Tortoise the Cat peels out of the large brick structure who's doors they had dutifully opened, taking a hard turn left on the sidewalk down alongside Reservoir Avenue and crossing West Kingsbridge Road. Once across, Tortoise turns left again and belts down the sidewalk block by block.

Little cloak billowing in the wind, the hurried Cat passes from West to East Kingsbridge after running under the elevated 4-train on Jerome Avenue and keeps running full tilt all the way to Grand Concourse. With no cars in sight, Tortoise gets across Grand Concourse without having to stop.

Getting to the far side of the wide boulevard, Tortoise comes up to a fence separating the sidewalk from a small derelict house painted white. The Cat jumps up and over the fence and worms her way into the cottage. Standing and waiting in a sitting room, Ailuros in Human form greets Tortoise.

"I see things did not go so well."

Tortoise takes a moment to rest and then stands on hind legs to greet Ailuros with a bow, "Your chosen is now in the hands of clinking metal men. They put them in a . . . thing."

Ailuros pulls the hood down off Tortoise's head and pets her, "Thank you for opening the doors and keeping an eye on Leonie. I saw everything through your eyes. I will handle things from here. You may go and do as you please."

With another bow, Tortoise withdraws from Ailuros's presence, never turning her back on the goddess. A few moments after Tortoise leaves, a portal opens in the sitting room and from it emerges two beings. The first is Bishop Clement and the second is a tall, pale ghost in a flowing white dress.

The temperature in the sitting room drops and the cold air draws visible breath from the two that still breathe. As the portal closes behind the travelers, Bishop Clement sees Ailuros and approaches her.

"You requested me?" The Bishop asks.

"Yes, I will need your help with a few things. Our plan to retrieve the Magician's mantle has hit a snag."

Bishop Clements's eyes grow wide, and he scans the sitting room, "Where are Leonie and the Private Eye?"

Ailuros answers, "They are in the hands of our enemy, and it won't be easy to get them back. We cannot perform the resurrection ceremony, not right now at least."

"What will we do then?" Asks the Bishop.

Ailuros breaks away from Bishop Clement and walks to the dark haired pale ghost standing quietly near where the portal closed; she motions for the Bishop to join her.

Ailuros says, "Bishop, please be my go between with our otherworldly friend here."

The Bishop lightens up a bit, "Oh, yes. I can do that. This here is Ligeia, and she is an . . . aspect of the Moon Goddess as best I could gather from our short interaction back on Hart Island."

"Memories and shadows of powerful beings often get called to the Earth and linger. She is our connection to the Blue Moon. We need to revise our plans. Let Ligeia know she will likely be visited soon by servitors of the Central Sun, and when they do so to open the portal to the Blue Moon once more."

Bishop Clement approaches Ligeia and begins a short exchange conducted in seeming silence. The Bishop turns to Ailuros and says, "Ligeia will open the portal to the Blue Moon when the time comes and will grant you and I passage there right now. She says she will remain behind, here in her home."

"Good, let's go."

With a wave of her arm a portal opens once again and Bishop Clement together with Ailuros step through, leaving Ligeia to the small cottage off Grand Concourse.

As the morning sun reaches above the horizon, the Second Sun First Born sits high over the Hudson River. The ship itself runs a good length of Manhattan, stretching ten miles from stem to stern. To the benefit of those below, the ship does not cast a shadow, emanating light from its hull.

Aboard the ship appear two servitors with container, and they are greeted by an officer in a powder blue uniform, wearing the yellow symbol of the Central Sun on their breast over their heart. Their eyes glow with the light given into them by the Central Sun.

The servitor to the left removes their helmet to reveal a clean shaven face and similar enlightened eyes, "Where are we taking this one?"

"Send them to the brig for holding. We will process them through Medical soon enough. Take some time to prepare yourselves, we have another mission for you."

Both servitors salute the officer, and with a few inputs the cylinder holding Leonie levitates a few inches off the ground, allowing the two servitors to guide it through the doorway on their way to the brig.

Back on the ground on Hart Island, The Witch stands by the cross and the site of the spell they plan to cast. The Blood Moon light night arcs hazily in the sky above. The Witch worries about Ernest, who cast a temporal spell to slow down the passage of time within a small area.

Though the area of the spell is small in an absolute sense, the spell is large for just one temporal witch to cast, and this spell had to be large enough to contain the entirety of the Blue Moon overhead. Cracks of sunlight occasionally break through, but Ernest holds the spell.

The spell becomes harder and harder to maintain as the disparity between inside and outside the area of effect grows. Pleni now provides a continuous source of energy for Ernest to use and maintain himself with, but even with the support of a powerful Fairy the difference in time grows too big.

Just as the Witch plans to ask Ernest if there is anything she can do, a portal opens nearby with Ailuros and Bishop Clement stepping through.

The Witch glowers, "Where's Leonie and the Private Eye."

Ailuros makes her way to where Ernest stands casting his spell, "In the hands of our enemy."

The Witch gives a perplexed look, "I can't imagine a few Magic Men or whoever you faced would give you three that much trouble."

Ailuros places her hand on Ernest's shoulder, casting a spell that breaks Ernest's spell, "That is not the real enemy we now face. Allow me to show you."

The temporal spell containing Hart Island and the Blue Moon in the night collapses, and the fabric of reality itself shakes with the energy of time equalizing out between the once separated spatial regions. The sunlight of the new day floods Hart Island all at once.

The sensation passes through all those present on the ground on Hart Island, with those present and exposed shivering as the dissipating temporal energy passes through them in waves. The Blue Moon hovering over the island joins the full city sky once more.

With the temporal spell broken, Ernest slumps onto the ground and Pleni pulls her energy back. Ailuros motions towards Manhattan and a ten mile long ship shining bright in the sun.

"That is who we must face, and that is where we must go." Ailuros says to the rest.