[FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma/SM] On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Chapter 21

[David McMillan]

Mark MacKinnon wrote:
> Bert Miller wrote:
>> HALLELUJAH!!!!
> 
>     Can I get an AMEN, BRUTHAH??

	"Can I hear the list say AMEN!?"

>> Mark MacKinnon wrote:
>>> Well, slow I may be, but here, at long last, is the next chapter.  
>>> Two years.
>>>   
>> Thanks for the perseverance.  Two years it may have been, but that's 
>> much better than 'never'!
>     You see, that's what I said!
> 
>>>   
>>     If it's any consolation, it won't take two years for the next 
>> chapter to come out.  Promise.
>> Looking forward to it!

	Withdrawal effects... setting in... oh, da pain!

>>> seat of power for the entire kingdom.  Ranma, lost in a berserker rage,
>>> remained unaware of this development as he managed to destroy Fenrir.
>>>   
>> You know, the above is really the only firm confirmation of this that 
>> we have...
>     Well, at this point, yes.  Later, Ranma doesn't remember what 
> happened after he manifested his power, so it stands to reason he missed 
> this as well.  Unless your point is that this is a bit of a spoiler, 
> which I can see since at this point you don't know Ranma wakes up hazy 
> on the details.

	It just seemed a bit jarring to see something narrated which never
happened on-camera.

>>>   
>> By the way, whatever happened to the "curdled magick leftover" of the 
>> Underlords' which
>> launched this attack, anyway?  Is it still up there in the clouds, 
>> hovering?
>     Wynneth's spell called it for a specific purpose.  The storm feeds 
> on the remnants of the expended power, but the threat has dissipated.

	???  I just re-read the previous chapters a couple months ago, and I
swear I don't recall anything that implied that the Cloud Thing was old
Underlord magick.  What did I miss?

>>> In truth, she knew little of
>>> the basis for, or extent of, Tux's powers, but she'd never seen anything
>>> like this before.  He did seem to have some link to Earth Magicks, what
>>> with his roses and all.  Had he somehow drawn strength directly from the
>>> earth itself?  And why did he seem to have been unaware he was even
>>> doing it?
>>>      Troubled for no reason she could really articulate,
>> In a previous chapter, you referred to a theory about the "spirit of 
>> Gaia";
>> this might be taken as a direct confirmation that it's awake and active.
>     At the very least, Tux seems to have some link to Gaia.  With so 
> much going on, Tux has gotten somewhat of the short shrift, but we 
> should remember he was once a power in his own right, although not as 
> much as the princess.

	But nobody to sneeze at, either.  Although I wonder how this interacts
(if at all) with his connection to Travos....

>>> roof of the stadium.  Oddly, there was damage to this version similar to
>>> that inflicted by Fenrir ...
>>>      Whoa.  Wait a second.   
>> Heh.  That was very fast on the uptake for V.
>>
>>>      And then something grabbed her from behind.
>>>   
>> Heh.  Nice place to pause.

	*I'd* pause after grabbing V, just to savor the sensation.

>>>      "NO!"  I came up again, shuddering, clawing at the rain like a
>>> madman.  And maybe I was just that, a madman, the last madman in
>>> Japan, maybe the world, lost in a fever dream and waiting for the end.
>>> They'd find me soon, follow the screaming, and then I could go down
>>> fighting, and it would end, there'd be peace and I could rest ...
>>>   
>> I liked this passage.  You haven't really realized this Ranma's 
>> baggage so concretely for us prior
>> to this.
> 
>     I don't want to have him wallowing in it, but when the defences are 
> down nightmares still wait for him.  The guy has serious survivor issues.

	I honestly thought he was doing better lately, but it's easy to forget
that he's only been hanging with Our Short-skirted Heroines for a week,
if that.  Mina's definitely improved his condition, even in so short a
time, but the improvements still have shallow roots.
	And if there's a route from Ranma as he is now to the empty-eyed Ranma
in Rei's vision, I think we just caught a glimpse of it.

