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x+y.1.1 RETRIEVAL/ FORM/ WORD Eurynome the neverending
descant:
thread: a slender stream, as of water cord: an anatomical
structure (as a nerve or the umbilical cord) resembling a cord
x+y.1.2 RETRIEVAL/ FORM/ WORLD So Inanna sits at the end of time, in the stars that govern tides and crops and seasons measured out now seven thousand years and waits, for the sidereal year, the gap between, eternal rite of harvest. Then when the living world, the world alive, dreams doubled four-point stars, morning and evening, symbols of the male and female principles, Eurynome, the Goddess of All Things, rises up naked from chaos at the beginning/ending of the world and prays them into being, dividing seas from sky, so that she might not dance alone. Consort, other half, the sum of the astronomers, he nestles in behind the Queen of Earth and Heaven, immortally becoming. And they turn cartwheels in the sky, one small blond girl, one Lord of Light, One in the measure joined, remade repaid redeemed, at peace and blissful now that time is done again. They find and count their blessings in the worlds beneath their feet, risen in power, reborn, rebuilt, redreamed, a legend and a lesson and a rhyme. The Hunter and the Hunted, joined in battle, danced another dance and sung a World to being in their wake. They shed their skin and floated backwards into one another, trust that trumped their nature, safety in each other from the night, the mating of light and darkness, the rule of order, the rule of death, become the universe before it was tamed, true chaos rising, Gemini rising into glory, Eurynome still waiting, gone before to the core of the world they made and mastered. They rose inside outside
and claimed dominion over Earth and Sky and Fire and Water, claimed by
the rites of Hieros Gamos, the sacred marriage reenacted on the threshing
floor, seed spilling into gardens, seeding the cosmos, strewn from their
passage whirling through an empty sky.
x+y.1.3 RETRIEVAL/ FORM/ MAKER memory has a
x+y.2.1 RETRIEVAL/ DIVINATION/ PROPHECY 'And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the anointed, the Master's great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.' As it is written, so shall it be. 'Five will die, and from their ashes the anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' As it is written, so shall it be. (The Master reading Aurelian prophecy, BtVS 1.05) This is the family of Josef Nest, long Master of the Order of Aurelius. He who killed the Slayer once, who rose again and turned his bones to dust. So one did die. So must it be. Then Darla fell to her own child Angelus, and rose human, and was turned again by their child Drusilla, and then chose to turn to dust to save a child. So two did die. So must it be. William was called to serve, but chose to serve instead the Slayer, and died on her behalf to protect the Key, and waits in darkness now but still compelled by light. So three did die. So must it be. Angelus' child Drusilla fell according to the mercy of Angelus, he who damned her, claimed her, granted her last wish, and sent her to her rest. So four did die. So must it be. Angelus, the last Master of the Order, and the City of Los Angeles, and Master of himself, then chose to die to save the two below, the Slayer rising now with William from the earth. So five did die. So must it be. 'And there will be a time of crisis, of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the anointed, the Master's great warrior. And the Slayer will not know him, will not stop him, and he will lead her into hell.' As it is written, so shall it be. The Slayer and the lesser god, Prometheus, Orpheo, Lucifer the fallen star of the morning, danced the dark dance together but were changed within, and fell together, according to their natures, into prophecy and out of time. They claimed each other in a harvest rite that changed the world we know, and so she followed him into darkness but remained in light. And he turned inside her changed and was not burned by light, the one who waits, the one we waited for, the Master of the Hunt, the sacred marriage, unbarren union of the Slayer DNA with that of the one True King. And from the ashes of the five the Anointed will arise, the Master of the New World, and we choose to stand here, Dark Lords of the Order of Aurelius, allied with the forces of the light we wait to greet him and fulfill the prophecies for which we waited now time out of mind for him to come, the one who mates, the Slayer called by Slayer finally to dance that long dance on the bones of the Master's family and take his place as Master of the World Above, a Lord of Light. 'Five will die, and from
their ashes the anointed shall rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet
him and usher him to his immortal destiny.' So here we stand for him, to
celebrate their Sacred Union at this place of power, above the Well of
the Slayer, her womb, the Mother of the World to Come, in grace we come
to greet her, know her, bringing the gifts that waited for this day, the
sacred chalice, given to both in recognition that they are the Anointed,
the Chosen, and the prophecy is fulfilled, and the cup passes from us finally
and grants us rest. Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! In light
they shall be all we know of heaven, at last the miracle we see, the Order
ending as we praise them, and we burn. As it is written, so shall it now
be.
