Darkened Waters

The women and her daughter stood in the current of Death, exerting their dual will. The cruel, numbing chill became merely a sensation, the current just a gentle rippling around their feet. The younger woman took a few steps forward, gingerly testing the current. She drew about an inch of the sword at her side; it would draw fast and free if she ever needed to use it here.

"Caution, Arielle," said the older woman, stepping forward as well. "Walking to the Ninth Gate is nothing to take lightly. Might I remind you that we're here to help you practice the spells for the Gates?"

"I know, Mother, and we're also here to clear up some of Uncle Sameth's issues," said Arielle impatiently. She had her mother's dark hair and eyes, eyes which seemed nearly black next to her white skin. "I've walked in Death before."

"Only to the Seventh Precinct. Stay close to me, and always be careful." The older woman drew a small bell from the bandolier across her chest, the first of seven. Her daughter, who also wore a bell-bandolier, carefully undid and retied the straps on the bandolier in such a way that even if her sword arm was pinned, she could still reach the bells. "Clever..." murmured her mother with some amusement, and she did the same.

"Thanks, Mum." Lirael chuckled a little, rolling her eyes at her daughter.

"Sure...anything to make your head more inflated."

"I am not!" said Arielle indignantly. Lirael ruffled her daughter's black hair, and both mother and daughter began to talk toward the distant roar of the First Gate. Arielle was going through the spells for the Gates when she felt her Death sense twinge in the strangest way. She whirled around, drawing her sword; Lirael obviously felt it too, for she drew Nehima and Saraneth, turning to face the strange warping of her senses. The two stood tense and still, watching the water ripple strangely.

Arielle stepped back with a startled cry as a man's head burst through the surface of the river, gasping for breath. Lirael, on the other hand, stood her ground as the man hauled himself to his feet. Arielle felt a swoop of fear in her stomach; only a necromancer could resist the river in such a way. She could also feel a strange magic emulating from the wooden wand in his right hand.

The man's hair was as dark as theirs, and so were his eyes; his skin was probably once tanned, but Death had already started to pull the color from his skin. He didn't have the lost, weakened look of the newly dead, and Arielle realized with a frightened yelp that his physical body was here in Death. His dark eyes burned in his gaunt, wasted face, and a haunted look seemed to pervade his being. He saw the two women holding swords and immediately stepped back, raising the wand.

"Identify yourself," said Lirael commandingly, lacing her words with Charter marks. "I am Abhorsen. Who are you who dares to keep your physical form in Death?"

Sirius briefly wondered if his fall had knocked him silly. One instant, he'd been dueling Bellatrix, and the next, he'd fallen into this weird place. "I have no idea what you're talking about...last I knew, I was in the Department of Mysteries."

Arielle and Lirael exchanged puzzled glances. After a moment, the younger girl sheathed her sword, drew Saraneth, and took a few steps toward the man.

"Arielle, back away from him," said Lirael sternly. She ignored her mother and laid a Death-chilled finger on the man's neck; he still had a pulse, although it was quickly weakening and succumbing to the river's chill. She hastily stepped back; the last visages of life slipped away from the man's body. Both women watched in astonishment as the man's physical body fell to its knees, slipping away into the river; his spirit tore away from the body with a blood-curdling wail.

The spirit clutched at his chest, staring after the body. The river eagerly swirled around his ankles, trying to pull him under. He took a few involuntary steps deeper into Death, and Arielle rang Saraneth, rooting him to the spot.

"Leave him, I say," said Lirael, stepping toward the man. Her daughter reluctantly stepped away. "Who are you? Name yourself."

Sirius wanted to raise his wand; he really did try, but his arms were fixed to his sides. He felt an awful, straining compulsion to simply follow the river, but yet another force tied his feet and made him stay. He looked at the bell in the younger woman's hand; strange marks flowed all over it, and he could feel magic, dark and cold, tying him to the bell. He took a deep breath; maybe this was just a bad dream or something.

"My name's Sirius Black, and I'm a wizard," he said coolly. "And who are you?"

The younger woman looked at him as though he was a total dimwit. "You've never heard of the Abhorsen?" He shook his head, taking in the swords and the bell-bandoliers. "Maybe he's an Anceltierran," she said to Lirael.