>>> buffer of space between them.  She was dressed in unusual clothes of a
>>>   
>> scanty unusual clothes

>     And how!

	Yabbut, since this is from *Mina's* viewpoint, I doubt the word
"scanty" would ever come up.  "Appropriately minimalist," perhaps....

>>>      "I was Hild's prisoner," Peorth told her.  "She used my link to
>>> captured Aesir technology to watch you the last time you were here, and
>>>   
>> Hmm.  "Aesir" technology, rather than "Warden" technology, or "Divine" 
>> technology?
>> Probably I'm reading too much into that comment, though; either of my 
>> alternatives
>> would trigger a different reaction by V, and Peorth would know that.
>     It hasn't really been discussed yet, but the ships used by the 
> Wardens had goddesses like Peorth acting as, in effect, an interface 
> between crew and ship, like an AI avatar.  Some parts of the ships used 
> modified Aesir tech for compatibility purposes, which is why Peorth 
> refers to it thusly. 

	So, was Peorth's ship called _Swordbreaker_, or _Andromeda Ascendant_,
or _Pillar of Autumn_, or....?

>>> vibrating like the wings of a hummingbird.  "Oh, gods, they killed
>>> Professor Lewdine.  He tried to stop them.  With a coat rack.  He 
>>> tried ...
>>> they killed him."

	Aw, frakk.  I was really hoping Skip made it...

>>> guards, handpicked and trained by her.  Hinari, that girl in the kitchen
>>> who always got her Kennarian tea.  Yaster Fenni, whose teasing she
>>> secretly enjoyed every time their paths crossed.

>> Nice touch.

>     A whole palace full of nameless people is one thing.  Making them a 
> little more human brings some perspective to what has happened.  All of 
> them had names, and lives, and they're all gone.

	Gotta keep the readers from getting numbed somehow.  Which ain't easy,
considering the sheer *scale* of the death&destruction going on around
town right now....

>>> smile.  "But you are not far from the truth.  The relationship between
>>> Shadow and your plane is not well understood, but I can tell you that 
>>> the
>>> two realms have drawn closer together, perilously so, since the death of
>>> the Azakaru Queen."
>>>      "The Azakaru have a queen?  I didn't know they even had
>>> gender," V blurted.  "And she died?"
>>>      "Murdered," Peorth told her.  "How, I cannot conceive, for the
>>> Azakaru are an ancient race, believed to be as old as the Osiren or the
>>> Phantom Guard.  And part of the natural order of Gaia."
>>>      "Who did it?"
>>>      "Even Hild could not discover that," Peorth said wryly.  "But it
>>> happened fourteen years ago.  Just before the event your people call 
>>> ..."
>>>      "The Long Dark."

>> Okay, let's pick at this hint you've thrown us.  Hypothesis one: 
>> Wynneth instigated the Long
>> Dark as a distraction for her murder of the Azakaru Queen, which she 
>> carried out specifically
>> for the purpose of drawing Shadow and the mortal plane closer 
>> together, which she
>> orchestrated specifically for the purpose we see at the end of this 
>> chapter.  This seems the
>> most probable.  Alternate hypothesis:  The Azakaru Queen is not dead; 
>> she faked her
>> murder, and is the voice behind Wynneth.  No, too speculative, and 
>> unsatisfactory on
>> other grounds.  Hypothesis one it is, then.

>     It certainly seems that her death must have been a part of Wynneth's 
> plan.  Being able to kill such a being, however, is no small feat.  I 
> wonder if the Azakaru have blood?

	Just how many pieces does this plan *have,* anyway?  Belisarius would
call Wynneth an amateur for indulging in such a grandiosely convoluted
scheme... but OTOH, she's had *how many* millenia to set this up and
guide it along?  Being able to vampirically make friends and influence
people doesn't hurt, either.

>> Any other implications here?  The Azakaru are the "Guardians of the 
>> Dark Border", and
>> presumably they've been weakened generally by the murder of their 
>> queen.  Better keep
>> this one in mind; I doubt you're finished with this.