x+y.2.2 RETRIEVAL/ DIVINATION/ TARA Time for me to go. Oh no you don't, no rest for you. You promised me you'd show me gardens. You can't miss them, they're everywhere, all the way up. I need you to tell me all the names of the flowers. Will you help me plant a garden in the world above? The bargain was for One. Not true. Willow only unmade the First Bargain. Dawn opened the doors herself. I bartered with the Gatekeepers, I won the Game, and I paid the Ferryman. Not bad for naked, huh? I'm never telling where I had to hide the coin. And Xander's holding the ticket for our passage up, three places, paid in advance. See? I'm almost old enough to be getting wise. I think you are. So you won't owe anything? I played to take what I needed. I needed him, which you of course knew way before me. And I need you, because I always get into such a terrible muddle without you. When I first met you, I thought you were unkind. Oh, that was Faith. The two of you will just have to work that out. Truth of the matter is, it's deeply symbolic. Three in one need to rise up through the Axis of the Worlds. And you're our third in this triune, Spike's Glinda and my friend. I even know why it's three. In our very own new version of the life after life, you are the catalyst, the guardian, the go-between, the Keeper of the Matrix, Our Lady of Peace, the Mistress of Connections. You're the glue, so time to get all sticky. I suppose you'll be needing pancakes, and buffalo wings, from time to time. Spike likes them hot. Dawn
likes the heart-shaped ones. She's waiting not so very patiently. There's
no help for it. You have to meet your terrible destiny, just like I did,
and that's biology, the study of how to live.
x+y.2.3 RETRIEVAL/ DIVINATION/ FATES Everyone ready? One, two, three. Now. Going. Up: change inside history
we see eternity
poesy, memory
injury, augury
the gift of ecstasy
transcendent unity
warm and loved and
x+y.3.1 RETRIEVAL/ CHORUS/ FORCES 1 Wesley. What do you want? It's late. Time to go. Too late for me. I know, I made my choices. The whole world's changed. You fancy me in a white hat now? No. Lots of colour in this world, Lilah. Come and see. Why? I'd just like to see how
you look standing beside me in the light.
x+y.3.2 RETRIEVAL/ CHORUS/ FORCES 2 Lydia? Giles. Yes, very well,
thank you. We have lost allies to the fight, but we still control the meadow,
and they're drawing them up the cable as we speak. Have Charles and Lorne
proved useful? I'm glad. Their talents did seem a good match to your requirements.
No, everyone caught in the stairwell, on both sides, died there. Thank
you for the warning; things might have gone quite differently if we hadn't
known. There was a bit of a skirmish, topside, and as far as we know none
of those who chose to stand against us lived to tell the tale. And our
intelligence is tolerably reliable. Do you need reinforcements? Because
I think perhaps we could spare them now, at least until the final battle.
I agree, it's paramount to protect that library for the sake of future
generations. When Buffy and Spike get some rest, we'll all put our heads
together with Faith and Wesley and the girls and decide what's best to
do about all the new Slayers. Especially since our tentative understanding
is that this Calling will prove to be the last. We could use some of the
Council's considerable resources there, both financial and academic. But
I think we can safely assume that the Council will never be granted any
authority over the girls. Essentially, though, Lydia, you are the Council
now, and we believe we can trust you to make the best possible disposition
of those resources that remain to you. What is your situation personally?
Do you wish to be relieved? That's a dangerous position you're in there;
you might be safer here. No, I quite understand, we must all do our duty
as we see it in the world to come. And in that I want to personally wish
you well. You have shown much fortitude in choosing your own path at the
critical moment. Yes, we'll all look forward to meeting at last for tea
after the war is over.
x+y.3.3 RETRIEVAL/ CHORUS/ FORCES 3 They rise in harness out
of time, in space transcending, three going up the axis of the spiral stairs
that two came down. One small blond girl, still holding on, one vampire
curled around her nesting, one guardian angel to embrace them both and
keep them safe, triumvirate, triad. The helix axis runs through the base
pairs. Two pure posthuman genomes, designed and built to die, to kill,
to mate, to join, to make a new world on the ashes of the old, the Chosen
hold the balance now and they hold the stairs, protected always by the
strength inside, pure Summers, and the strength that those who love her
lend her, always and forever, for the light. And every level they rise
past stretches out to infinity blooming, gardens as far as the eye can
see, all different, endlessly proliferating from the bloody footsteps of
the Slayer in the labyrinths of the land of death, come gathering, the
Queen of Earth and Heaven and the Underworld, Buffy Inanna once Sumerian
is learning the names of all the flowers at last, and there are no longer
any shades to see. Up they rise, past duty and dreams, past hope and blood
and fear, where Angel and Angelus and Cordelia died, past walls and weapons
and the Well of the Slayer where the Aurelians wait, back to the meadow
where they come to greet her, family and love she took with her on her
last journey and refused to ever give up.
x+y.4.1 RETRIEVAL/ SOLILOQUY/ ANGEL three things
x+y.4.2 RETRIEVAL/ SOLILOQUY/ SPIKE I'll just step back and play
the damsel rescued, shall I, doe-eyed, dewy, yeah, I can bring that off,
don't want to steal her moment, she's the hero after all and I can't be
the dragon any more, unless she wants me to, of course. I'll have you know
it takes two beautiful women to rescue the likes of me. This is the meadow
where Willow did the spell that brought her back the first time. Come forward,
blessed one. Know your calling. Heart of the fawn. I couldn't have done
that to her. Still, here now and whole and shining bright as ever. Hand
in mine, that's new. Hand of the Slayer. Not the Slayer. Slayer emeritus.
