Ayesha Ura held out a fruit basket. A fruit basket! Anya bit her tongue and did her best not to giggle. "Welcome to your new office."

Wong Bongerok's sentence echoed in Anya''s thoughts. "...cleared of all suspicion regarding the riots...no basis for any penalties whatsoever...this court recommends that Anya Jenkins be assigned responsibilities and salary consistent with her power and demonstrated ability..." It was all bribery, of course, but the right sides had done the bribing.

"This used to be your office," Anya observed. It had Ayesha all over it.

"It did," the woman agreed. "I headed the Convention on Demons long before I was also given charge of its superconvention. Good luck in the role, not that you should need it."

"What happens with the Bronze Faction now?" Their leader might be dead, but they were far too entrenched to just wither away.

"I'm sure you'll find out. You report to Righteous Tsunami in a couple of days once you're settled in here. He'll keep you posted, no doubt, though he's certainly no hardliner." Ayesha picked up a satchel of papers. "My guess is that Ahn-Aru-she's their leader now-will argue that the Realm has to be dismantled slowly to prevent chaos. She's likely correct, but you can imagine the kind of foot-dragging that will ensue."

"I have a great imagination, so yes, definitely. I expect a good deal of annnoyance." Anya pasted her nameplate onto the desk.

"Just keep in mind, we didn't put you in this position to fail, but even so you're very much in a sink-or-swim situation, far more so than normal for a new Sidereal. You're an Elder and we have no option but to treat you as such."

Anya laughed. "In other words, I have what I wanted and now I'm paying for it." It was a fate she could live with.

Chapter 27-Welcome to the New Age

"You seem more comfortable than I expected at first," Leviathan rumbled.

Xander was examining himself in the mirror again. The resemblance Amyana had had to him was more than superficial, yet less than he had thought at first. She was shorter and wider than he, and not just in the hips. There was the hint of a point to her ears, apparently a tiny mutation. "She was my previous incarnation," he said after a few moments.

Leviathan shrugged. "You'd be surprised how little that matters to some of us. Actually, though, I meant as Admiral. I wasn't sure of you at first, but I figured you'd either grab for more power or get embarrassed and try to shrink back into the woodwork. You have a better balance than most Solars, I'd say. You accept authority that comes your way but don't try to seize it unless someone else is undeserving."

Xander strolled back to bed. His hips swayed more like this, but he was quickly ceasing to notice. "Not many Solars can handle being second to a Lunar?"

"Very, very few," came Leviathan's booming laughter. "In the long run, you probably shouldn't either, but you know enough to wait and learn."

Xander sat down on the bed. "You think I should be in charge of Luthe?"

"Ultimately? Yes. By mounting a coup against your friend right now? Of course not." Leviathan grunted and sat up. "Authority is what you make of it. The way I see it, if she defers to you and asks your advice, if she values your input, what's a title matter? But not everyone sees it that way."

"So, um...speaking of advice...what do you think I should do next?'

Leviathan raised an eyebrow. "Work on your public speaking and confidence. Oh, you mean as admiral of Luthe? Prepare for confrontation with Skullstone by expanding your reign. You don't have to go terrorize the natives with a First Age navy if you prefer. Diplomacy is power too, and no doubt you're better at it than I was at your age."

"What about superpower-wise?"

"Super-? Interesting phrase. I would focus on expanding your basic competence for now, both physical and mental. And...did you say once that you had been split into two people?"

"What can I say? I guess there's not enough of me to go around."

Leviathan sighed, a great, deep, heavy sigh. "There are simple ways to resist that, for a Solar. Unless you want the Wyld to make you sprout extra arms or turn you into a puppet, you need to learn them."

*****

"This is so absolutely non-funny! There is no fun in this. There is anti-fun! If fun met this there would totally be an explosion!"

Shaia sighed. "Well, now you know not to poke strange Wyld artifacts. Especially when they look like eggs or cocoons."

Willow's only contribution was a strange humorless snicker.

"You stop that." Buffy fiddled with her yellow yarn hair, using all four fingers. Her skin was fuzzy all over and she had no real nose, only a slight ridge leading down to her broad dead-end mouth. "How am I supposed to rule Gem as a muppet?"

"I'm certain your powers will work just as well as they did before," Shaia mused. "So you look odd. What of it?"

"Aren't people afraid of the Wyld for things like this?" Tara asked.

Shaia smiled enigmatically. "Let her practice. Buffy can handle it."

"I could try to change you back," Willow said tonelessly, "but I'm still working to get a handle on the new stuff." The big black display had faded, but her hair and eyes were still jet, and the black taint seemed to have spread further through her veins. It was just one more thing to stress about. "I wouldn't want to make you all floppy and, y'know, inanimate."

"Are you trying to give me a wiggins, Will?" Wasn't what had happened bad enough?

"Scout," said Shaia suddenly. Mnemon's forces were in the process of encircling Gem. The South was the last open approach, but it wouldn't be open much longer.