>     No indeed.  Remember Rei's Shadow Magicks reference the Azakaru 
> during ritual casting.  They have a very strong influence over the 
> intangible, including ghosts and shades, shadows, and dreams.  Weakening 
> their power may have been Wynneth's goal.  we'll just have to wait and see.

	Which raises another question:  are the Azakaru just taking this lying
down?  What are *they* doing about all this?  Assuming, of course, that
they've been able to figure out any of what's going on...
	Just how powerful *is* Wynneth, anyway?  If she could take out a
cosmological power like the Azakaru queen, why would she need to jump
through all these hoops to accomplish her (or the Voice's) goal?  My bet
is that Wynneth found the Azakaru's Kryptonite, and slipped it into her
tea or something.

>>> Mara's opposite number?  If Mara was some sort of demon, did that
>>> make Peorth an angel?
>>>   
>> First mention you've made of "angels" as part of Gaia's human's 
>> worldview, I think.
>> Wouldn't that be "did that make Peorth a goddess?"

>     I think V would be hesitant to name someone a goddess, given that 
> the pantheon of the divine is fairly well known.  It does become 
> somewhat problematic, dealing with beings of great power, some of whom 
> technically are gods (like Peorth) but who seem to be lower on the 
> pecking order than the "official" gods.  Dragon, for instance, is not 
> bothered by the gods.  Is he strong enough to be considered one 
> himself?  Of course, none of this answers your question.  Not much has 
> been mentioned of demons or angels, true, although both exist in some 
> form ... we will learn more of this matter in the next 2 chapters.  
> (Does anyone find it strange that we hear of the hells, and the old 
> gods, but not of their demonic counterparts?)

	Now that you mention it... yes.

>>>      "Peorth, I don't understand.  Ranma ..."
>>>      "Your friend is not ... properly a Warden," Peorth blurted
>>> between gasps.  "Takzvyrmishammir.  Wild one ..."
>>>      That word.  That was the word Ranma had seen in the tunnels.  V
>>> grabbed Peorth's shoulder, excitement rising.  This woman had answers,
>>> more than the rest of them anyway.
>>>   
>> Heh.  So, of course, they get separated and we don't see Peorth again 
>> this chapter.
>     But Peorth was introduced as a character who can finally fill in 
> some of the back story.  If she survives.  And ever shows up again.  
> Mwah-hahahahaaa!

	What's worse, from the perspective of an author trying to maintain
suspense, is that Peorth can probably answer a *lot* (though not all) of
the questions underlying the meta-series -- like, what's the whatsis
under stately Kuno manor, what is the Eye, what are the Eyes (my guess:
  the DTF's spaceballs), what all the Key can do, and what the War was
about and who was involved.  And maybe shed some light on who Rianna's
boss is (for no real reason, I have a hunch that he is, or at least is
connected to, Wynneth's Voice).
	If Peorth survives and hangs around to be questioned, I'm betting that
that will lead into the post-Clear Day story arc, which should
eventually lead Ranma... er, Ranko... back to Nerima and his
counterpart, thus closing the circle.

>>> shimmering deep in the metal.  And felt, just for a moment, an answering
>>> pulse from the key lying against my chest, weak enough that I was left
>>> wondering if it had even happened.
>>>   
>> Interesting.  Just how old is Galiraithe?

>     Another question which will be answered in the next chapter.

	Galiraithe was made from the remains of an Aesir ship, judging from the
hints.  Aesir tech is presumably derived from the same underlying tech
that made the Keys.  Everything we've seen suggests that there's some
degree of resonance between the Key and any Aesir tech in the vicinity.
	Of course, it seems that Galiraithe has *some* degree of intelligence
-- I wonder what *part* of the ship it was regforged from?
	And... just *where* has Galiraithe *been* the last fourteen years?  I
can't imagine that the answer is totally irrelevant...

