As Envoy steps through … the outer ring of petals start up again, closing off an easy egress (unless, of course, Envoy were to take the obvious airborne route to escape). The middle ring of petals, however, directly in front of her, begins to slow down even as the ones behind her accelerate.

From the other side of the petals, Envoy can just barely hear Whonkahonk let out an alarmed wail. She can barely make them out, as the gaps in the petals intermittently give her a strobed glimpse of Kia and Whonkahonk outside.

The Aeolun begins wonder at the purpose of the petals. Could they form some sort of magical filter? Once the middle rings comes to a stop, she prepares to step through to the next gap.

And sure enough, they do stop, and she is able to step through to the next ring. Once she's through, the process repeats, the middle petals snapping into movement again in a direction opposite that of the outer ring … while the inner and last ring begins to slow to a stop.

Envoy examines the floating platform through the slowing petals. Aside from sky islands and structures on Morpheus, she hasn't seen levitation like this before.

Each narrow band inside the petals is slightly elevated over the one before it, so that Envoy has to step up when going through. Now, the last ring comes to a stop, clearly leaving a gap for her to step through to a higher spot, and before her would be a pedestal – and above that, the hovering crystal, though out of reach. (Wings are useful, but these are fairly tight quarters, so it might be chancy if those petals snap into action once again.)

Stepping up and through the gap, the Aeolun ventures to touch the pedestal with a finger to see how it reacts to her.

As Envoy steps through, the last ring of petals spins up again, forming a whirring wall around her and the pedestal. As she reaches for the pedestal, it lights up at her touch … and the crystal hovering above the rose shield slows its rotation, and slowly lowers downward to Envoy's eye level.

To get closer to the gem, Envoy climbs up onto the dais and steps towards the lowered artifact. "Hello, Observer," she says in a friendly voice. "I've come a long way to meet you."

The crystal's glowing shimmers and pulses as Envoy draws closer to it, almost like a beating heart.

Envoy feels a curious sensation … almost as if she's being watched … as if the stone itself were examining her, methodically archiving her appearance and less obvious measurements of her being.

Cautiously, Envoy reaches out a fingertip to touch the crystal. "I'm Envoy," she says, introducing herself.

As Envoy touches the crystal, she can feel a curious connection … something that reminds her of the strange experience on Fortunatis. It feels as if a boundary between this reality and some other is weak here … and that all Envoy would need to do to step through would be to will it so.

But there is another sensation that joins it … that it is not only one entity, one thing that observes Envoy, that measures her. There are others.

Closing her eyes, Envoy wills herself to take that next step, to see who is waiting for her.

There is a brilliant flash of light, a light so intense that Envoy's eyes cannot shut it out, for it seems to pass through her … to envelop her … and then …

Envoy stands in a vague expanse, undefined, full of gray mists not unlike those of Morpheus, though she cannot feel solid ground under her feet. Strange sensations pass through her, and her mind translates them into the physical – breezes wafting past her, probing at her, tickling her mane, tossing it about.

"Very well done," comes a female voice, alien and indistinct, somewhat garbled at first, but coming into better definition as it continues. "Three out of four within your grasp."

"Three… " Envoy starts to 'say', then asks, "You know about my quest? Who are you, if I may ask?"

"I have many names," the voice responds, almost musical, with a lilting quality, and Envoy is now able to place it as sounding distinctly Eeee, that of a young woman, "but you'll have to guess. It's a secret."

Envoy virtually blinks, and guesses, "Barada?"

"Oh, that was too easy!" The girl laughs, and the vagueness begins to wash away, so that now Envoy finds herself in a ruined stone shrine. It is raining outside, and the water is dripping through cracks in the ceiling, puddling on the ground. A girl in the robes of a Yodhbarada is seated at the head of the shrine, rather than a statue being placed there. Envoy has been here before.

"You were the oracle?" Envoy asks, unsure of her surroundings. Then again, she was never very sure that she'd actually gone anywhere the first time she was here…

"And I still am," Barada says. "So, how has your adventure been so far, dearest Envoy?"

"Mixed," the Aeolun admits, then asks, "But… how are you here? Or am I somewhere else? This isn't Ariel is it?"

At this, the girl laughs. "If it were, I certainly wouldn't call it that. What, and let the meow-meows name everything? Tch. And as for asking how I am here … well, you might just have me mixed up with someone else."

If anything, Envoy grows even more confused. "I don't know what to think of all this. I have to wonder if you don't have some ulterior motive for me," she says.

"But of course I do!" Barada says. "And would you have expected any less if I were merely an oracle of the Yodhbarada that sent you about on this quest? Tsk. Envoy, what are you thinking?"

Blushing, the Aeolun dips her head a bit. "That's just it… my thinking hasn't exactly been the clearest of late. I hoped that the Observer would help me gain a bit more control over it, so that I wouldn't be locked into one mode of thought when I really needed a different one."

"And that it will," Barada says. "It's a puzzle with four pieces. You've already figured out a great deal of it on your own, and I almost fear that the challenges you may face for the last piece will seem effortless by comparison. Tsk. But there's just no helping it."