Buffy groaned and went limp, letting Shaia pick her up. Somehow Shaia had made a convincing little girl three times since they snuck out of Yu-Shan through a secret portal in the depths of the Violet Bier of Sorrows. It seemed to be a Sidereal thing. Willow just claimed to be sick. She seemedsick, especially during the day.

This scout was particularly odd-looking, dressed in a long heavy trenchcoat in the permanent oppressive summer heat and a birdlike mask straight from a medieval painting. Shaia made a strangled noise in her throat. "They look like one of those plague doctors," Willow muttered.

The scout homed in on them unerringly. Perhaps not so strange; there was no one else around and they were in the open. But the peculiar figure seemed to be moving very purposefully toward them.

No. Toward Willow. "You," its voice rasped. "The Walker acted as the Neverborn wished in Exalting you. That does not mean I will let you go your own way. The mouth of the Void calls you to cast your name into Oblivion."

"Like hell," Willow began.

"Nothing like it at all," the stranger (who was clearly not a scout) breathed. "Hell is paradise compared to the lip of the Void, where the Neverborn are entombed."

"For what it's worth," Buffy said, giving up the pretense, "hell's no five-star resort."

The stranger gave a start at Buffy's sudden animation but showed no real fear. She merely turned back to Willow after a moment. "The Neverborn themselves allied with the Yozis to bring us about. Be sure that it is their ends that you bring about when you work with Green Sun Princes and not merely your own petty desires."

"I bet you threw your name in right away," Buffy began. "So what do we call you?"

"I am known as Weeping Raiton Cast Aside." That rasp was incredibly smug.

"So tell me something. How is that not just another name?" Buffy stepped back and waited for a moment, but there was no explosion, real or metaphorical. "Well, Weeping Raichu, Willow, Tara, and Shaia are with me, and I've got an appointment with Mnemon's army. So unless you want to join the massacre...which is honestly fine with me; come right along...please won't you kindly step out of the way so I don't have to kick your ass?"

To Buffy's surprise, Raiton tilted their head to one side to think a moment, then nodded. "I have nowhere to be for a few weeks. A massacre would suit me well."

*****

When you obey Weeping Raiton Cast Aside you obey us. When you disobey Weeping Raiton-

Then we're gonna disobey the both of you!

Everyone shut up! Please!

Willow didn't want to ignore Tara. She didn't want to ignore Buffy. She didn't even really want to ignore the others. Her head was just...so...full. She could barely hear herself feel, let alone think, between the constant ranting mumble of the Neverborn and the fight-the-power rhetoric of the voice that called itself Salina. She needed quiet, but she needed it inside her head, not outside.

She'd made a horrible bargain. No wonder the Walker in Darkness couldn't get any use out of this Exaltation. The best it had been had been when she unleashed the lightning on the gods. The Sidereals would have been even better, only then she'd be dead and the whispers would never stop again.

"...still love you no matter what."

"I know," Willow said. "I love you too. I always will." The aching void at her center gaped wider, the gap between her and all the living. Was this how vampires felt?

The dessicating wind that had been following Willow since reaching the desert grew hotter and drier still. Tara in particular huddled beneath her cloak, trying to ward off the blowing sand that threatened to suck the moisture out of her like blood.

"Let us in," Buffy demanded. The fiery crown flickered around her velvet brow, and the gate guards hurried to obey. Maybe they knew her, or perhaps they were simply compelled.

Was Willow going to end like that, only able to relate to the living with her commands? Her veins felt drier the more the blackness spread. California mummy girl. That was what she was becoming.

Buffy seemed to have tired of trying to hide her condition. When anyone balked at obeying a three-foot puppet, she gave fire-crowned orders or just made a display of power. "Take me to the throne room. Now!" An attempt at creating another double had produced only another living doll, enraging her to the point of letting the terrified double crumble to dust like a vampire. She'd been remorseful afterwards, but that didn't do the clone any good.

"I don't think I want to be an Exalt," Tara said softly. "Not even a Solar. There's just too much...turmoil. Everything feels broken, even around Xander. It's not worth it."

Nothing is worth it. Nothing has worth. All the force wasted in creating...all that we hoarded to ourselves...worthless... Willow shivered. The wind had followed her inside. Granite walls flaked off dust as she passed.

*****

Buffy had to know. Surely she knew.

"Shaia" increasingly found her old identity dissipating like fog. No matter how she trained, though, she was still unable to retain her understanding of Sidereal martial arts on reverting to her true self. Therefore, her undermind demanded, she had to remain Shaia. She Who Lived in Her Name required the secret powers. They had to be hers, at whatever cost. If Shaia could remember clearly who she had been, maybe she could pit that self against Her demands, but that knowledge was withering under the desire to ruin the Cult of the Illuminated, which could also only be done as Shaia. Though if she could only stop being Shaia, that would stop mattering. Something...something else would matter again.

