Smohalla's sense of direction tells him that they're walking due south, directly toward Mt. Rainier. The mana at the Sisters' campsite is rich, but it gets even headier as they approach the mountain. The air around the lake and the fire feels like the Sisters. As they walk - Hester and Selene and their long legs far outpacing short Ellie and slow Smohalla - the mana steadily gets wilder. It shifts and surges and pulses through the Earth until finally, maybe half a klick from the campsite, it no longer feels like the Sisters. Here the mana is unfettered, as unpredictable as the ocean in a storm.

By the time Ellie and Smohalla arrive, Hester and Selene have started to settle in. They arrange rocks, sweep aside small debris, and set some small fetishes around their chosen site. Ellie escorts Smohalla to a nearby log, telling him to get comfortable and to "hold onto his socks". (Smohalla reasons that she is speaking colloquially, as he is only wearing moccasins.) The women gather in a triangle underneath the trees, interlock their arms, and start their ritual with a low harmonic hum. The mana responds in kind, synchronizing around them as the waves of power fall in line.

Smohalla tries to follow along with what he knows about ritual magic, but nothing here fits his prior experience. Most rituals take six, seven hours or more. But the other night the ladies were only gone for half an hour - time enough for Stogie to make dessert - before they had returned. And what they're doing now is not basic: it is intense, complex metamagic far beyond Smohalla's understanding. For a moment, it feels like the Earth is tilting sideways, like the gravity of the scene is changing directions. Smohalla breaks his concentration for a moment to assure himself that he is not falling over. He is not. The world, however, might be.

Smohalla's physical senses tell him that nothing is changing. The women sway from side to side, not so much singing as simply purring along. His astral senses, however, tell him that the whole world is being pulled out from underneath him. It's as if half his being is seated firmly on the ground while the other half is flipped upside down. He doesn't know if his brains are about to be dashed on the ground or if his feet will fly out from underneath him and shoot to the sky. Mana pours out of the Earth, racing skyward in oceanic torrents, threatening to sweep him up and carry him away, or slam back into the Earth and shatter him as they return home. Except that he's not even moving: everything around him is firm and stable.

The cadence of the women increases in frequency, the thrum growing steadily stronger, matching his racing heartbeat. The tempo increases faster and faster, lighting Smohalla's mind on fire, clouding his mind like the aftereffects of a hyper-realistic dream. Smohalla's breathing shortens and he starts to wonder if he can stay, if - as an astral being - he can even survive the experience, when all of a sudden his flip is complete and his astral self crashes back into place, his head vibrating with the reunion of his senses.

The women are flattened. They look like they've passed out, Hester and Selene facedown on the Earth with Ellie draped over the top. They're breathing hard, like they've been sprinting the entire time. Smohalla picks out the telltale signs of drain in their auras.

Smohalla takes a minute to reconsider his surroundings. The astral atmosphere has changed, there's no question. It's tighter, sharper, and feels like the Sisters. The astral space bears their imprint as surely as if they had cast a spell at the world. But spells slowly fade; this change has been locked in place. And to what effect? The mana is less wild, but does that mean less free or does it mean less crazy? It was chaotic, almost savage before. Now it's contained, maybe even controlled. Smohalla can feel the tension underneath the surface, the vast power waiting for an outlet. Have the Sisters caged the mana here, or have they simply cleaned it up and taught it some manners? The distinction is lost on him for the moment.

The women begin to stir.

Ellesar begins his patrol, scanning the woods with the thermographic capabilities of the goggles. The night is cold and it is not difficult to distinguish the forest wildlife from the plants and trees. Most of what's out are either birds high in the tree tops or small mammals racing along the ground. No barghests tonight, at least not yet.

K'wa'iti looks back and forth between Ellesar and Stogie, contemplating. A look crosses his wolf face that Stogie recognizes from Jake. To someone not as familiar with dogs it wouldn't look any different from general ease or maybe gas, but to Stogie it looks like a smug grin. K'wa'iti looks at the arm he's chewing on, then looks to Ellesar, the back at the arm, then to Stogie. He smirks a wolfy smirk. It's disconcerting. He stands and moves to follow Ellesar.

Ellie finally pushes herself up off the pile. She walks slowly over to Smohalla, limping slightly. She sits down and crosses her legs with a loud exhale. Reaching up, she wipes her damp bangs off her sweaty forehead. She doesn't say anything to Smohalla for minute; she just sits there and pants. Hester and Selene are moving around a bit, indicating that they're not dead, but they're not going anywhere fast.