>>>      "My name," the swordswoman said with an enigmatic smile, "is
>>> Kendra.  And this is Raine."
>>>      "Nice to meet you," I said.  Kendra blinked, like she'd expected
>>> me to recognise her name or something.  Famous bounty hunter, maybe?
>>>   
>> Heh.  I like it.

>     If you're the queen, you don't expect to run into people who've 
> never heard of you.  In fact, she probably wishes some days that she 
> could be just some woman.  Now, for a little while, she gets her wish 
> ... and thus doesn't hold a grudge.

	Not to mention, Ranma's hawt, Gaeans have sex on the brain even in
life-or-death situations, and even Kendra probably isn't immune to the
Saotome Effect.

>>>      "Police armour," Artemis said with a savage grin as the two
>>> heavy mechs opened up on the creature with their cannons.
>>> "Wolverines."
>>>   
>> They should have claws, not cannons. ;)
>     And they're the best at what they do.  Snikt.

	Gee, what shape would the Weapon X project taken on Gaea, I wonder?

>>>      "V, this is Raine," I said as we crossed the deck to meet them.  
>>> "And
>>> Kendra.  They ... OW!"  I rubbed the side of my head.  V had hit me
>>> much harder this time.
>>>   
>> Heh.

	<snicker>

>>> We are all
>>> reincarnated from the defenders of the White Moon Court."
>>>      "Remarkable."   For the first time since I'd met her, the shadows
>>> seemed to retreat fully from Kendra's eyes.  "You actually lived through
>>> that time, nearly eight thousand years ago!

>> Huh.  That's double what I had down as a tentative timeline.  Of 
>> course, I was going for minimums.
>> Which would seem to mean that when Ami said that the Genrous' empire 
>> lasted a long time (in chapter
>> nine), she meant several times my tentative one thousand years.

	Actually a lot *shorter* than I was thinking.  But I usually peg the
"canonical" Silver Millenium as being on the close order of 50k years
ago, to provide enough time for all the artifacts that would give
archaeologists fits time to decay, and for a civilization smashed down
to hunter-gatherer level to rebuild with no memory of what went before.	
	But on Gaea, the existence of the White Moon seems to be a known and
acknowledged fact, so the shorter timeline is feasible.

>> The more important point is what it says about Wynneth, of course, 
>> given the revelation later in
>> this chapter.  The supposed vamp leader during the Long Dark was 
>> scarily powerful because he
>> was two thousand years old, and we now know Wynneth is roughly four 
>> times that old.

>     Yeah, but she's a woman.  She just lied about her age, man.  ^_^    
> Obviously, she hid the truth from the other vampires.  Maybe she even 
> manipulated them.  Who can say?  Oh, yeah, me.  Right.  More on her role 
> in the Long Dark in the next few chapters.

	This plot gets much thicker, we'll be able to walk on it....

>>> though?" Raine asked, tugging at the sodden bandage over her eye.
>>> "And why here, why now?"
>>>      "That we don't know.  Queen Serenity must have done it, I
>>> suppose, given us a second chance."
>>>   
>>      "How did only a handful of you come to be reincarnated,

>> Interesting.  In canon (any version, I think), the senshi know these 
>> answers after their
>> defeat of Beryl.  If they didn't reappear here and now by Serenity's 
>> hand, to fight Beryl,
>> then maybe they're here at someone else's hand?  (Let's call this 
>> hypothetical person 'W'.)
>> And why would W do this?

>     Maybe W needs them for something.

	Oh, now *that* raises some *scary* speculation.  Not so much that
Wynneth wants/needs the Senshi for something (she definitely needs
Hotaru, and she at least wants the rest), but that *Wynneth* might have
been the one to arrange for their reincarnation.  Which suggests she
might have had a hand in Beryl's return, as well.
	I'll say it again:  just how freaking powerful *is* this creature?

