Despite the surprising heroism displayed at the main gates of the guild hall, and that the crowd there was largely deterred and dispersed before they could do much damage on 4 Landing, the riot still did some harm. The guild's three Earth mages have been hard at work reinforcing the windows and key structural supports, fearful of another assault. The mages had been warned of the attack through an unlikely source – Wynona Windcaller, persona non gratis to the College since she threw in with the Yodhrephath and their "goddess." The majority had fled the Guild Hall at her warning – those who remained behind staying mainly to distract the crowd, and do what they could to protect their home. A few guards sustained injuries, but nothing serious.

Rory's unlikely savior, a young tough named Gideon bar Asher, has placed "his" gang at the service of the mages' guild. The group goes by a name that might be best translated to Standard as "Revenants," though it is literally closer to "Furious Blood, Death Rages," and refers to a colorful, if typically gruesome, Eeee vengeance myth. Their previous leader, Oded bar Yusef, was the wounded Eeee whose life Rory and Tanieta saved. He may return to that position when he completes his recovery. Regardless, the "Revenants" are, however improbably, an ally for the mages – at least for now.

Landing Day has come and gone without much notice in Babel, as few Eeee care for the First Ones. Rumors drift at the Guild Hall that Caroban is going to take action – that the Hall will be closed, that the Hall will be moved, that the College is going to abandon them – and few, if any, are cheerful. It's now Landing 2 by the Rephidim calendar, and in two days' time, the Guild will have a meeting of all the mages – including Rory – presumably, to discuss their fate.

But today, Rory has just returned early from a successful assignment – providing concealment for a meeting – to find that he has a visitor waiting in the front hall. A young batling leaps to her feet as he walks through the door, and squeals, "Messenger REE-SHEEK!"

The unicorn lets out a surprised squeak at the exclamation – as he's been on pins and needles during his time in Babel, and half expects an ambush at every turn. "Aaaaaaaa-hiiiiii there!" he exclaims as he tries to recover with some shred of dignity. He blinks a few times, as he reorients himself. "Oh!" He breaks into a grin. "Dinah!" He then quickly frowns. "That is, I hope you don't mind me shortening your name. I have a bit of trouble remembering your full name."

"Dinahzadze, silly! It's not a hard name like yours! Not that there's anything wrong with hard names, of course," she adds quickly, half bouncing, half flying over to the little unicorn. "I'm so glad you're still here! The lady at the desk said you weren't in and she acted like she didn't know who I was talking about at first but I didn't know how she could not know she must have just been confused don't you think? I have that effect on people sometimes!" Dinah draws in a deep breath at the end of this.

The unicorn nods. "Well, you see, I'm a Shadow mage, so I don't usually like to draw too much attention to myself … so maybe she just doesn't remember me," he offers. "Or else maybe she thinks my name is just 'Rory.' Or 'Stormshadow.' But how are you doing? Was that your mama at the Memorial? Is she doing okay?"

"Yes, that was my mommy! She's okay, just very very busy with my little brothers and sister and cousins today because my aunt and uncle are out of town they usually watch my little brothers and sister for my mommy because she needs to work but my aunt hasn't worked in a long time so she has more time free anyway I pretty much do what I want and I wanted to see you so I could tell you about the party!" Dinahzadze squeaks enthusiastically on the last word, then claps a hand over her mouth, looking around to see if anyone else heard her. Fortunately, the receptionist is, as usual, engrossed with her own reflection and indifferent to the actions of those around her – as long as no one is specifically asking after a mage.

"A party?" The unicorn brightens up at the idea. "I didn't know they had parties in Babel anymore! Well, except for, you know, where they throw rocks and burn things down, but that's not really the sort of thing that I'd go to."

Dinah doesn't look particularly cheerful about the throwing-rocks-and-burning-things style of party, either. "No! Definitely not that sort of party, this is going to be a party planned by me and my friends and it'll be fun for everyone! We're going to have … " She lowers her voice to a squeaky whisper, "a New Year's Eve party. D'ya think that's a good idea?"