Ellie eyes Smohalla warily as he starts to hum. She shifts her vision to the astral, looking to see if he is channeling any mana or working on a spell. Her current level of drain indicates that she wants no involvement in any magic casting at the moment. She takes his hand tentatively, staring off into space with an unfocused look in her eye. She hums along, but without direction or harmony. Hester and Selene finally push themselves off the forest floor and begin to stagger/crawl toward Smohalla. They look like they've gone three rounds with Neil the Ork Barbarian. They ignore his outstretched hand and slump at his feet, lacking the energy to do anything but lean against a log.

Jake is navigating more by scent and sound than by sight. The channels in the ground are deep enough so that a troll could not see over the top. The earth smells wet and fresh, and there are exposed roots reaching across the alleyways at unexpected angles. Combined with Stogie's astral vision and improved sense of direction, the duo quickly master the maze. Right now the complex is about fifty meters in diameter. Certainly not enough to slow someone down for more than a few minutes, but that might be all the time the Sisters need to slip away, or counterstrike. It's also true that they've only been working on it for a couple days - perhaps it will expand as they continue to develop it. Or maybe there's something to be said for leaving it small so that it won't be as visible to drones or satellite surveillance.

Ellesar looks behind him and sees K'wa'iti's thermal image. The wolf stops in midstride when Ellesar calls out to him. The shifter pauses for a moment and then slips out of view behind some trees. Ellesar gets a good look at his surroundings and feels confident that there is nothing out of place. No traps, no signs of anyone passing through the area recently other than animals and the Sisters. Ellesar's even sharp-eyed enough to notice K'wa'iti sneaking around. He seems to be deliberately trying to avoid Ellesar's attention. The thought crosses his mind that perhaps the wolf was trying to sneak up on him.

K'wa'iti doesn't respond to Ellesar's invitation. He disappears into the trees and Ellesar doesn't see him again for the remainder of his patrol. There doesn't seem to be anything to find: the forest is empty and cold this evening. Ellesar is very grateful for the insulation in his camouflage suit.

Scanning the landscape, the elf combines his knowledge of the outdoors with his security tactics experience. He spots one or two locations where it might be possible to set basic traps: tripwires or foothold traps or the like. It would certainly be easier to do in the daylight, but it could bolster the site's defenses that much more.

Returning to the campsite, Ellesar removes his thermographic goggles so as not to be blinded by the campfire. He spots K'wa'iti sulking around the perimeter of the firelight. The mangled arm dangles from the wolf's jaw. He shoots Ellesar a look as he bounds away into the forest with his meal.

Ellie speaks to Smohalla with a tired, far-away voice. She stares off, her eyes focused on some point deep in the Earth. "Oh, Sky-Father, the things we can do here! Mother Earth is so strong on this mountainside. There's enough strength here to accomplish all of Her goals, no matter how ambitious. We can cleanse the Earth, Sky-Father. She gives us the tools to do what She would have done."

Ellie exhales slowly through pursed lips, like she's blowing out a candle. Mana crackles like electricity around a high-voltage power line, threatening to spark off and strike at the merest invitation.

Ellie shakes her head slowly as her eyes slowly regain focus on Smohalla's face, the intensity of her stare growing until it equals Smohalla's own.

"There are no limits, Sky-Father," she says with an awed, breathless tone. "With great Talol on our side, the only thing holding us back is ourselves."

She stands, unsteadily at first but soon finding her balance. She begins to pace as Hester and Selene continue to convalesce. "We can change the way men and women live in this world. This isn't about death, but rather life!" She grips her tiny fists tightly, raising them to the dense ring of forest surrounding you.

"There is no dam that can stand in our way, no power plant that can escape our reach, no polluter left behind. We may be deliberate and focused, targeting only the elements of civilization that bring ruin to the Earth. We can wipe away them all!" She sweeps her hand through the air like a giant slap.

"Individually, we are helpless. But together we can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move! Nothing will be impossible for you."

Ellie nods silently and approaches closely. Standing in front of Smohalla, she is barely as tall as he is sitting. She reaches forward and grabs his hands in hers. She pulls them toward her, clasping them near her chest.

"Your friends are dear to us because they are dear to you, Sky-Father," she says, patting his hands. "But they cannot do what you may do. With training, you may join our rituals, adding your power to our own. So much the greater would we be for it! But your friends cannot. They are sympathetic souls and they may help us along our way, but what we do" - she looks to Hester and Selene first, then to Smohalla to include him in the statement - "we must do without them. It is not ideology; it is the difference of our Gifts."

She smiles apologetically, patting Smohalla's hands once more before releasing them.

"Up we go, ladies!" she orders with an encouraging tone. Hester and Selene have recovered enough to stand, which they do so with an uncertain sway in their step. Ellie bids Smohalla to rise, then leads the way back to camp through the dark forest night.