>>> the old spaceport at Carnica?"
>>>      "No," Kendra said.  "Wait, you mean Carnica really existed?"
>>>      "Oh, yeah, it was real.  A shining gem of a city, Gaia's capital 
>>> and
>>> home of the royal family back in the day."
>>>   
>> seemed genuinely intrigued.  "Hey, is it true your people actually found
>> Now, from most authors, this detail would just be lending your story 
>> color and verisimilitude,
>> but knowing you, this old spaceport is going to play a key role in the 
>> plot eventually.

	"Bang, zoom!  To the MOON, Ranma!"

>     Feh.  That old spaceport?  A more vile den of scum and villainy 
> you'll ... sorry.  Wrong spaceport.

	Wardens with lightsabers?  The Reality War was actually the culmination
of the Jedi/Sith conflict?  Buried at Carnica, just waiting for someone
with the right Key, is the fastest starship ever to make the Kessel Run?  :D

>>> be a tall bald guy and a smaller woman with dusky skin, both dressed in
>>>      "Sergeant Meaghan Piakesti,
>>      "DS Otohari," he replied easily.  "Who's asking?"

>> Right.  Your two Dark God lookalikes are running around out here, for 

	...huh?  Aside from Dasma, when have we ever gotten any physical
descriptions of the Dark Gods?
	Now, I *have* wondered if Yuu was the local version of Jadeite, freed
from his brainwashing, but....

>> whatever (real) reason,
>> and still aren't giving us any reason to believe they're not fully 
>> human.  Red herrings?
>> Or Divine Deep Cover?

	I *must* have missed a memo -- I have No Idea what you're hinting at,
or where it's coming from.

>     Just a couple of hard working cops starring in Fox's new show, When 
> Bad Magick Attacks.

>>      So why did I still feel this vague uneasiness?
>> Interesting.  Ranma's sufficiently in sync with the Key now so that 
>> capital-D Dark nastiness
>> definitely registers with him, even when it hasn't happened yet.

>     Or the preparations are detectable.  Either way, he knows 
> something's up.  Just not what.

	Hmm... do Wardens detect dark or inimical energies, or do they pick up
on stuff that specifically interdimensional in nature?

>>> seemed least bothered by the wet.  "Ranma's path leads toward the Zone.
>>> If he had kept going, he would have eventually reached the border of the
>>> Old City."
>>>      "Exactly," Mars said, the lights gleaming on her rain slicked
>>> skin.  "Coincidence?
>> I think not!  Seriously, though, Mars brought up the point about the 
>> Old City being a reason
>> for the vampire to pick Saeni way back in chapter 9, but so far we 
>> haven't seen the Old City's
>> proximity play any part in the plan.  It's about time.

>     Oh, we'll be seeing more of its role soon ...

	Why does that NOT give me a warm fuzzy feeling?

>>      "What about someplace other than the temple?" I asked.  Listening to
>> This is very interesting.  Ranma is quite OOC in what follows, but 
>> then, we expect a Warden
>> to maybe put puzzle pieces together like this.  Is Ranma now 
>> transitioning from Takky to true
>> Warden?  (By OOC I don't mean that his phraseology is, btw, just his 
>> genius-level thinking.
>> His phrasing is vintage Ranma.)

>     Yeah.  I don't know that I'd call it genius-level, really, more like 
> putting the pieces together.  Ranma still prefers fighting to heavy 
> thinking, but he has become a more internal person over the years, for 
> better or worse.  The key's effects are more prodding than anything else.

	Besides, Ranma's always been good at reading his enemy's moves.  With a
little help, it's not unfeasible to extend that to this kind of
strategic perception.

>>>      "They abandoned that temple for a reason," Mars pointed out.  "The
>>> old temple district was right in the middle of things when the Old City
>>> appeared.
>> By the way, we've never been told where the Old City came from, have 
>> we?  Or how old it is?

	Old.  Capital "O."  How much more do you need to know?  :D

>     No, because nobody in the story so far has any idea.  But you will 
> find out next chapter.

	Again, not giving me a warm fuzzy feeling.
	...now, *why* did the locals start *calling* it "The Old City"?  There
has to be a reason.