The unicorn blinks and ponders this. "That sounds pretty dark, yeah, but … I don't know. Have you asked any grown-ups first? They seem to be, you know, a lot more sensitive about that sort of thing. I mean, I think we need more parties and happy things to get people, you know, happier, but some people might think it's in 'bad taste,' even though it's been a few years now."

The little Eeee doesn't appear to hear much after Rory's initial, albeit hesitant, approval. "It'll be wonderful! I think it's a great idea and so do all my friends because even though everyone's been sad and all these last few years and I can understand that believe me, and angry, you should've seen last year, oh wait you must've, 'cause it was great! There was this amazing dream where the Sisters came down and they all – all – helped us find the big nasty mean ol' captain who killed Reuben and the Avenger took Rephath's axe and her scales and then all the spirits came and showed him!" Dinah claps her hands together eagerly. "So that's something to celebrate, right? See we're not all helpless and lost and worthless, we can still do stuff, even have parties, right? Right?"

The unicorn says, "I missed that, but, yeah, celebrating that we're not lost and helpless and worthless certainly sounds good, especially the part about being able to throw parties. But who all are you going to invite? I might be able to bring a little candy, but I haven't been, you know, able to really earn any money while I'm in Babel, and candy is getting kinda expensive here, so my candy money probably won't go far. But I can do tricks and stuff. Do you have your mama's permission and all? I don't want to get you in trouble with your mama."

"Mommy won't mind, I already asked her, and I've invited all my friends, and now you of course, and you can sure invite anyone you want I'm so glad you're coming we'll have loads to do – we're making up a big huge fake deck in the snow on the mountain and we're going to re-enni – reann – umm … " She pauses for the briefest of moments, derailed by her inability to quite recall the word she's looking for. " – uh, put on a show like the dream was! Only no one will get hurt or go crazy in ours 'cause it's just for fun and I thought maybe you would do the part of the Avenger what with you being the Messenger from the Sisters and all although it's funny now that I think of it you look kinda more like Rockmore." The Eeee stops to squint at Rory, curiously.

The unicorn frowns at the part of looking like Rockmore. "Uhm … I don't know how the whole story goes, except Rockmore was the bad guy. Do I have to be the bad guy? How about if we just have a big straw dummy be the bad guy, and we can throw waashu-water-bursters at it? That'd probably be more fun."

"Ohhhh no I wasn't saying you had to be the bad guy 'cause you're the Messenger you wouldn't be the bad guy I'm sure!" Dinah apologizes hastily, waving her hands and shaking her head vigorously to emphasize her point, even as she prattles on, "and that's a great idea about waashu-water-bursters that'd be perfect it'd be just like the spirits all getting up inside him and letting him have it boom!" She throws clumsy, swishing punches through the air in time with her words.

Rory instinctively ducks, just in case Dinah might accidentally be a little overly enthusiastic, but he giggles at the image of Rockmore being pelted by a shower of water-bursters and getting soaking wet. "But who's the 'Avenger,' though?"

"That was Rephath's Chosen One! He was HUGE and black and had great glowing green eyes! Rockmore's sailors all tried to fight him off but he knocked them out of the way like that, with mighty swings of his axe!" Now Dinah has her hands wrapped around the handle of an imaginary battleaxe, which she swings with equally misguided enthusiasm. "And his cause was so just that even the Templars of Rephidim came to his aid, and Inala's Avatar was there, too! And the High Princess, too! And when they'd all gotten rid of the mean sailors that pinned Rockmore down, and the Avenger pointed the scales of Vengeance at him and boom!"