"Can't be," she replied grimly. "He said he's a wizard. Well, Mr. Black, if you've never heard of Abhorsen, where do you live?"

"England. London, if you want to get specific." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he even thought about saying anything; Sirius realized that whatever the girl had cast on him, it could force him to speak. He wondered briefly if the Fidelus Charm could work against it.

"Never heard of it," said Lirael. "Either he's lying, mad, or a construct under Free Magic control."

"Can't be, Mum. He's bound by Saraneth, and I don't feel any resistance to the bell." She walked in a careful circle around the strange man, examining him up and down. "Weird as it sounds, he's telling the truth...or at least, he thinks he's telling the truth."

"Are we all going to act like I don't exist or what?" said Sirius, feeling more annoyed by the second. "What the hell is going on here?" He regarded the strange woman and her...daughter (the resemblance was unsettling) with a mix of annoyance and fear. The woman didn't seem to be much older than himself, and the girl couldn't be any older than Harry. Yet he'd never seen them around Hogwarts before...so who were they?

Lirael stared at him intently. Dead spirits weren't supposed to be nearly as strong as his spirit was; it was nearly as strong as her own, although Saraneth still bound it. Finally, she asked, "Recount to me your memories before falling into Death. Just the last five minutes will do."

"And no lying," added Arielle. She sheathed her sword and held Saraneth double-handed for good measure.

Sirius didn't need a warning; he wouldn't have lied even if Saraneth released him. He took a deep breath and recounted the events in the Department of Mysteries, up to when Bella fired the Stunning Spell at him.

He froze, staring at his surroundings as a horrible thought grasped him. He'd been in the Department of Mysteries...in the Death Chamber...

And the veil had been directly behind him when he'd fallen...

"Oh, Merlin...Harry...Remus..." he gasped; he would've fallen into the current had Arielle not reacted and rang Kibeth, pulling him back. "I didn't...I couldn't have gone through the veil..."

"What's he on about?" whispered Arielle to her mother. Lirael shrugged.

"I'm as lost as you are." She paused for a moment before putting Saraneth back in its pouch and drawing Dyrim. "Take out Ranna as well. I'm not too happy about how often we've already had to use the bells already," she said quietly to Arielle. Addressing Sirius directly, she said, "Wouldn't care to elaborate, would you?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath; waves of nausea, shock, and agony threatened to overwhelm him, but Saraneth made him speak. "The veil...is a passageway into...into...it's used to study death," choked Sirius against his will. "I don't know...much about it...but I reckon...I reckon I fell through it."

Lirael and Arielle exchanged skeptical glances. Lirael hesitated for a moment, looking at the bell in her hand. She had little experience with Dyrim compared to the other bells, and it was stirring suspiciously in her hand. She took a moment to compose herself before ringing the bell in a simple, double-handed circle. Dyrim sounded, clear and true, like many voices mixing into a compelling chorus. Lirael closed her eyes and focused on the sound, which opened the doors into the stranger's mind.

What she found there nearly made her retch. His life was filled with pain and agony, betrayal, anger, and death. No wonder why he could resist the river's pull; he'd faced worse than death before. She quickly blotted out every other memory, focusing on the last memories of Life.

"He's telling the truth, alright." She withdrew her mind and stepped back into her own spirit, regarding the broken man with more compassion than before. "I guess the best we can do is to send him on."

"Send him on? Can't we somehow send him back?"

"No. His body has been lost in the river, and we have no means of sending him back without his body. Let's get this over with." She replaced Dyrim and made to draw Saraneth, but Arielle stopped her. "Arielle, we've wasted enough time already."

"Wait, mum." She walked up to the man and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sirius?" He flinched at her touch. "It's ok...I'm not going to hurt you."

"My godson...Harry...Remus...I let them all down...I left them all behind--" He felt tears in his eyes, but he made no attempt to fight them. The tears froze painfully on his cheeks as quickly as he shed them on his Death-leeched cheeks.

"Everyone has a time and place to die, Sirius Black," she said quietly, watching him cry.