Won't be letting go at this end, not in this immortal lifetime. And the
boy came through, kept the ticket, even laid on blankets, I could get to
like that boy, and there needs to be a carpenter. Tara and Willow floating,
got that look of wonder, I may have it too. Well, it's a day of magic,
isn't it? Bit's got a hug these days that's more of a tackle. Summers women,
none of them ever did do helpless. The Watcher's looking fragile, lost
her one too many times now, I expect. A lot of people I don't know, Angel's
crew maybe. Who's the madonna? And that one must be Faith, the Queen of
Fire and Water, another little whirling dervish, I see she loves my girl,
and she didn't lose too many little ones in battle, guess she'll do. This
is all Buffy's family. She brought me home. There'll be blood waiting in
the fridge, and where do I sleep this time, now that she brings her heart?
That hand's still caught in mine, and all my home forever lives inside
her eyes. The Bright One, is she not for me? She gives me all of this today,
a duty and a gift, a meadow full of family to care for and protect in the
name of love, till the end of the world, even if that should happen to
be today.
x+y.4.3 RETRIEVAL/ SOLILOQUY/ BUFFY Flowers and presents, best
birthday ever, and it isn't even. Can there be chocolate too? I can't wait
to see Willow's face when we come through. Yep, there it is. No tears allowed,
you both did good. Go make each other happy now we're home. I've got you,
lost boy: don't look back, and don't let go. Hope someone thought to bring
a blanket. Bonus points for two. Well, Xander did, imagine that. Giles
looks so tired. Where's Dawn? She smells of home. Triangulating odds to
find location, need to tell Tara that, so much new stuff to know. Boy,
Wes has changed. So that's the kid. The meadow's not quite trampled:
seven days in the job, and the girl's already a better general than me.
My family. Something to eat and a do not disturb sign, even if Armageddon
comes today. We have a different ceremony to enact, and it's only meant
for two, and it lasts forever.
x+y.5.1 RETRIEVAL/ ECHO/ WITNESS ARIAS Just as the truth about the future would be attained only if man were in touch with a knowledge wider than his own, so the truth about the past could be preserved only on a like condition. Its human repositories, the poets, had (like the seers) their technical resources, their professional training; but vision of the past, like insight into the future, remained a mysterious faculty, only partially under its owner's control, and dependent in the last resort on divine grace. By that grace poet and seer alike enjoyed a knowledge denied to other men. In Homer the two professions are quite distinct; but we have good reason to believe that they had once been united, and the analogy between them was still felt. The gift, then, of the Muses, or one of their gifts, is the power of true speech. (E R Dodds, The Greeks and
the Irrational)
x+y.5.2 RETRIEVAL/ ECHO/ MEMORY How many days? One hundred and forty-seven. You came down the stairs. Yep. The doors are open. Plan to stay? Taking the elevator back up. How are things up there? There's a parade. Seventy-six bloody trombones. How does it go this time round? We're gonna save the world.
Wanna come?
x+y.5.3 RETRIEVAL/ ECHO/ INVOCATION To all who dwell in the worlds
beneath the world, remember.
x+y.6.1 RETRIEVAL/ PLAINSONG/ BARD'S TALE And there on the other side
she followed her heart, and found it, right where she left it, on the other
side of the crypt door. "So, I read this thing somewhere, and always wanted
a chance to say it," she said, "And here's where I get to: I come to you
as I have always come, with empty hands." "Not true", he answered, blue
eyes widening, "because this time at last I can see your heart". And she,
and he, together went up, and out, and never looked back. To the end of
the line where Xander stood faithful and brave with the ticket he kept
stamped paid, and then to the blanketing embrace of all the family she
made and held on to, against all odds, in her sunlit world. To prepare
all together for a final battle, and afterwards to live unencumbered in
a world made safe at last by the choices they all made.
x+y.6.2 RETRIEVAL/ PLAINSONG/ LYRIC he
she
two
unchained
x+y.6.3 RETRIEVAL/ PLAINSONG/ BALLAD seven years down and a short
trip back
two vampires fell into her
light
so the first she loved she
sent to hell
there was no way back, there
was no way in
then the second one lacked
any soul at all
and he tried to keep his
promises
when he got the soul, it
was done for her
when he died to keep her
sister safe
the Slayer went down to the
underworld
and she left behind everything
she loved
it was dark dark night but
she made it bright
when she slew the dragons
and won the game
Inanna went down to the underworld
while behind her in her footsteps
bloomed
and she left behind the world
she knew
when she held the world in
her hands that night
so time and space were the
same at last
they danced upon the waters
of birth
come forward, blessed one,
at last
maker: jill robinson macha@ntl.sympatico.ca 1st draft, early version:
31 Oct 2002
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