Well, here we go. Those of you who have made it through all of the set-up and meandering character stuff, and hung around while I disappeared for a couple of months, congratulations. 
Big Stuff will finally happen. Mwahahahaha. ---------------
As my mother and brother were speaking, three generations of Pembina women were completely oblivious to the tension in my father’s study. The only one who seemed agitated was the cat, whose fur was still standing on end after Ajiana’s magic. He bolted for the door as soon as it was opened by one of Lady Mara’s handmaidens, who had come to start preparing her bed.
“Farli, no!” Ajiana nearly bowled the poor young servant over as she darted after the cat, hands out to try to catch his tail.
“Darling, don’t chase – oh, there she goes.” Savna sighed as the sound of her daughter’s sandals clattered away down the hall. “Off again like a wild pony. She’ll be up the towers and down the stairs, in and out of the stables and kitchens...”
“I remember another little girl who liked to run off into mischief,” Lady Mara noted with an indulgent smile, fussing affectionately with the patterned silk draped around Savna’s neck. “I remember despairing that she would never grow into a proper lady, nor stop running off. But now here you are – a very proper lady indeed.” Her smile faded a bit as she gave the silk one final pat into place, and she smiled bravely though she was blinking back tears.
“I haven’t run off,” Savna said quietly, taking hold of her mother’s hands as she finished the unspoken thought. “Not from you and not from home. I want us all to be family – you and I, and Stellan and Jaffaran… father…”
Lady Mara nodded hopefully, but offered no other response as she wiped at the corner of her eye.
“All right,” Savna said, giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re tired after your trip, I’m sure. Sleep well tonight, and I will go and find Ajiana before she can get into any mischief. And then tomorrow we’ll talk again.”
As she left her mother's chambers, Savna strode along after her daughter, following the directions from scholars and staff who had seen Ajiana run past. “That way, my lady,” they said. Or, “She went through the arches. “Or, “She’s run off again, has she? I saw her head for the stairs…”
So down the stairs she went, into the lowest hallways of the palace, past all of the guards, and past all of the unseen magical locks that would keep out any person not a member of our household. Down to where the ornate carved marble and gilded window ledges gave way to simple brick walls and stone, and the bustle of the living and working quarters gave way to the quiet of a tomb.
A cold breeze blew up from below, and Savna shivered as she stepped onto the silent bottom floor. “Ajiana,” she called out, her voice coming as a whisper. “Janni!” she tried again, more loudly. “I can hear you up ahead. You know you’re not to be down here!”
As the echo of her voice faded, she heard a distant, higher pitched shout about the cat, and how it was still running away.
“It doesn’t matter, little one,”Savna called back, clinging to the wall. “Farli will find his way out when he wants to. It’s what cats do. Come back now, Janni!” But she got no answer. She picked up the hem of her dress to hurry forward, sighing once more at her daughter’s tendency for mischief.
In my father’s study, Stellan reeled against the fireplace, his hands going to the brick to hold himself steady. Voices echoed in his head, heard only to him, one atop the other. "Do not let your sister interfere." "We are close, so close. “She will stop us." "Do not let her interfere." 
He lurched back, running into my father, who had gone to aid him. “Savna will not interfere,” he declared, seemingly to the air. My father stepped back, confused by the words. Stellan pushed him farther aside as he headed for the door.
"Stay where you are." My brother’s voice was commanding, and for a moment, it halted the Pembina heir’s stride. “Savna won't interfere with what? Where?” He reached for Stellan’s shoulder, trying to force the man to meet his gaze.
“Jaffaran, wait,” my mother warned. But her words were lost in the sound of rushing wind that tore through the study, blowing out the candles and putting out the fire.
When Stellan lifted his gaze in the sudden twilight, his eyes were changed. They were black as the night without any stars -- black as the nothingness that was held behind the Gate. When he spoke, it was with the sound of four voices in unison. "You are too late. You cannot stop us. The little one is there."
“Stay back,” my mother called. But the wind had receded, and Stellan had collapsed in the silence left behind.
Jaffaran was pacing, lost in thought, trying to puzzle through Stella’s words. “The little one,” he murmured to himself. “He said Savna. And the little…” He looked up, suddenly alarmed. “No.”
My mother’s eyes widened as well. “It can’t be,” she whispered.
“No,” my brother repeated. “No, no no…” He ran for the door, yelling his daughter’s name.
“Ajiana!” Savna finally caught up with her daughter, rounding the corner through an archway into an octagonal room. She stopped immediately as she came face to face with the Gate.
“Lady Savna,” greeted the scholar who had been standing watch. It was my mother’s uncle Aiden, a wise and gifted man who had been one of the few trusted to monitor the gate during the Pembina’s visit. “I think you’ve come looking for this?” He patted Ajiana’s arm, and turned her to face her mother.
“Yes,” Savna said, tearing her eyes from the horrible black void. “Y- yes, thank you.” She tried to smile as she stepped forward, but her hands were shaking, and her voice was shaking. Every hair on the back of her neck was standing on end, and she wanted nothing more than to run from the room and never look back. I knew the sensation well. Most people could only face the Gate after extensive training. Some never could. Savna reached for her daughter’s hand to try to pull her away. “I told you to stop. You're not to be in here! I'm sorry," she added to Uncle Aiden. "She was following the cat."
Aiden smiled, recognizing Savna’s discomfort for what it was. He ruffled Ajiana’s hair and then ushered her forward. "Not to worry. She's an heir, after all, and she’s growing up quite nicely. She'll have my job down here soon enough."
Savna simply started backing toward the door. "We should go."
"Of course, my dear,” Aiden said kindly. “And as for you, young Lady, those cats can be mischievous creatures. You would do well do remember to listen when your mother tells you to--" He stopped, his mouth hanging open in shock as something caught his eye. He stared over Savna’s shoulder at the moon dial that bound the locks on the gate. "Lady Savna! Take the girl. GO!” He pushed them roughly toward the door. “Get your husband. Warn the others! It's opening the--"
Aiden froze, as if turned to marble. Savna gasped and spun around to see what was happening. And there, projected from the bauble around Farli’s new collar, was a spectre of pure darkness. Ghostly hands were turning the intricate spheres of the moon dial, the metal clicking and groaning as its mechanism spun in patterns not traveled for generations.
Savna looked down at her little cat, then up at the dark figure, terrified at what was happening, horrified at the unwitting part she had played, but powerless to stop it. The dark figure met her gaze with his unblinking, malevolent stare. And smiled.