"You don't understand," he gasped harshly through his tears. "I never got my name cleared--I left Harry to fight alone, and Remus, I never told Remus--"

"You can't do this with every Dead spirit, Arielle," said Lirael worriedly. "We've spent too much time here."

"Exactly, which is how we're going to help him." Lirael pursed her lips in a mix of disapproval and puzzlement; her daughter's brainwaves, although innovative, were rarely sensible. "We're headed to the Ninth Gate anyway, so we can walk him there. He doesn't have to just be taken by the river. Hasn't he been through enough trouble?"

Lirael hesitated; they would definitely attract unsavory things, walking through Death like this, but then again...the images from the man's mind flashed before her eyes. She sighed heavily and nodded. "Alright, but this is an exception. I wouldn't do this if we weren't walking there in the first place."

Sirius flinched when the younger girl, Arielle, touched his arm. "What? What am I supposed to do now?"

"Walk with us. We're going to walk you to the Ninth Gate, walk you to final Death, instead of just letting the current drag you. We can't send you back, but we can make your walk much easier." He nodded numbly; very little mattered to him now. He viciously forced the tears away and let the girl take his arm, walking him toward the distant roar of a waterfall.

They halted at the edge of the First Gate, just beyond the wall of mist that obscured the falls. Lirael glanced at her daughter, who nodded and recited Free Magic words, words of power from The Book of the Dead. The mist parted; Arielle carefully spoke the second set of words, and a path appeared, parting the falls. The odd trio made their way down the dark path, into the Second Precinct.

Despite himself, Sirius had to marvel at the two women and the power they commanded. He'd felt the blistering heat of the spells Arielle had spoken. An impatient tug on his arm told him that they were going on. The Second Precinct was darker, and the grayness had a strangely blurring affect that made it difficult to see.

"You first," said Lirael, gesturing toward her daughter. "We'll follow you; don't stray from her path, or you'll more likely than not fall into a hole." Sirius nodded, watching as Arielle carefully probed the ground, counting her steps until they stood at the edge of the Second Gate, a swirling, dark vortex of icy water. "Nice work."

"Thanks, Mum." She took Sirius's arm again. "When we reach the Third Precinct, just run. Don't think, just follow me and run with all your might."

"Er--ok," he said uncertainly. Arielle carefully recited words of Free Magic; The waters calmed, and the vortex became a long, spiral path, winding down toward the Third Precinct. As they carefully made their way down the path, Sirius said quietly, "Thank you."

Arielle turned in surprise. "For what? I bound you with my bells; you shouldn't be thanking me."

"No, I mean thank you for walking with me. I'd be a goner on my own."

"No problem. You're doing well. I would've been a goner if Mum hadn't been with me the first time I walked in death."

"You learned all this stuff from her?"

"Pretty much," said Arielle, unwilling to explain The Book of the Dead. "And she learned it from Queen Sabriel."

"So your mother's the...Abhorsen?" he asked, struggling to remember the title.

"Yes. But I'm doing the spells today, since I've done them less and I need the experience." She was about to say more, but the path was abruptly drawing to a close and she stopped speaking.

"Get ready to run, both of you," said Lirael; she never liked this Precinct, no matter how often she'd had to come through it. They stepped off of the path and broke into a frantic sprint. The wave crashed behind them, the thunderous water mingling with the shrieks of the Dead. They reached the Third Gate just before the wave, Arielle frantically panting the Free Magic spell to open the Third Gate. The spell parted the mists and the waterfall, and the three of them stepped onto the path, the wave harmlessly dumping its cargo of Dead into the river.

They took this path more slowly than the last; Sirius was obviously out of breath, and he seemed to be weakening now that they were a little deeper in Death. Arielle gave him a look of mild concern as he struggled to regain his strength.

"Give him a boost," said Lirael as they stopped along the path to rest for the third time. "I never said you couldn't," she added as Arielle gave her a hesitant look. The girl laid her free hand on Sirius's forehead, murmuring a Charter spell.

Instantly, he felt a boost of energy, dispelling his fatigue and the leeching pull of the river. "Thanks," he said with a little surprise. "That's much better."