The unicorn ponders this. "Well, if he was black, you know, I could probably make a shadow that'd look like him. Except for the green eyes. That'd be tough. I'd need to use Light Magic for that, and I don't think I'm quite that good yet to synchronize it with … uhm … you know, magic stuff. But … uh … why were the mean sailors pinning Rockmore down, and why were they getting rid of them, if Rockmore was the bad guy?"

"Did I say that?" The batling looks confused. "I meant that after they got rid of the mean sailors – you know Rockmore had a whole ship-full of people helping him, can you believe that, I wouldn't think anyone would help someone like that it's just not right but they did and anyway, after the sailors were all gone the good people pinned Rockmore down. The Templars and Avenger and Inala's Avatar and stuff. And the High Princess," she adds. She doesn't seem too sure about including the High Princess in her list of "good guys" for this story.

"Ohhhhhh," the unicorn says, nodding. "Sorry, I just got confused, I guess. So who are all the good people, and do you have people cast for them yet? And really, I probably shouldn't play anybody if I'm going to be doing magic, because I'll have to be dancing around and doing ritual stuff, and that kind of distracts me from things like play-acting – at least, when I'm not play-acting just by myself and maybe one or two friends and Silhouette."

"Wow you would do magic for us that'd be so dark!" Dinah enthuses. Apparently she hadn't quite caught that detail earlier, despite the number of times Rory has mentioned it. "I don't know exactly who's gonna do what yet but one of my friends said he'd do Rockmore and suffer really well for use – fake suffer, that is, not really really suffer but pretend to because Rockmore's sort of the most important part, outside the Avenger I was hoping you'd do the Avenger because you're the Messenger but maybe you could just do a spell so that one of my friends could do the Avenger and you could make him look all huge and dark and scary!"

"Well, maybe – yeah!" the unicorn says, as his mind starts to fill with ideas. "I could make a shadow that would follow his movements, you know, so it'd make him look big and shadow-y and spooky. I still don't know what to do about the green eyes, but I could work on that part. Or maybe you could just get someone who already has green eyes. Or he could just wear a funny hat with two glow-balls on it about where the eyes should be. Maybe someone could draw a picture of the Avenger for me, though? I didn't see him, so I don't know if I can do it just right. But I can give it a shot anyway. Though I'll need to check with Mage Tanieta to make sure she's okay with me going out – I mean, they might need me to help out here at the Guild Hall on New Year's Eve, in case there's some sort of trouble, or maybe we need to go out and visit some more hospices."

"But it's for a party," Dinah pleads, looking worried already. "Surely they can spare you for one night and it's a good cause we haven't had a New Year's party in ages and ages and ages and it'll be great and we'd all want it to be successful even the mages I think because I know they like Babel too or they wouldn't stay!" She inhales in preparation for round 2, giving Rory his chance to jump in.

The unicorn waves his hands, his sleeves flopping around. "No no no! I'm not saying they won't let me go! I just need to check first, before I make any promises. In fact, so we can get to work planning, how about we go ask right now? The sooner the better, you know."

Dinah finishes inhaling, and opens her mouth wide to continue as Rory pushes on. Then she blinks a few times. "Ok!" She pivots on one heel to face the interior of the tower, waiting expectantly on Rory.

"Oh yeah!" Rory snaps his fingers, as a thought suddenly occurs to him. "You're not a sorceress or a hedge wizard or a physical manifestation of a spirit or anything, are you? I've got to make sure before I try to let you into the Guild Hall, because they don't allow people like that in here, and I don't want to get you in trouble."

Dinah tilts her head to one side, considering the question carefully. "Sorceress … hedge wizz-erd … fysika mannife … umm … spirit thingie? Nope, none of those! I am an Eeee though. That's okay, right? I mean, most of the mages are Eeee too."

The unicorn nods. "Right! Mage Tanieta's an Eeee, and so is Mage Cyprian, and so is Mage Bar Emmanuel, and … well, lots of them. I think there's more Eeee here than any other type of mage. Of course, that only makes sense, being in Babel and all. Uhm … I'm chattering, aren't I? Let's go!" He spins about and leads the way.