As if all that was not bad enough, She was not even pleased by the arts Shaia knew. Whenever she assumed Quicksilver Hand of Dreams form, her coadjutor rose up in fury that chilled Shaia's mind to ice.

If Buffy would just confront her, she would have reason to throw off the false identity and become himself again. Yet Buffy pretended to the lie, pretended to see only Shaia, no doubt convinced her mission was of overriding importance to the Reclamation. Which, of course, it was.

The other Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the throne room. "Dunno what happened to you, but I've got to let you take over. Day in, day out, nothing but strategy sessions. I can't handle any more. I need parties and a shopping spree. Can I have a shopping spree?"

The puppet's eyes rolled. "Do I look like I'm in any shape to take over? You've got to hang in there just a little longer. Have you followed the advice I left you?"

"Cannon emplacements, traps in rings, troop rotation...I think so. How do you remember all that stuff?"

"All those Slayer powers we hated," the puppet said. "Still hate 'em every couple of hours, but I never realized how much they made me what I am till I made you."

She needed to get Willow to the island. Willow would further upset the Cult. Only doing that would enrage Weeping Raiton, who was no doubt hoping to turn Gem into an abbatoir before taking Willow to meet the Void.

She needed to be himself again. She could remember who he was if she could do that.

"Carry me to the walls," the doll said. "I need to see how Mnemon is setting up."

"She's gonna pen us in so we'll never get out," the double said. "I think we made a mistake."

The doll laughed a harsh, wry laugh that surely belonged to no childrens' toy. "Can't be done," she said. "Wonder if anyone's ever tried to use this power on a strategic scale before. It'll work, though. Trust me."

*****

"We need to know what she used on Kejak." Nazri stood across the table from Ahn-Aru and Ayesha. "No matter what we personally thought of the man, a toxin that could even partially depower an Exalt is a threat to all of us."

"I'm not sure we have the means to find out," Ayesha worried. "A few divine witnesses apparently thought they saw Buffy gathering ambrosia. Our security measures regarding Exalted prisoners need a serious upgrade."

"If we knew what she used," Ahn-Aru suggested, "we could kill those two birds with one stone."

"Perhaps," Nazri agreed. "But we have to keep closer track of who worships any prisoners we take. If Buffy created that toxin from ambrosia, we have to ensure that the knowledge of how to manipulate the stuff is held far closer. Else we'll have demons and ghosts and raksha getting ahold of raw prayerstuff whenever they're taken prisoner."

"Summary execution," Ayesha said. "No non-Exalt prisoners in Yu-Shan, period. Maybe no prisoners there period if we can get the censors to cooperate."

"Harsh measures," Ahn-Aru mused.

"For a harsh Age," Nazri responded. "She may well be right."

*****

I hope Dawn is all right. The idea of her running off with Glory of all people freaks me out, and I'd have tried to stop her...except...

Buffy is close to the edge now if she isn't over it. I saw her attack Dawn. I even managed to ask her about it on the way here. I mean, in a way she's right...but I was afraid she'd break my arm for asking. She did break Dawn's.

This kind of power isn't good for us. I know...I sound like my dad...but this is more than that. Buffy mind-controls people without even meaning to now. She frets about her body changing, but I'm more worried about her mind. Fred can shapeshift, and I don't think she's any worse for it. I'm more worried that she suddenly has a thing for Willow. I didn't think she was even bi...

I know. I shouldn't just assume.

I'm going to have to find more paper. Xander is sweet as always. Kinda glad I'm gay right now, though...I'm almost afraid to be around him any longer...that if he actually paid me any attention I'd discover it didn't matter what's normal for me. Being with Willow isn't much better now, though.

I don't want to end up like that. I think I'd rather die here. Please don't let those be my options.

*****

"Your mind is wandering, Winifred. You can't allow that to happen where sorcery is concerned."

Fred raised her hands again. "I'm sorry, Sage. I found my mate is all. And not only is she hundreds of miles away, she's Abyssal." Beat. "Also a she. I thought it was the weed the one time that happened."

The Sage shrugged his narrow shoulders. "I certainly wouldn't know. I've never met my mate in this life, nor felt desire for anyone."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Fred waited for the Sage to cast again, but nothing happened.

"I'm not. I have no need for distractions of that nature," the Sage said. "I value love, of course, in the abstract, but for my own part I do well without."

"Well, anyway...I found mine, Xander found his. That just leaves Buffy I guess."

The Sage began to gesture with his hands. "I feel sorry for whoever has an Infernal for a mate. As I do for you, Dreamer Shahan-ya. But there is work to be done. Again!"

Fred lifted her hands and prepared Emerald countermagic. Sooner or later she'd get it.

*****

Ma-Ha-Suchi studied the runes in bafflement. He must have made a mistake, but how? The rites of Luna ought to be infallible.

He had no qualms whatsoever about drinking his mate's Heart's Blood. But how could he have twoof them?