"The Fourth Precinct's easier to traverse, but you'll have to fight the current." They stepped out into the Precinct; both Lirael and Arielle exerted their wills on the current, suppressing the leeching cold and the pull. It took Sirius the least moment longer to fight it off. "Not bad," said Arielle, impressed by his strength of will. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you've done this before."

"I have...in my own way," he replied, a haunted look coming into his eyes. The river's current and ice reminded him horribly of dementors...and he'd had to resist them for thirteen years.

Arielle knew better than to question him as his eyes darkened, as though shutters had closed behind them. She helped him up; despite her spell and his natural strength of will, he was still a Dead spirit, and as they walked deeper into Death, it would take more of a toll on his strength. They walked through the waters of the Fourth Precinct, stopping a good ten feet back from the Fourth Gate.

"Here...I'll do this one," said Lirael. "You've done enough."

"I'm fine, Mum...I thought part of the point of letting me come was to help me practice." Lirael sighed, but she soon relented. Arielle spoke the spell; a dark ribbon began to roll out from the edge of the waterfall, floating above the river below. It stretched out into Death, farther than any of them could see.

"Nice. We get out of this current at last," said Sirius dryly as they stepped onto the path; it was only wide enough for one person, so he let Arielle step onto the path, following her lead. To his surprise, both women drew their swords, and the Abhorsen drew another bell, the smallest of her seven. "What in Merlin's name--"

"Stay behind Arielle, Sirius Black, and whatever you do, don't fall into the Fifth Precinct. We won't be able to help you if you do," said Lirael. She never liked this Precinct either; her first experience with it had not left a favorable impression. They carefully edged their way along the dark ribbon; Sirius could almost taste their tension, and it didn't do anything to make him feel better. He drew his wand, even though he doubted it'd be any use here.

Lirael kept her eyes on the path, determined not to let anything take her unawares. Even so, she didn't see the Fifth Gate Rester until it was only feet away from them. "Stay back!" she shouted, slashing at its head. The thing shrieked, a horrible sound that was both rotten and harsh at once. Lirael thrust her sword into what used to be its chest, but it clutched at the sword and tugged furiously, throwing her off-balance.

"Mum! Watch out!" called Arielle; another spirit, one of the deeper Dead, had crept up behind the struggling pair. Arielle whipped out Ranna, but before she could ring it, the Dead thing leapt toward her mother--she swung at it with her sword, but she was unbalanced, trying not to hit Lirael--the thing jumped over Lirael, turning its attention toward her as she struggled to regain her balance--

"Expecto Patronum!" Sirius shouted out of instinct. To his astonishment, his wolf-shaped Patronus blasted from the end of his wand. It threw both Dead things into the Fifth Precinct and spun around, catching Arielle with its teeth as she teetered. The Patronus lingered for a few brief moments before fading into silver mist.

Lirael carefully got up and held Arielle for a brief moment. "Thank you, Sirius Black."

"It--it's nothing...Abhorsen," he said quickly, feeling rather awkward. Lirael blinked at the title; she still wasn't used to being called Abhorsen, but she smiled nonetheless. "It's just a Patronus."

"That was one of the strongest spells I've ever seen," Arielle said, breaking from her mother's grip. "Thanks." Sirius nodded, feeling even more awkward, but he didn't have time to feel stupid; the three of them had to move on. He still couldn't shake the image of the two Dead spirits, their forms mutilated and their eyes burning with a hellish fire. He marveled at how easily Lirael seemed to shake it off, although her daughter didn't seem as cool. Still...she couldn't be much older than Harry. At the thought of Harry, the tears started to prickle at his eyes. He fought them fiercely. The Abhorsen and Arielle were risking a lot to help him through Death, and he needed to stay on his toes and keep his wits about him.

He blinked in astonishment at the Fifth Gate; it was a reverse waterfall...a waterclimb, if such a thing existed. It gave him an very queasy feeling of vertigo to see the water shooting upwards where it should've been falling.

"Hold onto Mum and me," whispered Arielle into his ear. "The spell won't include you otherwise." He obeyed, letting out an involuntary gasp as she spoke the spell; a sheet of water reached out of the surface of the water, wrapping around them like a sheet. They began to rise with the waterclimb, rising steadily for several minutes before the ribbon spat them out into the Sixth Precinct.