Rory navigates the tower with a reasonable degree of confidence despite its flyer-biased design – after all the days he's spent here, he's gotten pretty used to the stairs and ladders he needs to use to get around. He has to check a few different places, but finally tracks Tanieta down, in a floor nook of the dining hall, talking to Nuri over a cup of berryswort tea.

Dinah babbles excited and almost incoherent plans at Rory throughout the trip. Snow, mountains, and airships appear to figure heavily into this party, in addition to a great deal of mock violence. The batling is very adamant about it being mock violence every time she brings that aspect up.

The unicorn waves to Tanieta, flopping one of his long sleeves as he does so, even while still trying to give Dinah at least one ear and an occasional nod and "uh-huh" to show he's still listening. But now he cuts in, "There she is! Mage Tanieta! She saved this guy's life, and his best friend then came in and saved us from a mob that was going to gish us real bad with rocks and stuff. Hello, Mage Tanieta! This is Dinahzadze!"

Tanieta looks up at the greeting. Smiling, the young white-haired Eeee mage waves back to Rory, while Nuri turns around to offer a nod and a smile as well. Dinahzadze bounces forward. "Hello mages! She saved your life?" she says to Nuri, misunderstanding the unicorn. "That was really nice of her! Do you save lives all the time Mage Tanieta wow I bet you do because you must be the one that goes around saving people with Messenger Ree-sheek oh this is so dark it's nice to meet you Mage Tanieta!" She sticks out her hand.

The unicorn leans over and stage-whispers to Tanieta, "I think I figured out who's been spreading the rumor about me being the Messenger of the Sisters!"

The mage blinks a few times, and offers her hand to Dinah, who shakes it eagerly. "It's nice to meet you, too, Dinahzadze. Are you two related?" she inquires, looking between the small unicorn and the young bat. Nuri smothers a laugh.

Rorschach ponders this. "Uhm … no I don't think so. But what we were wondering is, you see, Dinahzadze is going to throw this party on New Year's Eve, only don't tell everyone, because I think it's kind of secret, and wanted to invite me, but I wanted to make sure that's okay, since I don't know if you'll be needing me New Year's Eve to do some work for the Guild Hall and all, and I'll probably be doing magic for the party, because they're going to reenact this thing where Rockmore gets chased down by the Avenger and pelted with waashu water-bursters for dropping the Boomer on Babel, so I'll be doing some shadow-play stuff."

At almost the same time, Dinah has been laughing and protesting the suggestion that she's related to the messenger because anyone could tell they don't look anything alike and … Tanieta holds up her hands, laughing herself by now. "All right! I surrender! Enough!" She lays a hand gently over each child's mouth, silencing Dinah instantly. The little battling gives the mage a wide-eyed look of apprehension, but Tanieta only says, "One at a time, please. Now, Rory, what's this? And please, remember to breathe." She removes her hand from his mouth.

Rory says, "Dinahzadze wants to throw a New Year's Eve party, and invited me. I'd like to help, but wanted to make certain it would not cause any trouble for me to be gone."

"A New Year's Eve party?" Tanieta sounds shocked.

Dinah pulls back her head from the mage's hand and draws in a deep breath – but to Rory's surprise, the batling only explains, "To celebrate Rockmore's capture, ma'am, last New Year's."

Rory says, "Dinahzadze said we ought to have parties, you know, to show we can still have parties and all."

"Rockmore's – " Understanding dawns on Tanieta all at once, and the edge of her mouth curls back. "That's what you're going to reenact. Oh, wouldn't he just love that," she mutters. Her voice sounds strange, with anger, perhaps, or bitterness.

The fire mage grins at Dinahzadze. "That is an excellent idea, child. Go for it."

The batling beams back at the other mage, taking in a deep breath – which she releases with a simple, "Thanks!" She then stares back at Tanieta, still wide-eyed.

