people.

[ The Murmur flares to life with the sensation of flint and steel, sparks catching on dry tinder that leaps rather than eases its way into existence. Ruhong does not hesitate: there is a point to this, and she does not much like riding the waves of a connection that she does not control. ]

I have news of One, and an important warning to go along with it.

What has happened this month cannot be allowed to repeat itself—not in any form. Not just for our own lives or for the world here, but for the very places we call our homes.

Our gracious host may choose to listen, or She may not, but I will be waiting to speak of it near the fountain terrace in the park should you wish to know more. The crucial thing is this: She cannot be allowed to have him. And we must find the other numbers before it is too late.

[ She will respond to questions, but she will also be waiting as promised at the location she mentioned in Central Park. Her presence reduces to the low embers of a dying fire, but it does not fade. ]