"This place doesn't seem so bad," said Sirius after he got over the shock of the Gate. The current was nonexistent, it was a little warmer, and the river had become a shallow, calm pool.

"Don't count on that," said Arielle grimly. He looked at where she was pointing; four spirits, wreathed in flame and shadow, stood only about fifty feet from them. "Four Greater Dead. Just our lucky day."

"You do the honors, Arielle?" said Lirael. Her daughter nodded, drawing Saraneth. She rang the bell, exerting her will on the Lesser Dead lurking in the water. The Greater Dead laughed, convinced that she was merely a foolish necromancer, presumptuous and half-trained.

They stopped laughing as the Lesser Dead leapt on them, hurling them backward. Two of the nearest Greater Dead were so distracted that they didn't notice when Lirael stepped forth. She cast the Charter Spell, revealing their names to her.

Kibeth sounded, a bright, clear march that got the attention of both of the Greater Dead. "Drogus the Cruel! Malkros the Tyrant! Your time here is over!" The Greater Dead howled, unable to fight Lirael's bells, and in that instant, they knew what they had encountered.

"Abhorsen!" gasped Malkros, its flaming eyes maddened with terror and rage. "Curse you, curse--" Its scream was abruptly cut off as the Sixth Gate opened, sucking it deep into Death. The other two Greater Dead hesitated fearfully as the current swelled, and Malkros and Drogus were sucked in.

That hesitation was all Arielle needed. She cast her Charter Spell, ringing Kibeth a split second later. "Apparently, one Abhorsen isn't enough for you," she said dryly. "Sonnir, Rhethos, you will follow them to the Ninth Gate!"

"Sonnir?" said Lirael in puzzlement, setting her feet apart as the Greater Dead plunged through the gate. "I encountered Sonnir when I was here the first time. Guess it hasn't learned anything since." The current subsided, and the three began to walk away from the Fifth Gate. "You didn't have to send the other two through, you know," she said to Arielle.

"I know, Mum...I just got a little carried away." Sirius chuckled quietly; he knew the feeling.

"Wait..." he said, frowning as Arielle's words came back to him. "Both of you are Abhorsens?"

Arielle laughed and shook her head. "No, thank the Charter. Mum's the Abhorsen; I'm Abhorsen-in-Waiting, so I'm just the next in line for the position." She stopped walking when they were a good distance from the Fifth Gate. "You'll have to hold on to Mum and me again, Sirius." He complied with a slight feeling of foreboding. They were rapidly progressing toward the Ninth Gate...final Death. As much as he disliked and feared this part of Death, he had a feeling that the last Precincts would be much, much worse.

She recited the spell to open the Sixth Gate; Sirius couldn't see anything but dark water and looked at her with puzzlement; she gestured toward their feet. The water drained away in a circle about ten feet around and under the three of them. The dry area began to descend, carrying them with it. He watched with a feeling of unease as they slowed. The watery sides of the cylinder came crashing down harmlessly around them. It took a few minutes for the water to subside.

As soon as the air was clear of mist, they could see the Seventh Gate. It marked the deep realms of Death, an infinite line of red flame that burned upon the water. Arielle blinked furiously, the sudden, unnatural light hurting her eyes after the gray light of the rest of Death. The current was back, wrapping itself around their ankles.

"I...I don't mean to be a hindrance, Abhorsen, but can we stop and rest? Just for a few moments?" asked Sirius tentatively. The deeper they walked into Death, the weaker he felt. Lirael nodded briefly; after a moment of hesitation, she handed him her sword. He accepted it gratefully, leaning on it like a crutch.

"You feel it, don't you? The pull of the Ninth Gate?" she said quietly.

"It's...getting stronger. But...it doesn't seem to be affecting you."

"Our bodies are elsewhere, and both of us are still living, so it doesn't affect us as much." She turned to look at Arielle, who was even paler than usual; the river's current was even stronger here, draining the color, but not the substance, of her spirit. "Free Magic takes some out of you, doesn't it?"

"How did you do this the first time?" Arielle asked incredulously. "You were in even worse situations."