The unicorn interjects, "Nobody's going to actually get hurt, of course. We'll probably have a big straw dummy for Rockmore, and, like I said, we'll use waashu water-bursters. I'm going to do a Shadow ritual to make one of Dinah's friends look like the Avenger – a big black Eeee with glowing green eyes. Well, I'll need to figure out the eyes, of course, since I don't make glowing green shadows."

Tanieta gives a bitter laugh. "The Avenger, is that what she said? Why don't you just – " she stops, cut off when Nuri clears his throat. The gaunt man gives the other mage a pointed look.

"A great moment for Babel," the fire mage says, firmly. "Worth a celebration."

The unicorn blinks a few times at the mysterious exchange, but then just shrugs it off as something grown-ups – especially mages – do, since they've always got to look mysterious in the presence of children (and non-magic-users). "Well, that's good! I also wanted to make sure you didn't think it was a bad idea and all. I don't want to go do something stupid and start a riot." He looks back to Dinahzadze. "Do we need to get together to do plans and stuff before the party? I'll need to get there early to do ritual stuff and get prepared and all, too." He scratches his mane. "I forgot … how many days is it until New Year's Eve, any road?"

"About thirty-five, I think," Nuri answers after a moment's reflection. "You've got time to prepare, yet."

"Don't forget that meeting the night after tomorrow," Tanieta says, her tone still sour.

"Oh, don't worry!" the unicorn says. "I won't skip out on any meetings or any work. I still want to help out and all. In fact, I really ought to check up on Oded bar Yusef. Do you think maybe anyone at the meeting might like an invitation? I mean, it'd be Dinahzadze's choice, since it's her party, but I figure a few more folks could use a nice party to cheer up."

"I'd be happy to invite anyone the Messenger likes! You can come, Mage Tanieta! And you even though I don't your name Mr. Mage!" the batling enthuses.

"Oh, certainly. I'm sure Mage Cyprian would appreciate an invitation," Tanieta says, and the fire mage shoots her another look, but holds his peace. The beige-furred woman, brushes back her white hair, and exhales slowly. "I'm sorry. Mage Nuri is right. It probably would be a good idea to celebrate … something. Even on New Year's. Maybe especially on New Year's. if you'd like to go, Rory, then go. We can surely spare you for one holiday."

The unicorn claps his hands together. "Thank you, Mage Tanieta! I really appreciate it. And I'll try extra hard not to stir up any sort of trouble or anything. And I'll ask around everyone at the meeting to see who might be interested. That's only two days, so that leaves plenty more time for planning."

"All right! I'm going to have the Messenger and all kinds of mages at my party!" Dinah squeals in her excitement, bouncing up and down. "This is going to be the darkest party ever!"

The two adult mages exchange glances again, but Tanieta looks away first. She sips at her berryswort tea, saying nothing.

The unicorn quirks an eyebrow at all the mysterious glance-exchanging going on, but shrugs it off, in the light of Dinahzadze's enthusiasm. "Hey, Dinahzadze, let's draw a map of where the party's going to be, and write up a list and everything and do serious planning stuff!"

Dinah, it turns out, has an "even better idea," and that same afternoon drags Rory off with her to see the actual site. The little unicorn thinks he may be starting to get the hang of rakhtors, after all, as he hangs on while they fly up the face of Mount Dronnel.

A ragtag bunch of Eeee, bundled in multiple layers of rags, hands wrapped tight, scurry about the site, doing work on it. Most of them look quite young, though there's an older Eeee directing the work. Dinah circles over the site, calling down, "I got him! I goooooot hiiiiiiiim!" in delight. Everyone stops what they're doing to wave to the batling, shouting hello to her while she glides over to a cleared spot set aside as a landing area for them.

The unicorn glides the rakhtor to as good of a landing spot as he can, then scrambles down. "Hi, everybody!" He waves vigorously with a floppy sleeve.