>>>      "These trailers are the sort used to transport heavy equipment.
>>> Like, for instance, a Bander armoured car and a Massovelli Waterbug."
	
	I KNEW it!!!!

>> Heh.  And yet another apparently-irrelevant detail from several 
>> chapters ago now proves
>> important.  Seriously, man, you should go into professional mystery 
>> writing.

	It's this kind of thing that makes Mark's readers go crawling through
his stories for the nth time with a microscope, looking for any hidden
clues.  For instance, did you ever notice that Yuu and Usagi take their
coffee the same way?  This Means Something, I'm telling you!

>     I'm glad you appreciate these little touches.  They'd probably be 
> more effective if they hadn't appeared in a chapter over two years ago, 
> though.  It's like trying to watch season 2 of Lost or something.

	Ooooh, *burn.*   :)
	OTOH, do you know how many times I've reread chapters 1-20 over the
last two years?  Don't answer that, if you do it'll creep me out.  Not
to mention proving how little of a life I have....  ANYway, my point is
that we get to obsessively re-read the old chapters while waiting for
the new ones, which offsets the problem.

>>> unspoken accord, unleashed a fierce volley of attacks against the 
>>> circle's
>>> border I was struck by the malice of the thing, the twisted beauty, the
>>> malevolent hunger that it radiated.
>>>      And the Sisters' expressions of wild joy.      They didn't KNOW.
>>>   
>> stopped me dead, though.  It was the circle itself.  Even as Mars and 
>> V, in
>> ...because they aren't Wardens.  This circle doesn't lead to piddly 
>> Shadow; it leads to someplace
>> REALLY nasty.  Outside?

>     Or maybe it doesn't so much lead somewhere as bring something in.  

	Master Pharoah 90?  I *knew* Wynneth looked like Mistress 9!
	Hmmm... it now occurs to me that no one seems to notice any family
resemblance between Hotaru and Wynneth, now that they finally lay eyes
on the vampiress.  I guess my speculation about Wynneth possibly being
Hotaru's actual mother back in the Millenium may not hold water....

> Or unleash something.  These magick circles are fairly common for 
> high-level spells in this world.  ( Actually, I was thinking of an 
> example, but you haven't read it yet, so never mind.  D'oh!)

	...I HATE it when you do that.  ;)

>>>      "Right," I said.  "But isn't that ...?"
>>>      "Nemesis," V finished for me.

	Time to head for the nearest karaoke bar and start singing "Bad Moon on
the Rise."

>     She brought back the darkness, and our heroes assume that was her 
> ultimate goal.  Which makes sense for a vampire, but is a big blind spot 
> for them, because she 's still going, like a gorgeous, evil energizer bunny.

	...good point.  Long Dark 2.0 obviously isn't her final goal.  She
keeps talking about becoming a goddess, but she almost seems to have
that kind of power already.  Now, the Voice's plans, OTOH...

>>>      "If she was telling the truth ..." V began.
>>>      "Yeah.  If," Jupiter snorted softly.
>>>      "We'll have to tell Hotaru."
	
	*That's* going to be an ugly conversation.

>> Heh.  Wynneth called Hotaru "my darling daughter" way back in the 
>> beginning of your story,
>> if memory serves.  And now it turns out that she meant it.
>     I wondered why nobody commented on that at the time.  I expected 
> some shock or intrigue at the revelation.  Maybe they thought it was 
> more metaphorical, like "daughter of my blood".  Well, it wasn't.  Ha!

	Consider it a compliment to your skills at misdirection.

>>> her eyes.  I got her point.  If Wynneth had been around fourteen years
>>> ago ...
>>>   
>> If?  What if?  She was probably the prime instigator.
>     From behind the scenes, yeah.
> 
>>> This place was far from the inhabited planes, and nothing that lived had
>>> ventured here for a span of time that was almost inconceivable.
>>>   
>> Now, where have Wynneth and Saekianna gone?  "Far from the inhabited 
>> planes" makes it sound like
>> this is inside "this last, lonely sphere", just far away.  So what's 
>> the point?  And is the Voice's physical
>> body (assuming it has one) with them?
> 
>     I wonder ...