"I had help...lots of it," Lirael replied quietly, remembering her first walk past the Ninth Gate. The Disreputable Dog had saved her life on more than one occasion during that brief time in Death. She turned back to Sirius. "We have to keep moving. It's not a good idea to stay in one spot...not when we're this deep in Death."

"Alright." He handed her sword back to her; as she took it, he felt a rush of warmth and energy shoot up the blade and into his body. "Thanks," he said gratefully.

"Arielle? Are you ok?" asked Lirael with some concern. Her daughter had been deep in Death before, but she had never had to cast all the spells for the Gates. And, as both of them knew all too well, Free Magic affected Arielle much differently than it should.

"Yes. I'll be fine." They made their way to the Seventh Gate; Sirius was leaning on Arielle's arm. She could feel most of his strength being leeched away by the current, but he was strong enough to resist its attempt to weaken his spirit. "We have to hurry, Mum." She was about to speak the spell for the Seventh Gate, but Lirael stopped her.

"I'll do this one. You'll need your magic for the Eighth Precinct." Arielle rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue. Lirael spoke the spell, and a doorway, just wide enough for the three of them, leapt up in the flames.

As soon as they were through, Lirael called out several spells in succession, warding off at least five patches of flame that had hurtled toward them. The flames floated on top of the water in the Eighth Precinct, wandering at will and flaring up out of nowhere.

"Nice place," said Arielle dryly. She unsheathed her sword, using it to cast off another thicket of flame. "How much further until the Eighth Gate?"

"Not much," replied Lirael, ducking a ball of flame that decided to flare up near her head. She spoke another spell, sending it skidding across the water. "Just keep your head and we'll be out of here in no time."

"Hard to keep one's head when great, dirty flames are attacking it," said Sirius. He let go of Arielle's arm to draw his wand--in that instant, the river surged around his legs--he stumbled, and it pulled him instantly to his knees.

Arielle grabbed his shoulder, pulling him upright. "So much for keeping one's head. Don't let go of me again, ok?" He nodded, holding onto her arm with his left arm, and keeping his wand in his right.

"Look out!" called Lirael as a huge thicket of flame barrelled toward them.

"Impedimenta!" The flame froze within inches of them. Arielle banished it with a few Charter marks; her hand visibly shook as she cast the spell.

"Thanks again. That's the second time you've saved my skin in here," she said gratefully to Sirius. They made their way through the rest of the Eighth Precinct without mishap. Sirius tried not to lean too heavily on the girl, but the spell had taken much more out of him than usual. The Impediment Curse wasn't supposed to be so draining; he supposed it had something to do with how deep they were in Death.

The Eighth Gate loomed in front of them, a wall of infinite darkness. Lirael turned away from it, addressing Sirius. "When we go through the Gate, don't let go of Arielle or me. Whatever you do, don't let go. We won't be able to find you again if you do." He nodded and swallowed hard. One more Precinct to go...until the Ninth Gate. The two women sheathed their swords, and all three of them held hands as they stepped into the darkness.

As soon as they stepped inside, Sirius lost all sensation of everything but himself--it was the same feeling he'd had in Azkaban. Trapped within his own mind. With a thrill of fear, he realized that he could no longer feel either of the women on either side of him.

"Whatever you do, don't let go." He heard Lirael's words from just a few seconds ago come back to him. He swallowed hard, not changing the position of his hands, even though he could no longer feel anyone else's. At the same moment, the darkness broke; Sirius instinctively squeezed his eyes shut as they were suddenly assaulted by warm, soft light.

He cautiously opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light. The Ninth Precinct was completely different from the rest of Death. The current disappeared, the grey blur gave way to sparkling water and soft, soothing light, and everything felt warm and open. Lirael and Arielle were watching him expectantly, as if they thought something would happen to him.

He turned to Lirael and extended his hand. She shook it with a bit of a smile. He did the same for Arielle. "Thank you both so much. I would've had a hell of a time getting here without you."

"We were headed here anyway," said Arielle with first broad grin he'd ever seen from her. It made her seem years younger, as if she were just an ordinary kid. "Oh, and I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Well...it's not really my business, but...who are Harry and Remus?"