"Effortless?" Envoy asks, jerking her head back up. "I'm wanted by the Caroban Watch now. They'll be waiting for me at the Gateway Tower probably, so I don't know if I have any chance of getting to Behemoth – if that's where the fourth piece really is. And do I really need to bring something back to Babel? The Leviathan is too big."

"Oh, goodness no," Barada says. "You could simply bring it all together – and then your Leviathan can bring itself to Babel if it is so inclined."

Envoy blinks at this. "Well, there could be a problem with the power source still. And I worry that removing the Observer will cause Stalto to collapse, or worse. And… who else is in here watching all of this?"

"There are a great many gods and goddesses, great and small in this realm," Barada says. "The followers of the Star would be quite disappointed to know that they haven't a monopoly. And as for the Observer … yes, with it gone, there will be certain side effects, but it is a worthwhile expense for what you would gain. The Leviathan is far more important than a ruined old city, and there are countless other ruins and marvels buried underneath all of Kroz – without delicate little crystals holding them over lakes of magma, just asking to fall in."

"But there could still be people living there," Envoy frets. "We saw footprints, and heard them chanting."

Barada rolls her eyes. "The creatures living there are hardly worth categorizing as 'people', and they didn't have far to fall in the first place. Consider yourself lucky they didn't decide you'd make for a good dinner, thrown in the stew with gort giblets."

"In any case," Barada says, "I'd best not keep you here long – not unless you intend to stay here. And, believe me, you'll have to earn a few more points among the deities before that will be tolerated."

"I do tend to rub deities the wrong way I suppose," Envoy admits. "How much time do I have to get out after I remove the gem?"

"Fly, and you'll have no trouble. You don't need to go back up and through the city, after all," Barada says. "You could just fly straight out to the rails. I recommend you give your companions a good running start first, though, unless they've seriously annoyed you by now."

Envoy blinks at this. "Will the library and museum collapse as well?" she asks, still uncomfortable with the idea of destroying a city – even an abandoned one.

Barada shrugs. "Chaos will have its way." She grins. "Don't worry. Once you have the Leviathan, you'll have access to a lot more information than you would have gained from those old stone tablets."

"I just don't want it to go on a rampage or anything," Envoy says, wondering what precautionary measures she could take. "If it does, I won't be very happy with you or your Sisters."

Barada laughs. "Ah yes. My master plan is to go to all this trouble just to discredit you and have a steam-and-magic-powered monster go berserk on Abaddon. Ah, but that would so further my Grand Master Plan! A pity that you have me all figured out. I suppose the jig is up now."

Outside the ruin, thunder crashes loudly, and the rain comes down more intensely.

Envoy hmphs. "Well, if I can recover my mind and abilities, I might consider trying to heal the Wound. So staying on my good side couldn't hurt, really. But I guess I'd better go now."

"It's for the best," Barada says, smiling and waving good-bye.

Closing her eyes again, Envoy wills herself back towards the 'real' world.

Envoy is back on the pedestal again, with the hovering crystal before her, within her reach. The petals are spinning madly around her still, and the coolness of the ruined temple amidst the storm is quickly replaced by the oppressive heat and humidity of the underside of the city of Stalto.

Taking a deep breath of the hot air, Envoy calls out, "Whonkahonk? Kia? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, Yovne, we can hear you!" comes a distorted voice from beyond the rose shield, and Envoy can't quite pinpoint the exact direction the voice is coming from. "Can you come out?" Envoy feels wild magic very strongly in the air, strong enough that she almost feels dizzy from it.

"I need to rest a little, I think," Envoy calls back. "I need you and Whonkahonk to head back without me. Grab any books you want from the library and go to the main gates. I'm going to remove the gem, so parts of the city might collapse."

The spinning of the petals seems to flicker, and for a split second it seems as if the petals have all frozen and Envoy can see – through a lined-up gap – Kia and Whonkahonk standing outside – but then they are spinning again in an eye blink.

"Yovne!" Kia shouts. "Can you hear me? What's happening to you?"

"There's a build-up of magic that's making me a little dizzy is all," Envoy calls back. "I can fly back though, but not until you're safe. Or I could come back with you and then fly back down here later if you want!"

Kia's voice comes back, though some of the words are oddly garbled, and Envoy has trouble making them all out. "What do you mean, until we're safe? We're fine! Should we come in after you?"

Envoy steps down from the platform to see if the inner ring will slow down for her, since the spinning is probably distorting her voice.

As Envoy steps down, the crystal rises back up … but the inner ring does not slow down. It appears, however, that the outer ring has come to a halt, from what Envoy can barely make out through the spinning.

"That isn't very useful," Envoy comments, and steps back onto the dais and sees how far she can spread her wings, figuring she'll have to fly out.

The crystal lowers once more, back within Envoy's reach.

Envoy is careful not to touch the gem this time, as she tries to get into a position she can leap upwards from.

Envoy can extend her wings all the way, but this is going to be chancy, trying to fly out.

Just then, the outer ring of petals starts spinning up again … and the middle one stops.