	Doesn't sound like anyplace we've seen to date.

>>>      Scattered shards of dark crystal.
>>>   
>> The remnants of the fake Banri, I presume?
>     Hmm.  What do we know that's made of dark crystal?

	Osiren Black, and Dasma's coffin.  The Osirens seem pretty durable,
even in Dragon's opinion, so my money's on the latter.  Which leads to
the question of just *what* that crystal control module did...

>> Now for some speculation:  I've been assuming all along the the Eye 
>> resides in this sphere.  In fact,
>> for a long time I assumed that the Eye was, in fact, Nemesis (the 
>> first home of the Gods when they
>> came to Gaia).  This now looks unlikely.  But if the Eye isn't to play 
>> a key role, then what's so
>> special about this sphere?  Or, put another way, if the Eye IS in this 
>> sphere, then WHY did the
>> keymakers (presumably) build it here?  And, if the Eye ISN'T in this 
>> sphere, why did snapping the
>> hyperlinks to it stop the spread of chaos?

	Now that's an angle I never thought of.  I always thought that Illianka 
was saving *this* sphere, expecting all the rest to be destroyed or 
taken over, and that the larger multiverse from which Ranma and the DTF 
come survived by chance, or by an unforseen side effect of Illianka's 
sacrifice.  But if the "geography" of the multiverse makes Gaea some 
sort of choke point...

>     Good questions.

	Bad answer.  :)

>> We've also been assuming, pretty much since day one, that Ami was 
>> right in identifying Ranma
>> as The Outsider.  But what if that's wrong?  Ranma is from 
>> lower-case-'o' outside, but what if
>> the Outside is from upper-case-'O' Outside?  We've seen various 
>> in-the-know types make a
>> distinction here, where Outside is where the capital-D Dark comes 
>> from/came from.

>     Oh, a very good point.  What is Outside, after all?  And if the 
> Wardens were fighting against it, does it make sense that Ranma is 
> really what they would have called an Outsider?

	I suspect most of us took "outsider" as being a Gaean-centric term, 
given the source.  Of course, that *could* have just been another case 
of deft Authorial Misdirection (pay no attention to that red herring on 
the mantelpiece, it's not relevant, oh no...).

>> Suppose the Eye was placed in this sphere because this sphere is on 
>> the border with Outside?
>> Then the chaos that threatened All That Is with apparent destruction 
>> in the distant past may NOT
>> have been generated from inside this sphere, say from a broken Eye, as 
>> it appeared, but it may
>> have come THROUGH this sphere, and been generated Outside.

	But then there's still the question of what's under Kuno mansion.  It 
didn't seem awesome enough to be the Eye, and Rianna referred to it a a 
Nexus Point, but it's obviously connected to the Eye somehow...

>     The truth shall be revealed.  Soon.

	You mean we *finally* get answers?  Hooray!!  :D

>> This also makes sense out of the Azakaru's title of "Guardians of the 
>> Dark Border", as well as
>> giving a secondary purpose to the murder of their Queen.
>>
>> All this would mean also that the real Outsider is now a prime 
>> candidate for the identity of
>> the voice behind Wynneth.  And if that's true, then Wynneth herself 
>> may not return from her
>> little trip (or, at least, as herself, assuming she's ever really been 
>> herself other than momentarily).

>     Interesting.

	The author is a Vorlon, I'm telling you!

>> Still to be revealed:  what good a key, without a lock?  So where's 
>> the lock?  And is
>> something locked out, or locked in?

>     That too shall be made clear, probably by chapter 24 at the latest.  
> Almost there, folks.

	24.  Wow.  I remember thinking a few chapters back that the story 
*must* be hitting its end by Baniesti, and there were too many plot 
elements in play to clean up in such a short time.  Now, of course, it 
looks like Baniesti was only the beginning of the big fight, not the climax.