Sirius felt sorrow tug gently at his heart, but it wasn't the crushing despair he'd felt in the First Precinct. Something about this place made him feel at peace. "Harry and Remus...are the two people I care about most. Harry's my godson, and Remus...is my...lover." He blinked back the tears that pricked at his eyes. "I doubt you'll ever see them, but if you do..." He hesitated.

"Yes? I owe you, Sirius Black."

"If you see them...tell Harry that I love him, and I'll always be watching over him. Tell him not to blame himself. Tell him to just cut back and be a kid sometimes."

"And Remus?"

Sirius hesisated again; how was he to explain himself and Remus to someone so young? "Tell...tell Remus that even though I'm gone, our souls will forever be one." Arielle smiled a little and nodded.

"I'll tell them." Sirius felt a rush of gratitude and relief at her words. He looked down at the sparkling, shimmering water; he could see miles and miles of it. Just as he was about to ask where the Ninth Gate was, something made him look up.

The sky was filled with countless stars, overlapping one another, so many that they merged into one vast, beautiful, sparkling dome. He felt the stars call to him, call him to a final, peaceful rest. He pocketed his wand, stretched his arms out, and felt his feet lift free of the water. As he fell into the stars, he swore that he could've heard James' voice in his head. Come, Padfoot...come and rest.

"Farewell, Sirius Black," said Lirael quietly as he disappeared through the Ninth Gate. She turned back to look at her own daughter, who was still staring up after him. After a few seconds, Arielle looked away.

"Why didn't you warn me?" she asked, looking a little peeved.

"It's something that everyone has to experience. If I'd told you, you would've avoided looking at them, wouldn't you?" Arielle nodded slowly. "You truly realize that all of us will eventually die...when you look at the stars of the Ninth Gate." She turned toward the Eighth Gate and was about to leave when Arielle stopped her.

"Hey...didn't you say you needed to See something for Uncle Sam?"

"Well...we don't need to be this deep in Death to See it. He wanted me to See the making of gethre. He says that it'll make armor-making much easier." She looked back at the Eighth Gate. "Then again, I can See it from here, and I don't fancy having to use the Dark Mirror in the Eighth Precinct."

"Ok...I'll keep a watch out for anything." Arielle drew her sword and Ranna; Sleeper could quell large numbers of Dead, and she was reluctant to use a bell as powerful as Saraneth so deep in Death. She watched quietly as Lirael opened the Dark Mirror, willing it to show her the past. Arielle kept a careful watch, particularly on the Eighth Gate and the Dead rising out of the water around them. After just a few minutes, she heard Lirael close the Mirror with a decisive snap.

"Did you See it?" she asked. Lirael nodded slowly, still half in her trance.

"Yes...it shouldn't be too difficult...not for Sam..." She put the Mirror back into her pocket, drew her sword, and drew Ranna as well. "Let's go. We've spent too much time in Death."

"Are you mad at me, Mum?" asked Arielle softly. "It was my idea to walk him here..." Lirael smiled and gently put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"No. I would've done the same thing. Poor man."

"What do you mean?" Lirael heaved a deep sigh as the images from her brief sully into his mind filled her head. She opened the Dark Mirror again and held it out to Arielle.

"When I used Dyrim, I saw some of his memories. Put your fingers on the Dark Mirror; I'll show them to you." Arielle cautiously complied; the surface was cool and smooth under her fingers. Lirael did the same and spoke a simple Charter spell, designed for the reliving of memory.

Arielle nearly let go of the Mirror as the images filled her mind--a house burning and reduced to rubble--people screaming, running through the streets--a road littered with corpses and body parts--cold iron bars and the slamming of a heavy door--dark spirits that drained all happiness and turned the world to bitter ice--

"Charter help him," she breathed when the memories stopped, cut off as if a door had slammed shut. She and Lirael looked at each other; both of them had tears in their eyes. She looked back up at the stars, remembering the look on his face when he started to fall. "At least...he's at peace now. He can finally rest."

"Charter knows he, of all people, deserved his rest." She splashed her way toward the Eighth Gate. "Come on. We've spent too long in Death."