting the 'gods' and seeing what answers you can find with them."

Envoy looks from the tablet to Cyprian. "Do you mean go to Ariel and ask them directly?"

The mage chuckles. "No, actually, I meant go to the planets and look around – perhaps the answer would be more evident. But your idea has merit, too. Although – judging from the last phrase, I don't think any gods will be offering you a plainer answer. A plain answer appears to defeat the purpose."

"If it is likely that each of the realms refers to a planet," Envoy surmises, "Then Air would refer to Sinai. Where would the heart of Sinai be though, relating to … dirt?"

"No, Sinai is Air and Stone, not dirt. Behemoth would be Earth and dirt, by that token. There's a symmetry in the planets as a solution which yours lacks – the planets match the "Four elements" theme in accordance with tradition. By pairing the planets, elements, sub-spheres, and aspects, we get four parts to four pieces – another symmetry." the Eeee mage says. "If you were to stay on Sinai for a solution, I would look for closer traditional matches to the elements. For example, a sky island for Air, a volcano for Fire, a continent for Earth, an ocean for Water. But that doesn't lend itself particularly to rare or difficult objects, or a cohesive whole."

"I'm pretty sure the Stone element can be found in Moltpaa," Envoy says, sounding somewhat sure of herself. "Isetis certainly seems to represent Air, and both are hard to reach areas. By this logic, I should seek metal on Abaddon I think, which makes sense, and the plant element on Ashtoreth."

"Or not," she mutters. "Behemoth is Earth … so I look for soil there instead of Isetis."

As she switches from Isetis to Behemoth, Cyprian nods. "That would work. Any road … those are the keys I would look for. Objects which match each of the four parts – from the right planet, of the right material, with a connection to the element and to your Aspect. And which form a whole when brought together … so related to each other, in some fashion, as well." He smiles. "If they can be seen as mirrors, that would be a bonus. Even dirt can capture a kind of reflection, I imagine. A clay sculpture, for example."

Envoy sorts things out in her mind. "I will work through this with Morpheus as well, in case he has a better solution. I should probably arrange for passage back to Caroban now though. Thank you for helping me with this, Cyprian. Are there any messages you want me to carry back? I don't know if Elise will still be stationed at the Rephidim Embassy there, though. I neglected to ask her when we last met in the Dream Realm."

"I suspect the Lady de Bellefeuille will have returned to Rephidim, by now," the mage comments. "Her assignment with Caroban was officially terminated, and the Rephidim Ambassador left Caroban recently himself. But there are a few messages I should send. I will have them ready by the time of your departure – I assume you will be a day or two before leaving?"

"Probably," Envoy says. "I need to finish my combat training with the Yodhblakat, and Mage Faust wanted me to keep my eyes and ears open should the Sunala-possessed Srinala appear."